Bojji
Gold Member
No, it's only needed to change stuff, it can be closed for games.
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Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Graphical Fidelity I Expect This Gen
- Thread starter ResetEraVetVIP
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No, it's only needed to change stuff, it can be closed for games.
Gonzito
Gold Member
No need for that. You just change the settings and then close it
Critical Hit
Member
I hope RDR2 Enhanced released before that for 3rd playthrough.
Jack Howitzer
Member
Man after all these years ,the game map is still one of the most eye candy genius work I've seen . Combined with the lighting and atosmophere , what a treat!
Gonzito
Gold Member
Man after all these years ,the game map is still one of the most eye candy genius work I've seen . Combined with the lighting and atosmophere , what a treat!
And on top of that, the world just feels incredibly alive. NPCs actually behave like real people, they react to almost everything the player does, and I love that they have their own personalities and make their own choices. Some are kind and patient, others are cruel and ready to shoot you the moment you do something they don't like.
The random nature of the encounters is amazing too. This is something we don't really see in any other games. I enjoy great graphics, ray tracing and all that, but having a world that truly feels alive is so much more important to me.
Now that I've finished the game, I honestly don't know what to play next, because nothing else comes close to this level of depth.
I need GTA 6 already papitos
Jack Howitzer
Member
Also here goes these essential mods to make the lod lookin way more consistent comparing to the og visuals :
https://www.nexusmods.com/reddeadredemption2/mods/3728?tab=description
https://www.nexusmods.com/reddeadredemption2/mods/3948
If u guys are interested in improving the lod quality further away, you can try out my custom configs based on these works(some are being merged together) here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14hOCN5eD_Cqz5fXXzeTbq_CiGitCGJpB/view?usp=sharing
Lodscale is being set to 2.5 to extend the limit further away to match game photo mode asset quality without too many several stability and performance issues on high end pcs. And Grasslod value is being extended to 9.0 instead of default 3.0 (maybe in most of cases 6.0 is enbough of the same thing as 9.0 already, as long as they are staying the same visually speaking , performance are not going to have any differences so exceeding the limit value means nothing. All I know is comparing to 3.0 there is a leap ):
There are also bug-free vanilla rooted texture mods like upscaled terrain(https://www.nexusmods.com/reddeadredemption2/mods/1860) and vegetations (https://www.nexusmods.com/reddeadredemption2/mods/3957?tab=description) you can try it out as well. Upscaled vegetations can actually fix some mismatching mipmap issues appeared on some models
https://www.nexusmods.com/reddeadredemption2/mods/3728?tab=description
https://www.nexusmods.com/reddeadredemption2/mods/3948
If u guys are interested in improving the lod quality further away, you can try out my custom configs based on these works(some are being merged together) here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14hOCN5eD_Cqz5fXXzeTbq_CiGitCGJpB/view?usp=sharing
Lodscale is being set to 2.5 to extend the limit further away to match game photo mode asset quality without too many several stability and performance issues on high end pcs. And Grasslod value is being extended to 9.0 instead of default 3.0 (maybe in most of cases 6.0 is enbough of the same thing as 9.0 already, as long as they are staying the same visually speaking , performance are not going to have any differences so exceeding the limit value means nothing. All I know is comparing to 3.0 there is a leap ):
There are also bug-free vanilla rooted texture mods like upscaled terrain(https://www.nexusmods.com/reddeadredemption2/mods/1860) and vegetations (https://www.nexusmods.com/reddeadredemption2/mods/3957?tab=description) you can try it out as well. Upscaled vegetations can actually fix some mismatching mipmap issues appeared on some models
Gonzito
Gold Member
Also here goes these essential mods to make the lod lookin way more consistent comparing to the og visuals :
https://www.nexusmods.com/reddeadredemption2/mods/3728?tab=description
https://www.nexusmods.com/reddeadredemption2/mods/3948
If u guys are interested in improving the lod quality further away, you can try out my custom configs based on these works(some are being merged together) here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14hOCN5eD_Cqz5fXXzeTbq_CiGitCGJpB/view?usp=sharing
Lodscale is being set to 2.5 to extend the limit further away to match game photo mode asset quality without too many several stability and performance issues on high end pcs. And Grasslod value is being extended to 9.0 instead of default 3.0 (maybe in most of cases 6.0 is enbough of the same thing as 9.0 already, as long as they are staying the same visually speaking , performance are not going to have any differences so exceeding the limit value means nothing. All I know is comparing to 3.0 there is a leap ):
There are also bug-free vanilla rooted texture mods like upscaled terrain(https://www.nexusmods.com/reddeadredemption2/mods/1860) and vegetations (https://www.nexusmods.com/reddeadredemption2/mods/3957?tab=description) you can try it out as well. Upscaled vegetations can actually fix some mismatching mipmap issues appeared on some models
Yeah I was using the LOD mod too and its great
The only downside I have with this game on pc is the rdr2 unknown error FFFF, i have had this a few times. Its a bug that has been there since the beginning apparently and very annoying because of how unpredictable it is. And the worst part is that most of the known fixes dont do shit.
