I’m curious what you guys have to say about this. Are there any games you consider perfect? Can a game even be perfect?
My example of a perfect game is always Portal 1. Portal 2 has more going on, but in 1 there just isn’t anything to shave off. From start to end, there is nothing I’d change about the game. It’s short, infinitely replayable, great pacing. I like Portal 2 a lot in concept, in concept it should be a perfect sequel, but it just doesn’t keep the extreme tightness of the original game.
It’s ironic, because the first place my brain goes with the prompt “perfect game” is Hades. In terms of what it sets out to be, the combat, the gameplay loop, the art, the story, writing, voice acting, music, the game doesn’t miss a mark.
However, I wouldn’t say it’s the greatest game I’ve ever played. Often times the great ones have flaws, sometimes deep ones, but that’s part of the nature of pushing limits. It’s rare to do something novel and untested in a medium and also do it perfectly.
I think that’s a great way to explain my feelings on it. Portal isn’t my favorite game of all time. I actually enjoy Portal 2 quite a bit more, it’s a richer and deeper game that gave us Cave Johnson and many other things that define the series. Portal 2 does things wrong because it ultimately does more. Portal 1 is just a perfectly concise slice of that universe.
I don’t know if I agree that it’s perfect for one reason: the difficulty curve is weird. It does a great job of easing you in as you’re learning the game through the thoughtful upgrade systems and by slowly unfolding the stories each run. But once you win the first time, the skills you’ve learned coupled with the big Darkness payoff can make future runs much, much easier.
Obviously the Heat levels are supposed to counteract this, but if you increase by one heat per run per weapon to collect all of the boss rewards, some players might not be challenged again for dozens of runs until the Heat modifiers start making a difference.
Also the game won’t give me void fish to fill out the codex
Most roguelites are like that tbh, except some older ones like Nuclear Throne from the days before permanent progress got really integrated into the genre.
I personally don’t really consider it a flaw so much as a shift, because once you hit that point you have the tools and more freedom to branch out and try less optimized builds because they’re fun.
