By skyforbes Zelda Ocarina of Time
Elden Ring
Expedition 33
Hollow Knight
Outer Wilds
Red Dead Redemption 2
All these games are considered as master pieces in their own category for the passion that has been poured in their development.
Especially Expedition 33, which is a prime example of what you get when you just take good ideas from other games and put them in one single game, play them, like what you made, and then release it.
As a player for now around 33 years, I'm deeply passionate about video games and I love to understand how they are made, what is good, what is not, what can be improved, and I always search in the smallest details of gameplay, feeling, sound, graphics, etc… to see what could be improved or not. And by doing that, I can determine features that would simply add fun to the game.
Let's take the example of Elden Ring : once you finished the game, you can replay NG+ as much as you want, but it's always a linear experience. What if there was a randomizer to spice up your future runs ? What if you just added a boss rush mode ? It doesn't seem impossible to do, since people make mods in that regard. These two options would drastically increase the fun time you can have on such a game. Lords of the Fallen 2023 did it, they included a randomizer in their game after an update (shoutout to them for that). From Software could, but they won't. Why ?
Also sometimes we see games releasing with a lot of potential, but this potential ends up not being exploited at all. Number one game for this is Dragon's Dogma 2. The level of cope on their subreddit (i'm part of it lol) is too damn high. They hope for a DLC that will probably never release.
Yes, I know, there are some money considerations to have, but some people show us that money can be put out of the equation if you take your time and pour all of your passion in the game you are making. Silksong is a pretty good example of a game where devs just made their dream game, without compromise. They released a game according to their own vision, without constraint.
And obviously, all of these games are a mix of ideas that previously existed in previous games. Elden Ring is the grand child of Zelda Ocarina of Time in terms of gameplay with the lock-on feature and the general slow action gameplay. All of the souls games that came before are also what made Elden Ring such a GOAT. Michael Zaki and From Software had a VISION (this word is important) and they kept that vision all throughout development, to obtain the best possible game in the end (for them, as it's still possible to enhance it as I said before with mods and such).
Therefore I assume that if I had the means to have a team of people as passionate as me, I could be the game designer of the best game ever. I could put everything I like from every game I loved, but all in one single game. My game would have the things I find the most fun and addictive, my game would NOT have the things that everyone agrees to hate, my game would feel and sound crispy, crunchy and yummy. I see no reason why I should restrain the game design of my game other than money.
Let's say that for some reason I have, indeed, the money and the team to do the game I want (and many other people actually want too). What would I do ?
The answer is Expedition 33. I think it's the demonstration of passionate people using all the tools we have in modern times to make the game they loved. And it's beautiful to see how fun and good their game can be when they don't have stupid marketing people deciding for them, or stupid deadlines ruining the release of the game. It's just guys who think like me, who went like "let's make the BEST turn based rpg ever, guys". Let's go.
So I hope in the future, more people will do the same, since we have the tools for this nowadays, and there is obviously a LOT of money available to finance these things. Right now, where the money is flowing the most, is where the minds are rotten. Blizzard, EA, Ubisoft, all of those dead companies are just slaves to marketing people. But studios who can stay free from those schackles now have the means to do these games. If concerned editors rise in this scenario, editors who can actually finance true passion, then we are blessed with a very bright future for video games.
Anyway thanks for reading all of this.
TL;DR : give me the means and I give you the game you always dreamt about. Some other people might think the same as me and actually did it (Expedition 33 for example). Future is bright if more people do this.