Thanks for 1000 subs everyone. You may not know it, but I appreciate you all greatly. Edit: 2k now. Only up from here. Also if you're wondering if I changed the title, I did. I thought it better suits the structure of the video.
My dad played all of resident evil 7 vr until the end boss without sprinting not because of a challenge but because he didn’t know he could sprint as he unbinded the button by accident lol. He spend hours in the final boss walking and getting soft locked until he finally found a video about the fight and his face when he realised he could sprint this entire time was priceless.
Bro would be super mad if he unlocked the walking shoes. An item that ware to boost how he always played is ultimately useless if you just press one button and don't get hit
Outer Wilds is a great example of how a rather short game with 0 fluff and replayability can be better than any huge AAA project. Literally the best gaming experience of my life.
@@Joe-my6go right? Hate the fact Outer WORLDS exists, I feel like a lot of people make this mistake or have missed out on the game, because of the name.
I wouldn’t say outer wilds is that repayable as it’s easy to finish in like 20 minutes once you’ve figured out all the puzzles in your first playthrough and it doesn’t hit the same on subsequent playthroughs. Great game though.
skylanders giants is the game i replay the most, i love the story (despite how simple it is) and each level has something unique about it. there's also a lot of collectables and bonus content, and a lot of characters you can play around with to level up and to experience each fight in a different way thanks to their different attacks. ive even started speedrunning it, which im surprised you didnt bring up as a factor in replayability- if the controls handle well and there are multiple ways to get through each area, there tends to be a huge community of people who do speedruns and challenges within the game (though popularity and length of the game in general is also a factor)
Yeah. I have replayed Resident Evil 4 (Remake and OG) multiple times over for vastly different reasons. I play the OG for it's comedy and funniest while for the Remake I like to replay the village fight over and over again just to see what I could have done better. The two games are (in a way) vastly different from gameplay perspectives but still very fun and awesome
@-sxd-yt-3705 I'd also want to add that both RE4s have good modability, which further enhances their replayability. In RE4R, there is a spring and dodge mod, which along with mod that increases difficulty can turn re4 more action oriented or horror oriented
what defines a game's quality isn't how replayable/unreplayable it is, what actually defines it's quality is how much you replay your experience in your head.
Outer wilds always had an infinite amount of a different kind of replay value to me, because even 2 years after playing it, it still fascinated my brain, and i think about it multiple times a day. A game that can do that has more replay value any huge rpg.
i open outer wilds frequently usually just to dick around with the game and find little quirks and bugs with the physics or see how quickly i can fill out the flight log
Outer Wilds is a great example of the kind of game which you willingly have a shady doctor in a back alley whose office is hidden behind a dumpster and 7 locks on their door intentionally induce severe amnesia to forget about outer wilds just to play it again
One thing that makes even the simplest games replayable is the mods. Surely, mods can also get out of date and the game is dead, but human beings always want to try something new after all.
Quality over quantity. I think replayable games are the best ones, even if they have only like 10 hours worth of gameplay. I remember replaying Arkham Asylum back in the day around 20 times at least. I think the games that make you come back for more even after beating them, are the best ones.
TellTale games are an example of Unreplayable Replayable games. The stories end the exact same way every time, no matter what you do, with only menial differences. However, they're still a blast to go through purely because of how many possible dialogue branches you can go through.
Telltale games is a big scam, this is coming from telltale lovers that already played nearly all of their games They knew all of their games doesn't have meaning choices, literally everything leads to the same conclusion, even their "different endings" like in Walking Dead S2 is a scam because it doesn't matter, prologue for Walking Dead S3 makes that different ending obsolete compared to other choice driven games like Detroit where you can accidentally kill your main character, your playtrough and other playtrough can have literally different story, etc. I still loves telltales games and still waiting for wolf among us s2, but this is just my critism. and yeah, like you said, their game has no replayability at all, of course you can replay it if you already forgot all of the story, but if you just finished the game, there's absolutely no reason why you would replay it again immediately (except if you're achievement hunter)
the long cutscenes kill the replayability for me, i rlly like how ghost of tshushima new game+ alows cutscene skip same with tlou2 makes it much more replayable
Telltale could never afford to make the games anything like Supermassive games their budget was too low but they made up for the illusion of choice by making a good story and became successful because people enjoyed watching others reactions to the story in playthroughs, there was only ever a handful of choices that actually mattered or changed things not enough to grant a second or third playthrough and so on
@@soundrogue4472I've only ever seen TWD and Wolf Among us which were definitely better than just "meh" the only issue with TWD was season 3 was essentially a filler storyline and season 2 suffered from a strike that was happening at the time
If you put breadcrumbs in your burger patty it keeps it together better especially if u freeze them for half an hour before you cook them on the grill, trust
For me this type of game would be Deep Rock Galactic, the sheer amount of builds you could use, cave generations you can play in and enemy/mutator compositions is just incredible. At the time of writing this comment i have around a 1500 hours and is not even close to getting boring. ( Additionally the community of DRG is so friendly i just dont want to stop )
@@SaberRexZealot specially the jet ski part, that part gave me dark souls type of frustration the first time I played it. Everything else is fine for me.
when uncharted 4 released i played The Nathan Drake Collection then finished my marathon with uncharted 4 what a saga i couldn't play any Single-player game after it for 6 months + i hate people who don't play the first game
Some games are like that. Others have so much variety in its level design or gameplay, or the core loop is so fun that people actually feel compelled to go back to them.
Played more than 100 games in my life time and i think i have more hours of gameplay than sleep 😂 and iam like that. Only games i was able to replay where rdr2 and elden ring.
I usually lose the drive to play the games after beating them, most of the time, as well. So that is why I learned to take my time instead of chasing the ending prematurely
Played through the Halo games (Bungie's) hundreds of times each simply because the moment to moment gameplay is so engaging and unique. Good, fun gameplay is all you really need to be replayable.
This is actually called the 'core gameplay loop' unless something else is going on. In the case of Halo, I think it's the core gameplay loop coupled with great functionality and worldbuilding and storytelling and music, so it just feels good and immersive. This is simply known as 'atmosphere'. Halo 3 comes to mind. It's very coherent and tight and well-made. It's almost flawless, the way all the elements come together to create a whole. Technically, there are a few elements that make a game great (and likely replayable): (1) Great core gameplay loop (another term might be 'game-feel') (2) Internal consistency (game and story/world) (3) Great pacing (steamless gameplay) (4) Player control/power (5) Little to no downtime (6) Little to no enforced cutscenes/otherwise (7) Little to no visible signposting (8) Great art style (9) Clear pathways (gameplay visibility) (10) Player competition/trackers (11) Personal best trackers/metrics (12) Great worldbuilding (13) Great storytelling (typically means fairly simple, iconic, archetypal) (14) Great characters/avatars (15) Clear UI design (16) Great atmosphere ('world-feel' is a better term for this) (17) Great soundscape and soundtrack (18) Great progression system Maybe there are other items, too. But, these are the main ones, and most of them are required for a well-functioning game and gameplay experience. Everything wants to be layered and synced up to a whole, greater than the individual parts. If you cannot make great voice acting, don't have any. If you cannot have great dialogue and allow it to flow seamlessly, don't have any. That would be my advice, greatly informed by great games and devs of the past, such as Crash Bandicoot (1996) and Naughty Dog. Some great games break a few of these rules in order to make their game/story/setting work or as artistic choices, but they mostly adhere to them. I also think it's unwise to enforce replayability or include filler for no real narrative and gameplay reason. Never force extra duration/playtime. Good level design is also vital and requires many of the items above. I'd also suggest that some kind of post-100% completionist content is always good, but must be optional to the base game (i.e. from opening to end credits). Clearly, there are slightly different rules for single-player compared with online multiplayer games. What I wrote here is just the bedrock of universally good game design and player experiences. From there, you alter things to fit the exact genre, platform, medium, type, and purpose.
Arkham Knight and City are the games I've replayed the most. Just can't get enough of the stealth and fighting in those games, definately some of the best ever!
@@OreganoParsleyBro Marvel's Spider-Man is a game i completed 100% at least 8 to 9 times, and i've played that game 18 times Rdr2 is a game i've played multiple playthroughs (i probably played the game 16 times) and i almost completed 100% a few times, but u hate sime of the side content.
Persona 4 Golden is easily that game that I wish I could forget so that I could experience it again. The story is truly captivating, the mechanics are fun, the characters are VERY memorable, and it is really immersive. Also extremely long... it took me 80 hours to do my first playthrough with the "True Ending". I truly loved it and wish that I could experience it for the first time again. Great video!