Jack Howitzer
Member
You mean have error without touching modding, or with lod mods or whatever else installed? From my experience this type of shit only came out after messing with these lod related parameters, the vanilla game is not that optimized by any means, but still appears to be very stable on my end at least from the single player side. Online has always been a mess filled with crashing shitshows tho lollll
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
I never had any problems with RDR2's visuals on PC. They looked amazing other than a poor HDR implementation which was also true for consoles since the game was designed to be played in SDR.
I also dont mind the lackluster DLSS implementation since the game came out when DLSS2 wasnt even released. DLSS1 was pretty bad and i cant expect every game developer to go back and add DLSS2 support. I think rockstar did but it doesnt quite work with trees which isnt a big deal because modern GPUs can run it natively maxed out at 4k 60-120 fps anyway. TAA is not bad at native resolutions.
I also dont mind the lackluster DLSS implementation since the game came out when DLSS2 wasnt even released. DLSS1 was pretty bad and i cant expect every game developer to go back and add DLSS2 support. I think rockstar did but it doesnt quite work with trees which isnt a big deal because modern GPUs can run it natively maxed out at 4k 60-120 fps anyway. TAA is not bad at native resolutions.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
It's the art design. it will stand the test of time because every scene is a painting. every vista is meticulously crafted by artists at the peak of their game. The game almost never looks bad. Whereas better looking games like Avatar, AC Shadows and HFW have some ugly looking areas.Man after all these years ,the game map is still one of the most eye candy genius work I've seen . Combined with the lighting and atosmophere , what a treat!
Also, they did a great job with the draw distance. i never felt compelled to increase LODs by downloading mods at all.
With all that said, I am watching a video pointing out the ridiculous RDR2 vs Insert Game comparisons on youtube, and I have to agree with the guy. Youtube, twitter and even some forums are obsessed with RDR2 and other PS4 era games like Arkham Knight and Uncharted 4, and routinely use it to shit on modern game visuals that are doing so much more. But just because they dont spend millions on little detail no one other than some loser tiktoker will notice, they are shat on and their devs called lazy.
I typically ignore these videos because anyone who cant tell the difference in lighting and foliage between RDR2 and Avatar/AC Shadows/HFW/Wukong is not worth wasting hours arguing with.
GymWolf
Member
Don't forget fucking ac unity.
If i see again the same fucking 3 indoors screen that people always post to demonstrate how it looks better than most modern games the dude better be ready to get some SPICY dick picks in his pm folder...
Even worse the crowd density comparisons when unity npcs were fucking zombies with barely any ai...
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T4keD0wN
Member
Rdr2s TAA is quite possibly the lowest quality TAA to ever ship in a AAA game, you'll probably get drastically better visuals with dlss at 66% res scale (50% with transformer model) outputted at 4k than with taa at native 8k, it's that bad.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
i played on x1x. native 4k. it was glorious. Sadly X1 share feature sucks and none of the screenshots i took are anywhere to be found. I think they might be linked to my MS account. Anyway, it was a religious experience. X1X was amazing. Shadow of Tomb Raider, Halo 5 and DMC5 were also native 4k iirc. just insane.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
nah, i literally played it last night. DLSS quality just completely destroys the foliage on trees. It adds shimmering on houses too. TAA at native 4k does not.
