What do you think is the OBJECTIVELY best designed game of all time?

[BasilABST]

I'm not asking for your favorite game here, that is an important distinction! I'm curious to know what you think is the objectively, regardless of your personal preferences, most competently and best designed videogame ever.

I personally think that Super Mario Bros. 1 is a great candidate, or maybe Doom(/Wolfenstein 3D?? Not sure which one to pick). These are games that have completely defined their genres, to the point where anything made later needs to iterate and evolve upon what they have cemented in a non-insignificant way. I'd reckon you cannot truly change the things that they put in place in a super fundamental way without deviating from the genre itself.

So whaddya think? Got any more candidates? And why these games?

[BlazingCobaltX]

Wii Sports, for the simple fact that it was so intuitive it got my entire non-technologically savvy family to play bowling at gatherings. Sure, Super Mario Bros also had this effect, but it still required the mastery over some buttons. With Wii Sports being a movement-first game it even took away that hurdle.

[Dequake]

I have a few contenders. One of the main ones, Half Life! And Half Life 2, and Portal 1 and 2. Basically any single player experience Valve has ever released. Sure, they've got some little pop-ups that inform a new player on how to move, shoot, interact etc. But that's just covering the basics to play. Valve has in some incredible fashion figured out the optimal way to simultaneously never put the player in a fully fleshed out tutorial, while making the gameplay of the entire story be like a tutorial in and of itself. Everything taught is organic, using clever visual cues. They rely on a player's intelligence, they respect it. Even absolutely new players are still smart enough to figure things out, and they knew that. People aren't dumb.

Following the theme of action games, Deus Ex is a big one for me. Mainly because I feel it understood the elements of statistical RPG it derived from its TTRPG predecessors, and adapted it into an action game in a way few games can truly rival. It understood the meaning of choice, more than most Action RPGs after. A lot of developers mirror the issue of TTRPG designers of yore (and present), which is a fear of bringing real consequence to a player. Terrified, even. So in an RPG, where your choices in character creation should matter significantly, instead you're in a situation where I could spec into strength to bust down this door, or persuasion to convince the guards to let me in, or sneak to...you get it. But since the developers fear that some players, usually newcomers to the genre, might irreversibly fuck up their character by specing too broadly or some other issue (which wouldn't be a problem in the first place if the developers just understood how to teach players fundamental game mechanics and choice), they'd be stuck. So what's the bandaid solution? Put a door there. Make the door accessible, but make it a little more inconvenient to access. So what happens now? You have a new player, who is presented with an interesting option for progression, but because of poor explanation from the developers now lack the tools to progress the fast or cool way, and instead must be annoyed that they take the boring, obtuse route. Repeat ad naseum until the player quits, or starts a new playthrough. Deus Ex never had this problem for me, even when I was feeling very lost having not played many retro RPGs before. The game is quick to teach you that there are increasingly many options to problem solve, not just limited by statistics and numbers (i.e. do you have the skills to destroy this door?) but also creative use of environment (broad open maps with several entry points whose only limiting factor is ones own creativity, exploration and mechanical skill) and the tools at your disposal (instead of specing in strength, just bring a rocket launcher). The game is built to be modular, dynamically finding new interesting locks to keys you were already carrying. No skill is useless, every path is interesting, etc etc.

[TheFrugalGamer]

 My vote would be for Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which I've long held is one of the greatest games ever made. It made the transition into 3D so well, even though it's not perfect.

@Dequake your points about Deus Ex are good ones. It's very difficult to guide players without patronizing them, and I admire developers who are able to hit that sweet spot well.

[torquuato]

my vote definitely goes to terraria! terraria is so beautifully simple yet so utterly complex. terraria is a full platformer, an RPG, a builder, a looter, and a boss-rush game all at once, and all of the mentioned systems are well done in my opinion. the progression is pretty epic asw i love that the world reacts to how far you've advanced, enemies get harder, new biomes unlock, and the game restructures itself around you without ever needing to hold your hand/blast a tutorial at ya. idk it just feels like THE ultimate game sometimes. for instance i LOVE building in terraria, its so well implemented with so many amazing things you can do with the system, whereas my friend just LOVES exploring and fighting and will just make an NPC prison and move on. my point is that there is something there for basically everyone who gives it a shot. i would say minecraft maybe but it just doesnt offer as much as terraria does imo.

and then my other answer is cruelty squad maybe     

[Zero Kirby]

TUNIC is a game that shot pretty far up into my list of great games almost right from the word go, just because of how utterly satisfying not only mastery of the game's mechanics feels but, also how solving the puzzle that is everything in the game feels. I actually went to the trouble of translating the in-game language on my own, fully, and then translating the entire manual from there, even though it's not really necessary by then, just because it was so engaging. And while I'd say Outer Wilds, another excellently designed game, has probably a better overall puzzle to solve that's more satisfying to complete, it suffers from not really being replayable, while TUNIC lets you take all the knowledge from your first, blind playthrough into a second playthrough and break the entire structure of the game over your knee to create a completely different experience.

While I'd say it isn't the peak of anything it does, from combat to traversal to puzzles, it executes everything so well with an excellent throughline that it easily exceeds the sum of its parts. So I think that puts it into the running for "best designed game" for me.

[stellarfieldanomaly]

I think the beginning and end of this conversation is Tetris. I think it is as close to conceptual perfection and absolute minimum viable game complexity as we are likely to see.

That aside, if were talking more modern games, I think Katamari Damacy is a strong contender. Esoteric presentation, extremely focused and satisfying mechanics. Katamari, like tetris, feels like a refinement to the bare essentials for its vision.

Possibly controversial, but I think Cruelty Squad exhibits a really exceptional singularity of purpose. Every single design choice is laser focused on a vision of misery that I find awe inspiring.

If we're only considering gameplay systems, I think Metal Gear Solid V's combat sandbox is unmatched. Some of the rest of the game is unfinished or poorly executed, but the moment to moment gameplay is sublime.

I do agree with @Dequake Portal 1 is very close to conceptually perfect, I think Portal 2 is exceptional but I think it's a bit looser overall.

[virtualpet2001]

OBJECTIVELY is a tall order but I think Rain World does a very good job at inviting exploration using very little direction or dialogue. the gameplay loop and the way it controls really make you FEEL like the little creature you are playing as. also the procedural animation is just gorgeous and very fun to look at. love rain world.

i feel like the other side of the spectrum is Fractal Block World which is extremely honest about all the knowledge you would want to know. the game will straight up tell you where secrets are located and where the best grinding spots are and so on. however these things still arent handed to you as you have to FIND specific structures before you can get this information... its so outside of the typical conventions of video games and yet it is extremely well made. wow!