I think Deus Ex (2000). The gameplay is so open and full of possibilities, and the story is crazy but it works so well. It's so replayable.
this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025
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Has to be Outer Wilds for me. I can't think of any other game that would have left such an impact on me, in such a short amount of time.
I heard how great the Outer Wilds was, so when I saw The Outer Worlds on sale I thought "oh hey sure I'll buy that for $15" and I was EXTREMELY confused at why people had said it was the best game you could only play once, because that game wasn't even fun the first time. I later realized my mistake and got the real deal and oh my god I wish I could forget that game and play it again.
I'm going to split this in to two categories: 1) games that were the best for their time, but perhaps don't hold up nowadays. 2) Games that are the best today.
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GoldenEye. This game was just so good both single and multiplayer. It was revolutionary, amazingly close to the film and a real challenge to complete. It was a huge game changer and entered in the modern era for such games.
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I just really like Just Cause 3. It's such fun, great visual, even better game mechanics, cool soundtrack, a true open world and massive destruction, endless ways to approach every situation.
Thanks, I'll try out just cause 3, looks fun!
As someone who is not big into platformers or souls-likes, Hollow Knight.
Portal and portal 2 those are the best ever, a story line everyone can get behind, likable characters. Good game loop. They are just masterclasses.
Portal 2 was way better than Portal, which felt like mostly a really extended tech demo or proof-of-concept. Portal 2 felt like an actual, full, fleshed-out game.
Its been almost 6 years since I first finished dark souls 1, and I still think of its endings and themes.
The age of light and dark. Prolonging the current status quo, or give up and accept the new one. The idea that alone, the chosen undead is weak, but as you get help from others, you can get better/stronger.
Best game ever is... difficult if not impossible to qualify. I'm gonna go with Shadow of War near the top though. Nobody else will, but I really appreciate that game's ability to keep generating new experiences for you. Perfected the arkham combat, beautiful ragdolls, endless endgame to keep experiencing new orcs.
Been gaming since 1984 or some such.
By number of hours played: Factorio
By number of hours I can monologue about a game at you: also Factorio
By how much I think it affected gaming industry and culture: Doom
If I go with unique experiences as a criteria just to mix it up a bit I have a few
Playing xwing with a f16 flight stick is really fun and one of my first gaming experiences outside of nes and arcades. Just really fun fast paced fighter combat. A close second would be everspace or Chorus on a controller.
Playing one of the big multiplayer arcade cabinets like Simpsons or X-Men was the original couch co-op with whoever was at the arcade not playing pinball or pool.
Beating your first boss in a dark souls or elden ring game feels like a big accomplishment, sometimes even more than the later ones when your character gets more powerful.
Going from small groups with friends to raids in an MMORPG feels like starting a whole new game, EverQuest and wow were big ones for me.
Edit: fix typo, add type to flight stick
Playing one of the big multiplayer arcade cabinets like Simpsons or X-Men was the original couch co-op with whoever was at the arcade not playing pinball or pool.
I bought the 4-Player co-op X-Men arcade cabinet from Arcade1up and it's been a blast playing it all the way through with my son.
That sounds like an awesome experience, I have a friend with a mame cab in their basement that I would probably spend too much time on it if I had one. I went with the cheaper option for mame and arcade legacy using a raspberry pi running batocera, but for some games it's just not the same without the arcade controls.
Skyrim. Sure, no single part is particularly good, but the whole of it is greater than the sum of it's part.
Ocarina of Time
Yeah I know. Cliche as fuck. But for those who weren't around when It came out, it's really hard to describe just how absurdly revolutionary OoT was. Between it and Mario 64 (another Top 5 game for me), you essentially had the foundations of 3D gaming that are still used today.
But besides that...it's an amazing game that I'm still replaying nearly 30 years later. Ever single complaint I have about this game is a tiny issue that has been solved in other versions (like binding the Iron Boots to the C button).
Yeah, OoT feels dated by modern standards, but that’s largely because it set the standard for 3D games. Future games have built upon the mechanics, but OoT was what paved the way.
The last console I had was the Sega Mega Drive, so I don't have much knowledge of console games, but are you sure Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time "essentially set the foundations of 3D gaming that are still used today?".
