I feel like photorealism also sucks the soul out of most games nowadays. Ghost of Tsushima is a great example of a game where the graphics are PHENOMENAL but you can so clearly see the love and care put into the art direction. Too many games obsess over fancy graphics for their demos and showcases, and too little on putting those insane graphics and models to good use. Great video as always!
I always think that Decima engine and RE engine are two good engine examples that can both produce photo realistic graphic but also produce amazing Art Direction. Just look at RE 2 Remake. The Art Direction of horror and terror is just chef kiss. Don't get me started at RE 1 Remake that uses Capcom old Engine MT Framework. That game still looks beautiful 22 years later.
That's something I've always admired about Nintendo. Their games still look and play like games. They never left that sense of "video games are supposed to be fun" mentality. And that mentality has paid off for them. And is a big reason why I will always play their games.
I mean thats the limitations of their hardware so they basically have to. Meta is doing the same on the quest, which also use mobile ARM Chips designed to run off battery and games like asgards wrath 2 or upcoming batman arkham shadow really strike with art direction
@@amolbhatia1449 it is subjective but that is also one game. Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Mario Party, Splatoon, the Kirby games, Luigi’s Mansion. Franchises where story isn’t really a major factor and it’s primarily focused on the gameplay and having that fun factor
@@amolbhatia1449If you mean the style and art direction is bland I have to hard disagree with that. BOTW is very influential for open world games. If that's your preference, it is what it is I guess
I really like the direction you're taking with this channel, BBK. These more thoughtful videos are defo harder to make when compared to much of YTs rage bait doomerism 😂 Keep it up, my guy!
Indie games fall into this trap too though. They may not be trying to create next gen graphics, but many have wonderfully creative and beautiful art direction but the gameplay systems lack depth or uniqueness.
Thank you for saying this. While some indies can break the mold, a lot can also be held back in the gameplay department. I appreciate charming games like A Space for the Unbound but the "gameplay" is very minimal and mostly consists of fetch quests where you run back and forth across the map.
most indie games are made by ten people or less and they make them for free in their spare time ofc they arrent the deepest game you cant have your cake and eat it too
Battlefield 1 is a great example of photorealism done right. The gameplay is not sacrificed and it can run on older consoles like a dream. The graphics create an amazing immersive atmosphere that would be somewhat lost if it was not photorealistic.
Single player games call out to me more nowadays purely because they commit to an art style and don’t get tainted via gimmicks such as collaboration skins and vibrant microtransaction. I’ve recently enjoyed playing A Short Hike and Pikuniku purely because they have fun art styles and I’m glad that in a year’s time I’ll be able to revisit them and still enjoy the presentation.
Destiny 1 vs Destiny 2 is a prime example of this. D2 will never be a bad looking game but the atmosphere of D1 was far superior and it has almost everything to do with lighting and texture work, not fidelity
In this day and age of gaming, I've come to realize that realism/hyper-realism is simply a tool/ingredient that's simply been overused. Case in point, the recently-announced Infinity Nikki game technically uses realism, but for the effect of beauty and whimsy which the game is all about, and everyone I've come across online who has played the previous beta LOVES IT. Likewise, games like Hello Kitty Island Adventure, the Mario series, the Sly Cooper games, Lunistice, and on and on still hold up visually because it knew how it wanted to look versus simply riding the trend of looking super realistic. I don't think anyone hates realistic-looking games (at least, I don't), but this trend with using it in basically every AAA game ever for the past 5 years has grown stale. It's not novel anymore; I daresay we've hit the glass ceiling in how visually hyper-realistic we can get. Now comes the test of making games that have strong visual identities that stand the test of time - not perfect, 100% beautiful games, but games that knows how it wants to look and realizes this in the best ways possible. From what I can tell, Indie games already have a head start and that has me excited.....
I think maybe you're letting gamers a bit off the hook here. I remember when Halo: Infinite trailer came out and to me it looked great (aside from some pop-in), and in particular it had this vibrant art style that reminded me of CE and Halo 3. However, because of the negative reaction the studio retreated to a more Reach-like gritty realistic art style (which also looks great, don't get me wrong), but honestly the original art style looked better to me. My favorite games of all time all have gorgeous art direction: - Little Big Adventure 2 - Limbo - Halo: CE - Elment4l - Portal 2 Thanks for the video!
both "Dredge" and "the Last Campfire" are good examples for me. they are 'simple' but on point and the gameplay, character and charme make them so enjoyable. two of my favourite games of the last few years
I don't think I've watched a single video of yours that I didn't agree with and whose message I haven't preached to my friends before. The Switch is my favorite mainstream console because of how limited it is, games for it are fun _first_, graphics are just a bonus.
Art Direction is definitely underrated but in 2024 your average consumer is more concerned about graphics and how cool things look. I would say the generation that’s now in late 20s early 30s and beyond don’t care about it as much. I’ve been playing republic commando again and the art direction definitely holds up in 2024. Obviously at the time the graphics were amazing, but that’s not why people played the game.
