[zero]

Team Ico comes to mind, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus were like nothing else out there and still kind of are today.

Shiny Entertainment was great for making games with weird and wacky worlds and characters and interesting gameplay mechanics like the "Rig" in Wild 9.

Grasshopper Manufacture is another one. I don't know what kind of stuff you have to be on to come up with this:

 

[Sean Mirrsen]

Konstantin Koshutin.

First, Hammerfight -


Then, Highfleet -


For some reason I never see anyone else try to make complex physics-driven 2D worlds. Great spritework isn't the only thing, it's in how almost everything is made up of small interconnected things that will move and break if sufficient force is applied, including the thing you're controlling.

 

[Franky Family]

1) Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development Division aka Nintendo EPD

They're the vanguard of gaming and probably always will be. Detractors can say what they want, but nobody tops them overall imo

2) I used to love Bungie for the Halo series, not sure exactly what happened to them slowly over the years but it looks like DEI hiring cooked them in the end

3) Hudson Soft in the past and NDcube now are great

4) Next Level Games deserves a lot of credit for the two Luigi's Mansion games they've created

5) Retro Studios with the outstanding track record of making modern day classics starting with Metroid Prime (2002) and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (2014) and possibly Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (2025) will be their next instant classic

 

[Pagusas]

I wish it wasn't so… but Bethesda. Say what you will about Starfield (and it is improving, slowly) Bethesda is the only one making games like Elder Scrolls, and it makes me so sad as they need some competition.

I love how immersive and interactive the worlds Bethesda makes are. I'd love someone else to start doing it too so we could get multiple studios outputting these games.

 

[Sean Mirrsen]

I wish it wasn't so… but Bethesda. Say what you will about Starfield (and it is improving, slowly) Bethesda is the only one making games like Elder Scrolls, and it makes me so sad as they need some competition.

I love how immersive and interactive the worlds Bethesda makes are. I'd love someone else to start doing it too so we could get multiple studios outputting these games.

Larian comes to mind, though their work is in something of a different plane than Bethesda's. Troika also made great worlds, but they're in the past now.