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[CowboyLou]

What are your top ten for this gen?

Off the top of my head and unordered:

Silent Hill 2
Avatar
Shadows
Jedi Survivor
SW Outlaws
Alan Wake II
Wukong
Hellblade 2
Callisto
Guardians of the Galaxy

I'm probably forgetting some big ones. A couple are a little older but I found super impressive when they released, like GotG. CP2077 PT I guess if that counts but you can see the cracks elsewhere in that game.

 

[CowboyLou]

Funny how everyone else in the world agrees with me and it's just the dozen or so different posters in this thread who all agree with each other.

Plenty of people in this thread have agreed time and time again that Yotei can come together to produce some very stunning scenes. That doesn't change the fact that its tech is cross-gen at best. I don't know why you refuse to understand this.

 

[Msamy]

I love everything about this game's look. the fog, the photorealistic texture work, the lighting. It's perfect.

The fact that team of 26 people's make this game with those graphics on ps5 and sony big first party studios like ND and SSM don't trust their games to show them alongside guerrilla switches to cartonish games, shows how pathetic those developers right now,, fuck hirman hulst

 

[Cumulus]

Funny how everyone else in the world agrees with me and it's just the dozen or so different posters in this thread who all agree with each other.

The mainstream doesn`t even know what an engine is let alone how to spot issues. If you go by "10 billion flies can`t err, eat shit" well, that fits your ...arguments... so far.
You still fail to differentiate between art and tech.

 

[Jam Dingo]

Plenty of people in this thread have agreed time and time again that Yotei can come together to produce some very stunning scenes. That doesn't change the fact that its tech is cross-gen at best. I don't know why you refuse to understand this.

Ok, quote them then. I haven't noticed any kind of balanced consensus. It seems remarkably negative overall.

Personally I'm not interested in tech per se. I'm interested in visual fidelity. And that is actually the explicit topic of this thread, btw. Insofar as tech aids visual fidelity, I'm all for it. Tech qua tech, not really interested.

 

[Jam Dingo]

The mainstream doesn`t even know what an engine is let alone how to spot issues. If you go by "10 billion flies can`t err, eat shit" well, that fits your ...arguments... so far.
You still fail to differentiate between art and tech.

Actually people who don't know tech really are probably the best judges of a game's graphics because they only see the results, and not the craft/tech.

And the result is what matters. Obviously they might miss nuance and might just tend to be less interested in aesthetics overall, but it certainly wouldn't be appropriate to just discount their views.

 

[Cumulus]

Actually people who don't know tech really are probably the best judges of a game's graphics because they only see the results, and not the craft/tech.

And the result is what matters. Obviously they might miss nuance and might just tend to be less interested in aesthetics overall, but it certainly wouldn't be appropriate to just discount their views.

You´re describing people who think the pinnacle of graphics is something like "Zelda BoTW" because "pretty and colorful".
For face value impressions that might not be a bad start if you also belong to that group, but this is pretty much a tech thread.
We do recognize if the art lets a technologically unimpressive game punch above their weight, but at the end of the day art is highly subjective as is the tolerance or rather the priorization of the tech.

 

[CowboyLou]

Ok, quote them then. I haven't noticed any kind of balanced consensus. It seems remarkably negative overall.

Personally I'm not interested in tech per se. I'm interested in visual fidelity. And that is actually the explicit topic of this thread, btw. Insofar as tech aids visual fidelity, I'm all for it. Tech qua tech, not really interested.

Ok quick search, looked at the first couple pages only:

There's such a discrepancy in Yotei between the background and foreground. Background looks amazing, painting like with accurate natural colors.
Foreground not so much and damn some of the rocks and cliffs geometry look like those marble quarries with chunks of straight blocks.

This video - I really don't know this dude, I found it randomly - also shows the physics and destruction vs Shadows very well. The water alone in Shadows is miles ahead of Yotei. I will say that the snow deformation at 1st glance looks the same or better in Yotei.

Alex praising certain elements of Yotei - how the scenes come together at a large scale - but rightfully calling out the PS4-level assets and micro detail.

Idk guys. I shat on Yotei as much as anyone. I just played the first 30 minutes and it blew me away if I'm being honest. AC Shadows is better in pure technical terms but Yotei just fucking destroys it artistically. It sounds like cope but this one definitely hits different when playing for yourself.

The GooseMan thinks Yotei blows AC Shadows away artistically but isn't crazy enough to think it's better technically.

I mean come on guys with Yotei there's really a lot to love over Tsushima. To me this is one of the best current gen games that merges art and tech in a phenomenal way. You wonder why so many people are choosing Yotei over Shadows? Because honestly you need to strike the right balance between both to get a truly stunning visual result. I looked at some shadows footage to compare and while it bests yotei in many technical areas such as environmental asset quality, it lacks big time in art direction and soul. It absolutely matters in the graphics thread.