I havent tried the transfomer model but other games with foliage in my experience add pssr style artifacts that i detest more than anything in this world. i immediately turn that shit off.
analog_future
Resident Crybaby
Yeah, X1X was so ahead of it's time. The 4K Xbox 360/OG Xbox titles were amazing too. Probably the last good days of Xbox in hindsight.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
lol yes. I was singing AC unity's praises when everyone was shitting on it. And now its being used to shit on other games. How ironic. I bet in ten years people will be using Hellblade 2, AC Shadows, and Wukong to shit on some other games that are worth praising but are shat on instead.
I was very surprised by how static the NPCs were in Unity. Not a big deal since the game is designed around it, they are supposed to be mostly salad dressing, and i never once thought about it until years after finishing the game, but people just dont understand how these games are built. they do these surface level comparisons and miss the forest for the trees.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
What do you guys think of this?
I think Hellblade 2 definitely looks this detailed. Parts of Silent Hill 2, Wukong, robocop have all delivered on that OG UE5 promise.
I think Hellblade 2 definitely looks this detailed. Parts of Silent Hill 2, Wukong, robocop have all delivered on that OG UE5 promise.
Bojji
Gold Member
T4keD0wN
Member
Really? Ive found that taa at 4k there delivered image that has about as much clarity as 1080p in other games, i couldn't stand playing it that way, it was so bad that enabling upscaling when it was finally added made the game look higher res, which is ridiculous.
Biggest difference ive seen between taa and dlss in a game.
I tried RDR2 again on my PS5 Pro.
Closed it after 5 minutes. The image quality is absolutely awful, the worst I have seen on PS5. It is so so blurry and full of smearing.
Will never understand how Rockstar is basically ok with their masterpiece being nearly unplayable on the best selling console.
Closed it after 5 minutes. The image quality is absolutely awful, the worst I have seen on PS5. It is so so blurry and full of smearing.
Will never understand how Rockstar is basically ok with their masterpiece being nearly unplayable on the best selling console.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
iirc the checkerboarding solution in that game is bugged so you are basically getting 1960*2160 and then the tv, not the checkerboarding algorithm, upgrades to 4k.
the result is worse than even 1440p because its native vertically and half res horizontally. 1440p would have its own issues but it wont be a complete fucking disaster like the ps4 pro version people are playing on the PS5 or Pro.
Rockstar has 3000 devs, and they wont add a toggle to simply run the game at native res on the PS5. It should run the game at native 4k 60 fps very easily on the PS5. let alone the PS5 pro. its so silly how rockstar just doesnt give two fucks about this game. but GTA5 gets remaster after remaster, ray tracing patches, and constant DLCs.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Here is another retarded take on Twitter.
yes, a game with one static time of day and a tiny fucking town doesnt need ray tracing. Shocking.
A game like Spiderman 2 is a great example of why you need ray tracing. He should compare the night time levels in SP2 to Batman AK and then compare them both to Cyberpunk at night. Generational difference. But yes, ray tracing = bad gets you free engagement farming.
yes, a game with one static time of day and a tiny fucking town doesnt need ray tracing. Shocking.
A game like Spiderman 2 is a great example of why you need ray tracing. He should compare the night time levels in SP2 to Batman AK and then compare them both to Cyberpunk at night. Generational difference. But yes, ray tracing = bad gets you free engagement farming.
Sept Terrion Of Nothing
Member
Nostalgia is hell of a drug. While AK was ahead of its time, it is far from perfect. Unfortunately it suffers from micro stutter and limited draw distance all the time. I know this because it is always installed on my PC. When I crave rainy weather, I just start the game and fly around the city or perch on the highest buildings to watch the city under the rain.
What I'm trying to say is this: AK and AC: Unity was really ahead of their time but to bring them up for graphical comparisons with today games's are absurd and pure nostalgia. If you actually play them now you can see lots of flaws. Again, they are brilliant games. But please find something else people. Lets compare apples with apples. Give these beautiful games to rest, they already done their job.
analog_future
Resident Crybaby
And even AK, all taking place at night, would still benefit greatly from ray tracing and/or path tracing. Virtually everything benefits from truly universal dynamic lighting
BlownUpRich
Member
What's that video? Because I am getting so sick of those comparisons as well.