I just started playing it yesterday and assumed it would only be like 10 hours. I'm glad that I now know it doesn't, and also it means that getting it for like 8 dollars was a complete steal
a perfect example of a really re-playable game for me is subnautica, i always seem to be drawn back to it because of how much is kept intentionally mysterious and unknown, i think outer wilds is similar in that. also amazing video :)
subnautica for me was always only halfway replayable. with every new save i would pick a new spot somewhere on the ocean floor to make a base and challenge myself with the different environments, but once you get underground it becomes very samey. for me, subnautica is only replayable in the early and midgame.
@@topnotchindeed1536 Exactly this. The early and mid-game are unique, as you are exploring environments, finding life pods and degasi bases. Having your hope lost by seeing the sunbeam explode. The late game though, that is where it slows down a ton. Specifically when you get to the sea emperor. Having to backtrack and find all those tedious herbs is very annoying the first time, and every other time it just becomes an annoying thing to remember to bring with you. Getting yourself cured and going to the GUN is fun, but that is where it stops for me. Having to find all the recourses to make the rocket after all that is very annoying, and this is the point I usually end my runs. Perhaps a multiplayer mode would make it more fun, because then you can operate the cyclops the way it was intended and explore together, which would be fun to do.
idk man i found the game very boring after like 10 or so hours when i realized there was no real end goal and you couldnt even fight stuff. playing the game for the first time was real fun though but i just wish there was more to do
@@kouriier6112 the game literally has an ending. the game definitely has an end goal. theres a whole plot. the fighting thing i can understand, but subnautica just isnt that type of game. the whole theme is meant to build off fear and helplessness. you are a small very tasty man in a big ocean of very hungry fish
Before I watch the video, I want to say that the beauty of replaying a game is like watching a movie or re-reading a book. You get to notice things you didn't notice before and try different playstyles that you didnt before. In the process you would ideally understand why like a game or hate it.
You're absolutely spot on with the replayability of Co-op games. Black ops 3 zombies is an example of this. Playing it with a friend, or even randoms, never gets old.
God I love Obra Dinn so much. It was so so much fun and it made me so happy. Lucas Pope understands something so intrinsic about games even when he makes them on his own, it's amazing. Massive accomplishment on his part 💕
If you liked Return of the Obra Dinn, you should check out The Case of the Golden Idol. Very similar game that I personally like just as much. Wish I could experience both of them again for the first time lol
It's funny you used Little Nightmares as the example in the intro of a game you didn't feel the urge to replay. Little Nightmares is even shorter than RE7 at about 3 hours, but I have put over 20 hours into exploring that world, finding all the collectables, getting the 1 hour speedrun achievement, etc. It's one of my favorites of all time. Really goes to show how personal preference shifts our desire to replay a game.
you have to be a really deeply bored person to be able to replay a linear single player game that is almost completely based on narrative, with barely any gameplay in it
@AfaroX8 Because no one ever rewatches movies? Reexperiencing a piece of art is to better appreciate all the details you missed and to just enjoy it all over again. I'd say mindlessly churning through matches in a multi-player game is far less taxing.
You put it perfectly- there's a ton of games I've played over my time growing up and sprinkling into my ever growing roster, but there is only a handful I get that 'I would do anything to play that for the first time'. Subnautica, Borderlands 2, and the first Telltale TWD game were those for me. The idea of discovery, and how it resonates in these sorts of games for me, is almost palpable. Its such a great feeling, and I love how you described it. :) Awesome job dude.
Deltarune Chapter 2 was a game I KNEW I would never get back, and I took my sweet time with it and enjoyed about every bit of it That was my best blind gaming experience ever
what a well structured video! sometimes when i finish playing a game that i really liked, i perform a self lobotomy on the temporal lobe of my brain just so i can experience it again!
The Outer Wilds is my favorite game of all time, hands down. It randomly pops into my head and I hear the music. Can, and sometimes does, bring me to tears. I randomly played it after seeing it was leaving game pass a few years ago and figured "why not?" and then I spent the next week playing ONLY that game. If I could wipe my memory and play that game with a fresh mind, I would. 1000% yes. I could have spent $500 and it would have been worth it. That game is the best of the best and I genuinely don't see anything topping that experience, ever.
I think this is actually my problem with TotK. I have so many hours in BotW, I've replayed it so many times, but upon beating TotK, I didn't feel any urge to replay it. There was nothing that I wanted to do after I beat the game. It just felt so empty.
I think most people would have if it came out first, but most people have already seen every square inch of the world so the desire to explore just isn’t there for the most part
@@cato3277yes, totk did not live up to what botw set up for me. It was amazing, sure, but botw was amazing aswell and surely a sequel to one of the best open world games should have more to offer, go even further. Not this, excess of shrines, excess of copy paste islands, boring one biome underworld and the stupid story telling method of encasing the whole plot in a box that you can only peer into through a window rather than engage in all of those memories. There’s just such an excess of things to do that I can’t imagine i’d ever want to do it again. Hell, the game repeats itself so much in exploration that just exploring the game itself is as though you’re replaying sections due to how similar they can get. If a majority of the game was in the sky rather than the reused map, I’d like it a lot more, its such a backwards way of designing a game to blow through the best sky island immediately in the tutorial and forget about the sky afterwards. and to hell with the whole underworld, what a lazy way of padding out the game, and misuse of material and effort.
The thing in this video that he didn’t mention very much about is how rogue likes/ rogue lites have so much replay ability because of the amount of content able to be discovered and chosen from games like binding of Isaac or enter the gungen
This is an incredibly well articulated, grounded, and true take! Well done Tihshoo. This video was entertaining, but truthful. Funny, yet engaging. Easy sub, keep up the excellent work.
Yo I just came back to this video and realized it was what got me playing Outer Wilds and Obra din Thank you so much for making this video that was a hell of an experience I won't ever forget.
Despite the visuals being well made, this script feels less like an essay and more like listening to someone go on a tangent. I don't even think you answered your own question of "why does replay value matter?"
I find it soo interesting that you brought up little nightmares as a game you had no will to replay because personally I have played both games multiple times, really shows that people have different ticks
the quarry is one of these games for me. its not a perfect game by any means, but I was so captivated by the story and the way it functions means there is so much to replay. I've already replayed it so much not only to beat the achievement but to find new ways to tell the story or find things I missed. its so great. love the video!
I find it really difficult to replay games. It will never be more enjoyable or surprise you in the same way the first playthrough was not knowing what was coming ahead. If I do replay a game, it's normally years after my initial playthrough when there's a chance I've forgotten some information. I wish I could just hit the new game option after watching the credits roll.
I think that The Beginner's Guide ties together the "one time experience" and the "I want to replay it again" experience in a great way because of how the game's ending changes your whole view.
I like to replay Dishonored games a lot the game offers so a lot of content even though the campaign is not that long and the fact that you can approach any missions in different ways is what really makes me keep replaying it.
In my opinion, even games with low replay value can be replayed quite a lot. It all comes down to how much you manage to fall in love with the game. I'll use life is strange one as an example here, as it's one of my all time favorite games. It has an amazing story, no doubt, but only two endings. There is really not too much of a reason to come back other than possibly getting all the achivements, or seeing a new dialouge option or two, but that's it. Even so, I find myself coming back to it time and time again, due to just how much I adore the word and it's characters. It has become one of my comfort games, one which I often find myself playing after a long day, despite me already seeing everything there is to see. TL;DR For some games, replayability doesn’t matter as much as the game making you fall in love with the world and it's characters, because it's often those games you find yourself coming back to, just to be a part of that world once again.
I love the phrase you used "all of the discoveries I made were my own", it is really true, I felt so connected with these worlds that I didnt even realize that even tho these discoveries were scripted and the way to use the knowledge too they felt so real and made so much sense! so much detail and it feels like you are truly free even tho you are not
I was thinking why this video was recommended to me. I don't even like replaying games. Then you mentioned Outer Wilds and Return if the Obra Dinn 😄 For this type of games, I found that watching blind playthroughs is their version of replayability. I never watched people play games before, but I have now watched literal dozens of Outer Wilds playthrough 😆 You'd be surprised how thrilling when the player is about discover or realize something and how much you can learn/discover more about the game.
I LOVE doing that as well ^^ That's one of my favourite (and first XD) things to do after I finish a game that feels really special to me, I seek out and watch a ton of playthroughs on RUclips and watch my favourite parts (or just the whole playthrough, sometimes, like with Half-Life 1 and 2, with Mapocolops!) And I love getting super excited WITH those people again, as if we're kind of experiencing the game blind together, in a way, or I'm watching them play through it for the first time (which I guess is true XD)! But so I totally getcha, 100%! ^^
For me, Outer Wilds does have a sort of replayability that involves the same idea of multiplayer games like lethal company in a strange way. One of my favorite parts of OW is that you can invite your friends to play it with you watching, which allows for connections between you. I have watched 8 playthroughs (not including youtubers/streamers, shout out Jermas playthrough) and all of them were unique and different, and all of them left us more connected than we had been. So, moral of the story is i fucking love Outer Wilds lol. Also props to you for not even spoiling what/who you see in the very beginning of OW, one of my favorite moments of watching peoples playthroughs is the "wait we're/we have ____?!?!" and I fucking love it.
