this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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Games

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[–] Sixtyforce@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Age of Empires 2 /w The Conquers expansion pack.

Roller Coaster Tycoon 1. (2 was weaker without OpenRCT2, the real masterpiece, but idk if unfinished projects should count or not)

Quake 3 Arena, Unreal Tournament 1999 GOTY, Worms Armageddon, SimCity 3000 Unlimited, Forza Horizon 2 / Motorsport 3, Need for Speed Underground 1, Clonk! Rage, Metal Gear Solid 1/2/3, Ace Combat 4, Okami, Tokyo Jungle, Zelda BOTW, Mario Odyssey, Sven Co-Op, Killing Floor 1, Final Fantasy 7, LISA: The Painful, Everhood 1, Deus Ex 1, Left 4 Dead 1/2, Portal 2, Battlefield Bad Company 2... Champions of Norrath and Return to Arms, Diablo 1, Baldur's Gate 3 makes the list...NIER both games. Planet MiniGolf.

I could go on and on.

[–] Flickerby@lemm.ee 13 points 1 week ago

Clair Obscur has been the best game I've played in a long while, absolute masterpiece

[–] B0NK3RS@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Thomas Was Alone

I've never felt so much for quadrilateral shapes.

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[–] afaix@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

Psychonauts 1 and 2.

Some of the most imaginative big budget games in existence, from themes to art style to level design

[–] essell@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

My Picks...

Deus Ex (So many games try to be this and fail)

Cyberpunk (This one eventually measured up)

Alpha Centauri (Innovation mixed with familiarity and setting)

Fallout 2 (they're all good. Fallout 2 is special)

Kotor (Star Wars story telling in a beautiful way)

Baldur's Gate 2 and 3 (I'm stunned that 3 was a worthy successor)

Homeworld (One of the World's truly beautiful games)

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[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

Red Alert 2

Heroes of Might and Magic 3

Super Mario Brothers 3

[–] Sophocles@infosec.pub 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Heres a list of some favorites:

Imperfect perfection: Morrowind

Perfect perfection: Starcraft Brood War

Objective perfection: Plants vs Zombies

Subjective perfection: Knights of the Old Republic

Perfect for its time: Gauntlet IV

Perfect timeless: Sonic 2

Perfect for its genre: LOZ Minish Cap

Perfect All-in-one: Shenmue II

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I'm taking this to mean games that stand out in or define their genre, are widely considered to be excellent, are timeless, and there's very little if any fat to trim.

  • Super Mario Brothers - NES
  • Super Mario 64
  • Dark Souls - maybe Elden Ring takes over?
  • Return of the Obra Dinn
  • Half Life 2 - honorable mention: Left 4 Dead 2
  • Diablo 2
  • Doom
  • Tetris
  • Chrono Trigger
  • Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  • Portal 2
  • Little Nightmares - honorable mention: INSIDE
  • GTA SA
  • Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2

These aren't necessarily my favorite games, but games I think are well respected. I probably missed a bunch.

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 11 points 1 week ago

Doom (93) I guess ?

Also HL and HL2

[–] Radin@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

Hades. Transcends the rogue-like genre through incredible writing, art direction, and music. The gameplay is some of the most addictive I’ve ever played. I’m at over 200 hours logged and I still get lost in it.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

Dragon Age: Origins and Bioshock

[–] warm@kbin.earth 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] KiNo@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] richardwagner@lemm.ee 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)
  • dark souls
  • elden ring
  • bloodborne
  • sekiro
  • outer wilds
  • doom 2016
  • binding of isaac

Someone likes a challenge. :)

[–] maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone 10 points 1 week ago

I think masterpieces is one word.

[–] mostNONheinous@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

MAD MAX from 2015, while not tied directly to the new movies it scratches an itch I haven’t found in any other game. It’s dark and bleak and brutal. The combat on foot and behind the wheel are both incredible. Nothing quite like being in the middle of ripping a convoy 7 new assholes and being hit with a dust storm. It can be repetitive if you want to complete everything but BY THE GODS OF VALHALLA is it a fucking blast.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

It actually is directly tied to the movies. The character who first gives Furiosa a chassis to build from isn't quite as hunchbacked as in the game but he is credited as "Chumbucket!"

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[–] toomanypancakes@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Super Metroid is still the first that comes to mind. Amazing experience from start to finish.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

I don't see Goldeneye on your list.

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 week ago
[–] kint@infosec.pub 8 points 1 week ago

The Witness

[–] Elevator7009@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Curious to hear what the criteria for "masterpiece" is, otherwise I think it is just peoples' subjective opinion of what makes a great game that they also think others might agree about being a great game. Genuinely curious, interested in discussion, not saying this to shut down any of the answers here.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Historically a masterpiece has been a (or the) work that demonstrates an artist is capable of utilizing their medium to its fullest extent, i.e. it has been mastered. Per ye olde Wiki:

Historically, a "masterpiece" was a work of a very high standard produced by an apprentice to obtain full membership, as a "master", of a guild or academy in various areas of the visual arts and crafts.

In that light, I'd say the best qualified would be games that completely utilized the capabilities of the platform they were designed for or, perhaps of interest to more people, expanded what everyone thought could be done with those systems. Games which were furthermore well polished and complete, and did not have much room for improvement taking into account the constraints they had to work with at the time. (For instance: No duh we could make Mario 64 run at a higher framerate and have better textures to look nicer on hardware now. That doesn't mean it wasn't arguably a masterpiece of its time, on the system it was on.) This doesn't just have to be technical stuff -- It could be the way the game used storytelling, its gameplay mechanics, or anything else.

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[–] SolarPunker@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] Kattiydid@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Zelda Breath of the wild for me. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed Tears of the Kingdom but breath of the wild scratched a perfect itch for me. Especially master mode. Well over 1000 hours played.

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[–] weirdbeardgame@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The Spyro the dragon trilogy for me is just an absolute masterpiece.

Final Fantasy VII, IX and X are three master pieces

Metroid prime and fusion

Fatal Frame trilogy on the PlayStation 2, Forbidden Siren, Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil 2 are amongst the best of the best

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[–] charonn0@startrek.website 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] InfiniteHench@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)
  • Bloodborne
  • Bioshock
  • Hollow Knight
[–] technopagan@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

"Abzû". That's a hill I'm willing to die on. Got to me even more than Journey or Jusant.

Also, thought very differently, "Senua Hellblade" because it perfectly displayed a condition that I could never fit into words.

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 6 points 1 week ago

It took a while to get there, but Cyberpunk 2077.

[–] Jyrdano@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

There hasnt been yet a game that could replicate the experience I ld had when I played Planescape: Torment

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