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As is customary for the end-of-year holiday break, Digital Foundry is happy to present its picks for the best gaming graphics of 2022. John Linneman and Alex Battaglia take point for this one, offering up their views on how visuals have progressed over the last year - and which titles in particular demonstrate the state of the art.

Honorary:

- The Witcher 3's next-gen patch


Runners up:

- Dying Light 2
- NFS: Unbound
- Fortnite UE5 Update
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Warhammer 40K Darktide
- The Last of Us: Part 1
- Gran Turismo 7


Top 3:

- Portal Ray Tracing
- Callisto Protocol
- Horizon Forbidden West

 

[Topher]

Ah.......the Fur Awards.

 

[amigastar]

I still haven't played Callisto Protocol but the graphics are nice.

 

[analog_future]

Really interesting top 3. I found Horizon to be technically unparalleled but artistically super ugly.

TLOU Part I got my #1 vote this year personally.

Also, telling that Ragnarok didn’t even make the list.

 

[jroc74]

Really interesting top 3. I found Horizon to be technically unparalleled but artistically super ugly.

TLOU Part I got my #1 vote this year personally.

Also, telling that Ragnarok didn’t even make the list.

Honestly, Forbidden West was a bigger jump vs Zero Dawn compared to God of War 2018 vs Ragnarok because the 2018 game IMO looked better than Zero Dawn.

Forbidden West is a beautiful game. I'm still amazed by the NPC's.

 

[lh032]

decima rules!

 

[Rippa]

But but but the top two are cross-gen games?!

Last gen really holding us back huh guys?

 

[DenchDeckard]

Gonna fire up horizon just to check out the graphics over Xmas.

 

[Gaiff]

We're still firmly in that transitional period. None of the games on that list scream; can only be achieved on PS5/SX. They're good looking games still, but other than maybe Forbidden West and A Plague Tale Requiem, none really made me stop to admire the scenery.

2023 doesn't look a whole lot better thus far other than the big one being Spider-Man 2. I suppose I can't forget Dead Space remake either.

Looks like cross-gen will truly end in 2024.

Honestly, Forbidden West was a bigger jump vs Zero Dawn compared to God of War 2018 vs Ragnarok because the 2018 game IMO looked better than Zero Dawn.

Forbidden West is a beautiful game. I'm still amazed by the NPC's.

Yeah, GOW 2018 looks better than Zero Dawn but Forbidden West looks better than Ragnarok.

 

[M1chl]

Hard "not sure" about Callisto Protocol. The graphics still looks like UE 4.x game, well Cross Gen game. It is nice, but really nothing special in my eyes.

Volumetric light tho, that's great.

 

[Neo_game]

Portal RT is pretty much a Nvidia exclusive. Never knew about Calisto protocol just watched a small video. I am surprised it made the top 3. DL2 and Requiem I think are pretty good but not optimized. Horizon probably deserves it and I guess the most optimized as well in the list. GT7 IMO is only a small improvement over GTS.

 

[Gaiff]

Hard "not sure" about Callisto Protocol. The graphics still looks like UE 4.x game, well Cross Gen game. It is nice, but really nothing special in my eyes.

Volumetric light tho, that's great.

Is there any game on the list that doesn't look cross-gen?

 

[Buggy Loop]

Wow, an RTX remix in top 3

Can’t wait to see what modders do once the tool is out

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I wonder if a good trainer on pc makes the game (Calisto Protocol) more enjoyable. I can't tolerate bad games too much unless they're made easier for me to put up with.

 

[Gaiff]

Wow, an RTX remix in top 3

Can’t wait to see what modders do once the tool is out

 

[//DEVIL//]

I really don’t agree with the number 1 game.

Horizon artistically is a nice game. But imagine it being rendered with the same visuals as A Plague Tale: Requiem, then it would look impressive. I played the game on ps5 and it’s at the end of the day enhanced look ps4 game but it’s still a ps4 game.

The list of the rest is fine. Maybe portal shouldn’t get that mention either as it’s just an rtx showcase

 

[remember_spinal]

Honestly, Forbidden West was a bigger jump vs Zero Dawn compared to God of War 2018 vs Ragnarok because the 2018 game IMO looked better than Zero Dawn.

Forbidden West is a beautiful game. I'm still amazed by the NPC's.

