Have you ever returned to a game only to've forgotten how to play it?

[mindsale]

Frequently I won't finish a title - or I'll have a desire to replay one - and I'll come back to it months later only to find myself having forgotten vital nuances or large swaths of mechanics altogether.

Have you ever found yourself experiencing this? With which games? Is a fear of this ever a hindrance to returning to a title? Would you sooner restart a game from the beginning than attempt to play from the middle where you left off?

Edit: A fear of this is presently stopping me from returning to a late-game Sekiro save.

 

[Deleted member 1102]

Did this with The Witcher 3 last night. Haven't played it in like two years and spent about the first ten minutes re-learning the controls etc while in the middle of a quest.

 

[Zeckett]

Many times. That and not remember the story to the point that I had played.

 

[Kamiyouni]

Haven't returned a game in years. Last game I traded was SMT4 for 4A when it came out. Before then...I can't even remember.

 

[Jorden1506]

Final Fantasy XV relearning the combination is hell

 

[CloseTalker]

It's the main reason I haven't picked Death Stranding up since putting it down in December.

 

[low-G]

95% of the time! I constantly switch games.

Recently I went back to Fallen Order and was thinking I had an air dash and didn't know what button that might be. Alternatively when I went back to Hat In Time I forgot about the air dash.

 

[hydruxo]

All the time, but it's not so much forgetting the controls as it is just not being able to get back into the groove with a game. It's hard to go back to most games when you haven't played it in months.

 

[CHC]

Usually I just restart

Spoiler

And then realize I remember enough to make the tutorials annoying but not enough to be able to skip them entirely....

 

[PucePikmin]

Only constantly.

 

[Nazgûl]

Yeah. Every month

 

[mindsale]

Another thing I want to do is resume my 4th Three Houses playthrough from the later stages but I'm worried I'll have forgotten something vital since July when I put it down.

 

[Nocturnowl]

This happened to me with FF15, I'd put in about two and a half hours, then returned about two and a half months later...
oh god, how do I combat?

 

[Indelible]

Happens all the time, I usually just start over from the start.

 

[PlayBee]

Stepped away from Sekiro for months with nothing left but the endgame bosses lol. Bit of a hassle coming back to it

 

[Glimlocker]

This topic is basically how I play games. It kinda sucks, to be honest, but I always stop a game thinking I'll be back in a couple days.

Days turn into weeks, weeks into months, etc.

I'd say most games I play are like this. It's the main reason I try to play old arcade-style games these days.

 

[Prophet Five]

Frequently. I have to restart so many games because of this.

 

[Mirage]

This is why I don't end up getting dlc for some games. Like I finished it 6 months ago and now I"m not so familiar with it anymore.

 

[mindsale]

This is why I don't end up getting dlc for some games. Like I finished it 6 months ago and now I"m not so familiar with it anymore.

Click to shrink...

I've absolutely fallen into this camp. I just straight up won't consider additional purchases for a title because I'm not sure if my muscle memory is still there.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

Constantly. I always have like 10 games going at a time that I flit between; I'm terrible about sticking to one game until I'm done with it.

I really appreciate games with good tutorials that can be re-run, or even games that detect when you haven't played in a long time and give you a refresher.

 

[TransEuropaExpress]

I went back to Sekiro after quitting at the last boss shortly after it came out or thereabouts, started a new playthrough and am suddenly good as fuck at it like some Matrix shit.

It's like the opposite of the topic at hand.

 

[Petruccis Biceps]

It's the main reason I haven't picked Death Stranding up since putting it down in December.

Click to shrink...

I felt this way after playing it twice when it first released, and then dropping it until early January due to the small text. I eventually picked it up again and I'm back in business, but there are a lot of little menus and systems all over the place.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

This is why I never put a game down until it's finished.

 

[Mandos]

Has been heroes, but that's because it has a rhythm and you build up to it and the only way to fix it is to reset progression

 

[krae_man]

It depends on the game.

Stuff like say Ratchet and Clank or Tomb Raider where I've played multiple games multiple times over the years and the controls remain consistent, I can pick up and remember everything no problem.

When Control's DLC comes out? I'll probably have to replay through the game again before I start it to relearn everything.

Losing some muscle memories are not the end of the world. Eg forgetting the boost start timing in Mario Kart. Other times you forget things that are essential.

