Okami is my pick, I went in blind and it blew me away.
There's a point in the game where it seems like everything is wrapping up and I was thinking that was it... turns out, nope, there was like 70% more game, so it really felt like a game that just kept going in an awesome way to me.
When we got our first PlayStation it came with a demo disc and Metal Gear Solid was among the offerings. The demo only comprised the first two screens of the game; it ended as soon as you crawled into the facility. I played it a few times and thought it was okay, but at stage of my life I was into adventure games and RPGs and had no interest in some super-serious military game.
A couple years later my mom started dating a guy and he had a box full of PS1 games, nothing that really piqued my interest, mostly sports, racing, etc. And that super serious military game I had played a demo of way back when. One day, out of sheer boredom and possibly dumb luck I decided to give it a whirl, expecting to grow tired of it after an hour or two.
Long story short, here we are two decades later and Hideo Kojima is my personal hero.
Yup. That whole game was just one of the craziest script flips I had ever experienced up to that point. I will always stand by the original as the only way to play it because it kept itself on that early-John Carpenter level of grounded, yet simultaneously insane that was completely thrown away for Twin Snakes. Didn't need missile flips, didn't need to see the ninja hallway playing out. No amount of 'Otacon-vision' angle will every revise that game for me. Original was perfect.
Literally every good game. Not knowing the stuff that would have hyped you for the game in the first place means every one of those hype-worthy mechanics and moments is a first. I don't see how that could be anything but a good thing, especially in a day and age when trailers often show more than they should.
The only argument against going into a good game blind is if it gets good later on and you're the kind of people who easily quits something without giving it much of a chance. Even in those cases, that's really more of a you problem.
If I think back, it's always the experiences that I don't expect that leave a lasting impression. I bought Hollow Knight because it was cheap and the few screenshots looked nice. That's it. And it became one of the best games that I have ever played because everything unfolded while I was playing and it changed my view on indie games completely. Knowing things about the thing you are about to consume kills all the surprises and organic discory and makes it literally a waiting game for all the highlights to happen. Some people think differently, they get giddy in anticipation and I envy these people, but I die insisde every time I stumble upon a spoiler.
For example. I still can't get over the fact that the trailers for Sekiro spoiled the
snake that attacks you on the bridge.
I know that that moment would have been an insane experience but since the trailer spoiled it, I saw the location and knew exactly what was going to happen killing all the impact of the scene.
And before people complain that it is my fault for watching the trailer. I didn't plan to watch it, it was part of the stupid autoplaying thumbnails on youtube that I accidentally came across.
EDIT: I also think that going in blind is always the best and fairest way to experience and evaluate something. Having no expecations means the thing you are experiencing is the only source of information that you have for unraveling its content meaning that the experience is more naturally guided by the product instead of framed by preconceived ideas. It's late and I suck at explaining this properly but I hope people understand what I'm saying. Going blind into Hollow Knight meant that I had no idea how huge the world was, so delving deeper and deeper into Hollow Nest really felt like piercing into the unknown, not knowing what comes next, which plays wonderfully with the themes of the game. If I had seen a sizzle reel of location in some trailer it wouldn't have been the same since I would be expecting to find certain places, items, people, bosses, skills, etc. instead of being suprised to find anything.
I kinda want to argue against NieR when people constantly "beat" the game then come online to complain about how short it was and it didn't explain anything.
I went into it only knowing one thing - you have to play NG+ - and that was enough.
killer7 and Undertale immediately come to mind.
I would like to say Demons Souls and Dark Souls but I think it's important to mention that those games are very punishing to someone who might not be initially into that.
Similarly with Nier I think it's important to mention that you'll have to play it multiple times otherwise they might not figure it out on their own.
Bloodborne was a transcendental experience playing blind. I had played all the souls games before it, but I purposefully went on a media blackout for BB. It was a genuinely stunning experience. SImilarly, so was Control.
Breath of the Wild was an incredible gaming experience for me, precisely because all I knew about it was a few minutes of E3 Treehouse footage that I'd saw and was impressed by. Went in virtually blind otherwise, and it particularly helped that I was never a huge Zelda series person. Probably the most immersive/engrossing video game experience I'd had in years/decades(?). As I played, I read nothing about the game and I refused to look up anything and just preferred to discover things for myself and get lost in the wanderlust the game encourages.
I had a similar limited exposure to Bloodborne too and pretty much treated it the same way. Two of my favorite experiences in games in the last several years for sure.
I unfortunately have a bad habit of looking at way too much pre-release material for games that I'm really excited for and it does diminish them in a way. Wish I had more discipline/self-control in regards to doing this for sure lol.
Outer Wilds for sure, the thrill of discovery is the whole hook. None of it should be spoiled especially due to the non linear nature of how exploration is handled.
Edith Finch is another...the narrative is so well told and experiencing the presentation how the devs designed it is paramount to getting the full experience.
I actually did this with Breath of the Wild minus the very first barebones trailer. I didn't even think there were going to be populated towns in the game until I wandered into Hateno.
This is the correct answer. Please go into 999 blind.
I also heavily disagree with the "every game" though. I enjoy stuff much more when I know vague details and things like frustrating bosses in advance. I also like knowing how long a game is so I can plan better.
Most games, but I'm gonna say Breath of the Wild. I'm a sucker for information even though I hate it, and I rarely have the self control to go on full blackouts. If I had been able to go into BotW with literally no knowledge of what it was gonna be like, it would've blown my mind.
You should know its a jrpg with a realtime-with-cooldowns combat system, but other than that don't read anything or watch any trailers.
I bought it based on word of mouth about 6 years ago, it became my favorite game of all time.
Most games, but I'm gonna say Breath of the Wild. I'm a sucker for information even though I hate it, and I rarely have the self control to go on full blackouts. If I had been able to go into BotW with literally no knowledge of what it was gonna be like, it would've blown my mind.
I actually did this (except for the very first glimpse in Wii U). Having played almost all previous Zelda games, BOTW blew away my expectations and became my GOAT.
Metal Gear Solid & MGS2
Star Wars: Knights Of the Old Republic
Mass Effect 1
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time & Breath Of The Wild
Grand Theft Auto Vice City/San Andreas or Saints Row 2
Elder Scrolls Oblivion or Skyrim