Okami was the first cell shaded game I ever played, but it wasn't until I played the Borderlands and the Telltale games that I realized it was my favorite graphical style. Games like the Last of Us and the Uncharted series are graphically impressive but not every game needs to look photorealistic. I believe variety keeps things interesting.
Another Developer that I really think should be Highlighted, despite there recent track record of not doing much, is Valve. The source engine is a janky, outdated, limited engine that has been around since 2004, and honestly the fact that so many of the games made on it can still hold up is impressive. The atmosphere that Valve can create in the Streets of City 17 or the Halls of Mercy hospital isn't just because the source engine was a graphics heavy weight at the time, but because valve had a masterful use of lighting, level design, and key details that really made things pop. Even valves newest games like CS:2 and Half Life: Alyx really aren't that impressive from a pure fidelity standard, but those games clear visuals, and masterful lighting work really breaths a lot of life into them. I think its easy to get lost when people say we need more stylized art styles in gaming and think the only things that could ever work is cel-shading or other things like it, but in reality you can make a style set in realism work without having to completely annihilate your budget or model everything down to the individual hair follicles of someones beard. You already mentioned Elden Ring, which is a great example, but I think other games that fall into this category would be things like the Original L4D, Portal 2, Halo Reach, RE:5, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. All games that aim for a level of realism, while having a pinch of artist touch to make them feel timeless. There was a point we passed many years ago where realistic art styles were good enough, and all devs needed to do was put an artistic touch on top of that to really stand the test of time.
titanfall 2 is another game that fits that category of high res but still solid art direction. it’s managed to remain in my top 2 games ever only behind half life 2
Between the pursuit of graphics causing long dev cycles & live service games the AAA space has lost out on what makes games such a powerful medium. Iteration! Art style wise Sifu is one that wowed me. It felt like a modern take on a SNES art style.
Been saying this for the last couple years now, I hope this topic gets more traction and hopefully there are devs out there that believe in this mindset (From software is a good example of this)
Recent CoD do look graphically look nice compared titles before MW2019, but I think photorealism kinda hinders multiplayer gameplay. Too much smoke and partical effects etc.
In my opinion, the Redout games mary modern rendering effects like reflections and lighting, with sharp edges of older games that necessitated lower poly-counts beautifully, creating a truly distinct result
The long lead times and out of control budgets are not working in gaming. I 100% agree that art style > graphics. I hope AAA studios take note of this. I hope they realize this with Halo. Focus on story, art style and gameplay instead of graphics and monetization and they will return Halo to its former glory.
The photo-realistic graphics are great in certain games, RDR2 and Cyberpunk as you mentioned because those sorts of open world RPG’s can work with that for immersion. Then again games like GTA I expect to have a less realistic, more stylised kind of graphics. At the end of the day great graphics that can make a game beautiful to look at won’t save a game with poor story telling or gameplay. Games like Still Wakes The Deep, which does look fantastic at a distance but up close you can see the illusion, are great because they have an atmosphere that fits the game, a story the is engaging and simple gameplay mechanics. I would like to see these studio’s that make huge, photorealistic graphics with massive dev cycles also focus on smaller games with great story telling, game play and art direction to cover the massive games. As we can see with some of these great indie games a small dev team can do great things with small budgets and limited manpower. They may not be the best looking from a realism standpoint but they work for what they are and have a style that makes them memorable and wonderful.
Beyond Good and Evil, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, and Furi are just amazing and looks fantastic to this day. P.S. I don't know why people called Beyond Good and evil a legend of zelda clone while it is a totally different setting and is really amazing. loved the characters, the feel and everything. also you get a spaceship which you fly anywhere, it's amazing. Peace
I believe that limitations breed creativity as well. Not to mention different art styles can be used to express concepts that realism can’t. I watch my fiancé play Gris, a short 2d platform we that I think is still on game pass. That game uses color to its benefit. Starts off black and white and dives into themes with emotion and each emotion has a color associated with it. By the end of the game you have unlocked all of the emotions and the visuals are filled with color. Super pretty game.
Just added all the "PS1" visual style games you recommended to my steam wishlist. As someone who has all the notable consoles from the NES all the way up to the Wii still hooked up to a CRT in my living room they really tickle my fancy.
I think when it comes to why game studios opt for photorealism and long development cycles, we must remember that the main reason for that is not necessarily because fans or gamers demand titles to look photorealistic. Instead, the group that demands this are the investors and shareholders. We can safely say they're not gamers. They ultimately don't care about video games as a form of art and they also don't care about gamers as an audience. They care about return of investment of their money, and the easiest way they can gauge this is when a game is revealed at a game event, because it will usually impact the studio's share value, especially if the revealed title can generate a lot of hype. And the more gorgeous the game is, the more hype it will obviously generate, because it's difficult to judge a game that's not out yet when all we have are some very fundamental gameplay trailers and edited in-game cutscenes. It may be possible to nitpick gameplay details but that's why they always preface these reveals with the tag alpha or beta footage and that the content is not representative of the final product. So they can always say "this is just how it looks like right now" and therefore don't have to bear any actual responsibility for poor gameplay design. It also makes it so that they can always misdirect the audience on release by saying "we never promised this or that, because it was just something reveled as a part of alpha/beta footage". Indie developers opting for less realistic art direction is therefore not just a desire to save resources, but because they answer to no one but themselves and the fans that follow their game.
