I’ve been playing video games since the age of two, with the yellow Beetle from Midtown Madness 2 being my first companion in the digital world. Now, 24 years later, I’ve racked up countless gaming experiences — some good, some bad, and some unforgettable. As a teen growing up during a time when gaming rapidly evolved, my benchmarks for a “perfect” game kept shifting. Sure, some of those games have aged like fine wine. But others? Not so much.
There was a time when a hack-and-slash like Daemon Vector would’ve cracked my top ten, but today it’s barely relevant. Just like that, there were times I went gaga over certain games, calling them masterpieces and handing them a mental 10/10, G.O.A.T. badge without hesitation. But with age and experience, I’ve come to accept that some of those so-called “perfect” games… weren’t really that perfect.
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5
Cyberpunk 2077
A brilliant foundation, but the house is missing rooms
Cyberpunk 2077 scratched a very specific itch for me — one I hadn’t felt since the golden days of Deus Ex. The prologue alone had me raving to my non-gamer friends. It was that cool. The gameplay is slick, the traversal is fun, and the premise is flat-out bonkers in the best way. But after finishing Elden Ring — arguably a flawless open-world experience — it became impossible to ignore the cracks in Cyberpunk’s design.
The side quests are insanely fleshed out, but the main story rings emotionally hollow and leaves very little impact. A great story is supposed to have an impact above all, and that’s what I believe Cyberpunk 2077’s central narrative feels like. Worse yet, the “life path” you choose, which defines V’s entire backstory, barely changes anything in the story outside a handful of dialogue options during quests.
Why couldn’t I have remained a Corpo, playing double agent from within Arasaka? Why did Johnny’s takeover boil down to a binary choice at the very end instead of a steady emotional decline? For someone who stole Arasaka’s most prized tech, the lack of serious consequences throughout the campaign was baffling. The excellent expansion, Phantom Liberty, proves that Cyberpunk 2077 can tell a gripping, focused story, which only makes the base campaign feel more hollow in comparison.
Cyberpunk 2077 is still an 8/10 for me, and I fully intend to start over the game in the near future. However, it’s just not the 10/10 banger I once believed it to be.
Cyberpunk 2077
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4
Batman: Arkham Knight
The definitive Batman experience buried beneath a Batmobile obsession
I loved Batman: Arkham Knight as a teenager. The gritty visuals, the brutal combat, and the rain-drenched city — it was all so Gotham. The story was emotionally impactful, the ending beautiful, and it all came together to make Arkham Knight a solid 10/10 for me. In retrospect, however, I can’t shake off just how over-reliant the game is on the Batmobile, so much so that they left a bad taste in my mouth upon a revisit.
I spent a major chunk of the game maneuvering the Batmobile, and throughout those moments, I was a mech on wheels, not the world’s greatest detective or the terrifying shadow who stalked evil. When the Batmobile is practically shoehorned into puzzles, combat, boss fights, and stealth segments, it becomes less of a cool tool and more of an overbearing requirement.
Worse, the true ending is locked behind Riddler trophies that made online guides almost required reading. It’s like buying a box set and being told the finale is in a separate box you don’t have. Today, Arkham Knight is still a solid, highly recommended game for me, but definitely not the flawless superhero sim I used to champion. That mantle has been taken by 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man.
Batman: Arkham Knight
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3
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
Gorgeous but structurally dated
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag was the first game ever that made me go “holy cow, this is next-gen.” I played it on my brand-new GTX 760 back in 2013, and it was breathtaking. Naval combat finally clicked for me, despite having paid no mind to it in AC III. In Edward, I once again had a handsome, roguish, and charming protagonist after Ezio, and he became my third-favorite protagonist in the entire Assassin’s Creed series, behind Altaïr and Ezio.
But on a recent revisit, I couldn’t ignore just how much the game leans on repetitive tailing and eavesdropping missions. The world hinted at the open-world RPGs Ubisoft would eventually lean into, but back when it felt expansive yet digestible. I still want that rumored remake — I’d play it day one — but in hindsight, the repetition and lack of real mission variety bring it down from masterpiece territory. My nostalgic glasses may be strong, but they don’t make me blind.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
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2
Forza Horizon 4
A love letter that forgets to include the reader
After having played Driveclub on my base PS4, and then mourning the shutdown of its studio, Forza Horizon 4 was the game that reignited my love of racing. My friend and I spent weeks on it, skipping weeks’ worth of lectures to get that H badge. It was everything I wanted—visually stunning, lightning-fast, and packed with content.
But recently, while introducing my partner to gaming, I noticed how punishing the game can be for newcomers, not to the Horizon series, but to racing in general. The narrow roads in Edinburgh? Brutal. Watching her bounce off walls more than asphalt was heartbreaking. I myself had taken a while to master the game, but the fun factor gets buried when your first impression is so discouraging. Worse still, the beautiful map feels small and likely sacrificed in favor of showcasing seasonal shifts. But not being able to manually change seasons? That was a buzzkill. We started in winter, and it was so cold and unforgiving that I had to literally change my PC’s system date just so she could experience spring evenings in Edinburgh.
I still love Forza Horizon 4, but it’s not quite the masterpiece I once made it out to be.
Forza Horizon 4 is now delisted from all online storefronts.
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1
The Last of Us Part II
An emotionally complex narrative that stumbles in its delivery
At one point, I believed The Last of Us Part II was the boldest and most powerful narrative ever delivered in a video game. And in many ways, I still admire its raw ambition. It subverted expectations, shattered comfort zones, and forced me to confront the uncomfortable. But on replay — and with the benefit of hindsight — the cracks in its pacing and structure began to show. The early game’s jarring time jumps and tonal imbalance between the prologue and Act 1 feels unrefined, almost unsure of themselves. And then, just as the story regains momentum, it slams the brakes and resets halfway through.
Yes, the structure serves a purpose — to humanize, challenge bias, make you lose your sense of self, and question the act of revenge. But a day-by-day switching narrative could’ve preserved that emotional duality without draining the impact. The problem isn’t the story it tells — it’s how it tells it. The shifts in gameplay and tone can feel like a grind, with emotional peaks dulled by repetition and uneven pacing. And in a game so dependent on narrative to drive home its weight, that’s a real problem.
A lot of moments while playing The Last of Us Part II reminded me of the problems I had with seasons seven and eight of Game of Thrones, where everybody and their dog were practically teleporting all across the country, while the first game was all about taking almost a whole year to go across the country. Make no mistake, The Last of Us Part II is still one of the boldest AAA games ever made. But perfect? I used to think so. Now, I think it’s a beautifully flawed experience that aims for greatness and lands just short.
The Last of Us Part II
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Growing up means looking back
It’s strange, really. We often think of the games we loved as timeless, untouchable classics — as if our memories of them somehow froze their perfection in place. But just as we grow, so do our expectations. And sometimes, with a bit of distance and a new perspective, we see the cracks in what once felt like masterpieces.
That’s not to say these games are bad — far from it. I still cherish each of them for what they gave me at the moment. The rush, the wonder, the hours lost to obsession. But a 10/10 game? That’s a rare thing. And the older I get, the more I realize it’s okay to admit that some of my former “perfect” games weren’t really perfect after all. They were just perfect for me at the time.
