Feel free to list a few video games from different genres. Best is definitely subjective and I’m sure there are many “Best” games for various categories.
Half Life: Alyx for example is widely considered the “Best” VR game. Many would agree it’s the best Action VR game, but it wouldn’t be the “Best” for puzzles.
To make it easier I’ll list the types of Genres for Video Games from Wikipedia. Please do give suggestions for some of the highest quality games you’ve played from various categories:
- Action: Platform games, shooter, fighting, survival, etc
- Action-Adventure: Survival horror
- Adventure: Interactive, real time, 3d, text adventures, etc
- Puzzle: Exploration, trial and error, breakout, logical games, etc
- Role-playing: Action RPG, MMORPG, tactical, sandbox, etc
- Simulation: Management, life simulation, vehicle simulation, etc
- Strategy: Real time, turn based, wargame, grand strategy, etc
- Sports: Racing, competitive, sports games, etc
- MMO: Massively multiplayer online game
- Openworld: Sandbox, creative, open world, etc
Note: Non-exhaustive category list. There are more such as card games, board games, etc. Please check the wiki link above for more categories to get ideas for the “best” games.
I personally would recommend Subnautica (Open World), Half Life: Alyx (VR Action-Adventure), The Witcher 3 (Role-playing), Black Mesa (Action), Titanfall 2 (Action), Portal 2 (Puzzle), Battlebit (MMO/Action), and Half Life 3 (Fictional Game).
Outer Wilds
It’s both a piece of art and a thoroughly enjoyable piece of playable entertainment.
The amount of attention to detail in that game is absolutely insane.
Just completed this one myself - and yeah, amazing. I am sooo happy I went in not knowing anything. Figuring out what needs figuring out is half the fun.
For me it’s Half Life 2 because I have such a specific and vivid memory of playing it the first time in my rainy London flat in 2004.
It was this exact moment when I had the experience, for the first time in my life, that:
I’m in this world, I am a part of the game.
Funny OP calls out Half Life: Alyx as one of the best VR games, when VR is all about being ‘immersive’.
But for me that moment 16 years earlier will always be the moment I first experienced being ‘immersed’ in a video game.
Half Life is awesome! If I had to choose from all the games I’ve played, the half life series has to be best in my opinion. There are so many small details and world building elements in each half life game that it really does make it feel like you are in the game. And then there is Half Life: Alyx…
It was so immersive, I smashed by head against the wall trying to run away from something lol
Warning Half Life: Alyx Spoilers. Do not read it unless you have played this game. It is a once in a lifetime experience.
I had that moment in Half Life Alyx: at Jeff. No game makes you feel genuine fear as that level did. You felt as you were there physically trying from death. Best gaming experience ever!
In terms of games that were so advanced they almost feel like they were made by time travellers:
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Elite (1984) - procedural open world space sim
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Ultima VII (1992) - full NPC schedules, open world and day/night system so you could rob stores at nights, follow people, etc. and awesome exploration. In 1992!
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X-COM (1994) - a voxel-based LOS system, destructible environment, z-levels, natural elevation on terrain (deforming the isometric grid), reaction fire, etc.
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Daggerfall (1996) - a faction system, procedurally generated areas and quests, a lot of options to get to different areas (climbing, levitation, etc.)
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Thief (1998) - a full sound simulation with different materials having different properties, the ability to extinguish torches (dynamic lighting!) and cover metal surfaces, a light system for visibility too (now commonplace).
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Baldur’s Gate (1998) - a semi open-world AD&D2e implementation - with co-op multiplayer! (most modern games don’t manage this)
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Deus Ex (2000) - a branching FPS/RPG campaign where choices matter with a basic stealth system and lots of approaches to each level. It was basically a completely modern game out of nowhere in 2000.
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Runescape (2001) - one of the first major graphical MMORPGs with a full player economy.
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Morrowind (2002) - a fully 3D open world with a lot of options for magic (including custom magic) and exploration.
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Hitman 2 (2002) - first stealth-focussed game with a full disguise system, map, etc.
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Oblivion (2006) - like Morrowind but with some NPC schedules (like Ultima VII), a stealth system (based on Thief) and Havok physics based traps.
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Red Faction: Guerrilla (2009) - fully destructible buildings and environments in an open-world campaign.
Those are the ones that really stick out (also Super Mario and Zelda on consoles, especially the SNES, N64 and recently on the Switch handheld). It’s a shame that the rate of progress seems to have slowed down a lot at least in terms of ground-breaking features and simulations.
But who knows maybe Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield will both be on future lists like this.
Ultima VII really sticks out as just crazy though, that game could have released 10 years later and held up.
I would actually also put KotOR on this list. It was the first game that I can think of that had branching side quests for companions and a relationship system depending on their usage. It was basically the precursor to the Mass Effect system.
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Rdr2 deserves a mention
From my own Steam stats: Portal 2 (276 h), The Talos Principle (161 h), Skyrim (158 h) and Torchlight (139 h).
But I bet I invested much more time in Doom, Doom II and all the expansions and mods.
And before that in Elite (for the 128K ZX Spectrum).
