Best Games That Feel Completely Different On Second Playthrough

It’s common to stop playing a game after finishing the main story, thinking you’ve experienced everything it has to offer. However, some games reveal deeper layers and secrets with each playthrough. Instead of just repeating the same story, you begin a quest to truly understand the game’s full depth and meaning.

Okay, so my first time playing, a lot of little things just kinda blended into the background, you know? But once I finished the game and knew how it all went down, going back for a second playthrough was wild! Suddenly, all those details I barely noticed before were like, ‘Hey, pay attention to this!’ It totally changed how I experienced it. And then there are games that really pull you in by letting you see the story from different characters’ points of view. Those ones need multiple playthroughs to really understand everything, which honestly, I’m not always mad about!

NieR: Automata

Perspective Shifts From 2B To 9S

The second playthrough places players in the role of 9S.
This second journey provides the necessary context to understand the true motivations of the enemy machines and the android command.

NieR: Automata offers a unique experience, changing dramatically on a second playthrough because the story isn’t centered around one character. You initially play as the android 2B, but a second run lets you see events through the eyes of 9S and then A2. While the timeline remains the same, the game introduces new gameplay elements and story details. The biggest change is a new hacking ability that replaces 2B’s heavy attack, letting you play a top-down shooting game to inflict significant damage.

Playing through the game a second time as 9S unlocks chests you couldn’t open before, giving you access to special materials and new weapons, which also add more detailed backstory to the game’s database. However, to experience the complete story, you’ll need a third playthrough as A2, as her storyline after 2B and 9S’s events unfolds very differently.

Undertale

Dynamic Memory And Moral Consequences

Players choose between showing mercy and no mercy.
Committing to a specific moral path on a second run changes the tone of the world.

In the game Undertale, you play as a child who falls into the Underground, a hidden world inhabited by monsters sealed away after a war with humans. As you explore, you’ll encounter various monsters and choose how to deal with them – you can be merciful or fight. These choices change how the story unfolds, how characters react, and ultimately, which ending you receive. The first time most players finish the game, they’ll get the Neutral ending. This happens when you’ve defeated some monsters but spared others, without fulfilling the specific conditions needed to unlock one of the other, more unique endings.

If you choose to spare all monsters during a new playthrough, you’ll unlock the Pacifist route, but you need to finish the game with a Neutral ending first. This path adds new scenes and expands on the characters’ stories. It leads to a special ending where the barrier between humans and monsters is removed, allowing them to live together peacefully. Alternatively, if you defeat every enemy, you’ll enter the Genocide route, which drastically changes the game. Characters will respond to your actions in new ways, and some may even disappear due to your violent choices.

Oxenfree

Well-Written Story With Branching Paths That Make Replay Feel Fresh and Needed

Alex’s decisions determine the fate of other characters in Edwards Island
The choices players make in different playthroughs give them different endings.

The ending of the game Oxenfree changes based on the player’s choices. What happens to characters like Clarissa, Ren, Nona, and Jonas depends on decisions made throughout the game. For example, if Alex is kind to Clarissa and builds a good relationship, Clarissa will stay in everyone’s memories. However, if Alex alienates Clarissa, she’ll be forgotten by the rest of the group, and only Alex will remember her.

Okay, so as a player, if I want to get Ren and Nona together, I have to make choices during our chats at the beach, Adler house, and on the bridge that push them towards dating. And it’s cool, because I can actually change what happens to Alex’s brother, Michael! If I want to save him, I need to guide every conversation so he doesn’t decide to leave town. If I want him to both live and end up with Clarissa, I have to do all that and really encourage him to stay with her when we’re at the beach. It’s awesome because all these choices mean you can see so many different ways the characters’ stories can play out.

Resident Evil 2 Remake

See The Game From The Perspective Of Two Characters With New Weapons

Play as either Leon or Claire.
Different locations and weapons.

In the main story of Resident Evil 2, you begin by choosing to play as either Leon S. Kennedy or Claire Redfield. You experience the game and its events in Raccoon City through the eyes of your chosen character. After finishing one playthrough, you unlock the ability to play through the story again as the other character, offering a different perspective on the same events.

This isn’t just a replay of the first game. The second time through, you’ll encounter different events and challenges. It starts faster with shorter introductory cutscenes, and you skip the gas station area, beginning instead in a brand new location. Plus, Claire gets a new weapon, which is a great addition for a second playthrough.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Determine The Fate Of Faerun With Your Choices

Players’ choices shape the fate of the land.
Players will have to go on multiple runs to see the outcome of their decisions.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a role-playing game where your choices significantly impact the story, encouraging multiple playthroughs to see all the different outcomes. However, new players don’t need to worry about making the ‘perfect’ decisions right away. If you defeat the main villain, Netherbrain, and cause its destruction during your first game, you’ll achieve the most favorable ending.

