(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.
Outer Wilds. You can’t even really replay it, not like you can other games. But boy, I will never forget the unbridled joy of unraveling its mysteries - and ironically, would love to so I can do it all over again.
You can’t even share much about this game without ruining it for someone else. I love this game so much but it’s really difficult to get someone else to play it as well.
Well. In a sense you’re replaying it all the time ;)
I wish I got another fresh chance with it. Perhaps with less hype and fewer expectations of greatness. I somehow managed to ruin the game for myself. I got to the tunnels of the hourglass twins and lost interest there, and watched a playthrough some time later. Which is obviously not the same as experiencing it all.