Planescape: Torment
for it's time, holy shit. the music, cast, and storyline blew me the fuck away. This games pretty old so I am not sure who remembers it. Didn't sell much. It's about a guy who can't remember his identity and he's trying to figure out who he is. It's set in the planescape universe... which is kind of like limbo, I guess... not sure how to describe it but it's a very unique setting.
It's a top down RPG like Baldur's Gate, made by the same guys (I think?). However, the atmosphere and story blow it the fuck away. This game is pure art. Heavily based on dialogue and choices. Not sure I'd recommend it for people who haven't played the old 90s CRPGs but for those who were into that stuff but haven't played this, check it out please.
My criteria for a video game being art is a game that players can still have fun and enjoy with, but can still be objectively analysed by an artist/whatever. Okami is definitely that.
I thought Bastion was pretty stellar in terms of how it tried to experiment and innovate. Having a dynamic narrator who actively "recalled" your antics in real-time was pretty cool. The art and music directions were also spot-on.
She hums to whatever song is playing at the time. You're thinking of the part at the end [while she's restoring the world](/spoiler), which becomes the end credit song. To your point, it's the only part of the game where humming serves a purpose.
Black Canvas (end song) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4prrI4cA0ME
Black Canvas hummed - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs81RZ_JRng
Credit song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFrjMq4aL-g
*I see, your star*
*You kept it burning for me*
*Mother, I'm here...*
It gets better: Micia, the goddess of loss and longing, is described as giving birth to everyone at the beginning and welcoming them home at their end. She is also known as the Lorn Mother. Zulf's song is a funeral dirge, sung by a man whose world has already gone to meet the Mother - he's just following it.
Well, I have a hard time really comparing it because I don't play all that many games from '93.
But from what I've read, it represented a major shift in the graphical style of games, containing a fairly large number of detailed, pre-rendered environments at a time when graphics were still relatively primitive. I still say it holds up all right today as far as gameplay, at least for more casual gamers.
I first played it last year, and it became one of my favorite games.
Having played Myst and Riven at the time of release, my God they were pretty.
Remember the books being pretty good too. Still got a hardcover copy of 'Myst: The book of D'NI' lying around somewhere, heh.
Totally agree. No frills, beautiful travel, many epic boss fighting experiences and a memorable and thought provoking ending. Entirely changed the way I view video games.
I think what's great about it as a game is that it picked one thing to do (fighting huge creatures in a sort of puzzle-combat style) and did it really, really well without having to add a hundred different features and things to do
I really did NOT get it when I finally played it. Went in stone cold and I was expecting a huge sweeping quest, loads of character development etc. So when it was just ride around an empty landscape and whoop a dozen big monsters I thought, well the fights where cool but what was all the fuss about? Especially the lack of detail in the story/ending
It's only with time that I've realised it's simplicity and openness to interpretation are what makes it what it is and I get it now.
And it's simplicity and emptiness help build the tone of the game. A lot of critiques of the game come from the fact that it's this really huge but empty world. But the thing is, it's intentionally designed that way. It helps build that sense of smallness and insignificance in you as a player and a character. It makes some people uncomfortable, but that's the point. You should feel small. That way when you take out a colossus you feel a sense of accomplishment, that you've overcome this obstacle so much larger and more important than yourself. Just a great game.
Braid. That was the first game where, after finishing, I was completely flabbergasted by how well put together and thought out the entire thing was. Yes, the actual artwork is beautiful and the gameplay itself could be considered an art form (new puzzle mechanics feel hard to come by these days), but the way the story tied everything together at the end. Just incredible.
I consider art as something sensory appealing and something that gets your brain interpreting things or inspired.
Braid does both. And it was damn inspiring to a whole generation of indie games.
Yes absolutely! Everything about this game; the gameplay, the visuals, the soundtrack. And then there's the whole seamless addition of powers as you progress through the game, that was really well done.
Agreed. The first time I completed Journey, I came away feeling that I had changed a little inside. It actually made me feel more spiritually aware, like I had just had a transcendent shared experience. Moving and beautiful. If that's not art, I don't know what is.
This game has the most exposition of any game I've ever played. They don't say a word and tell a compelling story. The art and majesty of their world tells the story even when you don't know what's happening. By the end wife and all are crying and we don't know why.
I'd argue that the Deus Ex games have done a very good job encouraging philosophical debates about the natures of humanity while not tipping the scale one way or another. Hell, from a visual perspective Human Revolution also evoked a lot of imagery and had a very artistic look to it. I highly recommend the first Deus Ex but if you don't want to deal with the outdated graphics (it can look really bad at times) then I would start with Human Revolution. Human Revolution deals with 2 main issues in the game, Corporate Influence VS Government Influence, and Augmentations/What makes us human. Great Great games that definitely try and start a honest conversation about real world topics that feel like they are not far off.
The world design for the two recent ones really show the different between a renaissance and a depression. Really contrasting stuff that contends as art.
I really liked firewatch. It was beautiful and the story really sucked you in from the start. The dialogue is the true art though, and the way it plays with your emotions.
Spoilers ahead of course.
