In terms of pure gameplay mechanics, what do you think is the best game this gen?

Leaving aside story, graphics, sound, world building etc., etc., and focusing purely on gameplay mechanics, what game this gen do you think did it best? I can't come up with my number one at the moment, so I'll just list a few that come to mind.

Divinity: Original Sin 2. So much variety. Endless combinations of attack. Countless ways to approach any given fight. I'm being redundant here, but the game certainly is not.

Dishonored 2. This game really puts your creativity on a pedestal by giving you the gameplay tools, and leaving the rest to you. I feel like all the ways you can take out an enemy, or simply interact with the environment, will never be exhausted.

Bloodborne. Sped up Souls gameplay, but also made it considerably less clunky. Sure, you can roll/flop around like a beached fish until the cows come home, but you don't have to play that way. Lots of possible fighting techniques, and the individuality of the weapons really makes this aspect shine.

Dark Souls 3. Somewhere between BB and DS1 in terms of speed, it really perfected Souls mechanics. Just all around solid. Though the amount of cheese available could still feed a nation, should you take that route.

So what about you, SW?

Great list. Metal Gear Solid 5 is my addition. The gameplay and mechanics is perfection. So many angles of play, so many options to proceed, so many tools to use. A shame the open world was lame and that the story was a mess. But that gameplay, though.

Probably DMC5. I'm not heavily into the DMC mechanics, but there's no denying the depth that they can bring.

Great list, I'll add BOTW, Mario Odyssey, and HL Alyx.

My top list of games would probably be:

- Devil May Cry 5

- Bayonetta 2

- Breath of the Wild

- Halo 5

- Xenoblade Chronicles 2

- Titanfall 2

Breath of the Wild for the sandbox and physics based quest solving. The world

Prey Mooncrash for and the layers of complexity and the mounting challenge of trying to get everyone off the moon. There are many ways can complete the mission.

Darkest Dungeon dungeon crawling and camp building. A lot of difficult fights where you need to consider all the traits, levels of light, supplies, when you rest... you need to be prepared in this game.

Doom eternal.... one of most balanced shooters ive ever played. You need the full arsenal. When you get it all right the flow of this game is amazing.

Not including fighting games and no particular order.

• Metal Gear Solid V
• Devil May Cry V
• The Wonderful 101
• Bayonetta 2
• Nioh
• Super Mario Odyssey

Not all of those represent my favorite gameplay of the gen, just feel they excel on a strictly mechanical level.

Like Soulsborne mechanics are good, but I feel it's more about the level design, encounter design, enemy design etc.

Doom Eternal has rock solid mechanics, especially the mobility related stuff... almost feel pressed to add it to the list, but again is more about the arena layouts and enemy/encounter design.

Streets of Rage 4, nice mechanics, but that games depth is more about positioning.

Breath of the Wild mechanics are like competent level, yet the game is excellent in the degree of agency it affords the player in exploration, problem solving, and just all around toying with its systems.

Yeah, going to agree with you on these two.

OS 2 just makes the "classic" RPG game so damn fun. It has great humor, really cool solutions to gameplay, yet delivers on the old-school feeling of an RPG.

Dishonored 2 was great because it had two playable characters, each with their own powers and strengths. I appreciated it because it didn't feel like I was getting two half-developed characters, but two fully-realized characters. The opportunities in-game to use these abilities, the option to play as good or bad, non-lethal or lethal, just all great mechanics.

Going to add "Doom Eternal" to this list as well. It takes one of gaming's oldest and most beloved genres, takes it back to the fundamentals (running and gunning), then adds in a whole bunch of mechanics that make it innovative and rewarding.

DOOM 2016 definitely came to mind. Very solid gameplay. I haven't played Eternal yet. I'm pretty sure it would have made the list if I had.

Bloodborne which obviously is amazing, my other list is MGV, Kerbal Space Program and Persona 5.

• MGSV has the best open world mechanics personally. The advantage it has over others is that the AI is so smart yet so exploitable makes every encounter so damn fun. Not to mention the fun tech, weapon and vehicles to experiment with.
• Kerbal Space Program actually made me learn about science stuff. Spend hours building my spaceship and most of the time it didn't even fly or the rocket just exploded mid air but I learned so much stuff in this game that I never would have. How to get into orbit, how to manage fuel etc. Complex yet so addicting, its great!
• Persona 5 is not the best persona personally but its JRPG slash visual novel gameplay mechanics is perfect.

• Mad Max https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omZbpucW9L8
• Mortal Kombat 11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SlyBGMiz9I
• Rage 2https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqUwctVFwdA
• Watch Dogs not joking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myo7i5lWunQ

From what I've played this gen:

• Bayonetta 2
• Street Fighter V
• DKC Tropical Freeze
• MGSV
• Breath of the Wild
• Super Mario Odyssey
• DMCV
• Dragon Ball FighterZ

Breath of the Wild

Hollow Knight

Guess id say diablo 3

Uncharted 4

Spider-Man

Persona 5

Days Gone

Until Dawn

• Prey
• Dishonored 2
• Hollow Knight
• Ori

Breath of the Wild.

Tekken 7

Breath Of The Wild

Persona 5

Asgards Wrath

Half Life: Alyx

Yakuza 0 and Doom Eternal.

Nier Automata, Doom Eternal, and Zelda BOTW.

