My Perfect Game.

    Is there a perfect game? I have heard from quite a few gamers that there is no perfect game but there are 10/10 or masterpieces. What they mean is that there are no games without any flaws but they have either set the standard for future games (Dark Souls, Halo, Mass Effect, etc) or those games with their worlds, stories, and gameplay leave gamers with everlasting memories. When I play games, I'm looking for those memorable moments. I honestly don't care if my favorite games are setting standards for future games as long as I'm having a great time with them. Franchises like Mario, Grand Theft Auto, and The Legend of Zelda have given blueprints to many games in the past and today. However, I don't really like those games at all. I appreciate what they have done for gaming, but they never clicked with me. Yes, there are indeed some groundbreaking gaming franchises like Halo, The Witcher, and Batman Arkham Series that are very dear to me, but they didn't become my favorites because I knew they had or were going to set a trend for upcoming games.

    I do agree there is no perfect game. I doubt there ever could be a perfect game but I can give an example of what a perfect game for me would look like. Before we do that, I'm going to list my top ten games and what I like about them. I will take some of the qualities and features from each of those games that I enjoyed and try to build a perfect game with them.

- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - the sword-fighting combat and epic showdown with the bosses.

- Red Dead Redemption 2 - the beautiful scenery, enjoying the horse ride, and all the tiny little details.

- Resident Evil 2 - a handsome protagonist and his progress in the game.

- Spider-Man - free-flowing movement/combat and humor.

- God of War - the chemistry between two main protagonists.

- Middle Earth: Shadow of War - recruiting an army by turning your enemies into allies and building fortresses.

- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - importance of side quests, the satisfaction of completing the journey, epic storytelling, and the scene and the atmosphere during the final boss fight.

- Batman Arkham City - epic intro, history among the characters, and being the ultimate superhero.

- Elden Ring - the lore, feeling of being lost, and overcoming powerful enemies.

- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - the puzzles and the traversal.

    A quick note: Most of the games above actually share quite a few similar qualities and features. I'm not saying that I only enjoyed puzzles in Star Wars Jedi and didn't like the puzzles in Resident Evil 2 and /or  Batman Arkham City. I'm also not stating that Red Dead Redemption 2 is the only game that offers a good horse ride. And I'm certainly not saying that The Witcher 3 is the only game with a good story. All of those games have good to great stories. I was just trying to highlight the main features I would want in my perfect game.

    So in my perfect game, I would want my game to offer puzzles mainly like the ones from Star Wars Jedi. I'm not big on puzzles, but using your superpowers and abilities to solve puzzles in Fallen Order was pretty dope.

    The Witcher 3, God of War, and Spider-Man all offer great scenery and beautiful views. However, in my opinion, Red Dead Redemption 2 offers the best scenery in all of gaming. I haven't played Horizon Forbidden West yet, but according to a lot of gamers, it has surpassed RDR2 in terms of beautiful scenery and overall graphics. So if my game offers graphics like RDR2 or Horizon, that would be great.

    I would want the protagonist to look as good as Leon S Kennedy from Resident Evil 2. Cal Kestis from Star Wars Jedi does have good looks. So does Talion from Shadow of War and Geralt from The Witcher 3. However, I find Leon the best among all of them.

    As per writing for my perfect game, it doesn’t matter what game the developer chooses from the list above to write the story and the dialogues as long as the writing is as good as it was in those games, I will be more than happy with it. If the developers don't like the writing of the games from the list above, then I wouldn't mind if they decide to write stories and dialogues similar to games like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Halo: Combat Evolved, Rise of the Tomb Raider, The Last of Us, Uncharted, or other great narrative games. There are so many great video game writers out there and we should appreciate all that they have done for the gaming community.

    By looking at my list above, you get the idea of what kind of a game would be my perfect game. However, I'm going to elaborate on a couple of things to make it clear what needs to be included in my perfect game.

    First of all, gameplay is king and I adore excellent sword fights. I enjoy taking down multiple enemies, wild beasts, monsters, and ghosts with my sword, magic, and superpowers. The movement would need to be smooth and free-flowing, and when you win a fight, you get an excellent animation for the finish. Sekiro does all that really well, and in my opinion, offers the best combat for all games involving swords. For the final boss fight, I would want it to be an old-school - one on one sword fight between the protagonist and the antagonist. No use of magic or superpowers. Just fight until the best swordsman win. 

    Story-driven games or to be honest any game with level-up systems end up being tedious for me. I don't like being forced to play side quests (especially the boring ones) or repeat the previous quests to level up. I just want to complete one main quest and move on to the next one. In Batman Arkham City, Spider-Man, God of War, and RDR2, you are not forced to do any of the sides quests to complete the main campaign. I would do the side quests if I want to. The Witcher 3 is my top three game of all time. I also believe that Witcher 3 besides Skyrim, offers some of the greatest side quests among all the games, as I enjoyed pretty much the majority of the side quests in it. I like how those side quests are connected to the main story. But then again, I shouldn't have to play them in order to beat the main story. Gamers shouldn't be forced to complete an X amount of side quests in order to progress in the game. Yes, I do want to have some side quests in the game and If I do intend to play them, I would want those side quests to have meaning. I wouldn't want a side quest to just go kill this person and you will get some currency or reward, or go pick this person up from point A and escort him/her to point B.

    Also, story-driven games are supposed to have cutscenes. However, if the cutscenes are too long, like three-plus minutes long, it gets annoying for me. I don't mind a long lengthy cutscene at the beginning and at the end of the game, but can't stand long unnecessary cinematics in the middle of a game. If there are going to be several long cutscenes, I'm just going to not continue the game. There is an audience for Metal Gear and Death Stranding games, but I would rather watch a movie or a show than play those games. You are supposed to play games, not spend half of your gaming time on watching beautiful cinematics.

    Finally, for my perfect game, I want the journey from start to finish to be a memorable one. My journeys in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Elden Ring, Shadow of War, RDR2, and especially The Witcher 3, all felt so satisfying that I wish I could experience them all over. There are so many games that once you beat them, you are just like 'meh, at least it was fun.' That feels like a waste of time if the game is twenty hours long with an unforgettable journey. Elden Ring was the last game where I felt satisfied with the overall journey. I'm looking forward to Star Wars Jedi: Survivor to bring that satisfaction back. Just another quick note: Currently, I'm playing Resident Evil 4 Remake. This is my first time experiencing the story, and so far I have completed five chapters. I'm really enjoying the journey and the gameplay.

    So there you have it! My perfect game is going to be an open-world game with excellent sword-fighting combat, added with some superpowers and/or magic. There will be no level-up system to progress the story. No lengthy cut-scenes in the middle of the game. Finally, the main story will take no longer than twenty-five hours to complete.