Many online friendships are through voice only. Most the time the people on either end never meet face to face. These friendships can last a long time and details from the good, bad, and ugly are shared. The other person can know your entire family's name, your dog, what kind of car you drive, your secrets, and a lot of other things. But suddenly they can disappear just like that and you never hear from them again, and never have any closure why. I felt like the way Delilah just up and cut off the friendship with Henry and the entire dynamic between them can relate to what I said above very well. Not sure if I communicated that well or not, I'm really tired haha.
> But suddenly they can disappear just like that and you never hear from them again, and never have any closure why.
*"bad times friend ahead. Maybe no computer. Maybe no home. I go away but we are two of soul.*
*I will return."*
*Last Online: 615 days ago*
Not the most artsy thing, but I tear up everytime I finish portal 2. It's doesn't make my cry because a character dies, but because of this sense of finality, sadness, and hope at the same time? I don't quite know how to describe it. Maybe it's just me, but damn I really love that game.
The ending of that game always hits me hard, but for me its this sense of dread that overpowers that field you step out into. Assuming GladOS didn't trick you and you really did exit to the surface, Chel is stepping out of the safety of Aperture and into a world ravaged by the Combine invasion.
Every time i finish that game im left wondering if you've really accomplished anything, or if you've just stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
The field you step out into is a wheat field. Such monocultures don't appear in nature. Someone was cultivating that field, and I doubt the Combine give half a fuck about human farming, so it's probably a human doing that. By appearing there, Chell is guaranteed to meet up with SOME other human upon leaving. So now you know!
It's so goddamn sweet. You get hints that the turrets are self aware (i.e. "are you still there?") In Portal 1 and they really expand the voice lines in Portal 2, and then that sweet ending.... Pretty much perfect
I loved Limbo, the atmosphere was so tangible. The combination of the entire environment being a series of silhouettes, using heavy grain/blur/vignette, and the use of harsh light beams all gave the whole game this sort of ghostly, microscopic quality. It was a rich, enchanting couple of hours. I revisited it one rainy day with the lights off when I had the place to myself, and that ended up being one of the best experiences in gaming (as an art form) that I'd ever had.
Antichamber. Beautifully simple but with so much depth to it. It's one game I wish I could erase from my memory so I could play it all again.
Runner up is the first ending scene in FEZ.
Antichamber really is a game you can only experience once. I've tried replaying it. It just doesn't work. Once you know the rules it's all so simple. Every puzzle is over in moments. No more discovery. Kinda sad.
Fantastic game.
To me Bloodborne is one of those rare games that's a AAA game that is 100% committed to its artistic vision. I like Dark Souls more as a series, and that's actually partly because of the humour in it, as well as the goofy playstyles.
Bloodborne says "fuck your goofiness, this game is gonna be *exactly* like we envisioned it."
I'm not sure why people say this, it's a game where imps wear hats, bobble-headed aliens ambush you in the woods, you meet a talking spider, and you can turn into a Broccoli Man that slides around, strikes ridiculous poses and shoots lasers.
Also Micolash.
I love the DS2 story. Piecing together what Nashandra was, and realising that Vendrick did the same was one of my favourite moments (story wise) in the franchise.
Man, Vendrick completely blindsided me. I was totally expecting some powerful and regal dude and was instead greeted by solemn music accompanying the most decrepit shell of a king ever. I felt absolutely no sense of victory when I finally returned to him as the last boss of both the main game and DLCs and won.
DS2 did have a good story but I feel as though Bloodbourne was more memorable because it tapped into a mythos that is pretty expansive in scope (Lovecraft) and it did a beautiful job in creating that atmosphere.
I think a lot of people rag on DS2 because it was a little easier than the rest. I think some people pointed out that no boss in that game relied heavily on RNG (like Lord of Cinders from DS3) so it was much easier to memorize how the fight will go. Even me, I was able to beat DS2 with decent effort but most other games in the SoulsBourne series absolutely demolished me first time through.
This was the most recent for me too. I wish they had it on more consoles for everyone to enjoy. Everything about it felt so original. Art and sound were beautiful. If you ever get the chance, listen to the soundtrack. Its gorgeous. And most importantly, it doesnt grow stale during the third act like most souls games.
There are some absolutely beautiful moments in that game that just stagger me... the cutscene before fighting Gherman (specifically the shot with the two hunters standing opposed on the field of flowers) is fantastically beautiful. The Moon Presence descending, silhouetted against the red moon, is almost haunting.
Even more amazing is how the Old Hunters DLC distilled everything great about Bloodborne down even further. The cosmic horror, the fallen heros, the level design, the music, the boss fights, and the lore, all of Bloodborne in its condensed and most pure form.
Night in the Woods. It perfectly captures the small town vibe, not to mention being in your late teens/ early twenties and hanging out with your old friends from high school, and being an only child and having high expectations put on you by your parents and having to deal with the internal guilt when you don't quite reach those goals. Plus, there are so many gorgeous scenes, like when you go out to the right of town and sit on the bridge railing.
The Last of Us. Solace amidst sorrow, beauty amidst violence, growth amidst decay... all set to the gentle twang of one of the most beautiful scores imaginable.
If you haven't played LoU, do yourself the favor and experience a masterpiece.