Same with the Chief here. I usually roll my eyes when people bring up "art direction" and "soul" because they're fluffy meaningless terms, but hell, I can't even disagree. I'd take Yotei over Shadows too. But just like the previous guy, he's level-headed enough to admit Yotei is seriously lagging in many technical areas.

Ghost of Yotei is one of the most beautiful games I've ever seen, the problem is the last gen assets, animation etc.

The king of the thread himself.

I mean, look. Did it get more of a pile-on than it deserved? Maybe. But there's a lot of justified frustration at Sony dropping the ball this gen, Regardless, plenty of people are happy to admit the game is technically lacking while still creating some fantastic scenes.

 

[CowboyLou]

Hell there's even an old post from Slimy praising Yotei's draw distance management, if nothing else. Praise is usually given where it's due in here.

SlimySnake you haven't played much Yotei yet right? We're all dying for it

 

[Jam Dingo]

Ok quick search, looked at the first couple pages only:


Alex praising certain elements of Yotei - how the scenes come together at a large scale - but rightfully calling out the PS4-level assets and micro detail.


The GooseMan thinks Yotei blows AC Shadows away artistically but isn't crazy enough to think it's better technically.


Same with the Chief here. I usually roll my eyes when people bring up "art direction" and "soul" because they're fluffy meaningless terms, but hell, I can't even disagree. I'd take Yotei over Shadows too. But just like the previous guy, he's level-headed enough to admit Yotei is seriously lagging in many technical areas.


The king of the thread himself.

I mean, look. Did it get more of a pile-on than it deserved? Maybe. But there's a lot of justified frustration at Sony dropping the ball this gen, Regardless, plenty of people are happy to admit the game is technically lacking while still creating some fantastic scenes.

Dude, I didn't mean the reasonable people who barely post in this thread (presumably) because they're driven away by the fanatics. Obviously reasonable people say reasonable things. I mean the idiots who still constantly shit on it to this day, and form the general tenor of this thread.

And if you'd stop insinuating that I don't admit, or even that I'm incapable of admitting, that Yotei may not be as technically advanced in terms of the arbitrary use of the most recent techniques, please? I've said several times that Shadows, for instance, is technically better and indeed the best looking game I've ever played. Yotei has its faults, clearly. What I maintain is simply that it's beautiful to look at.

 

[Cumulus]

What I maintain is simply that it's beautiful to look at.

which is subjective because all objective technological factors are mediocre at best which then leaves scene composition and art.
That is the crux here. Discussing "art" ist kinda pointless as it`s not really measurable and just up to individual taste, just like how much the art for you personally can conceal technological shortcomings.

 

[Jam Dingo]

which is subjective because all objective technological factors are mediocre at best which then leaves scene composition and art.
That is the crux here. Discussing "art" ist kinda pointless as it`s not really measurable and just up to individual taste, just like how much the art for you personally can conceal technological shortcomings.

No, it leaves how it looks. And how it looks is basically equivalent to "graphical fidelity", and graphical fidelity is the topic of this thread. Therefore how something looks is, despite being somewhat subjective, the appropriate metric for discussion here.

 

[Cumulus]

No, it leaves how it looks. And how it looks is basically equivalent to "graphical fidelity", and graphical fidelity is the topic of this thread. Therefore how something looks is, despite being somewhat subjective, the appropriate metric for discussion here.

not for the last ~800pages.
And you still, after all this, fail to differentiate between objective tech and individual preference for the art and just pretend that lumping it all together under "look" is sufficient.
yeah...I´ll still go with "very wrong thread for you".
This is a tech thread, deal with it.

 

[CowboyLou]

not for the last ~800pages.
This is a tech thread, deal with it.

Shelling out for a PS5 only to get predominantly crossgen-tier first-party games this gen is something that is hard to come to terms with. As can be seen throughout this thread and elsewhere, it leads to some odd coping mechanisms.

 

[Cumulus]

Shelling out for a PS5 only to get predominantly crossgen-tier first-party games this gen is something that is hard to come to terms with. As can be seen throughout this thread and elsewhere, it leads to some odd coping mechanisms.

I´m not so sure it`s coping. A lot, or actually the vast majority, of people simply have no eye for tech. Heck if I could unsee all the flaws of baked lighting, low res RTGI, classic lod-transitions, draw distance etc etc etc and just be "this looks pretty" I´d probably save a lot on PC hardware

 

[SlimySnake]

Off the top of my head and unordered:

Silent Hill 2
Avatar
Shadows
Jedi Survivor
SW Outlaws
Alan Wake II
Wukong
Hellblade 2
Callisto
Guardians of the Galaxy

I'm probably forgetting some big ones. A couple are a little older but I found super impressive when they released, like GotG. CP2077 PT I guess if that counts but you can see the cracks elsewhere in that game.

yeah, thats pretty much the same as my list save for HFW and AC Shadows. Cant expect all of us to be in sync 100%. that would make this thread boring.

