Games you wish you could play again for the first time?

For a lot of games, the first experience is usually the best experience. Be it because there's a twist you don't see coming, a world you've never seen before or simply the joy of discovery. So I ask the question: if given the choice, what games would you once again want to experience for the first time?

Bioshock is probably my go-to answer. I'd love to relive the experience of exploring Rapture for the first time. And of course, there's always the you-know-what.

Shadow of the Colossus and Dark Souls also rank pretty high. Shadow of the Colossus for it's, "OH MY GOD, IT'S HUGE". Dark Souls for it's, "Oooh, a ches-WHAT THE FUCK".

Fallout 3. I wish I didn't look at any screenshots, watch any trailers and gameplay, read the WHOLE prima strategy guide, BEFORE playing the game. (the anticipation was killing me back then :( ) Learned my lesson after that, only looked at a whooping three screenshots and watched one trailer of Skyrim before release, ended up amazed.

I wish I went into Fallout 3 only knowing you play in an underground vault, without even knowing who the developers are.

@themangalist: Came in this thread to also say Fallout 3. My first time playing through that game was magical. I oddly had that near exact experience with Fallout 3 - I knew almost nothing about the game, as I did not follow its development and I only really picked it up since it was on sale around Christmas time. Popped it in and it became one of my favorite games of all time.

Also Metal Gear Solid 2. That shit is still crazy.

Demon's Souls

...

no fuck that, I'm not going through the pain of killing Tower Knight for the first time again.

I would give the top half of my left pinkie toe to be able to experience walking out of the sewers in Oblivion for the first time again.

Witcher 2, Mass Effect 2, Mother 3

Oh this is really hard to decide but I have a couple. I totally agree with Bioshock, I remember being blown away the first time you see Rapture and I spent a good amount of time starring out at the ocean outside the windows. Other than Bioshock I would have to go with Thief, I played that hours after hours just failing but I loved it. Then Minecraft, maybe a weird answer but there was something about figuring everything out for yourself and not really knowing what to do and just always dying that was very fun.

Metroid Prime

@breadfan: I envy you so much :( But it's still one of my favourite games of all time too!

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare

before the set piece moments came every 5 seconds

Mass Effect 2, Oblivion and Fallout NV. I got totally sucked into those games, and had no problem playing for long stretches.

Xenogears, FFVII, the Last of Us, uncharted, Arkham.

I guess it depends on whether you played the game at launch or not. I mean, it'd be nice if I could wipe my memory completely of some games, but at the same time the rest of the world would still remember. Half the fun of playing Bioshock Infinite for the first time around launch was seeing everyone try to figure out what everything meant. Wiping my memory of that game to play it for the first time again wouldn't be the same.

As for games I personally didn't play around launch, I'd pick Mass Effect 2. The suicide mission was one of the greatest moments I've had in recent gaming memory, mainly because I had no idea how it worked other than your crew members could die for good, and that kept it tense.

Curse of Backdraft. The customizability I was able to put into my skeleton archer was amazing. His backstory was that he lost his wife and children to crusaders, so now he hunts them down with his bow.

Every Metal Gear game, especially 4. Resident Evil 4. Super Mario World.

Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Fatal Frame, any good horror game basically. Condemned 2 especially. The bear chase was so unexpected but ended up being one of, if not the best part of the game. Fallout 3 was pretty amazing the first time through, too.

Persona 3/4 maybe. The first time playing through those games was an experience few games have matched. Especially Persona 3, since I had very little idea of what to expect, which is very rare these days.

I wish I could play Dark Souls on launch day. That game-launch mystery that surrounds games like Dark Souls or FEZ is a one-of-a-kind thing that you really only get one chance at experiencing.

The advantage of a bad memory is that one can enjoy the same good things for the first time several times.

Friedrich Nietzsche

You're referring to the game devs invading the early players? That would have been a blast to see.

Fallout 3, WoW, Bioshock.

Tales of Symphonia.

Folklore and Muramasa.

So god damn many. Probably Diablo 2.

Most point and click adventure games. Especially The Secret of Monkey Island.

Fallout 3

if i could turn back time to before all MMO mechanics were thoroughly detailed on the internet in easy to use websites then i guess world of warcraft, because holy shit was that game a force on me. and even though nostalgia has painted a rosy picture of what it was, if i could forget all about it...well, i'm sure i would still play the hell out of that game

Never heard about that. But it's not really any different than nowadays, where you have hackers and tweakers invading level 1-10 areas.

All of them.

Red Dead Redemption for the sheer sense of exploration in the Wild West.

All three Uncharted games for the sense of mystery.

Mass Effect 2 for the epicness.

Call of Duty 4 for the best FPS story ever. #dealwithit

Prince of Persia 2008 (with the epilogue included)

Braid (and even on my second playthrough, I couldn't remember the solutions to all puzzles)

etc.

Metal Gear Solid 4, such a fantastic experience.

Difficult but I would probably go with Deadly Premonition. In this gen it was one of the only games I played where I wanted more at the end, or wished I spent more time doing the stupid side quests and whatever before finishing it. It's an odd choice I suppose, but eh!

Also Ocarina of Time, Ace Attorney, SMT Nocturne and Planescape: Torment.

Journey, Metal Gear Solid 4, Persona 4, Ocarina of Time.

I'll say Fallout New Vegas. I loved it so much the first time through and I've gone back again already. I plan on doing it again now that I have all the DLC.

Okami, Wind Waker, Mother series, MGS series.

@turambar: but then you'd be ultra terrible at games and have to learn all that shit over again D:

as for me... Nier, SMT3: Nocturne, Alpha Protocol, New Vegas.

KOTOR.

• Dark Souls
• Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
• Black Mesa (call me crazy, but I like it better than HL1 & 2)
• The Witcher 2
• System Shock 2
• Max Payne 1 & 2
• Serious Sam TFE
• Halo 1
• Star Wars: Battlefront
• GTA 3

Mass Effect 2. Saints Row The Third.

The Legacy of Kain series, Planescape: Torment or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

souls franchise, FF5-10, Shadow Hearts series, Nier, Bastion and Shadow of Colossus.

uncharted 2

and saints row the third.

KotOR was the first "real" RPG I played, and the idea of choice (for as binary as it was) was an incredible concept for my young mind, so I wouldn't mind seeing that pan out again. Same goes for Oblivion and the scale it presented.

Half-Life and Silent Hill 2

I'd have to say Fez, actually. That initial sense of discovery opening new doors, then the slow dawning of just how nuts the game really is... I'd love to experience that again.

Enjoyed revisiting it on PC but it's just not the same.

I'd say Oblivion and Halo: Combat Evolved. Both really defined specific periods of gaming for me, and I still play both to this day.

Half-Life and Fallout 1&2...maybe FF VII.. not so much for the twists but id like to have that feeling i had when first played them again.

Dragon Age, I devoured the game and wish I could play it again with the same enthusiasm

Half-Life 2, Beyond Good & Evil, and Descent 2. I really loved the atmosphere in Half-Life 2. A twist in BG&E's story took me by surprise. And seeing that full cinematic intro of Descent 2 really blew me away the first time I watched it.