Do we really need to play every game to completion?

This was a question I was asking myself the other day as I started Hollow Knight again.

Hollow Knight is a vast game full of bizarre wonders and secrets. While it’s possible with enough time and a guide to see them all, every time I play, I find myself getting up to the final boss encounter, and then…stopping.

The first few times it was because they’d just released their free expansions, but even after it all came out I still stayed my hand, ending my playthrough just before the final fight. It just felt natural to me— I didn’t feel done with it yet, so I refused to finish the game.

It’s something that’s happened with several other games, too— the Dark Souls trilogy, Skyrim, Baldur’s Gate III, and numerous others— all ending with me abandoning the game right before the final screens.

It wasn’t because the games were too difficult or because I didn’t want to see the end of the story, but if I finished the game, I would be done with it. It seems like a redundant statement, of course if someone finishes a game they’re done with it, but once you’ve seen all there is to see, what point is there to continuing?

When a game is finished, how many of us really find ourselves going back to it again? I find I enjoy games more when I set my own boundaries, whether that’s leaving a game unfinished, abandoning sidequests because a game’s overstuffed with content, or just roleplaying my way through and going “my character wouldn’t do that.”

It’s not like the game can complain.

This is something encountered with games played to completion, too. Fallout: New Vegas might be a masterpiece, but most people require mods to take return trips to the Mojave Wasteland, because they saw all they needed when they explored every nook and cranny of the game the first time and need to make their own fun. Games frequently have this issue— once a player’s been through every inch of a hundreds-plus hour game, there’s not much reason to replay, even with alternate endings and more content. Usually, the devs have to release DLC to bring people back.

There is, of course, a sense of accomplishment to completing a game. Frequently “platinuming” or “100%ing” a game is the pinnacle of skill and confers a certain authority— a player has literally seen and done it all. They can safely return the game to their (digital or physical) shelf with the knowledge that it’s completely done. With games now reaching up to seventy dollars minimum for some triple-A titles, it’s also worth it to get your money’s worth out of whatever title you have, to know that you got every cent of value out of the purchase.

With that in mind, games are meant to be replayable. Maybe seeing literally everything a game has to offer isn’t something to be celebrated any more. Maybe it should be cooler if someone leaves blank spaces so they can come back and play the game as many times as they like. We should feel more free to set our own goals and make our own fun in games, outside of any obligations to finish.

At the very least, that seventy bucks we pay would last longer than the several weeks it would take us to complete everything.

What do you think? Is it better to fully complete a game and then let it rest? Or leave gaps in your completion so you can try out different things on later runs?  Let us know in the comments below or join the Boss Rush Discord to continue the conversation!

Photo Credits: Hollow Knight courtesy of Team Cherry, photo taken by Boss Rush Network. Skyrim courtesy of Bethesda Softworks, photo taken by Boss Rush Network. Baldur’s Gate III courtesy of Larian Studios, photo taken by Boss Rush Network