The screenshot is from Morrowind (Running in OpenMW)
Outer Wilds, probably.
Likewise. Outer Wilds was an incredible experience but it’s one of those things that will inherently have zero replay value. Unless maybe you feel like doing a quick run-through as a comfort food nostalgia game, or something. It’s fairly unique in that your progression in it is based purely on your personal knowledge of what you’ve discovered in the solar system, and if you had foreknowledge there’s literally nothing stopping you from beating it on your very first launch without even doing a single time loop. There’s even an achievement for doing the same, no doubt intended to be earned once you already know everything.
Did I cry when I talked to Gabro at the last campfire? Yes, yes I did.
My first thought too. Probably in my top three games, but you can only play it the best way once.
I went back and tried to play the DLC and even that just wasn’t the same. I want to play them both blind.
I still keep it installed but I’m waiting a decade more before I replay it. Hopefully I forget enough to have a similar experience
That game came out when I happened to be really into the PBS Space Time series and I was learning as much as my brain could comprehend about general vs special relativity; which is all I can say without spoiling the game lol. So even if I could forget all of the story I don’t think it would have quite the same impact. It would still be something magic though I’m sure. I still enjoy watching others experience the game for the first time too.
Same here.
Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos (and it’s expansion, The Frozen Throne).
The level of storytelling for a strategy game’s campaign completely blew me away at the time. The “good”-coded guys are haughty and rigid, the “bad”-coded guys are (mostly) just trying to get by in a world that rejects them at every turn, not to mention you play as the lovable young protégé and prodigy that slowly casts aside his humanity until he becomes a “big bad” for everyone else. The campaign has world-altering events take place, and you actually get to see the world altered after the fact.
And that one time, at bandit camp.
Shadow of the colossus or Transistor.
Easy To the Moon. Great little indie game with an amazing story that will make you cry
Portal 1 and Portal 2. Every time.
Ooh good choices
Outer Wilds
Outer Wilds! 🥲
None. Every game was a product of its time, hence bound to many external factors.
Let it go… And take the chance to experience what you haven’t yet, there’s more to do, than can ever be done.
(on a roll with 2 Disney references, apologies)
That’s not really in the spirit of the question though. The question boils down to “what game made you feel some kinda way that you’d like to replicate?” It’s entirely hypothetical. Theres too many amazing games that have been made in the last thirty years to ever finish them all. But that doesn’t take away from that moment in a game that was so new and impactful that it became seared into. I’ve had experiences so deep it literally changed how I felt about death and loss and it would be amazing to feel those feelings again.
Apologies, thats just the way I understand it. 99% will understand it as intended, I’m with the 1% 😁 (neurodivergent).
Basically, only a new game can achieve this was my point. Except for turning back time.
I think MGS2 on the original PlayStation or PS2. That was a dream a few decades later.
Probably World of Warcraft. That’s a couple thousand hours in total as I played on and off on private servers throughout the years from 2006-2012, plus a brief stint with BfA.
Actually, no, I’d rather not forget how I saw the game evolve, even if my experience wasn’t the ideal one.
Im almost not sure if I want that. Most of the games I would do that for are older games from like 25 years ago, and I honestly can’t see playing them today and ever having those fond moments like I did then. In my case, the time of playing them also mattered a lot.
Most of the games I would do that for are older games from like 25 years ago, and I honestly can’t see playing them today
I’ll take the opposite side of that
I bought an old Radio Shack Color Computer off EBay and had a total blast playing Dungeons of Daggorath with my kids. Plus, it’s educational: it teaches you to type “A L <enter>” really really fast
Same, of course the memory of the time you played is also important. I was more asking hypothetically since this is not possible, as a game you’d love to experience again, maybe at that time also. Like go back and play it back then.
The correct answer to this question is always Outer Wilds.
It’s a game that can be beaten in five minutes if you already know the solution. But the process of discovering that solution, and unearthing the incredible story around it, is one of the most unbelievable gaming experiences you will ever have.
It’s an absolute masterpiece and if you haven’t played it yet, you really, really need to.
I beat it, but I needed walkthroughs because for some reason my game was so stuttering after the first loop it was basically unbearable especially in some areas.
Tap for spoiler
and the anglerfish were imposibble to go around because I didn’t have any controller, so I had to install a cheat plugin and I thought why not add a halfl-ife asset pack and voicemod so the ending altough cursed still made me cry.
The wonderful thing about benzodiazepine gaming is that if you wait a couple years you can experience the same game a couple times before it sticks.
Can’t believe nobody mentioned Last of US.
Outer Wilds. I never beat it, but I played through a lot of it. I went in completely blind, not knowing what it was, and my mind was blown away.
I wish I could experience all of it brand new whenever I go back to finish it up.
Its comments like this that made me finally go and purchase The Outer Worlds a few months ago. Going in blind and within 10 minutes I’m thinking, what is this bullshit?!?! I have yet to try the right game yet but that always makes me laugh.
