If you could play one game for the first time all over again, what would it be?

OUTER WILDS.

It's a fantastic exploration game if you go in blind and I wish I could forget it all and explore it all again.

The Outer Wilds.

A game you can only play once and that one time is magical.

Half life or Half life 2.

Windwaker.

Don't think its considered retro yet, but I wish I could forget every second of it I played. The complete emotional Rollercoaster I went through playing that game was incredible.

One of the few games where I really felt like I was the "super important protagonist" and the world really depended on me.

It might be relatively new, but I'd say Subnautica.

It was such a breath of fresh air when it came out, and instilled both such a sense of wonder at all the vibrant lifeforms of 4546B and also instilling such dread upon encountering reapers or diving deeper than ever before. I still remember the mixed sense of wonder and unease upon discovering the Jellyshroom caves for the first time

Secret of Monkey Island. Like most adventure games you can only really play it once. It'd be nice to enjoy it again.

Disco Elysium

The sheer joy of realising it's not "just another" RPG, slowly pulling the curtain on how intricate the worldbuilding is, discovering the main character and in turn reflecting on yourself. It's become a small addiction to watch first time streamers and let's players for me, to vicariously relive that process.

Another candidate might be Ultima 7, the interactivity and how "real" it felt in the 90s was mindblowing for kid me.

World of Warcraft. Starting out in an MMO for the first time is magical. No worries about the endgame, just the desire to explore and learn.

It's hard to pick just one:

• Deus Ex. It's timelessly topical despite being released in 2000. It predicted the War on Terror and a massive pandemic to name a couple.

• Spiritfarer, for maximum onion chopping. Saying goodbye to Gwen really messed me up since I became very attached to her, and I can't finish the last stretch of the game because it's too emotionally taxing.

• Undertale and wholesome fan-games like Act to Flirt.

• Half-Life 2, circa 2004 when it was a leap ahead of everything else. I was unsettled by the teaser screenshots due to how real it all seemed to be during its heyday. (I did re-capture part of that feeling with M Mod and its great yet faithful modernisation effects. Plus there's some blursed mods you can combine with it such as replacing Alyx with Krystal, voiced by the original actress.)

• Duke Nukem 3D: Alien Armageddon. It blew me away how much custom content and passion has been invested, so good that it almost felt like I was playing Duke Nukem for the first time all over again.

• There's many more worth mentioning such as Unreal, Morrowind, Oblivion, Company of Heroes 1 and the forgotten gem that is Ground Control.

Man, I was born just at the right time to experience a stunning variety of titles and enjoy the mods that improve them.

Subnautica.

The first game to make me truly sad that I had finished it. Wow, what an experience!

I loved exploring and piecing together the story. I loved discovering new creatures and ecosystems. I loved finding strange things and figuring out what to do with them.

I've never played a game quite like it before or since. My god, it was really amazing. I beat it without needing a guide or walkthrough. It's great enough to the point where, if you are curious enough, you won't need one!

It's certainly a slower-paced game, as it's not all non-stop action, so it's not for everyone. But if you're a patient and curious person, this may be for you.

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.

Final Fantasy VII

I went straight on from super Nintendo to this. You can imagine he level of amazement I got.

I’m gonna break the rules and name more than one.

Super Metroid

Link to the Past I beat it with my mom as a kid. I’d love to go back and just be a kid who loves his mom playing that game again.

Ocarina of Time My mom and I snuck and opened the Christmas present every evening after my dad went to bed. We were at the forest temple when I actually opened it for Christmas and pretended to be surprised.

Wind Waker I was so disappointed over the cartoon graphics I almost didn’t play it. Once the game won me over I fell in love with everything about it.

Twilight Princess My first Zelda as an adult living on my own. I bought it on GameCube and played it with my ex. We had no cable, no internet, no phone. It was the only entertainment we had (video games) and it was an experience that made us closer.