BlownUpRich
Member
I think we have reached those UE5 standards, just not across the board, which is expected, what's not expected is the continuous cross-gen support, 60FPS modes & what seems to be a plummeted interest in pushing graphical quality relative to PS4 days, due to various reasons of course.
I feel the thing that has contributed to the disappointment is the UE5 demos that led too many people into believing that this is what they'll get on their PS5 day one (Demon's Souls PS5 kinda comes close let's be honest), the overwhelming majority of games still haven't reached that demo, but even when a game hits that target, it's like "bruh we've waited FIVE YEARS for that!"
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SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Pretty nuanced take especially towards the end. At the end of the day, its engagement farming, rage bait, and the best way to do that is to tear down games.
Games like RDR2, Arkham Knight, Uncharted 4 were 1080p 30 fps. We are now hitting 60 fps in most games. Some going up to 1440p 60 fps and these mother fuckers are pissed at minute details no one will ever notice like horse balls or NPCs sitting around sharpening their blades.
P.S I was pretty down on Mafia myself. I expected the lighting to be better. But there is no question that nanite delivers in that game. I understand that these things dont show up well on youtube but anyone who has played that game on their tv wouldve seen what i saw. And i saw textures and geometrical detail generation ahead of RDR2.
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Feel Like I'm On 42
Member
Xbox One X had great IQ for RDR2 ...native 4k
GymWolf
Member
I was talking about the pc version.
Arioco
Member
Lumen in the Land of Nanite tech demo uses software lumen and targets 30 fps.
The Witcher 4 tech demo uses HARDWARE Lumen and runs at 60 fps with some new rendering features that wasn't even available when the first demo came out. It includes RT reflections and RTGI, besides the new voxelized Nanite foliage.
It's apple to oranges.
The Matrix Awakens demo looks way better than the first demo in my opinion with the same target fps and hardware lumen (which includes RT reflections, RTGI and even RT shadows when needed). And it's not a corridor, but a huge open world city full of life with hundreds or thousands of buildings, vehicles and NPC. Personally I found it way more impressive than the first demo, where software lumen worked fine just because it's a corridor full of rocks, which are not very reflective. The same tech would've look bad for a city full of cars, glass and reflective surfaces everywhere.
Geometric detail was very impressive when the first demo came out, and real time GI looked so cool, but other than that I think it's been surpassed by some games and demos that use hardware Lumen and new rendering features Epic's been adding in new versions of the engine.
Why?
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
i didnt want to go to nvidia app settings and enable it. only played it for a few minutes.
Bojji
Gold Member
Base DLSSv2 in RDR2 has sharpening issues when you move the camera and lacks anti aliasing on many edges (even in game TAA scaling or FSR2 can look better). Changing it to DLSS3 or DLSS4 improves it dramatically.
Sept Terrion Of Nothing
Member
Deleted Nvidia App. Don't need it. I recommend Nvidia Inspector. Also if I wanna update to new driver I download seperately.
I'm really trying to minimize 3rd party apps in my PC.
Bojji
Gold Member
I personally like DLSS swapper.
ResetEraVetVIP
Member
Can post here also.Elden Ring still shocks me almost all the time, not graphics fidelity necessarily, the art direction is out of this world. Such a masterpiece.
|OT| Social Opinion Thread 'The Official Art In Video Games Thread'
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Looks like one of the twitter grifters was given access to Crimson Desert. I guess the publishers are catching on and bringing them in ahead of time to buy them out lol
Ethical concerns aside, the game does look pretty good even on twitter's compressed gifs. Like KCD2, it's very similar to RDR2's look and feel while offering a lot more detail especially when it comes to NPCs as well as an upgrade to RDR2's already stunning daytime lighting.
Ethical concerns aside, the game does look pretty good even on twitter's compressed gifs. Like KCD2, it's very similar to RDR2's look and feel while offering a lot more detail especially when it comes to NPCs as well as an upgrade to RDR2's already stunning daytime lighting.
CD will be present at this event on the 8th. It seems to be organized by content creators. We will definitely have some interesting news. There will be other AAA and indie games too.