Can confirm the replayability of Titanfall 2 I'm part of a discord group that gets together and plays a few times a week and myself and many of the core members have 3000+ hours and we're not bored yet.
One game that I wish I could experience all over again is Control. The worldbuilding and art design hooked me and drove me to learn about and explore the lore. Control has limited replayability, but that's fine. It was a phenomenal one-and-done experience.
I really feel like Control doesn't get enough credit for it's gameplay. It's so satisfying and I can't wait for the sequel. Also the all the notes in the game, are actually really interesting and funny to read. The lore goes so crazy.
8:57 I like how you described the non-replayable games, the Talos Principle game series instantly came to my mind when you said "it's a mentally rewarding experience", which is my favorite puzzle game series. Really good perspective.
seeing the credits roll on outer wilds was extremely heart breaking, i started crying because i realized i could never experience the game the same way again.
2:06 Cry of Fear is one of those games that I'll probably never play again, but it was a great experience the one time I played it through. It's probably my favorite "mod" of all time.
I haven't got round to playing it, but Chants of Senaar seems like another one of those knowledge-driven games. I'd recommend checking that out if you're looking for another Outer Wilds/Return of the Obra Dinn experience, cause it's on the top of my wishlist.
7:57 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors on the DS is that game for me. I've waited 14 years trying to forget enough of it so that I could reasonably replay it and... I just can't. It's seared into my brain like it was done with a branding iron and perhaps it always will be.
@@anima94 Honestly not so much. I do remember enough of the plot that it'd not be the same for me, but my problem with VLR is that it's deliberately left with an unfinished ending that's intended to lead straight into the sequel, which itself turned out a bit disappointing.
@@KCzz15 oh yeah I hate that about it as well. Thankfully I was spared the sequel since my friend already told me it was so bad that people play it ironicly
@@anima94 Your friend was exaggerating slash lying. The sequel wasn't amazing, definitely didn't live up to the first two games, but I'd give it like 70/100 sort of rating. On its own it's acceptable, I'd assume he was just angry at it for it not being an 11/10 amazing conclusion to the whole thing.
This is an excellent video, part of the reason why i love replaying sonic games is that theyre pretty much designed for replayability Always wanting to get faster times in levels after numerous attempts
Amazing video! popped up in my recommended and until the end I thought I was watching a massive youtube channel only to find out you have < 1000 subs (which is a really big compliment). I'm staying for more content from you.
The dimension of strategy, like in R6 Siege, Age of Empires, Baldur's Gate 3, and the Paradox series I think creates the most replayability of any game
can’t believe you didn’t mention portal 2, it’s the perfect mix of not replay able at all but also so incredibly replay able because all you have to do is wait long enough between playthroughs that you don’t remember how to solve the puzzles again. then the story is compelling yet simple enough to be enjoyed every time. I have played portal 2 proabably 6 or 7 times because each time i waited several years to play it again and it was almost as new as the very first time i played it. Truly a perfect video game in my eyes
Gaming phases brother. One day you wanna play Satisfactory after a straight week, the next you moving off to ASTRONEER, or osu!, or even Minecraft. Phases are the best part of gaming, and I'm some other people get that. (Also I recommend trying Modded Portal 2. It's insanely fun or challenging.)
Portal has always been replayable to me even though I don't forget the puzzles because I enjoy the story and atmosphere enough and I like mastering them, especially the first one. I played Portal over and over again as a kid, and for a while I could never beat it, but now I can speedrun it in like 20 minutes, and sometimes when I'm bored I do exactly that because it's still satisfying for me to be able to do it
I absolutely love games that I can only play once. Outer Wilds was a whole experience that I loved every minute. Another great example is Tunic. That game is another game that uses your knowledge as a feature, and it's great.
just beat outer wilds for the first time today, started it a couple days ago, and WOW. im the type of person to 100 percent a game, so exploring the whole universe and finding all the logs/story was awesome. The whole ending sequence gave me chills, music and all. hoping the DLC is just as good. Loved this video as well
Initial reception is great to have but you need someone to be able to go back through multiple times and still have a refreshed experience. It's why I LOVED RE4 Remake's replayability, you could do a lot of things much like in RE7 but there was A LOT more to do that didn't just feel like "just one more stupid challenge to get 100%"
My favorite types of games are ones where you can explore pretty much every inch of the map and even after hundreds of hours still find something new. Metroidvanias and open-world types of games are some of my favorites because you get to do what you want in the order you like, story-based games going from point A to point B without any deviation is great when the story isn't a drag, but I feel like they tend to have the least replay value, you might pick up on hints you missed the first time, but that's really about it. With metroidvanias and open world games you can become intimately familiar with the layout of the world, and on replays map out your route of what you want to collect first and try a different order each time. On an unrelated note, what kind of hamburgers are you eating that have breadcrumbs and eggs? I thought you were going to say something like cheese or some sort of condiment.
One of the games that I feel like I couldn't fully complete, was Omori. It felt like the final ending I got was so satisfying that I really didn't want to restart it again, all that time connecting with the characters and helping deal with Omori's struggles made it feel like, I'd do something wrong if I where to reset everything. While silly in retrospect these are just characters in a video game after all, it shows how a game can be unreplayable even with the fact how there's a lot of things to "finish" per say. An ending so satisfying you don't want to play anymore, and feel like it will taint the original run sorta unreplayanlity.
Exactly how I felt. I know there is tons of content in the omori-route, but I don't care. This game depressed the sh%& out of me, I got the good ending, I'm fine. Undertale teached me a lesson on how i don't need to see everything lol.
this is me on bioware games, they allow you to "put down" / intentionally do accidental death your party, but it's hard to do with how well the characters are written, so i just kept being a good person and do their loyalty mission as they want to be, the final nail on the coffin with their save importing tech, if you have a dead party member that is crucial to the plot, someone will replace it, and it's probably for the worse or for the best, which you can also "put down" it aswell lol. there is also 3 specific ways of playing the game that ends with your character getting offed, not allowing you to import the save into the next game, one is funny, one that might happen if you don't play the game the right way, one that if you do nothing, it gives you a pre-rendered cutscenes of the doomed future
Didn't play Omori but I have play(ed) Oneshot, so I know what is to want to play more but not being able. But on Oneshot, that is for the better I guess.
The alternate route is actually built off that. It's meant to be unsatisfying because the main differences only show up at the end of the game and are little more than extra useless loot, a few bonus boss fights, mini-games, or extra Black Space rooms.
I genuinely think this video is very well made, and the view to subscriber ratio shows how much effort/skill it took to make this. It didn't feel like a video from someone who used to have 1k subs. Nice!
what a brilliantly put together video! I know you didnt ask us this, but you did mention that some people wish they could wipe their memory and play a game for the first time again. Experience it for the first time again. For me, its a game franchise rather than one specific game, and it's The Last Of Us, parts 1 and 2. Those are beautifully well put together games. The story in the last of us 1 and 2 are just so tragically beautiful. The way you see Joel slowly opening up to Ellie as you progress through the first game and become a father to her. The way you see Ellie still, deep down, loved Joel, even if he hurt her in the worst way she personally could imagine. I also really love the space flashback scene in the second game, as well as the guitar scene's in it. And the giraffe scene in the first game is just so damn beautiful
Saw the title and knew I'd need to leave a comment! Great video, you really start to get at the heart of what makes a game "replayable"- the mechanics need to be fun to engage with, and needs to have multiple ways of going about tackling it's challenges. I literally paid 89 cents for Downwell on steam, and I have 40 hours in it- Ito took many runs for me to clear, and I have still gone back and played again just because the game is fun. Roguelike mechanics can be hit or miss, but a well-crafted Roguelike can be incredibly simple as long as it has solid mechanics. PS: The game I wish I could play again for the first time is Persona 3. You just can't experience a story for the first time twice, but if I could, it would be Persona 3.
Every time someone gushes about Persona, all I can think is "how the hell does anyone put up with all of these insufferable characters in a game that actively punishes the player for not engaging with their bullshit?"
Firewatch is one of my favorite games. It's linear, story based, so it doesn't have much gameplay or replayability, but the EXPERIENCE is what makes it so replayable to ME. The soundtrack, the cheesy, pure dialogue, the visuals are just 10/10
cyberpunk was the same for me i loved the world the characters the story etc that i did every ending the DLC the base game brought every car apartment did every ncpd side quests got every achievement and felt sad that i did everything i never wanted to leave but sadly theres nothing else to do
I know exactly what you mean. It's one of those games i would really enjoy having endless amount of content. Empty, slightly depressed and a gut punch, that's what it feels to be done with the game. Might've helped adding some sort of end game activities and content combined with new game + although at this point it won't happen.
