Why play a new game when you can always replay an old favourite? Whether it's because you're hooked on the combat, in love with the characters, want to relive the story, or just pure nostalgia, there are certain games that keep us coming back, back, and back again. Here are some picks from TheGamer's editors.
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
Andy Kelly, Features Editor
I play through the original Broken Sword at least once a year. It's a comfort game. Pure cosiness. I know it inside out—every joke, every location, every puzzle solution—but I still enjoy it every time I play it. Some say there's no such thing as a perfect game, but Broken Sword comes pretty close. The art, the voice acting, the story, the humour, the music—all wonderful. George Stobbart is one of the greatest video game characters of all time. I love getting rowdy in the Irish pub and causing trouble with Lady Piermont in the Hotel Ubu. I don't even mind the goat puzzle. Man, I might go replay it right now.
The Witcher 3
Justin Reeve, News Editor
I come back to The Witcher 3 almost every single year. Since the game was released in 2015, this means that I’ve played it something like seven times now. I remember playing the game for the first time like it was yesterday. When I saw the credits roll, I didn’t want to leave the game world, so I just started over from the beginning. Something about the Northern Kingdoms and Skellige in particular keeps me coming back over and over again. You might think that I’d make different quest decisions or try a new combat style, but for some reason I wind up playing the game in exactly the same way every time. Go figure.
Dark Souls
James Troughton, News/Photo Editor
Don’t ask which because I’ve replayed every Soulsborne so much I’ve lost count. FromSoftware games have a steep learning curve and an entry wall so tough it’d keep David Copperfield out, but once you finally crack the code and get into rhythm, they’re cathartic. It’s become therapeutic to dive back in and conquer Boletaria, Lordran, Drangleic, Lothric, and Yharnam over and over again. The sweaty little mushroom men can’t even stop me. They’re limitless in replay value with a seemingly infinite number of builds and challenge runs. Beating Dark Souls 2 with a ladle or Demon’s Souls without sorcery was a fun way to keep me on my toes, and the still-giving well that YouTubers and streamers continue to pull from proves as much.
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
Stacey Henley, Editor-in-Chief
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped is the best platformer of all time. Better than Spyro 2, better than Rayman Legends, better than any Mario or Sonic game. I’ve played the whole thing to 100 percent completion (actually 105 percent) on the original PlayStation, then again on both the Xbox One and PS4 when the N. Trilogy came out. That’s just three playthroughs, which doesn’t seem like that many, but I’ve played on my completed saves for hours upon hours, retrying levels until I can beat them without losing lifes, shaving seconds off my relic times, and messing around with different routes. Mostly I just play my favourite levels over and over again to relax, because if I wasted my time with something like a book I’d never be able to turn that into juicy content.
Pokemon Sword & Shield
Ben Sledge, Features Editor
Assuming we’re not talking live service (I ‘replay’ Apex Legends and FIFA hundreds of times a month in that case), my go-to relax-and-replay game is Pokemon Sword & Shield. Whether it’s hatching eggs to breed competitive monsters, battling strangers using new strategies, or hunting for shinies, Sword & Shield is the one. The story’s a bit linear and very easy, but I’ve replayed that with Nuzlocke rules or single-type parties to make my own fun there, too. Impressive as Legends: Arceus is, it doesn’t lend itself to replayability, and the less said about Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl the better. I’ll play Sword & Shield until Gen 9 releases and I can transfer my boxes of shinies over, but the hundreds of hours I’ve spent in Galar will be with me forever.
Halo: Combat Evolved
Amanda Hurych, Evergreen Content Lead
I’ve replayed all the Halo campaigns multiple times (yes, including Halo 5, unfortunately), but Combat Evolved is the one I have returned to the most. There’s something almost relaxing about exploring the ring for “the first time” over and over. And even with particularly slog-filled missions like The Library, I can’t help loving the routine. Playing through Halo CE with a friend just heightens the replayability factor. No two people are alike, so while one of my friends might be an absolute try-hard, rushing ahead of me with a rocket launcher and a shotgun, another will be more sedate, checking corners and holding on to their Magnum pistol for the entire game. Master Chief’s original adventure has aged to perfection, and I have yet to tire of visiting Installation 04 time and time again.