Symphony of the Night I just fucking love that game.

World of Warcraft I want to go back and play with my son. We did arenas and we were an unstoppable team. Some of the best nights of my life were spent side by side playing WotLK and Cata.

I could go on but someone is standing here bugging me now. Take care folks.

Oblivion. I liked Skyrim but Oblivion quests were so much better

Maybe Stardew Valley? I found that very enjoyable.

Chrono Trigger. Hands down the greatest JRPG I've ever had the pleasure of playing.

Outer Wilds. It's the best game I have played, and it can't really be played a second time.

Diablo 2 of course. It's the best game ever made. I still play it for a month or two every year.

Not retro, but Celeste hands down. That game is an emotional roadtrip of a platformer. My favorite indie game out there.

Undertale

That game fucked me up good on a personal level

Deus Ex

Portal. I thought it was just a puzzle game. I love twists in movies and this one really caught me off guard.

The Last of Us.

It's very linear and short to the point most of that sense of wonder goes away immediately after you finish it once.

Also being a horror game, the more you play the less scary it is.

The big moments hit really hard the first time around, but then that's kinda it. Still love it though.

Dark Souls. It was a game that had so many surprises just to fuck you over randomly. Random boulders, hidden enemies, boss mechanics, mimics, hidden gems. Played the hell out of it but the first time was like magic. 2, 3, bloodline, elden ring... I had expectations. Only played a couple hours of demons souls before I dove hard.

Mass effect 2

World of Warcraft. 2005 was a hell of a time for that game.

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.

celeste every day, that game got right to my heart

The Secret of the Monkey Island

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.

The universe! The characters! The plot! That reveal! Oh, man. To be able to experience that again for the first time. Wow.

TUNIC

Metal Gear Solid. Going from tooling around in the NES Metal Gear to sneaking thorough Shadow Moses while figuring out 4th wall breaking puzzles was amazing.

Mine would be bioshock 1.

World of Warcraft.

What a great game to be a noob in.

Yeah, its going to be Legend of Zelda: A Link to the past for me.

It's such a great game, played it for hours and hours. It truly made Hyrule came to live.

Final Fantasy 6. Still my favorite game of all time.

Shining Force

Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger, or Super Mario RPG. I couldn't get enough of Squaresoft in the SNES days.

Chrono Trigger for the "trippy" story.

Pretty much any NES game for the "gamer" soundtrack (beep bops.)

Final Fantasy 7 (the original).

And it's not even close. What a journey.

Sid Meier's Civilization!

Metal Gear Solid on PS1

Earthbound. It’s been my favorite game since I first rented it from blockbuster

Nier Automata. Every thing about the game is amazing, but would love to experience the endings and heart wrenching moments again for the first time.

Mass Effect trilogy.

Or maybe Bioshock.

Either/both.

Very late edit: Deus Ex. I still play it every once in a while and while the graphics are terrible, it's a lot better with GMDX and you get used to it very quickly. That game is still a masterpiece.

There are two games I would love to play for the first time again and those are Portal and Dishonored.

Portal is obvious - it's a well-refined and immersive puzzle game with enough story and atmosphere to keep you invested, but never so much as to pull you away from its puzzles. It may only be a short game, but it is one of the best!
The only people I know who haven't given this game the upmost praise are those who've never played it before.

Edit: Portal 2 is also a fantastic game, but it definitely leans on the story more. That is by no means a bad thing though, as we wouldn't the absolute menace that is Cave Johnson without it.

As for Dishonored, the original is Arkane Studio's best game IMO - the world it's set in is so interesting and brimming with lore; the levels are well crafted, and reward the player's creativity and exploration without ever feeling forced; The gameplay is challenging, but without ever feeling overwhelming. I'm sure it has it's flaws, but all these years later, I still remember how much it got right.

Edit: Dishonored 2 was very much like it, and I remember it for all the same reasons, but the first is the one that really captured that lightning in a bottle for me.