I think people need to go back and play 2018…there is definitively a significant jump in Ragnarok, although not as much as Horizon.

You can tell when look at their faces or some of the armore, especially Sindri’s character model

 

[remember_spinal]

I really don’t agree with the number 1 game.

Horizon artistically is a nice game. But imagine it being rendered with the same visuals as A Plague Tale: Requiem, then it would look impressive. I played the game on ps5 and it’s at the end of the day enhanced look ps4 game but it’s still a ps4 game.

The list of the rest is fine. Maybe portal shouldn’t get that mention either as it’s just an rtx showcase

The animations are what keep plague tale requiem as a distant second to horizon. They aren’t even in the same league and some of the NPCs flat out look bad

Also, the fact that Horizon looks as good as it does as a huge open world game is another feather in its cap

 

[Salz01]

Fortnite U5 should be number one. Everything is so fluid, crisp, clear, bright, and detailed. All running pretty much at 60fps on consoles and PC. Haven’t played Rtx portal, but Callisto runs like ass on consoles, has broken HDR. Horizon, looks good, but compared to U5 it looks worse. IMHO. Horizon doesn’t look as good as the initial reveal, just compare the underwater scenes to what’s in final product.

 

[Certinty]

Not surprised Ragnarok didn’t make the cut. Seriously looks like a PS4 game, no idea how so many people consider the game amazing looking, I really don’t.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Yea this is just by injecting files in the folder which is already mind boggling it even works.

But when the tool is officially out, the AI remastered textures with the correct material PBR will make the path tracing much better as the materials play a huge role for it.

 

[Markio128]

I haven’t played CP yet so can’t really comment on the visuals too much, but I will do once it is on sale.

My personal visual faves this year are HFW and GT7. Post-patch, HFW has the best 60fps visuals I have ever seen in an open-world game - mind-boggling for a cross-gen game. GT7 is also the most visually pleasing racer I’ve ever played - PD just need to improve on the environments for the next GT, but GT7 can still look staggering under the right conditions.

I can understand why GOW:R is not on the list, but I still think it provided some of the most visually arresting scenes this year. Similar story for Elden Ring, but I guess they are looking more at visual tech, than visual art.

 

[solidus12]

Here are the PlayStation games that made it in Digital Foundry’s best graphics list over the years

2022: Horizon Forbidden West
Gran Turismo 7
The Last of us Part1

2021: Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart
Returnal

2020: The last of Us Part2
Ghost of Tsushima
Demon’s Souls
Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales


2019: Death Stranding

2018: God of War
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Shadow of the Colosssus

2017: Gravity Rush 2
Horizon Zero Dawn

PlayStation Studios are really some of the best in the industry in terms of technical prowess.

 

[remember_spinal]

 

[Hobbygaming]

Hard "not sure" about Callisto Protocol. The graphics still looks like UE 4.x game, well Cross Gen game. It is nice, but really nothing special in my eyes.

Volumetric light tho, that's great.

Callisto's visuals are above most games, especially the character models

This is from gameplay

 

[Fbh]

Honestly, if open world games this gen peak at the visual quality of Horizon and devs focus their efforts on gameplay/world design/physics/traversal/, etc instead I'd be happy

 

[M1chl]

Callisto's visuals are above most games, especially the character models

This is from gameplay

Even here those materials on suit does not really look like anything special. I finished the game, it looked nice, but it was nowhere near the level of detail I expected. But that just could be me

 

[remember_spinal]

Honestly, if open world games this gen peak at the visual quality of Horizon and devs focus their efforts on gameplay/world design/physics/traversal/, etc instead I'd be happy

Thats a tall order for a lot of devs not named rockstar. I will be highly surprised if a lot of third party devs put that much mo cap and work into NPC’s moving forward this gen

 

[damidu]

Really interesting top 3. I found Horizon to be technically unparalleled but artistically super ugly.

TLOU Part I got my #1 vote this year personally.

Also, telling that Ragnarok didn’t even make the list.

graphically ragnarok shows its cross-gen roots much much more.

the way horizon looks is kind of a crazy achievement tbh.
considering it being cross gen, open world and with a rock solid performance.
decima is beast of an engine.
wonder how ps5 only expansion will turn out.

