What ‘canon’ video games have you never played?

Let’s spill the beloved games we’ve never played before.

May 14, 2021 12:33 PM

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition comes out today, and I’m super excited to jump in and play the trilogy - for the first time ever. It feels a bit weird that I never played the series, especially with how big of an Xbox 360 fanboy I was during that era. Anyways, it got me thinking about all of the super beloved video games that I’ve never played, and I want to know yours too!

A “canon” game is a game that is so widely popular/revered that it almost feels like you’re required to play it, lest your serious legit gamer card gets revoked.

Here are all of the “canon” games I’ve never played:

Mass Effect series
Uncharted series
Metroid series
Terraria
Any Zelda game before Breath of the Wild
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Half-Life series
Chrono Trigger
God of War series

Those are all of the big ones that immediately come to mind. Growing up in the 2000s, I was a big Xbox kid, though I loved my Nintendo systems too. However much of my gaming was limited to the franchises I loved (Pokemon, CoD, Halo, anything Star Wars), so there’s plenty that I just didn’t give the time of day.

I also entirely missed out on the PS3, and didn’t get a PS4 until Spider-Man came out. Because of that, a good chunk of Sony exclusives are a blind spot for me. That said, I did go back and play The Last of Us and absolutely adored it. Still need to catch up on Uncharted, Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, and so on.

I’m curious, what major games have you never played and why? This is a question that just about everybody has an answer to, so let me know!

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Pharaoh721

 reply
May 14, 2021 12:33 PM

What ‘canon’ video games have you never played?

Read more: What ‘canon’ video games have you never played?
- ThomW
  
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  May 14, 2021 1:17 PM
  
  I've never played the Mass Effect games either, well I've played like an hour or two of the first couple, but they didn't grab me immediately -- they felt clunky.
  
  Uncharted - played all of them. Only one I didn't beat is the PSP one, and I blame the weird controls for not getting further. It seemed competent, but if the controls are working against me, I put a game down.
  
  Metroid? One of my bigger shames. I don't think I've beaten a single Metroid game. I played a bunch of the NES ones back in high school growing up, bought Super Metroid when it came out and played a bunch, and I own a bunch of the Prime games, but didn't love them and stopped playing them.
  
  Terraria? Skippable imo. It's fine, but you need other people and it's not amazing or anything.
  
  Zelda ... I played the NES games with friends, bought the SNES and N64 games, but didn't finish either. I got lost or stuck in both of them, and it kind of turned me off to the idea of buying more. I did eventually come around and buy Windwaker, but found the controls weird and bounced off it. BotW is the only Zelda game I finished solo. I hated it at first, but once I finally got my head around the systems, came to love it.
  
  Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is one of my all-time favorites ... but it's not all that great to play now unfortunately. I loved GTA3, but thought that Vice City did a great job of making you feel like you were climbing the ladder of the organization. GTA3 tried that, but you were still doing the same bullshit fetch quests, but in a worse map as the game went on.
  
  Half-Life series - At this point, I can't blame you. It was a revolutionary game at the time, but now clunky.
  
  Chrono Trigger - This is an important series? Pass. lol
  
  God of War series - Just play the PS4 one and you're not missing much. The first couple were neat at the time because the artists were able to pull off crazy scenes considering the technology they were using, but the games were just button-mashers, and super-dated ones at this point.
  - ThomW
    
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    May 14, 2021 1:18 PM
    
    And to answer your question, I've never played a Final Fantasy game, and have never regretted it for a second. haha
  - BeowolfSchaefer
    
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    May 14, 2021 2:39 PM
    
    The SNES Zelda and Metroid are both not super long (Metroid in particular can be beaten in a couple of nights without too much effort)and worth revisiting to finish imo
    - Conan
      
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      May 14, 2021 2:41 PM
      
      Agreed with both of these. And they've aged very well.
  - BeowolfSchaefer
    
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    May 14, 2021 2:40 PM
    
    I've played maybe an hour of Halo 1 and that's it for the series. Im tempted to get them off gamepass but that DL size is huge
  - Conan
    
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    May 14, 2021 2:42 PM
    
    Chrono Trigger is definitely an important game. While I like the sequels I wouldn't consider them as necessary.
    
