Nobody can answer that question objectively.
this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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I'd say :
- The first Deus Ex and its first prequel Human Revolution
- Mafia I
- Max Payne 1 and 3
- Crash Bandicoot 1
- Age of Empires II
- GTA III
- Doom 1/2
- First Half-Life
- First Unreal
- Doom 3
- Duke Nukem 3D
- Morrowind
- Skyrim (modded and fixed, vanilla is pure garbage)
- Blood Omen 1
- Silent Hill 1 and 2
- Resident Evil 1 and 4 (and their remakes)
So I think it's actually really important that the games that would be considered objective masterpieces would have to overcome any language barriers and be an experience approachable by anyone. You can learn the mechanics to enjoy the gameplay without words
So:
- Portal
- Journey
- Binding of Isaac
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Metro 2033 (which I have sat on and I believe even if it was entirely in Russian you would still get it )
- DOOM (original you don't need words you shoot)
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Katamari Damacy
Then there are dialogue option stories that are fantastic stories that I could consider greats but shareable masterpieces is hard to say as they rely on you speaking the language both literally and then gameplay wise:
- Stanley Parable
- Outer Wilds
- Tales From the Borderlands
- To the Moon
- Talos Principle
- Golf Club Wasteland
- Dead Space
- Portal 1/2 of course.
- Grim Fandango. (Flawed yes, but absolutely a masterpiece)
- Psychonauts.
- Fallout New Vegas.
- System Shock (the original).
- The Longest Journey.
- Mass Effect. Maybe.
Portal 1 & 2 were the first to my mind as well. I really like this list, actually.
Glad to hear it.
I'm tempted to add Red Dead Redemption 2 to the list, but it's too new for me to decide yet.
I think it belongs. It was the greatest storytelling game I've played in a decade or more.
Celeste. Emotional narrative that seamlessly blends with the gameplay, which implementa never before seen accessibility configuration, enhanced by one of the best soundtracks ever. All while being cheap, indie, and one of the best speedrun games ever made
What's left of edith finch.
Such an amazing game. Absolute masterpiece.
This is the game I used to convince my film nerd friends that games can be art too. They really enjoyed playing through it!
Spec Ops: The line
Basically the "committing war crimes isn't funny after all" game
This is your fault, god-damnit 🫵
Okay, now do it all on a bell curve.
What's the most absolute medium game, to which all other games are compared to, and if worse, fail, or are better and pass?
Hell I'd make that a separate post!
Oooooh I like that question. I feel like it would have to be some kind of Call of Duty, right? Some absolutely mediocre slop that still has enough mechanical satisfaction and mind-numbing explosion-and-cliché-filled story to keep you somewhat entertained, yet still remaining completely forgettable.
The McDonald's of videogames.
Pong.
It's that or tetris
Immersive sims: Prey, Dishonored, Deus Ex
Story-driven: The Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn, Halo, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted, HL2, Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Splinter Shock, The Walking Dead
Platformer: Braid, Ori and the Blind Forest, Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Limbo
Action/roguelike: Bastion, Hades
RPG: Fallout: New Vegas, Mass Effect
Puzzle: Lumines, Puzzle Quest, World of Goo, You Must Build a Boat, Reigns, Threes, Meteos
Other: Desert Golfing
I always forget how absolutely awesome Escape From Butcher Bay is until I'm reminded of its existence and its shockingly unfair to that game.
I'd kill for a new Riddick game!
I still think the series is actually the best Space Opera and I do mean opera. But they have some great stories.
I'd love another Riddick game too. I'll settle for the 4th movie I guess for now
Honestly, many of them you know full well, but that's because yes, they are that good:
- Minecraft
- TES III Morrowind and TES V Skyrim
- The Witcher 1 and 3
- Deus Ex Human Revolution and Mankind Divided
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Dishonored 1 and 2
- Warcraft III and World of Warcraft
Completely deserve their legendary status
I'd say games that have set the standard for their genre, and have not been surpassed, would be the only ones that count.
- Half Life 1 and then again with 2
- Half Life Alyx
- Age of Empires II
- Baldur's Gate 3
- Warframe
- Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
- Knights of the Old Republic
- Fallout: New Vegas
- Crash Bandicoot: Warped
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and then again with Tears of the Kingdom
- Elden Ring
- Hollow Knight
- Dirt Rally
- The World Ends With You (the original NDS version)
Minesweeper.
Simple, endlessly playable.
Since I haven't seen it on here: FTL.
There are a lot of answers, mine will be drowned but... there it is. In no particular order :
- Final Fantasy X
- Clair Obscur : Expedition 33
- Baldur's Gate 3
- Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 (but you had to be there when it came out)
- Metal Gear Solid 3
- Shadow Hearts : Covenant
- Kya : Dark Lineage (the bugs were a feature)
- Horizon : Zero Dawn
- Megaman (any megaman will do)
- Crash Bandicoot Trilogy
- Spyro Trilogy
- Pokemon Yellow/Crystal/Emerald
- Pokemon Jade (yes that bootleg version)
- The Last of Us (pt. I & II)
- Astroneer
- GTA : Vice City
- Unreal Tournament 2004
- CS 1.6 played in the most dirty lan at your disposal
- Control
- Tetris
- Neverwinter Nights 2
- Dragon Age : Origins
- Quake III
- Bomberman
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Super Metroid
SOMA was great
I've been craving another experience like SOMA but unfortunately nothing even comes close. It was probably the coolest and most disturbing story I've ever seen. Finishing that game gave me an existential crisis for like 2 days after. It was that good.
I feel like Soma was a decent metaphysical question wrapped in a okayish walking simulator.
It got a lot of praise, but basically boils down to the question "what makes you you" with nothing else about it standing out.
If the gameplay isn't a driving factor of making the game objectively good, then I don't think it counts.
Personally I think story can make a game stand out far more than graphics or gameplay. I also disagree that the game boiled down to one question. While it was the primary focus of the narrative, the underwater laboratories and world building/history was amazing.
I don't disagree, but my opinion is gameplay (or the interactive nature) of games is what sets them apart from other mediums so would be a deciding factor in a masterpiece game.
But I guess it largely just boils down to the fact Soma just didn't do much for me.
The lack of gameplay is fine, and very much important to call out for any new players. There's a whole genre of "you're playing a movie" that SOMA fits nicely into
I think a masterpiece game has to offer more than just story. Additionally I think something like Firewatch does a much better job at telling a compelling story for a walking simulator. But clearly this is why "objective" masterpiece is hard to define, as nothing is really objective in these opinions.
Other games I'd consider better in the walking simulator category:
- Unfinished Swan
- Firewatch
- Gone Home
- Stanley Parable
Edit: Fixed formatting
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Disco Elysium
Alpha Centauri
Super Marios Bros 3
Bloodborne
Ori 1 & 2
Fallout 1 & 2
Planescape: Torment
The Outer Wilds
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Team Fortress 2
The best teamshooter game to date, endless copy cats that suck ass.
And the character trailers are hilarious.
"That thing ... It scares me," Pyro shooting bubbles and lollypops in his mind actually causing pure death and destruction
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objective
MEDIA APPRECIATION DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY, GOOD NIGHT!
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