I also loved Prey. It plays in a similar style without feeling too much like it's predecessor. I can't say I liked the Roguelike DLC very much though.

Edit 2 Electric-Boogaloo: I keep forgetting Dishonored uses the American spelling. I always remember it in the British spelling. Oops.

Dark Souls.

But I suck and this time I don't get sucked into the entire series. That oughta save me some time and money.

If I had to take a Retro game, Chrono Trigger for sure.

Earthbound. Even on my subsequent yearly-ish playthroughs, it's so easy to get immersed into the beautiful quirkiness of the world.

Factorio of course, because that's what people already do. They start over and over again with ever bigger plans.

Probably Planescape: Torment

Easily Majora’s Mask

Edit: upon further speculation, Final Fantasy X is tied

Gothic

My first open world game, unmatched freedom to do what you want and to go where you want, exploration rewarding with handplaced loot everywhere. I lived in that game for a whole year.

Definitely Subnautica in VR. I didn't play it on flatscreen, only in VR, and it was the most immersive and amazing experience out of any game.

Monkey Island 2: lechuck's revenge.

Half Life or Command & Conquer for me

Either:

1. Mario 64 - seeing a fully realised 3d world for the first time was mind blowing. Great music, adventure, and fun.

Or

2. Morrowind - what a wild and rich world to explore for the first time. My best friend and I rotated shifts for weeks during school holidays. Great memories.

Freelancer

System Shock 2 or Thief: Dark Project. Those two were the games that impressed me most in my 40 years of playing games.

Honourable mention: Minecraft. The first few weeks playing that come very close.

I wish I could experience Portal for the first time again.

Doki Doki Literature Club. Because I got spoiled the first time I played it.

Baldur's Gate 2. Would love to re-live the feeling of wonder and suspense this game offered, although it'd probably help to forget about modern RPGs too, to keep with the nostalgia.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Inside

BioShock

All great stories with some very powerful moments.

Either Oblivion or Fable: The Lost Chapters

Champions of Norrath on PS2. I played through the entire game with my dad and it was the most fun I ever him.my mother said he used to play video games all the time, but then stopped (having kids probably does this to many). So when he said he’d play the game with me i was very excited. i only wish i could have found the games sequel, return to arms, before heading off to college. that would have been a summer to remember.

i don’t know why he never shared his love of video games with either me or my sisters. some dads are weird like that. i bought him a series s for the holidays and while i don’t think he plays it, he enjoys watching his grandkids play.

Super Metroid

Everquest. No other game I've played before or after instilled that feeling of exploration and wonder that this game did. I'm so glad I got to experience that before I got older.

Roller Coaster Tycoon, 2 preferably. Like, if OpenRCT2 could magically time travel back and exist on 12 year old me's computer, it would be bliss.

Super Mario Galaxy

Final Fantasy 6

Super Mario 64

Super Mario World

Resident Evil

VVVVVV

Neverwinter Nights

Probably Red Dead Redemption. It was an amazing game and even fun to 100%. The soundtrack was the icing on the cake.

Half-life is close too. That game blew my mind as a kid.

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...

Minecraft, botw

Death Stranding

I still have dreams about that masterpiece of a game. There's just so few like it.

The first Mass Effect. That moment when Sovereign speaks... instant goosebumps. ("Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding.") This also presupposes that I haven't played the other parts as well of course. I actually played the second one before the first one back in the day.

CrossCode

Factorio

I loved Bioshock, so probably that.

Ultima Online. It was my first MMO. I could own a friggin house that other people could visit! I've been chasing that high for 20+ years now.

Halo reach. Such a masterpiece.

Definitely Dragon Age Origins. Loved it all, from the weird combat mechanic to the relationship scores. I only wish Varric had been available to romance.

Picking one is quite hard, but since it's retro only, my vote goes to Super Metroid. That game is a rare gem.