    But the original is well worth playing and it's hard to overstate how big a deal it is.
    - Serpico74
      
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      May 14, 2021 2:44 PM
      
      Insanely good and one of the best aged games of the 90s
    - senor135
      
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      May 14, 2021 8:56 PM
      
      yea, it's very good.
- skankcore
  
   reply
  May 14, 2021 1:17 PM
  
  I don’t know if I agree with your usage of the term canon, but I get where you’re going with it. I also am baffled by your inclusion of Terraria in your list of must-play games, I’m curious as to why you included it.
  - Pharaoh721
    
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    May 14, 2021 2:17 PM
    
    People love that game, it was huge!
  - Schnapple
    
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    May 14, 2021 2:47 PM
    
    Yeah I thought it was going to be "there's ten games in this series and you skipped playing one"
    
    Like how I've never played Wolfenstein Youngblood but I've played all the others (well, except Cyberpilot)
    
    Or people who played all the GTA games except for those PSP ones they dumped on the PS2.
- someWayne
  
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  May 14, 2021 1:20 PM
  
  For me it's basically any console exclusives from the last 10 years.
- Unleashed
  
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  May 14, 2021 1:30 PM
  
  everything in that list except halflife, mass effect and gta(which ive played all of each)
- CptPlankton
  
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  May 14, 2021 1:40 PM
  
  Uncharted, Terraria, Chrono Trigger, GoW
  - CptPlankton
    
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    May 14, 2021 1:53 PM
    
    For Uncharted and GoW I just didn't have a playstation. I feel like Terraria came out around when Minecraft did, and would have kinda scratched the same itch and I just did Minecraft instead.
  - Conan
    
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    May 14, 2021 2:22 PM
    
    I really tried to get into Uncharted, but I guess I just really dislike that cinematic gameplay style. The gunplay wasn't terribly satisfying, either.
    
    I tried both the first two but neither of them grabbed me. I think I actually own all of them, through a combination of PS Plus and other deals and a white elephant gift.
    - CptPlankton
      
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      May 14, 2021 2:31 PM
      
      If it's like the newer Tomb Raider games then I guess I'm not missing much. Those had way too many cinematic areas for me, especially I think the last one.
      - Conan
        
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        May 14, 2021 2:34 PM
        
        I actually liked Shadow of the Tomb Raider, for what its worth. They did have cinematics, but also a bunch of more open areas and decent gameplay.
        
        The 'cinematic' chase style sequences like the flood in the beginning are definitely my least favorite parts, though.
  - Serpico74
    
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    May 14, 2021 2:42 PM
    
    Chrono Trigger is super super easy to get into. Its perfectly paced, has a fun combat system, and doesn't overstay its welcome at only about 20-25 hours (short for a JRPG!).
    
    I started it up again a couple years ago after not playing it in well over a decade and was surprised at how briskly it moved and how well structured it is. Timeless game IMHO
- CyCo_PL
  
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  May 14, 2021 1:41 PM
  
  If it's a point and click adventure game, there's a good chance I haven't played it or played it for like ten minutes and bounced off because I do not enjoy those games
- HL3dsx
  
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  May 14, 2021 1:49 PM
  
  Mega Man. I've played them but was never able to beat any of the bosses in any of the games.
- oceanstate8
  
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  May 14, 2021 1:56 PM
  
  Some of the more culturally significant games I've missed out on are Minecraft, Fortnite, CoD/Battlefield, Dark Souls, Ass Creed, GTA (3+).
  
  Of those, the only ones I feel like I really missed out on are Minecraft and Dark Souls. With the former, I dragged my feet and felt like I missed the boat by the time I was ready to jump in, so I never did.
  