How do you classify best? Could a 16 bit be considered best if the mechanics and graphics are spot on? I’m thinking of Zelda ALTTP for instance. The game is just flawless in my opinion.
Superman 64 meets the criteria of all categories and is inarguably the best game ever made.
So, an interesting point of detail, is a game “gooder” when it perfectly executes its formula after countless iterations, like FF6 did, or is it better when it innovates in a new way, bringing together new ideas into a magical, if occasionally rough-around-the-edges, novel new approach that others start copying, as Doom did?
Also, are we looking at them from the perspective of their time, where Pac Man was once the pinnacle of gaming itself, or from a modern, more objective perspective, where Pac Man struggles to provide the same value as BotW does almost half a century later?
Calling Doom a novel approach is a bit of an understatement, don’t you think? Doom is easily one of the most influential milestones in the history of video games, period. Despite the roughness around the edges – most or all of which was necessary to get it to even work on PC hardware of the time, as it was certainly well understood by hyper dimensional time traveling space wizard, John Carmack. Nowadays we all know how the engine cheated, wasn’t truly 3d, and where all the jank and bugs can be found. But from the perspective if someone in 1993 playing on their 486-DX, Doom really felt like a highly polished and complete experience.
Doom’s impact in the scene in 1993 was so vast that you can still see it to this very day if you know where to look. There was so much that it either invented or perfected: Network multiplayer, both deathmatch and co-op; the now standard FPS loadout of melee-pistol-shotgun-rocket-launcher; the entire modern concept of the “violent video game” controversy; the notion of rock star game developers (John Romero…); the capability of generating distinct and recognizable 3D environments with a sense place. That’s really just the start. Doom made the entire video game industry at the time do an about-face. It changed the landscape forever despite how quaint it might look today.
The Talos Principle is one of my favorite puzzle games of all time because it actually got me to stop, read, and consider the message
Hades, RoR, and RoR 2 are contenders for best roguelike for me. Not my favorite genre but these hooked me with great replayability
Valheim, while unfinished and full of bugs, was my favorite open world experience with friends but I think Astroneer is a more perfect game. It’s simple and does a great job “directing” you while you make your own choices. The sound design is unmatched for relaxing
I love strategy games but I’m a basic bitch here without a variety of them so Civ6, Cities Skylines, Advanced Wars, FTL, and Into The Breach are my favs
I’d split action into two separate categories: Action and multiplayer FPS.
Tomb Raider (2013) was a pretty perfect action game for me. Probably not flawless but I look back on it fondly
Overwatch remains my favorite FPS even though I stopped playing awhile ago. There’s just no objective-based team shooter with unique roles besides…TF2, my previous favorite FPS
+1 for The Talos Principle.
If you like puzzles, you’ll love Talos.
Great story, too.
I tried out Obduction based on a review that compared it to Talos but…I dunno if I would recommend it. I found the “puzzles” to be unintuitive and had to look up a guide multiple times. Then I’d see the solution and wonder how the hell the game expected me to know i needed an item from across the map.
So if you have any recommendations that are ACTUALLY like Talos, I’d love to hear them.
Yes, Talos II is inbound!
AHHHH WHAT I HAVEN’T BEEN THIS EXCITED ABOUT VIDEO GAME NEWS SINCE…Ok, Cities: Skylines 2. BUT BEFORE THAT…A LONG TIME
It’s been a good month of game announcements for me
XCOM, XCOM 2 (Strategy)
The balancing of risk/reward, tactics, and roster management spawned a whole genre. The newer XCOMs (Enemy Unknown/Within and War of the Chosen) are still so much fun.
Also, plugging /c/XCOM while I’m here.
Also the original X-COM was so far ahead of its time - a voxel-based LOS system, destructible environment, z-levels, natural elevation on terrain (deforming the isometric grid), reaction fire, etc.
In almost 30 years I’ve yet to come across another game that captures the feeling of turning a corner and coming face to face with an alien when you’ve few movement points left
Nobody putting Left 4 Dead or L4D2 out there? I got 2,000 hours across both. Never had that much fun gaming before or since.
The Hitman trilogy has immersive world design and great replayability! One of my favourites.
Dishonored 2 is fantastic! I absolutely love everything about it. The graphics, world design, sounds, music, stealth gameplay, perks, story and etc. I’d live in Carnaca if it was possible! (I have to mention the world design again bc it is so good!!)
The level design of Dishonored 2 is also so good. So many memorable levels like the clockwork mansion. That shit was so cool and creative.
The Clockwork Mansion and A Crack in the Slab might be the coolest levels in any game I’ve ever played.
I’m going to take it back to the SNES days
Chrono Trigger
Earthbound
Super Mario World
Super Metroid
Megaman X
Super Mario RPG
Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse
I’m surprised to not see any love for The Witness. I’m not usually a puzzle guy, but the way they teach you how to play without dialog is incredible and the environment is gorgeous.
Yes, finally. No one I know has played it, and there seems to be little interest in trying. The game consists of perfect mind-bending puzzles, with no duplicate “tricks” - just a steady growth of what is considered outside-the-box thinking.
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