Gaming

In Metal Gear Solid for the original PlayStation, there was a boss fight against Psycho Mantis, who was a psychic who could predict your every move. The fight was literally impossible. It didn't matter what you did, he always had the perfect counter. Of course, he would taunt you about his ability to predict your every move.

My brother and I were absolutely stuck on the fight for what seemed like forever. At one point, a character mentions that he's reading your controller and you can block him by switching to the 2nd control port. So you physically unplug your PlayStation controller and plug it into the other port. Then he reacts by not being able to read your moves, and you can actually fight him "fair".

It blew my mind the first time it happened. I can't remember a video game ever breaking the forth wall like that before.

A game moment to do again with no memory? Leaving the sewers for the first time in Oblivion. It was the first open world game I had ever played as a kid, and seeing the glare of the sun and realizing that everything I saw was able to be explored? Pure gaming magic.

A whole game to do again? Disco Elysium. There are plenty of ways to go back through the game on another playthrough and do things differently, but there is nothing quite like the first run of that game.

Portal 2. There are no words can can describe how I love that game.

The Knights of the Old Republic reveal. When I first played it, I was speechless, although I suspected some kind of twist with Revan and Malak.

Chrono Trigger, the battle with Magus. Most boss battles in any game have a really high beats per minute, or awesome high energy track. The music for this boss fills you with a sense of dread and fear. I remember the first time I played it, I had goose bumps.

(My personal favorite cover of the song)

The entirety of Outer Wilds fits that bill, an amazing experience that you only get to truly live through once. Lucky for me I still have half the DLC ahead of me, which is also pretty good.

But if I had to pull a moment from a few decades in the past, I'd say returning to Balmora through the foyada, after a successful expedition, full of loot, my quiver empty, my gear half broken and my potions gone, only to be awestruck from looking up at the starry sky, with the clouds passing by, and the soundtrack booming. I still have that save, and I still play and enjoy Morrowind to this day.

Return of the Obra Dinn and The Outer Wilds both for sure. Both have common themes of solving an over-arching puzzle by exploration and examination of an environment.

Subnautica, the first time I was attacked by a reaper I jumped out of my chair

I don't remember the level name(I think it was Ash something or something Ashes?) But the part in Control where you go through the confusing rooms with the headphones on is probably one of my favorite levels in any game I've ever played but it definitely lost some of its appeal on a second play through. The worst boss I've every played against has to be that stupid barrel in DKC that just drops two of each enemy you've encountered up to that point in the game. WHO THOUGH THAT WAS A GOOD BOSS IDEA?

Outer Wilds!

Bioshock Infinite, when Elizabeth realises what's happening and slowly shows it to you.

WoW, WotLK.

The scope of the world as you leave the starter area, discovering the world through quest lines, meeting people organically and playing with them for a while. I still love it, but the discovery was great.

Most of the boss fights in MGS3, but I liked The End most of all

Outer Wilds - I'd love to experience that fresh again.

Also Myst and Riven.

The Ashtray Maze in Control. Such a crazy action sequence unlike anything else I've ever played.

FF7 crisis core for the PSP and it is not even close.

The story, the music, the english voice acting, the cut scenes, the gameplay; it was al just fenomenal.

It is still the best story based game I played and the ending just hits you right in the feels.

My Reddit name that I used was actually based on the Loveless poem, Genesis recited in the game (favorite character with Zack Fair).

Outer Wilds for sure. This game is special, but it's difficult to replay with prior knowledge.

Portal 2 is another game i would like to experience for the first time again

For me it would be completing final fantasy 7 all over again.

I ended up moving right after making it to Genova at the end of the third disc and lost my discs.

Years later my cousin had the third disc and a PlayStation but no memory card, and I found my memory card with my save game on it and was able to beat final fantasy 7 for the first time.

It was beautiful and glorious and wouldn't hurt my feelings too much if I could live that over again

Confronting the great Dragon Grogori in dragons dogma. The entire game up to that point kept telling you that your fate was tied to his and that if you should want your heart back you must confront and defeat a creature considered invincible by all. When you first approach him he entices you with a wish of power stating you will become grand Duke over a kingdom and he will dissapear as if you had actually slain him all for the price of your loved ones life. There is so much more to the full battle but even just the beginning felt more personal than most final bosses.

The entirety of the NES game Crystalis. It is without a doubt the best action RPG on the NES. Blows everything else out of the water. The story is wicked cool. The graphics are great for an NES game. The controls are smooth, even with only an A and B button. The systems are varied and unique, even by today's standards. The weapon powers are very cool, too.