 

[scydrex]

But but but the top two are cross-gen games?!

Last gen really holding us back huh guys?

Does this year games look better than Demon Souls or any other exclusive to this gen? Which games released this year that are curren gen exclusive only? It's the best graphics of 2022. Not the best graphics released so far for this gen. What's your point? If the top two cross-gen are the best graphic released so far for this gen then I would agree with you but no.

 

[tmlDan]

Pretty solid list, can't really contend with any of them, except the Fortnite, NFS, and Dying Light 2 additions are weird - they all look pretty mediocre to me, not super impressive.

 

[remember_spinal]

graphically ragnarok shows its cross-gen roots much much more.

the way horizon looks is kind of a crazy achievement tbh.
considering it being cross gen, open world and with a rock solid performance.
decima is beast of an engine.
wonder how ps5 only expansion will turn out.

Sure,, but for Ragnarok not to make top 10 is pretty funny considering how many cross gen games are on that list. GoWR is sitll one of the most visually impressive games released this year. I’d say its on the same level of Plague Tale but far better designed

 

[Big Baller]

Top 3 is a joke.

 

[geary]

Thats a tall order for a lot of devs not named rockstar. I will be highly surprised if a lot of third party devs put that much mo cap and work into NPC’s moving forward this gen

That's wasted resources. They should aim to have more creative gameplay loops and mechanics, not faces and animations.

 

[remember_spinal]

That's wasted resources. They should aim to have more creative gameplay loops and mechanics, not faces and animations.

You can do both.

I’m over these large scale open world games where people look and act like robots. Horizon showed us that you can make believable townships and NPC’s that rival a main storyline

 

[geary]

You can do both

Not with the same budget.

 

[remember_spinal]

Not with the same budget.

What does one thing have to do with the other? They aren’t the same people working on both aspect of the game.

 

[geary]

What does one thing have to do with the other? They aren’t the same people working on both aspect of the game.

Better animations means people with better expertise or more people in the animation department = more salaries = more money spent there. They could redirect that increased budget into the department which is responsible with mechanics and gameplay (more people there or people with higher expertise and creativity).

 

[remember_spinal]

Better animations means people with better expertise or more people in the animation department = more salaries = more money spent there. They could redirect that increased budget into the department which is responsible with mechanics and gameplay (more people there or people with higher expertise and creativity).

How many people do you need to come up with an interesting and compelling gameplay loop? Pretty sure Hades has the most fun gameplay loop I’ve ever had in a game yet theres like 20 people at supergiant altogether

 

[Fbh]

Thats a tall order for a lot of devs not named rockstar. I will be highly surprised if a lot of third party devs put that much mo cap and work into NPC’s moving forward this gen

Yeah I know, which is why I said "peak".
I'm not saying I want every open world game to look this good, just that I'm ok if we don't get anything better looking this gen and devs focus on other elements instead

 

[ChiefDada]

Happy to see DF give TLOU Pt. 1 the recognition it rightfully deserves. They missed the mark in their initial review video.

 

[geary]

How many people do you need to come up with an interesting and compelling gameplay loop?

more than they have now...since we don't have a compelling gameplay loop.

 

[waquzy]

Sure,, but for Ragnarok not to make top 10 is pretty funny considering how many cross gen games are on that list. GoWR is sitll one of the most visually impressive games released this year. I’d say its on the same level of Plague Tale but far better designed

Nice shot

 

[remember_spinal]

more than they have now...since we don't have a compelling gameplay loop.

In your opinion

 

[Musilla]

No surprises, it's a monster.

 

[Musilla]

No surprises, it's a monster.

 

[Hobbygaming]

Top 3 is a joke.

Salty

 

[Kusarigama]

God Of War: Ragnarok looks like high quality artwork in motion, surprised they didn't bring it up at all

 

[ProtoByte]

Horizon makes me excited for the rest of PlayStation Studios' single player games this generation. Can't wait for Horizon 3, but Spider-Man 2 is next, and that's going to be a beast.

 

[BouncyFrag]

Sure,, but for Ragnarok not to make top 10 is pretty funny considering how many cross gen games are on that list. GoWR is sitll one of the most visually impressive games released this year. I’d say its on the same level of Plague Tale but far better designed

I screenshotted that moment which I rarely do.