What are some good games with *zero* replayability?

I want to try and play some more games. That feels more fulfilling if you play games that you can finish and be done with.

So what are some good games that have zero (or close to zero perhaps) replayability? I’ll start with my own suggestions:

  • Return of the Obra Dinn: Amazing mystery/detective game. However once you’ve played it, you basically can’t play it again as you remember the solution already and the challenge of the game is trivialized.
  • Chants of Sennaar: Really great game about deciphering languages. However, once again, by playing the game once, you’ll remember the languages and the game has no challenge any more.
  • Outer Wilds: Mystery adventure game. There is some replayability as there are perhaps areas that you can still explore, but largely once you figure out the mystery and complete the game, there’s not much more to experience. Some people speedrun the game though.

All of the above games I value extremely highly even though I only played them ~8-10 hours.

Do you have any others?

jose1324,

What remains of Edith Finch Life is Strange series The beginner’s guide

supercriticalcheese,

The vanishing of Ethan carter

Mistic,

Storyteller

A short but memorable puzzle-type game where you have to put together scenes and characters to create a story. Actions in previous scenes affect how characters behave or appear in later ones.

Really liked that one, it’s fun.

JakenVeina,

Unpacking.

CharlesReed,
@CharlesReed@kbin.run avatar

Soma - This is such an amazing game, but it made me so mad that I would never play it again.

The Painscreek Killings - A really fun detective/mystery walking sim. You absolutely have to figure everything out yourself, as there is no hand-holding or hints given by the game. At all. But, like Return of the Obra Dinn, once you've figured out the mystery, there really is no sense in replaying it.

I was going to add some others before realizing I had a theme of mystery walking sims. I think that genre of games are pretty one and done kind of plays. They can be really great, but most don't give you a reason to go back and replay them, unless it's for achievements or something.

noxy,
@noxy@yiffit.net avatar

SOMA was great, but yeah, not much replayability once you know everything. Curious, tho, what about it made you mad?

CharlesReed,
@CharlesReed@kbin.run avatar

It's been a few years since I've played it, but I remember not being a fan of the female companion. To me it felt like she was just using the main character as a means to get to her goal and nothing more. I know that's an unpopular take (I've gotten into a couple light arguments over it), but I just could not stand her by the end of the game. The way she treated the MC just made the post-credits scene so angering.

noxy,
@noxy@yiffit.net avatar

That makes a lot of sense, she did have the player do some relatively fucked up stuff that he wouldn’t have wanted done to him!

But also she was right to call him a fucking idiot for repeatedly failing to understand the core concept

CharlesReed,
@CharlesReed@kbin.run avatar

Oh, yeah, don't get me wrong, he was not very smart, but she did not really help either lol

Persen,

Stray

cafuneandchill, (edited )

Out of all that I could’ve suggested, Ace Attorney series probably fits the bill the most

EDIT: Also, https://store.steampowered.com/app/1745510/Lunacid/! Finished it recently; what a beautiful experience it has been

EDIT2: Also, https://store.steampowered.com/app/1269640/Beacon_Pines/! For the love of all that is holy on this bitch of a planet, please play it

idunnololz,
@idunnololz@lemmy.world avatar

And if you try ace attorney and liked it then I would highly recommend Ghost Trick by the same creator.

cafuneandchill,

Yeah, I’ve yet to check it out

kratoz29,

I have yet to play it, do you think it is better to go with the DS version or the Switch version?

This is not a joke question, I tried TWEWY on the Switch and I didn’t like the controls.

kratoz29,

Ace Attorney series probably fits the bill the most

Hehe, and there is me who has finished the trilogy about 3 times now.

cafuneandchill,

Honestly, I also replay the trilogy from time to time lol

kratoz29,

lol that is fair, the only thing that I miss is being mind blown by the plot twist, but the OST and the charm makes it for it haha.

Donjuanme, (edited )

Thomas was alone.(I recommend this one up there with obra dinn)

Spec ops the line

Dlc quest

Limbo

For something quite a bit different, amnesia the dark decent.

This one might be controversial, but the original BioShock, I played it how I wanted, and >! Got the good ending!< And never felt the desire to pick it up. If you’re a completionist on the first run, and it isn’t very difficult to do (very rewarding I’d say), then there’s 0 reason to pick it up again. I felt the same about replaying BioShock infinite, but more because I just didn’t want to play it again (I felt like it had much more story to offer, and sidequests to do, but I didn’t get any of the same satisfactions from the game, first one was done and wrapped up nicely, third one was barely unraveled and I chose to read other people’s ideas of how it had ended)

XeroxCool,

I played amnesia exactly once and still haven’t brought myself to replay it. I tried a year ago (originally played in 2012) and, while I admit I didn’t give it much effort to relearn the mazes, I didn’t feel too motivated still remembering most of the plot and of course the finale.

mPony,

I played through Limbo twice, but it didn’t hit quite the same way the second time around.

DaCrazyJamez,

Play “Inside” by the same team

almar_quigley,

And cocoon

Zorsith,
@Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Spec Ops The Line has sadly been delisted and is no longer available for purchase. If you already got it, you’re fine, but the only way to get a copy now is 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

Evotech,

Outer wilds

reboot6675,

Am I the only one who just plays any given game once?

SorteKanin,
@SorteKanin@feddit.dk avatar

I mean there’s games like… Minecraft that I certainly have played many, many times for many hours with lots of different combinations of mods. That’s repayable to the max.

reboot6675,

Yes that’s a good point. I don’t have a lot of time to play so I try to stick with shorter games as you said in the post. Even if there is replayability I just drop it after I finish it the first time. For that reason I don’t play stuff like Minecraft and also rarely open worlds, I’ve played a few but try to stick to the main story

rothaine,

Super Mario Bros 3

Ragnarok314159,

After getting through the last castle, I never wanted to play it again.

rothaine,

Madness! I’ve played it so many times

KISSmyOS,

I only play games you can’t really finish.
My favorites are Crusader Kings 3, Kerbal Space Program, Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress and Euro Truck Simulator 2.
I struggle to define what “playing it once” would even mean in those games.

