No matter how much time you spend gaming, the reality is that you simply can’t play everything. Even the most distinguished of gamers have a small list of shame, comprised of game franchises they’ve never played, or a game that they “promise” they’ll clear from there ever inflating backlog, only to have it sit there for years (I’m looking at you Hollow Knight). 

Despite having played hundreds of games throughout my time across a multitude of different genres, I was quite surprised to realise the amount of popular franchises I’ve never experienced before. Whether it be Mortal Kombat, Civilization, Castlevania, or the three I mention in this collection below, there are plenty of series I’ve yet to play through.

Interested to know what other popular gaming franchises others have never tried, I reached out to the GOA team and asked for 2 or 3 gaming series they’ve never (or very briefly) played.

Dylan

Monster Hunter

Despite Monster Hunter being second behind Resident Evil as the best selling Capcom franchise, I’ve never managed to jump into a single entry in the series. I remember being really interested in Monster Hunter Tri when it released on the Wii back in 2010, but other than that and a brief hint of intrigue with Monster Hunter: World, I’ve never been too desperate to dive in. 

Monster Hunter Rise just released on PC Game Pass though, so if I can get over my fear of the game’s intimidating learning curve, I may finally be able to scratch this series off of my list of shame.

Dark Souls

I played roughly a dozen hours of Bloodborne not long after it was released and was absolutely hooked, but fell off the wagon for other releases and failed to pick it back up. This was the closest I’ve gotten to playing Dark Souls, a trilogy that I want to experience, but just haven’t gotten to due to their intimidating and time consuming nature.

Red Dead

I’ve heard through word of mouth from plenty of people about how great the Red Dead franchise is (more so Red Dead Redemption than Red Dead Revolver), yet somehow I’ve never played either of them.

I actually know so little about the narrative happenings of the Redemption games that I actually look forward to playing them one day, but I simply just haven’t been able to find the time for them just yet.

The main reason for my apprehensiveness stems from the amount of time required to fully experience them, as I tend to find it less stressful playing through games with shorter runtimes. 

Seeing as I just found out that Red Dead Revolver can be finished in less than 10 hours, maybe that’s where I should start.

Natty

Grand Theft Auto

Unfortunately Grand Theft Auto is a combination of elements that just aren’t for me. 

I generally prefer a curated storytelling experience over open world style games. I’ve also never enjoyed knowingly playing as a “bad guy”. For example, I love management sims  but played 10 minutes of Tropico 5 before the tutorial forced me to make the kind of decision a despotic leader would make, and I never opened the game again.

World of Warcraft

Does the woman who became severely addicted to Animal Crossing seem like the kind of person that should be playing one of the best and most addictive MMO’s on the planet? 

I saw World of Warcraft consume the lives of my friends when it came out in 2004. I’ve tried different MMO’s since, and unfortunately I always fall behind in levelling – feeling as though I’m a drag on the team and unable to meaningfully contribute.

Resident Evil

Games with jump scares? No thank you. 

Horror movies and games are generally not my jam – especially if I am alone. While I can happily sit and watch my partner play through a Resident Evil game, please don’t ask me to take the controller. With the lights on and a room of friends I may tackle a serious horror game one day.

Jordan

BioShock

I never really understood why I never gave any of the BioShock games a chance – I think it’s partially because I perceived the game as more of a horror experience.

I know now that it’s really not that style of game, but in general – it’s just never been a series I’ve gotten around to trying out, which I think I might try and rectify this year.

Uncharted

A simple and straightforward explanation for this one – I was an Xbox Fanboy until I started earning disposable income and bought both consoles, which unfortunately meant I was well past the starting point of Uncharted. I stupidly own and have access to every single game, and am still yet to experience any of them first-hand.

Final Fantasy

I don’t even have an explanation. I watched my older brothers play FF7 for hours on end growing up on the PlayStation, and I love fantasy games and genuinely know it will be up my alley. And yet, I still haven’t attempted once to try any of them (Excluding the MMORPG, but I won’t necessarily count that).

Mikeey

World of Warcraft

I’m not sure if it was when my friend from high school used to dominate us playing LAN versions of the original Warcraft games or I just loved Star Wars Galaxies so much but when I did buy WoW eventually, I was over it very quickly. The high fantasy and weird characters never quite did it for me. I was just left feeling bored playing the game and its missions

Dark Souls

After hearing all the hype surrounding Demon’s Souls and the fact it was not released in Australia at its time of release, I ended up importing a copy to only last about 30 mins before giving up in a fit of rage. So by the time Dark Souls came around my mind was made up that I wouldn’t put myself through that torment all over again and quite happily skipped them all.

Royce

The Legend of Zelda

The Zelda games are beloved by so very many gamers out there it can get a bit awkward when I admit I’ve never played any of them.

I grew up in New Zealand, where Sega and its consoles were the order of the day popularity-wise until the PlayStation showed up in 1999. Nintendo consoles before the Game Boy Colour were almost impossible to get (there were a small number of SNES units and games available to rent from Video Ezy), and as a result I never played anything like Super Mario Bros (which I later rectified) or the Zelda games.

I am, however, very familiar with Master System and Mega Drive games if anyone wants to reminisce about Sonic The Hedgehog or NBA Jam or Jungle Strike.

After I moved to Australia I kept focussing on PC games (still my favourite platform) and didn’t have any of the Nintendo consoles until about 2020 (when I got a Switch) so just missed all of the subsequent Zelda games and have never had a chance to play any of them – even Breath Of The Wild, which everyone raves about – a situation not helped by the fact Nintendo games almost never seem to go on sale.

Halo

Given my fondness for PC games this one might be a surprise, but it comes down to the fact I didn’t own an Xbox until I got a One X in 2017 so missed the Golden Age of Halo and have just never gotten around to playing any of them. (I still have no idea how I missed Halo Infinite, considering it came out in 2021 and I was definitely reviewing viceo games then.)

I know the games are hugely popular and I have no doubt they are very good, but there’s only so many gaming hours in a day and my pile of shame is already in danger of becoming a prominent local landmark so it could be a while before I’m donning Master Chief’s helmet.

Pokemon

We thought it would make sense to save the most audacious confession for the end: I’ve never played a Pokemon game. Not even Pokemon Go.

Pokemon came out when I was about 15/16, and was seen as something for kids in the what we’d now call “tween” age range. I had other interests at the time (including PC gaming and Dungeons & Dragons) so never paid it much attention besides being aware of the game’s existence, basic principles, and the fact it had strange Japanese creatures in it including something called a “Pikachu”.

Subsequently, I never developed any attachment to the series, even when more games came out, and it just wasn’t something that seemed like my cup of coffee, so I’ve been perfectly content to let everyone else have fun chasing Pokemon through both fictional and real environments.

I did, however, thoroughly enjoy the Detective Pikachu movie. That counts, right?

#gameonAUS

Written by: @GrumpyGoron, @NattyWW, @Arlentric, @TheXboxCowboy, and @RoyceWilsonAU