Your Favorite Games that You’ll Never Play Again

[T-Pac | 7,588]

Some games are an outstanding experience, but an experience best enjoyed once.

Whether that’s due to a huge time commitment, grueling difficulty, a novelty factor that can’t be replicated, etc … what games do you look back at fondly, but without any desire to revisit them?
 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,586]

Plenty of them.  Will I ever play Xenoblade 2 again, knowing that I still have the rest of the series to get to? 

Doubt I ever play Morrowind, Oblivion, or Skyrim again, knowing that ES6 will be out by the time I'm game.

Grand Theft Auto 3 swallowed a million hours of my life.  But I haven't played 5 yet.  6 is coming.  And I'd rather replay 4 or San Andreas or Vice City, or try the PSP games again.

 

[DarkTone | 988]

Ghost trick. Incredible game that not many played. 

[DefaultGen | 5,434]

Path of Exile. It’s the best, deepest, most endless action CRPG ever and the monetization is really fair (especially compared to Diablo Immortal, Lost Ark, etc.). It basically ruined my life. 

[twiztor | 855]

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

was groundbreaking and mindblowing to me back in 1998. i poured over that game and absolutely loved it. there's seemingly a zero % chance that i would appreciate it anywhere near that if i played it again now, so i'm just gonna keep my distance.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

The Mutant Virus comes to mind.  It was totally worth leaving my console on for a week straight just to knock it off, but on the flip side, it was far too much hassle to play through to completion again.  I still pop it in on occasion, but there's no reason to play beyond the first couple levels anymore (unless I get on a roll of course).

Back to the Future II & III is another good example.  I loved the game as a kid renting it, and I still enjoy it to this day.  But man, beating it is a bloody chore.  Another game that necessitated leaving my console on for an inordinate amount of time to get through it.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time on it, but I can't see myself putting that much effort into it again.

[RH | 4,970]

I'm not really into zombie-horror anymore.  I think the only games I can definitively say I thoroughly enjoyed but will never return too are Resident Evil 2 and Parasite Eve.  Amazing titles when I played them, and I know I finished PE and I think I finished RE2, but I'll never go back to them.  I might play them both for 30 minutes just to recall the game mechanic, but that's the most I'll ever do, and even that's doubtful.

There's also just about every RPG I've ever played.  They will all be lucky enough to get a boot-up and an hour or two of play, which for RPGs is never much.  Those will likely only be the true classic.  Games like Legend of Legaia, Wild Arms or Breath of Fire III were all enjoyable but are so low on the replay list, I doubt they'll ever even get booted on an emulator.

But now that I think about it, I really liked BoFIII  a lot so maybe I will check that one out again.  Hmmmm...

[glazball | 172]

World of Warcraft is the first thing that comes to mind.  Quit cold turkey and never looked back.  Great game, but such an effing timesink.

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

I can't think of anything I wouldn't go and play back. I'll never get to play Team Fortress Classic again like the old days, but there are still 2-3 servers that fill up with human players at certain times. 

[NostalgicMachine | 247]

Honestly, for me the first thought is probably Zelda Oracle of Ages/Seasons.

[Webhead123 | 687]

Borderlands 2 is a game that comes to mind. I didn't play the original but when I got sucked into the sequel, I got hooked pretty hard. However, after maybe 100 hours pouring through it and some of the DLC, I just hit a point of "been there, done that, got the t-shirt" in which I really felt like I was ready to move on. This sentiment also carried over into the rest of the games in the series. I actually bought Borderlands 3 with the full intention of playing it but after only an hour or two, I just got that feeling again and I stopped playing. Great, great game and lots of fond memories...but just something best left in the past now.

Other notables include:
Ninja Gaiden (2004)
Fable II
Mirror's Edge
Torchlight 2

[Reed Rothchild | 9,586]

Just looking at the sheer number of games I'd like to get to, the honest answer is that many of the games that I'd like to get back to... will never happen.

The Wind Waker.  Great game.  I'd like to revisit.  But will it ever be a priority?  Probably not.  Ditto for Resident Evil 4, and all the old Fallout games, and Ogre Battle, and Dragon Age, and...

[Strange | 1,701]

Off the top of my head Final Fantasy VI. Beloved game for me but I just can’t sit down and do JRPGs anymore.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

16 hours ago, Strange said:

Off the top of my head Final Fantasy VI. Beloved game for me but I just can’t sit down and do JRPGs anymore.

I was going to say RPGs in general. Besides the time involved, they just don't have much replay value for me once I've finished them.

[AstralSoul | 503]

I typically replay my favorite games from time to time and the shorter they are the more likely I am to replay them. Chances are though 100+ hour games like Breath of the Wild, Fallout 3/New Vegas/4, Elder Scrolls 3/4/5, Xenosaga, Xenoblade...I'll never play again T least fully. I can see myself jumping into Skyrim again one day just to mess around but I certainly can't see myself doing the entire game again. 