Quake 1, was released on June 1996. Quake II was released on December 1997.
Ocarina of Time was released on November 1998, the same time as Half-Life.
Sure, Mario 64 was released in June 1996, same time as Quake 1, but Quake 1 also had multiplayer - a key milestone for 3D gaming at that time).
You also had Frontier: First Encounters, released in April 1995, with primitive, but full 3D graphics:
Tomb Raider was released in October 1996 (Sega Saturn, DOS, PlayStation):
Mechwarrior II was released in July 1995:
I am just curious, is there something about Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time that I don't know about with respect to their contribution to 3D gaming (either from a technical or game design perspective)? They are clearly great games, I just don't really understand how they could be the foundation for all 3D gaming.
Fair enough lol. Not all 3D gaming obviously (I mean they aren't First person shooters, like most of your examples), but effectively the Action, Adventure, Platforming, etc angle (which makes up a fairly massive chunk of games today).
What I'm talking about is the fundamental gameplay of both. Online Multiplayer was revolutionary, but it wasn't really a fundamental change to the gameplay itself (Like with Marathon introducing mouse control)
It's interesting that you mention Tomb Raider though because that's a perfect comparison. It was a fairly indicative of the industry as a whole with its stiff controls, static cameras, and dodgy combat.
Mario 64 brought a full range of movement and action to games. It was really the first 3D game where just moving was fun (which is why they started the game in a peaceful courtyard, they wanted you to just have a fuck about). It also brought the user controllable camera to games (It hasn't aged well, but that camera system was amazing when it came out). Also, while it didn't invent the Hub world (it had been used in 2D games) it pretty much set the standard for it.
OoT built on Mario64 with two major bits of gameplay. Target lock-on (Then called "Z-Targeting") and contextual buttons. Both of which are just so fundamental to games these days it just feels obvious. More relevant back then (but not now), it created the template for how you could faithfully transition a series from 2D to 3D while perfectly maintaining the feel of the 2D series.
Now, neither of those things alone would justify it being in my Top 5. The fact that they're both so aggressively fun and well made does that.
I see. I still think claiming that Mario 64 and Zelda 98 are the foundation for most 3D action and adventure games doesn't really align with reality.
Especially the piece about Mario 64 being the first 3D game were movement was fun. I understand that the definition of fun is subjective, but this is basically false.
Beyond Quake, in Frontier: First Encounters you could literally fly between solar bodies, do planetry landings, fly between cities. This is far more difficult to pull off well than the relatively primitive movement in Mario 64.
Same with setting the standard for player hubs. I haven't played Mario 64, but I have seen friends play Mario Galaxy and the hub area in Galaxy is well designed, but simplistic and with no dynamism related to gameplay.
Not sure about how exactly target lock-on functions in Zelda 98, but target lock-on definitely existing long, long before Zelda and in more complex, dynamic environments.
Don't get me wrong, you like what you like and clearly Mario 64 and Zelda 98 are good games, but it is strange to put them on the pedestal in this manner. Especially when many of your statements almost approach a PR level of what I assume is hyperbole (e.g. "first 3D game with fun movement" - this is clearly false).
Mario 64 was the first use of the analog stick in a console game. Push it a little bit to walk, push it all the way to run, and several states in between. Maybe you can find a simulator that had analog control, but I'm sure you can see the difference.
Ocarina of Time was a solution to that type of game in 3D space that, as discussed above in things like Tomb Raider, was far more awkward in its predecessors as the industry was figuring out how to make games work in 3D. It's very similar to how Halo wasn't the first console FPS, but it was the first one smart enough to put guns, grenades, and melee all on their own buttons, among other innovations.
I'd also add Mario 64's use of a controllable third person camera - all the games @Agent_[email protected] mentioned are first person, and I don't think movement in those types of games is at all comparable. The camera was the key point to making a 3D platformer even possible at all, and it immediately became vital to many other genres too.
I know that by today's standards that camera is known for being rather antiquated, but it was revolutionary for its time. One detail I think deserves more credit is how they tried to anthropomorphize the camera as Lakitu to introduce it to players.
That's easy, Bloodborne.
