Replaying your favorite game from the beginning can both be entertaining and incredibly stressful. Sometimes players want to relive the exciting moments from their favorite titles without having to work through some of the more irritating or grinding parts. The addition of New Game+ modes allows players to enjoy their favorite titles with more ease, but do they improve on the games themselves?
New Game+ modes usually fall into a few different categories, but they all follow a similar theme. Normally they allow players to start the game from the beginning but retain their equipment and stats from prior playthroughs. Sometimes they add newer challenges or harder difficulties into the mix to keep the games challenging. However, there are a few key ways where adding a New Game+ mode definitely improves a game.
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One of the main aspects that New Game+ usually removes is the grind present in many games. For instance, in Persona 5, it is possible to carry across your character and play through the story will all your social skills, money and equipment. Having access to your social skills means that less of your time is spent grinding, and, as such, players can give more focus to the plot. It also means that important events and dialogue options happen far faster than they do in a first playthrough. Meanwhile, having access to the more powerful Personas from the start makes the early battles considerably easier and often means that the first few palaces can be cleared within a few days. This means that the player can focus more on building new Confidants that they may have had to miss in their main playthrough.
Mass Effect’s version is similar, with the focus being placed on the combat and the story options. The New Game+ mode removes the need to scour through planets to find materials, meaning that players are free to focus on their adventure. It also allows players access to the Paragon and Renegade options sooner than they would otherwise and can open entirely new sections of dialogue. It also allows players access to the full swarth of their character powers far sooner than if they were unlocked organically. Having access sooner gives players more time for experimentation than would otherwise be the case.
New Game+ isn’t only about making players more powerful. It can be used to add a new challenge to the game. For instance, Resident Evil Village has a version that works like a cheat mode, but it doesn’t give it all to you for free. Instead, you will have all the items in your briefcase from your prior game when you start. You’ll then have the option to complete challenges that can be used to unlock things like infinite ammo and special weapons. These additions remove some of the more tedious aspects of the game, such as inventory management. Still, they can also make life easier for players aiming to find all the secrets that hide in the mysterious village.
However, the time when a New Game+ mode is most noticeable is usually when it is missing. While the feature isn’t always necessary, it is sometimes missing from games where it should really be there. For instance, Sunset Overdrive didn’t have the feature, or at least not in a normal way. The game allowed players to replay any mission after they had completed the game to get higher scores. However, it lacked the same feeling as playing through the game from the beginning would have had. While replaying a mission is by no means bad, it lacks the same feeling as seeing the story through from beginning to end and can come across as far less streamlined.
Hopefully, developers continue to use New Game+ modes in their games, if only to help to add more replayability to the games. Gamers love their favorite titles and want a chance to see the moments that caught their attention again without having to replay some of the duller moments. Players also love being able to breeze through a section that, when they first played, gave them nothing but trouble. Including the feature takes nothing away from that first playthrough. They add to the experiences and events players love, which can only be positive.
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