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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
Since I haven’t seen it on here: FTL.
- 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.
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
Just started BG3. Fuckin mind-blowingly amazing.
If you really liked BG3 you might also like Neverwinter Nights 2 and DA:O. I heard there was a remaster of Neverwinter Nights 2 in the works, maybe give it a try when it comes out.
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
RDR2. Witcher 3. Fallout New Vegas.
Fallout 2
Wasteland 3.
In this case, Jagged Alliance 2 (with 1.13 mod).
- 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.
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 FROM’s games.
I’m always curious why people add things like Ocarina of Time to lists like these. While the game was revolutionary at the time, I don’t think it holds up particularly well nor succeeds where later zeldas fail.
To call it an objective masterpiece I feel like it has to be a game that someone picking up today would still enjoy and appreciate. Tetris and Portal for example hold up well even by today’s standards.
The thing that not holds well in Ocarina of Time is the N64 controls and like what they supposed to do to overcome that?
It’s probably me being pedantic, but for an “objective masterpiece” the game needs to stand on its own and not on its legacy. I just don’t think Ocarina of Time holds up to later zelda games in many aspects (although I do think the story and soundtrack do).
Generally I think the ps1 and N64 era just suffer from the transition to 3D. Graphically and gameplay wise many games suffered for being the first foray into 3D gaming and those challenges wouldn’t really be settled until the next generation.
Zelda: A Link to the Past
Super Metroid
We’ll see how much is recency bias and how well it will stand the test of time, but I really think Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will be on this list going forward. It’s definitely one of the best games I’ve ever played, and I’ve played a lot of games. It’s not perfect, but it’s close enough in all the parts that actually matter.
Otherwise there’s your usual suspects:
- Disco Elysium
- Portal
- Half-Life 2
- Bioshock 1
- Final Fantasy VI
- Chrono Trigger
- Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- The Last of Us
- Baldur’s Gate 2
Props for DE being at the top of your list.
I still have to play it, but Clair Obscus seems like this year Baldur’s Gate 3, which is rare. A game that came out of no where and is ready to win goty
I know this is a hot take, but: BG3 is a good game. Clair Obscur is a work of art.
I must say you are really getting me hyped to play this game. Bgs3 was a masterpiece, and i also love games like Persona so i am really excited to try a French jrpg like Clair Obscur
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?
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.
Hell I’d make that a separate post!
Pong.
It’s that or tetris
Slay the Spire
It’s a niche masterpiece, but my 600 hours of play time agrees I am in that niche
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Disco Elysium
Alpha Centauri
Super Marios Bros 3
Bloodborne
Ori 1 & 2
Fallout 1 & 2
Planescape: Torment
The Outer WildsAtari: Frogger NES: RBI Baseball / Tecmo Bowl.
Genesis: Phantasy Star IV
N64: Ocarina. PSX: FF IX.PSP: Lumines
Saturn: Panzer Dragoon Dreamcast: Rez and Skies of Arcadia
PS2 Vice City
XBOX: PD Orta 360: Child of Eden / Shadow Complex
PC agree with all yours. Would add Syndicate, Witcher 3, & red alert DS: Dawn of Sorrow Neo Geo: Last Blade 2
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!