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SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
i dont know of any UE5 open world games coming out next year that will top it. Witcher 4 is next and thats probably a 2027 that will be delayed to 2028.[at the risk of going off-topic and derailing the discussion], happy new year, friends
May 2026 be the year when we finally get The Matrix-Awakens level of graphics in an actual open-world game
I doubt GTA6 gets delayed again. that will be the closest any game will come to the Matrix demo.
Division was being teased by Ubisoft on twitter so who knows maybe it gets a reveal at E3, and knowing how good snowdrop looked on PS4, it will probably look very close to the Matrix demo.
Gears was set to release next year, but again, i highly doubt we see a release. maybe a trailer at E3. Halo remake doesnt look nearly as good so i have zero faith in 343i. Or whatever's left of it. Respawn is also making the next Jedi game in UE5 but likely will only see a reveal.
I just want to finally see and play Marvel 1943. Hellblade 2 and smaller games like Marvel 1943 are probably the only time we will get those Matrix visuals in a video game.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Just finished trying out all the Gamepass games. I dont know, i just dont care for either the art style or lighting of any of the MS UE5 and ID tech games. Starfield looks way better than Outer Worlds 2. And Avowed despite its fancy textures and nanite detail just looks mid compared to KCD2. The lighting is all off and animations are just trash. You cannot have these awful animations in a 2025 game. And Obsidian did it twice in one year.
The only major games i haven't played this year are Ghosts of Yotei and Silent Hill F. Just not in the mood to play either game, but out of those two, I think I wouldve definitely listed SHF. Not sure about Ghost.
Not enough for Top 10, but i will do some honorable mentions:
Death Stranding 2 - Absolutely jaw dropping cutscenes and character models. There are a couple of flashback cutscenes with young neil that are set in Mexico with it burning down with lots of destruction, and it felt like a CG movie or something straight out of Avatar. Sadly the game world looks dated and last gen aside from the snowy mountains that look absolutely gorgeous with some of the best snow textures ive ever seen.
Expedition 33 - Just like DS2, its main world is nothing to write home about. there are some hub worlds with some really nice nanite detail, but overall its biggest strengths are in cutscenes where it looks magnificent and during combat sequences where they get to keep the camera stationary and allow for some really fancy graphics. Some of the best animations ive seen all year in those combat sequences.
Battlefield 6 - Really wanted to include this in the top 5, but some of the levels dont quite have the destruction that makes up for the bad lighting and last gen quality textures. When the game does come together, it is arguably the most hectic, epic scale warfare ever put in a video game. The smoke effects are amazing, the explosions are awe-inspiring, the building collapses are jaw dropping and having tanks, helicopters and vehicles all crashing around you is almost exactly what i wanted from current gen battlefield.
South of Midnight - I wish this game was fun or I wouldve played it a bit more because the lighting and art design in this game's outdoor levels is so fucking beautiful. Yes, its UE4 but in its outdoor areas, i never got the feeling that there was something lacking. Great volumetric effects. Beautifully detailed environments. I just didnt play it enough to put it in my top five.
The Precinct - A Unity Game! Top down games imo are lazy, but this game has some of the best most detailed top down assets ive seen in a game. The lighting is gorgeous. The streets are full of destructible objects. There are dozens of light sources at night, and it surprisingly looks great during day time too.
DISHONORABLE MENTIONS -
Outer Worlds 2 - Some of the ugliest visuals ive ever seen in an open world. Borderlands got a lot of hate this year, but it looks beautiful in comparison.
Mario Kart World, Metroid and Donkey Kong - PS3 era visuals on a console 10x more powerful and capable of doing ray tracing. Just resign guys. Make way for new artists who care about meeting basic standards.
Top FIVE
5. MGS3 Remake - There is just something about realistic forests and UE5 that I love. I dont know if its the trees or just the way UE5 handles AO under the trees, but it looks damn near photorealistic. The cutscenes look amazing, and while the interiors dont look too hot, the game is mostly set outdoors and it has some of the best forests, mountain levels, and dusk lighting ever. Night time lighting could use a bit more work though. Very flat PS3 quality lighting.