Runescape, 2006 sort of era

Wow OP it's like we had the same childhood. That opening sequence and the early parts of LTTP are seared into my memory. +1

Portal or Minecraft.

I've played so much Minecraft that I have everything down to a science.

Like quickly making a wooden pickaxe, mining exactly how much cobble I need for a furnace and a stone pickaxe, and how to find coal and iron in less than 5 minutes.

Wood and stone tools, outside the two pickaxes, are skipped entirely.

Before the end of the first night I am almost entirely decked out in iron stuff.

Farming cows for bookshelves for enchanting is quick and easy, and then getting fortune 3 and looting 3 pretty much makes the game easy mode. You print ores and food.

Not to mention you can get mending from a villager easily. Just pick up and put down the job station until they give you mending. It's not skill, it's just luck. You can get it in less than 2 minutes if you're lucky. Now you'll never have to worry about anything ever breaking again. You can also get fortune and looting this way as well, removing the need to waste time and materials on the enchanting table.

It's sad. I wish I could erase my knowledge of it, and play Minecraft how I used to. By savoring my enchanted items, creaming my pants at the sight of diamonds, and grinding hard for food.

Half Life 2, New Vegas and MGS all blew my young mind and would be great to relive.

Final fantasy tactics, or 7.

Easily Metal Gear Solid 3 for me.

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.

I know it's not really retro yet, but either Nier game. True perfection those two.

Stardew Valley or Terraria.

Inscryption. One of my favorite games to come out in years, but the secondary playthroughs don't have anywhere near the appeal without the mystery/intrigue sadly. The first time for me was magical though.

Chrono Trigger, Castlevania SOTN, Pokemon BW and B2W2, Dead Cells

I actually bought LTTP before I bought a SNES.. The game itself wasn't easy to get in my area and I happened to be out of town and ran across a copy, so it was an easy decision

Hollow Knight

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.

https://alttpr.com/en

Oh man.... I would love to experience Zork again for the first time. 😊

"West of House

You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.

There is a small mailbox here."

Final Fantasy 7 or 9, Earthbound, Secret of Mana, Phantasy Star Online

That Zelda is on my list for sure. I'd add super Mario world as well, just like Zelda did, it introduced so many new mechanics and the maps were so HUGE you could spend absolute weeks trying to unlock all of certain areas.

NBA Jam on SNES.

Wolfenstein or Doom first time really seeing a 3d game. Being absolutely terrified of the ambient noises in Doom.

Half-Life for sure. Relatively intelligent soldier opponent tactics, puzzling real puzzles in 3d for the first time not just point and shoot.

Goldeneye 007. Trying to figure out how to aim, so slowly and ineptly. Then one of your friends says let's try multiplayer and 4 years later...

Warcraft 2 on dial-up with your friend across town.

GTA 2. Discovered almost by accident and the top down view was so great. Never cared much for the rest of the series.

Super Bomberman.

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!

There are many games that I loved and would enjoy playing for the first time, but I'm going to pick Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga. My reason being that I spent the vast majority of the game waiting for it to morph into a spiritual successor of Super Mario RPG back when I first played it, rather than giving it a chance to stand on its own as a unique and hilarious game. My preconceived idea of what I hoped the game would be really hurt my initial enjoyment of it.

For a runner up, I'll mention Kirby's Dream Land 3. In the days of Blockbuster rentals, I'd rented Kirby Super Star first, so it took me a while to get used to the more traditional Kirby powerup system where copied abilities only do one type of action each.

Portal 2 and Undertale the true pacifist run

Have you tried a link to the past randomizer . It makes it very fun and you can find different ways to progress through the game . Sometimes you have to do some of the dark world first or find clever ways to get into areas .

Portal or Arkham Asylum, something that surprised me in unexpected ways.

Portal because I thought I was getting a neat puzzle game (I was), but GLADoS blew me out of the water.

