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.)
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.)
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.
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.
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 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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
FTL. It took a concept and ran with it. Plus a great soundtrack. It has a great replay value as well.
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.
1000% agree. Im a huge fan of all things Legend of Zelda and this one still stands as a masterpiece to me as well.
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.
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 admitFor 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.
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.
I respect this, but always had trouble with portal 2. It has some great parts but is also way too long.
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.
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.
Skyrim. It’s a beautiful game, even now when I play it I take a moment to just look at how gorgeous the scenery is. I love the quests and that you can own a horse/house/child/ get married. I love the potions and crafting and customisation.
I don’t think there are many games quite like Skyrim
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.
