Even when it's your job to play as many games as possible, there are some that just slip through the net. Maybe the idea of being an all powerful monster hunter doesn't appeal, or you have a deathly allergy to mushrooms and even just the idea of bouncing on their heads brings you out in a rash. We got the 12DOVE writers into a locked room and tickled them until they confessed just which critically acclaimed, blockbuster games had passed them by.
This is the latest in a series of big questions we'll be interrogating our writers with, so share your answers and suggestions for topics with us on Twitter.
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
I'd never played an Elder Scrolls game before, and basically had never heard of it. But of course, when Skyrim came out, that's all anyone could talk about in the gaming world. Weird talks of cat people and dragons did intrigue me but I had approximately one million games to play at that point, and the idea of diving into this huge fantasy world frankly terrified me. By the time I had the space to play it, everyone had been bigging it up for so long I never thought it would live up to the expectations that they'd set. And now, Skyrim is everywhere - even on blinking smart toilets - to the point that I feel over-saturated with Skyrim and I haven't even played it. Maybe I'll get to it one day, but after seven years of hype, I think I might wait for Elder Scrolls 6 to chase this particular dragon. - Sam Loveridge
Halo 3
I loved Halo, I liked Halo 2, and I owned an Xbox 360. Everything was in place for me to abandon myself utterly to the shooter phenomenon that was Halo 3, like all the other gaming-obsessed kids at my high school. But I never even tried it. I'm not sure why I wasn't compelled to "finish the fight" in Halo 3, though part of it was probably lingering resentment toward Halo 2's unfulfilling cliffhanger ending. In fact, aside from Halo: ODST (which I only played to write a review for my college newspaper, feel free to read it on the last page while I look away and cringe), I haven't played any Halo since. Sorry to leave you hanging, Chief, but it's way too late to look back now. - Connor Sheridan
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
The "battle royale" genre (as we're now calling it) existed for some time before PUBG came to town, but it was this game that helped kick the fad into high gear. Unfortunately, by the time it became clear 100-player free-for-alls were going to be A Thing for some time, Fortnite came in with its building mechanics and a far more inviting, unique aesthetic. It was also more stable and received regular attention from Epic, while PUBG seemed to languish. So, to answer the question more directly: why didn't I play PUBG? Because by the time I was interested enough to try it, there was another game that did what PUBG was doing in a more interesting way. Not that it really matters, though - I played half a dozen matches of Fortnite, had precisely zero fun, and decided maybe this whole genre isn't for me. - Sam Prell
Assassin's Creed
This isn't entirely true, since I played a fair bit of the original game (where controlling Altair was like driving a car), and at least 30 minutes of the second game, until I crumbled under the preposterousness of it all - which is pretty rich coming from a Metal Gear Solid fan. My main - and likely chronically misguided - reservation is that none of it looks 4REAL. MGS's universe is absurdly intricate, and densely thematic, but I can swallow its earnest absurdity due to the singular vision of creator Hideo Kojima. He's unashamedly creating projects with artistic intent, however flawed, drawing from a rich obsession with movies, culture, and literature. Who is the mastermind of the Assassin's Creed series? I've no idea. It looks like a development football kicked between development farms. What does the series say about the human condition? And - even if it is far more nuanced and intelligent than I've given it credit for - why does the game look so busy? Must I really collect all those feathers and climb all those buildings? Outside looking in, I'm not sure they even sell the series as having anything to do with assassination at all, any more. The latest game just looks like a beautiful Greek countryside exploration game (which is no mean thing), but I've no idea why I should invest 100 hours in that universe. What's my motivation people? You! Fetch my latte *drapes arm over brow*. Of course: I'm an idiot and you're right - but this has always looked like a college drama club's take on intelligent open world storytelling, to the eyes of this blinkered Hideo Kojima obsessive. - Dan Dawkins
Mario (any of them)
I've got a massive Mario shaped space in my gaming history. It's just never done anything for me, from the early days of running right and jumping on things through to its modern 3D versions. I think it's partly because I don't have the history with it - it didn't grab me when I was young so I've no emotional attachment to it now - and I just don't... 'get' it. I can appreciate, and often hugely admire, the craft and creativity that goes into the mechanics and design, but as a character and world it does nothing for me. And I know there's a whole bunch of 'Well, actually...' type arguments spooling up in people's heads right now to tell me why I'm wrong in what I do and don't like, but let me have this one, okay? - Leon Hurley
The Witcher
People adore Geralt of Rivia and his high-fantasy escapades, heralding every game in the series - especially The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its expansions - as some of the greatest action RPGs ever made. Me? I ain't about 'em. I've not spent a single minute playing as Geralt in any game (unless you count the standalone version of Gwent), and I doubt I ever will (including his guest spot in Soul Calibur 6). I know that, as a character, Geralt makes for a rich and multifaceted protagonist - but I'll always hold the first impression I got of him from the marketing of the original game. Here was this grizzled, womanizing tough guy who seemed to embody the most boring power fantasy every stereotypical nerd dreams of, and the thought of spending dozens of hours playing as him sounded like torture. Also, I've never been great at starting - let alone finishing - monumental open-world adventures, which is the same reason I still haven't made time for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Whoops! - Lucas Sullivan
Final Fantasy
I've never played a Final Fantasy game. There, I said it. While I love RPGs in all their forms, and I have a long and involved history of PlayStation gaming, where many of the (apparently) best FF games have appeared, I've avoided them like I would the guy who stinks of piss on the subway. Look, I'm not saying Final Fantasy stinks of piss. Actually, it always looks brill whenever a new one releases but... I feel too intimidated to dip in, having missed out on all the previous games. I know they're kinda not related, but they kinda are, but I can feel the weight of decades of lore looming over me every time I consider starting a FF and I freeze. And with every Final Fantasy game I don't play, it gets a little scarier to start. Because the lore, I assume, is necessary to make sense of the fact that all the characters have massive hair, and there are giant chickens somehow, and everyone uses swords and magic despite being in the future. I imagine I'd love Final Fantasy if I got into it, but the idea of investing so much time in a game, and learning all the lore and quirks of the franchise exhausts me before I even start, and it's always easier to just pick up a Bethesda outing or replay something like Mass Effect to get my RPG fix. Plus, someone already told me that Aeris dies, so FF7 is essentially ruined for me anyway. - Andy Hartup
Fortnite
Look, it's not that I don't want to be part of the biggest trend in gaming since the double jump, I just don't know where to start with Fortnite. I'll have to go into the most popular game in the world knowing full well that everyone there wants to kill me, and most of them weren't even born when I was discovering snakebite and black at the student union bar. I've watched the streams, I've studied our guides, but I know that the minute I jump off that Battle Bus I've got just minutes to fumble around with my pickaxe before someone delivers the death blow. That's a lot of pressure. It's not even that i'm one of those cultural snobs - you know the sort Mr. "I only listen to bands that don't have Wikipedia pages" or Mrs. "Love Island? I'm watching a 17 part documentary about the Nazis" - who thinks it's edgy to avoid the game, I'm just far too proud to go through the humiliating process of trying to working my way up the ranks. Now, if Ninja wants to slide into my DMs and become my personal Fortnite coach, I'm willing to give it a try. - Rachel Weber