I always want to say like, Dark Souls in general but then I remember. I remember

Honestly tho I’m still trying to chase the high of my first playthrough of Undertale (yeah yeah.) I played it right after it came out and happened to be going through a lot. I definitely played it a few times after that and it’s always great but I feel like the first was just magical.

maybe not a specific moment but i would love to play Far Cry 3 for the first time all over again.

No Man's Sky in general. My first time playing it was absolutely magical.

So many golden moments mentioned on here… Morrowind, BioShock, shadow of the colossus. Amazing.

A recent one for me was Tunic - those who have played it will know there is a moment about halfway through where your entire understanding of the game is flipped on its head. Left me awestruck.

It's a recent one, but the first time I entered Giant's Deep in Outer Wilds. I have a pretty big fear/anxiety of the ocean and meteorological objects in large sizes (strange one but I feel sick and get vertigo looking up at large clouds). I also find gas giants to be eerie in general.

The first time entering the atmosphere I was sweating so hard, I had to take a shower. No horror game where the main intention is to scare me has ever given me that feeling before. I've only felt that kind of stress when I played RE Nemesis on the PS1 as a young child. The Jeff chapter in Half Life Alyx also came pretty close to that feeling.

I might be a masochist, because I want to experience that again.

I'd love to go back to Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2 and replay them for the first time.

Two of my favourite games to get absorbed into.

Honestly, as a kid, the first time I beat the Elite Four in the original Pokemon Blue. I felt like I could accomplish anything, at that moment xD

I would love love love to be able to fight Isshin the Sword Saint from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

When I finally beat that pole weaving old man it was a great gaming experience, and I've been into gaming for a long long time now. A close second would be when I first beat Half-Life 2. That game really amazed me. Had a major impact on me moving into tech too bc I got so into the modding scene.

Mass Effect 2's final mission. Getting to use all the companions collected throughout the story, sending them off on tasks they may not survive and all within a brilliant atmosphere.

The final level of Bastion. The whole game touches hard, but if you choose to rescue Zulf in the Tazal Terminals, your hands are full of NPC and you can't attack - which resulted in this incredibly touching and poignant level experience, running through incoming fire and enemy attacks, unable to fight back and carrying your injured friend. It was such an unexpected and touching twist on how the game had gone so far that it's probably my most memorable gaming experience.

I loved the time-travel level in Titan Fall 2. I don’t play a lot of games so it definitely felt very unique.

The Ashtray Maze in the game Control was an incredible experience. The whole game was great, but that one stage really stands out in my mind in front of almost all others. I loved it.

The entirety of Outer Wilds was absolutely incredible.

The entirety of FFXIV: Shadowbringers, but especially the series of cutscenes leading up to the final dungeon and trial.

Final Fantasy VII, end of disc 2.

I really wonder what experiencing that as an adult, rather than a 15 year old, would be like.

I don't want to spoil anything, but the final (true final) boss for Titan Soul really blew me away. I was so dialed and so stressed and somehow came through on top, I felt like a god.

Ornstein and Smough on the 1.0 version of Dark Souls in 2011 when I was very bad at Dark Souls and video games in general. In the DLC Hawkeye Gough has some line about how hunting the dragons teased out his dearest emotions and that's truly how I felt about my O&S experience. They kicked the ever loving shit out of me so many times. I remember finally scoring the kill in spite of the controller nearly falling out of my hands due to sweat at like 4 AM. Reacted a bit too loud, woke up my girlfriend (now wife haha). Just one of those moments that I will always remember.

Besides that, mostly all the Destiny raids haha. The Day 1 raiding experience in Destiny is just such a unique and awesome thing. Nothing quite like problem solving with a group of friends. Deep Stone Crypt is probably the most memorable of such experienced to me, first time the group I play with tried a Day 1 raid and completing it just gave me such a crazy high.

Double dragon 2 in the helicopter when the twins come out of the cockpit and you’re basically stuck in a small area. Plus if you get knocked down there’s a good chance you get sucked out of the doorZ

If it has to be a specific moment/level/fight/etc, off the top of my head I'd love to fight the final boss in Final Fantasy 13 fresh again. Its such a cool test of everything you've learned about the combat and a great example of how a JRPG boss can be vulnerable to ailments and debuffs while still putting up plenty of fight. There are definitely better boss fights in gaming but this was one of the most fun to learn how to do in the moment and it also loses a good bit of what makes it fun when you know whats coming.
If I'm allowed to pick a game in general, absolutely Xenoblade 1 as its my favorite game of all time. Amazing combat both in terms of system mechanics and party member variety, really fun to explore enviroments that are never annoying to fight in, and near perfect side content both in terms of amount and structure. Its replay value is insane as I've replayed it 4 times (2 on Wii, 2 on Switch) but I'd love to experience it for the first time again.