The first Halo

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

The STALKER series have very good atmosphere

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

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.

Mirror’s Edge

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

Xenon map from Cube2:Sauerbraten FPS.

Green Hill Zone

The bridge in Shadow of the Colossus, crumbling and ancient yet still striding as a titan across the vast landscape

The opulent neo-classical Indian cityscape of Sonashahar in Pacer

The Hanging City in Outer Wilds, clinging to the underside of a hollow world’s fragile shell

Also, like, all of A Highland Song. It’s intentionally designed to look like landscape paintings anyway. The castle in the loch is probably my favourite, or maybe the giant dam

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.

Red Dead Redemption 2. Pretty much anywhere.

Literally anything from Elden Ring SOTE

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

Any snapshot from Morrowind.