The Power of New Game Plus ► Ludology Now!

In the first issue of this column, I spoke at length about Silent Hill 2’24, with the majority of that text being written immediately after beating the game. I’ve since been making my way slowly through Silent Hill 2’24’s New Game Plus mode, looking for small details, enjoying the ambiance, and getting pretty liberal with my chainsaw usage. 

Yes, Silent Hill 2’24 still gives players the chainsaw in NG+, although it neglects the Hyper Spray for some reason. So far I’ve made it back up until Maria and I are heading to the hospital, and even though I’m now playing on Hard Mode for both combat and puzzles, with the addition of the chainsaw I have roughly *checks game* 167 handgun bullets, 4 syringes, and 14 health drinks. I have yet to actually fire a shot at an enemy, but I did waste some bullets shooting at windows in the apartment courtyard. For science.

This column will not discuss games like NieR or any other games for which New Game Plus modes are intrinsically needed to understand the full experience (except for Armored Core, slightly). This column is soley focused on NG+ modes which are offered as additional or supplemental content relative to the game in question. Games which you think should be mentioned here are possibly held in the highest regard and you should absolutely discuss them in the comments.

This is vastly different than my first initial run of Silent Hill 2’24, and it got me thinking about how much I enjoy titles that let you go all-out in a second playthrough. While they were arguably more popular a decade or two ago, having a cathartic New Game Plus mode is something I still really appreciate in games today. This is one of the reasons the majority of FromSoftware’s titles are so replayable, after all. But not everyone gets them right.

How Would You Like Your New Game Plussed?

Would You Prefer A Weapons Spread, or Perhaps A Crisp, Fresh Ending?

To get the most obvious reason for lackluster New Game Plus modes out of the way first: making them is HARD. I’m a game developer myself (Check out my latest release Spaceship Typing, an educational game about learning how to use a keyboard for ages 4-10!) and unless you are planning on having a NG+ mode at the start of development, it’s a right pain to get one shoved in at the last minute. That’s why the most common New Game Plus modes in the old days were simple asset-swaps or reorganizations (think the Second Quest from the original The Legend of Zelda or how all the enemies change after completing all the SPECIAL worlds in Super Mario World). 

Those are simple enough to make and don’t take too much extra processing power. The problem is, so few people actually complete games that, these days, many companies find it hard to justify creating content for such a small subsection of their audience. That’s understandable, but it breeds stagnation. If there’s one thing New Game Plus modes, in any form, give to their games, it is replayability. 

Cyberpunk 2077’s New Game Plus Mode, As Told By Lead Level Designer Miles Tost

Sometimes a NG+ mode means players can start over with all their current inventory items, upgrades, and skills. Games like the recent Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster are great for this, and starting over with Frank at level 50 gives players this real sense of power that was lacking – purposefully so – on the original playthrough. New Game Plus modes are a reward, and the best kind of reward in any video game is more gameplay. 

There are also New Game Plus modes that change things in more subtle ways. Perhaps there are new paths you can go down, new items to find, characters to interact with, or abilities to unlock. Sometimes this is told to you outright, and sometimes you just have to find it for yourself. I haven’t spoken much about Starfield since it was released – although my friends and I did put together a 4-hour long in-game Starfield radio station – but Starfield had a very, very interesting NG+ system. 

In Starfield, players saw their own player character resetting the universe and traveling to an alternate timeline, but the player always stayed who they were before. This led to some of Starfield’s New Game Plus runs being drastically different than not just the original playthrough, but each subsequent one as well. While many would argue (and I would agree, quietly) that there should have been even more of an emphasis on this mechanic than there is already, Starfield had a unique idea and ran with it. More games should. 

Getting Revenge In New Game Plus

Dark Souls and Elden Ring NG+ Runs Are Basically Therapy

To me, FromSoftware exclusively makes “comfort” games. From Dark Souls to Bloodborne to Elden Ring to Armored Core, these titles so ostensibly known for their difficulty all have one other thing in common: NG+ modes where players can start over directly at the beginning of the game with everything they have previously acquired, barring only key items and occasional plot-relevant weapons. I call them “F**k You Runs” and it’s my favorite kind of New Game Plus.