Well, my personal favorite game of all time is TES 4: Oblivion. The reasons I love that game are numerous but if I were to try to argue for it as being objectively the best game ever...
I guess I could say that the combination of older RPG mechanics with streamlined modern gameplay, mixed with a immensely beautiful fantasy world, flawless soundtrack, epic world-shattering plot, two of the best expansions ever made (KOTN and SI), absurdly legendary guild quests all come together to make it a true work of art.
I used to love TES4 too, but after playing Daggerfall and Morrowind, I started to look at Oblivion coldly. The old concept of Oblivion was great, but what was released... meh. But hey, quests in Oblivion are pretty good.
I began with Morrowind and I've played every TES game (other than those obscure "Travels" games in the early 2000s) but Oblivion remains for me. That said, Daggerfall's sheer scope in both gameplay and world size is incredible, and Morrowind's perfect blend of sandbox freedom with an awesome plot definitely do make them candidates as well. I just personally love the entire series and Oblivion was the one that converted me from "fan" to "megafan" so that's why I go for that one.
Most awe inspiring: Morrowind
Most depth of interest: Final Fantasy X
Most emotional impact: The Last of Us
Either Witcher 3 or Baldurs Gate 3.
There is no such thing as a 'Best Game Ever', but it's Mass Effect 2
Best in the series, imo, the only thing I don't like is these paragon/renegade quicktime events.
I would say that knights of the old republic was better
Honestly just missing the old days of rpg games now, KotOR was the shit
To those downvoting, yall need to be calibrated
FFXIV, but this doesn't mean much because it's dependent on what genres you like.
Most historically significant? Ultima 4, Wizardry 1, Pool of Radiance, Mario 1, Metroid 1, FF4, Chrono Trigger, FF7, Mario 64, Zelda OoT, Counterstrike, Starcraft, Diablo 1, WoW, Cave Story, World of Goo, Minecraft, Skyrim, Dark Souls, Zelda BotW
That list is old school solid. I played every one of those except M64 and Counterstrike. Add a few like Adventure, Rogue, Civ 1&2, Populous, Wing Commander, Star Control 2, King's Quest, Sim City, Katamari Damacy, and Deus Ex. Every one of those titles changed gaming in new ways.
Multiplayer: Quake.
Single Player: Half Life.
The answer to that question depends on your tastes, your current situation (amount of free time, mood, etc...) and many more. There's no such thing as the "best" when it comes to a subjective piece of media.
I can't even decide on my favourite game, because what I like and what I want to play depends on the aforementioned factors. I may be interested in a strong narrative today, on puzzles tomorrow, and on a crazy platformer game next. Different games resonate with me differently depending on when I play them.
Games that really stayed with me are (in no particular order) Xenogears, Metal Gear Solid, CrossCode, Digimon World, Oddworld Abe's Odyssey, Ace Combat 4-6, The Talos Principle, Ori and the Blind Forest, Threads of Fate, and I also spent a crazy amount of hours on Stronghold, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin and Medieval II Total War. There's, like, at least half a dozen different genres in that list and all those games are very different from one another, but all had different qualities that resonated with me for one reason or the other.
I’ll probably get flamed for this, but no game has kept my interest/attention or had been as important to me as Old School RuneScape.
Dark Souls was the one that won that vote that happened a few years ago
Tetris and it isn’t even a contest. Pretty much everyone can learn and enjoy Tetris.
I don't think I have any favorites, there are too many great games to determine the best game, well... VA-11 Hall-A. It's one of the few games that really touched me and affected my emotions deeply. Also, I love this game ost, one of the best game soundtracks ever, imo.
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Bad Rats.
On a more serious note, my personal best of all time would be SimCity 3000.
Soma, TF2, Fallout 2, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Deus Ex, StarCraft: Brood War, Civ 5 would all be in the top 10 (in no particular order).
For me it's tied between Dark Souls (2011) and Universal Paperclips (2017)
I'm taking this topic to be less of "what's the most important video game" (which we already had a long discussion post about recently re: the BAFTA award thing) and more of "what's the best game to just sit down and play right now". In which case, probably Portal 2? I can't think of a much better candidate in terms of being a perfect execution of what it sets out to do with an appeal that can be compelling for absolutely everyone regardless of taste.
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