 

[Deleted member 51691]

Every time I try to pick up Okami again.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

I had a rough month on Apex in October after not touching an FPS for almost 6 months. I just got to where all my kills aren't coming from shooting people looting dead boxes anymore.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

I get muscle memory from games I play a lot so when I switch back to something I haven't played in a while, my muscle memory from the last game is still there and will cause me to press the wrong buttons or even worse, imagine I can do some mechanic from one game in another game.

Eventually my muscle memory from the old game reboots after playing a bit.

 

[amnesties]

the witness. tried to pick up again after a year but its impossible without remembering how i solved previous puzzles

 

[Remeran]

This is part of the reason I keep not going back to Pillars of Eternity. I'm 20 hours in and the problem keeps getting worse the longer I hold out.

 

[DirtyLarry]

All the damn time. Have to get reacquainted with the controls almost always and then also got back into the flow so to speak. Only a handful of games this is not necessary for. Usually FPS MP I am pretty good with remembering right away. Otherwise it can almost be like playing a game for the first time again.

 

[Shopolic]

This happens to me with a lot. And most times I quit the game forever. :|

 

[WestEgg]

Yep, currently trying to finish NieR: Automata before I see the symphonic concert this weekend. Luckily button mashing goes pretty far.

 

[BurnKnuckle21]

Done this with pretty much every RPG I've ever played.

 

[hikarutilmitt]

All the time. This is why I'll stick to a game to completion or boredom.

 

[Bernkastel]

Yep, that's why I only start a new game after I finish the one I'm playing.

 

[Incite]

This is the tragedy of Hollow Knight for me....It was a long, difficult, immersive, and intriguing journey to get where I was..... Now if I try to start I'm so lost as to make it unplayable😥

Don't have time to restart. I've just called it "finished for me" at this point. But I'm a bit sad about it.

Bring on the sequel🧚🏽‍♂️

 

[formasymphonic]

one day I will finally get around to playing Horizon's DLC. And Infamous SS'... and a few others...

 

[chrominance]

The 50+ hours I put into Xenoblade Chronicles almost (over?) a decade ago say hi.

Sometimes I think about starting a website or a channel that's just about tutorials/lore catchups for people who already spent a bunch of hours on a game and then forgot how to play it. I don't actually have the energy for this so hopefully someone makes it for me!

 

[FrostweaveBandage]

Every time I return to D3 I forget what my reasoning was for using the skills I use.

 

[Z-Beat]

Depends on the game and how far I was. If it's something like Fire Emblem Three Houses or any FPs I can pick that up pretty quickly.

Things like Elder Scrolls, or Shadow or Mordor or FFVII or KH though, I'd have to restart (well, not KH because by this point I know those games well enough that I'd know exactly where to go regardless of how much time has passed)

 

[Ctrl Alt Del]

Numerous times. I play way too many games simultaneously and end dropping a bunch. Then, when I come back to them, moths or years later, I have no idea what I was doing.

 

[mhayes86]

I try to finish games that I've started (unless I end up not enjoying it), but there are times when life gets in the way. I dropped Zelda Spirit Tracks, Tales of the Abyss, and Metroid Samus Returns for nearly a year due to events and had to relearn some of the controls, but worst of all, where I left off. I ended up completing all of them when I went back to them.

After multiple sequels of the Souls series, when the DLC releases I have to relearn some of the controls and remember my way through areas.

 

[Spinluck]

Horizon fucked me after I hadn't touched it in over a year or so.

I just ran from everything, thought about starting a new game 25hrs in lol.

 

[Agamon]

Last summer. Played God of War for about 20 hours, watched a YT video about the crusades and really wanted to play some Crusader Kings 2. Three months later, I have no idea how to do anything in GoW. The plan is to start over again sometime this year.

 

[Jessie]

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

RIP

 

[Tiny Hawk]

Just happened with DMC5. I finished the replay but goddamn I struggled on those final two missions.

 

[BabyShams]

This is a monthly occurrence for me. Usually I can pick it back up but sometimes you just need to restart. Shadow Tactics was like that. I was completely lost and that game is too hard to not know what you're doing.

 

[FullNelson]

Coming back to MHW:Iceborne was a nightmare. But by the end it was so worth it.

 

[Jerrod]

Did this with The Witcher 3 last night. Haven't played it in like two years and spent about the first ten minutes re-learning the controls etc while in the middle of a quest.

Click to shrink...

This is going to be me soon. My girlfriend and I recently finished the Netflix Witcher show and now she wants to watch me play the game which I haven't played since it came out.