It can be hard to go back to many video games. The great surprises the player encountered for the first time, the thrill of discovery, building up a character's equipment and skills to god-tier level - these are all lost upon a second playthrough. A game has to be truly special to entice the player back for another round.
Alternatively, a game can offer a New Game Plus mode to persuade players into a further playthrough. In New Game Plus, players start from the beginning but with all the weapons and upgrades from their previous play - but the game's ready with a much tougher challenge. The best games don't just have New Game Plus - they turn it into a wildly different experience.
Dark Souls
The Dark Souls series is well-known for two things: an insane level of difficulty that rewards careful play, and having a near-essential New Game Plus mode. While players are always just a few hits from death, they can get better weapons and magic, stronger armor, and boost their health and stamina so it's possible to survive - or at least dodge a lot more.
Carrying all this over should make a New Game Plus easier, except enemies scale to match and some things even change location. It's also one of the few games where New Game Plus mode stacks so it's possible to replay it time and time again - and it's harder every time.
Batman: Arkham Knight
Previous games in the Batman Arkham series have had New Game Plus modes, but Arkham Knight takes it to the next level where it feels like a whole new game. The fight to free Gotham from the threat of both Scarecrow and the Arkham Knight is challenging enough the first time around, but despite having access to all Batman's cool upgrades, the second time is a lot more difficult.
Enemies hit harder and the safety net of the icons that tell the player when to dodge or counter have been removed. Some scenes even play out differently under New Game Plus, such as the opening cremation of the Joker, where he wakes up and starts laughing - to the shock of everyone playing.
Resident Evil 3
The recent remake of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was not as well-received as the remake of Resident Evil 2, and part of that was down to the game's length. Whereas RE2 offered two campaigns with more exploration, RE3 seemingly only had one shorter, linear experience.
Assuming that were true would be a mistake, since players need to take on Resident Evil 3's great New Game Plus mode in order to get the most out of the game. Players can try out multiple playthroughs, and in each, they'll get more information, a harder challenge, and a different experience each time.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3 is the biggest game in the fan-favorite The Witcher franchise, and is such a truly massive game it wouldn't be surprising that players never even considered trying the New Game Plus mode - most are probably still trying to complete the DLC expansions or many side-missions.
All of Geralt's gold, gear, and experience will carry over, with the catch that enemies will scale to the level the player finished the game with, so expect a far tougher challenge from the start.
The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
There are several Legend of Zelda titles that could've gone on this list. Ocarina of Time has the Master Quest that completely changes the game, and The Wind Waker's New Game Plus allows the player to understand Hylian speak but otherwise doesn't do much else.
The massive RPG Breath of the Wild, however, has the best New Game Plus in the form of Master Mode. It ranks up every enemy and gives them regenerating health, floating platforms dotting the landscape, and enemy placement has been messed around with in surprising ways.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
A few months after release, developer Respawn gifted fans of the best lightsaber combat game a treat in the form of New Journey Plus, an NG+ mode that allows fans to replay Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order from the start of the story with most of the upgrades from the previous playthrough with a far tougher challenge ahead of them.
Sadly, the one thing that doesn't carry over is Force Powers, since they're tied into the game's story, and having them immediately unlocked would kind of ruin the Star Wars vibe. On the bright side, it also adds a new Inquisitor Outfit and a red lightsaber to send Cal to the Dark Side.
Dead Space 2
The second Dead Space is easily the best in the horror trilogy, with more imaginative level design, improved action, and an actual story this time around. It's also an incredibly tough challenge that's only alleviated slightly by the number of weapons and upgrades the player can pick up, all of which can be carried over to a New Game Plus.
In fact, Dead Space 2 boasts one of the few NG+ modes that's actually easier the second time (unless the player bumps the difficulty up) and yet is both equally enjoyable and a completely different experience, since there's more scope to experiment.
Bloodborne
Like the Dark Souls series, From Software's Bloodborne is also an insanely challenging game, one where the player has to learn every enemy's strengths and weaknesses before attacking or even the most basic could make short work of them.
Bloodborne similarly boasts an excellent New Game Plus mode, one where the player starts with all the Echoes, equipment, and progress they'd finished with, except with enemies that are scaled to match. It becomes a completely different game, apart from still being able to wipe the floor with the player whenever it chooses.
Dishonored 2
The great thing about Dishonored 2 is that it already has two wildly unique player characters (Corvo and Emily) who play completely differently from each other - and even have their own mission objectives, so there's already another campaign ready to go as soon as the player's finished the game once.
Adding New Game Plus on top of this is just the icing on the cake, as it allows players to have all the tools they had in their initial playthrough - with the bonus of being allowed to reassign Rune Points however they choose, even into the other character.
Resident Evil Village
The most recent game in the Resident Evil series offers one of the best takes on New Game Plus around, even if the player's just a completionist. After starting the game again, the player as usual has access to all the cool weapons and items they had at the end of Resident Evil Village, with the exception of any plot items. Even money, treasure, and food items will carry over, and any items the player missed will still be waiting.
To make things even cooler, Village has many challenges to complete and bonuses to unlock, everything from infinite ammo to a lightsaber - so a tougher New Game Plus in RE8 could be truly memorable.