Question Of The Week [July 25th 2024]

This is going to sound a bit weird, but I actually don’t like replaying games much. One of the things I really enjoy about video games is the story. While I do agree that most video game stories aren’t that great, there are still a lot of them that are imaginative and enjoyable, and that’s what I look forward to most when playing a game. While the mechanics of a game can make me feel powerful, or weak or laugh out loud, it’s the story or narrative holding the whole thing together which drives me to play most games.

Sure there will always be games that favor one or the other. Games solely mechanics based and I can still enjoy those and even come back to them time and time again (like the original Super Mario games on NES). But it’s that balance of narrative and gameplay that I really enjoy. Once a game has that sweet spot, it rockets up my list of favorites. But to really answer my own question about what is my favorite game to replay, it is much harder to answer

You see, I do not enjoy replaying most games. It stems from the fact that I like stories in games so much, and once I’ve experienced the game and story, I move on to another one. Going back to the game a second time, kinda deludes the second playthrough, as I already know the entire story. I remember almost everything about the plot, locations, characters, motivations and twists. So when I end up replaying a game, I already know everything that is going to happen. Who is going to turn out to be the true killer, what magical item is going to show up at the end to be the Deus Ex Machina… It just doesn’t make any impact on me at all after the first playthrough.

However, a game that does have amazing control, gameplay mechanics, level design and creativity can get me to have a desire to play it again sooner rather than later. But I usually don’t end up finishing it. I come back to it, and play it for a couple hours and then go “Well that was a fun trip down memory lane” and close and uninstall the game again.

If I end up replaying a game, it’s usually a retro classic game from NES, SNES or Genesis. Where stories were barebones, and prioritized gameplay. One that popped into my head was ToeJam and Earl on the Sega Genesis, it’s a great original “Rogue-like” or Run based game that can be played solo or with a friend and is just a fun chill out style game that has aliens crashing on “earth” and finding parts of their spaceship while trying to avoid Earthlings. It’s creative, fun and enjoyable through and through no matter how many times I come back to it.