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[Klik]

Last 4 years has really been a disappointement in terms of graphics and level design overall. Feels like every new AAA game is basically just a PS4 upgrade.So much hype about SSD/Ryzen CPU for nothing.


Just seems like we're gonna have to wait for PS6/XboxNext to get true Unreal Engine 5 games

 

[Majormaxxx]

I think you are mostly right

 

[JimmyRustler]

Thanks to the upcoming PS5 pro I doubt even that. Next gen will only be a marginal improvement again.
The times where new games wowed is is gone.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

No. The PS6 pro will be the ealiest time for next gen games. Unless you accept that next gen is VR and then I have no idea when or if we will ever get a next gen game.

 

[asdasdasdbb]

GTA 6 might be the only one.

 

[Carmen Winstead]

Starfield already released, wdym?

 

[RoboFu]

You will always be waiting.

 

[Hot5pur]

We kinda hit the point of diminishing returns on graphics a while ago.
Is cyberpunk with pathtracing not next Gen enough?

 

[AV]

This is diminishing returns and the computer-fication of consoles in action. We should really have just had a "PS5 Pro Plus" in 2020 and a PS6 about now, but that would have been absurd.

Console generations are practically meaningless now, and you can't have the same kinds of defining leaps you used to ever again. UE5 is neat, but does it really look that much better than RDR2, a game released almost 6 years ago that's still one of the gold standards of graphical fidelity, and ran on hardware from 2013? Chasing that dragon is a fruitless endeavour. We've long reached the point of "enough" graphics.

Whether we like it or not, AI will be the sort of thing you look at for the idea of "next gen". Not how much realistic looking crap is on the screen at once.

 

[Mokus]

Other than the RT, even on PC we don't see much of innovations in games. Not sure if the next gen PS6 will bring what you are wishing for in terms of generational leaps.

 

[midnightAI]

Whats 'true' next gen games? You have to define what you think is true next gen, you have to be more specific (for me there are already 'true' next gen games, SpiderMan 2 for example doesn't have any mode to turn off ray tracing so it couldn't be done on previous gen, the sheer density of the world in Forbidden West (and that cloud rendering...), the entire look of Ratchet and Clank as well as the super fast loading/portals etc. (those can be faked last gen, but not in the way that Rift Apart does it), CyberPunk with its path tracing, Hellblade 2 looks very impressive so far (although seems to be VERY linear/scripted, but still, using loads of next gen UE5 features))

 

[Zheph]

Op, its probably time to wake up

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

I swear some of you guys really need to convert to Judaism. Endlessly waiting for the messiah is probably a more sensible undertaking.

 

[Team Andromeda]

Play Flight Sim and see next-gen console graphics

 

[three_muffins]

Define "Next Gen" Game

 

[Spyxos]

The days of big leaps in graphics are probably over. The next gen won't look much different from the current one.

 

[NeoGiffer]

GTA 6 might be the only one.

 

[MonkeyClaw36]

Other than the RT, even on PC we don't see much of innovations in games. Not sure if the next gen PS6 will bring what you are wishing for in terms of generational leaps.

Proper use of tessalation and Nanite tech can really make a game stand out. PC's have the power to use it but on-one wants to risk it I guess with the old U5 engine.

Cant wait for a proper UE5.4 game. Robocop actually blew me away graphics wise and it was an UE5 game made by a B Tier studio. (though I did need a ReShade for color accuracy).

Tell me this doesn't look amazing.

 

[Banjo64]

Play the games not the consoles. Games feeling like PS4 games still is a reflection on the devs and what they prioritise. Find some other studios that give you feelings of joy.

 

[Three]

Last 4 years has really been a disappointement in terms of graphics and level design overall.

Graphics have improved but what exactly did you expect to happen to level design this gen outside of no loading screens? We had games where the no loading screens were there right from the start

Returnal, Ratchet and Clank, even Demon's Souls felt much better to play even though the level design wasn't changed.

 

[Hudo]

I think it's time to not only look at graphics to judge whether games are next-gen or not. This is why we essentially had no real advancements in AI or level design or systems interaction or procedural systems since the PS360 era. All the fucking resources go into graphics. And then you get shit like the new God of War games, that look really good but play even worse than the original ones.