I wish I could experience Resident Evil 8 for the first time again. Nothing will ever be as memorable as the doll house. I went in so confident and even commented to my screen that I was gonna clap the puppet when the lights came back on. Then they took my weapons away
the "one game id like to wipe my memory of and replay once again" for me would be abzu, the whole game can be played in less than an hour- but my first playthrough took me over 4 hours. i explored everything i could and during sad moments i stayed there and cried, its my favourite game of all time and having replayed it probably 5 times now whenever id show it to friends its still amazing, but nothing beats the first time i launched and finished it
"I think that every single person has at least one game they wish they could just wipe their memory, and play for the first time again." 10:03 This is a feeling that every person who has ever touched a "great" video game before can relate too.
Exactly. I love asking people that question too because its a testament to how unique and individual every person is. I have 3: bloodborne, shadow of the colossus, and little nightmares
not always. For example I love hollow knight, but if I could, I would never want my knowledge of it (and my skill) to get wiped, it is a really hard game and there was a lot of struggle to complete it, it was very satisfying, but I’d rather know that I did it then start again and have to do it all again
huh, I guess Ocarina of Time, the Soulsborne games, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Starfox 64, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Doom, Final Fantasy, Mario 3, and countless others aren't "great" games. Learn something new every day.
Hate to be one trapped in 2011, but Skyrim would be that game that i always come back to. Either me doing a new or old build. Or creating a stupid backstory or rules for me to follow. I always seem to end up back on that carriage torwards what should be an ill awaited fate.
I always come back to Skyrim after a few months, I really want to find a replacement but there are no games that give me the same excitement, I hope for TES 6
Oneshot is one of the best games with no replay value I’ve seen. It’s a puzzle game with an amazing story, and the fourth wall breaks in it are amazing
So true, sadly i don't think I'll ever experience the final because it broke for me when playing in linux, and i feel like it would be too much of a chore to go back, amazing experience thom
I loved this video! I can tell you put effort into this content. You earned a new subscriber :) One thing that I experienced is the annoyance of wanting to replay a game but being held back by things such as unskippable tutorials, cutscenes or progress locked mechanics. One game that comes to mind is Monster Hunter World, which I loved playing and most certainly want to play through again, but having to watch the whole introduction sequence and follow the tedious tutorials keeps me from doing it. I think developers should account for replayability in these scenarios, but maybe I'm just nitpicking at this point lol. Keep up the good work boss
You are a fantastic writer. I watch a lot of gaming content, I mean a lot. This was one of the first videos I've seen of yours, but if you keep this up you'll easily be the next Joseph Anderson or Karl Jobst
I've always hated when people are asked "If you could erase your memory of one game so you could play it blind again, which would it be?" and their answer is always just some conventionally good/popular game instead of something that actually makes sense like Return of the Obra Dinn. Because that game was not only a masterpiece of an experience, but one that can LITERALLY only be had once, and I would genuinely kill to get that feeling again just one time.
Ok, but games like RDR2 is only experienced best through the first play through. And I don’t understand what is wrong with wanting to play something popular again? Not everyone played Return of cobra or whatever.
I think one thing that should be mentioned when it comes to this topic is how any game can have infinite replayability if you love it enough. Wether it’s the 5 hour calming puzzle game or the 150 hour jrpg, if you love the game enough you’ll probably want to play it over and over, for example I have a about 500-600 hours in cyberpunk as it’s one of my favourite games but realistically all the replayability it has as a game with different story choices or build variety you can probably get through in like 3-4 playthroughs yet I couldn’t bring myself to stop playing it. When a game truly captures you like that, it can be played one or a million times.
so true. i'm in the assassin's creed community and the amount of people that just keep replaying the games, even the non-RPG ones, which can be said to be shorter and more linear in story, is incredible. They do runs and reruns of the story or single missions just to try different things, approaches and equipment, to study and discover new mechanics altogether or simply for the pleasure of it. Whenever I see that kind of determination and love anywhere to me it's honestly just a gigantic source of inspiration and respect
Thanks for 1000 subs everyone. You may not know it, but I appreciate you all greatly.
Edit: 2k now. Only up from here. Also if you're wondering if I changed the title, I did. I thought it better suits the structure of the video.
2k by new years?
Much appreciated, good lad
you should try out oneshot
Actually, 2k+
@@Skycatz Should also try Morrowind.
My dad played all of resident evil 7 vr until the end boss without sprinting not because of a challenge but because he didn’t know he could sprint as he unbinded the button by accident lol. He spend hours in the final boss walking and getting soft locked until he finally found a video about the fight and his face when he realised he could sprint this entire time was priceless.
that sounds both hilarious and rage inducing
Skill issue
@@buckyhurdle4776whopper whopper whopper whopper double whopper chicken whopper. This is your ip address and im coming for you.🔥
Bro would be super mad if he unlocked the walking shoes. An item that ware to boost how he always played is ultimately useless if you just press one button and don't get hit
@@buckyhurdle4776- so true
Outer Wilds is a great example of how a rather short game with 0 fluff and replayability can be better than any huge AAA project. Literally the best gaming experience of my life.
My goodness, I almost thought you said Outer *WORLDS*
I played outer worlds thinking it was outer Wilds saying what’s all the hype about, almost missed out on the experience
@@Joe-my6go right? Hate the fact Outer WORLDS exists, I feel like a lot of people make this mistake or have missed out on the game, because of the name.
I wouldn’t say outer wilds is that repayable as it’s easy to finish in like 20 minutes once you’ve figured out all the puzzles in your first playthrough and it doesn’t hit the same on subsequent playthroughs. Great game though.
@@random-chickenz I said that it had 0 replayability.
a good game isn't always replayable, but makes you wish you could it experience for the first time again.
Like a movie!
why is this a discription that seems to fit Skyrim very well? I honestly wish I never touched that game a second time.
skylanders giants is the game i replay the most, i love the story (despite how simple it is) and each level has something unique about it. there's also a lot of collectables and bonus content, and a lot of characters you can play around with to level up and to experience each fight in a different way thanks to their different attacks. ive even started speedrunning it, which im surprised you didnt bring up as a factor in replayability- if the controls handle well and there are multiple ways to get through each area, there tends to be a huge community of people who do speedruns and challenges within the game (though popularity and length of the game in general is also a factor)
i wish i could replay that game but alas i sold all my skylanders after trap team
I also replay Giants often. Of all the Skylanders games, it’s definitely the one I play the most.
9:31 As a game developer, I truly appreciate that "There's always room for one more good game" line. That's a great quote
Resident Evil as a whole is a series that is known and really excels in replayability.
Yeah. I have replayed Resident Evil 4 (Remake and OG) multiple times over for vastly different reasons. I play the OG for it's comedy and funniest while for the Remake I like to replay the village fight over and over again just to see what I could have done better. The two games are (in a way) vastly different from gameplay perspectives but still very fun and awesome
@@CaptainKillroy yeah i think re4 is the most replayable of the saga cuz the mercs, and ada missions do really add some hours to the game
@-sxd-yt-3705 I'd also want to add that both RE4s have good modability, which further enhances their replayability. In RE4R, there is a spring and dodge mod, which along with mod that increases difficulty can turn re4 more action oriented or horror oriented
RE4 is the only game I've attempted speedruns because I played it so many times over and over I needed something new to do.
what defines a game's quality isn't how replayable/unreplayable it is, what actually defines it's quality is how much you replay your experience in your head.
Exactly right.
Basically how memorable it is. But replay ability can help with that although it’s not a sole factor
I don't think these are opposites. Because if it doesn't have any replayability then I won't bother replaying the experience in my head either.
@@pandaman1331 replayability helps but isnt a sole factor imo
Perfectly said
Really enjoyed this video essay. Keep it up 😶🌫
Im going to touch you
what did you get from the christmas case
does it jiggle
Installing Fempyro is an admission of degeneracy in it's purest form.
furry
I'm currently on my third playthrough of Fallout New Vegas. Man, I love that game.
Im on my 20th😂
Only third gotta bump those numbers up 😩
@@fireflyrx1966 based
Outer wilds always had an infinite amount of a different kind of replay value to me, because even 2 years after playing it, it still fascinated my brain, and i think about it multiple times a day. A game that can do that has more replay value any huge rpg.
Very true. Playtime wasn't very long, but it kept replaying in my mind a long time after.
honestly another source of replay value for outer wilds is to just fly around and chill out and shit
i open outer wilds frequently usually just to dick around with the game and find little quirks and bugs with the physics or see how quickly i can fill out the flight log
Low standards. Also wanting to play a game again is not replay value.
I love outer wilds but i dont see where the replayavility in it, it's a mystery and once you know the secrets of that universe you know the mystery.
Outer Wilds is a great example of the kind of game which you willingly have a shady doctor in a back alley whose office is hidden behind a dumpster and 7 locks on their door intentionally induce severe amnesia to forget about outer wilds just to play it again
where's this back alley? asking for myself.