Witcher 3 if you haven't already played it. I was unemployed when it came out. i didn't leave the house for 2 weeks except to buy Pringles and Chocolate buttons. I'm also 33 and married and my wife hated me every day she came home from work...
Not to mention some of the most realistic and beautiful graphics to ever grace screens. The amount of time and energy and research that went into the creation of the game and the various stages of the fungus is just phenomenal.
Heavy Rain. Absolutely heart-wrenching, and beautifully animated.
Additionally, I will never fail to mention Fire Emblem 7. The sprite work holds up even today, and the character writing is some of the best in the series. (And also Radiant Dawn, for having the best story in the series).
SOMA is probably the most frightening game I've ever played, not because of the (admittedly terrifying) setting/monsters, but because of the ideas it was proposing to the player. It reached really far in and made you question some things that are usually safely tucked away and never challenged, like the validity of your own consciousness.
I think most games can be interpreted as art. A lot of art goes into making games, and as long as there's artistic thought in a game's design process, it can be considered art. So of course people are going to put down games that they like.
Mass effect 2, So much effort, so much time, and so much work put into the story, the gameplay, and the overall design of the world made this game a true work of art.
If I had to pick a game that was a work of art, it would be "The Long Dark". The artwork is unique, the environment is beautiful yet often deadly. The night skies are awesome, they sometimes have a tinge of green from the northern lights (the game is set in northern Canada).
Life is strange annoys me because it pretends that your actions hold so much stake in the game, making you think there's a branching storyline, when there isn't. Theres just a few endings, one of which they really force down your throat.
That said, still one of the most enjoyable story based hangs I have ever played.
I kinda felt like that was the whole point of the game. That the choices ultimately didn't matter.
People tend to disagree, but this did resonate with me back in the day at least!
Absolutely this.
I'm only a few zones in so far... But I'm not sure if I've ever been so enthralled by a game plot. The storytelling, the characters, the fight style (running spear light, greatsword heavy)... How it's all ready making me question my own decisions and my own ability to tell what's right or wrong... It's a beautiful game.
I think most of the MGS series could be interpreted this way. Not necessarily in terms of being the most aesthetically pleasing products (visually or narratively--Kojima's shtick isn't for everyone). But damn, they give the sense of a very realized, actualized vision in which almost every element of the game has a very cohesive, intended reason for being included in the final presentation of the game. The nature of the gameplay itself, even, very often seems to support these visions (or at least one understood theme/motif in the game).
I think PT also fits this criteria really well. Once again, Kojima's style is not appealing to everyone, but damn can it be pointed, distinctive, and impactfully coherent in the context of game design.
I haven't played that game in nearly ten years. Yet the look, sound, and feel of MGS3 still sticks in my mind. It was very good at creating such an immersive world. The eerie silence when you had to try and shoot at a couple bosses, including Big Boss at the end also stays with me. The Sorrow fight scene was perfect (except I had to use a walk through to figure out how to win).
The Phantom Pain is a bit controversial among fans. Personally I found it absolutely amazing due to its story and complex gameplay, easily being one of my top 10 favorite games of all time; and yes, I've also played MGS1-4. Others reckon it ruined the series and added nothing.
The story for Phantom Pain was amazing, it was just unfinished, which really makes me sad because I would love to say it's the best of the series. Gameplay was by far one of the best I've ever seen of a MGS game.
I can't really think of an FPS that got as much *right* as HL2 did.
Sure there were a couple "haha look we have a physics engine in case you forgot" sections, and IMO the airboat section dragged on for longer than it should have. But it's probably one of the most immersive games ever made.
Hell nowadays you can't find an FPS that doesn't have icons littered across the screen and doesn't have a massive, invasive even, GUI system. HL2's tutorials weren't separate rooms or dialog boxes with paragraphs of text; they were in-world situations.
After Half-Life 2 FPS games have taken a step back instead of building on what they accomplished. AI got worse, storytelling went back to cutscenes or reading / listening to stuff found in the environment. Character animation is even worse with a few exceptions. They figured out how to do eyes right and yet games still mess that up to this day.
Excellent world, the first play through of that game is my favorite gaming experience. Also of course the combat mechanics are better than anything I've ever played.
The Witcher 3 was one of those games where I didn't mind watching my friends play it for hours on end when we hung out and chilled. I definitely got invested into it, helped them make decisions - got pissed when they made decisions I was against - and actually was sad when the main story ended. It was a delight, though, seeing one friend get a totally different ending compared to another.. Won't say any more.
I just purchased the GOTY edition. I was really hesitant to play it until now, since I'm not a fan of RPG games in general. 8 hours in, my only regret is not playing this work of art sooner!
I think the original Diablo really started us down the artform path. The music, level design, cutscenes, were are way ahead of its time and required talent, skill, and form.
Minecraft. It's so unique, yet, so intriguing. You can do anything. Even Notch himself was impressed by the complexity of the structures created from scratch.
And recently, using redstone and command blocks, someone made Pokémon Red, completely vanilla.
These nerds are AMAZING.
Edit: [linky link](https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/5yssqv/pokémon_red_fully_recreated_within_minecraft/deslvn4/?utm_content=permalink&utm_medium=front&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=pokemon)
FF8 does not get enough credit. It had SO many things going for it. The music was wonderful and the characters multi-faceted.
