Right now, my three favorite games are Breath of the Wild, Shadow of the Colossus and Outer
Wilds. These three titles, while different in many ways, have a fair bit in common; they
all feature expansive and gorgeous worlds to explore, they all give many opportunities
for players to reflect on what they’re playing, and they all present interesting mysteries
to untangle both big and small. And really, all of that ties into what I think is the
most important thing the three have in common which is that after finishing each for the
first time I kinda felt like I could never really play them again.
And that’s largely because these three games all center around the core mechanic of discovery.
Whether it be seeing something amazing for the first time or solving a puzzle by connecting
various bits of information picked up along the journey, or figuring out the best and
most epic way to handle a threat, these games center around the sense of gratification that
comes from uncovering something for the first time. These kinds of moments aren’t about
mastery; they’re simply about figuring something out. However, the downside of discovery being
the core mechanic of a game is that players can’t really discover the same thing twice.That’s
not to say that these titles don’t have any value on a second playthrough. Breath
of the Wild has a ton of engaging systems to interact with and such a massive map that
I still uncover new stuff every time I jump into it; Similarly Shadow of the Colossus
also has more to explore than anyone could feasibly do in just one playthrough, and the
various mysteries around its world led a portion of the fanbase to spend years assuming there
must be one last secret to uncover, even though one wasn’t actually there; and revisiting
Outer Wilds after finishing the game brings a fair amount of context to the story, so
going back with a better understanding brings new depth to the messages spread across the
solar system, but these playthroughs always feel different. They don’t have that same
rush of excitement from finally figuring something out. It’s more about trying to recapture
old joy instead of finding something new.
Once a player learns how to take out a colossus, chances are that information will stick with
them, so fighting that colossus for again makes it more about execution than critical
thinking, which eliminates one of the major challenges of the game. The same can be said
for Outer Wilds, which uses player knowledge as it’s only real barrier to progression
instead of some in-game system, so once a player figures out how to get to the final
area, they can do it within 30 minutes of starting a new file. This makes exploring
the solar system for a second time more of a formality than a necessity. In the same
vein, a lot of the most engaging bits of Breath of the Wild are fueled by curiosity, so after
a player discovers what’s at the top of Lanayru Mountain or what's at the end of some
lights in the distance, that curiosity is gone, and a bit of the magic of the world
disappears with it.
And this is the wonderful and tragic thing about these games: they gave me unforgettable
experiences that I’ll never have again.
I’ve always struggled with that feeling after finishing certain games. Like, when
I beat Limbo, I was so enamored with it that whenever a friend came over, I’d have them
play through it because even though I couldn’t experience the joy of figuring things out
for the first time again, I could at least watch them do it and get some second-hand
enjoyment out of it.
There’s something about the act of uncovering a mystery that I adore, and it boils down
to the fact that games centered around discovery make me feel smart.
Despite Breath of the Wild, Shadow of the Colossus, and Outer Wilds all being labeled
as action-adventure games, at their core they kind of feel like puzzle games. Especially
Outer Wilds and Shadow of the Colossus which both center on solving challenges in order
to progress, whether that be finding how to reach the weak spot of a colossus or using
information from one planet to access a new area on another. Breath of the Wild has a
lot more going on than the other two so it is a bit harder to classify it as a puzzle
game, but when considering what sets it apart from other open-world titles, the most important
aspect is that it’s world feels like a mystery. It constantly asks players to answer tiny
questions like why are these rocks lined up like this or what do these flowers lead to.
Other open-world games typically just ask players to go to a marker in order to experience
the next bit of content.
With all three titles, the moments that stick with me most are solving those mysteries.
It's that rush of surveying a situation and figuring out how to solve it. And that’s
what good puzzle games do: make you feel smart, usually after making you feel dumb for awhile.
For me, there’s no feeling in games quite like the one I get from solving a puzzle,
and I think that’s because I am the one who is doing it. With a game like God of War,
I feel some level of accomplishment when taking out a powerful enemy because I was able to
hit the right buttons at the right time, but the reason I was able to do so is because,
Kratos, the character I’m controlling is a literal god. I’m not swinging the axe.
I’m just pressing R1. With puzzles though, the mental capacity of the character I’m
playing as doesn’t matter; it’s all on me. When I solve something, it’s my own
accomplishment. Furthermore, these kinds of challenges test skills that I use every single
day in my real life like problem solving and critical thinking, so overcoming them feels
like I’m doing more than just accomplishing something in a game. I’m strengthening a
skill I use all the time.
And I find titles that give me that feeling to be incredibly immersive, because I’m
interacting with the world and not just with a character who does all the hard work for
me. In games like The Return of the Obra Dinn or Portal, there isn’t that much of a difference
between my abilities and those of the characters I’m playing as so if I were given all of
the same tools as them, I could solve everything on my own. And that same feeling exists for
me when playing Outer Wilds, Breath of the Wild, and Shadow of the Colossus, although
there is admittedly a bit more of a disconnect with the last two as I can’t do half the
things Link can and while I am pretty sure that I am a good enough climber to get to
the top of most of the small and medium-sized colossi, I also know that I am susceptible
to over-confidence when it comes to hypothetical situations.
EIther way, each of these games provided challenges that made me feel like a participant in the
world instead of just the guy holding the controller.
It also helps that none of them really feel like puzzle games. While I love titles like
The Witness and Baba is You, I don’t get the same level of immersion while playing
them because it kind of feels like I’m just solving puzzles for the sake of solving them.
However, there’s something about riding on top of a 50 foot ancient beast or skating
along a frozen asteroid that doesn’t feel like solving a puzzle even though it is.
These games used the core mechanic of discovery to draw me in, to really become immersed.
And that made moments that could have been boring like riding to the next colossus or
climbing the side of a massive mountain or flying from one planet to the next feel important.
They gave me time to reflect on the things I had accomplished and the things I still
needed to do. And by centering everything around discovery, they actually gave me something
to reflect on. What would the next challenge be? How could I use what I’ve learned to
overcome it? Would I even be able to?
I miss that feeling. It’s so rare for me to get that invested in a game, and what’s
hard is that all of the things that make me wish I could replay them endlessly are also
the things that make it impossible for me to do so.
One of the most common talking points that comes up whether or not a game is worthwhile
is replayability. Does it have multiple paths that will incentivize players to go back and
see what would happen if they made different decisions or used a different character built?
Does it have deeply complicated and layered combat making it so players will want to playthrough
multiple times in order to master the mechanics and become a combo god?
And, those sorts of things are great for certain players. In fact, I sometimes wish those kinds
of games could be my favorite so that I could keep having fresh experiences with a game
I adore. However, they’re not, and they never will be.
With more and more games trying to meet this trend of providing hundreds of hours of content,
I hope that developers don’t feel pressured to move away from making titles that are best
played for the first time. Because as I’ve learned more about my personal tastes, it’s
become clear that a game not being all that replayable might be the exact thing that makes
me wish I could replay it.
If I had the ability to erase portions of my memory, I would start with Breath of the
Wild, Shadow of the Colossus, and Outer Wilds. Being able to experience them again for the
first time would be incredible, and that says a lot because I was super cringey in middle
school and could really do without those memories. Chances are that won’t happen though, so
I just have to learn to live with the memories of playing them for the first time and hope
that one day I play something new that makes me feel the same way.
And speaking of something new, have you heard about Raycon? Raycon, who is this video’s
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For all of you still here: thank you. I have more stuff on the way, but if you want to
keep up with me until then, I am on twitter and twitch, so consider following me on both
to listen to me babble about stuff that doesn’t matter. With that, I hope you have a great
day and/or night, and I will see you in the next one.