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Games with Gorgeous Skyboxes

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SEGA's iconic, dream-like skies.
 
The first ones to come to mind have all been mentioned but what the heck.

Battlefront - the skyboxes really complete the maps and make them feel huge. Jakku is especially impressive in motion due to the utterly massive battle raging in the sky with thousands of laser fire particles and a ship here and there falling from above.
The Witcher 3 - their cloud tech is stunning, especially combined with sunsets and sunrises.

Destiny - basically every area has a great skybox but Venus and the Dreadnaught take the cake.
Halo: Reach - I think this still wins my favorite skyboxes, even of Bungie's many incredible skyboxes. Every level is glorious to look at.

Though this is really Bungie's thread. Halo 3 - also just remembered a few of its many stunning skyboxes.


Mass Effect series also has some really great skyboxes. The Shadow Broker ship for one and in 3 the view of Palaven.

 
There's a lot of mention for Halo (rightfully so), how did Halo 5 this year do for skyboxes?

Have yet to play it myself, imagine they're pretty great.
 
2 pages and no MGSV? Did I miss something? Game is gorgeous.

Edit: I guess the skybox itself is kind of shitty but the lighting makes it look phenomenal.
 
Witcher 3 sky boxes are fucking impressive. I was taken aback when I saw my first sunset.

Battlefront also has great sky boxes, and looks insane in-general.
 
The first ones to come to mind have all been mentioned but what the heck.

Battlefront - the skyboxes really complete the maps and make them feel huge. Jakku is especially impressive in motion due to the utterly massive battle raging in the sky with thousands of laser fire particles and a ship here and there falling from above.

The Witcher 3 - their cloud tech is stunning, especially combined with sunsets and sunrises.


Destiny - basically every area has a great skybox but Venus and the Dreadnaught take the cake.

Halo: Reach - I think this still wins my favorite skyboxes, even of Bungie's many incredible skyboxes. Every level is glorious to look at.


Though this is really Bungie's thread. Halo 3 - also just remembered a few of its many stunning skyboxes.



Mass Effect series also has some really great skyboxes. The Shadow Broker ship for one and in 3 the view of Palaven.

This post wins.


Battlefront is impressive because the skyboxes don't seem lower quality than the rest of the game. It is all cohesive. Especially at 4K, it looks like you could fly right up to those star destroyers and into their docking bays.
 
Witcher 3 was already said, so I'll go with Destiny and Mass Effect 1.

Say what you want about Destiny, but Bungie are very excellent at making skyboxes

And despite the repetitive planet designs in Mass Effect 1, the skyboxes were nice to look at.
 
For me it's all of Bungies skyboxes as you can see from the pictures other people have posted

And the Battle of Jakku map in Battlefront with it's animated skyboxes of star destroyers falling looks fantastic
 
Are those PC shots cause damn Rage still looks better than a lot of current games.

Actually the game has aged terribly.


It was one of the first games I booted up when I got my new rig and 4KTV, thinking the megatextures would benefit from the 4K display, at least for long range vistas.


Boy was I wrong. Game looks like absolute garbage these days. Runs well though.
 
There's a lot of mention for Halo (rightfully so), how did Halo 5 this year do for skyboxes?

Have yet to play it myself, imagine they're pretty great.

They are alright. There wasn't a lot that really stood out as being amazing or anywhere near Bungie's levels. That said Halo 5 is really good at putting ships (both giant ships and small ships but lots of them) in the sky and moving them around, but I don't think that really qualifies as a skybox.

Stuff like this:
 
Actually the game has aged terribly.


It was one of the first games I booted up when I got my new rig and 4KTV, thinking the megatextures would benefit from the 4K display, at least for long range vistas.


Boy was I wrong. Game looks like absolute garbage these days. Runs well though.

Ha oh man really. It looks so good in tiny img computer form.
 
I can't believe no one's mentioned Red Dead Redemption! I guess GTA5's kinda superseded it, but I haven't played that yet, so...

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I'm also still amazed by Just Cause 2. Screenshots don't do it justice, you have to see the sunsets in motion. I LOVE the thick clouds that would roll through, the unbelievable range of vivid colors the sky would transition through, how it all just looks so endless... Ugh, this freaking game.

I think it's a lot easier to handcraft a skybox that looks really good but doesn't change, than to create something completely dynamic that can change this much and still look so good in basically every situation:

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cant find a gif of the super star destoyer crashing on the battle of jakku map in battlefront but its by far the best sky box event ive ever seen
 
I'm also still amazed by Just Cause 2. Screenshots don't do it justice, you have to see the sunsets in motion. I LOVE the thick clouds that would roll through, the unbelievable range of vivid colors the sky would transition through, how it all just looks so endless... Ugh, this freaking game.

I think it's a lot easier to handcraft a skybox that looks really good but doesn't change, than to create something completely dynamic that can change this much and still look so good in basically every situation:

And yet somehow, Just Cause 3 doesn't look as good in this regard. I was playing it and wondering why I wasn't as blown away by the views and maybe this is the reason why.

Damn this thread is making me want Mad Max, those shots look great!!

If you play on PC its in the steam sale now for about $15.
 
MGSV had an impressive skybox, not as artistic as some of the games in this thread but still great looking nonetheless.
 
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