What games are just objective masterpieces?
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Games I haven't seen mentioned yet:
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Fez - cute little 2D/3D platformer. It's amazing and very wholesome
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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
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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).
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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CS 1.6 - remember that? I lost my childhood to that. They don't make counter strikes this good anymore.
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Synthetik - top-down rougelike shooter, with amazing weapons and physics and classes and enemies and mechanics and 2 person multiplayer
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
I tried playing it, but the combat... the combat, man, I can play many games, finished Elden Ring, played ton of CS1.6, Dota 2, Terraria Infernum... but Sekiro I could not finish.
I've heard it's a rhytmic game, but I suck at those, too.
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+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.
wrote last edited by [email protected]::: spoiler spoiler
askldjfals;jflsad;
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Hades
Hollow Knight
Noita
Super Metroid
Prey (2017)
DOOM (2016)
Factorio
Stardew Valley
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- 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
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.
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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.
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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.
I love STALKER with all my heart, and if we're talking atmosphere and vibes and even world building it is up there. But it does not really belong in the objective masterpiece category. Flawed masterpiece, maybe.
Also I think Call of Pripyat is the better STALKER game, but it might be controversial.
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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?
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.
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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.
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?
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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.
My biggest issue is I game late at night when everyone else is in bed, so a game like that would knock me out
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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.
Yeah the souls games are something I like in spite of all of the things wrong with them. There is just so much jank and bizarre design decisions.
I kinda hate that all of the games that have tried to copy them have done so to a point of not critically evaluating everything in them. And then they have all the same flaws, but none of the unique charm that makes me look past them for FROMās games.
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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?
God of War has two big strengths that make it a great game in my opinion. The first is the story with its great characters, presentation, and voice acting. The second is the overall "feel" of the game, which can be a bit "game-y" at times but is really tight overall with only a handful of core mechanics that are exceptionally well implemented.
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Zelda: A Link to the Past
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Has seriously no one mentioned The Last of Us? Thatās 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.
Last of Us 1 was really good. But the second one was so bad, it kind of ruined the first one for me as well. And I wouldn't call it masterpiece. Because for me a masterpiece shines in gameplay, narrative and atmosphere. The Last of Us' gameplay serves its purpose, but there's really nothing special here compared to e.g. Elden Ring, were story, atmosphere and gameplay are all pretty much perfect.
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Super Metroid
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Supergiant games' holy trinity: Bastion, Transistor and Pyre.
Also, the only Borderland games 1 and 2; don't believe the lies there are no more true Borderlands games and no there most certainly is no movie.
There's also one other, but you'll need a crowbar or a gravity gun in hand for me to tell you about it.
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The DS had plenty of fantastic games, but when it comes to a game I feel had the most beautiful example of using the controls in a creative way, I'd say The World Ends With You takes the cake.
I've literally never played a game that needed such a high degree of multitasking, not just for mental multitasking, but also hand-eye coordination. Playing that game on Hard mode felt crazy, and I literally never unlocked Master mode. Balancing between the top and bottom screen characters was such a challenge, especially if you're actually trying to make use of the green puck for more damage. The fact that each partner has their own battle method is fantastic too, as you never get too comfortable with one character until you finish the game.
Add in fantastic art design, catchy soundtrack, funny & memorable main cast, and you get absolute peak. I can't believe Square let that game rot for more than a decade. The Neo TWEWY sequel was pretty good too, but nothing will literally ever compare to the original's controls. It's just so addicting man.
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Last of Us 1 was really good. But the second one was so bad, it kind of ruined the first one for me as well. And I wouldn't call it masterpiece. Because for me a masterpiece shines in gameplay, narrative and atmosphere. The Last of Us' gameplay serves its purpose, but there's really nothing special here compared to e.g. Elden Ring, were story, atmosphere and gameplay are all pretty much perfect.
How was the second one āso bad?ā It had incredible narrative, more in depth gameplay, challenging and coherent themes, depth of storytelling, it took risks that a lot of people didnāt like, but you canāt say they were done poorly. They were just challenging for people. And thatās good. The same stories told with the same character arcs following the same heroās journey is boring. TLOU2 challenged you with the characters making choices you wouldnāt, it challenged you with co placated character arcs that saw well-loved characters turn into the villains, while the villain of the story became the one to end the cycle of violenceā¦it was incredible. That worldbuilding, the design, the voice acting, the mocap acting, the more varied fighting styles, the expansive worldā¦I mean, shit, I really do want to know what you thought actually classified as ābadā about that game. It pissed people off. But that does not make it a bad game by any stretch of the imagination.
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Was it the game, or was it the life you had while playing the game?
The game itself, for me. I played it through a few times when it first came out, and then very recently I got it on Steam and played again for the first time since. Still as poignant.
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Slay the Spire
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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.
Good taste
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