Single player:

• Devil May Cry V
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
• Resident Evil 2
• Sekiro
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Multi-player:

• Dragon Ball FighterZ
• Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
• Sonic Mania
• Street Fighter V
• Streets of Rage 4

I love Dark Souls 3, as broken as some of the mechanics can be, i think is the most fun one to play ... it has a lot of variety with the weapons and classes and yeah, i liked it a bit more than Bloodborne.

DMC5 is amazing as well.

I also see a lot of people mentioning Bayonetta 2, i guess many played it this gen ... so yeah, for me that game is the best when it comes to action games and the mechanics are flawless.

Last but not least ... Dragon Ball Z Fighters. I mean yes, is yet another anime figthing game by Arc System, but i feel this one really accomplishes the "fun to grab and play but hard to master" tag line, you can have a blast with friends who never ever touched a figthing game and you can also push yourself to master the characters and get into more serious matches online ... and from a gameplay point of view, that's the ultimate goal.

@Juub1990: Days Gone and Persona 5 too.

I'd like to see an AAA take of BotW on PS5 or Xbox Series X.

lol almost sounds like you're apologizing. Yeah nothing wrong with that man. It's a great game, absolutely belongs in a thread like this.

Only reason I didn't list fighting games is they would have been my whole list. Fighting games are pure mechanics, no other gameplay elements to lean on, so they excel in that respect. Any competent fighting game is going to be mechanically richer and deeper than most games. Even something like MVC:I, which is considered a disappointment within its genre, is still stronger mechanically that most games out there.

Just the nature of the genre really.

I’d also like to throw Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite in there as well. Excellent gameplay, a real shame how the rest of it turned out.

Tekken 7

Under Night In Birth blah blah blah blah blah. Weeb ass fucking name, bitchin fighting game

Rocket League

Furi or Dark Souls 2

DMC 5

Dishonored 2

Prey

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

MGS V

Shadow Tactics

Aragami

Doom and Eternal

i got a question how come i see you hate on sony but yet 4 out 5 games you listed are ps4 exclusives?

I could be wrong because there is so many of you i get some of you guys mixed up.

In a terms of gameplay. nothing come close to Doom and Doom Eternal.

Probably MGSV. For so many games that try to balance stealth/action gameplay, MGSV hits it out of the park.

It's a joke lol. Don't think any of those games is the best in gameplay mechanics. In fact, I find them all pretty average or bad. I didn't list those I actually think are very good like Bloodborne or God of War. Persona 5 I enjoy too but not for the mechanics.

MGSV

Judging it as a whole it's average at best. But the gameplay was damn near perfect.

ok i thought so lol. im playing days gone now and im loving it. no the gameplay mechanics are not the best this gen but man is the game fun. love taking out the hordes.

the motorcycle has a fresh feel to it because its always a horse you hide in these games. i will give it credit for that alone.

have you played days gone at all? if not you should give it a try. not perfect but it is fun to play.

I can't actually think of any gameplay that I really enjoy :( like nothing satisfying you know?

What's really hard is finding a difficulty that's not to easy but not to hard. I set uncharted to the hardest and it was still easy. Idk Lately gaming for me seems more like a time waster.

DMC5

• Sonic Mania Plus
• Streets of Rage 4
• Mega Man 11
• Azure Striker Gunvolt
• Nioh
• Bloodborne
• DoDonPachi Resurrection
• Street Fighter V

MGSV, Doom, Diablo 3, Witcher 3, Zelda BOTW, Rage 2.

Bloodborne and MHW Iceborne

I just played through The Messenger.

The game is fantastic. It feels great to play and the music is top-notch.

Lol, i guess it does sound a little like that ... but my point was more aimed at people who may think that all Anime games play the same, you know double jump, air dash, air combos and all that good stuff ... but for me DBZ has mechanics that allow casuals and figthing game enthusiast to enjoy it at both low and high level.

And yes, i agree with MVC:I ... the game was very polished in terms of gameplay ... it was mostly the presentation, the lack of traditional characters and let's not forget the "Avatar" scandal that ruined everything.

RE2

Guacamelee 2

I'd have to go with

Persona 5

FF7 remake

BotW

God of War 2018

Titanfall 2

Doom Eternal

Nioh 2

MH Worlds

RE2 Remake

Depends. Depth? Wonderful 101. Most fluid and enjoyable mechanics? Too many to mention. There were better games than wonderful director though.

Since my memory is fucking horrible gonna go with Streets Rage 4.

Not perfect though, couple of annoying things, namely game logic changing. Thrown projectiles all usable, damaging players and enemies, then all of a sudden "nope" enemy immunity to grenades, no longer pickups.

Aside from that minor quibble gamplay, art-direction, music ect.. Is one big unmitigated fap.

Boomer heaven.

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Another thing i really like, it captures that sense of action martial art movie set-piece without interrupting the gameplay as most games tend to do.

https://youtu.be/eCULZlNDuRQ

This is poor mans Doom mix with Far cry. the only reason combat is even good because id software assist them otherwise its bland open world game by avalanche.

For my taste, Doom: Eternal. It has the right level of complexity. A wide selection of tools that you actually end up using. Great sense of momentum and flow. Everything feels good to do. Clearly the developers have prioritized moment to moment gameplay-feel above everything else, which is rare.

* Killer Instinct

* Dark Souls 3

* Anthem (game was a miserable failure but the core gameplay loop was legit)