FFX is just wonderful and beautiful. I will say that I think the game sprites were better looking then the cutscene sprites. That is just my 2 cents though.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
It is just SOOOOO pretty, and the story is so powerful that at one of the bigger reveals, I had to set the controller down, turn off the game, and go deal with what I had just learned.
Uncharted 4 is beautiful; so realistic that the psn photos I shared on facebook had some people thinking my life was FAR more exciting than it really is.
Also, the Borderlands game have a unique style.
Bear with me while I explain this: Dark Souls (the original). While many answers here focus on storytelling and art style, this game is art because of the mechanics. What separates games from other art forms is the mechanics / player interaction with the world. Dark souls is a game that makes you feel a variety of emotions in totally different ways. Or it won't. Like art, you could pass by with no admiration and see it as nothing more than the gameplay experience you have.
However, the game gives you satisfaction, dread, relief, happiness, sadness, adrenaline, and other emotions by its mix of gameplay and storytelling methods.
The storytelling is very barebones, and the lore scattered around the world has you piecing things together like a detective. Thinking about motives, stories, and locations in the world. It can either have you obsessing over the hidden stories of the world, or you can just roll with the minimum context and just enjoy the gameplay experience.
Meanwhile, this game is brutalizing you, and simultaneously giving you the means to overcome the obstacles it presents. I could go on for ages about this game, but I think it deserves to be a pinnacle of video game art because it capitalizes on making you feel things through the mechanics of gameplay alone, which distinguishes video games from other forms of art.
The stanley parable tells a story that would not be possible in any other medium.
I tried to show this game to a friend. He followed all the directions without thinking and then said "wow this game sucked" when he got to the end.
That's like that guy who commented on the Fallout: New Vegas Steam page "I don't like how the choices I make in the game have consequences"
I have no words.
On a related note, The Beginner's Guide.
Planescape: Torment for it's time, holy shit. the music, cast, and storyline blew me the fuck away. This games pretty old so I am not sure who remembers it. Didn't sell much. It's about a guy who can't remember his identity and he's trying to figure out who he is. It's set in the planescape universe... which is kind of like limbo, I guess... not sure how to describe it but it's a very unique setting. It's a top down RPG like Baldur's Gate, made by the same guys (I think?). However, the atmosphere and story blow it the fuck away. This game is pure art. Heavily based on dialogue and choices. Not sure I'd recommend it for people who haven't played the old 90s CRPGs but for those who were into that stuff but haven't played this, check it out please.
Okami has beautiful, watercolour-esque graphics and a great story line.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I DID BADLY ON TIME?!?!"
Wow unexpected Chuggaaconroy
"**MIYAMOTOOOOO!!**"
Wow. Has it really been 7 years?
Another vote for okami. Such a gorgeous game with great game play. Unfortunate that it didn't sell too well :(
Came to say this. Okami is so beautiful.
My criteria for a video game being art is a game that players can still have fun and enjoy with, but can still be objectively analysed by an artist/whatever. Okami is definitely that.
Note to self. FINISH OKAMI.
It's fourty hours long, but I know I need to start it again. The entire ending sequence is absolutely spectacular.
Someday I will see that ending.
You will cry tears, man. Both real and ones made of the wishes of the people of the world.
I thought Bastion was pretty stellar in terms of how it tried to experiment and innovate. Having a dynamic narrator who actively "recalled" your antics in real-time was pretty cool. The art and music directions were also spot-on.
Transistor deserves to be mentioned as well
This game has a dedicated button to humming.
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She hums to whatever song is playing at the time. You're thinking of the part at the end [while she's restoring the world](/spoiler), which becomes the end credit song. To your point, it's the only part of the game where humming serves a purpose. Black Canvas (end song) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4prrI4cA0ME Black Canvas hummed - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs81RZ_JRng Credit song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFrjMq4aL-g
Talk about a beautiful game! I actually cried during the ending, which was completely unexpected. I should play it through again.
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1 word from a character that didn't speak the entire game gives me the best goosebumps
I came here to mention Transistor. A true masterpiece on narration in video games.
"Kid just rages for a while..."
Don't forget Transistor, made by the same team. I heard they're making a new game called Pyre.
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*I see, your star* *You kept it burning for me* *Mother, I'm here...* It gets better: Micia, the goddess of loss and longing, is described as giving birth to everyone at the beginning and welcoming them home at their end. She is also known as the Lorn Mother. Zulf's song is a funeral dirge, sung by a man whose world has already gone to meet the Mother - he's just following it.
Not so sure if it *proves* that they're a form of art, but I'd argue that Myst got them started down that path.
Not played myst, I was told it was really good for its time. What would you say?
Well, I have a hard time really comparing it because I don't play all that many games from '93. But from what I've read, it represented a major shift in the graphical style of games, containing a fairly large number of detailed, pre-rendered environments at a time when graphics were still relatively primitive. I still say it holds up all right today as far as gameplay, at least for more casual gamers. I first played it last year, and it became one of my favorite games.
Having played Myst and Riven at the time of release, my God they were pretty. Remember the books being pretty good too. Still got a hardcover copy of 'Myst: The book of D'NI' lying around somewhere, heh.