I'm looking for Boxy Megaman Legends style graphics. I played those games so much as a kid. The upcoming Abyss x Zero looks just about perfect in that aspect.
Very few technical advancements make new designs possible. I would argue most interesting games have not yet been made, and technical limitations are not what is stopping us anymore. As for art, I think we can make games look like basically anything now. In that context, I can't relate with someone who would choose to make it look like real life when you can make any visual look come to life.
A good comparison of graphics vs art direction is Fallout 3/NV vs Fallout 4, yeah FO4 is shiny and prettier but the art style of 3/Nv got the atmosphere right.
a great example i like to pull is World of Warcraft, the art style of it is timeless. sure, it has had some graphical updates, but look back at classic, people love it even though its graphics are 20 years old.
All the middle segment games are to be picked up by indie developers, because the big studio's only want to make triple A games. Actually this has already happened.
Kingdom hearts and destiny have always been standouts for me when it comes to art direction. They’re also just some of my favorite games of all time, top 10 for me easily
Restriction inspires Innovation. Like, think of the humor of Regular Show, or South Park back in the early 2000s when mainstream culture wasn't desensitized. Being restricted inspired the writers to get creative in order to make their medium shine. Nowadays, games are so limitless in potential, it's harder to see inspiring work stick out against the millions of variable attempts. Halo 3 (2007) vs Halo Infinite (2021, on the "most powerful console"), the TH-cam videos comparing the two are all we need to see this point in full display
Great example is, Lord of The Rings trilogy compared to The Rings Of Power. The Rings of Power looks amazing, but it almost looks too clear? or too much fidelity and realistic to the point where it just feels like Humans with pointy ears stuck on. Compared to The Lord Of The Rings where something just feels so different but hard to put a finger on exactly what makes such a big difference.
I have to disagree that everything looks amazing in ROP, other than Khazad-Dum, to me it looks awful compared to LOTR but totally feel your sentiments about it being too clear. Its because things like LOTR and many older movies were filmed on location rather than green screen. As amazing as the lighting effects are nowadays they still can't quite get it the same as real life, its something we as humans can pick up sub-consciously and it feels wrong. You also have much less use of practical effects nowadays compared to older movies. The craftmanship in the costumes in the original LOTR, each chain in a suit of chainmail was put together by hand, Vigo Mortensen didn't bathe other than on location in lakes, that sweat and dirt on his face, the grease in his hair in the movies is real. Movies especially in the 80's and 90's were so grimy, so lived in - look at Blade Runner, Indiana Jones, Predator 2, Princess Bride, Goonies, Star Wars, the level of practical effects, sets, the detail in costumes all real and much more believable compared to modern movies and their overuse of CGI.
I think ROP looks terrible. Too much cgi. Original LOTR looked better because it was more real. Orcs were men in costumes. The whole thing was a lot more grounded than anything made today and I think it looked much better for it.
Well spoken, i would love to make a vídeo like this, explaining this magic of the vídeo games. Dungeons And Dragons Online is one exemple of these kind of games, the mechanics matter more than the graphics, which are old, but the amasing things you can do as far as what every single letter of R P G means. It's a pitty just how people Drop this game so easely because of the graphics...of course it has some flaws, but it is worth giving it a try.
Can someone, preferably you, make a video about WHAT IS art direction ? I mean there's a lot of videos saying it's more important than graphics but as a normal person I don't even know what you're referring to ? Please someone make a video explaining just WHAT IS art direction and send it to me thanks
One game that comes to mind is Tekken Tag 1, which has older graphics but still looks beautiful even today due to its impressive art direction. Meanwhile, T7 and T8 have better graphics, but the characters look uglier, they look more like shiny action figures than real people and their movements look stiffer.
Fun matters most. Graphics do not matter most. There is no need to create super incredible graphics. High graphics only increase the development time and size of game.
Asking for graphics in games is like asking for beautiful food. Yes, it's nice, but that's NOT the main purpose of the thing. If you don't enjoy playing (eating) your thing, then you are a huge moron if you cry for the visuals. Priorities are important, and so is understanding that you can enjoy something a lot even if the visuals are not what you wanted. Imagine an era where all the food looks very good but taste and nutrition is shit. That's where these people are taking game industry. People who have no idea about programming should not be as loud as they are. But ignorant people are the loudest...
