The other night I booted up the Oculus Quest 2 (Is it the Meta Quest storefront yet?) and thought I would jump back into Layers of Fear VR. Less than 10 minutes later, I turned the game off, not because I was not having fun and not because I was getting motion sick, but because I was terrified. Here I am, a grown-ass man, playing a game for the third time on a third platform, and scared of a wheelchair that wheeled itself behind me without noticing it. And I knew that something was going to happen with the wheelchair because I had a vague memory of something happening with it from a previous playthrough and because it just looked like it was more than a piece of decoration. The question I asked myself as I took off the Oculus, was not why was I afraid in a game that has no monsters that can kill you, but why had I purchased a game that I had already bought and played on Steam, and Nintendo Switch? Why was I playing a game again on a different system when I had already played the game twice before?
I think there are multiple answers to this.
- The first and primary reason is that I really love Layers of Fear. I love the smooth and seamless transitions between things happening to and around you while you play. I love that I can walk past an inanimate object, turn the corner of a hallway, reach out for a door and hear a creak behind me and the game plays a subtle scare chord as I look behind me to find the wheelchair that was 30 feet and around a corner now right behind me newly splattered in paint. I want to support the developer and my primary way of doing that is to buy their game.
- Secondly, this is not just rebuying the same game over and over again, this is buying the same game in a different format. When I first got Layers of Fear, it was through a Humble Bundle for Steam. I bought it on the Nintendo Switch because I love being able to play in handheld mode, I love the game and wanted to support the developer on their first game published on a Nintendo system (see the first point above), and I was interested to see how the port to the Switch was. Yes, I could have just read a review, but I wanted to see for myself, and again, see the first point above.
- Lastly, I then bought the game again (albeit, it was on sale) on the Oculus Quest 2 for the first two reasons above, and because I was genuinely curious to see what playing a first-person horror game was like in VR. Never mind the fact that I had already played the game twice so I knew what I was getting into story-wise, but I was curious. Would being in this virtual space be as scary as the first time I played the game on my laptop (through an HDMI cord connected to our TV) I played the game? How would the game hold up graphically when I could get my virtual head right up to paintings, bathtubs, and bowls of fruit? I wanted to know this, so I bought the game.
Now we have answered the question of why I own at least one game on three different systems. Do people buy the same game multiple times for the same reasons? Would someone buy Resident Evil 4 on the Game Cube, on Steam, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Android? Maybe that is a bad example because I would be surprised if people have not done just that because it is Resident Evil 4. Me, I have only purchased RE4 once on the Game Cube and have had zero inkling to buy the game again. Except on the Oculus Quest 2 for the third reason above. And in recent years (as in the last 10 years I guess), there have been remastered and remakes, which made me think about how many times I had purchased the same game on different systems for any of the three reasons above.
And I honestly do not think that it is too many. And I would not count the games that are included on either the Nintendo Switch Online package in the NES, SNES, or N64 catalogs or the NES Classic or the SNES Classic.
The next bunch of games I purchased again was specifically games on various Nintendo handheld systems (Game Boy Advance, DS, 3DS) and the Switch for portability reasons, although there is also likely an element of wanting to show support to the developers that there is viability for their IP on this specific platform, although that is usually directed more towards indie games.
Obviously, there is Layers of Fear. I do have the BioShock: The Collection on Switch after I had already purchased it on PC and Steam. Then there was Final Fantasy VII, which I first bought on PC back in 1998 and again on Steam, as well as Resident Evil ReMake on the Game Cube and Steam. I would be tempted to say Dragon Warrior on the NES and the Dragon Quest I & II that was released on the GameBoy Color, but we did technically get our NES copy of Dragon Warrior free with our Nintendo Power subscription back in 1990. I've also purchased Doom and Doom II on both Steam and Switch, partly to see if Doom II on the Switch also made gave me motion sickness. Oh, I did buy the Final Fantasy I & II Dawn of Souls that was released on the GameBoy Advance while still having the original NES cartridge that I am pretty sure I bought. At the time I do not recall Final Fantasy II being available outside of fan translation ROMS and I had zero qualms about replaying the first Final Fantasy. I also have copies of Kholat and the Amnesia Collection on the Switch for all of the same reasons mentioned above. But I also picked it up the Amnesia Collection because I realized I had not played either Amnesia game since I first played them back in 2012 and 2013 respectively. And while I technically do have three different versions of Skyrim, one of those was an automatic acquisition because I already bought Skyrim on Steam, and anyone who had it was given a copy. I got Conklederp a copy of Skyrim on the Switch thinking that she might want to start up a new character and play that way, but that ended up not being the case and I think it's been over a year since either of us has touched the Switch port. I also picked up Dark Souls on the Switch for the same reason that I bought games for a second time on the Switch.
I did buy the NES cartridge of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest right before I moved up to the PNW and I do not think I have actually played the physical game, but I did buy it for the Virtual Console on the 3DS, and I did buy the Castlevania Anniversary Collection on the Switch. I also got the Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition on the Switch although I bought and played the hell out of the original game on my PC back in 2003, I never beat all of the DLC, specifically, I was stuck on a section of Hordes of the Underdark shortly after the massive battle in the Underdark; I think I have started three or four different characters and have finally decided to stick it out with my Half-Elven Paladin.
In a similar albeit slightly different vein, I did buy Pandemic on the Switch while I already have the board game. I bought it partly because it was/is going to be delisted from a lot of online marketplaces, but also because I really like the game and the ability to play it in a single-player mode seems like a lot of fun since Conklederp and I do not have a lot of time to sit down to play a multi-hour board game after The Squire goes to bed.
Sure, there are other games that I would likely buy a second time around, like the Dead Space series, or Eternal Darkness if either of them ever came to the Switch. I am also likely to buy again Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion on either the Switch (or Steam Deck whenever that is supposed to come in during Q4) because I had a lot of fun with that on the PSP. And I will 100% buy Final Fantasy Tactics if it is on the Switch and/or Steam Deck when that is finally announced and released, as well as Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster which will likely be on the Steam Deck because apparently, Square Enix has no interest on releasing that game on the Switch; and I had no interest in the atrociousness of the HD smoothified monstrosity version of the game, and I never bought the GBA port because, at the time, I did not feel like I needed/wanted a portable version.
So yes, I guess, I will buy multiple copies of the same game on different platforms, but only specific games and for specific reasons, usually one of the three reasons at the top of the article. As to why other people buy multiple copies of the same game across different platforms, you will likely have to ask them as I can only speak for myself and speculate until the bees come home. I think my one caveat is that I do not see myself buying a second copy of a game, be it on the same platform or on a different platform without the intention of playing the game, to have only as a collector's item. I do not have the disposable income or the space in our house to have multiple copies just to have them, if I am going to buy a game, for the most part, I plan on playing that game (stop looking at my Steam and Switch queue).
P.S. Only slight apologies for the semi-stream of consciousness in the middle paragraphs where I just start listing games left and right without a thought about any semblance of organization.
P.P.S. And now that I think about it, I do not think I have multiple physical copies of the same game. All duplicates are either a digital copy of a physical game or a physical copy of a digital game. I think, but I will get back to you if this is not the case. Because I care that much.
P.P.P.S. I decided early on that I was not going to link all of the games I mentioned in this article because that would be too many games and I am not made of time you see. Yeah, I decided it was okay to be lazy. And that is okay.
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