The Sims 4
Helen Ashcroft, Evergreen Editor
The Sims is my one true gaming love, and I’ve racked up hours upon hours directing the lives of simulated people and causing all kinds of chaos. There are so many different ways to play that the game brings me back in over and over. These days I mostly build, since it’s incredibly relaxing and The Sims 4 has the most intuitive building system in the series. However, there are so so many other options that whatever my mood I can find a way to play that fits my needs. I am ready for The Sims 5 though, so bring it on already!
Metal Gear Solid 2
Lu-Hai Liang, News Editor
Hideo Kojima’s sequel to Metal Gear Solid was a hugely anticipated game for the PS2. When it arrived it seemed to transform what console games could do and say. Gosh, the memories. The game was also jam-packed with secrets and easter eggs, which invited players to endlessly explore its many nooks and crannies. That, combined with the mini-game of collecting dog tags from soldiers, gave MGS2 a lot of replayability value. Once you’d collected enough dog tags, you could turn invisible, which made the game even more ridiculous and fun, which meant further re-plays. What a game.
No Man’s Sky
David W. Duffy, Evergreen Editor
It’d be too easy for me to say Final Fantasy VII here, but I was reminded yesterday of just how many save files I have for No Man’s Sky. They’re all new games, and it dawned on me that I’m addicted to the process of making it - starting from scratch and getting to that point where you have all the inventory slots, all the resources you could ever need, and all the tools to start making bank and hitting an arbitrary billion credits. And yet, I’ve not ‘completed’ it, not reached the centre of my starting galaxy, and never finished building a proper base. Wouldn’t change anything for the world universe, though.
Fallout 3
Jade King, Lead Features Editor
Fallout 3 was the first game I played on my PS3. It was before I had a HD display, meaning I delved into Bethesda’s nuclear RPG on a dusty old CRT that electrocuted my fingers whenever I dared touch the screen. Despite these less than optimal conditions I was swallowed up by the Capital Wasteland and taken away on an adventure that I’d revisit time and time again over the years. While I’ve come to view it in a different light nowadays, it doesn’t change the fact that I spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours in this world, so much so that I can replay entire quests just by closing my eyes and picturing them. Few games have inspired that level of imagination in me, marking Fallout 3 as something truly special.
Mirror’s Edge
Joe Parlock, TCG Specialist
Though I’ve always been casually interested in speedrunning, it wasn’t until Mirror’s Edge where it turned into an obsession. The first-person parkour game is only about seven hours long to play normally, but after perfecting the routes and a few smart glitches you can push that down to well under an hour. For a good few years nailing that run was my entire life’s purpose: I knew every shortcut, every physics engine quirk, and easily over one thousand playthroughs later, I still have the game ingrained into my muscle memory. I even had a world record for one of the time trial levels from the DLC, albeit very briefly. No other parkour-centric game has come close to matching its sense of weight and physicality, nor its pristine and vibrant aesthetic. Not even the later attempt at a reboot, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst - which, in comparison, I’ve only played once.
Fallout 3
Issy van der Velde, News & Evergreen Editor
Unlike Jade, I didn’t get to experience Fallout 3 on a CRT, which sounds like an aesthetically phenomenal experience. I had the original version of the game, my first ever Bethesda title, and poured hours into it. I loved the world and how lonely and isolated it all felt. When the game of the year edition came out with all the DLC installed, I begged my mum to buy me that tooand started it all over again. Since then I’ve replayed it more times than I can count. Trying to speedrun it, roleplay it, and everything in between. It’s bleak world is one of the best there is in gaming, and the moment you step out into it will be burned into my memory forever.