Good graphics are nice to have, but I've never not played a game if it doesn't have amazing graphics. Art style always trumps graphics for me. Great example: Startcraft 2. That game wasn't cutting edge when it came out and now it's over 10 years old. But it still looks amazing, because of the art style. Also, if you wanna see some great retro style games, check out Prodeus and Core Decay. This one is still in development, but I chomping at the bit to play it.
I hate the gaming community…. It’s not this or that. Graphics or gameplay, etc For $70 we need to demand good graphics and good gameplay, good graphics and good art direction, good graphics and amazing story.. we need to demand the full package or nothing at all
Nonexistent or weak-to-mid fidelity, but stunning art direction (including older games): - everything Fromsoftware - everything Nintendo (except Pokemon, mostly) - Greek saga God of War (especially 2) - Outer Wilds - Dishonored games - Witcher 3 - Persona 5 - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (seriously, this game's a gem) Games with (relatively) strong fidelity AND art direction: - Doom Eternal - God of War (2018) and Ragnarok - Horizon: Zero Dawn and Forbidden West - Monster Hunter World: Iceborne - Lies of P
Great video! If you allow me a shameless self promotion here, feel free to check the indie game Europa, especially if you enjoy stylized adventure platformers, you might like it.
It's a loop. They spend so much making it look amazing that they then go hunting after every demographic and throw everything at the game in the hope it turns a profit. Gameplay is literally all that matters. Minecraft looks like absolute ass and sells whilst so many polished triple A games die on day 1.
Think i commented too late on your last video so my comment got a bit lost but here is what i think is a really good list of game recommendations I've been having a lot of the issues you have been talking about in the last few videos so I've really moved to more single player and indie games and haven't looked back These are some of the best games I've played in the last few years rogue company (seems kinda low budget but idk if its just me but the fun factor is off the charts) friends vs friends (one of my favorite game concepts but net code is a bet strange) Outer wilds (once in a life time game haha) It takes 2 (10/10) a short hike (10/10) Deaths Door (10/10) Firewatch (10/10) Phychonauts 2 (10/10) ratchet and clank rift apart (10/10) Sunstet overdrive bit old but really dam fun roboquest (if you want to turn of you brain and have the time of your life) life is strange batman arkham games circuit superstars sifu splinter cell blacklist spy vs mercs multiplayer (You'll probs never play it again but is such a fun game if you have friends to play with) Not for everyone but the mind games you can have when you get really good at fighting games is very fun (mk, streefighter, teken)
I feel like photorealism also sucks the soul out of most games nowadays.
Ghost of Tsushima is a great example of a game where the graphics are PHENOMENAL but you can so clearly see the love and care put into the art direction. Too many games obsess over fancy graphics for their demos and showcases, and too little on putting those insane graphics and models to good use.
Great video as always!
I always think that Decima engine and RE engine are two good engine examples that can both produce photo realistic graphic but also produce amazing Art Direction.
Just look at RE 2 Remake. The Art Direction of horror and terror is just chef kiss. Don't get me started at RE 1 Remake that uses Capcom old Engine MT Framework. That game still looks beautiful 22 years later.
I really don't know what you're talking about. Detroit Become Human is one of the most soulful games I've ever played.
That's something I've always admired about Nintendo. Their games still look and play like games. They never left that sense of "video games are supposed to be fun" mentality. And that mentality has paid off for them. And is a big reason why I will always play their games.
I mean thats the limitations of their hardware so they basically have to. Meta is doing the same on the quest, which also use mobile ARM Chips designed to run off battery and games like asgards wrath 2 or upcoming batman arkham shadow really strike with art direction
Except they do lack fun. Breath of the wild is such a bland and overrated game. But I understand that “fun” is a very subjective thing.
@@amolbhatia1449 it is subjective but that is also one game. Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Mario Party, Splatoon, the Kirby games, Luigi’s Mansion. Franchises where story isn’t really a major factor and it’s primarily focused on the gameplay and having that fun factor
@@amolbhatia1449If you mean the style and art direction is bland I have to hard disagree with that. BOTW is very influential for open world games. If that's your preference, it is what it is I guess
Just be careful when emulating them
Wind Waker has aged like fine wine.
Sonic, Zelda (BOTW and TOTK), Rayman (Origins and Legends), Bayonetta, DMC, and Persona 5 have some of the most memorable artstyles in gaming to me
I really like the direction you're taking with this channel, BBK.
These more thoughtful videos are defo harder to make when compared to much of YTs rage bait doomerism 😂
Keep it up, my guy!
100%
Yeah he's absolutely killing it at the moment.
Indie games fall into this trap too though. They may not be trying to create next gen graphics, but many have wonderfully creative and beautiful art direction but the gameplay systems lack depth or uniqueness.
Thank you for saying this. While some indies can break the mold, a lot can also be held back in the gameplay department. I appreciate charming games like A Space for the Unbound but the "gameplay" is very minimal and mostly consists of fetch quests where you run back and forth across the map.
