Games

Supergiant Games: Bastion, Transistor, Pyre and Hades.

• Valve, when they actually make games... and when those games aren't Artifact or Dota Underlords...
• id Software
• Telltale Games
• Frictional Games (Amnesia, SOMA)
• Red Barrels (Outlast)
• Playdead (INSIDE, LIMBO)
• Landfall (Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, ROUNDS, Clustertruck, Totally Accurate Battlegrounds, etc)
• Daniel Mullins (Inscryption, Pony Island, The Hex)
• David Szymanski (DUSK, Chop Goblins)
• Mason Lindroth (Hylics)
• Obsidian's older stuff
• Rocksteady's older stuff
• I have a love/hate relationship with FromSoft
• Honorable mention to Nightdive: They do fantastic modern remasters of older games, like Quake 1 and 2, System Shock 2, Blood: Fresh Supply, etc.

FROM SOFTWARE

What metric are we using? The developer whose games I like the most? The developer who treats their employees best? Or treats their customers best?

Valve has produced mostly bangers, seems to treat customers well and is by all accounts a great place to work. They've also been pushing development for gaming on Linux. Hard not to go with them, even though it's debatable whether they could be classified as a game developer anymore. But that's fine.

Remedy deserves a shout-out for sticking to their guns, and continuing to produce weird artistic games that push the envelope in the AAA space.

I'm not as high on BG3 as most people (though it's obviously a great game), but Larian also belongs in the discussion surely. I only ever hear good things about them.

Finally, the developer who inspires me the most is probably Lucas Pope. I love his ability to think outside the box and find entertaining gameplay loops in seemingly mundane things, but moreover I am just so impressed by how multitalented he is. I still can't believe Obra Dinn was a one-man production. I love his artstyle and the music he makes as much as the games themselves.

I think klei may be my favourite studio. They create amazing games that are all truly unique but backed by strong game design concepts.

Mark of the ninja - great 2d stealth game were most games in the genre are 3d.

Invisible Inc - great turn-based Rougelike stealth game.

Don't starve - probably one of the best survival games out there that relies on clever resource management rather than combat

Oxygen not included - a base building survival game, that is well designed to ramp up difficulty with the long term needs of your base

Griftlands - deck building game with a charming plot and interesting mechanics.

Each game they output is truly unique and interesting experience with some really clever design choices, but I think the point they became my favourite studio is when I read their article on Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic rewards to appreciate how well thought out their games were.

• BioWare before EA (Mass Effect 1)
• Popcap before EA (Plants vs Zombies)
• Maxis before EA (SimCity 2000)
• Bethesda before Microsoft (Fallout 3)

Zacktronics

have made a few really really good programming / puzzle games.

Brace yourselfes

made crypt of the necrodancer and phantom brigade , both of which are really good ideas and if you haven't checked them out, you should.

Remedy Entertainment. From Max Payne 1 & 2, to Alan Wake 1 & 2, to Quantum Break, to Control, there has not been a game from them that I've played that hasn't been absolutely fantastic. They have not failed to miss so far.

Remedy Entertainment. They have been making banger after banger in my opinion, all the way back to Max Payne (and i wasted so many hours on Death Rally). Always heavy focus on plot, and well developed gameplay. Memorable soundtracks on most cases too.

I'm going to go a little unpopular here, and say Paradox Interactive.

Their milking of their properties with DLC is the stuff of legends, but at the end of the day, nobody else is even close at modeling rich, complex and hugely broad historical simulation the way they do. They're everything I ever wanted when I was a kid, playing Koei strat games. When you're that good at what you do, fine, make money. Whatever.

Oh, look. Another DLC... sigh

Arkane Studios, for Dishonored, Prey, Dark Messiah, Deathloop.

Used to be Looking Glass Studios. And then Ion Storm. Do you see a pattern?

Coffee Stain Studios. In house, they’ve developed Goat Simulator and Satisfactory. They’ve also published Valhiem and Deep Rock Galactic.

Favourite is probably Naughty Dog as it's one of the few studios that keeps producing amazing games and is fairly consistent.

Most other studios drop the ball at some point.

Wube creators of Factorio.
Klei Creators of Oxygen Not Included and Don't Starve.
Concerned Ape creator of Stardew Valley.
Hovgaard Games creator of Startup Company and Big Ambitions.