Where is this man? Asking for a friend. And his friend. And me.
Then you have to remember somehow to go play it.
@@aarepelaa1142 tattoo "PLAY OUTER WILDS" on your face before the amnesia treatment
I think if you do enough drugs you can have the same effect of wiping your memory off but I'm not sure whether you will be able to move the character
One thing that makes even the simplest games replayable is the mods. Surely, mods can also get out of date and the game is dead, but human beings always want to try something new after all.
Quality over quantity. I think replayable games are the best ones, even if they have only like 10 hours worth of gameplay. I remember replaying Arkham Asylum back in the day around 20 times at least. I think the games that make you come back for more even after beating them, are the best ones.
Agreed.
Arkham Asylum was one of the only games i ever frequently replayed back in the day
god of war 2018 and ragnarök i have about 800 hours in both games combined, having played through them 8 or 9 times
Any hack'n'slash to me, Bayonetta and Devil May Cry have a lot of replayability value to me.
I’d rather have no replayability and a great game than some replayability and a mediocre game
TellTale games are an example of Unreplayable Replayable games.
The stories end the exact same way every time, no matter what you do, with only menial differences. However, they're still a blast to go through purely because of how many possible dialogue branches you can go through.
Telltale games is a big scam, this is coming from telltale lovers that already played nearly all of their games
They knew all of their games doesn't have meaning choices, literally everything leads to the same conclusion, even their "different endings" like in Walking Dead S2 is a scam because it doesn't matter, prologue for Walking Dead S3 makes that different ending obsolete
compared to other choice driven games like Detroit where you can accidentally kill your main character, your playtrough and other playtrough can have literally different story, etc.
I still loves telltales games and still waiting for wolf among us s2, but this is just my critism. and yeah, like you said, their game has no replayability at all, of course you can replay it if you already forgot all of the story, but if you just finished the game, there's absolutely no reason why you would replay it again immediately (except if you're achievement hunter)
the long cutscenes kill the replayability for me, i rlly like how ghost of tshushima new game+ alows cutscene skip same with tlou2 makes it much more replayable
the said games are "meh"
Telltale could never afford to make the games anything like Supermassive games their budget was too low but they made up for the illusion of choice by making a good story and became successful because people enjoyed watching others reactions to the story in playthroughs, there was only ever a handful of choices that actually mattered or changed things not enough to grant a second or third playthrough and so on
@@soundrogue4472I've only ever seen TWD and Wolf Among us which were definitely better than just "meh" the only issue with TWD was season 3 was essentially a filler storyline and season 2 suffered from a strike that was happening at the time
What kind of burgers are you eating that have breadcrumbs in them
Bread Burger
i was thinking this exact same thing 😂
If you put breadcrumbs in your burger patty it keeps it together better especially if u freeze them for half an hour before you cook them on the grill, trust
I make mine out of beef
@@JoshJr98 As do most sane individuals
For me this type of game would be Deep Rock Galactic, the sheer amount of builds you could use, cave generations you can play in and enemy/mutator compositions is just incredible. At the time of writing this comment i have around a 1500 hours and is not even close to getting boring. ( Additionally the community of DRG is so friendly i just dont want to stop )
rock and stone
@@supersharkboiii ROCK AND STONE, YEEEAAHHHH!
ROCK AND ROLL AND STONE!
DID I HEAR A ROCK & STONE?
ROCK AND STONE YEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH
I've replayed every uncharted game so many times that I've memorised the conversations in every cutscene.
I love that saga.
same hahaha
Same. Except 1, that game isn’t very fun.
@@SaberRexZealot specially the jet ski part, that part gave me dark souls type of frustration the first time I played it. Everything else is fine for me.
when uncharted 4 released i played The Nathan Drake Collection then finished my marathon with uncharted 4 what a saga i couldn't play any Single-player game after it for 6 months
+ i hate people who don't play the first game
@@MegaOzmozdude the first game is good for a playthrough but wouldnt wanna replay it as much as the other 3
For me , I never replayed any of my games, because I always used to think that after beating the final boss, there is nothing left to do
That's kinda how it felt for me after finishing high school
Some games are like that.
Others have so much variety in its level design or gameplay, or the core loop is so fun that people actually feel compelled to go back to them.
Played more than 100 games in my life time and i think i have more hours of gameplay than sleep 😂 and iam like that. Only games i was able to replay where rdr2 and elden ring.
I usually lose the drive to play the games after beating them, most of the time, as well. So that is why I learned to take my time instead of chasing the ending prematurely
Played through the Halo games (Bungie's) hundreds of times each simply because the moment to moment gameplay is so engaging and unique. Good, fun gameplay is all you really need to be replayable.
Grew up on halo but now I can barely play it since I played it so much
halo 4 was the first one i played, its far from the best but beating it for the first time on legendary was something else
I replayed halo reach hundreds of times
I loved that game so much
halo games are soo addicting
This is actually called the 'core gameplay loop' unless something else is going on. In the case of Halo, I think it's the core gameplay loop coupled with great functionality and worldbuilding and storytelling and music, so it just feels good and immersive. This is simply known as 'atmosphere'. Halo 3 comes to mind. It's very coherent and tight and well-made. It's almost flawless, the way all the elements come together to create a whole.
Technically, there are a few elements that make a game great (and likely replayable):
(1) Great core gameplay loop (another term might be 'game-feel')
(2) Internal consistency (game and story/world)
(3) Great pacing (steamless gameplay)
(4) Player control/power
(5) Little to no downtime
(6) Little to no enforced cutscenes/otherwise
(7) Little to no visible signposting
(8) Great art style
(9) Clear pathways (gameplay visibility)
(10) Player competition/trackers
(11) Personal best trackers/metrics
(12) Great worldbuilding
(13) Great storytelling (typically means fairly simple, iconic, archetypal)
(14) Great characters/avatars
(15) Clear UI design
(16) Great atmosphere ('world-feel' is a better term for this)
(17) Great soundscape and soundtrack
(18) Great progression system
Maybe there are other items, too. But, these are the main ones, and most of them are required for a well-functioning game and gameplay experience. Everything wants to be layered and synced up to a whole, greater than the individual parts. If you cannot make great voice acting, don't have any. If you cannot have great dialogue and allow it to flow seamlessly, don't have any. That would be my advice, greatly informed by great games and devs of the past, such as Crash Bandicoot (1996) and Naughty Dog.
Some great games break a few of these rules in order to make their game/story/setting work or as artistic choices, but they mostly adhere to them. I also think it's unwise to enforce replayability or include filler for no real narrative and gameplay reason. Never force extra duration/playtime. Good level design is also vital and requires many of the items above. I'd also suggest that some kind of post-100% completionist content is always good, but must be optional to the base game (i.e. from opening to end credits).
Clearly, there are slightly different rules for single-player compared with online multiplayer games. What I wrote here is just the bedrock of universally good game design and player experiences. From there, you alter things to fit the exact genre, platform, medium, type, and purpose.
Arkham Knight and City are the games I've replayed the most. Just can't get enough of the stealth and fighting in those games, definately some of the best ever!
Spider-Man, Battlefront 2, The Arkham games. The most I replay any game.
Same. Dumped hundreds of hours in those games; and getting to add skins on PC made them even more replayable
Arkham, Spider-Man, and rockstar games like red dead 1/2 for me.
Same
@@OreganoParsleyBro Marvel's Spider-Man is a game i completed 100% at least 8 to 9 times, and i've played that game 18 times
Rdr2 is a game i've played multiple playthroughs (i probably played the game 16 times) and i almost completed 100% a few times, but u hate sime of the side content.
Persona 4 Golden is easily that game that I wish I could forget so that I could experience it again. The story is truly captivating, the mechanics are fun, the characters are VERY memorable, and it is really immersive. Also extremely long... it took me 80 hours to do my first playthrough with the "True Ending". I truly loved it and wish that I could experience it for the first time again. Great video!
I just started playing it yesterday and assumed it would only be like 10 hours. I'm glad that I now know it doesn't, and also it means that getting it for like 8 dollars was a complete steal
a perfect example of a really re-playable game for me is subnautica, i always seem to be drawn back to it because of how much is kept intentionally mysterious and unknown, i think outer wilds is similar in that. also amazing video :)
subnautica for me was always only halfway replayable.
with every new save i would pick a new spot somewhere on the ocean floor to make a base and challenge myself with the different environments, but once you get underground it becomes very samey.
for me, subnautica is only replayable in the early and midgame.
