This post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.

In an article on Destructoid in 2009, Quantic Dream’s David Cage was quoted as saying that replaying the 2010 PlayStation 3 exclusive Heavy Rain would “kill the magic of it.”


Remember this scene? Make sure you only see it once.

What Cage meant was simple: By playing the game a second time and making different choices, you were essentially giving the characters new life, thereby cheapening your original playthrough in the process.

In the case of Heavy Rain, a game in which multiple outcomes prevent players from seeing everything in a single playthrough, I disagree. But when applied to more linear games, I think Cage’s statement holds weight.

I've played some games once and never plan to play them again. It's not because they were bad games — far from it — but because I'm worried thta a second time around will somehow diminish my overall interest in the game.

 

My best example of this phenomenon is Shadow of the Colossus. It's easily one of the best games I’ve ever played, and I can’t bring myself to pop it in my dusty PlayStation 2 for a reunion.

The amazement and wonder when you see that very first colossus, the puzzling anger you feel at that damn electric eel (I was even doing it right, and I couldn’t get it for the longest time), and the crushing loss when Agro couldn’t quite make that last jump: these are things that could never measure up on a repeat viewing.

I understand that when you put down $60 for a game, you expect to be able to play it as long and as many times as you please, and I completely agree. Play it until it wears out if you want. But you'll never get the same high you had your first time. Because that’s the one where you really experienced all the game had to offer. Everything else is merely chasing memories that will never stack up.

I'd like to know what the Bitmob community thinks. Am I silly for locking away Grand Theft Auto 4, Red Dead Redemption and Assassin’s Creed after finishing their respective stories? Or do you, too, remember a game you can't revisit for fear of tarnishing your memory of it?