Arkham Asylum because of how effectively some of the Scarecrow sequences messed with me specifically (making me think my game had glitched, etc.)

Are you aware of the Zelda: ALLTTP randomizer? https://alttpr.com/en

Learning Team Fortress 2 for the first time as a teenager was such a crazy fun experience.

Homeworld

The return of the Obra Dinn. Really fun unique game

I feel its been so long since i last played it might feel new to me, but still it wont be the same as first playthrough.

Grandia on ps1. I refuse to replay it out of a morbid certainty that it's basic as all hell. But it was my first jrpg and it blew my mind.

I swear it took me weeks to make it to the wall, but searching my memory it's the first scene after your hometown.

its not exact but LTTP rando gives that sense of new game feel each and every time. The races are great.

Then I double teamed it with https://samus.link/ which is SMZ3 crossover. Races are even better again.

Course all the wonderful hacks for both games. Parallel Worlds for LTTP is wickedly hard but a lot of fun.

Getting in to SM arcade mode recently too.

Both Super Metroid and Zelda are phenomenal.

My nostalgic answer is Super Smash Bros Brawl (Subspace Emissary was wild to me), but my more modern answer is Elden Ring.

That game was like cocaine the first time I played through it.

ICO

such an amazing game that never seems to get any love

94 NHL Hockey on Sega. That game blew my mind then after years of playing pretty bad ports of hockey games like Ice Hockey and Wayne Gretzky's hockey on NES. I was hooked from the very first moment and played the franchise for years until they got into 14 buttons and FPV. The older overhead version was peak for me.

I've got two candidates for that:

• Uncharted 4
• GTA 5

Ubcharted is visually stunning and I really like the story it tells.

GTA 5 STILL is a game where I find new things.

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StarCraft's campaign was a masterpiece. I get to include Brood War here too.

Monkey Island or Little Big Adventure

Nier Automata

A game I will never forget

Minecraft, specifically Beta 1.7.3.

Shadow of the Colossus and some Silent Hill stuff

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

The story has so many great twists and turns even up to the very end. There was a distinct point about 75% of the way through when I came to the realization that I had to binge the rest of game. Even if it meant I got zero sleep that night, I had to see how it ended.

It was so good I wish I could experience it again blind.

That'd have to be Metroid: Zero Mission and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. Two of some of the only games I actually 100%.

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.

Hotel Dusk.

Might and Magic 3

F-19

Wow

Half-life

Dishonored

Morrowind but it wouldn't matter because I don't have enough time to get immersed in it anymore.

Wings for Amiga, flying in WW1 and a cool story between missions. Everything I know about ww1 air battles, I know from that game :)

If I were to experience it as I am today (and judge it versus games with modern graphics etc), I'd pick Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It quickly became one of my all-time favourite games, and I finished it three times in a year when I discovered it. Beautiful in so many ways.

Half-Life is probably the game that has had the biggest impact on me, though, so that would be my pick if I experienced it as I did around 1998.

Space Invaders

Asteroids

Pitfall

Quake 3 Arena. Or more specifically OpenArena + baseq3 and other mods like ratmod. Most fun I have had playing a game ever.

Read dead redemption 1. A masterpiece.

Silent Hill 2

I've replayed that game so many times but the first playthrough hits different

FF6, FF9 and Links Awakening

Half-Life 2 and Shining in the Darkness.

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.

I have seen no mention of Planescape Torment, so there you go.

I agree with lots of what's already been said and haven't got much to add to those extant conversations, so let me try to add in some that I've not seen:

RuneScape is a candidate. I started way back with RS Classic (the sprite-based one!).

Oh, and Dwarf Fortress too. That began in 2009.

Achaea and/or Lusternia are way up there but I don't imagine anyone but me can share the experience.

Oh, as well, Mount & Blade: Warband. Quite the adventure(s).

I don't really game anymore. But this thread did dredge up some memories, old and new.

Thank you.

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