Gamers discuss the worst opening hours in gaming

Summary

Not every iconic or legendary video game has such a bombastic opening as Final Fantasy 7.
In fact, many of these games have a slow beginning, full of exposition, hand-holding, and linearity.
On Reddit, gamers discussed the games with the “worst” opening times, including games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Twilight Princess and Assassin's Creed 3.

As legendary as games like Okami, Nier Automata and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain are, they have some obscenely long opening hours. We're talking about multi-hour segments that have a combination of a very linear nature, a lack of gameplay or a lot of exposition. As my colleague Rhiannon pointed out, Final Fantasy 8 is another infamous member of the opening story.

If you made it through this initial ordeal, then you have almost certainly been treated to a life-changing experience. But if not, then we can't blame you for diving in so early. On Reddit, gamers discussed the games that had the “worst” opening hour. It's a nostalgic and sometimes painful journey down memory lane of the gaming industry's most notorious slow starters.

A collage of characters from Metaphor: ReFantazio.

There is no right time to start with the metaphor: ReFantazio

It's better to approach a long RPG like a TV show than a movie.

Please don't give up so easily

Right off the bat, players mentioned Red Dead Redemption 2, the prequel to 2018's original Red Dead Redemption. This special opening hour is full of exposition with very limited gameplay as the many systems and story expand. Oh, and it takes place almost entirely in the snow, which makes things even slower.

“I wanted to go back and restart it, but I just don't want to play the first few hours again,” one user complained. Another chimed in, adding: “I lost my save and didn't play RDR2 for the longest time because I didn't want to restart.”

Another popular title among gamers was Assassin's Creed 3. The title, based on the American Revolution, lures with a trick in which the playing times focus on a character that is not the protagonist. It was a novel idea, but one that ended up wasting time before things really opened up.

“The first six hours of Assassin's Creed 3 were terrible,” one user wrote succinctly.

Elsewhere, games like the original Kingdom Hearts, Forspoken and Death Stranding are mentioned, alongside iconic games like Twilight Princess and Knights of the Old Republic 2. Personally, this author agrees with many commenters that Assassin's Creed 3 was painful at times. The game was actually a Christmas present for me, including the limited steelbook, and let's just say I spent most of my winter break being bored before the game even started.

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