Yeah but mistakes like that are to be expected from indie games. It *shouldn't* be expected from 5 year dev cycle AAA games though
most indie games are made by ten people or less and they make them for free in their spare time ofc they arrent the deepest game you cant have your cake and eat it too
Dishonored had a pretty interesting art aesthetic that I really liked while also having a good story and fun gameplay
masterpiece in terms of creative direction, the Arcane TV series pretty much just straight ripped the art style from dishonored
Especially the first Dishonored, which I was playing on a 512MB integrated graphics card and 8GB RAM.
Battlefield 1 is a great example of photorealism done right. The gameplay is not sacrificed and it can run on older consoles like a dream. The graphics create an amazing immersive atmosphere that would be somewhat lost if it was not photorealistic.
Illumination
Single player games call out to me more nowadays purely because they commit to an art style and don’t get tainted via gimmicks such as collaboration skins and vibrant microtransaction. I’ve recently enjoyed playing A Short Hike and Pikuniku purely because they have fun art styles and I’m glad that in a year’s time I’ll be able to revisit them and still enjoy the presentation.
I really liked Jusant. It’s a current gen climbing game that has a great art style, but has a lot of detail in its art direction and environments.
totally agree.
Destiny 1 vs Destiny 2 is a prime example of this. D2 will never be a bad looking game but the atmosphere of D1 was far superior and it has almost everything to do with lighting and texture work, not fidelity
Yes! I thought I was crazy lol. The old destinations from d1 seem bland in d2. Cosmodrome and moon look sooooooo much better in d1.
In this day and age of gaming, I've come to realize that realism/hyper-realism is simply a tool/ingredient that's simply been overused. Case in point, the recently-announced Infinity Nikki game technically uses realism, but for the effect of beauty and whimsy which the game is all about, and everyone I've come across online who has played the previous beta LOVES IT. Likewise, games like Hello Kitty Island Adventure, the Mario series, the Sly Cooper games, Lunistice, and on and on still hold up visually because it knew how it wanted to look versus simply riding the trend of looking super realistic.
I don't think anyone hates realistic-looking games (at least, I don't), but this trend with using it in basically every AAA game ever for the past 5 years has grown stale. It's not novel anymore; I daresay we've hit the glass ceiling in how visually hyper-realistic we can get. Now comes the test of making games that have strong visual identities that stand the test of time - not perfect, 100% beautiful games, but games that knows how it wants to look and realizes this in the best ways possible. From what I can tell, Indie games already have a head start and that has me excited.....
This is my favorite video from you in a long time. Thank you.
I think maybe you're letting gamers a bit off the hook here. I remember when Halo: Infinite trailer came out and to me it looked great (aside from some pop-in), and in particular it had this vibrant art style that reminded me of CE and Halo 3. However, because of the negative reaction the studio retreated to a more Reach-like gritty realistic art style (which also looks great, don't get me wrong), but honestly the original art style looked better to me.
My favorite games of all time all have gorgeous art direction:
- Little Big Adventure 2
- Limbo
- Halo: CE
- Elment4l
- Portal 2
Thanks for the video!
both "Dredge" and "the Last Campfire" are good examples for me. they are 'simple' but on point and the gameplay, character and charme make them so enjoyable. two of my favourite games of the last few years
I don't think I've watched a single video of yours that I didn't agree with and whose message I haven't preached to my friends before. The Switch is my favorite mainstream console because of how limited it is, games for it are fun _first_, graphics are just a bonus.
Art Direction is definitely underrated but in 2024 your average consumer is more concerned about graphics and how cool things look. I would say the generation that’s now in late 20s early 30s and beyond don’t care about it as much. I’ve been playing republic commando again and the art direction definitely holds up in 2024.
Obviously at the time the graphics were amazing, but that’s not why people played the game.
Okami was the first cell shaded game I ever played, but it wasn't until I played the Borderlands and the Telltale games that I realized it was my favorite graphical style. Games like the Last of Us and the Uncharted series are graphically impressive but not every game needs to look photorealistic. I believe variety keeps things interesting.
Another Developer that I really think should be Highlighted, despite there recent track record of not doing much, is Valve.
The source engine is a janky, outdated, limited engine that has been around since 2004, and honestly the fact that so many of the games made on it can still hold up is impressive. The atmosphere that Valve can create in the Streets of City 17 or the Halls of Mercy hospital isn't just because the source engine was a graphics heavy weight at the time, but because valve had a masterful use of lighting, level design, and key details that really made things pop.
Even valves newest games like CS:2 and Half Life: Alyx really aren't that impressive from a pure fidelity standard, but those games clear visuals, and masterful lighting work really breaths a lot of life into them.
I think its easy to get lost when people say we need more stylized art styles in gaming and think the only things that could ever work is cel-shading or other things like it, but in reality you can make a style set in realism work without having to completely annihilate your budget or model everything down to the individual hair follicles of someones beard. You already mentioned Elden Ring, which is a great example, but I think other games that fall into this category would be things like the Original L4D, Portal 2, Halo Reach, RE:5, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. All games that aim for a level of realism, while having a pinch of artist touch to make them feel timeless.
