I was talking to a guy in a pub about it, who overheard a conversation I was having with someone else and jumped in, happy to talk to someone, anyone, about games. It was quite nice. And when talking about older games and remakes he said: I don’t think anything will ever be as good as the original Deus Ex. On the one hand, this is fair enough – the old Deus Ex it was good, and it was a good time for gaming when people realized that RPGs and FPSs could work together. That’s not what bothered me. What bothered me was the idea that nothing could ever be as good as the original Deus Ex because, blatantly, that’s not true. Put that old Deus Ex next to the new Deus Ex, or next to games like Dishonored and Prey, and I know which one I’d rather play. And I know that’s not a fair comparison because there’s more than 20 years between them, but I think it’s just as unfair to compete with a formative memory. You see what I really think he was saying, this man, no other game could have affected him the way Deus Ex once did. And that, I understand. Hop in our time machine back to 2016 and Overwatch was one of those moments for me. It has happened to me too. Once upon a time I played Dark Age of Camelot and it was the first time I was able to properly immerse myself in an MMO. And I did, totally, and it blew me away. It surprised me because everything I did there was a new experience for me, a fresh imprint on my mind. I was so engrossed it almost felt real, this virtual world – I can still feel emotions in the memories even now. And nothing – not even my World of Warcraft experience, which was very strong – has been able to match it since. I don’t think this is because DAOC was a better game than WOW – I think the story speaks for itself here. I think it’s just because DAOC got there first. I ran home to play Mass Effect 1 when it came out. It seems to be the same with anyone I talk to: their strongest gaming memories always tend to be in the past, often in the past. And all they’ve been doing since then, really, is chasing experiences like this, perhaps in the hope that they can have an experience this powerful again. But can they – can we? That is the question. What if our brains are like inkblots and it’s always the first press that leaves the strongest mark, no matter what we do? Any mark at the end will always be one step further faded. I wonder if it is a psychological quirk of humans that we are incapable of doing anything. And when I hear sayings like “you can only make a first impression once” and “you can only see a magic trick once”, it seems to back it up. The whole idea of ​​’formative experiences’ seems to suggest that it is also a known, accepted and understood thing. And I’m not sure I like it. It makes me long to think about it, because I’m starting to think that I’ll never have the chance to be completely impressed again. But, no, I won’t believe it. I don’t want to believe it. And when the enthusiastic man in the pub said he couldn’t remember the last time he was really excited about a game, I felt a glimmer of hope, because I could. I remember rushing home from work to play Mass Effect, a game I had been waiting for so long and I was 25 at the time. I had never done anything like this before, as a child or adult. And I’m pretty sure I did the same for Guitar Hero 2. I also remember how I was bummed about Overwatch years later, sitting in the dark in the office by myself, passing the house time (don’t tell anyone) so I could play it It’s memories like these that pull me back, give me hope and make me believe that the best is yet to come. Perhaps there is enough room in our minds for it to impress us yet.