The first time I play a new FromSoftware game, I am slow, methodical, and careful. I talk to everyone as much as possible, heavily weigh any Yes/No choices presented, and never attack anything that doesn’t attack me first. On a second, third, or fourth playthrough, though? The gloves are off.

Armored Core 6’s New Game Plus Is Actually Just Way More Game

Goodbye, Crestfallen Warrior. Don’t talk to me like that, Varre. I killed Andre the Blacksmith and I didn’t feel bad about it. [Editor’s Note: Oof.] That’s not even counting the early bosses, which a properly leveled NG+ FromSoft character can slice through as easily as those same bosses used to slice through them. It’s cathartic, almost like venting in therapy. These things caused me so much pain, and now I have the power to destroy them with ease. All feels right with the world.

It wasn’t until I was playing through Silent Hill 2’24 recently that I realized how long this part of my game-playing personality has been around. I was a little disappointed the Hyper Spray – an overpowered weapon from the original Silent Hill 2 release – didn’t make it into the remake, but the chainsaw is still here. I rampaged my way through Silent Hill 2 with a chainsaw two decades ago, even after the game both terrified me and made me want to cry, and I did it again last week. Both times I loved it, and it made me feel even closer to that core horror experience even though it arguably couldn’t be further from it. 

I Love Resident Evil 4’s Infinite Rocket Launcher

Capcom does a really good job of New Game Plus modes. We already discussed Dead Rising, but most Resident Evil games (and their remakes) offer lots of new weapons, hidden trinkets, and cool things to encounter on a second run. This is good, no two ways about it, and it does encourage replayability. I think, all in all, I beat Resident Evil VIII THREE times. That’s wild for me.

Resident Evil 4, the original, is a good example of a game that has great NG+ possibilities. You start the game originally and, if you aren’t careful, it won’t be long until you get your head chopped off by Dr. Salvador. But with a Chicago Typewriter, or (even better) an Infinite Rocket Launcher, the whole thing is child’s play. RE4’s New Game Plus is fun, cathartic, and theraputetic in a different way than the base game – mostly.

Having the ability to go back and beat up the thing that defeated you previously is satisfying. It’s still focused on the same traumas, and it’s still focused on the interactivity, and it’s the same type of escapism. The problem is, Resident Evil 4 kind of does this already with the Island portion of the game. No Resident Evil game can resist going wild in the last 1/4 of its story, and RE4 was no different.

Silent Hill 2’s NG+ Is Better Than Resident Evil 4’s NG+

The thing is, those games are already sort of ridiculous. As I’ve established before, Capcom is camp. Silent Hill 2 is not camp, which is why the introduction of power fantasy objects like the chainsaw works so well. Yes, it’s so powerful it can kill most basic enemies in a single swing, but you’re still a man (barely a man, even, you are James Sunderland after all) holding a full-size chainsaw. It’s heavy. You’re gonna swing it badly. The challenge is still there. It’s still on theme. 

But there’s more to it than that in Silent Hill 2’24. If the whole game really is another loop for James, Angela, and Eddie, then surely the New Game Plus mode is as well. Silent Hill 2 has more endings that you have to unlock via a second playthrough than it has endings you can see the first time through, both serious and silly ones. Plus, given the nature of the game’s twist at the end, there are hundreds, if not thousands of small details scattered throughout the game that you will only notice on a second playthrough once the twist has been revealed. This kind of setup and payoff almost begs to be revisited, and giving the players a chainsaw is the developers telling them “It’s okay, you can go back. It won’t be as hard again.”

One of my friends is currently on their New Game Plus run of the Dead Space remake, and when I asked how it was going their response was, “It’s great. I have all my weapons from the first playthrough, so I’m calling this my ‘Kill it with fire’ run.” The majority of horror games spend most of their time purposefully making the player feel weak and helpless, and that’s why the horror genre has the best kind of New Game Plusses. Resident Evil games tend to make the player character into an unstoppable powerhouse before the first playthrough is over, but in Silent Hill you have to earn it. After being kicked in the head over and over again for 20 hours, it’s incredibly satisfying to be given a helmet. And a chainsaw.

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Do you have a favorite New Game Plus mode? Let us know about it in the comments below!

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Christopher J Teuton

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