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As a medium for storytelling, video games are extremely tricky to get right. Developers must carefully weave gameplay and storytelling. Quite often, a game will lean heavily on the story, and the gameplay suffers quite heavily as a result.
There are other video game stories that are perfectly complemented by their gameplay. In these games, much of the storytelling happens on the controller or keyboard. These games manage to tell their stories without compromising on the gameplay.
The games that strike a perfect balance make an immediate impactful, often hailed as groundbreaking or of great quality. However, only a few games beget a second playthrough.
These games take on a life of their own with a second playthrough. Players discovers something new details and new perspectives are formed.
Top 5 games that get better on a second playthrough
#5 - SOMA
From Frictional Games, the makers of Amnesia, came another spectacular horror game. SOMA creeps slowly into the player's mind, makes a home for itself, with no intention of leaving.
The game is absorbing, and many a gamer will lie awake in bed contemplating what they've just undergone. The ending to SOMA is quite possibly one of the most powerful experiences in gaming. It perfectly caps off a dastardly, haunting, and mind-bending experience.
SOMA takes a page out of the Hitchcock school of horror. It embraces the idea that fear lies in what the audience can't see. The real horror takes hold in player's mind. It is why the game has included the safe mode, which is how the game should be played.
Players can pick up on clues and pay attention to the foreshadowing on the second playthrough. They can now appreciate how masterfully the rug was pulled underneath them the first time around.
#4 - DmC Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry (DmC) is possibly the most underrated game of its generation. DmC is always a great time. Series veterans will certainly have their reservations concerning the wheel's reinvention; Dante's character, personality and design have had many tweaks over the years.
Audiences have often failed to recognize the point that Ninja Theory were trying to make. The game was Dante's origin story. It narrates how Dante becomes the pizza-loving demon killer.
Despite the word titling nature of the game, DmC has more clarity in its vision and execution than many other games from the franchise. The story is actually quite intriguing and seeks to cover grander themes and complicated ideas.
The story, however cliched and cheesy by design, is secondary to the fantastic gameplay. The level design and the city itself are like characters in the game. On a second playthrough with a higher difficulty setting, players will have a much greater appreciation of the level design and the flashy gameplay.
#3 - Disco Elysium
An Indie game with such great hype and critical acclaim is unlikely to ever live up to its expectations. Yet, by the time players close the chapter on Disco Elysium, they will struggle to pick up their jaw from the floor.
Disco Elysium pulls no punches and hits players with one steaming zinger after the next. It will take a long time for the player to get their bearings and figure out what the game is all about, but once they do, there is no going back.
The game never lets up and is a relentless barrage of high-quality indie gameplay with one of the best stories. On repeated playthroughs, players will discover far more than their original run. The game will slither, shift and transforms into a new entity.
Players are offered many routes to build their character. It's why Disco Elysium won't be done with the player after one playthrough.
#2 - Red Dead Redemption II
Red Dead Redemption II is one of the best stories ever told in gaming. It is a beautiful and melancholic piece of entertainment. It hold its own with the best Western stories of all time in any medium.
Arthur Morgan is one of the best-written characters in the short history of video games. He is also surrounded by characters that are equally well-written and realized.
Every character in the Van der Linde gang has great ambition, desire and fears; and their shown on full display.
After learning the fates of most characters by the end of the first playthrough, the player will find it even more enjoyable on the second playthrough. Red Dead Redemption II is rife with foreshadowing, making for a fantastic experience the second time around.
#1 - Spec Ops: The Line
Much has been written on why Spec Ops: The Line is one of the greatest games ever made. However, there's a sense that many are yet to play the game.
Developed by Yager, Spec Ops: The Line, a military third-person shooter, is the absolute antithesis of its genre. It flips the bird on the military action-game genre through its story.
The game has ambitious ideas, but it's even more impressive in the way it goes about telling it. It is an absolute masterclass in videogame storytelling. From the way the game is marketed to the way it plays, everything is planned by design.
The game is made to look like a run-of-the-mill Call of Duty or Battlefield knock-off. It even has the bland poster and Vietnam-era music in its trailer. The purpose is to lure in unsuspecting fans that are expecting a COD-like campaign.
Spec Ops: The Line drops the proverbial axe on the player's head with one shock after the other. The player is made to feel the weight of their actions and second-guess the purpose of playing video games and committing wanton violence.
Spec Ops: The Line is better on subsequent playthrough because it openly reveals the cynical message at its core.
