Best stand-alone game this generation?

[Quinton Bonnett]

Would Demon's Souls count? Dark Souls is a spiritual successor, so I can't quite tell if that throws it out of consideration.

Otherwise, Xenoblade Chronicles! Monolith Soft poured so much work into this product. It's littered with sidequests and there's depth to pretty much every aspect of the game. Sidequests eventually lead to rebuilding a city. Talking to people leads to ranking them on an affinity chart then finishing sidequests can link people together. Every skill has upgrades, every character has a variety of skills, every character has a tree of attributes that upgrade over time.
And it's got good load times

 

[DarkRyter]

Imagine Babies 2006.

Probably.

 

[kebab4you]

Seeing how I just played through Bastion I'm going with that, the music alone made the game amazing.

 

[Balobo]

I'm gonna both annoy and elate thousands of escapists by saying Minecraft. It has very little flaws compared to other games, and as it's stand alone, and constantly improving upon itself, I guess it has infinite possibility thus far.

The graphics are perfect for the style, has an awesome fan base, pro mods, infinite replay value, infinite awe value.

When you boil it down, it trumps any other game this generation.

Do you want me to list flaws?

 

[DiabloBub666]

The absolute best two standalone games, in my opinion, without a doubt, are Flower (by thatgamecompany) and a little Half-Life 2 mod (if mods are included) called The Stanley Parable.

Though, Amnesia: The Dark Descent gets an honorable mention, because even though I'm not particularly into horror games, it does it's job SO DAMN WELL. My friends and I played it at 11 PM and we almost soiled ourselves over a guy walking through a door...

Other honorable mentions: Vanquish, Heavy Rain, Mirror's Edge (yes, really... these are just my favorites at this point), and... actually, that's probably about it.

 

[Nudu]

Oblivion for me.

 

[Chaos James]

Probably Minecraft, its the first one that jumps to my mind.

 

[Venats]

Vanquish and/or Minecraft and/or Last Odyssey.

This message needs to be long enough to protect me from the not long enough messages!

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Okami is a port from last generation so I wouldn't count that...

I'd have to say Red Dead Redemption. Now keep in mind it's not a sequel to Red Dead Revolver, but a successor, with no link to the previous game besides by name. Revolver is set Spaghetti Western style whereas Redemption is American Western.

I'd have to say that this is the first Western environment in a video game that actually felt like the Old West. The Natives weren't stereotypically portrayed as savaged, you ACTUALLY HAD DUELS!!! The dialogue felt authentic. I can't name another stand alone game that has done what RD:Redemption has done. It didn't need to be a cover based shooter with RPG stat tracking. It wasn't based in a sci-fi world with gritty marines, or a fantasy world where everyone sounds like they just got finished listening to "Rape Me" by Nirvana for half a day. It was unique. Right to the very end.
Also 1000TH POST!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TheTim]

Its going to be grand theft auto 4 for me

its not exactly a sequel to gta san andreas sooo yea.

 

[AlexiVolkov]

Standalone? .... Most every game that springs to mind is a sequel.. or has one coming...

I think I am going to have to say Bastion. While on the short side, for an indie title it is absolutely amazing.
The story, the narration, the music... all of it ties together to craft this fantastic experience that is not done one shred of justice by its screenshots. The game is just astounding.

The story of the game is so well done, that they even narrate in an explanation for the new game + second play through. The game and the soundtrack are absolutely worth the money to me.

 

[babinro]

Angry Birds - It's genuinely fun in a casual way and almost universally loved by most age groups.

If I had to choose a 'hardcore' game I'd go with Borderlands.

 

[NovaCascade]

Otherwise, Xenoblade Chronicles! Monolith Soft poured so much work into this product. It's littered with sidequests and there's depth to pretty much every aspect of the game. Sidequests eventually lead to rebuilding a city. Talking to people leads to ranking them on an affinity chart then finishing sidequests can link people together. Every skill has upgrades, every character has a variety of skills, every character has a tree of attributes that upgrade over time.
And it's got good load times

This. I am loving this game so freaking much. Especially the music. And the characters. And the story. Its probably my GOTY so far. Although there a lot of good games coming... We'll see how it stacks up come year's end

 

[CaptainKoala]

Im going to go with Skyrim, or one of the Saints Row games

I don't think non-existent games are eligible.

 

[Arkley]

Man, so many to choose from. Bastion, Vanquish, Limbo, Bayonetta, Braid, Alan Wake, Red Dead, so many more.

I think for pure, unadulterated fun with the perfect amount of challenge, I'll have to go with Vanquish. But the way Bastion told a story with its constant narration was really special, and the way Limbo told a story with no narration of any kind whatsoever was just as special.

Who knows? Doesn't matter which is best, we all win.

 

[blizzaradragon]

Hmm...standalone game is hard to think of, since almost every game now has a sequel or a prequel of some sort. I can think of plenty that have a sequel or are sequels that are amazing though.

If we're talking only this generation then I'm going to say Catherine. A really interesting story that keeps you intrigued the entire way through for multiple playthroughs of the game, and gameplay that is both simple and challenging. Plus it's a nice change from all the shooters and RPGs that have been coming out(don't mind the RPGs, but the shooters need to die down some).

However, if we can count the PS2 or at least late PS2 then I have to give that to Rogue Galaxy. It came out after this generation started too, so it could technically be called a part of it. Seriously one of the best RPGs I've played ever, and proof that Level-5 makes amazing RPG games and haven't lost their touch after Dark Cloud 1 and 2. If you haven't played it and are a fan of either Level-5 games, RPGs, or both, I highly recommend picking it up and playing it.

 

[SaikyoKid]

Borderlands. I might get a lot of flak for this one, but I fucking love that game and I've logged way too many hours into it.

It's OK, I would actually agree that Boarderlands should be one of the best stand alone games to come along in a good while. Or, at the very least, should be the best new FPS to pop up. If not that, could I throw up League of Legends for good measure? It may take the basic mechanics from DOTA, but I feel that there's enough going for it to separate it as it's own game. (Specially if Dominion comes out fairly soon)

Also, as much as I would love to nominate Okami, wasn't there an adorable little sequel for it called Okamiden, thereby disqualifying it for said nomination?

 

[drmigit2]

Red Dead Redemption. How has nobody thought of this? Yes it is technically a sequal, but it has so little to do with its prequel that it may as well be stand alone.

 

[Thumper17]

Well we cant make this decision until the end of this generation. Some big hitters coming out later this year like Skyrim.

So far, Oblivion or Fallout: New Vegas are fantastic games.

Heavy Rain deserves mention, a very cool experience.

Civ V was good.

Starcraft II was apparently good.

Minecraft as well, amazing game.

 

[jamie56]

maybe knight of the old republic and I it wasnt exactly a standalone but the second one was made by a diferent publisher (and they ruined it)