@@topnotchindeed1536 Exactly this. The early and mid-game are unique, as you are exploring environments, finding life pods and degasi bases. Having your hope lost by seeing the sunbeam explode. The late game though, that is where it slows down a ton. Specifically when you get to the sea emperor. Having to backtrack and find all those tedious herbs is very annoying the first time, and every other time it just becomes an annoying thing to remember to bring with you. Getting yourself cured and going to the GUN is fun, but that is where it stops for me. Having to find all the recourses to make the rocket after all that is very annoying, and this is the point I usually end my runs. Perhaps a multiplayer mode would make it more fun, because then you can operate the cyclops the way it was intended and explore together, which would be fun to do.
idk man i found the game very boring after like 10 or so hours when i realized there was no real end goal and you couldnt even fight stuff. playing the game for the first time was real fun though but i just wish there was more to do
@@kouriier6112 the game literally has an ending. the game definitely has an end goal. theres a whole plot.
the fighting thing i can understand, but subnautica just isnt that type of game. the whole theme is meant to build off fear and helplessness. you are a small very tasty man in a big ocean of very hungry fish
Subnautica is awesome
Before I watch the video, I want to say that the beauty of replaying a game is like watching a movie or re-reading a book. You get to notice things you didn't notice before and try different playstyles that you didnt before. In the process you would ideally understand why like a game or hate it.
E
You're absolutely spot on with the replayability of Co-op games. Black ops 3 zombies is an example of this. Playing it with a friend, or even randoms, never gets old.
God I love Obra Dinn so much. It was so so much fun and it made me so happy. Lucas Pope understands something so intrinsic about games even when he makes them on his own, it's amazing. Massive accomplishment on his part 💕
If you liked Return of the Obra Dinn, you should check out The Case of the Golden Idol. Very similar game that I personally like just as much. Wish I could experience both of them again for the first time lol
The Metro Series is definitely something I'd love to experience again, can't wait for the new game to release sometime soon.
Deep Silver announced a fourth game?
There’s another one coming?!
@@JingMitsuyamaCH its in a playable state!! look it up, we may be seeing it at gamescom in july :)
I'm pretty sure it's mentioned on the devs' website
Huh when did they announce another one
It's funny you used Little Nightmares as the example in the intro of a game you didn't feel the urge to replay. Little Nightmares is even shorter than RE7 at about 3 hours, but I have put over 20 hours into exploring that world, finding all the collectables, getting the 1 hour speedrun achievement, etc. It's one of my favorites of all time.
Really goes to show how personal preference shifts our desire to replay a game.
Little Nightmares 1 and 2 are my two most replayed games, somehow. I think I've played through LN1 6 times or so and LN2 like 8 times.
you have to be a really deeply bored person to be able to replay a linear single player game that is almost completely based on narrative, with barely any gameplay in it
@@AfaroX8 Not really, actually. It's one of the most fun games for me to replay.
@AfaroX8 Because no one ever rewatches movies? Reexperiencing a piece of art is to better appreciate all the details you missed and to just enjoy it all over again. I'd say mindlessly churning through matches in a multi-player game is far less taxing.
You put it perfectly- there's a ton of games I've played over my time growing up and sprinkling into my ever growing roster, but there is only a handful I get that 'I would do anything to play that for the first time'. Subnautica, Borderlands 2, and the first Telltale TWD game were those for me. The idea of discovery, and how it resonates in these sorts of games for me, is almost palpable. Its such a great feeling, and I love how you described it. :) Awesome job dude.
Deltarune Chapter 2 was a game I KNEW I would never get back, and I took my sweet time with it and enjoyed about every bit of it
That was my best blind gaming experience ever
what a well structured video! sometimes when i finish playing a game that i really liked, i perform a self lobotomy on the temporal lobe of my brain just so i can experience it again!
so relatable😭😭😭😭
Skyrim pulling me back in yet again for another week:
The Outer Wilds is my favorite game of all time, hands down. It randomly pops into my head and I hear the music. Can, and sometimes does, bring me to tears.
I randomly played it after seeing it was leaving game pass a few years ago and figured "why not?" and then I spent the next week playing ONLY that game.
If I could wipe my memory and play that game with a fresh mind, I would. 1000% yes. I could have spent $500 and it would have been worth it. That game is the best of the best and I genuinely don't see anything topping that experience, ever.
Just outer wilds, no "the". There is another game called the outer worlds which you would not want to associate with in any way.
well damn.... maybe I should play it
It was perhaps the most boring game I've played in the past several years. To each their own. I found it insufferable.
@@r0xjo0 you're the minority
I think this is actually my problem with TotK. I have so many hours in BotW, I've replayed it so many times, but upon beating TotK, I didn't feel any urge to replay it. There was nothing that I wanted to do after I beat the game. It just felt so empty.
Same here. It’s so weird because I thought I’d be playing it as much as botw if not more
I think most people would have if it came out first, but most people have already seen every square inch of the world so the desire to explore just isn’t there for the most part
BoTW’s world has a magic that Tears just didn’t recapture for me.
@@cato3277yes, totk did not live up to what botw set up for me. It was amazing, sure, but botw was amazing aswell and surely a sequel to one of the best open world games should have more to offer, go even further. Not this, excess of shrines, excess of copy paste islands, boring one biome underworld and the stupid story telling method of encasing the whole plot in a box that you can only peer into through a window rather than engage in all of those memories. There’s just such an excess of things to do that I can’t imagine i’d ever want to do it again. Hell, the game repeats itself so much in exploration that just exploring the game itself is as though you’re replaying sections due to how similar they can get. If a majority of the game was in the sky rather than the reused map, I’d like it a lot more, its such a backwards way of designing a game to blow through the best sky island immediately in the tutorial and forget about the sky afterwards. and to hell with the whole underworld, what a lazy way of padding out the game, and misuse of material and effort.
yap session@@adomali87yearsago.71
The thing in this video that he didn’t mention very much about is how rogue likes/ rogue lites have so much replay ability because of the amount of content able to be discovered and chosen from games like binding of Isaac or enter the gungen
This is an incredibly well articulated, grounded, and true take! Well done Tihshoo. This video was entertaining, but truthful. Funny, yet engaging. Easy sub, keep up the excellent work.
E
What burgers is this guy eating
Like what the actual fuck - breadcrumbs and eggs?
@@bigguschungus968those are common binders in burgers.
@@bigguschungus968egg with burger is good
@@bigguschungus968it’s not a topping, you put them in the ground beef when making the patties to avoid them falling apart
Yo I just came back to this video and realized it was what got me playing Outer Wilds and Obra din
Thank you so much for making this video that was a hell of an experience I won't ever forget.
Despite the visuals being well made, this script feels less like an essay and more like listening to someone go on a tangent. I don't even think you answered your own question of "why does replay value matter?"
Thanks for this. I thought I was going crazy listening to this for a second.
Thanks for the comment. Title has been changed to better suit the structure of the video after I saw some reception.
I find it soo interesting that you brought up little nightmares as a game you had no will to replay because personally I have played both games multiple times, really shows that people have different ticks
Yeah I’ve played little nightmares 1 and 2 SO MANY TIMES it’s actually insane
@@thegrandatm1844 ew
@@mihaimercenarul7467 what?
fr every now and again i'll pick it up again and have a blast
@@mihaimercenarul7467 df
This guys gonna make it far, this content is clean, comentary and arguments are sound, its nice.
the quarry is one of these games for me. its not a perfect game by any means, but I was so captivated by the story and the way it functions means there is so much to replay. I've already replayed it so much not only to beat the achievement but to find new ways to tell the story or find things I missed. its so great. love the video!
I find it really difficult to replay games. It will never be more enjoyable or surprise you in the same way the first playthrough was not knowing what was coming ahead. If I do replay a game, it's normally years after my initial playthrough when there's a chance I've forgotten some information. I wish I could just hit the new game option after watching the credits roll.
I think that The Beginner's Guide ties together the "one time experience" and the "I want to replay it again" experience in a great way because of how the game's ending changes your whole view.
100%
I like to replay Dishonored games a lot the game offers so a lot of content even though the campaign is not that long and the fact that you can approach any missions in different ways is what really makes me keep replaying it.
In my opinion, even games with low replay value can be replayed quite a lot. It all comes down to how much you manage to fall in love with the game. I'll use life is strange one as an example here, as it's one of my all time favorite games. It has an amazing story, no doubt, but only two endings. There is really not too much of a reason to come back other than possibly getting all the achivements, or seeing a new dialouge option or two, but that's it. Even so, I find myself coming back to it time and time again, due to just how much I adore the word and it's characters. It has become one of my comfort games, one which I often find myself playing after a long day, despite me already seeing everything there is to see.
TL;DR
For some games, replayability doesn’t matter as much as the game making you fall in love with the world and it's characters, because it's often those games you find yourself coming back to, just to be a part of that world once again.
