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!
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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...
FTL. It took a concept and ran with it. Plus a great soundtrack. It has a great replay value as well.
Metroid Prime has to be pretty far up there. It was a bold step forward for an established franchise that could have gone wrong so many different ways, but holy cow they nailed it. The controls are probably the only weak part, but to be fair dual analog controls hadn't really caught on yet. Every area of the map has character. So many of the boss fights are memorable, from Omega Pirate being fueled by raw Phazon and destroying its own soldiers, to Thardus whiting out the whole arena, to Meta Ridley wrecking the shit out of the Artifact Temple. The music is great, bringing back bangers from previous games, subtly remixing in other motifs from the past as well to give the game a familiar feeling, while adding beautiful new ambient music of it's own. The plot progresses forward with only a limited amount of cut scenes and dialog. It combined two genres in an innovative new way that 20+ years later still hasn't really been recreated yet.
And then once you've finished playing everything and finding every last thing as intended, there's still more fun to be had in learning some of the more basic glitches to get items way earlier than intended. Giving the devs the middle finger by getting items the first time around without taking a long backtracking trip later to come back and get it. Speeding through areas and blasting through boss fights with equipment and weapons you're not supposed to have yet. It contributed in large part to the birth of the modern speedrunning scene as people came up with more and more creative ways to get around formerly impassable obstacles.
20+ years old now, and it still holds up (as long as you play Primehack or Remastered to get more modern controls).
The only thing I feel could've been done better in Prime 1 is the map. I don't think it aged well in that aspect, but you couñd argue that's a nitpick
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.
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.
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.
Chrono Trigger: every aspect (graphics, gameplay, story, music, replayability...) has such level of polishness that it's still outstanding almost 30 years later.
No other JRPG has come even close and, as a Final Fantasy fan, that's hard to admit
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.
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.
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.
I would interpret "perfect" as "i can't find anyhing negative to say about this game". So for me the candidates are:
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
The Hunt for Red October on the C64 - varied levels, great art and music, really good difficulty curve.
Metal Gear Solid
gameplay, story, setting, voice acting
I used to play through that game multiple times in one sitting
The sequels are also great but something about the original is just chefs kiss
Lots of contenders for me: Resident Evil 2, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of time, Goldeneye, Half-Life, Diablo II, Skyrim, Alien: Isolation, Borderlands 2, Mario 64
But I gotta go with Runescape
Control seems pretty good at what it wants to do. Nice graphics and soundtrack, fluid movement in combat (closest description I could think of) and cool, intriguing story. It also has one of the best video game quests I've played: Ashtray Maze
Skyrim (despite the numerous bugs) is another one I will say is close to perfect. Really good game and the community is pretty great as well.
My vote goes to Shadow of the Colossus. The story, the mood, those damn creatures. Just enough frustration to keep you going and enough variation to not make it boring.
If we're going really old school, then Space Invaders. Its way of leveraging the hardware at the time to make the enemies and music speed up after you defeat more of them is elegant. Back then, the more things a game had on screen, the slower it ran. So, destroying more enemies removes more things from the screen, causing both enemies and music to speed up.
This is something that's taken for granted today, but I think at the time, it was genius.
Apparently that speed up was originally a bug https://www.svg.com/293293/details-you-didnt-know-about-space-invaders/
Both Portal games are perfect. Portal 1 did some much great stuff and portal 2 said fuck it and decided to be more perfect then the first.
Bloodborne. The combat, the trick weapons, the soundtrack, the bait and switch in the plot.
In very recent times, I honestly believe Zelda:TotK is very close to being perfect.
A big one for me is Fallout 1. I only played it for the first time a few years ago and it is one of the only games where as soon as I finished it I wanted to start it again. The only reason I didn't was to play Fallout 2. There is an extremely valid argument that Fallout 2 is better, but the pacing of 1 is so good. It opened up a whole (niche) genre of games I thought I didn't like, isometric crpgs, especially ones with turn based combat, relatively low player power, and serious consequences.
The other game I could replay over and over again was Metal Gear Solid 1. In my opinion it is the best in the series relative to its time of release, if that makes sense.
Also obviously Halo CE.
For a game to be perfect I think it's got to be absolutely pinpoint in achieving what it sets out to do. Doesn't matter if it's a small game, or an expansive open world.
I'm gonna go with Superhot. For my money it took an idea, and ran with it to its natural conclusion. It's laser focused on that one core mechanic and pulls it off so well that I don't think anyone else has even tried to replicate it.
Undertale, for me. I have 0 problems with the game. Art style is great. Controls are great. Story is likely the most compelling I personally have seen. Not to mention the very appropriate humour.
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.
Zelda Links Awakening. It's a perfect clock, every wheel in place.
I’m more into links awakening, but they are really the same era and similar in many ways.
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.
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