Respect and adoration can come from just a fleeting first impression, but having the best intentions to play through an entire game is never a guarantee that you will see one through to completion. The regrets may be strong for some, others have found peace in their path, but our brief time with these games still stand out in our memory.

Metal Gear Solid V

What is your favorite game that you have played the least amount of?

  • Rob Shaw - There may be something I liked better that eventually pops into my head, but the first good answer that comes to mind is a more recent game... Metal Gear Solid V. It'a s fun game, plays great, looks amazing... has the weird and interesting Kojima story going for it. I did spend a fair amount of time with it and had a great time, but am nowhere near finishing. I got distracted with other things and failed to return... I want to go back to it... someday... we'll see...

  • JB Buckner - DOOM, The first one ... and the reboot. OG DOOM stressed me out and I couldn't play a lot. I started having nightmares about the monsters, which wasn't completely out of the ordinary for me. I used to dream strategize how to beat Warcraft levels because I played that so much. DOOM Reboot stressed me out and I couldn't play a lot. I got through 6 hours of gameplay on hour long sessions and had other games I could sit down and play longer. Oh all the Zeldas. Everyone talks about their favorite Zelda game and I'm sitting here going, "I played Ocarina of Time." I never owned The Legend of, and I got lost in Ocarina. I still wonder where I was supposed to go in that game. It was like all of a sudden the game had no more content for me to play. Stupid fairy wouldn't even tell me what I missed. Metroid, yes, I missed this one, too. What was I doing during these years? It's hard to say but it sure wasn't Metroid. Castlevania, look ... we all get that this is a damning list, and some are wondering what the hell I'm even doing contributing to this article. I say shut up. Perhaps I just didn't know what I was missing. Perhaps I needed better friends, or I should have asked for the SNES instead of the Sega, or maybe I should have mowed some lawns to buy one myself. Anyway, I keep hoping the NES Classic becomes available at some point so I can play some of these classics. I look forward to sitting down with my kids and watching them get frustrated because these games are too hard and rage quitting and going back to Minecraft.

  • Aaron McNeal - Lemme tell ya something: I finish games. Most games. Eventually. The first series that comes to mind are the recent XCOM games. I can start these a dozen times, but I eventually stop before the earth is saved from the alien menace. I lose one of my favorite soldiers. Shelved. A country drops from the global effort? I'm out. Everything's going great and there are no problems whatsoever! That's a lie, and I'm gonna play something else. I love talking about XCOM, customizing my squads, researching tech, and especially the do-or-die nature that pulls no punches. Maybe one day, my name will be on the golden wall of brave commanders. One day.

  • Cole Monroe - This is an interesting question. My initial thought was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. But I have played a ton of it over the years, just never finished it completely (a definite shame of mine). My next thought was Dishonored. From everything I've played, read, and heard about this series I love it but I've barely scratched the surface on where that game goes. I always get to a certain point and then stop playing. Not for any fault of its own, I just keep getting distracted by other games. Not sure I'll ever get back to it.

  • Ryan Billingsley - For me it would have to be either Link to the Past, Secret of Mana, or Chrono Trigger. All amazing games that I absolutely love, but just never made the commitment to get through it. I am pretty sure I put the most time into Mana. I have played each more than a dozen times, always starting over, but never getting very far. Someday, someday...

  • Justin Lacey - As a part of my never having owned a PlayStation, I think I played the intro to Silent Hill about 6 times, but I never got more than a half hour into it. It's a game I know I'd love and a series I have reverence for. I think if I revisited it in 2017 it may actually do the game a disservice with how much the horror genre has evolved since its release. 12 hours is a lot of time, but I barely scratched the surface of Final Fantasy XV. I loved every second of it, but things came to a hard stop at the end of last year. I hope to pick it back up on PC later this year, but 2017 is so jam packed with large and awesome games that it may not happen. I've restarted Dying Light 3 different times, and I never had a good reason to stop. I came back last year for the expansion and expected that to push me through to play the entire game. Something keeps coming up no matter how much I enjoy this one. I'll keep apologizing to the zombies the next time I kick them off a roof.

  • Andrew Cooper - Metal Gear Solid V is the game that comes to mind first. I was never invested in this series, so when V came out I didn't really know what to expect. I heard good things about it, so I gave it a try. The entire intro of that game blew me away. I thought it was just going to be your traditional tactical shooter, but there was a lot more going on there. It was some of the most intense and exciting gameplay that I had experienced in a while and I loved every minute of it. However, I didn't stick with it. I can't even remember what game I decided to play instead, but the fact is that I moved on and never went back. I still have it installed because I truly want to see what the rest of the game has to offer, but to this day I still haven't touched it.

  • Justin Gifford - The game that embarrasses me that I've never completed, despite loving the crap out of it when I first played it as a kid is The Legend of Zelda. Yes, that's right. I've never beat the original. What do you think I'm going to play on my Nintendo Classic when it mysteriously comes in stock at Christmastime?