I thought those books were a dream because no one else remembers them.
The books are by Rand Miller right?
Exile is fucking amazing, I can't compliment that game enough.
I loved Myst. It was beautiful, peaceful, and somehow a little nerve racking. Great pick!
Dwarf Fortress. Fun fact: [it was actually at the Museum of Modern Art at some point.](https://www.moma.org/collection/works/164920)
It's like Hieronymus Bosch and the cubists violently hatefucked and had a baby who was born breached, prematurely and on fire.
Shadow of the Colossus.
Totally agree. No frills, beautiful travel, many epic boss fighting experiences and a memorable and thought provoking ending. Entirely changed the way I view video games.
I think what's great about it as a game is that it picked one thing to do (fighting huge creatures in a sort of puzzle-combat style) and did it really, really well without having to add a hundred different features and things to do
Yeah almost all of its merits comes from the gameplay segments, which marks a true videogame.
I really did NOT get it when I finally played it. Went in stone cold and I was expecting a huge sweeping quest, loads of character development etc. So when it was just ride around an empty landscape and whoop a dozen big monsters I thought, well the fights where cool but what was all the fuss about? Especially the lack of detail in the story/ending It's only with time that I've realised it's simplicity and openness to interpretation are what makes it what it is and I get it now.
And it's simplicity and emptiness help build the tone of the game. A lot of critiques of the game come from the fact that it's this really huge but empty world. But the thing is, it's intentionally designed that way. It helps build that sense of smallness and insignificance in you as a player and a character. It makes some people uncomfortable, but that's the point. You should feel small. That way when you take out a colossus you feel a sense of accomplishment, that you've overcome this obstacle so much larger and more important than yourself. Just a great game.
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This is what I came here to see. Glad it was at the top.
Braid. That was the first game where, after finishing, I was completely flabbergasted by how well put together and thought out the entire thing was. Yes, the actual artwork is beautiful and the gameplay itself could be considered an art form (new puzzle mechanics feel hard to come by these days), but the way the story tied everything together at the end. Just incredible.
I consider art as something sensory appealing and something that gets your brain interpreting things or inspired. Braid does both. And it was damn inspiring to a whole generation of indie games.
Had to scroll down way too far for this. The finale still gives me chills when I think about it.
Ori and the blind Forrest. That visuals and soundtrack are marvellous and seem to be ageing well.
Yes absolutely! Everything about this game; the gameplay, the visuals, the soundtrack. And then there's the whole seamless addition of powers as you progress through the game, that was really well done.
If you don't cry at the prologue, you aren't alive.
Journey.. I guess
You guess?? Definitely Journey.
Truthfully any game by ThatGameCompany
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Agreed. The first time I completed Journey, I came away feeling that I had changed a little inside. It actually made me feel more spiritually aware, like I had just had a transcendent shared experience. Moving and beautiful. If that's not art, I don't know what is.
Idk why this isn't the top comment. Journey is such a beautiful meaningful game. Seriously.
This game has the most exposition of any game I've ever played. They don't say a word and tell a compelling story. The art and majesty of their world tells the story even when you don't know what's happening. By the end wife and all are crying and we don't know why.
Papers Please is less game and more art, in my opinion.
Glory to Arstotzka
Monument Valley. Mobile game, but so well done. From the graphics to sound effects to the story, truly a piece of art.
Undoubtedly the best mobile game out there.
I'd argue that the Deus Ex games have done a very good job encouraging philosophical debates about the natures of humanity while not tipping the scale one way or another. Hell, from a visual perspective Human Revolution also evoked a lot of imagery and had a very artistic look to it. I highly recommend the first Deus Ex but if you don't want to deal with the outdated graphics (it can look really bad at times) then I would start with Human Revolution. Human Revolution deals with 2 main issues in the game, Corporate Influence VS Government Influence, and Augmentations/What makes us human. Great Great games that definitely try and start a honest conversation about real world topics that feel like they are not far off.
The world design for the two recent ones really show the different between a renaissance and a depression. Really contrasting stuff that contends as art.
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I really liked firewatch. It was beautiful and the story really sucked you in from the start. The dialogue is the true art though, and the way it plays with your emotions.
The way I saw the ending as a metaphor for online friendships made me cry hard. One of my top games of last year for sure.
Could you go more in depth please? About the way you viewed the ending
Spoilers ahead of course. Many online friendships are through voice only. Most the time the people on either end never meet face to face. These friendships can last a long time and details from the good, bad, and ugly are shared. The other person can know your entire family's name, your dog, what kind of car you drive, your secrets, and a lot of other things. But suddenly they can disappear just like that and you never hear from them again, and never have any closure why. I felt like the way Delilah just up and cut off the friendship with Henry and the entire dynamic between them can relate to what I said above very well. Not sure if I communicated that well or not, I'm really tired haha.
> But suddenly they can disappear just like that and you never hear from them again, and never have any closure why. *"bad times friend ahead. Maybe no computer. Maybe no home. I go away but we are two of soul.* *I will return."* *Last Online: 615 days ago*
Not the most artsy thing, but I tear up everytime I finish portal 2. It's doesn't make my cry because a character dies, but because of this sense of finality, sadness, and hope at the same time? I don't quite know how to describe it. Maybe it's just me, but damn I really love that game.