There was a point we passed many years ago where realistic art styles were good enough, and all devs needed to do was put an artistic touch on top of that to really stand the test of time.
titanfall 2 is another game that fits that category of high res but still solid art direction. it’s managed to remain in my top 2 games ever only behind half life 2
"Animal Well" and "Sea of Stars" are my additions to your retro style great games.
4:03 W Astral chain
Astral Chain looks amazing on the Switch OLED. It is insane.
Between the pursuit of graphics causing long dev cycles & live service games the AAA space has lost out on what makes games such a powerful medium. Iteration!
Art style wise Sifu is one that wowed me. It felt like a modern take on a SNES art style.
Been saying this for the last couple years now, I hope this topic gets more traction and hopefully there are devs out there that believe in this mindset (From software is a good example of this)
Perfect example being Arkham knight.
Recent CoD do look graphically look nice compared titles before MW2019, but I think photorealism kinda hinders multiplayer gameplay. Too much smoke and partical effects etc.
In my opinion, the Redout games mary modern rendering effects like reflections and lighting, with sharp edges of older games that necessitated lower poly-counts beautifully, creating a truly distinct result
The long lead times and out of control budgets are not working in gaming. I 100% agree that art style > graphics. I hope AAA studios take note of this. I hope they realize this with Halo. Focus on story, art style and gameplay instead of graphics and monetization and they will return Halo to its former glory.
It is super exciting to see so many smaller teams producing games that focus on gameplay first with a more limited graphical style. :)
The photo-realistic graphics are great in certain games, RDR2 and Cyberpunk as you mentioned because those sorts of open world RPG’s can work with that for immersion. Then again games like GTA I expect to have a less realistic, more stylised kind of graphics.
At the end of the day great graphics that can make a game beautiful to look at won’t save a game with poor story telling or gameplay.
Games like Still Wakes The Deep, which does look fantastic at a distance but up close you can see the illusion, are great because they have an atmosphere that fits the game, a story the is engaging and simple gameplay mechanics.
I would like to see these studio’s that make huge, photorealistic graphics with massive dev cycles also focus on smaller games with great story telling, game play and art direction to cover the massive games. As we can see with some of these great indie games a small dev team can do great things with small budgets and limited manpower. They may not be the best looking from a realism standpoint but they work for what they are and have a style that makes them memorable and wonderful.
Beyond Good and Evil, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, and Furi are just amazing and looks fantastic to this day.
P.S. I don't know why people called Beyond Good and evil a legend of zelda clone while it is a totally different setting and is really amazing. loved the characters, the feel and everything. also you get a spaceship which you fly anywhere, it's amazing.
Peace
I believe that limitations breed creativity as well.
Not to mention different art styles can be used to express concepts that realism can’t. I watch my fiancé play Gris, a short 2d platform we that I think is still on game pass. That game uses color to its benefit. Starts off black and white and dives into themes with emotion and each emotion has a color associated with it. By the end of the game you have unlocked all of the emotions and the visuals are filled with color. Super pretty game.
Limitations are the mother of creativity.
Just added all the "PS1" visual style games you recommended to my steam wishlist. As someone who has all the notable consoles from the NES all the way up to the Wii still hooked up to a CRT in my living room they really tickle my fancy.
That’s why 8-bit/16 bit nes/snes games still looks good (and will never get old) to this day compared to the 3d and photorealistic games nowadays.
Just started a playthrough of BL2 with some friends who have never played it before. First thing one of them said "wow this game is pretty"
Bbk did you see splitgate 2
I think when it comes to why game studios opt for photorealism and long development cycles, we must remember that the main reason for that is not necessarily because fans or gamers demand titles to look photorealistic. Instead, the group that demands this are the investors and shareholders. We can safely say they're not gamers. They ultimately don't care about video games as a form of art and they also don't care about gamers as an audience. They care about return of investment of their money, and the easiest way they can gauge this is when a game is revealed at a game event, because it will usually impact the studio's share value, especially if the revealed title can generate a lot of hype. And the more gorgeous the game is, the more hype it will obviously generate, because it's difficult to judge a game that's not out yet when all we have are some very fundamental gameplay trailers and edited in-game cutscenes. It may be possible to nitpick gameplay details but that's why they always preface these reveals with the tag alpha or beta footage and that the content is not representative of the final product. So they can always say "this is just how it looks like right now" and therefore don't have to bear any actual responsibility for poor gameplay design. It also makes it so that they can always misdirect the audience on release by saying "we never promised this or that, because it was just something reveled as a part of alpha/beta footage".
Indie developers opting for less realistic art direction is therefore not just a desire to save resources, but because they answer to no one but themselves and the fans that follow their game.
Give me fun, imaginative, dream like worlds akin to Spyro the Dragon and Banjo over drab, realistic, depressing graphics any day.