I love the phrase you used "all of the discoveries I made were my own", it is really true, I felt so connected with these worlds that I didnt even realize that even tho these discoveries were scripted and the way to use the knowledge too they felt so real and made so much sense! so much detail and it feels like you are truly free even tho you are not
I was thinking why this video was recommended to me. I don't even like replaying games. Then you mentioned Outer Wilds and Return if the Obra Dinn 😄 For this type of games, I found that watching blind playthroughs is their version of replayability. I never watched people play games before, but I have now watched literal dozens of Outer Wilds playthrough 😆 You'd be surprised how thrilling when the player is about discover or realize something and how much you can learn/discover more about the game.
I LOVE doing that as well ^^ That's one of my favourite (and first XD) things to do after I finish a game that feels really special to me, I seek out and watch a ton of playthroughs on RUclips and watch my favourite parts (or just the whole playthrough, sometimes, like with Half-Life 1 and 2, with Mapocolops!)
And I love getting super excited WITH those people again, as if we're kind of experiencing the game blind together, in a way, or I'm watching them play through it for the first time (which I guess is true XD)!
But so I totally getcha, 100%! ^^
Perhaps call it "vicarious replayability".
For me, Outer Wilds does have a sort of replayability that involves the same idea of multiplayer games like lethal company in a strange way. One of my favorite parts of OW is that you can invite your friends to play it with you watching, which allows for connections between you. I have watched 8 playthroughs (not including youtubers/streamers, shout out Jermas playthrough) and all of them were unique and different, and all of them left us more connected than we had been. So, moral of the story is i fucking love Outer Wilds lol. Also props to you for not even spoiling what/who you see in the very beginning of OW, one of my favorite moments of watching peoples playthroughs is the "wait we're/we have ____?!?!" and I fucking love it.
Can confirm the replayability of Titanfall 2 I'm part of a discord group that gets together and plays a few times a week and myself and many of the core members have 3000+ hours and we're not bored yet.
One game that I wish I could experience all over again is Control. The worldbuilding and art design hooked me and drove me to learn about and explore the lore. Control has limited replayability, but that's fine. It was a phenomenal one-and-done experience.
The one part I want to replay the most for the first time is the Ash Tray Maze
@@carlosjosephgomez1495 Same here. That maze with song is dope af.
If you haven't played it yet, i really suggest Returnal
I really feel like Control doesn't get enough credit for it's gameplay. It's so satisfying and I can't wait for the sequel. Also the all the notes in the game, are actually really interesting and funny to read. The lore goes so crazy.
Yep, I played through the Xs version just to play it again. Remedy has a really special IP with it. I hope they do it justice.
8:57 I like how you described the non-replayable games, the Talos Principle game series instantly came to my mind when you said "it's a mentally rewarding experience", which is my favorite puzzle game series. Really good perspective.
seeing the credits roll on outer wilds was extremely heart breaking, i started crying because i realized i could never experience the game the same way again.
The Yakuza franchise is what got me hooked on playing a game multiple times for trophy hunting, fun challenges, and introducing the game to friends.
2:06 Cry of Fear is one of those games that I'll probably never play again, but it was a great experience the one time I played it through. It's probably my favorite "mod" of all time.
I haven't got round to playing it, but Chants of Senaar seems like another one of those knowledge-driven games. I'd recommend checking that out if you're looking for another Outer Wilds/Return of the Obra Dinn experience, cause it's on the top of my wishlist.
Strong agree, Its not replayable
7:57
999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors on the DS is that game for me. I've waited 14 years trying to forget enough of it so that I could reasonably replay it and... I just can't. It's seared into my brain like it was done with a branding iron and perhaps it always will be.
E
same for virtue's last reward?
@@anima94
Honestly not so much. I do remember enough of the plot that it'd not be the same for me, but my problem with VLR is that it's deliberately left with an unfinished ending that's intended to lead straight into the sequel, which itself turned out a bit disappointing.
@@KCzz15 oh yeah I hate that about it as well. Thankfully I was spared the sequel since my friend already told me it was so bad that people play it ironicly
@@anima94
Your friend was exaggerating slash lying. The sequel wasn't amazing, definitely didn't live up to the first two games, but I'd give it like 70/100 sort of rating. On its own it's acceptable, I'd assume he was just angry at it for it not being an 11/10 amazing conclusion to the whole thing.
This is an excellent video, part of the reason why i love replaying sonic games is that theyre pretty much designed for replayability
Always wanting to get faster times in levels after numerous attempts
Outer wilds is infinitely repayable for me because for the life of me I can’t figure out how to beat it
Amazing video! popped up in my recommended and until the end I thought I was watching a massive youtube channel only to find out you have < 1000 subs (which is a really big compliment). I'm staying for more content from you.
someone get this guy some publicity, this video is amazing. keep it up, you'll do great
The dimension of strategy, like in R6 Siege, Age of Empires, Baldur's Gate 3, and the Paradox series I think creates the most replayability of any game
Yes
Strategy especially against unpredictable challenges creates interesting scenarios.
can’t believe you didn’t mention portal 2, it’s the perfect mix of not replay able at all but also so incredibly replay able because all you have to do is wait long enough between playthroughs that you don’t remember how to solve the puzzles again. then the story is compelling yet simple enough to be enjoyed every time. I have played portal 2 proabably 6 or 7 times because each time i waited several years to play it again and it was almost as new as the very first time i played it. Truly a perfect video game in my eyes
Good point!
Gaming phases brother. One day you wanna play Satisfactory after a straight week, the next you moving off to ASTRONEER, or osu!, or even Minecraft. Phases are the best part of gaming, and I'm some other people get that. (Also I recommend trying Modded Portal 2. It's insanely fun or challenging.)
Portal has always been replayable to me even though I don't forget the puzzles because I enjoy the story and atmosphere enough and I like mastering them, especially the first one. I played Portal over and over again as a kid, and for a while I could never beat it, but now I can speedrun it in like 20 minutes, and sometimes when I'm bored I do exactly that because it's still satisfying for me to be able to do it
I absolutely love games that I can only play once. Outer Wilds was a whole experience that I loved every minute. Another great example is Tunic. That game is another game that uses your knowledge as a feature, and it's great.
This is a good ass video. It’s insane how good the production value of small youtubers has gotten.
enter the gungeon and TF2 mentioned. Goated taste
and celeste too 😩 The one game I would wipe my memory to play again is far cry 3
I feel compelled to let people know that I know that's Guppy from Mario Galaxy at 1:04.
just beat outer wilds for the first time today, started it a couple days ago, and WOW. im the type of person to 100 percent a game, so exploring the whole universe and finding all the logs/story was awesome. The whole ending sequence gave me chills, music and all. hoping the DLC is just as good. Loved this video as well
Initial reception is great to have but you need someone to be able to go back through multiple times and still have a refreshed experience. It's why I LOVED RE4 Remake's replayability, you could do a lot of things much like in RE7 but there was A LOT more to do that didn't just feel like "just one more stupid challenge to get 100%"
I absolutely loved this video. Only after did I notice how small your channel was. Amazing video for a channel that is your size!
My favorite types of games are ones where you can explore pretty much every inch of the map and even after hundreds of hours still find something new. Metroidvanias and open-world types of games are some of my favorites because you get to do what you want in the order you like, story-based games going from point A to point B without any deviation is great when the story isn't a drag, but I feel like they tend to have the least replay value, you might pick up on hints you missed the first time, but that's really about it. With metroidvanias and open world games you can become intimately familiar with the layout of the world, and on replays map out your route of what you want to collect first and try a different order each time. On an unrelated note, what kind of hamburgers are you eating that have breadcrumbs and eggs? I thought you were going to say something like cheese or some sort of condiment.
this tishoohead is thanking santa for this upload
One of the games that I feel like I couldn't fully complete, was Omori. It felt like the final ending I got was so satisfying that I really didn't want to restart it again, all that time connecting with the characters and helping deal with Omori's struggles made it feel like, I'd do something wrong if I where to reset everything.
While silly in retrospect these are just characters in a video game after all, it shows how a game can be unreplayable even with the fact how there's a lot of things to "finish" per say.
An ending so satisfying you don't want to play anymore, and feel like it will taint the original run sorta unreplayanlity.
Exactly how I felt. I know there is tons of content in the omori-route, but I don't care. This game depressed the sh%& out of me, I got the good ending, I'm fine. Undertale teached me a lesson on how i don't need to see everything lol.
this is me on bioware games, they allow you to "put down" / intentionally do accidental death your party, but it's hard to do with how well the characters are written, so i just kept being a good person and do their loyalty mission as they want to be, the final nail on the coffin with their save importing tech, if you have a dead party member that is crucial to the plot, someone will replace it, and it's probably for the worse or for the best, which you can also "put down" it aswell lol.
there is also 3 specific ways of playing the game that ends with your character getting offed, not allowing you to import the save into the next game, one is funny, one that might happen if you don't play the game the right way, one that if you do nothing, it gives you a pre-rendered cutscenes of the doomed future
Didn't play Omori but I have play(ed) Oneshot, so I know what is to want to play more but not being able. But on Oneshot, that is for the better I guess.