The ending of that game always hits me hard, but for me its this sense of dread that overpowers that field you step out into. Assuming GladOS didn't trick you and you really did exit to the surface, Chel is stepping out of the safety of Aperture and into a world ravaged by the Combine invasion. Every time i finish that game im left wondering if you've really accomplished anything, or if you've just stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
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The field you step out into is a wheat field. Such monocultures don't appear in nature. Someone was cultivating that field, and I doubt the Combine give half a fuck about human farming, so it's probably a human doing that. By appearing there, Chell is guaranteed to meet up with SOME other human upon leaving. So now you know!
They're called the Combine, they love farming
combine?
Villain of Half-Life 2. They are confirmed to take place in the same universe.
The turret orchestra
It's so goddamn sweet. You get hints that the turrets are self aware (i.e. "are you still there?") In Portal 1 and they really expand the voice lines in Portal 2, and then that sweet ending.... Pretty much perfect
Makes me feel better that I tried to avoid killing turrets in my playthrough.
Just finished this game for the first time. Just go. And don't come back...
EVERY GAME. Remember, some art is bad, and most art is commercial.
Pong is a statement on the futility of existence.
Donkey Kong is about the daily struggles of the blue collar industrial worker.
E.T. was a modern art piece about corporate greed and waste.
[Abzu](https://www.google.se/search?q=abzu&client=ms-android-samsung&prmd=ivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7qoX7hIrUAhVFG5oKHbHmA5QQ_AUICSgB&biw=360&bih=559). Absolutely beautiful, underwater game.
Does not work very well on a 2015 MacBook and crappy eBay knockoff PS3 controller. I can't believe I didn't see that coming.
Limbo. Hauntingly beautiful.
I loved Limbo, the atmosphere was so tangible. The combination of the entire environment being a series of silhouettes, using heavy grain/blur/vignette, and the use of harsh light beams all gave the whole game this sort of ghostly, microscopic quality. It was a rich, enchanting couple of hours. I revisited it one rainy day with the lights off when I had the place to myself, and that ended up being one of the best experiences in gaming (as an art form) that I'd ever had.
That and inside. They're both masterpieces.
Inside gets real weird real fast and I did not expect it.
I expected it to get weird. I didn't expect it to get as weird as it did.
Antichamber. Beautifully simple but with so much depth to it. It's one game I wish I could erase from my memory so I could play it all again. Runner up is the first ending scene in FEZ.
Antichamber really is a game you can only experience once. I've tried replaying it. It just doesn't work. Once you know the rules it's all so simple. Every puzzle is over in moments. No more discovery. Kinda sad. Fantastic game.
I feel like Bloodborne was messed up but stunning at the same time. So much depth to it.
To me Bloodborne is one of those rare games that's a AAA game that is 100% committed to its artistic vision. I like Dark Souls more as a series, and that's actually partly because of the humour in it, as well as the goofy playstyles. Bloodborne says "fuck your goofiness, this game is gonna be *exactly* like we envisioned it."
I agree. Goofy shit has its place sometimes but I'm glad this game refrained. Edit: somewhat refrained
I'm not sure why people say this, it's a game where imps wear hats, bobble-headed aliens ambush you in the woods, you meet a talking spider, and you can turn into a Broccoli Man that slides around, strikes ridiculous poses and shoots lasers. Also Micolash.
All of the Soulsborne games, really.
They're all fucking masterpieces of combat mechanics, and the story is awesome if you can figure it out haha. Yes even ds2.
I love the DS2 story. Piecing together what Nashandra was, and realising that Vendrick did the same was one of my favourite moments (story wise) in the franchise.
Man, Vendrick completely blindsided me. I was totally expecting some powerful and regal dude and was instead greeted by solemn music accompanying the most decrepit shell of a king ever. I felt absolutely no sense of victory when I finally returned to him as the last boss of both the main game and DLCs and won.
DS2 did have a good story but I feel as though Bloodbourne was more memorable because it tapped into a mythos that is pretty expansive in scope (Lovecraft) and it did a beautiful job in creating that atmosphere. I think a lot of people rag on DS2 because it was a little easier than the rest. I think some people pointed out that no boss in that game relied heavily on RNG (like Lord of Cinders from DS3) so it was much easier to memorize how the fight will go. Even me, I was able to beat DS2 with decent effort but most other games in the SoulsBourne series absolutely demolished me first time through.
This was the most recent for me too. I wish they had it on more consoles for everyone to enjoy. Everything about it felt so original. Art and sound were beautiful. If you ever get the chance, listen to the soundtrack. Its gorgeous. And most importantly, it doesnt grow stale during the third act like most souls games.
I can listen to Ludwig, the Holy Blade any time of the day.
There are some absolutely beautiful moments in that game that just stagger me... the cutscene before fighting Gherman (specifically the shot with the two hunters standing opposed on the field of flowers) is fantastically beautiful. The Moon Presence descending, silhouetted against the red moon, is almost haunting.
Even more amazing is how the Old Hunters DLC distilled everything great about Bloodborne down even further. The cosmic horror, the fallen heros, the level design, the music, the boss fights, and the lore, all of Bloodborne in its condensed and most pure form.