I'm looking for Boxy Megaman Legends style graphics. I played those games so much as a kid. The upcoming Abyss x Zero looks just about perfect in that aspect.
Another benefit to doing this style of game design is that even low hardware pcs/handhelds can enjoy new games.
Very few technical advancements make new designs possible. I would argue most interesting games have not yet been made, and technical limitations are not what is stopping us anymore. As for art, I think we can make games look like basically anything now. In that context, I can't relate with someone who would choose to make it look like real life when you can make any visual look come to life.
I played the first shadow warrior for the first time a few years ago and was stunned
I love BF1 over 2042, and other modern shooters, for this very reason. The theming of everything was so well done IMO.
borderlands is a game like this like they are so old but they don't feel like old games they are still amazing
Maybe not my favorite but a game i tried recently that is clearly passionate about its world design is Islands of Insight.
4:06 what game is this?
Astral Chain
A Hat in Time has to be the best platformer I've played in years.
Star Wars still holds up from over 40 years ago.
I’ve never understood why I would want photorealistic games. I don’t want my game to look like my back yard.. that’s what my back yard is for
Haven’t played it yet but the art direction of remember me looks very interesting
i like STONKS-9800: Stock Market Simulator. Awesome Art Direction
I still say Okami is THE most beautiful games I've ever played...and I don't just mean the HD port but even the Wii Version.
PS2 version looks better than the Wii version tho
Absolutely spot on the whole video 👍
A good comparison of graphics vs art direction is Fallout 3/NV vs Fallout 4, yeah FO4 is shiny and prettier but the art style of 3/Nv got the atmosphere right.
a great example i like to pull is World of Warcraft, the art style of it is timeless. sure, it has had some graphical updates, but look back at classic, people love it even though its graphics are 20 years old.
damn ori is such an underrated game Great video as always keep Going 😁
All the middle segment games are to be picked up by indie developers, because the big studio's only want to make triple A games. Actually this has already happened.
I see Evoland, I hit like immediately.
Imo just get the mechanics smooth and i'm happy because if the gameplay is clunky it gets frustrating real fast.
Kingdom hearts and destiny have always been standouts for me when it comes to art direction. They’re also just some of my favorite games of all time, top 10 for me easily
Restriction inspires Innovation. Like, think of the humor of Regular Show, or South Park back in the early 2000s when mainstream culture wasn't desensitized. Being restricted inspired the writers to get creative in order to make their medium shine. Nowadays, games are so limitless in potential, it's harder to see inspiring work stick out against the millions of variable attempts.
Halo 3 (2007) vs Halo Infinite (2021, on the "most powerful console"), the TH-cam videos comparing the two are all we need to see this point in full display
whats the racing game at 10:57 called ?
Great example is, Lord of The Rings trilogy compared to The Rings Of Power. The Rings of Power looks amazing, but it almost looks too clear? or too much fidelity and realistic to the point where it just feels like Humans with pointy ears stuck on. Compared to The Lord Of The Rings where something just feels so different but hard to put a finger on exactly what makes such a big difference.
I have to disagree that everything looks amazing in ROP, other than Khazad-Dum, to me it looks awful compared to LOTR but totally feel your sentiments about it being too clear. Its because things like LOTR and many older movies were filmed on location rather than green screen. As amazing as the lighting effects are nowadays they still can't quite get it the same as real life, its something we as humans can pick up sub-consciously and it feels wrong.
You also have much less use of practical effects nowadays compared to older movies. The craftmanship in the costumes in the original LOTR, each chain in a suit of chainmail was put together by hand, Vigo Mortensen didn't bathe other than on location in lakes, that sweat and dirt on his face, the grease in his hair in the movies is real. Movies especially in the 80's and 90's were so grimy, so lived in - look at Blade Runner, Indiana Jones, Predator 2, Princess Bride, Goonies, Star Wars, the level of practical effects, sets, the detail in costumes all real and much more believable compared to modern movies and their overuse of CGI.
I think ROP looks terrible. Too much cgi. Original LOTR looked better because it was more real. Orcs were men in costumes. The whole thing was a lot more grounded than anything made today and I think it looked much better for it.
@MrGuitarfreak132 that's what I was trying to say, it almost looks too good or too high quality which makes it look badb
Jumping on the indie wagon, check out Ultrakill!
It's a damn cool game, no words can put it to justice. Be warned, though, it requires full focus.
What's that Wipeout looking racing game you showed?
Probably Fast RMX, it’s incredible
@@BBKDRAGOON Awesome, thank you
Have you ever tried a game called armed with wings rearmed? it has some really fun sword combo gameplay and it's pretty cheap on steam.
Well spoken, i would love to make a vídeo like this, explaining this magic of the vídeo games.
Dungeons And Dragons Online is one exemple of these kind of games, the mechanics matter more than the graphics, which are old, but the amasing things you can do as far as what every single letter of R P G means.