Outer Worlds is a good game too, but doesn’t hold a candle to Wilds
Yeah. If there’s one answer to the question of what game can you only play for the first time once, is Outer Wilds.
OUTER WILDS! If you’ve played it, you know why. (If you haven’t, do not ask. Play it.)
I’ve tried to play this game twice. I get confused and have no idea what to do or where to go or what to do when I get there. Spent about 12 hours playing and just feel lost. And everytime I bring it up. People reccomend I just keep playing. And yet I’m still lost haha
I think the biggest predictor of whether people will vibe with Outer Wilds is how much natural curiosity they have and how self-motivated they are. Outer Wilds doesn’t push players towards any particular objective, it instead tries to give players questions so they go looking for answers. Of course a game that relies so heavily on intrinsic motivation isn’t going to be for everyone, but the thing that makes the game so difficult for some people to get into is the same thing that makes those who do get into it love it so much.
Some non-spoilery advice if you decide to give it another shot:
Use the ship log every loop and read what’s new. Look at the biggest cards in rumor mode and try to find them. There are several “secret” locations in the game that many of the hints point towards which contain information that puts the game’s mystery into perspective and gives players a sense of direction and purpose. In the playthroughs I’ve seen where they didn’t finish it was almost always because they played for a long time without finding any of the “big” secret locations.
This is legit the first time anyone has given me actual advice. Thank you! I’ll probably give it another shot at some point
I really loved it, up to the point where I just couldn’t contain the level design in my brain anymore. Guess I ran out of brain memory or something, but when a 3D space with changing orientation and gravity comes into play, I just did not know anymore where I already explored ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Add time pressure into that mix and the game lost me.
That’s surprising that you feel so lost. Did you perhaps miss the journal / discovery board in the back of your ship? Basically just need to look at that and try to flesh out any of the plot threads you see on there. Whenever one isn’t progressing, take a break and try a totally different direction or just wander wherever you can for a cycle or two and you’ll have stumbled on to some new leads probably.
Its pretty intentional that most players hit a stall around the middle because you have to start challenging things you THINK you know but haven’t actually proven to be certain yet.
One of the very few genuine flaws in Outer Wilds is that it does a really, really bad job of ensuring players find the rumor map / discovery board. It’s such an essential feature, one that so often makes or breaks people’s experience of the game, and I’ve seen so many players express this exact same sentiment of “I had no idea what it was doing” only for someone to point out that they’d missed the rumor map.
Discovery board?
Well. That makes things make a little more sense I had no idea about it. I just thought it was various ways to experience a death loop over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over
I just looked it up and it’s actually called the Rumor Map apparently. It’s pretty important to organize all the things you find in a loop and check yourself to see if there is more to uncover on some plot point.
If you get in your ship it’s opposite the pilot seat. I’m sure it was pretty maddening to not have that tool and hear people say such high praise about the game lol.
If you haven’t been spoiled on it, you might find the game a lot more enjoyable giving it another shot some day!
It hasn’t been spoiled, no. Thank you!
I felt the same way. I had a hard time with it because you don’t really know what you’re supposed to be doing. I ended up getting frustrated with it and looked up how to finish it.
After I finished it, I regretted looking it up. It really is a masterpiece but it takes a certain type of person to be able to get through it. I couldn’t get through it myself, but my partner and I have fun playing these types of games together.
We’re currently enjoying working through the dlc now.
I guess I’ll say I get it if you want to quit or just look up the solution, but I promise it’s worth it if you make it through
Hey, it’s okay, friend, not every game has to be for everyone and that’s fine.
What worked for me, I guess, was to not approach it in terms of a game where I’m trying to make progress, so much as a vast place with a lot of mysteries that all actually make sense once you work it out; and that happens naturally if you let your curiosity drive you. You will, in fact, be making progress; you just won’t realize it until the pieces fall into plane and, all at once, you know.
It would be like the one upside of a TBI.
But really, due where I was in life when I played it and how much it helped me process things, I’m not sure I would give up the experience I already had.
Agreed! I think this applies to any game where you have to explore both the world and the gameplay. It gives you these incredible “ah-ha” moments that you’ll never forget and have an impact on your gaming for the rest of your life. I think for me the number 1 game I had this experience with was Animal Well. Our group played both Animal Well and Outer Wilds for our indie game club and every single person had multiple moments like this for each game.
A lot of good ones here already listed, some of those I’ve started and veered off due to busy life with kids.
What I didnt see was uncharted 4. Never played any other in the series, but bought that one from steam sales. You know when you picked up a good book which you couldnt put down but had to read through as fast as possible? Or new tv series that you had to binge? Well surprisingly uncharted 4 was that for me last year. After I was finished I felt empty: “whats now?”.
A very few games have gripped me that way.
The first Uncharted, at the time, reminded me what I loved about gaming, and they’ve only gotten better. And just as they were basically a new Indiana Jones, the new Indy game is pretty much an open hub world Uncharted, but they both stand on their own.
Ohh! Good call! Uncharted!
Uncharted is on a next level. It’s a game ahead of its time.