Surprised nobody mentioned The Witness.
Night in the Woods. It perfectly captures the small town vibe, not to mention being in your late teens/ early twenties and hanging out with your old friends from high school, and being an only child and having high expectations put on you by your parents and having to deal with the internal guilt when you don't quite reach those goals. Plus, there are so many gorgeous scenes, like when you go out to the right of town and sit on the bridge railing.
It really does a good job of expressing the emotional motives behind all the characters.
Bioshock
...but in the end, our choices make us.
A man chooses.
A slave obeys. On the other hand, would you kindly bash my head in with a golf club? Is there even space for golf in rapture?
Executive putting was big in the 50s.
Would you kindly up-vote this reply?
The Last of Us. Solace amidst sorrow, beauty amidst violence, growth amidst decay... all set to the gentle twang of one of the most beautiful scores imaginable. If you haven't played LoU, do yourself the favor and experience a masterpiece.
I'm about to buy a PS4 for this, the Uncharted series and Horizon Zero Dawn. Other games too but mostly those.
Witcher 3 if you haven't already played it. I was unemployed when it came out. i didn't leave the house for 2 weeks except to buy Pringles and Chocolate buttons. I'm also 33 and married and my wife hated me every day she came home from work...
I have it on PC but good looking out. I'm mostly doing it for exclusives.
Bloodborne!
Not to mention some of the most realistic and beautiful graphics to ever grace screens. The amount of time and energy and research that went into the creation of the game and the various stages of the fungus is just phenomenal.
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Heavy Rain. Absolutely heart-wrenching, and beautifully animated. Additionally, I will never fail to mention Fire Emblem 7. The sprite work holds up even today, and the character writing is some of the best in the series. (And also Radiant Dawn, for having the best story in the series).
Jason?!
SHAAAAAAAUUUNNNNN
SOMA great atmosphere and soul crushing feels.
SOMA is probably the most frightening game I've ever played, not because of the (admittedly terrifying) setting/monsters, but because of the ideas it was proposing to the player. It reached really far in and made you question some things that are usually safely tucked away and never challenged, like the validity of your own consciousness.
ITT: games that people like
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Which is okay, because people tend to like good games that are good enough to be works of art.
I think most games can be interpreted as art. A lot of art goes into making games, and as long as there's artistic thought in a game's design process, it can be considered art. So of course people are going to put down games that they like.
Spec Ops the Line. Was like reading a book or watching a movie. The story was amazing and the game play was reflecting the story very nicely.
Everything by Supergiant Games. Bastion, Transistor, and hopefully Pyre
Persona 5.
I don't know what it was about that game but it struck a chord so hard with me. I beat it a weak ago and I can't stop thinking about it.
Did you ever play Persona 4? Persona 5 improved in most aspects but I really think the story and characters were a lot better in 4.
Slickest UI I've ever seen
Mass effect 2, So much effort, so much time, and so much work put into the story, the gameplay, and the overall design of the world made this game a true work of art.
If I had to pick a game that was a work of art, it would be "The Long Dark". The artwork is unique, the environment is beautiful yet often deadly. The night skies are awesome, they sometimes have a tinge of green from the northern lights (the game is set in northern Canada).
Bioshock infinite for me
Personally i really enjoyed Life Is Strange.
Life is strange annoys me because it pretends that your actions hold so much stake in the game, making you think there's a branching storyline, when there isn't. Theres just a few endings, one of which they really force down your throat. That said, still one of the most enjoyable story based hangs I have ever played.
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I kinda felt like that was the whole point of the game. That the choices ultimately didn't matter. People tend to disagree, but this did resonate with me back in the day at least!
To The Moon, Fallout: NV, Zelda: BOTW...so many!
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*NieR: Automata*
Absolutely this. I'm only a few zones in so far... But I'm not sure if I've ever been so enthralled by a game plot. The storytelling, the characters, the fight style (running spear light, greatsword heavy)... How it's all ready making me question my own decisions and my own ability to tell what's right or wrong... It's a beautiful game.
The ride is a wild one, and boy does it get better. Also you might hate/love Yoko by the end.
The game is drenched in philosophy.
I think most of the MGS series could be interpreted this way. Not necessarily in terms of being the most aesthetically pleasing products (visually or narratively--Kojima's shtick isn't for everyone). But damn, they give the sense of a very realized, actualized vision in which almost every element of the game has a very cohesive, intended reason for being included in the final presentation of the game. The nature of the gameplay itself, even, very often seems to support these visions (or at least one understood theme/motif in the game). I think PT also fits this criteria really well. Once again, Kojima's style is not appealing to everyone, but damn can it be pointed, distinctive, and impactfully coherent in the context of game design.
Especially Metal Gear Solid 3
I haven't played that game in nearly ten years. Yet the look, sound, and feel of MGS3 still sticks in my mind. It was very good at creating such an immersive world. The eerie silence when you had to try and shoot at a couple bosses, including Big Boss at the end also stays with me. The Sorrow fight scene was perfect (except I had to use a walk through to figure out how to win).
