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I'm going to take this as "games that I never see anyone question their quality." (I don't even like all these games myself)
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Kirby Planet Robobot
Doom 2016
Street Fighter III: Third Strike
Pac-Man
Balatro
Steins;Gate
The House in Fata Morgana
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Gran Turismo 4
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Mega Man X
Mega Man X4
Super Mario Bros. 3
Hollow Knight
Bloodborne
Elden Ring
Balder's Gate 3
Factorio, Terraria, Half-Life 2, Portal 1/2, Limbo, Night in the Woods, Lil Gator Game
Hades
Hollow Knight
Noita
Super Metroid
Prey (2017)
DOOM (2016)
Factorio
Stardew Valley
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.
Clair Obscur has been the best game I've played in a long while, absolute masterpiece
Super Metroid
Doom (93) I guess ?
Also HL and HL2
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 :D 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.
I love that you included 1.6. I spent my all teenage years staying up all night playing this. I was thinking single player epics but this is absolutely a masterpiece.
How come no one has mentioned “Life is strange” yet? Also, “A plague tale”.
Age of Empires 2 /w The Conquers expansion pack.
Roller Coaster Tycoon 1. (2 was weaker without OpenRCT2, the real masterpiece, but idk if unfinished projects should count or not)
Quake 3 Arena, Unreal Tournament 1999 GOTY, Worms Armageddon, SimCity 3000 Unlimited, Forza Horizon 2 / Motorsport 3, Need for Speed Underground 1, Clonk! Rage, Metal Gear Solid 1/2/3, Ace Combat 4, Okami, Tokyo Jungle, Zelda BOTW, Mario Odyssey, Sven Co-Op, Killing Floor 1, Final Fantasy 7, LISA: The Painful, Everhood 1, Deus Ex 1, Left 4 Dead 1/2, Portal 2, Battlefield Bad Company 2... Champions of Norrath and Return to Arms, Diablo 1, Baldur's Gate 3 makes the list...NIER both games. Planet MiniGolf.
I could go on and on.
Video:
Doom
Tetris
Chrono Trigger
Table top: Chess
Magic: the Gathering
Everdell
Azul
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
Psychonauts 1 and 2.
Some of the most imaginative big budget games in existence, from themes to art style to level design
Red Alert 2
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Super Mario Brothers 3
Curious to hear what the criteria for "masterpiece" is, otherwise I think it is just peoples' subjective opinion of what makes a great game that they also think others might agree about being a great game. Genuinely curious, interested in discussion, not saying this to shut down any of the answers here.
Prey, System Shock 2, Outer Wilds, and Undertale are fully-realized microcosms where the primary game is unfolding the complex origami of the setting. All of them absolutely beautiful to experience.
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
Hades. Transcends the rogue-like genre through incredible writing, art direction, and music. The gameplay is some of the most addictive I’ve ever played. I’m at over 200 hours logged and I still get lost in it.
Heres a list of some favorites:
Imperfect perfection: Morrowind
Perfect perfection: Starcraft Brood War
Objective perfection: Plants vs Zombies
Subjective perfection: Knights of the Old Republic
Perfect for its time: Gauntlet IV
Perfect timeless: Sonic 2
Perfect for its genre: LOZ Minish Cap
Perfect All-in-one: Shenmue II
I'm taking this to mean games that stand out in or define their genre, are widely considered to be excellent, are timeless, and there's very little if any fat to trim.
These aren't necessarily my favorite games, but games I think are well respected. I probably missed a bunch.