Whether or not video games are art is a debate that's been ongoing since the conception of the genre. While some cast a wide net and believe that anything requiring skill and ion eliciting an emotional response is art, others try to pinpoint specific criteria to draw a line.
As the medium has grown and matured, there's little doubt that it deserves its place among music and film as artistic endeavors worthy of respect. The specific games that best represent artistry are varied, and several Redditors have attempted to explain why their favorites deserve classification as art. Some use traditional forms like visuals and music, some bring new elements to the table, and others combine both to create experiences not possible in any other creative outlet.
Ori and the Blind Forest
Many players classify Ori and the Blind Forest as a Metroidvania, but it abandons many common elements of the genre. While there is combat and the game is often challenging, it's a slower game that encourages players to take time with puzzles and take in the beautiful, colorful environments.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps, has also garnered significant critical and commercial acclaim.
The Stanley Parable
While the definition of art is subjective, notable works often have a message. Whether those works are in music, film, or video games, a popular narrative frame is a metacommentary of the artistic medium or creative process itself.
With this in mind, LimerickVaria mentions The Stanley Parable, noting it as an effective "...deconstruction of storytelling." The game can be difficult to describe without ruining its strongest narrative and gameplay surprises, but it engages the player with questions about narratives in ways few other experiences can.
Shadow of the Colossus
Many games attempt to express a sense of scale, making the player feel massively large or inconsequentially small. Shadow of the Colossus does the latter, pitting the human protagonist against massive stone beasts. More than just running around them, these characters become living environments that must be scaled and defeated.
Magvadis expresses their opinion on the artistry of the game by saying, "Most games gameplay is just arbitrary tropes for the fun factor. Shadow of the Colossus I could feel every stab and what it meant." The game's narrative is emotionally moving, but the way that it uses player interaction and agency to sell its themes has cemented it in many players' memories.
Subnautica
Many games are considered artistic due to their emotionally moving narratives, but Subnautica as a piece of art due to how purely it represents the medium of video games. "While it may not be nearly as story driven as many of the other games mentioned here," they note, "in my opinion that game is as pure as they come."
Subnautica tasks players with exploring underwater environments and coming face-to-face with unnervingly alien flora and fauna. The game is a masterclass is a visual and aural evocation despite its general lack of dialog.
Outer Wilds
It's a shame that The Outer Worlds, but it's a game that is worth playing through for its beautiful narrative and engaging gameplay mechanics.
Outer Wilds is one of several great non-violent games, and it posits questions about time, death, and everyone's place in the universe. 10xp_to_lvl3 expresses their thoughts on the game, saying, "Only game ever to make me cry, also the only piece of entertainment/art that ever made me cry. But everything about it it's a spoiler."
Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is a unique game because it's one of few combat-free RPGs. Instead of fighting, players progress via dialog choices and skill checks.
Disco Elysium is a game based on a book, but it's an original IP.
Papers, Please
While many people think of the most beautiful graphics to represent games as art, Usidore_ argues that this requires the game to do something new that other mediums generally don't. They elaborate, saying, "...to me that is interactivity, which can evoke a unique emotion you cannot get from media that you consume ively - guilt."
Papers, Please doesn't just have the player watch someone else make difficult or regrettable decisions; it makes the player do it themselves, which removes one layer of separation between the emotion and the consumer.
Okami
While some games tout impressive immersion as a claim to artistry, others utilize more traditional methods of visuals and aural beauty. Lockshala gives such an example with Okami, which "is a 50ish hour long game done entirely in watercolor with music all made by traditional Japanese instruments."
These two mediums of traditional art combine with tight gameplay to create one of the best games in which the player is an animal.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Before its release, many players thought that Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was going to be a simple, albeit beautiful third-person puzzle game.
While it does indeed feature puzzles and the game is gorgeous, a game that accurately portrays mental illnesses.
Minecraft
Minecraft may have become banal to the point that many don't how impactful and awe-inspiring it was when it was first released. While Minecraft certainly lets people build impressive things, Implausibilibuddy attempts to defend its status as art with a deeper definition and explanation.
They say that, beyond the final products that people create, "Art is not just a finished visual thing that you can show people. It's communicating feelings and emotions, some of which are easier to experience than describe..." They cite the feelings of wonder players can feel in survival mode as they overcome obstacles and face intimidatingly open possibilities.