analog_future
Resident Crybaby
Gotta say, Hell is Us is robbed yet again. This game is criminally underrated at this point.
Some of my shots:
Some of my shots:
Digital Foundry's Best Game Graphics of 2025
- Thread starter daclynk
- Start date
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Not sure if it was you, or someone else posted a comparison between enemy models in Eternal and Dark Ages, Eternal's models look so cartoony and brightly colored by comparison.
I guess some folks like that kind of aesthetic but to say Eternal, as a whole, looks better then Dark Ages is pretty funny.
T4keD0wN
Member
Ive played it at launch and didnt think much of it, replayed recently since theyve added PT and it looked amazing. Makes a big difference, but obviously it not as enourmous as comparing no RT at with full RT.
Eternal has good artstyle, but graphically looks very dated by comparison, even with RT.
Metroid Prime 4 is beautiful.
F
FalconPunch
I won.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Two totally different goals in their art directions.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Shadows pushes technical prowess, Yotei pushes artistic prowess. Both have their ups and downs, but from a sheer technical point of view, I can see why DF would rate Shadows higher.
analog_future
Resident Crybaby
That wasn't me, but yeah, they aren't even close.
This comparison doesn't even have PT enabled in The Dark Ages:
Gaiff
SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Well, yeah. Shadows at its best is on PC running on a 5090. GOY at its best is on the PS5 Pro. There are simply things limiting GOY that Shadows can simply overcome with much faster hardware.
yamaci17
Member
i'm pretty sure ac shadows on ps5 pro would still look better than GOY on ps5 pro though
you get that nice 4k output with around 1500p internal resolution that is decent enough for their custom TAAU to look decent. you get specular reflections which adds a lot to the presentation
i think PSSR also looks great on that game so there's that too
Bojji
Member
It's much more impressive.
Baemono
Member
Wow I didn't realize Doom Eternal looked this last gen.That wasn't me, but yeah, they aren't even close.
This comparison doesn't even have PT enabled in The Dark Ages:
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
They have officially gone full retard. I thought picking Indiana Jones over Hellblade 2 last year was retarded but Doom over AC Shadows? DOOM?
And thats not even the worst part. John goes on this big speech trying to justify inclusion of his retarded 2D games and Switch games, and im like ok, you want to give them honorable mentions because of art design or whatever hardware they were built on, fine. But then they left out literally the best Art Direction winner at the TGA Expedition 33. They leave out South of Midnight, one of the most original and beautiful looking games of the year. They leave out Kingdom Come 2, arguably the most beautiful open world created this year.
Like what the fuck are these guys even doing? Are they trying to be edge like Edge and just make retarded choices every year? Or are they really this fucking stupid. NO Doom and AC Shadows are NOT equal just because both do virtualized geometry and hardware RT. There is more to graphics than fucking feature checklists. Fucking Ghosts 2 has RTGI, does that mean the lighting in both AC shadows and Doom are the same? Of course not. And there is a reason why Doom is running at 60 fps on consoles with RTGI, it looks last gen as fuck. Put it next to Eternal and you wont be able to tell the difference you fucking buffoons.
Retarded Foundry.
And thats not even the worst part. John goes on this big speech trying to justify inclusion of his retarded 2D games and Switch games, and im like ok, you want to give them honorable mentions because of art design or whatever hardware they were built on, fine. But then they left out literally the best Art Direction winner at the TGA Expedition 33. They leave out South of Midnight, one of the most original and beautiful looking games of the year. They leave out Kingdom Come 2, arguably the most beautiful open world created this year.
Like what the fuck are these guys even doing? Are they trying to be edge like Edge and just make retarded choices every year? Or are they really this fucking stupid. NO Doom and AC Shadows are NOT equal just because both do virtualized geometry and hardware RT. There is more to graphics than fucking feature checklists. Fucking Ghosts 2 has RTGI, does that mean the lighting in both AC shadows and Doom are the same? Of course not. And there is a reason why Doom is running at 60 fps on consoles with RTGI, it looks last gen as fuck. Put it next to Eternal and you wont be able to tell the difference you fucking buffoons.
Retarded Foundry.
analog_future
Resident Crybaby
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yamaci17
Member
it's not at all controversial that someone can choose doom over ac shadows. they're close enough that it comes down to preference. doom is better than ac shadows in terms of cutscene direction and lighting (with path tracing). that guy was salty about indiana jones requiring path tracing to reach its proper graphics potential since his poor 3080 couldn't run it at the time, now that he has a 5080, you would expect him to walk back that mindset but yeah, certain things never change. maybe doom dark ages requiring more than 16GB VRAM at 4K with frame generation, path tracing and ultra settings made him salty again
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Don't forget Control 2, which will sure be in the top 3So did Death stranding beat Hellblade 2 or is it still the King till now?
Anyway..
Congrats microsoft last year it was indy jones and hellblade 2
This year it's DOOM The Dark Ages at # 1
Can't wait for 2026
Gears E-Day
Horizon 6
wolverine from sony
GTA 6
I can tell right now GTA 6 will win! xD
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Here are some games that werent even good enough for honorable mentions even though a bunch of ugly switch 2 got mentioned.
it does. rtgi is neat i guess, but yotei carried by art direction and style mostly. it looks good and is the better game by far, but not doing anything crazy tech wise.
got was the same for its gen too.
