HARD MODE: Don't say Undertale
I think mine is probably DOOM 2016. I don't know that I've ever had more raw, uncut, can't-believe-how-much-I'm-enjoying-myself FUN than my first time going through that game. I legit was hooting and cackling like a madman while scrambling around blasting demons and dodging fireballs and getting sick glory kills. My first playthrough was roughly 20 hours of some of the purest joy I've ever experienced in my life and I'd give ANYTHING to experience that again.
Honorable Mention: Heaven's Vault. GOD, that game is cool.
maybe rain world tbh
i mean i’d like to keep the muscle memory i’ve developed so i’m not struggling with the movement system but it would be really cool to forget all the story details so i could discover them the way they’re meant to be discovered
tossup between riven and ghost trick! the way riven's puzzles are all interconnected (and essentially one giant puzzle) is just so unique and really blew me away the first time i played. meanwhile ghost trick has some of the best narrative twists in any work of fiction imo!
the house in fata morgana, easily
i haven't written a lot about playing thru this game, but it really was the visual novel to really steal my love for the format.... a lot of folks have their uminekos & their higurashis, but fata morgana is that for me. given time i'll probably forget enough to do a full re-play, but the time i spent with the game during my first play thru really is a once in a lifetime kinda bewilderment.
EDIT: also 13 sentinels.... fuck. i would still go back and play it all over again, but the experience of uncovering the mysteries of that game & its story can't be topped.
this is the easiest thing i've ever answered
edit: ok i'll at least elaborate a little and say that listening to the main theme is enough to have 30 hours worth of emotions come rushing back to me. it's like impossible to think about the game and not get overwhelmed with the memories of each character, their moments, the greater narrative and its weight. its a game i think about like multiple times a week since beating it.
edit 2: ok i'm elaborating on it even more. i just linked the main theme because the thing is that this game is like, a triumph in basically every degree. it's an insane videogame. it's maybe the most ambitious narrative i've ever seen designed. i still can't come to terms with writing one story with thirteen central characters that can all be experienced at any time you like and still have it all link perfectly together. to experience that to a game so visually diverse, so beautifully rendered and animated, scored by a soundtrack that's lightyears ahead of anything else of its time, and paced out by tactics/tower defense combat that actually fucking rocks and never ever feels like a slog.
the game is a masterpiece. it makes me cry to think about. i feel incredibly lucky i got to experience it. i would treasure the ability to experience for the first time again and i'm jealous for anyone who hasn't played it yet that gets to have that fresh experience.
mine would probably be either the muv luv trilogy or mother 3.
muv luv was a series of gut punches in a way very few works have managed to land on me,
with the emotional impact it had still being felt even after 5 years after i finished reading it.
mother 3 well... that one is kinda of a maybe actually not because i dont wanna experience it again, but mainly due to how much it defined me as a person honestly, most of who i am today can be somehow traced back to it, so i if this hypothetical was true i would be somewhat weary of it lol.