However, the game can take a dark turn on a second playthrough, especially after finishing Gale’s quest and talking to the goddess Mystra at Sorcerous Sundries. Players might even allow Gale to detonate a powerful magical bomb within himself before the final fight, which eliminates a major threat but sadly results in his death. Aside from this, the fate of each companion and important character depends on whether you’ve romanced them and finished their personal quests. Ultimately, Baldur’s Gate 3 offers a lot of different endings and experiences based on the choices you make.

Road 96

Procedurally Generated Political World Where Players Can Cause A Revolution Or A Peaceful Election

A procedurally generated world where the choices of players determine the political fate of the country.
Players can go on a selfish or selfless run depending on the outcome they want to see.

To experience the full story of Road 96, players will likely need to play through it three times. Because the game creates random events on each playthrough, no two journeys are exactly alike. However, the ending you get depends on how you influence the political situation. If you consistently encourage voting and positive engagement with the campaign, you’ll achieve an ending where the government changes hands through a peaceful election.

Players could also choose to actively start a revolution. This involves making hostile choices in conversations, damaging public notices, and backing the Brigades. This path results in a more forceful showdown at the border. Alternatively, a player could focus solely on their own survival, hoarding resources to escape, and ignoring the country’s struggles. This self-serving approach leaves the country’s problems unresolved, as no significant effort is made to address them.

Spec Ops: The Line

A Game Of Moral Choices

Cannot do a FUBAR playthrough without completing the game in Suicide Mission mode.
The FUBAR difficulty setting changes the mechanical feel of combat by increasing enemy power.

A significant addition for a replay of Spec Ops: The Line is the “FUBAR” difficulty. This harder mode unlocks only after completing the game on the Suicide Mission difficulty. FUBAR dramatically increases enemy strength and makes the player character much more vulnerable.

Spec Ops: The Line offers players difficult moral choices, leading to several different endings. For example, the player character, Walker, can commit suicide either by shooting himself or by letting a hallucination of Konrad do it – resulting in a scene showing both their bodies. Alternatively, Walker can kill the illusion of Konrad and then use Konrad’s radio to call for rescue. A third ending occurs if the player defeats Konrad and then eliminates the soldiers who arrive to apprehend him, after which Walker radios a message repeating a line from earlier in the game, confirming he remains in Dubai.

Dishonored 2

Dual Protagonist Arcs With Different Abilities

Choosing a different protagonist provides access to an entirely unique set of supernatural abilities and dialogue.
Choose a stealthy or chaotic playstyle with the different main characters.

While Dishonored 2 doesn’t drastically change how missions and levels are designed, replaying the game feels fresh and new. The biggest difference is the option to play as a different character: after finishing a playthrough as Emily Kaldwin, you can experience the story as Corvo Attano.

Emily and Corvo each have special powers, and playing as only one means you’ll miss out on the other’s cool abilities. Plus, their differences allow players to experience the game in various ways – you can choose to play stealthily and avoid conflict, or go in guns blazing!

BioShock

“Would You Kindly”

Offers a big plot twist that changes how the game feels.
A second playthrough reveals that every time the phrase “Would you kindly” was used, players were being manipulated.

BioShock is known for its shocking plot twist: the player character has been secretly mind-controlled the entire time, completely changing how you view the story. This control centers around the phrase “Would you kindly.” Players eventually discover that whenever the character Atlas said those words, he wasn’t being polite – he was actually giving a coded command that forced the player to obey him automatically.

When players experience the game for the first time, they typically focus on completing objectives to move forward. However, on a second playthrough, they often realize their character wasn’t truly making their own decisions. Every action was predetermined, set in motion by specific phrases. Furthermore, the various endings in BioShock depend on whether the player makes choices that are selfish or selfless.

The Stanley Parable

Obey Or Disobey

Players can follow the Narrator’s instructions in the first run to get the standard outcome.
Deliberately failing to follow the Narrator’s instruction opens up hidden paths and causes the unexpected to happen.

Man, some games just look… odd, right? Like, you see them and think they’re kinda dumb until you actually play. The Stanley Parable was totally like that for me. It’s all about making choices – seriously, just a ton of them. The first time I played, I mostly listened to what the Narrator told me to do. But then I realized the fun part was seeing what happened when I didn’t listen! It’s a game where you can really mess around and see how things change based on your choices.

The game offers many different endings based on your choices. For example, turning off the System Power machine leads to the normal ending, while turning it on causes an explosion. Even simple decisions, like choosing the right door instead of the left, unlock new areas and possibilities. You might discover a hidden maintenance area by jumping from a moving lift, a room filled with references to other games, or even a museum detailing the game’s creation. Going left and choosing a red door leads to a bizarre apartment, and even starting in the first office or jumping out a window results in a unique outcome.

2026-01-04 06:08