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.)
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.
What I really like is that it is never unfair. Once you understand what has to be done, it is easy to accomplish. So it is a great kind of difficulty. And there is more: The free mod “Portal reloaded” is really great.
It’s not Portal 1 or 2. I’m sure of this because I and others think Portal is possibly the best example of a perfect game and lots of other people say it was good but Portal 2 was a perfected version (and the opposite is also true, I think Portal 2 is good but lost a lot of what was wonderful about Portal.)
My point being, it’s so commonly contentious about which of the two was perfect and which one was merely good but not quite to the standards of the other that it must be that either is only subjectively a perfect game. Though, in fairness, possibly there are no objectively perfect games, but in that case the question really just comes down to “what games do you think are good?”
When I think of perfect games I think of Portal 2
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. Just incredibly polished and varied with an amazing movement system.
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.
The original Tetris tournament is still ongoing. It’s there a worldwide tournament for an older video 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.
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!
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.
as an aside: inscryption was phenomenal
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.
yep this is the one lol. literally zero notes for that game, it’s perfect. i play it once a year and it continues to age like it came out yesterday.
I have great expectation in Sea of Stars exactly because I loved Chrono Trigger so 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.
Octopath is the closest one to bringing back a RPG experience of that era, but it fell short in some key areas. The story’s cohesiveness suffered due to the freedom you get for choosing what character’s arc to progress. Also, compared with games of that time, there is too much backstory. I enjoy world building but most games nowadays have a little too much of it. The side quests are also chores and the story of the quest is hard to follow since you might not complete it hours later. I think the last, most crucial problem is the cut scenes. Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6, Mario RPG, etc had such dynamic cutscenes. Octopath is very static in comparison — most “cut scenes” are just people talking.
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.
I was really disappointed in Setsuna. I was looking forward to it so much (not even in a this will be the next Chrono Trigger way, just in a this looks like an awesome retro style jrpg way) and I barely made it through it.
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.
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.
If you still have your original save intact, you should be able to pour over your ship logging get everything important in terms of story.
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.
Funnily enough, from my perspective the 22 minute limit is what allows you to take your time. It makes you stop and think about what you’ve just explored, take a deep breath, and move on to something else that interests you. Otherwise, you might have just nonstop blasted through way too much information without any time to actually digest and understand what you discovered.
I liked it and some of the concepts in it are super interesting… But it does feel kind of janky and unpolished at times. I kind of think it’s both an overrated and an underrated game because of this.
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.)
I adore that game, probably top 3 game of all time imo… however if there’s one thing that stops it being perfect for me it’s the ship control.
Now I personally didn’t have an issue with it, I think it fits in the games setting and overall theme rather well, but I know a lot of folks fell off the game hard because they really struggled to navigate the space ship.
Aside from that though, I totally agree.
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.
As someone who’s worked on mods for Stardew Valley, you can tell that CA put a lot of effort into making the game. It’s honestly impressive how much he was able to do.
That being said, the game’s code is far from perfect (although it’s been getting better over time). It just somehow came together to make an amazing game. He’s also been pretty receptive to feedback from modders, which I think has drastically improved the code over time.
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
it’s very replayable, too, especially with the added farm types, which were not a thing back when the game was first released! the local coop is really fun as well, and how i roped my partner into playing with me. ;)
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, I just think its pretty flawless. That is all.
It’s Ocarina of Time for me. It’s just about as perfect as it can get.
It blends the simplicity of a platformer with the complexity of an open world RPG with just the right amount of each.
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.
@storksforlegs My fave Zelda for sure.
I remember finally getting the skips down in the dark world to keep the bunny form. So much fun!
ALttP is so good, so polished so it’s a pleasure to play.
Also did the randomizer. It’s played with the Japanese v1.0, so it includes a bunch of fun minor glitches like being able to hook shot through rocks or swim before you get flippers to sequence break
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
Prey (the Arkane studios one)
I’m playing through Prey for the first time right now and I think it’s one of the most underrated games of the past decade, but I wouldn’t call it anywhere near perfect, either. It’s launch was very rocky, enemy AI is weird to nonexistent, combat in general has the awkward property of being reduced to door camping, and the audio is… ungodly.
I’ve said it 1 million times and so have many others, but it is and will always be Ocarina of Time. It’s the only game I play through every single year and still love every single second of it.
when i was a young kid, i played this game, and everytime i saw a single enemy i restarted the game and just ran around the village. it was long ago, so im not sure if its entirely accurate. ive also never played a zelda game since lol
Lol that’s pretty funny. I highly recommend revisiting it! Also, soooo many amazing games in that franchise. You gotta check at least a few of them out!