Judge Magister
Gold Member
MGSΔ got destroyed by some because bad optimization/performance but it's a very pretty game.
I don't know the criteria here. We're mixing performance with art direction with graphics power here.
For example Metroid Prime 4 has beautiful art direction, but i would not think about it as a graphic powerhouse.
Definitely AVOWED has visually stellar places. I want understand that these games are not in the list or in honorable mentions because have some or very inconsistencies visually and performance?Here are some games that werent even good enough for honorable mentions even though a bunch of ugly switch 2 got mentioned.
Then, if the reason why Switch games are in the list is "artistic"..... There is games that can be in the list better than Metroid. KDC2, South of Midnigt, Keeper, E33, .....
Buggy Loop
Gold Member
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Generational difference here.That wasn't me, but yeah, they aren't even close.
This comparison doesn't even have PT enabled in The Dark Ages:
That is, if you are going from Wii U to Switch.
JimmyRustler
Member
Just booted Kingdom Come 2 on the PC earlier and to say that I'm baffled it's not even on the list would be an understatement.
analog_future
Resident Crybaby
I can't speak for the console version of The Dark Ages, but I've played both AC Shadows and The Dark Ages maxed out on PC and I prefer DOOM
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Here are some games that werent even good enough for honorable mentions even though a bunch of ugly switch 2 got mentioned.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Artistic is code for 'we know they look like shit but we are nintendo fanboys and want these fugly looking ps2 era games on our list'.
Like you said, Avowed, South of Midnight etc have some of the best art design in games this year and they didnt even warrant honorable mentions?
I really liked the screenshots you posted in the Graphics thread earlier this year.
I don't know how many of you here have played or are playing South of Midnight... To me, it's a great visual surprise, often indistinguishable from a moving picture or animated film.
It doesn't do any technical wonders, but the whole package is very complete, with exceptional IQ, excellent HDR, 60fps and perfect lighting for the artistic look. Really a BEAUTIFULL game.
The artistic level and the lighting both indoors and outdoors have made me fall in love.
Here are some screenshots. Some hidden to avoid spoiler so as not to overload the page.
Buggy Loop
Gold Member
I'll agree on one thing in the thread and I'm even playing it in the last days, Metroid Prime 4 doesn't deserve to be there.
Even Keeper would make more sense, among many other games
MP4 can look good sometimes but it's really inconsistent
Even Keeper would make more sense, among many other games
MP4 can look good sometimes but it's really inconsistent
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
They gotta throw in a switch game or two for the SEO, I guess.
I'm just glad Silent Hill f is there.
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SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
OMG, i just realized they didnt even put Keeper in there. I am all outraged out. literally exhausted. idiots.
San Dan Glokta
Member
Gollum
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Avowed, Outer Worlds 2, Keeper, Hell Is Us, Black Hawk Down, MGS3, Arc Raiders, Ninja Gaiden 2 remake, Borderlands 2 are all UE5 titles that deserved mentions over the switch 2 and 2d garbage they've put on there. but it seems like they were already upset at having to include 3 UE5 games in their list and decided to stop at that.Gotta say, Hell is Us is robbed yet again. This game is criminally underrated at this point.
Some of my shots:
The hate for UE5 is so ridiculous. Especially when they have zero issues rewarding Path tracing games that cant be experienced on consoles, and yet despite the fact that 99% of UE5 titles run just fine on PCs, they make excuses because those games cant well at high resolutions at 60 fps. Bitch, this is a graphics discussion, does it run well at 30 fps on consoles? If yes, then who cares?
yamaci17
Member
it is even more hilarious when you consider he called avowed's art style ugly over and over again
well i guess this game has ugly art style but great art design. i guess it is great at being ugly then?
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SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
And dont call me daddy.
Ok papi, you came into this thread with the rage of a thousand suns, lol. Take it easy !
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
I dont think Nintendo gives two shits about these guys. their marketing budget doesnt even include astroturfing. This is just John pulling rank. He does this every yea inserting games that dont deserve to be there knowing full well richard isnt there to keep him in check. I fully expected that dumb 2d shooter in there, along with metroid. Its more fanboyism than business.
Business mostly affects their reviews where they fawn and glaze over cross gen-ish games just to get some developer interviews and get in their good graces for future content and trips to studios. they did this with indy last year, and doom and ghost 2 this year. As for Nintendo games, I really do believe they think metroid looks good enough to be in the top ten because they are including 2d games from the 50s in there as well.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
It's not Nintendo. It's SEO engagement from gamers.
The_Observer
Member
Doom TDA is the biggest disappointment to me, especially graphics-wise. Despite being current-gen only, on ps5 it looks worse than Eternal and 2016 due to bad image quality and RT adds absolutely nothing, it was a waste of performance. Imagine how it could look if this worthless RT was not their goal. This game didn't need it at all, because we needed better designed levels not bigger. The previous games had much better level design.
Whereas AC Shadows is a fully nextgen game which still amazes me after 100 hours. 1st place deserved.
Haven't played DS2 enough to decide yer, but what I saw so far was impressive as well.
Whereas AC Shadows is a fully nextgen game which still amazes me after 100 hours. 1st place deserved.
Haven't played DS2 enough to decide yer, but what I saw so far was impressive as well.
The_hunter
Gold Member
E33 was not on this list
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Senua
Member
Nope they had Nintendo games to prioritise!
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
xenosys
Member
Art direction and graphics are two entirely different things.