The alternate route is actually built off that. It's meant to be unsatisfying because the main differences only show up at the end of the game and are little more than extra useless loot, a few bonus boss fights, mini-games, or extra Black Space rooms.
I genuinely think this video is very well made, and the view to subscriber ratio shows how much effort/skill it took to make this. It didn't feel like a video from someone who used to have 1k subs. Nice!
I don't think linear games are bad as long as you have different options to play through the levels
replayability doesnt automatically make a game good, and not being replayable doesnt automatically make a game bad
what a brilliantly put together video! I know you didnt ask us this, but you did mention that some people wish they could wipe their memory and play a game for the first time again. Experience it for the first time again. For me, its a game franchise rather than one specific game, and it's The Last Of Us, parts 1 and 2. Those are beautifully well put together games. The story in the last of us 1 and 2 are just so tragically beautiful. The way you see Joel slowly opening up to Ellie as you progress through the first game and become a father to her. The way you see Ellie still, deep down, loved Joel, even if he hurt her in the worst way she personally could imagine. I also really love the space flashback scene in the second game, as well as the guitar scene's in it. And the giraffe scene in the first game is just so damn beautiful
Saw the title and knew I'd need to leave a comment! Great video, you really start to get at the heart of what makes a game "replayable"- the mechanics need to be fun to engage with, and needs to have multiple ways of going about tackling it's challenges. I literally paid 89 cents for Downwell on steam, and I have 40 hours in it- Ito took many runs for me to clear, and I have still gone back and played again just because the game is fun. Roguelike mechanics can be hit or miss, but a well-crafted Roguelike can be incredibly simple as long as it has solid mechanics.
PS: The game I wish I could play again for the first time is Persona 3. You just can't experience a story for the first time twice, but if I could, it would be Persona 3.
Every time someone gushes about Persona, all I can think is "how the hell does anyone put up with all of these insufferable characters in a game that actively punishes the player for not engaging with their bullshit?"
I love Kingdom Hearts, even now after 20 years of playing it.... but man, do I wish I could experience that game for the first time again
This vid is actually so well done, well said, edited nicely, GG bro. Couldn’t agree more
Firewatch is one of my favorite games. It's linear, story based, so it doesn't have much gameplay or replayability, but the EXPERIENCE is what makes it so replayable to ME.
The soundtrack, the cheesy, pure dialogue, the visuals are just 10/10
just played it a few days ago, great game!
Game genuinely made me feel that fear and paranoia, also the fact that you build a bond with a person you never get to see..
Good discussion of the topic, emphasizes the important parts of Replay Value without just saying 'infinite replay good xDDD'
I never knew why I just couldn’t get myself to play games over again even when I LOVED them like a lot they just weren’t the same after the first play
Breadcrumbs and eggs inside a burger? My brother in christ you were eating a meatloaf sandwich not a hamburger.
I love eggs bacon ham sausage beef burgers yum 😂
cyberpunk was the same for me i loved the world the characters the story etc that i did every ending the DLC the base game brought every car apartment did every ncpd side quests got every achievement and felt sad that i did everything i never wanted to leave but sadly theres nothing else to do
I know exactly what you mean. It's one of those games i would really enjoy having endless amount of content. Empty, slightly depressed and a gut punch, that's what it feels to be done with the game. Might've helped adding some sort of end game activities and content combined with new game + although at this point it won't happen.
New playthrough, new build.
@@CoralCopperHeadbut what after once you play every possible build? Lol
If your on pc mod it
I wish I could experience Resident Evil 8 for the first time again. Nothing will ever be as memorable as the doll house. I went in so confident and even commented to my screen that I was gonna clap the puppet when the lights came back on. Then they took my weapons away
the "one game id like to wipe my memory of and replay once again" for me would be abzu, the whole game can be played in less than an hour- but my first playthrough took me over 4 hours. i explored everything i could and during sad moments i stayed there and cried, its my favourite game of all time and having replayed it probably 5 times now whenever id show it to friends its still amazing, but nothing beats the first time i launched and finished it
Journey, it’s made by the same people
Mine would either be Skyrim or RDR2
"I think that every single person has at least one game they wish they could just wipe their memory, and play for the first time again." 10:03
This is a feeling that every person who has ever touched a "great" video game before can relate too.
Exactly. I love asking people that question too because its a testament to how unique and individual every person is. I have 3: bloodborne, shadow of the colossus, and little nightmares
MGS2
not always. For example I love hollow knight, but if I could, I would never want my knowledge of it (and my skill) to get wiped, it is a really hard game and there was a lot of struggle to complete it, it was very satisfying, but I’d rather know that I did it then start again and have to do it all again
huh, I guess Ocarina of Time, the Soulsborne games, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Starfox 64, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Doom, Final Fantasy, Mario 3, and countless others aren't "great" games. Learn something new every day.
Hell yeah I crave for something like Outer Wilds. I have been blown away by the sense of discovery, learning. It's so good.
1:26 idk what kind of hamburgers this guy eating 🤣
Hate to be one trapped in 2011, but Skyrim would be that game that i always come back to. Either me doing a new or old build. Or creating a stupid backstory or rules for me to follow. I always seem to end up back on that carriage torwards what should be an ill awaited fate.
*Coughs in Morrowind*
I always come back to Skyrim after a few months, I really want to find a replacement but there are no games that give me the same excitement, I hope for TES 6
@@CoralCopperHead yeah get the ash out of your throat you n'wah
@@CoralCopperHead yeah especially with all the ash
Star fox 64 is my replay-able master piece. I wish I could see how much time I spent on the wii just playing that.
bro just wanted to flex the games he 100 percented lmao
Jokes on you all, I endlessly replay non replayable games.
tunic, what remains of edith finch, the witness, inscryption and more, you just need to know how to search..
Oneshot is one of the best games with no replay value I’ve seen. It’s a puzzle game with an amazing story, and the fourth wall breaks in it are amazing
So true, sadly i don't think I'll ever experience the final because it broke for me when playing in linux, and i feel like it would be too much of a chore to go back, amazing experience thom
Welp. I guess now the fourth wall breaks can't take me by surprise like they did you. So that sucks.
@@ronnieradon Don’t worry, the fourth wall is removed in the first five minutes of the game, so I didn’t spoil much
I loved this video! I can tell you put effort into this content. You earned a new subscriber :)
One thing that I experienced is the annoyance of wanting to replay a game but being held back by things such as unskippable tutorials, cutscenes or progress locked mechanics. One game that comes to mind is Monster Hunter World, which I loved playing and most certainly want to play through again, but having to watch the whole introduction sequence and follow the tedious tutorials keeps me from doing it. I think developers should account for replayability in these scenarios, but maybe I'm just nitpicking at this point lol. Keep up the good work boss
Somehow didn't expect to see my goat Outer Wilds appear in this. Glad to see others appreciate it
You are a fantastic writer. I watch a lot of gaming content, I mean a lot. This was one of the first videos I've seen of yours, but if you keep this up you'll easily be the next Joseph Anderson or Karl Jobst
I've always hated when people are asked "If you could erase your memory of one game so you could play it blind again, which would it be?" and their answer is always just some conventionally good/popular game instead of something that actually makes sense like Return of the Obra Dinn. Because that game was not only a masterpiece of an experience, but one that can LITERALLY only be had once, and I would genuinely kill to get that feeling again just one time.
oh the things id do to play botw for the first time again
@@migafishh what is botw
@@ex2dxpi breath of the wild, a Zelda game for the wii and nintendo switch line of consoles
I guess a lot of mystery games is a decent example.
Ok, but games like RDR2 is only experienced best through the first play through. And I don’t understand what is wrong with wanting to play something popular again? Not everyone played Return of cobra or whatever.
I've replayed God of War 2018 6 times and even got the platinum trophy but I still find myself wanting to start a new playthrough every so often
I think one thing that should be mentioned when it comes to this topic is how any game can have infinite replayability if you love it enough. Wether it’s the 5 hour calming puzzle game or the 150 hour jrpg, if you love the game enough you’ll probably want to play it over and over, for example I have a about 500-600 hours in cyberpunk as it’s one of my favourite games but realistically all the replayability it has as a game with different story choices or build variety you can probably get through in like 3-4 playthroughs yet I couldn’t bring myself to stop playing it. When a game truly captures you like that, it can be played one or a million times.
cyberpunk is great because its immersive
Thats how I am with A.R.K, in singleplayer the gameplay loop is pretty much the same no matter what but I still dropped 800 hours into it
so true. i'm in the assassin's creed community and the amount of people that just keep replaying the games, even the non-RPG ones, which can be said to be shorter and more linear in story, is incredible. They do runs and reruns of the story or single missions just to try different things, approaches and equipment, to study and discover new mechanics altogether or simply for the pleasure of it.
Whenever I see that kind of determination and love anywhere to me it's honestly just a gigantic source of inspiration and respect