Hell there's even an old post from Slimy praising Yotei's draw distance management, if nothing else. Praise is usually given where it's due in here.

SlimySnake you haven't played much Yotei yet right? We're all dying for it

ive even sung praises of FF7 Rebirth and Death Stranding 2 here. i draw the line at people calling it the best engine.

 

[GymWolf]

Stay calm people

 

[CowboyLou]

yeah, thats pretty much the same as my list save for HFW and AC Shadows. Cant expect all of us to be in sync 100%. that would make this thread boring.

There's probably 15, max 20 titles this gen that can be taken seriously as "best visuals" so I see a lot of overlap in peoples' lists here, since the thread title implies a fairly objective standard (graphical fidelity) instead of "art direction" or "pretty" or whatever else people talk about. So it encourages a cold hard appraisal of game visuals and you end up with a somewhat objective consensus around the best. The fun after that is in dissecting the details.

If the thread title was different/more ambiguous then it might not have lasted as long as it has.

 

[GymWolf]

Isn't guardian of the galaxy past gen?

 

[CowboyLou]

Isn't guardian of the galaxy past gen?

Shit, you're right. I forgot it had a last gen version. I don't even remember what that looked like. The game was still absolutely stunning on PC though imo. Well some of the others I listed were technically cross-gen too so whatever. You look at a game like Callisto and you realize that being cross-gen doesn't have to be an excuse to hold back on the current-gen version's visuals.

 

[CowboyLou]

I'd probably replace something else on my list with Indy except the jungle area really shit the bed on visuals.

 

[kevboard]

an interesting branch of UE5 called Vite.
this targets to replace Lumen and UE5's doghsit chaos physics engine with DDGI + hardware RT and Physx respectively, which are both higher quality and higher performance.

this is based in a super early version of UE5 as well, it's almost essentially UE4 with some UE5 features and then the aforementioned changes to it on top of that.

 

[SlimySnake]

Isn't guardian of the galaxy past gen?

yeah, just like cyberpunk, horizon fw and callisto. jedi survivor was also ported to last gen so its technically cross gen as well.

Guardians looked absolutely stunning. It has its last gen areas, but i dont remember playing such a detailed looking game last gen. Its kinda like callisto in that they just went all out on the next gen versions making every single texture and model look detailed as fuck. Very good looking game by 2021 standards despite its shortcomings. I believe i ranked it third behind ratchet and re village that year.

 

[CowboyLou]

Guardians looked absolutely stunning. It has its last gen areas, but i dont remember playing such a detailed looking game last gen. Its kinda like callisto in that they just went all out on the next gen versions making every single texture and model look detailed as fuck. Very good looking game by 2021 standards despite its shortcomings. I believe i ranked it third behind ratchet and re village that year.

Yeah it's been surpassed since but for 2021 it was damn impressive and I felt it deserved a spot. Ratchet is one I haven't played, i should get on that.

 

[ResetEraVetVIP]

Funny how everyone else in the world agrees with me and it's just the dozen or so different posters in this thread who all agree with each other.

Most gamers are casual gamers and most people are low IQ statistically, not a good consensus.

 

[ResetEraVetVIP]

It was made but ResetEraVetVIP gave it the wrong title, so it died lol.

|OT| Social Opinion  Thread 'The Official Art In Video Games Thread'

Sep 6, 2025

It's me again, back with another highly requested thread. My other thread "Graphical Fidelity I Expect This Gen" is massive and spans multiple years, forums and includes input from the industry.

This thread is for art in video games, post examples, styles, favorites, art direction, beautiful screenshots etc.

• ResetEraVetVIP
• Replies: 37
• Forum: Gaming Discussion

• 
• 
• 
• 

 

[ResetEraVetVIP]

first thing they say in art school. Then they give you back your tuition since they can't teach you anything, slap an nice diploma on your ass and you go on to become one of the most influential mind of your era.
At least it would happen like that in one of druckmann's glorified fanfics.

Actually there are lots and lots of rules you need to learn so you can, if needed, do without. Emphasize on if needed.

There is no "supposed to" in art or writing except grammar etc.

Also please bring back CowboyLou from ban as soon as possible mods.

 

[Critical Hit]

an interesting branch of UE5 called Vite.
this targets to replace Lumen and UE5's doghsit chaos physics engine with DDGI + hardware RT and Physx respectively, which are both higher quality and higher performance.

There has always been an official Nvidia branch of UE5 with custom lighting. But I don't know if it's Vite or not.