  With DS, I played a couple hours of the first one and bounced off it pretty hard. In my teens I would have probably loved the shit out of it, but at this point I just don't have the patience, drive or free time to give it the shot it deserves.
  - oceanstate8
    
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    May 14, 2021 2:03 PM
    
    WoW/EverQuest are major inclusions as well. While I do feel like I missed out on something special by never playing a MMO, ultimately it was the healthy choice.
- AxeMan808
  
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  May 14, 2021 2:04 PM
  
  Final Fantasy and most of yours. I played Mass Effect 2, a pinch of OG Metroid, and all the GTAs except 4. Didn't like my few hours of Terrarria, and have played all the Half-Lifes.
- Kub666
  
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  May 14, 2021 2:47 PM
  
  Zelda, Halo, Metroid... Well I've never had a Nintendo nor an Xbox so there's a lot of stuff I missed. It's impossible to play everything though.
- dopeman
  
   reply
  May 14, 2021 2:50 PM
  
  I've been fortunate enough to play most games.
  
  Here are the ones that I've missed:
  - Battlefield. The only one I ever played was 2, and it was only a little.
  - Tribes. Missed the boat on that one.
  - Gears of War. The last Xbox I had was the first.. and I've been a Playstation owner since.
  - Any JRPG that isn't Final Fantasy -and even then, I've only played FF4 (on DS).
  - Deus Ex. I have the most recent version.. but I've only played a few minutes of it.
  
  There are probably more. There are a lot of games out there.
- Serpico74
  
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  May 14, 2021 3:27 PM
  
  Minecraft, easy. One of the most important games of the 2010s and I've never touched it
- [deleted] 1856106348
  
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  May 14, 2021 3:29 PM
  
  [deleted]
- omnova
  
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  May 14, 2021 3:38 PM
  
  Early MMORPGs sounded like the gaming wild west and would have been interesting to check out but I didn't have good internet until way past their time.
  
  From a multiplayer FPS perspective, I would say I "missed" Doom and Quake 1 and 2. Tribes 1 and 2 as well.
  
  From the list, Grand Theft Auto has never appealed to me so I haven't played the games beyond seeing that they were not for me.
- aznjim
  
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  May 14, 2021 3:44 PM
  
  Other than the very first one on PSX in 1996, I have not played another Persona game. Never played any significant Metroid or Diablo (and likely will continue to boycott Blizzard games for the near future).
- r3dn3ck
  
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  May 14, 2021 4:52 PM
  
  The elder scrolls: <name>
- beepboopbeep
  
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  May 14, 2021 5:10 PM
  
  Portal.
  - focusdaily
    
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    May 15, 2021 2:30 AM
    
    Play dat.
- WhoaEagleRay
  
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  May 14, 2021 5:33 PM
  
  Never played Mario until this year. I am really bad at Mario.
- DewFuel
  
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  May 14, 2021 5:54 PM
  
  ive never played a resident evil or metal gear game.
- radula
  
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  May 14, 2021 7:15 PM
  
  Wouldn't they be the first in a series to be considered cannon?
  Original fallout set the tone and style, humour. Same with GTA.
  The sequels are only cannon if they follow the original.
- azuvatar
  
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  May 14, 2021 8:01 PM
  
  not a single Zelda game (but lots of Zelda-likes), no Metroids or Castlevania (but lots of Metroidvanias), and only Mario Bros. on NES (but plenty of platformers over the years).
- greenbergMD
  
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  May 14, 2021 8:33 PM
  
  Pretty much any of the major Sony franchises. Never played God of War, Last of Us, Uncharted, etc.
  - Chod
    
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    May 14, 2021 8:59 PM
    
    Same for me
  - azuvatar
    
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    May 14, 2021 11:59 PM
    
    same, basically any console exclusives
- nomaad
  
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  May 15, 2021 12:47 AM
  
  Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, no modern Nintendo game.
  Honestly, I don't think I've ever liked a game from Japan, besides on my NES.
- code-e255
  
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  May 15, 2021 12:49 AM
  
  Breath of the Wild, God of War, Minecraft. Also never played more than 1 minute of Halo single-player because it's so bad.
- dael
  
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  May 15, 2021 5:36 AM
  
  Mario. Never had a Nintendo growing up so no Marios or Zeldas or any Nintendo games. I've had bits and pieces of 3D world and Odyssey through my kids but never really played a Mario.
  
  Also no Metal Gear Solid