Replay Value in Video Games

Video games have a lot to offer in terms of content, which can vary quite a bit. Some games provide great stories and characters while others simply have great gameplay and visual design. But I tend to look for something in video games called Replay Value. Basically means having a game that can be replayed and still offer satisfaction in terms of content. Games like Skyrim provide a great deal of different character builds one can play and that alone creates quite a fair deal of replay value. But why do I like replay value so much? Well, I don’t get new games very often so I want the games I get to last a while either by having a long story to enjoy or simply having a deep enough gameplay loop to keep me interested. That's not to say a game needs to be long or complex for me to enjoy them, I have a few short and sweet games like vertical scrolling shooters like Crimson Cover and Touhou Project that offer a decent about of content and replay value from simply being fun games to play.

Replay value matters because it keeps a game fresh on future playthroughs. For example, Skyrim has a great deal of replay value added in the form of some random encounters on the roads to make Travel a bit more eventful, branching story, and dialogue options that require multiple playthroughs to fully see. And like I said earlier a fair amount of different playstyles and builds of character from Skyrim can have ranged from warriors who use steel and strength to mages that use fire, ice, and shocking spells to deal damage or even a sneaky type that can be either a master thief or a deadly assassin. I’ve played pretty much all the questlines for Skyrim but I can still play a fresh new game on Skyrim and pour even more hours into the game.

While Skyrim is a game full of replay value sometimes just a small bit of randomization and customization can make a game with good replay value. For Example back when I still had a Switch I played a fantastic game called Fire Emblem Three Houses. Unlike Skyrim which was an action RPG, Fire Emblem was a Tactics RPG. it’s a story-focused game with more than three-story routes but it had great combat as well. You have unique characters with their strengths and weaknesses and a class system with more than one way to play the game. My favorite build for the main player character Byleth was giving them dodge-boosting gear/skills that effectively turns them into a dodge tank, meaning they would dodge and evade most attacks. This build for Byleth let them solo most encounters in the late game. But that's just how I build Byleth, thanks to the class system you can technically make them a caster or tank if you wanted to. I would often start new games to see what different builds I could try for the house I was playing, there’s a different setup for each house like the Black Eagles being more magical while the Blue Lions being more physical. My personal favorite was the Golden Deer because It had a decent mix of magic and physical units.

Another game with some good replay value is any game where the progression is randomized to some extent. An oldie but goodie is XCom: Enemy Unknown with each major mission being randomized in terms of what map you are on and what mission objective you're doing. Some aspects of combat in this Tactical Strategy game are randomized too such as the chance to hit your target and the critical damage rate that gives units a chance for extra damage. A small bit of randomization goes a long way toward giving a game replay value.

Then you have Sandbox Survival games like Minecraft that randomly generate most of the explorable world random generation as a whole helps replay value in a game. Minecraft mostly randomizes loot found in generated structures like Villages or shipwrecks and of course the overall generation of the environment in Minecraft. Other games similar to Minecraft like Starbound and Terraria also use a fair deal of randomly generated content to add replay value to their respective games.

Another game I play with great replay value is Left 4 Dead 2, it’s a game centered around shooting zombies in well-designed levels with every campaign in the game having been designed with some random elements in mind. Items and weapons are found throughout a playthrough of any given campaign. The game’s AI Director spawns random events like zombie hordes or even affects what items are found in any given game of Left 4 Dead 2. Another reason I bring up Left 4 Dead 2 is the modding features it has. Mods can make any game’s replay value go up even if it’s mostly visual mods. Left 4 Dead 2 has a whole Steam workshop of custom skins and sounds for survivors, items and even the environment textures can be changed thanks to steam modding.

Skyrim’s modding scene is legendary at least on PC it is. The game has tons of visual enhancements that make this game look more modern and it also has gameplay-altering mods like a perk overhaul or new questlines. One of my favorite mods out for Skyrim has to be Cloaks of Skyrim, It’s such a simple addition that makes your character in-game look just a bit cooler while playing Skyrim.

Rimworld is another game I played once that had mod support that had stuff ranging from new weapons to visual overhauls similar to Skyrim. It’s another great example of replay value in that it has random events similar to Left 4 Dead 2 but it’s applied to a Colony Builder rather than an FPS game. The game’s Storytellers that you can choose from shape what kind of events will appear in your colony good or bad. I could never see myself playing Rimworld due to the start of every game is pretty much the same even if sometimes the story differs slightly. Regardless it’s still a good example of a game with good Replay Value in it.

In closing I like games with good replay value in them, They can be a surefire way to get your money’s worth out of a game. While some games don’t need things like replay value to be good games I like to think about my choice of game in the long term, ideally, I’d want a game to last me until I can get another game. Anyways this has been my short essay on Replay Value in video games and thanks to you for reading.