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.
I’ve yet to play it, but I’ve only heard good things! Looking to purchase it next time it goes on sale
Rdr2 deserves a mention
Hades is perfect. Every single pillar of that game supports each other.
It’s one of the few games I’ve sunk triple-digit hours into. Such a good game.
Chrono Trigger
The story is great. The music is timeless. The replay-ability of the game is off the charts. You can change the combat style to be time-based instead of turn-based.
Half-Life was a game changer when it came out.
First-person shooters in those days were basically just spawning in a level, shooting generic bad guys and picking up loot. Half-Life had this insane story and they didn’t use any cutscenes or take away control from the player except to load the map, the whole story was told through the environment you explored and the characters you interacted with.
Even 20 years later, people are still having discussions about who the G-Man works for, or whether Dr. Breen (HL2) was a good guy.
What passed for AI was amazing as well. Found a sweet spot in an elevator shaft where I could patiently pick off soldiers.
“Got you dumb bots now!”
(incoming grenades)
“Well. Shit.”
They realized they were stuck, so they flushed me out! Up till then, enemies engaged on sight, suicidal, wouldn’t stop. These animals would hang back, wait for you to return.
There’s a great map, very small, like a small 2-story office building. Just you vs. the soldiers. The enemy “smarts” makes it infinitely replayable. Sometimes they really get you sweating as they coordinate against you.
All old news now, but that was amazing in the day. Also, you could play HL on about any old crap computer. Used to LAN party with my kids and his friends using junkers I’d cobbled out of spare parts. HL2 was famous for that as well. About any hardware specs at the time would at least get you in the game.
I know right? Valve keeps raising the bar so high you wonder how it can be topped. I can’t wait for Half Life 3!
Absolutely was.
At day 1 of release on a celery 300A overclocked to 450Mhz with SBLive EAX 3D audio played in the dark.
Remember being very impressed with the story, sound, atmosphere and AI brains increase.
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.
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 my 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 to escape from death. Best gaming experience ever!
I have to go way back and vote for the Shenmu trilogy. Open world and RPG.
I agree that Half Life for action adventure.
Definitely Portal 2 and the Talos Principal for puzzle.
Rocket League is awesome and so are the Skate games.
Crazy Taxi and Paradise City belong somewhere too
OG Half Life. I should load that up again!
I recently beat Half-Life MMod and really enjoyed it. I was worried it would be too over the top, but I found it just right as something between the original and Black Mesa.
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).
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.
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
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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Bioshock is the answer.
System Shock 2.
Best modern games I have played:
Action: Risk of Rain 2 (Roguelite), Hades (Roguelite), Cuphead
Action-Adventure: Alien: Isolation (Stealth/Horror)
Adventure: Subnautica
FPS: Halo 1-Reach (Story), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Competitive)
Puzzle: Portal 2
Role-playing: Divinity: Original Sin 2
Simulation: Rimworld (Colony), Stardew Valley (Farm/Life), Squad (Military), Cities: Skylines (Builder)
Strategy: Civilization 5 (4X), FTL: Faster Than Light (Roguelite), Stellaris (4X)
Sports: Forza Horizon 4
MMO: Old School RuneScape
Openworld: Minecraft
VR: Half-Life: AlyxSome random games I enjoyed and would recommend:
Prodeus - a retro DOOM-like FPS, really captures the DOOM essence
Tomb Raider reboot: casual action-adventure games, just chill to play through
PlateUp! - a cooking roguelite management game, kinda like Overcooked (which is also a blast)
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes - one person has a bomb, the other the manual to defuse, lots of fun
Planet Coaster - a really good modernisation of the classic Roller Coaster Tycoon games
Sea of Thieves - open world PvPvE pirate adventure game, great fun with friends, wish they had progression though
Satisfactory - a factory building game, like a 3D Factorio (also good), it just needs an ending
Until You Fall - a VR sword fighting roguelite, wish they would expand on it, good fun while your arms dont hurtThis is a good list! I wish we had a Reddit-like save feature so I could never see this comment against.
Nothing and I mean nothing ever comes close to Return of the Obra Dinn when it comes to puzzles. All the info is provided and it’s all on you to finish the game (or not). It’s a really unique experience. Less action and more wracking your brains out.
