Games I wish I could play for the first time again

Since the days of being mercilessly beaten at Mario Kart by my older brothers, video games have occupied a central role in my life. They were my method of bonding: with my family, with friends, with strangers met over the internet on those games themselves. Since coming to university, that role has taken a backseat. Between work, essays, and a laptop severely lacking in RAM, there hasn’t been as much space to dedicate to late-night gaming sessions, or enough quiet mornings to leap out of bed and launch straight into yet another playthrough of my new favourite. Now that exams are over, it seems the perfect time to reflect on some of the games I’ve loved the most growing up, and reminisce on how perfect they were the first time around.

I’ll start with my most formative gaming memories: picking Oshawott in Pokémon Black, adventuring through the Unova region in a constant haze of childish wonder. The delight I got from catching new Pokémon hasn’t quite diminished as I’ve grown, but it’s certainly never been the same as that first playthrough. Black built the basis, along with the next game I’ll mention, for a lifelong love of the franchise and of Nintendo games, their questionable business practices aside. At the time, my inability to evenly level up my team because I loved my starter too much was frustrating, especially when I had to hand the DS to my brothers to beat Lenora for me, because only Oshawott was the same level as her team. Now, I miss the simple joy I got out of fighting with my starter with no regard for strategy, only fun.

The first time I ever got to play them was irreplaceable

The other Nintendo entry on this list is The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. This was a difficult pick: which Legend of Zelda game did I love the most at first sight? In truth, I chose Phantom Hourglass because it was my first in the franchise. It was also the game I used to spend days speedrunning instead of talking to my family on holiday one year, and perhaps my most replayed game of all time. I could have chosen Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword, or even Breath of the Wild and said similar things, but without Phantom Hourglass, I wouldn’t have fallen in love with any of them. Discovering the truth behind the world Link found himself in, solving puzzles and powering Link up to defeat whatever evil is waiting behind the boss doors – these experiences are core to The Legend of Zelda, but the first time I ever got to play them was irreplaceable.

Moving away from Nintendo, but unfortunately still to a rather well-known, clichéd pick, is the Portal games. I’m sure many people would jump at the chance to lose all their memories of these two fantastic works, and play through all of the infuriating puzzles, dry humour and dramatic final fights like new. The length of Portal 2, my forgetfulness and the vibrant personalities of GlaDOS and Wheatly keep it somewhat replayable, but ‘The Part Where He Kills You’ can only be so perfect the one time.

The sheer terror of hearing that roar for the first time can’t be matched

Horizon Zero Dawn and Subnautica are my next two picks, and I’ve chosen them for very similar reasons. They’re both lore-rich, open-world games where you have to scavenge for resources and learn what happened to the world to leave it in the state of crisis you enter. Horizon, in particular, is one game where, as in many lore-based plots, I enjoyed the early to mid-game the most. Being just as clueless as Aloy about the true nature of the Old Ones and the Machines, and being scared senseless by a mere swarm of Scrappers, can never be recreated in another playthrough. Similarly, in Subnautica, Reaper Leviathans may still spook me in the early game, but the sheer terror of hearing that roar for the first time can’t be matched. The first time merrily swimming through the caves of the Shallows, only to be suddenly blown up by a Crasher, is likewise a hilarious mistake you can only make once.

Astroneer is a game I practically grew up alongside. When I bought one of the earliest iterations of its Early Access with my Christmas money in 2018, I had no clue I would get the privilege of watching such an incredible space exploration game grow in both excellence and success. But there’s a part of me that misses the simple, goofy, and incredibly buggy early days of the game. Watching my first rover no-clip, violently shake, and suddenly fly into the atmosphere was hilarious – it started to get old when it happened the third time.

Personally, my dream would be to forget the whole game and re-enter Hallownest for the first time

My final game for this list is Hollow Knight, by the infamous Team Cherry, who had better be releasing the sequel Silksong sooner rather than later, so I can relive the first days of playing Hollow Knight as soon as possible. Exploration-focused games have been a theme in this list -they have a unique position in that they can never be quite the same a second time. While I have replayed Hollow Knight an unfortunate number of times, knowing all the secrets and what the quickest routes around Hallownest are, is a very different experience from the first playthrough. The game has potentially thousands of hours of content for the truly patient, looking to conquer the Pantheon and all the achievements. Personally, my dream would be to forget the whole game and re-enter Hallownest for the first time all over again, gasping at all the adorable bugs they want me to fight.