The last recent game that did something that felt "next-gen" to me was Tears of the Kingdom and it's physics system and how robust it is and how it can interact with the world. Maybe Judas will be the next game that actually tries something "next-gen" with the composable story blocks (afaik).

I very much like to see advancements in AI of NPCs and enemies. Games still have not developed significantly from the level of Halo 1 and Fear when it comes to AI behavior. Which is quite sad. And for all the shit that Star Citizen rightfully gets, its procedural generation systems are actually quite "next-gen".

 

[Punished Miku]

Hellblade 2 is next month. Marvel 1943 is next year, and it's possible Gears 6 is as well. All Unreal 5 games. Avowed is also this year and Unreal 5. It has some nice looking environments that I think will surprise people a little bit, but it seems less focused on pushing graphics than the above 3 games likely will. Black Myth Wukong is coming soon, Unreal 5. I think Stalker 2 is.

I'm sure you'll see some kind of large leap from PS 1st party studios as well with their own engines during the last 2 years of their console. Naughty Dog, Bend, Bluepoint, etc.

 

[saintjules]

UE5 is neat, but does it really look that much better than RDR2, a game released almost 6 years ago that's still one of the gold standards of graphical fidelity, and ran on hardware from 2013? Chasing that dragon is a fruitless endeavour. We've long reached the point of "enough" graphics.

I mean I circle back to these where graphically they look way better than anything I've seen so far this generation. Of course not playable, but if UE is the tool for devs to make games like this in the next generation or so, then there's more to be seen imo. But it also depends on the dev's capabilities in reaching this level of fidelity.





I guess Wukong is the next one to showcase more of the UE5 engine.



More

 

[Portugeezer]

AAA games take so long now, so yes.

 

[ThisIsMyDog]

PS6 will be all about machine learning, AI agents NPC and so on, i dont think you going to see much better graphics than on PS5.

 

[FunkMiller]

The days of graphical or gameplay leaps are over.

Largely because greed from the games companies requires games to now come out on as many platforms as possible, no matter how weak they are.

 

[Alan Wake]

Yeah, I haven't been blown away this gen. It's been slow and without surprises so far. This far in into the PS360 generation we had had BioShock, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect and other new franchises that were impressive at the time.

 

[AV]

I mean I circle back to these where graphically they look way better than anything I've seen so far this generation. Of course not playable, but if UE is the tool for devs to make games like this in the next generation or so, then there's more to be seen imo. But it also depends on the dev's capabilities in reaching this level of fidelity.

Yeah, I certainly remember being impressed at the top one - there's ways for realistic graphics to move forward and will be until it's indistinguishable from a photo, it just feels like resting too much expectation on that is a silly endeavour when you already have games that look like RDR2. The diminishing returns really kicked in this cycle and these gaps get narrower and narrower.

The police bodycam games look really cool, until you realise that they only work because they imitate a bodycam so well, not the human eye, so it's only going to really work for a very limited scope of games.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Regret to inform you that we'll see those kinds of games less and less.

They're too expensive to make, and a lot of visual quality these days relies more on artistic prowess than tech.

 

[Klik]

Thanks to the upcoming PS5 pro I doubt even that. Next gen will only be a marginal improvement again.
The times where new games wowed is is gone.

Well all those UE5 showcases look amazing so there's still lot of room for improvement for this gen

 

[Metnut]

Cyberpunk, Plagues Tale Requiem, FF16, Forbidden West all look next gen to me.

 

[Banjo64]

Graphics have improved but what exactly did you expect to happen to level design this gen outside of no loading screens? We had games where the no loading screens were there right from the start

Returnal, Ratchet and Clank, even Demon's Souls felt much better to play even though the level design wasn't changed.

We had no loading screens on the N64.

 

[crackajack]

RT is a mistake for these consoles, costs too much for little gains. Very much like shadows with Doom3 and Fear or several AA solutions it will eventually get somewhere, but now it is barely viable on a 4090. Any other visual evolution was nice but also hardly noticeable compared with the frontrunners running not even on Pro but on the PS4 amateur. 60 fps is great though. Just is not advertisable on screenshots. Trying to wow with graphics just doesn't work anymore. Also tech demos years before any game coming close don't help either.
I'd even guess that physics improved a bit, but also hardly noticeable.

