Knowing a game by heart is a testament to our effort and dedication. Rewards, special items, enemies, strategies... everything is still there exactly as we expect. More than once, that familiarity is welcome, but we cannot deny that they lose a lot of value in terms of “replayability.” One possible solution is the application of randomizers, which depending on each game can change entire maps, the location of certain elements, and the behavior of enemies, among other things.
One of my latest obsessions is the game “Bad North.” Roguelike, permadeath, real-time strategy... the exact ingredients to insult the screen for hours and come back for more. The appearance of Bad North (a gift from the Epic Store a couple of weeks ago) displaced my open game of “Dragon Age,” and if I have to find a reason to explain it, it is this: I know everything that is going to happen in Dragon Age. I know the location of every item, the development of every event, the best builds for each character. I'm not going to lose.
Now, everything would be very different if Dragon Age and many other games in its situation made some changes... unexpected, surprising. This is especially true among RPGs and adventures for old consoles. Think of the Zelda games or Final Fantasy, and everything that could be modified in them. The simple fact of starting with an unusual Pokémon would force us to think differently.
What Are Randomizers?
The key lies in the so-called randomizers of video games. From a technical point of view, they can be interpreted as as mods or trainers, but their priority is to alter the content enough to create a new experience.
For example, suppose you are a master of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The game can no longer surprise you in any way. But if the rewards from the chests were different, or the keys to access special sections were hidden in the world and not in the caves... what would you do?
Fusing Two Games
Some randomizers are even more extreme, fusing two games. In the mod "Super Metroid x Link to the Past Randomizer", the goal is to defeat Ganon and Mother Brain, with both games connected via portals. As if that weren't enough, some items from LttP appear in Super Metroid and vice versa, so there are no escapes or shortcuts.
The best part is that randomizers exploded in the streaming world, and more and more players are interested in accepting a fresh and unpredictable challenge. Interested? If so, your first stop is the site "The BIG List of Video Game Randomizers". From Super Mario Bros. to Hollow Knight, through Half-Life, Resident Evil and Skyrim itself, dozens of randomizers await you.
The BIG List of Video Game Randomizers: Click here