For me, probably Half-Life 2. Especially at the time? It was such a leap ahead in both technology and overall world immersion. I still revisit it sometimes and get sucked right back in.
I’ll agree with you on Beatles Rock Band too, though. It’s a work of art.
ive never played a half life game before. maybe i should start
The original Half Life is pretty fun, but I’d recommend checking out Black Mesa. It’s a remake of the original game in the same engine that Half-Life 2 uses, and changes some things for the better.
I kind of feel like part of what made Half Life special was the historical context in which it was released, and what they were able to do with the technology of the time. I think you lose a lot of that by just jumping into Black Mesa.
That said the original Half Life hasn’t aged as gracefully as Half Life 2 (which holds up very well in my opinion)… So I can see why people recommend this.
I have tried it, however I feel it’s a bit dated. I wanted to like it, but I didn’t succeed. I can imagine however that back on it’s release date is was pretty groundbreaking.
I’ve really wanted to play HL but I get extremely motion sick. I’ve tried multiple configurations, HL2, Black Mesa, but I feel sick even thinking about them.
Other games that give me bad nausea: Slime Rancher, Stanley’s parable. I’ve forced myself to play them, I never get used to it and the nausea actually gets worse with time.
Games that don’t make me sick at all: portal 1&2, any Witcher, Horizon Zero Dawn, most VR games.
I though it’s the 1st person’s perspective but I can’t explain why portal games are ok and HL aren’t.
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.
I would possibly also add portal 2 to that. They didn’t try to recreate portal 1, but built something impressive upon it instead.
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.
Both Portal games are perfect. Portal 1 did so much great stuff and portal 2 said fuck it and decided to be more perfect then the first.
I respect this, but always had trouble with portal 2. It has some great parts but is also way too long.
Portal 2 has grown on me more and more over the years. Now when I replay Portal, I’m disappointed that it’s not more like Portal 2. The story, the puzzles, the overall mood, the environmental design, the characters, the damn soundtrack—everything’s just perfect.
It is definitely a bit longer then it absolutely needs to be. I personally think it paces itself well, but I can see your point as well.
I agree with this!
FTL. It took a concept and ran with it. Plus a great soundtrack. It has a great replay value as well.
This for sure
Bought the original release on macOS and loved it. When it got ported to iPad, I bought it again and still dust it off regularly to kill a couple hours. The music is perfect, the replayability is high, and the balance between fun and challenging is perfect.
I wish they ported the changes they made to the ipad version to the desktop one, and also made an android version. The game is damn near 100% playable as is on a touchscreen, there just needs to be a way to pause.
I felt they needed a more elegant way to balance control vs chaos. The fact that you are able to pause and issue orders means that to get the best results, you should always pause the instant something needs to change and issue orders. At which point, it probably could just be turn-based, but then you entirely lose (rather than, as I think it currently is, mostly lose) the sense of urgency and chaos of everything going wrong everywhere at once and having to chase around fixing problems.
I think what they actually needed was a middle ground of a pause mechanic. Set it up such that you only have a finite ability to pause and issue orders so that most of the time you are best off issuing them live but you can also pause to issue orders where it’s most critical to do so.
The simplest implementation I can think of to try for that is to literally just have a pause meter. Either every time it fills up that allows you to pause to issue orders once (at a time of your choice) or have it be one that drains whilst issuing orders paused. (You could still offer a regular pause option that just doesn’t let you input orders. It would also open up the possibility of different ships, races, damage, sabotage and upgrades effecting your paused orders resource.
I think if they’d nailed that element then for me it would be a perfect game.
FTL has mod support IIRC. That would not be one I would use, but I bet it would have an audience!
Hollow knight. The gameplay, the smoothness of the controls, but also the universe, the atmosphere, the fantastic music. Absolutely wonderful game.
Hollow Knight is the best game I’ve inexplicably never finished
I can explain why I never finished it just fine: I suck at it. Still loved it. Maybe someday I’ll get past the final boss.
I second Hollow Knight. Every single second spent in that game was worth it.
Third! Beautiful game, lovely story, great characters. Can’t wait for Silksong.
In very recent times, I honestly believe Zelda:TotK is very close to being perfect.
Surprised I had to scroll so far to see this one!
Seconded. A little more performance on the Switch to help with clarity and frame loss would go a long way, maybe better rewards for some quests and challenges, but otherwise the game is damn near perfect IMO. I’m well over 100 hours in and I still get blown away by stuff I discover, or things that the game is capable of.
