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[geary]

Alright GAF, I want to dig into something I think we often take for granted: what actually matters most to us in a video game?

Every big release is scrutinized for its graphics, story, animation, combat system, quest design, you name it. But when you really think about it — when you break down why a game sticks with you for years or ends up in your personal "best of all time" list — which parts of the experience matter the most?

I've set up a poll below with (hopefully) all the major components that make up a modern game. Select the 5 elements that matter most to you in defining a great game. Then, in your reply, tell us which games you think excel in those 5 elements, and why.

I'm genuinely curious if certain things (like world design or game systems) are universally important to most of us… or if it's wildly varied based on genre preference and taste.
Also — let's challenge each other here: if someone thinks story is overrated, say it. If you think animation is underappreciated, bring the receipts. No sacred cows.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

My top five most important elements

1. Funded By Sony

2. Exclusive to PlayStation

3. Third Person Camera

4. Cinematic

5. Lots of trees

 

[GymWolf]

Not in order:

Challenge for the whole game, not just the first 10 hours, i don't really care for power fantasies unless i'm on a rare mood for that.

Interesting lore or characters or plot, games where you wander aimlessly just killing stuff must have god tier combat\other aspects to keep my interest for long time.

-combat feeling, hit reactions, marks on enemies, gore, weighty ragdoll, precedural death animations, meaty feeling, sound design, animations, you can have the best mechanics but if your combat feel weightless and every kill look samey i'm not gonna enjoy it, i also hate weightless movements, i like heavy feeling games with characters that don't skate on the ground.

Great sense of progression and rewards for exploration, self explanatory.

Enemy quality (look, number of moves, lore, how fun they are to fight), many people seems to not give a fuck but high enemy quality make the whole game better.

I'm a sucker for good traversal mechanics (no driving), roaming around an open world with fun, fast, skill based traversal skills add a lot to my enjoyment (probably why i love the infamous games or even managed to enjoy stuff like forspoken)

 

[Humdinger]

I named narrative/story, combat, exploration, game design, and difficulty. Writing/dialog and characters are very important to me, too, but I consider them a subset of story/narrative and didn't want to take up 3/5 slots with the same idea.

 

[PeteBull]

Voted for 5:
Animations
Characters
World Design
Game Design
Combat system

Ofc there is many more things that help/make game top notch but very hard for game to be amazing in my eyes w/o those 5 i listed. altho there are exceptions that confirm the rule( 0 combat of any kind in Animal Crossing and it sold over 47m units after all - 2nd most sold switch game ffs ;p )

 

[Shubh_C63]

For me, Writing/Dialogue paired with a nice art direction is able to ignore stale game mechanics/combat.
Good writing/dialogues takes care of Quests, World building, characters and voice acting.

Unless the game is Valheim. Where Game design is supreme.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Narrative
Characters
Music / Soundtrack
Sound Design
Combat System

 

[hemo memo]

My top five most important elements

1. Funded By Sony

2. Exclusive to PlayStation (Also on PC)

3. Third Person Camera

4. Cinematic

5. Lots of trees

Ftfy

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Ftfy

 

[JohnSpartanLee]

Combat System
Longevity
Challenge
Level Design
Art Style

 

[Plies]

Atmosphere
Characters
Lore
Writing
Sound design
Soundtrack
Game mechanics
Innovation
Level design
Art direction
Plot scenario
Boss battles

Yeah, I can't choose only 5. Sorry.

 

[PlayStaytion]

Great story/ narrative are the symptom, not the cause. Happens as a result of great gameplay, level design, characters.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

Fun

 

[kunonabi]

I based my picks off my favorite game of all time, Revelations: Persona, and ended up with narrative, game mechanics, art direction, music, and challenge. It ticks a couple more boxes but these seemed the most important.

 

[StueyDuck]

gameplay
game design/ world design
meaningful exploration (whether linear or open world)
trying something new/different
showing your passion in your work (this one is missing from most AAA western games)