I liked that bit in Oblivion where you jump into a painting and it’s a painting pastel world and there’s a painting troll and you fuck his shit up

Green Hill Zone

The first Halo

Anything from breath of the Wild or tears of the kingdom.

Literally anything from Elden Ring SOTE

If it must work as a work of art absent of all cultural context, I’d say… Clock Town from Majora’s Mask. Scenic little medieval town, but the oncoming angry moon tells a story

If art-that-only-works-with-cultural-context is valid… E1M1, that first moment with the blue carpet and such. I can think of very few more iconic starts to a game. Look at it and you know exactly what you need to do with the game.

Nearly anything from BioShock Infinite

There are certain points in Metaphor: ReFantazio where the characters stop on their journey and admire fantasy scenery which are essentially static backgrounds. I’d take a large print of any of those for my walls at home.

Anything from RDR2.

City 17 from Half-Life Alyx, specifically the part where you see the tower

Any snapshot from Morrowind.

PlayStation Final Fantasy is cheating, so let’s say Horizon. The ruined landscapes already tell a story (with many buildings from the real world), so it’s a pretty good fit.

2D games count too, where I’d give Ori as an answer. The game creates a great fantasy world.

Where is “posting a screenshot of the games I’m playing” guy when you need them?

Anything from Journey, but especially at dusk before you jump down into the dark area or the very end

The area with the giant metal tendrils in Horizon Zero Dawn

The Clockwork Mansion in Dishonored 2

Blood Gulch from any of the original Halo Trilogy games.