[fcgamer | 4,753]

Possibly Final Fantasy VI.

And a non favorite, but Kid Icarus. Had fun playing through it, but once was definitely enough.

[wongojack | 221]

It is hard because I end up thinking about games that I actually WANT to play but probably won't (maybe someday Dishonored).  On the other hand, it's hard to pick a game that I won't play again that I would also consider a favorite . . .

 

I could see something like Battlefield 1 perhaps meeting all the criteria, but who knows, there could be a re-release in another 8 years, and I'll log on and play again.  For something that I definitely do NOT want to play again, Metal Gear Solid fits the bill.  I like the actual gameplay, so I might dive into VR Missions, but I don't have to experience the so-called "story" ever again.

[PekoponTAS | 171]

Super Mario Galaxy 2 has always been my go to example for this. An incredible masterpiece that I've tried to revisit a few times, but just feel no need to. It was so incredible the first time that it left me completely satisfied.

The same goes for Endless Ocean, Ghost Trick, (smart choice DarkTone) Azure Dreams (GBC), Metal Walker, and Resident Evil Gaiden. These were all wonderful playthroughs that I think back on very often, but would never want to sully my memories of them with second playthroughs.

[Koopa64 | 51]

Probably Donkey Kong 64. I really enjoy it, but it's one of those "once a decade" types of games. I still haven't yet had a full urge to do the collect-a-thon again.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

A question I've asked myself a lot lately when looking at my collection on the shelf. Some games I plan on going back to, but with it being 10, 15, or 20 years since I've played them last will it ever happen again.

Breath of the Wild would be a great example recently. I doubt I'll ever go through that game again after giving it a thorough run-through.

[TDIRunner | 2,774]

When Breath of the Wild first came out, I put in around 200 hours and I completed nearly everything you could do in the game.  As much as I loved it, I thought that I might never do it again simply because it was so much to do.  However, last year the bug hit me again, and I started a brand new game and and completed everything again from scratch, even finding all korok seeds.  If you give it enough time, you can come back to any game again.

[Bighab | 58]

Starflight for the Sega Genesis. I sunk a lot of hours into this and beat it back in the day. I usually fire up and beat other favs like Warsong or Shining Force once a year or so. I tried to play Starflight again and it was just too much of a grind.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

3 hours ago, Bighab said:

Starflight for the Sega Genesis. I sunk a lot of hours into this and beat it back in the day. I usually fire up and beat other favs like Warsong or Shining Force once a year or so. I tried to play Starflight again and it was just too much of a grind.

That's a game I think every Star Trek fan should play at least once.  It's basically what every contemporary Star Trek game should have been.  But yeah, it can definitely be a slog, especially early on.  I still fire it up on occasion, but I agree that I probably won't ever beat it again.

[koifish | 561]

for me, it's Pokemon. I wasted so much of my life on those games and now I can't touch one. Even the new twist from Arceus is still too similar. Just overdid it too hard and can't go back.

Similarly, there are games I like but I think aren't worth two playthroughs, usually because the game was either heavy on story or because it was all flash and spectacle, and you wouldn't get anything out of it. Mario Galaxy comes to mind, was a fun single play but not worth replaying it.

Then there's game where I will never have a good chance. Zelda Four Swords Hero Mode is still on my GBA bucket list, but I won't ever find the time and place again to get three other people to clear it with me (to say nothing of having to drag everyone through the game to get hero keys if they don't have them already). Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is another such game, though really that's more of a "time has passed" game. It was better in its own moment than it is now I think.

And finally, there are games I will probably just never find again and so I'll never be able to play them once more. Most of these are arcade games. Prop Cycle is awesome but I only ever had brief access to a machine. Also, I have OutRun 2 at home on PC and Xbox, and I have a wheel for the former that is very arcade accurate, but nothing will ever bring back the Super Deluxe cab that I used to be able to go and play at a former GameWorks. The hydraulics, the sound, the giant screen, the racing against other outrunners, you just can't recreate that. And there are also lost flash games or small little homemade games that I just can't find or locate.

Not that you should always be able to though, there is something to be said for accepting entropy.

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

Ps2/gamecube era 3d adventure platformers come to mind. They're all mostly good, but you've played one you've played them all. Jump, attack, double jump, special move, etc. Find checkpoint, find key to exit level, watch cutscene, fight boss, watch cutscene,  repeat till game over. Tak, TMNT, iNinja, Spyro, Jak, et all. The collectathons from the era I'll come back to, but the standard adventures I'm just all set with. Only Ratchet and Clank and God of War franchises have stood the test of time in my opinion.