Everyone has games that they’ve played and beaten multiple times. There are games that just stick with you. Maybe they’re a favorite from childhood, maybe it was a surprising experience in your adult years, but there’s no denying that games, like any other art form, leave impressions on us as players. There are games that I know every nook and cranny of, but there’s no substitution for that first-time experience. Here are three games I wish I could play again for the first time!
Psychonauts
Psychonauts, released in 2005 by Double Fine Productions is a game that was destined to be a cult hit from the moment of its release. Critically lauded at the time, the game was a commercial failure at the time of launch but found life on Steam and GOG later.
The copy of Psychonauts I played on was borrowed from a high school friend for the original Xbox. It was like nothing I’d ever played before. At the time, maybe around 2007, most of the games I was playing were shooters, and a lot of retro titles on my NES and Nintendo 64, so I didn’t have a conception that a game like Psychonauts could exist; fluent, funny, heartfelt, and a blast to play and explore.
I can remember waiting for my friend to get to school just so I could talk to him about the game as I completed it that first week, and I do mean completed. In that week after he loaned me the game, I had gotten everything, even all the fiddly little figments that littered each stage like so many neon signs. Psychonauts is a game that I can remember every song from, every line of dialogue, every secret area.
From exploring Camp Whispering Rocks to the Thorney Towers asylum and all the mental worlds in-between, Psychonauts is a game that gorges the player with catchy, memorable music, unique visuals, and genuine adventure. What a blast it would be to go through it all again for the first time.