It's a pitty just how people Drop this game so easely because of the graphics...of course it has some flaws, but it is worth giving it a try.
BBK always chooses to speak facts :D
Can someone, preferably you, make a video about WHAT IS art direction ?
I mean there's a lot of videos saying it's more important than graphics but as a normal person I don't even know what you're referring to ?
Please someone make a video explaining just WHAT IS art direction and send it to me thanks
One game that comes to mind is Tekken Tag 1, which has older graphics but still looks beautiful even today due to its impressive art direction. Meanwhile, T7 and T8 have better graphics, but the characters look uglier, they look more like shiny action figures than real people and their movements look stiffer.
Vanillaware makes beautiful games. Odin Sphere, a PS2 game, still looks great today
Unicorn Overlord is one of the most stunning RPG's I have played. The battle sequences are wow....
whats the name of the game that looks old and holding a shotgun
thank you for the downhill domination love
Fun matters most. Graphics do not matter most. There is no need to create super incredible graphics. High graphics only increase the development time and size of game.
Welcome to night shift! We have all the best people and get more done with less support :D Been doing it for 8 years
Asking for graphics in games is like asking for beautiful food. Yes, it's nice, but that's NOT the main purpose of the thing. If you don't enjoy playing (eating) your thing, then you are a huge moron if you cry for the visuals. Priorities are important, and so is understanding that you can enjoy something a lot even if the visuals are not what you wanted.
Imagine an era where all the food looks very good but taste and nutrition is shit. That's where these people are taking game industry. People who have no idea about programming should not be as loud as they are. But ignorant people are the loudest...
INSIDE also looks beautiful
And limbo btw, but in the negative way
It's certainly nice but my eyes hurt looking at it. I've gotten used to polished and seamless edges in games and movies that I can't go back to this.
If you’re worn down by micro transactions and PVP, your antidote is indie and AA games that sell for $25 or less.
They deserve your money.
Good graphics are nice to have, but I've never not played a game if it doesn't have amazing graphics.
Art style always trumps graphics for me.
Great example: Startcraft 2.
That game wasn't cutting edge when it came out and now it's over 10 years old. But it still looks amazing, because of the art style.
Also, if you wanna see some great retro style games, check out Prodeus and Core Decay. This one is still in development, but I chomping at the bit to play it.
I see halo 3 mods on yt where they put weapons from the newer games in halo 3 and look better
This video is the perfect sales pitch for Sony to convince them to make a 120+ fps Bloodborne Remaster
I hate the gaming community…. It’s not this or that. Graphics or gameplay, etc
For $70 we need to demand good graphics and good gameplay, good graphics and good art direction, good graphics and amazing story.. we need to demand the full package or nothing at all
have you completed red dead 2 yet?
Lunistice and Parking Garage Rally Circuit are two more great PS1/Dreamcast style modern games.
Nonexistent or weak-to-mid fidelity, but stunning art direction (including older games):
- everything Fromsoftware
- everything Nintendo (except Pokemon, mostly)
- Greek saga God of War (especially 2)
- Outer Wilds
- Dishonored games
- Witcher 3
- Persona 5
- Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (seriously, this game's a gem)
Games with (relatively) strong fidelity AND art direction:
- Doom Eternal
- God of War (2018) and Ragnarok
- Horizon: Zero Dawn and Forbidden West
- Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
- Lies of P
all these games mentioned have good graphics...
Great video!
If you allow me a shameless self promotion here, feel free to check the indie game Europa, especially if you enjoy stylized adventure platformers, you might like it.
Auto Mobillista (ps2)
It's a loop. They spend so much making it look amazing that they then go hunting after every demographic and throw everything at the game in the hope it turns a profit. Gameplay is literally all that matters. Minecraft looks like absolute ass and sells whilst so many polished triple A games die on day 1.
Think i commented too late on your last video so my comment got a bit lost but here is what i think is a really good list of game recommendations
I've been having a lot of the issues you have been talking about in the last few videos so I've really moved to more single player and indie games and haven't looked back
These are some of the best games I've played in the last few years
rogue company (seems kinda low budget but idk if its just me but the fun factor is off the charts)
friends vs friends (one of my favorite game concepts but net code is a bet strange)
Outer wilds (once in a life time game haha)
It takes 2 (10/10)
a short hike (10/10)
Deaths Door (10/10)
Firewatch (10/10)
Phychonauts 2 (10/10)
ratchet and clank rift apart (10/10)
Sunstet overdrive bit old but really dam fun
roboquest (if you want to turn of you brain and have the time of your life)
life is strange
batman arkham games
circuit superstars
sifu
splinter cell blacklist spy vs mercs multiplayer (You'll probs never play it again but is such a fun game if you have friends to play with)
Not for everyone but the mind games you can have when you get really good at fighting games is very fun (mk, streefighter, teken)
Halo 3 was the best halo and it’s from 2007 graphics doesn’t matter that much
team fortress 2