10 Games With Incredibly Worthwhile NG+ Modes

These days, games cost a lot of money, and some might not consider one solitary playthrough enough value for money. This is where NG+ comes into play.

While many games with new-game-plus modes are long, the goal for this second playthrough is always to up the stakes, heighten the rewards, and ultimately, produce a different experience the second time through the game.

We’re not talking about just increasing enemy health and making them spongy. Instead, we are talking about new story threads, unique NG+ items, and amazing tweaks to the base game that make another lap around just as, if not more enjoyable. Here are some amazing games with NG+ experiences that fit the bill.

10 Final Fantasy 16

Not So Easy Anymore

Final Fantasy 16 is a very easy game, but upon completing it, you unlock Final Fantasy Mode (Hard Mode) and with it comes a much more difficult game that feels new in several ways.

First off, you start the game with all of your powers unlocked from the previous playthrough. But that’s not fun without the proper challenge to use them against, and luckily, Final Fantasy 16 doesn’t beat around the bush here.

Standard enemies are pretty much gone entirely, replaced by much more powerful variants. Every enemy AI is much more aggressive, and that goes double for bosses, who now finally act like their intimidating presences would suggest.

You also no longer have QTE prompts during boss battles, leading to a much more challenging affair.

It feels like an option that should’ve been available at the start of the game, as the base game is far too easy for most action gamer tastes. But hey, they at least provide tons of replay value for those who want to keep playing.

9 Dragon’s Dogma

Face Yourself

Dragon’s Dogma is an iconic game with one of the most unique new game-plus modes. Yes, you keep all your gear from before, but the real reason to go another lap around lies within the additional content provided.

You will immediately find a portal on the beach in the starting town that takes you to one of the hardest bosses in the game, the Ur-Dragon, and you’ll also be able to play as a different class, which, for Dragon’s Dogma, means an entirely new playstyle.

New quests are also available, as well as new bounty hunt-style quests and new escort missions.

The most interesting addition, however, is the change to the final boss. Spoiler warning if you haven’t finished the game yet, but if you’re playing offline, the new Seneschal will, in fact, be your character from the previous playthrough, making you, in fact, the final boss of the game.

With the lore of Dragon’s Dogma, it fits perfectly and makes playing through a second time worth it.

8 Nioh 2

A New Experience

Nioh 2 is an excellent game that will take you a good while to finish, but if you’re the type that’s clamoring for more of this amazing combat and depth, then Nioh 2‘s New Game Plus mode will be a dream come true.

You’ll find new gear drops, enemy placements changed, new abilities waiting to be unlocked, and best of all, the enemies from the DLC will actually start appearing where generic enemies appeared before.

Enemy quantity also increases, making every encounter that much more tense. But if that wasn’t enough, you’ll also get multiple new difficulties and a massive endgame dungeon into the bargain.

Many Nioh 2 fans say the game doesn’t truly begin until the New Game Plus, and it’s easy to see why.

7 Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon

Brand New Content

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon fully understands the assignment when it comes to the New Game Plus mode.

Once you complete your first harrowing journey through the game, you’ll be rewarded in your subsequent playthrough with 11 new missions in the following New Game Plus playthroughs.

Emphasis on the playthroughs, as the first one isn’t the end, and valuable story beats also play out in NG++ modes.

That would be plenty to get it on the list, but Fromsoftware really outdid itself here and added multiple alternate versions of existing missions that let you get even more juicy lore out of this mysterious universe.

There are also seven new weapons, seven new parts to find, and new fights in the Arena. It’s an absurd amount of new content, and it ensures that the only way to find everything the game has to offer story and content-wise, is by beating the game at least three times.

To some people, that might sound like a nightmare, but for completionists who love to squeeze every ounce out of the games they buy, Armored Core 6 offers you quite the ride.

6 Chrono Trigger

Before NG+ Was A Thing

It’s time to pay homage to one of the greatest games of all time, Chrono Trigger. That’s not just because it’s a great game, but because it pretty much created the phenomenon of NG+.

In Chrono Trigger, time is a big theme, and in NG+ Mode, you can manipulate time. Due to your carried-over weapons and equipment from the first playthrough, you can now defeat the main villain, Lavos, at different points throughout history.

What makes this interesting is that it changes the course of how the game plays out story-wise. On top of that, there are multiple new endings to find, as well as the true ending of the game, which is only accessible through New Game Plus.

That secret ending comes from defeating Super Lavos, who initially was the cause of the main character Chrono’s death. You are pretty much forced to lose this fight the first time around.

However, the second time, you will be equipped to defeat Lavos and unlock the game’s true ending.

We will concede that due to the game’s rather easy nature, NG+ mode is devoid of any sort of challenge. But for the new story beats alone, this is worth checking out.

5 Resident Evil 4

Now You’re All In Big, Big Trouble

Resident Evil 4 gets a spot on this list not because it does anything particularly unique with its New Game Plus mode, but because of what it grants you the ability to do. See, everything carries over except for puzzle items, making you a veritable war machine from the beginning of your second lap.

