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[Merchandise]

To me, games that are visually appealing have like such a low bar to clear for me to enjoy them. If it's fun to look at, I feel all the more motivated to play. Perhaps I've been having trouble finishing Nier: Automata in part because I find it so boring to look at. Here's a few examples of games I think are gorgeous. Post your own, preferably with a screenshot or two! There have been similar threads like this in the past, but all with some kind of caveat (terrible graphics but great art, vice versa, whatever).

We Happy Few: Honestly like as close to an "ideal" art style for me as you can get. Love how colorful it is and how the architecture and environments all just look like paintings. Even the character design is great - the white face paint is so simple but it adds a really great flair. Seriously, this game is beautiful. Click here for more screenshots and click here for a quick video that highlights some more of the art (was just uploaded today).

Life is Strange: I feel like the art style of this game is somewhat like a poor man's WHF, but I still like it. The aesthetic is just... quaint. And I know a lot of people hate chromatic aberration, but I really like it honestly.

Persona 5: I mean, I don't even think I need to explain this one. It's just incredibly loud but it fits the world so well. I think the only thing I'd criticize about this game is how in cutscenes there are those rounded black bars on the top and bottom of the screen, but I also can't deny that they add even more unique flair to the game. Ok, I guess maybe also in some of the locales (Yongenjaya specifically) are visually dull.

Firewatch: I think this one makes it pretty clear that the kind of art I like from the previous games all fall into a somewhat similar category, with Persona 5 being the most different.

 

[Rmagnus]

Anything by vanillaware.

 

[Neoleo2143]

Probably the Wind Waker. It's like a cartoon brought to life in all of its personality. It's easily readable with nice color coding, it animates water beautifully, actually the animation work, in general, is pretty excellent.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

Breath of the Wild is pretty solid.

 

[Earthbound64]

Chrono Trigger

 

[Omega Kirby]

Ori and the blind forest type art style for 2D games

 

[Fou-Lu]

For some reason I absolutely love the art style of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, like everything else about the game. I am not sure I would call it my 'ideal' art style though. Project Re:Fantasy from Atlus is looking mighty fine in the concept art, the Persona artist on a fantasy IP is a dream.

 

[Merchandise]

Ori and the blind forest type art style for 2D games

Similarly the UbiArt Rayman games, yeah.

 

[Vital Tundra]

Anything that isn't photo-realism, really. Have always loved cartoons and more abstract design. I adore Wind Wakers art style as well as Skyward Swords and Breath of the Wilds. Patapons art style has always stuck with me as well as Katamari. I just loooove non realistic stuff.

 

[VlaudTheImpaler]

I'm pretty art panoptic BUT...

I <3 Sunset Overdrive.

 

[ItsTheNew]

Love this style

 

[NMFried]

Wind Waker, Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild.

 

[Merchandise]

Anything that isn't photo-realism, really. Have always loved cartoons and more abstract design. I adore Wind Wakers art style as well as Skyward Swords and Breath of the Wilds. Patapons art style has always stuck with me as well as Katamari. I just loooove non realistic stuff.

I don't think photorealism is really a turnoff. Like, Uncharted 4 is pretty gorgeous.

Love this style

What is that from?

 

[Alxjn]

Loved Dishonored 2's style.

 

[TheVBkid]

I really love and appreciate the pixel art/animations in metal slug games.

 

[mindsale]

I'll make a VanillaWare threepeat. Them's some talented artists.

 

[Deimo5]

What is that from?

Dragon's Crown. Vanillaware games generally look like this.

 

[veloxStrix]

Super Mario Paper

The Unfinished Swan

Journey

I don't like realism. Or maybe I do like realism, but I certainly don't love it. Video games aren't real so I can't stand the sham of trying to push them that direction. Abstraction that lets the developer control more details and allow the motifs and story to dip their hand into the creation of the world is something that fails to get the praise it deserves in comparison to things like DICE's visual replication. Sometimes you just need to acknowledge that your world isn't real to make it truly wonderful.

 

[PinballRJ]

Transistor has my favorite art and music of any modern game

 

[VlaudTheImpaler]

I haven't seen a game use it yet, but lately this artstyle is all that I have been jonesing for and has been on my mind constantly so if I had to choose one as my ideal style I could live with this in many different genres and types of games so this would be it.

