I do think the Spyro games are probably the absolute best of the collect-a-thon genre. Joyful and fun and with fun puzzles. I am worried I am too biased to say it though since I have 120%/100%/117% beat the games multiple multiple multiple times.
How do you even begin to care about anything in that game when you are basically mashing buttons for hours and just listening to people complain about how shit life is?
I get its an art piece of living the existence you are thrown into but it feels like a confusing mess even gameplay wise for the starting hours that people that have finished it I feel miss how unfun it is at first.
I didn’t even know why I was now stuck on the other side of a wall in a union dispute and I just couldn’t be bothered to restart the game to try something else after how long it took to get dressed the first time.
So I think it’s actually really important that the games that would be considered objective masterpieces would have to overcome any language barriers and be an experience approachable by anyone. You can learn the mechanics to enjoy the gameplay without words
So:
Portal
Journey
Binding of Isaac
Shadow of the Colossus
Metro 2033 (which I have sat on and I believe even if it was entirely in Russian you would still get it )
DOOM (original you don’t need words you shoot)
Super Mario Bros. 3
Katamari Damacy
Then there are dialogue option stories that are fantastic stories that I could consider greats but shareable masterpieces is hard to say as they rely on you speaking the language both literally and then gameplay wise:
You are wrong about borderlands as there is one more and it is pretty muc h perfect.
Tales from the Borderlands.
Shame they never made a sequel for it but the artistry, music and story are all so well crafted. Someone loved Borderlands making that.
Not OP but Tales from the Borderlands 1 us my favorite of the telltale game collection and has some of my favorite music videos ever and wears its emotions on its sleeve for you to empathize with its characters in clever real ways.