Yet, Nier: Automata is perhaps the biggest example of the opposite: a game worth playing through multiple times from alternate perspectives, unlocking a third playthrough upon the second's completion. Long Live the Queen is a game built to be played time and time again.
In most cases, your playthroughs end tragically, with her own death. In it, you guide a young queen through her studies and political choices after the death of her mother. I remember my time with Long Live the Queen, the Princess Maker 2 inspired visual novel-life sim, fondly.
Visual novels do the latter the most often. Some games, memorably, use repetition as a strength in encouraging repeat playthroughs, and build upon what came before it with finesse others spit in the face of repetition. They often aren't worth the time invested, especially now that you can quickly go on YouTube to catch whatever ending you missed, even if you are intrigued by the promise of a new outcome and different character interactions. In most cases, multiple playthroughs shift the dialogue and ending, a boss or so, and not much else. It's hard to make a second playthrough of a video game feel worth it. This past week, I took a break from Resident Evil 2 before diving into what I knew was said by many to be essential: the second playthrough, now as Claire. Last weekend, I finally wrapped up my first run through of it as Leon. With that new rule in place, I'm especially late in playing one big game of 2019: Resident Evil 2.Īnd oh, how I love it.
But this year, I made a New Year's resolution to not force myself to play every game that passes by. I'm always moving on from new game to new game, with little time to dive back into my backlog. See more articles like this in our Starting Screen archive. Starting Screen is our weekly column featuring news, commentary, and music to help you get over your case of the Mondays.