What games are just objective masterpieces?
-
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.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Zelda: A Link to the Past
-
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.
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.
-
Super Metroid
-
This post did not contain any content.
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.
-
This post did not contain any content.
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.
-
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 “so bad?” It had incredible narrative, more in depth gameplay, challenging and coherent themes, depth of storytelling, it took risks that a lot of people didn’t like, but you can’t say they were done poorly. They were just challenging for people. And that’s good. The same stories told with the same character arcs following the same hero’s journey is boring. TLOU2 challenged you with the characters making choices you wouldn’t, 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 violence…it was incredible. That worldbuilding, the design, the voice acting, the mocap acting, the more varied fighting styles, the expansive world…I mean, shit, I really do want to know what you thought actually classified as “bad” about that game. It pissed people off. But that does not make it a bad game by any stretch of the imagination.
-
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.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Slay the Spire
-
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
-
-
This post did not contain any content.wrote last edited by [email protected]
Squarez Deluxe
Originally a paid DOS game and the developer is a cool dude who changed it to freeware. You can download it on myabandonware or archive org. Then grab a free copy of DOSBox.
In my view, it is the best shape packing game ever made, and it never really got its due, possibly in part to somewhat extra complexity, and partly from the time it came out.
You learn the ropes in the early modes, but you really need to play on EXTREME Mode. There are many different special pieces, and you decide how to move them in the playfield and rotate them.
There are mud traps and acid pits and missiles and bombs and traps. And you have to not only play the shape packing aspect, but you have to continually think about how to deploy these hazards, to your best advantage, or least disadvantage!
Over the years, I continually come back to this game, and I have probably sunk over a thousand hours since I was young.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Chromehounds was the greatest mech game on shitbox 360 and you can't change my mind.
The sheer variety in player created metas was glorious to behold. Sure, you could play how the game encouraged you to play and hang your weapons in "normal" configurations. But you could also bury whole teams in indirect fire with a triple double from across the map. You could build a little punchy boi buggy with a dick piston, cockpit, wheels, and nothing else. You could even try to sweat the meta in the chicken leg howitzer or the turtle up in the armored crab.
The only limits were creativity and spacer availability lmfaooo
-
This post did not contain any content.
Hollow Knight is peak
-
My Picks...
Deus Ex (So many games try to be this and fail)
Cyberpunk (This one eventually measured up)
Alpha Centauri (Innovation mixed with familiarity and setting)
Fallout 2 (they're all good. Fallout 2 is special)
Kotor (Star Wars story telling in a beautiful way)
Baldur's Gate 2 and 3 (I'm stunned that 3 was a worthy successor)
Homeworld (One of the World's truly beautiful games)
I remember trying the demo to Homeworld when I was a kid, it came with one of those old school PC GAMER demo CDs. I think I was too young to understand how to play it effectively, but still loved it because I found the ambience of the experience so memorizing while hyper-cozy. Would you say it she's well as something worth going back and playing now, and what of the sequel(s)?
-
This post did not contain any content.
Since I haven't seen it on here: FTL.
-
Slay the Spire
It's a niche masterpiece, but my 600 hours of play time agrees I am in that niche
-
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.
Bastion and Transistor, sure. Without a doubt, imoactful clever stories that were well delivered.
Pyre always felt like a buggy mess tho. I tried multiple times to get into it but it's just not on the level of the first two.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Disco Elysium
Alpha Centauri
Super Marios Bros 3
Bloodborne
Ori 1 & 2
Fallout 1 & 2
Planescape: Torment
The Outer Wilds -
I see Outer Wilds here but not Nioh 2, so I'm posting about Nioh 2.
Soulsian adventure with ninja gaiden blood, extremely high amount of endgame content, wild depth of character building, lots of avenues to increase your character's power with many "correct answers" to the question of "how should I make my dude stronger". Dropped a while before the most recent push for graphical fidelity with AI upscaling/antialiasing so it actually runs well on a large majority of steam hardware surveys machines.
It's hard early on, but provides the player with tons of options when it comes to progressing through stages and bosses, flexible movesets for each class of weapon and access to potent tools like Gun and turning into an enemy that killed you a dozen times the first time you saw it briefly. The endgame goes beyond replaying through the game into dungeons made of fragments of the stages and some more unique maps (The Abyss). There's a hefty amount of individual bosses to learn, and incentive to do some of the more fun fights in the game multiple times - a lot of which do not require a run back through a stage to get to them. The game does itself a service by breaking up gameplay into chunks with a world map you launch missions from, some of which are just a singular straight up boss fight.
Nioh 2 is one of my favorite soulslikes, but falls short of masterpiece in my opinion due to the repeatedly recycled levels.
-
Going to have to disagree, especially when it comes to storytelling