That means it’s time to turn the tables on those horrifying villagers that caused you to turn tail the first time around. There’s no need to run scared when armed with a shotgun and an RPG and there is nothing the mutated villagers can do about it.

Once scary encounters become one-shot affairs, offering you a different perspective on what things might’ve been like if Leon Kennedy was just a little bit more prepared when sent on this suicide mission.

You’ll also be able to purchase the infinite RPG from the merchant now, unlocking even further ways to unleash destruction on your enemies.

NG+ in Resident Evil 4 unleashes a power fantasy that you just don’t get to experience in most horror games and while it’s a bit ridiculous at times, that doesn’t stop you from having a blast while doing it.

4 Nier

What Have I Done?

Nier is from the amazingly twisted mind of Yoko Taro, so you know that the New Game Plus mode is something special. Nier’s NG+ is one of its most unique implementations, period.

Upon starting the New Game Plus mode, you will unlock the following: Kaine’s backstory, which is a whole new section of the game, Emil’s backstory, additional scenes with multiple characters’ new boss cutscenes, and you will retain all of your equipment from the first playthrough. However, that is not what makes it special.

Throughout your first playthrough, the enemy shades you fight throughout the game all speak in an impossible-to-understand language, making it near-impossible to understand their motivations.

On the second playthrough, all of the Shade language is now deciphered, leading to horrifying realizations about your actions as a main character.

You’ll hear bosses’ entire backstories, leading to revelations about their motivations. The tragedy is that you are still forced to fight them because it’s the only path you know.

It’s a fascinating meta-commentary on the nature of games and a true testament to Yoko Taro’s genius as a game designer. This isn’t going to be the last time I mention him on this list.

3 Triangle Strategy

A Ghost From the Future You Become

Triangle Strategy uses a unique strategy for its New Game Plus mode. In the initial playthrough, your decisions will heavily impact the story, locking off certain characters and allowing story beats to play out, depending on what you choose.

The magic there is you don’t know what decision will cause what outcome.

In New Game Plus mode in Triangle Strategy, you will face stronger enemies, but in addition, all of those dialogue choices will now show you what effects will happen on your character’s convictions, which in turn causes different plot elements to play out and characters to become allies or enemies.

It’s a very cool way to get players excited about NG+. It offers a unique way to play the game that lets you steer the story exactly as you’d like it to go. Not to mention, it allows you to see exactly why certain characters didn’t take to you the first time around.

2 Nier: Automata

Keep Going, There’s More To See

A2 Post Fight Nier Automata

Staying with the Nier series, Nier: Automata became the franchise’s runaway hit, and with that came the expectation of yet another memorable NG+ mode.

Nier: Automata ends in a melancholy way, but it’s a definitive ending. Things feel, for the most part, finished. The villains are defeated, the revelations are revealed, and all is good now.

Except, NG+ tempts you back into the fray, and immediately, you are thrust into the shoes of one of the aliens you’ve been fighting the whole game, hinting that you may just get a different perspective the second time around.

That is completely correct, as you then shift into the shoes of 9S and find out what toll the toll of dying over and over takes on the mind of a young robot.

The backstories of bosses are revealed, you’ll engage in new boss encounters, and an entirely new playstyle is introduced via a hacking mini-game you can use to defeat enemies.

It’s a very interesting alternative take on the story, and when it’s over, it feels like it’s finally over—except it still isn’t.

That’s because the third playthrough puts you in the shoes of A2, a character previously shown to be something of an antagonist.

This final playthrough unleashes all of the story’s revelations and unlocks multiple secret bosses, tons of new areas to explore, new main bosses, and the game’s final and true ending.

The direction this story takes in the third playthrough is unreal, and it is one of the most ambitious stories ever told in a game.

If you’ve only played through the game once, you’re only scratching the surface; push on, and you’ll be shocked, awed, and thoroughly rewarded.

1 Starfield

Another Life

Starfield may not have lived up to the hype when it was released in 2023, but it more than achieved greatness with its new game-plus mode.

At the end of the game, you get the choice to step into the Unity and either head back to your previous life or become a Starborn and start the cycle again from the beginning.

If you become a Starborn, you begin NG+ as a somewhat celestial being, armed with a brand new Starborn spaceship and outfit.

Things get even more interesting from here as certain conversations will have Starborn conversation options, resulting in characters acknowledging your interdimensional presence and commenting on it.

You can also go through missions in different ways, choosing all the paths you didn’t choose the first time.

The most unique thing, though, is the 10% chance that you’ll have to start a world as a Starborn with a special difference in it.

Some of these include the ability to meet yourself, certain members of Constellation can turn evil, and the weirdest of all: Constellation is made up of only children.

It’s possible that all the variations have not been discovered yet, and there is always a chance to draw a weird and never-before-seen one each time you finish the game.

This potential, never-ending variation makes Starfield the number one pick on our list.