I believe The Beatles: Rock Band came the closest to being perfect. Eveything about that game was just beautifully done and the only things missing was Pro Drums, an option for Keys, and a few more Beatle songs (Hey Jude, Strawberry Fields Forever, Yesterday etc. etc.)
Maybe Tetris? Such a simple concept, and it’s one of the most popular games of all time.
Minecraft for similar reasons. Even if it has become more complex in recent years, the core of it is just…you can break everything and build anything. It’s hard to say that isn’t a perfect sandbox.
More personal opinion though, maybe Super Mario Odyssey.
Tetris is a game that just doesn’t get old.
It’s really you against your previous self, rather than you against the game.
It’s the same reason why I enjoy Mini Motorways so much!
Tetris is an interesting one because you’ve got 3+ decades of variations on the original, but the original is still the best. I’d argue it’s a perfect game.
I personally disagree that the original is best. It’s high up there, but I think some of the later titles have improvements that eek out the #1 spot.
I’m a fan of the “piece swap” feature, and later games have polished the piece lock over the original. Tetris 99 was the sweet spot for games that I’ve played.
Outer Wilds. I consider it the best video game ever made and I’ve spent quite some time thinking about if there’s something I could add, change or remove that would improve it and so far I’ve yet to come up with anything of substance (beyond tiny QoL changes or reeeally nitpicky stuff).
I’ve just joined beehaw, this is my first browse, and one of the first comments I see is for Outer Wilds… Feels good. One of my favourite games / stories / media / art pieces ever. I love it and all of the brilliant minds behind it, I’ve never thought so about a game once finished anywhere near as much as this one.
I still need to get around playing the DLC but I feel like I’d need to watch a video to get caught up on the story. That said, yeah, the gameplay and story is absolutely incredible. Perfectly-executed mystery box.
You could always add the DLC :D (I’m half joking of course, but it’s soooo good. I think it’s on par, if not a little bit better, than the main game.)
Outer Wilds is one of the more interesting games to come out in recent memory, but personally I just didn’t like the
spoiler
fairly tight (for me) time limit. I like to do things at a slower pace for a variety of reasons, and I’d love to have a way to change the time scale so that things don’t happen in just 20-something minutes.
I know it theoretically gives you infinite time to explore and do stuff, but that one cycle is always ~20 minutes, and that’s what I’d love to be able to slow down.
Chrono Trigger. It’s basically the evolutionary peak of the NES-era console RPG. Every aspect, including the story, art, game mechanics, and music, are best-in-class, with no obvious room for improvement given the technical constraints of the time.
I have great expectation in Sea of Stars exactly because I loved Chrono Trigger suo much.
Had the same expectations for I am Setsuna, but from what I saw in gameplay and reviews, it was disappointing. Hopefully Sea of Stars will be a good one
Setsuna had a lot of cool throwbacks to Chrono Trigger, but ultimately, it was just okay.
I found myself more excited for what would be the next reference in the game, more than being excited about the game itself.
Holy shit Chrono Trigger rocked my world so fucking hard. I played it on an emulator in like 2000. I’ve forgotten a lot of stuff yet I still remember the impression this game left on me. It was like holding my breath at the end there goddamn.
Gotta be Portal 2. The puzzles are fun, the difficultly curve is reasonable, and the writing is fantastic. Truly the only complaint I have is that I wish there was more of it.
Super Metroid. It’s an amazing game if you play it normally, and you can branch out into sequence breaking tricks pretty easily. It basically created/popularized an entire genre of games.
There are lots of great choices here, but Super Metroid is mine as well.
Gorgeous game, great music, not horrifically difficult once you figure things out.
The original Deus Ex. The storyline, the way the game world reacted to your actions and made it feel like your actions were relevant to the world around you instead of just being a static place where stuff happened to you…
I think I would have to go with Stardew Valley. It has something for any mood I’m in.
I can spend my time on the farm, looking after the animals, crops, reorganising. I can go and be social with the neighbours, help them out, do some work towards the community centre. If I feel adventurous I can go explore the mines fighting monsters.
Where I’ve done all that I can start again on a new farm and try a different strategy, I can even play with friends and work together. Its just cozy fun.
Don’t forget the rich modding possibilities and the exhaustive mod landscape.
I couldnt speak to them as Ive never tried the mods. They look cool though.
I first got Stardew, on my switch, during my university days. My wife and myself spent a couple of weeks over christmas playing everytime we could. I have purchased it on PC but not really played it.
I mainly play it now on my phone, its a perfect stress reliever, I can nip on for 5 minutes and still achieve something. Neither support the mods!
One day I will get into the mods! oh yes
I would interpret “perfect” as “i can’t find anyhing negative to say about this game”. So for me the candidates are:
- Portal 1&2
- Factorio
- Outer Wilds
- FTL
- TowerFall: Ascension
- Dishonored 2
- Prey (the Arkane studios one)
- Minit
- and maybe Nidhogg
FTL. It took a concept and ran with it. Plus a great soundtrack. It has a great replay value as well.
Can we go really old with these?
Because Zelda Link to the Past is a perfect game.
I know how ubiquitous it is, but I still replay it on a regular basis. Its perfectly designed, balanced, simple… Im not saying its superior to modern games or something stupid, I just think its pretty flawless. That is all.
1000% agree. Im a huge fan of all things Legend of Zelda and this one still stands as a masterpiece to me as well.
Have you ever looked into any randomizers for ALTTP? They’ll give you a whole new experience in playing the game.
With Archipelago, you can even play with other people playing other randomized games. A Hollow Knight player might need you to find their mantis claw so they can get to the boss that has your hookshot and so on.
My vote is for Slay the Spire. Invented the deck-building roguelike genre and did so with an interesting setting, simple but appealing artstyle, memorable soundtrack, and very tight balancing across 21 difficulty levels.
Also Tetris, but that’s already been said.
Fata Morgana.
Listen, whether you like Visual Novels or not doesn’t matter. But Fata Morgana is just somehow…perfect. Everything is resolved and I don’t feel any need to complain about any aspect of it. It was an experience to play a game that left me with no questions afterwards. It was just a really good story.
Skyrim. It’s a beautiful game, even now when I play it I take a moment to just look at how gorgeous the scenery is. I love the quests and that you can own a horse/house/child/ get married. I love the potions and crafting and customisation.
I don’t think there are many games quite like Skyrim
Hades. I don’t think I’ve come across a game so carefully paced as Hades, both plot-wise and in the gradual introduction of game mechanics. Which is bloody impressive considering that it’s a roguelite.
My answer to this is always Portal, the first one. It was so unexpected and so, so good. Nothing in gaming before or since has been that magical of an experience for me. Maybe early Pokemon, when my little kid eyes were opening to what gaming could be. But there’s just something special about Portal. Such a concise, perfect little game.
Portal’s beauty is in it’s shortness. Perfectly paced, it takes the basic idea, plays with it, twists it, and finishes before it can overstay its welcome. In and out in an afternoon.