What we really lack are games that astonish with feeling like new genres, or just a new stab at something that failed before, ie maybe even possible on past gen(s) but nobody thought of it, or it needed the technical progress to finally make more sense, be more presentable. We had QTE games and or Telltale games and I think Detroit is the most polished one so far, with actual choices and diverging paths after very linear Walking Dead and questionably written Fahrenheit. Twin stick shooters were a rather small new thing (Geometry Wars of course, but also Dead Nation and Alienation, but are just gone?) We also got some walking simulators that were imho impressive, eg What remains of Edith Finch. Also the Battle Royale mode became a genre and alongside with it GaaS whatever that even is supposed to entail. This gen seemingly nothing happened other than short loading times and smooth framerates???

Current gen is arguably better than ever, but just stale (also due to AAA going towards risk free approaches sometimes missing customer tastes by a mile by doing so, so utterly failing) and lacking innovation which should be possible on a much befier CPU than Cell and Jaguar were.

 

[lh032]

Please further elaborate "true" next gen games0?

You want games to run at 720p sub30fps on consoles?

 

[Punished Miku]

Twin stick shooters were a rather small new thing (Geometry Wars of course, but also Dead Nation and Alienation, but are just gone?)

Pick up the Ascent. Not only a twin stick game, but extremely impressive graphically.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Quest 3 FTW

 

[Killjoy-NL]

True next-gen gaming always starts next gen.

 

[Three]

We had no loading screens on the N64.

True but what did he expect to change exactly this gen in terms of level design? Why does he expect it to change with PS6/Xbox Next? If there was going to be a change in level design it's happened now this gen with no loading area/time via the fast storage shift, even if N64 was fast storage too.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

The sad thing is the overall concept of "true next-gen games" being the same games with better graphics.

No, having "only" better graphics is no next-gen, just in case it needs clarification.

Better side quests, better level design, no moronic map indicators, more interactions with the world, innovative gameplay, better sound design...

The list could go on. But people won't stop talking about graphical gimmicks.

 

[buenoblue]

What you on about dude . This is the gen. It is what it is. By the time Ps6 is out PC will be on 200+ teraflops . If you want the best go pc

 

[RoboFu]

My question is why do you want ultra realistic graphics?

 

[Edmund]

I buy and play my games without worrying or thinking if they are next gen or not. I just play them and enjoy.

 

[SmokedMeat]

The only big leaps I expect to see are within VR.

Graphically I’m happy with where we are. I’d like to see a bigger focus on physics and AI.

 

[Dutchy]

Yes, I also cannot wait to play (generic blockbuster game) in an even higher resolution, and with even more on-screen particles! As those are two of the very few metrics that define a good game.

 

[Sethbacca]

I've said it in other threads before, but it's going to continue being a problem for devs pushing for photo realism. Devs would be better off going the Nintendo route and finding some good art direction rather than simply trying to make everything look real. If they did this they'd still have plenty of CPU/GPU to add some flash to make it feel sufficiently next gen with added effects and gameplay. Generative AI may change this entirely, but it remains to be seen.

The real problem is that an above average but not amazing looking game that plays really well doesn't have enough flash to sell in screenshots and videos.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Next gen we will get enhanced PS5 games at first.
Which I think will be much better than the enhanced PS4 games we got this gen.

 

[analog_future]

Last 4 years has really been a disappointement in terms of graphics and level design overall. Feels like every new AAA game is basically just a PS4 upgrade.So much hype about SSD/Ryzen CPU for nothing.


Just seems like we're gonna have to wait for PS6/XboxNext to get true Unreal Engine 5 games

We already have all kinds of games that look miles beyond what the PS4 generation was capable of.

 

[Sneakysnake]

Nope. Hellblade 2 comes out in a few weeks

 

[JackMcGunns]

We see the same loop every generation. That being said, lots of amazing things right now and to come. Hellblade 2 will be offerring a ton of eye candy in the next couple of weeks and it's just the beginning.

 

[diffusionx]

I don't think games have advanced much beyond late PS3 era, and even regressed in some ways - Battlefield 2042 was a less advanced and dynamic game than Bad Company 2, for example. It just is what it is. The graphics are a lot better though.