 

[kevboard]

There has always been an official Nvidia branch of UE5 with custom lighting. But I don't know if it's Vite or not.

you're probably thinking of the RTX branch used in The Finals.

this one is not using RTXGI however

 

[mrMUR_96]

this is based on a real scottish town. watch the transmission video.

I used to live in Scotland, how on earth is any town, let alone a coastal town going to not even have a single speck of dirt on windows or signage. It's just a lack of attention to detail and it makes a big difference. Just add some weather smears and surface scratches to the texture.

 

[mrMUR_96]

I agree. I'm playing it on PS5 Pro and it's visually a big downgrade from the previous game. Super blurry looking and virtual shadow maps that pop in and out of view on a whim. It just looks sloppy and the reflections are atrocious.

It'll be the stupid screen space shadows implementation they have, really retarded usage of them.

 

[mrMUR_96]

Yeah it's been surpassed since but for 2021 it was damn impressive and I felt it deserved a spot. Ratchet is one I haven't played, i should get on that.

If you like visuals, get on that. The highs in the game are really impressive, but there's a lot of meh spots too, but looks great overall.

 

[Jam Dingo]

I think Slient Hill Townfall is the first game I've seen where the promise of UE5 actually comes together properly.

I remember thinking back when they did that first demo that, well, if we can now have 1. effectively unlimited geometry and 2. accurate real time lighting, then that's basically the destination for high fidelity graphics. Yes there are dynamic elements to really get to true simulation, but in certain static scenes we should have reached photorealism.

But it just hasn't panned out like that. Something like Silent Hill 2 looks great, yeah, but it's not close to photorealism. Even simple buildings aren't photorealistic.

But that Townfall footage has achieved what I thought was now going to be trivial: clearly photorealistic assets, accurately lit. And yes, that combination basically does look photorealistic.

I'm not really sure why more games haven't managed it before now tbh.

 

[mrMUR_96]

an interesting branch of UE5 called Vite.
this targets to replace Lumen and UE5's doghsit chaos physics engine with DDGI + hardware RT and Physx respectively, which are both higher quality and higher performance.

this is based in a super early version of UE5 as well, it's almost essentially UE4 with some UE5 features and then the aforementioned changes to it on top of that.

The GI seems to be more limited though as it's using DDGI which is reliant on probes, so this has its own drawbacks but the performance increase looks good.

 

[GymWolf]

For the rtx nutjobs in here, is this good lighting?

 

[H . R . 2]

Many consumer electronics manufacturers 'will go bankrupt or exit product lines'

by the end of 2026 due to the AI memory crisis, Phison CEO reportedly says - PC GAMER

well, this sounds very serious and is bound to change things up for everyone, consumers and manufacturers alike
I wonder how it will impact the promise of next-gen visuals [i.e pathtracing as the logical next step] and consumer/manufacturer behaviour

 

[H . R . 2]

For the rtx nutjobs in here, is this good lighting?

Are you sure it is just lighting? The geometry quality seems different [on the left] , or am I seeing things?
the one below also has cinematic haze/fog that makes it better-looking and less raw

 

[GymWolf]

Are you sure it is just lighting? The geometry quality seems different [on the left] , or am I seeing things?
the one below also has cinematic haze/fog that makes it better-looking and less raw

It should be the same scene in different moment of the days but i dont know if they are also different builds.

 

[H . R . 2]

It should be the same scene in different moment of the days but i dont know if they are also different builds.

I think they are. the flags at the top are nowhere to be found in the first image.
the rocks at the bottom and the wall on the left side and the stairs all look quite different
they must have used footage of different builds for a more dramatic juxtaposition
I don't claim to be an RTX expert because I haven't played many games with RTX but
the second image seems to be the one with RTX implementation while the first one seems to be
using some sort of mediocre RTGI such as that of Yotei

what game even is this? Crimson?

 

[Toots]

There is no "supposed to" in art or writing except grammar etc.

Also please bring back CowboyLou from ban as soon as possible mods.

You did not understand my post and you have delusional views about litterature.
But you just do you. I always will remember you fondly because of the thread you made where you were patting yourself on the back for making another thread that had lots of pages.
That was really good comedy writing ! So maybe you know something about writing after all albeit unknowingly.

 

[GymWolf]

I think they are. the flags at the top are nowhere to be found in the first image.
they must have used footage of different builds for a more dramatic juxtaposition
I don't claim to be an RTX expert because I haven't played many games with RTX but
the second image seems to be the one with RTX implementation while the first one seems to be
using some sort of mediocre RTGI such as that of Yotei

what game even is this? Crimson?

Crimson yeah.

Ngl the night image look much better to me.

First pic looks dull.

 

[Bojji]

For the rtx nutjobs in here, is this good lighting?

I don't know how correct it is but night image is very visually pleasing. Remind me of FFXVI island level (that you are never able to see again in game):