If you could only re-experience from new one game (like total immersion, wide-eyed wonder-at-the-majesty-of-it-all re-experience) and had yet to pick a console (Xbox versus PlayStation), what game on which console and why? (and feel free to remark on ideal controllers, add-ons, etc.)
I was hoping Starfield might be that kind of galvanizing experience, but the reviews are pretty underwhelming. So now casting about for the real deal.
Breath of the Wild on Switch. It had been a long long time since a game felt that immersive. I’d start a session, say to myself, “I’m gonna head towards this objective,” and four hours later I’d be in a completely different direction yet still entirely satisfied. Even the tutorial felt huge and weighty… at least until I was dumped into the wider world with only a suggestion and a general direction in which to go. I loved the hands-off approach. Everything felt organic. I remember being giddy playing Wind Waker at release, excited to get to explore the map once it opened… only to find that the first few far-off places I visited were locked behind items I didn’t have yet. With BotW, it felt like that decades-old disappointment was finally righted.
Hard agree that BOTW on switch was, at least at the beginning, a feeling I may never replicate. The scale, the detail, the never ending variety of the landscapes, the wistful post-apocalyptic loneliness, the near-absence of boundaries. I have an embarrassing number of hours logged, multiple playthroughs, the DLC, master mode, etc. I’m afraid nothing else will even come close ever again; to be honest, this was part of my motivation for my original post, because I seek something like it.
TOTK is awesome and a fitting continuation; in fact, is so rich that I have a better appreciation for having some kind of attention deficit disorder, because there is always something beckoning, and it is nearly impossible to stay on track. But ultimately it lacks the grandeur? the completeness of the original.
Great reply.
I think TotK put my jaw on the floor more times than BotW overall. And the mechanics are amazingly well thought out. But yeah, BotW has something TotK doesn’t. And that’s okay.