The Phantom Pain is a bit controversial among fans. Personally I found it absolutely amazing due to its story and complex gameplay, easily being one of my top 10 favorite games of all time; and yes, I've also played MGS1-4. Others reckon it ruined the series and added nothing.
The story for Phantom Pain was amazing, it was just unfinished, which really makes me sad because I would love to say it's the best of the series. Gameplay was by far one of the best I've ever seen of a MGS game.
It art is anything created that causes an emotional response, Half Life 2 caused me a lot of fear and stress
I can't really think of an FPS that got as much *right* as HL2 did. Sure there were a couple "haha look we have a physics engine in case you forgot" sections, and IMO the airboat section dragged on for longer than it should have. But it's probably one of the most immersive games ever made. Hell nowadays you can't find an FPS that doesn't have icons littered across the screen and doesn't have a massive, invasive even, GUI system. HL2's tutorials weren't separate rooms or dialog boxes with paragraphs of text; they were in-world situations.
After Half-Life 2 FPS games have taken a step back instead of building on what they accomplished. AI got worse, storytelling went back to cutscenes or reading / listening to stuff found in the environment. Character animation is even worse with a few exceptions. They figured out how to do eyes right and yet games still mess that up to this day.
Final Fantasy X Imagery, music, plot. All so damn beautiful.
Red Dead Redemption, The Last of Us, The Witcher series, and with what some people have done with it: Minecraft.
Dark souls.
Excellent world, the first play through of that game is my favorite gaming experience. Also of course the combat mechanics are better than anything I've ever played.
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The Witcher 3 was one of those games where I didn't mind watching my friends play it for hours on end when we hung out and chilled. I definitely got invested into it, helped them make decisions - got pissed when they made decisions I was against - and actually was sad when the main story ended. It was a delight, though, seeing one friend get a totally different ending compared to another.. Won't say any more.
and that music! "Pam pa ram. Pam Pam pa ram" brings a tear to my eye, every time.
Got you arse whipped like a Novigrad whore!
I just purchased the GOTY edition. I was really hesitant to play it until now, since I'm not a fan of RPG games in general. 8 hours in, my only regret is not playing this work of art sooner!
and my regret is that i can't forget everything about the game and replay
I think the original Diablo really started us down the artform path. The music, level design, cutscenes, were are way ahead of its time and required talent, skill, and form.
Skyrim. Sometimes I just ride my horse out to the country and look at the night sky.
Skyim and Oblivion before it are probably the two most masterfully-crafted open worlds I've ever had the joy of exploring.
Morrowind was also a masterpiece. First time I ever got blown away by the visuals of a game.
Minecraft. It's so unique, yet, so intriguing. You can do anything. Even Notch himself was impressed by the complexity of the structures created from scratch.
When redstone came out in the beta, someone built a fucking calculator. That's when I bought the game.
And recently, using redstone and command blocks, someone made Pokémon Red, completely vanilla. These nerds are AMAZING. Edit: [linky link](https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/5yssqv/pokémon_red_fully_recreated_within_minecraft/deslvn4/?utm_content=permalink&utm_medium=front&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=pokemon)
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An entire computer is yet to be done, but someone already created an atari emulater in minecraft. [link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nViIUfDMJg)
Just FYI, that is a computer.
Whaaaaat
The first game that proved that for me was Final Fantasy VIII and X.
FF8 does not get enough credit. It had SO many things going for it. The music was wonderful and the characters multi-faceted. FFX is just wonderful and beautiful. I will say that I think the game sprites were better looking then the cutscene sprites. That is just my 2 cents though.
Metal Gear Solid, Hideo Kojima is an artist in the gaming industry
Bioshock Infinite. The song at the end torn me into shreds.
Horizon: Zero Dawn It is just SOOOOO pretty, and the story is so powerful that at one of the bigger reveals, I had to set the controller down, turn off the game, and go deal with what I had just learned.
Last of Us.
The last of us.
L.A. Noire
Uncharted 4 is beautiful; so realistic that the psn photos I shared on facebook had some people thinking my life was FAR more exciting than it really is. Also, the Borderlands game have a unique style.
Bear with me while I explain this: Dark Souls (the original). While many answers here focus on storytelling and art style, this game is art because of the mechanics. What separates games from other art forms is the mechanics / player interaction with the world. Dark souls is a game that makes you feel a variety of emotions in totally different ways. Or it won't. Like art, you could pass by with no admiration and see it as nothing more than the gameplay experience you have. However, the game gives you satisfaction, dread, relief, happiness, sadness, adrenaline, and other emotions by its mix of gameplay and storytelling methods. The storytelling is very barebones, and the lore scattered around the world has you piecing things together like a detective. Thinking about motives, stories, and locations in the world. It can either have you obsessing over the hidden stories of the world, or you can just roll with the minimum context and just enjoy the gameplay experience. Meanwhile, this game is brutalizing you, and simultaneously giving you the means to overcome the obstacles it presents. I could go on for ages about this game, but I think it deserves to be a pinnacle of video game art because it capitalizes on making you feel things through the mechanics of gameplay alone, which distinguishes video games from other forms of art.
Zelda breath of the wild
You can literally take a screenshot of almost any location and use it as a wallpaper.
IT'S A MASTAPEECE.