Syd Mead.

 

[Merchandise]

Dragon's Crown. Vanillaware games generally look like this.

It looks like that in movement? Damn.

I haven't seen a game use it yet, but lately this artstyle is all that I have been jonesing for and has been on my mind constantly so if I had to choose one as my ideal style I could live with this in many different genres and types of games so this would be it.

Syd Mead.]

I get like a Jetsons vibe from those.

 

[Brutuspedia]

Not Nintendo, or childish.
Neither space marines and military.

Besides that, I'm happy with anything.

 

[Deleted member 325805]

Love Adam's design, the whole world was really well done.

 

[Syril]

It looks like that in movement? Damn.

Not like that specifically, that's just the backdrop for the character select screen, but it is the style that the in game graphics are done in. The actual game looks like this

 

[Sami+]

Sonic Unleashed is fucking beautiful underneath the low resolution and bad framerate on console:

This one's probably not a popular opinion but I really miss the grittier textures and more muted color palette of Smash Bros. Melee, Brawl, and Project M. I understand why people would prefer the characters' be truer to their respective series, but I always liked that Smash used to sort of take the different franchises and reimagine them in its own art style:

That said, Smash 4 looks nice still. But I'd be super happy to see an improvement on the art style in Melee and Brawl over the different approach Bamco took with 4.

 

[kagamin]

I love the environment design from the Etrian Odyssey series:

[IMG]http://sq-atlus.jp/ssq2/images/bg_main_visual.jpg[/IMG]

 

[Kthulhu]

Guilty Gear Xrd:

Absolutely amazing what they've done. Esspecially for the supers and instant kills.

Skullgirls:

Indivisible:

I love Lab Zero's artstyle and animation. I could stare at it all day.

 

[wartama]

I was going to say Ori and the Blind Forest, but it's already been said.

So I will say Super Mario Odyssey. Generally, I'm meh on the aesthetics of platforming Mario, but there's something about Odyssey that screams 'look at me'. Even the Mario model looks very good.

 

[MoonFrog]

Hmmm...idk.

A good cartoon look is hard to beat for me. I don't like a lot of "bog-standard" anime looks, but when they have more individual flavor, better taste, and stronger style, like, say, a Persona or SMT game...it really hits the spot. Zelda WW+ (and aLttP) also looks very nice to me, so a more old-school anime approach works well with me too. Dragon Quest is charming. So is Mario.

Heck, when I think about how I'd want to see Metroid in the future...one of the things that comes to mind is Nausicaa.

But...I like other things too.

I always felt the Metroid Prime games had really good art direction and world art.

Same with BioShock.

Same with Bloodborne.

Same with Final Fantasy post-VII.

Really strong art-direction/world-art that really comes together well is generally appealing to me.

 

[Strangelove77]

Anime, but not too anime

 

[nailbombxx]

This is going to be very cliche here on GAF, but Demon's/Dark Souls and Bloodborne are the closest games that have gotten to my my "ideal" aesthetic.

Dark Souls is all about high medieval fantasy with an atmosphere of gloomy dark romanticism: towering castles and cathedrals, crumbling ruins, great forests and dank dungeons. The world itself is filled with the supernatural: the undead, ghosts, dragons, demons, gods and goddesses. The world is metaphysical and mystical.

Bloodborne takes the dark romanticism of the Dark Souls games and places it into a more overtly Gothic and weird horror context - a spookier Victorian vibe. I can't get over how incredibly unique the environments and the enemy design in this game is.

 

[Merchandise]

Never played any DS/BB, but I do love how BB looks. And the recent DSIII DLC, with the like imploding castle and whatnot looked straight out of Inception and it was fantastic. (Like that shot where you fall through the world into a glass window.)

 

[BigEmil]

As far as simple colour palletes go, The Witness is my fave

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

Breath of the Wild.

A Zelda game has never looked this good both technically and and more importantly, artistically.

They finally got the perfect blend of realism and a cartoony look. The amazing use of colour gets major bonus points too!

 

[riskybusinesstomcruise]

I haven't seen a game use it yet, but lately this artstyle is all that I have been jonesing for and has been on my mind constantly so if I had to choose one as my ideal style I could live with this in many different genres and types of games so this would be it.

Syd Mead.