XeroxCool,

For me, it depends how much of the game is story-driven, how long a campaign takes, and how dynamic the gameplay is. I’ve never replayed an assassin’s creed game (from 3 thru Odyssey), but rank them highly. I consider racing/sim games “replayable” in the sense that I never finish the absurd number of championships but will binge them for a while as I buy more dream cars. Similar story for battle Royale/arena/non-story games like rocket league or fortnite. My most-replayed game series is Ace Combat (4-7), but that’s because the campaign is only about 5 hours typically and offers more variation in gameplay along with attainable medals. Puzzle games like Portal 1/2 or The Turing Test offer replayability to me because I never really remember all the tricks to the puzzles, but that’s like 5 years between replays to not spoil the entire story.

This is also driven by having less time available to game. I wish I could learn 2 games every week but a good gaming week has 10 hours of gameplay for me. It’s usually less than 5. So there’s a little more motivation to play something familiar so I can start having fun faster. Ironically, Elite: Dangerous is a comfort game despite the common complaint of its complexity. Some PS2 era games come to mind

zaphod,
@zaphod@lemmy.ca avatar

Sure, in the same way that some people only watch movies once, or read books once.

Speaking for myself, I’ve found only a small handful of games are worth my replay time, and most of them are Mass Effect…

flicker,

Undertale, if you have a heart.

Tier1BuildABear,
@Tier1BuildABear@lemmy.world avatar

This is worth replaying as the hero and villain imo

lady_maria,
@lady_maria@lemmy.world avatar

I wouldn’t be able to stomach being the villain, so I just watched someone else do it on YouTube. lol

kratoz29,

I think I do, but I still won’t play it until I play the Mother games… I don’t know why I impose that rule to myself though.

BmeBenji, (edited )

Escape Academy? It’s a great escape room game (even better in co-op) but it’s more engaging than Escape Simulator since there’s a story pulling everything together. The story’s ridiculous but honestly the context adds entertainment value, regardless of how absurd it is.

SuperBrothers: Sword and Sworcery probably fits this bill. It’s an odd game, but I love the shit out of every minute of it. I have 3 hours in that game. I haven’t touched it since 2013, but I still remember just how ethereal and soothing it was while still being an exciting adventure game. One of the odder things about it is how it instructs you when and for how long to play it. For example, it tells you to stop playing it for a few weeks so the moon’s phase can change. Not that that’s a bad thing, but

De_Narm, (edited )

They don’t exactly fit with your theme of short mystery and puzzle games, but based on your initial question most JRPGs and most story-focused games came to mind. Let’s go over a few of them I’d recommend to everyone interested in those games:

  • Persona 5 Royal: It’s about a 100h and very story-heavy. There are some twists and turns which keep you engaged and you build relationships with a wide cast of characters. Besides the story and actual combat, there’s a ton of side activities, all of which you only do a few times. It’s probably my favorite game I’ll never replay, because all these things are an absolute slog to play again. The same goes for Persona 4 and maybe 3, haven’t played that one.
  • every Etrian Odyssey: They are old-school dungeon crawlers originally released on the 3/DS and got remakes on steam and the Switch. You draw your own maps of every layer the dungeon has, which is a large puzzle in itself. However, once you know the dungeon, there is literally no point in exploring it again. You know every trap, every worthwhile detour and of course the path to take.
  • Like a dragon 7/8: They combine an open world with lots of mini-games, funny and/or touching side stories and an epic overarching main story to follow. There are tons of interactions with your companions, all of them interesting. It’s just, similarly to Persona 5, all these mini-games and interactions only carry themselves for the short burst you get them in and while they are fresh. Replaying them? It’s an absolute slog. You know every punchline, you have optimized most mini-games and probably remember most of the great backstories each character has - you’d be skipping most of the content and the non-optional combat system isn’t fun enough to carry itself on its own.
yamanii,
@yamanii@lemmy.world avatar

Can’t you have fun in dungeon crawlers by trying other party compositions? Or is EO badly balanced where you can only succeed with an specific composition?

De_Narm,

You absolutely can! There are classes, subclasses and equipable skills depending on the game. All with different builds. You can win with all of them and swapping around can be fun. However, you can also do this within a single playthrough. At least in my opinion, the dungeon is the main draw here - but of course, as with all games here, there are certainly people who like to replay them.

Phelpssan,
@Phelpssan@lemmy.world avatar

I’d argue it’s the opposite, EO games have so many interesting builds to try that they’re among the most replayable dungeon crawler games.

cafuneandchill,

I love Etrian Odyssey V (especially the music), but I suck at it lol

FiniteBanjo,

There is a game from the MS-DOS age of 1996 called Realms of the Haunting where you traverse large open areas for hours searching for items and interactables needed to progress.

You might clear it a second time just to make the experience seem like a linear cohesive string of events but I can’t imagine you would want to clear it any more than that.

whotookkarl,
@whotookkarl@lemmy.world avatar

90s style adventure games like Sam and Max hit the road, day of the tentacle, monkey Island, Indiana Jones, etc. Lots of comedy you can’t hear again for the first time, and puzzles that can be memorable.

scummVM can be used to run those games and runs on basically everything, phones, tablets, desktop.

mortrek,

Yeah I played S&M and Full Throttle probably once every couple months when I was a kid… how else can you recite every scene from the entire game?

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