Insomniac, atlus

I'll probably hear some shit for this one but recently it has been Capcom. They've been pumping out high quality games for the past 5 or 6 years and they're showing no signs of slowing down. Monster Hunter World/Rise, DMC5, RE 2 Remake, RE 4 Remake, Street fighter 6.

Their RE engine is like magic and I'm pumped for MH Wilds and RE 5 Remake.

Tynan.

Capcom seems to pump out absolute bangers lately. They have multiple rock solid franchises (Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Street Fighter, Monster Hunter) and their buisness model is still, make good game, sell good game, profit from sales. They don't shove half-assed life service attempts down you throat and most importantly they don't fuck fans over. It says a lot when your least acclaimed game over the past 5 years is RE3 Remake with "Very Positive" Steam reviews. I'm really looking forward to RE5 Remake and Monster Hunter Wilds.

There are four studios whose games (and hardware) I buy almost blindly:

• Valve
• CD Project RED
• Rockstar Games
• Machine Games

They all have brought me tons of fun and jaw dropping moments.

Developers change so much that it is hard to have a favourite anymore.

SCS have been going for a while now and are doing a great job with ETS2 and ATS, supporting the game and releasing/updating DLC regulary. It feels like a true passion project for them.

Most of favourites are small indie developers and games like Live For Speed, Software Inc, Ostriv.

Favourite is a strange term to use about companies, but in terms of how interested I would be if all I was told it was a game from X, it would likely go like this.

1. Valve
2. CDPR
3. Guerrilla Games
4. Naughty Dog

• Valve
• From Software
• Re-Logic
• Team Cherry
• ppy

Also ID because doom is amazing, Valve cause they made some great games and Facepunch

Id, Bioware, and Bethesda have all been mentioned, and are strong contenders.

Ludeon Studios and Ghost Ship Games each only really have one game (RimWorld and Deep Rock Galactic, respectively), but they're so damn good and they both have such a strong relationship with their communities that they're definitely among my favorites at the moment.

I have a love/hate relationship with Paradox Interactive. Their DLC model... leaves a lot to be desired, but I have yet to find much else that scratches the grand strategy itch in the same way they do, and the level of mod support they provide is impressive. I don't know if I can call them my favorite, but I've logged over 1000 hours into EU4 alone, so I have to at least mention it, I feel.

My favorite publishing house is probably Bethesda. I came to this realization the other day when thinking of what my favorite types of games are. Just so happens Bethesda has published nearly all of them in recent years. Arkane is my favorite dev because they've kept immersive sims alive with titles like Dishonored 1+2/Prey/Deathloop. ID software/Machine Games both keep the tradition of the classic shooter alive while bringing them into the modern era, games like Wolfenstein (The Old Blood, 1+2), and DOOM. The only games I don't really care for out of Bethesda are their recent RPG games, I believe they've peaked at Fallout New Vegas. But with the upcoming Indiana Jones game being developed by MachineGames, I think they'll deliver another fun first person adventure. They also quietly released HiFi Rush last year from Tango Gameworks (who also did the awesome Evil Within 2 game) and that oozed PS2 era video games quite amazingly.

The most recent developer who has crept onto that list in recent years for me is definitely FROMSOFTWARE. No need to really explain here, they've made a handful of classic dungeon delving masterpieces with the Souls series. Then went onto Bloodborne and Sekiro, most recently Elden Ring (which was the first full game I ever beat from them).

I'll also echo Remedy, and do an honorable mention to 4A Games (highly recommend the Metro series for those into First Person Shooters, some amazing atmosphere in those games still). Double Fine too, with the recent Psychonauts 2, they aren't super prolific in recent years but that game was amazing. I think the industry needs more creativity like Psychonauts 2 offered and what the studio offers in general. Capcom in recent years has been on fire too the upcoming Dragons Dogma 2 looks like it could become a classic if it's as good as all these previews make it seem to be.

I wouldn't say I necessarily have favorite developers, since I've rarely played and enjoyed more than a single game from a developer. At least before that developer is closed or morphed into something else.

Currently, I would say Bethesda is probably my only favorite "developer" currently going. I actually enjoyed Starfield quite a bit and have enjoyed their games going all the way back to Morrowind. Not to mention, there still isn't anyone else that has managed to act an alternative to their style of games.

Beyond them, I'm wracking my brain trying to come up with another developer that is still putting out games and that I would classify as a "favorite developer" and not just "a developer who makes one game I like".

Edit: FROM Software, that's what I was probably trying to think of. I've definitely enjoyed quite a few of there games.