Mass Effect must be the closest right? I guess technically the Blade Runner PC game is closer...lol

 

[TheRedSnifit]

Dieselpunk. That dirty, futuristic WW1/WW2 look.

I would kill for a game like Battlefield 1 that takes place in some spaced-out version of WWI. Fight blimps with laser guns.

Spoiler

Battlefield 1, Killzone 2, Sine Mora, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Red Alert 3, Iron Harvest 1920+, Iron Harvest 1920+, Metal Slug

 

[rrs]

lowpoly

 

[HTupolev]

Halo, of the CE variety.

 

[Merchandise]

Dieselpunk. That dirty, futuristic WW1/WW2 look.



I would kill for a game like Battlefield 1 that takes place in some spaced-out version of WWI. Fight blimps with laser guns.

Does Death Stranding somewhat apply?

 

[CharminUltra]

Breath of the Wild's art style is the one that ticks all the boxes; it's a nice mix of cartoony and realistic. On the purely "realistic" side, Half Life and Portal had my favorite art styles.

As far as "cartoony" art styles, something like Mario 3D World is utter perfection for me.

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

Hard for me to really boil it down to a single game, but I'll say Horizon. It's realistic, but gorgeously color saturated. Idealistic, in representation. The animation system however is what really sells it to me. It's a game that's just stunning in motion, but really makes me want to hit the capture button.

Horizon makes me want a nice camera in real life lol.

I'm also a junkie for robust systems in games, and GG are technical wizards. The lighting and weather effects are just gorgeous.

Where's that Sunhi link when you need it lol.

 

[Deleted member 752119]

Slightly stylized realistic I guess I'd call it? Stuff like Horizon Zero Dawn.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Bloodborne, and Souls games. Dark fantasy/horror/gothic is the best.

Slain: Back From Hell also has insanely good pixel art in that kind of style.

This is going to be very cliche here on GAF, but Demon's/Dark Souls and Bloodborne are the closest games that have gotten to my my "ideal" aesthetic.

Good taste.

 

[Nightfall]

I've got several.

Overwatch's is really cool and nice to look at. Doesn't get old.

Darksiders because I love Joe Modureiras work

Wipeout because the design of the ships, teams and menus is absolutely perfect.

Persona 4 and 5 (though I probably prefer 4 a bit more).

And last but not least, the pinnacle of fighting game art: Street Fighter 3: Third Strike.
Everything about it is brilliant. From the character art to the sprite work, the animations. It's fantastic.
It was the high point of the series and it'll sadly never reach this greatness again.

 

[Triforce141]

Anime: Arc System Works' output with games like Blazblue and Guilty Gear, those character models do not show any sign of 3D modelling at all

Stylized CG: Sonic's Hedgehog Engine and Final Fantasy XV's Luminous Engine, they look so beautiful and are borderline CG from high budget movies (Both engines were directed by Yoshihisa Hashimoto)

2D: Ubisoft's UbiArt Framework engine, the Rayman games and Child of Light are real eye candy

 

[Merchandise]

Slightly stylized realistic I guess I'd call it? Stuff like Horizon Zero Dawn.

Hard for me to really boil it down to a single game, but I'll say Horizon. It's realistic, but gorgeously color saturated. Idealistic, in representation. The animation system however is what really sells it to me. It's a game that's just stunning in motion, but really makes me want to hit the capture button.

Horizon makes me want a nice camera in real life lol.

I'm also a junkie for robust systems in games, and GG are technical wizards. The lighting and weather effects are just gorgeous.

Where's that Sunhi link when you need it lol.

Horizon is actually one of the "realistic" looking games that I'm not impressed by. It looks great technically but for me it doesn't have personality like I would say UC4 does.

 

[TheRedSnifit]

Does Death Stranding somewhat apply?

Maybe. It's definitely got that everything-is-covered-in-grime look. Whether it "grounds" itself in that era is a different issue though.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

We've strayed.

 

[benicillin]

OP you listed pretty much all of my favorite ones, but I'm just going to throw The Wolf Among Us out there:

It totally nailed the soundtrack and visual style, they meshed so well. That awesome comic book neon. Easily Telltale's best still.

 

[Theosmeo]

One that fits well with the rest of the game, wind waker being easy and cutesy works great for example.

I actually hated the way life is strange looked. That pool scene ughhhhh