(Saw this question asked on another popular link aggregation website and it got me thinking)
If you could play one game for the first time all over again, what would you choose? This might be because you want to do it all again, or because you don’t think you got enough out of it the first time. It could be experiencing the game exactly as you were back then, or experiencing a game with what you know now.
For me, it’s Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past, experienced exactly as I was back in 1991.
Nothing comes close to how jaw-droppingly amazed I was by that opening sequence. The epic orchestral score, the cinematic rainstorm, creeping around in the dark… it was a generational leap above anything I’d played on 8-bit computers and consoles, and even the Megadrive. I’d love to play it again without thirty plus years of Nintendo/Zelda knowledge, or without knowing about the dark world.
I know this is almost a stereotypical answer, but the Witcher 3. because after that game i went and read through all the books. so if i got to re experience it would be the difference of finding siri after 100 hours of gameplay and finding siri after 5000 hours of story. "find siri’ is Geralt’s primary motivation throughout the books. i can only imagine how satisfying and emotional that scene would feel for the first time with the weight of the books behind it.
Might and Magic 3
F-19
Wow
Half-life
Dishonored
Hollow Knight
Ark Survival Evolved.
Peak Ark is when you have no idea what you are doing and keep being shitmixed by velocipators. Huddled in a darkened shack with the outside chewing it’s way inside while you scream in terror.
Then you finally get a bit of a handle on what is going on, tame your own raptor and BAM giant snake knocks you out and as you swim back to consciousness a giant croc grabs you in its mouth and launches into the stratosphere.
Later on it’s all iron man suits and minmaxing every fucking thing.
Morrowind but it wouldn’t matter because I don’t have enough time to get immersed in it anymore.
A link to the past is my top Zelda game for sure.
… Have you ever tried the randomizer for it? It will give you a rom where all the items are randomly distributed around the map, making you do the whole sequence out of order.
I will play though a random Rom one a year or so and it’s a blast.
Silent Hill 2
I’ve replayed that game so many times but the first playthrough hits different
Ocarina of Time, or Final Fantasy VII. Both of them had just incredible impacts on me as a teenager, and I’d love to be 16 and experiencing them for the first time again.
Halo reach. Such a masterpiece.
Probably Fallout New Vegas (if that even counts as retro yet). I’ve played it to death ever since it came out and can’t even remember the first time I completed it.
There’s a couple I’d have to choose from on this:
Portal 1 and 2 (if it can only be one game and not the series then portal 2),
Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom or Breath of the wild maybe,
Prey,
Firewatch,
Fallout: New Vegas,
FRACT OSC,
Donut County,
… This may have been more a list of my favorite games rather than play for the first time again…
Learning Team Fortress 2 for the first time as a teenager was such a crazy fun experience.
Wing Commander 3 and Black & White.
Played both of them when i was a kid and it’ll be nice to be able to play them again as an adult.
Easily Metal Gear Solid 3 for me.
Skyrim. After 200 hours, you start becoming really aware of the “seams” and the clunkiness of the Creation Engine. Although, while you’re still working your way through the quests, and every stat isn’t at 100 yet, it’s pure pure pure bliss. To have that original feeling back. Gah!
