Holy shit somehow no one has mentioned:

Nier Automata

It counts as a masterpiece because of how well it blends game design, gameplay and story. I have played very few games as thoughtful, or that weaved the gameplay together into the story it was telling in such a meaningful way. I never thought once in my life that I would think philosophically about bullet hell but somehow Nier Automata has something profound to say and even manages to say it using bullet hell as a gameplay mechanic.

On top of all this, it also has a lot to say about classical philosophers, their works, and honestly deeply subverts things they had to say. It asks tough questions about their thoughts and ideas, once again, through gameplay. Numerous characters are named for classical philosophers: Pascal, Jean-Paul, Simone, Engels, Immanuel... (Yoko Taro obviously has feelings about how Jean-Paul Sartre treated Simone de Beauvoir.)

Further, Yoko Taro is doing something that a lot of game developers fail to manage to do: He is embracing gaming as a storytelling medium and eschewing the traditional three-act arc from film. Because gaming is not film. As Marshall McLuhan posited, "the medium is the message" and unlike other developers Taro's writing is aimed at the medium he is working in instead of leaning on the ropes and tropes of other mediums. (Referring back to above, tying the gameplay into the story, focusing on the medium)

It's basically impossible to not break down into tears at the ending.

Don't write it off because of the scantily clad anime women. Stay for the depth of the human condition. It is truly a masterwork in multiple respects.

Sekiro

Few games have such tight game design, story, lore, and characters blended so well into a single experience.

I don't think I even want or need a sequel.

+1 for Beyond Good & Evil.

For those unfamiliar with this game, this was early 2000s Ubisoft when they used to be creative, celebrated, and original.

• Chrono Trigger
• Disco Elysium
• Sekiro
• Zelda Ocarina of Time
• Bioshock
• Portal
• Half Life
• Nier Automata
• Tetris

Flawed Masterpieces

• Minecraft (surprising)
• Dragon age Origins
• Team Fortress 2
• Fallout New Vegas
• Dark Souls
• Every Baldur's Gate

Masterpiece in my heart: Terraria

Games I haven't seen mentioned yet:

• Fez - cute little 2D/3D platformer. It's amazing and very wholesome

• Stalker: Shadow of Chenrobyl - dunno what exactly is it, perhaps the settings and the grit, but it has a special place in my heart. It's about average FPS, but not too long and for me enjoyable

• F.E.A.R. - very good FPS, with amazingly scripted enemies, decent horror elements (not compulsory - you might miss some of them if you're not looking).

• Prince of Persia: Warrior Within - for me the best 3rd person action adventure ever. Best combat hands down (or head, or torso, you choose), streamlined blade dance at your fingertips. You play with your enemies, and you get many tools. There are some locked camera issues.

• Touhou: Lost branch of time - If you liked Slay the Spire, but wished for colorful mana, this is the game for you. It has anime artstyle, I usually focus on the cards, though it might turn some people off

• Dota 2 - Dunno if it was mentioned and I didn't see, but the mechanics are absolutely amazing, the things the game lets you get away with are incredible. 10/10, but other people might bring your experience down. Specially friends. Can play against custom (workshop) bots. Still takes too long to git gud. I studied the game for 10 years and still sucked.

• Divinity 2: Original Sin - also haven't seen a mention, everybody talks about BG3, I haven't yet played it, but D2:OS was also a masterpiece. Haven't played a lot of TRPGs, this was a blast, with easily set up multiplayer. Played through it twice completely, with many abandoned runs.

• CS 1.6 - remember that? I lost my childhood to that. They don't make counter strikes this good anymore.

• Synthetik - top-down rougelike shooter, with amazing weapons and physics and classes and enemies and mechanics and 2 person multiplayer

• Dwarf Fortress - the real objectively best game strategy simulation of the 3D box world, predecesor to both Minecraft and Terraria, but with A LOT more sand in your box. They are still extending it. And it's on Steam if you want a UI.

• Terraria (Calamity mod) - Terraria is obviously a great game, but what makes it 20/10 is the mods. Calamity specifically. Tripple the content, 5x the difficulty (20x if you try Infernum), amazing multiplayer experience. Don't install Infernum if you haven't beaten at least Revengeance on Calamity. Trust me, it will fuck you up.

• Yakuza 0 - how could I forget about this masterpiece? Story done absolutely right, that game had no business making me feel so strongly about it. Cool combat, very funny moments, but I cried during it. If you haven't tried it, check it out. You won't regret it.

• OpenTTD - Trains. Do you like to create and manage big rail systems? This is for you. And your friends. Only noobs use planes. Only psychos use boats. Nobody uses only vehicles.

Is disco Elysium the one with all the talking? Like multiple books worth of text? No thanks

Btw how is RDR2 not on the list?

Assuming that "masterpiece" refers to the quality and impact the games had in their time (not how well they aged) some of my picks would be:

• Baldur's Gate 2 + ToB
• Star Wars: KotoR
• Morrowind
• Read Dead Redemption 2
• The Witcher 3
• The Last of Us 1+2
• God of War
• Shadow of the Colossus
• The Legend of Zelda: BOTW
• Mass Effect 1+2
• Disco Elysium
• Half Life 2
• BioShock 1
• Diablo 2
• Fallout 2

I don't know how objective this list is. Some picks are definitely subjective and fit more in a "flawed masterpiece" category of games that had a large impact on how I perceived games but that may not be so widely acclaimed as some others on this list.

Disco Elysium is definitely closer to the visual novel spectrum of video games than it is to something like Tetris. But make no mistakes, its narrative and impact would be much lessened were it delivered in any other medium. It is absolutely a perfect example of how you use video games to make art.

Good list. I desperately wanted to put Dark Souls on my list, as the first blind playthrough of it was a magical experience. But I don't think it's correct, no matter how much I love it. Flawed masterpiece is about right.

Hard to argue with most of those. I'd put Ocarina of Time over BotW, but that's splitting hairs. Diablo 2 needs LoD included in my opinion.

God of War is an embarrassing blind spot in my gaming history. Is it actually that good?

Has seriously no one mentioned The Last of Us? That’s crazy.

I think the second should be included.

As well as red dead redemption 2.

The storytelling is just top tier. Better than literally almost all media made today.

Super Metroid