4. F1 2025 - The Path Tracing mode at night time is so fucking realistic its hilarious really. Its like playing real life. It looks odd. Like something you shouldnt be controlling. Sadly, day time isnt that great, and tracks are still last gen. I prefer Forza still.
3. Kingdom Come 2 - I spent most of the time trashing the game's look pre-launch and boy did they prove me wrong. Beautiful day time lighting. Great vistas. Foliage and grass to die for. I wish Kutenberg looked better, but 90% of the game is set in the wilderness and it looks simply beautiful there. Indoor lighting also looks great unlike other games with no ray tracing.
2. Black Hawk Down - Free game that is probably the best looking UE5 game out there. Great scale, stunning UE5 lighting and asset quality. You can go to a random building hallway or room and it will look perfect thanks to lumen and nanite.
1. AC Shadows - First lets get the negatives out of the way. The character faces HAVE to get better. Cutscenes HAVE to get better. The intro areas just dont showcase the game that well, and seasons dont really come into play until you are like 10-15 hours in. Other than this, the game is perfect. Great lighting, asset quality, foliage, destruction and weather related physics effects, gorgeous looking water, beautiful animations and some of the best art direction ever. People always post vistas but the temples in this game my god. They use tech like ray tracing and virtualized geometry in service of the artists who might have arguably the prettiest world ever. Other games like Avowed, Outer Worlds 2, Doom, and Mafia might also use these techniques but their artists just let them down.
The only major games i haven't played this year are Ghosts of Yotei and Silent Hill F. Just not in the mood to play either game, but out of those two, I think I wouldve definitely listed SHF. Not sure about Ghost.
Not enough for Top 10, but i will do some honorable mentions:
Death Stranding 2 - Absolutely jaw dropping cutscenes and character models. There are a couple of flashback cutscenes with young neil that are set in Mexico with it burning down with lots of destruction, and it felt like a CG movie or something straight out of Avatar. Sadly the game world looks dated and last gen aside from the snowy mountains that look absolutely gorgeous with some of the best snow textures ive ever seen.
Expedition 33 - Just like DS2, its main world is nothing to write home about. there are some hub worlds with some really nice nanite detail, but overall its biggest strengths are in cutscenes where it looks magnificent and during combat sequences where they get to keep the camera stationary and allow for some really fancy graphics. Some of the best animations ive seen all year in those combat sequences.
Battlefield 6 - Really wanted to include this in the top 5, but some of the levels dont quite have the destruction that makes up for the bad lighting and last gen quality textures. When the game does come together, it is arguably the most hectic, epic scale warfare ever put in a video game. The smoke effects are amazing, the explosions are awe-inspiring, the building collapses are jaw dropping and having tanks, helicopters and vehicles all crashing around you is almost exactly what i wanted from current gen battlefield.
South of Midnight - I wish this game was fun or I wouldve played it a bit more because the lighting and art design in this game's outdoor levels is so fucking beautiful. Yes, its UE4 but in its outdoor areas, i never got the feeling that there was something lacking. Great volumetric effects. Beautifully detailed environments. I just didnt play it enough to put it in my top five.
The Precinct - A Unity Game! Top down games imo are lazy, but this game has some of the best most detailed top down assets ive seen in a game. The lighting is gorgeous. The streets are full of destructible objects. There are dozens of light sources at night, and it surprisingly looks great during day time too.
DISHONORABLE MENTIONS -
Outer Worlds 2 - Some of the ugliest visuals ive ever seen in an open world. Borderlands got a lot of hate this year, but it looks beautiful in comparison.
Mario Kart World, Metroid and Donkey Kong - PS3 era visuals on a console 10x more powerful and capable of doing ray tracing. Just resign guys. Make way for new artists who care about meeting basic standards.
Top FIVE
5. MGS3 Remake - There is just something about realistic forests and UE5 that I love. I dont know if its the trees or just the way UE5 handles AO under the trees, but it looks damn near photorealistic. The cutscenes look amazing, and while the interiors dont look too hot, the game is mostly set outdoors and it has some of the best forests, mountain levels, and dusk lighting ever. Night time lighting could use a bit more work though. Very flat PS3 quality lighting.
4. F1 2025 - The Path Tracing mode at night time is so fucking realistic its hilarious really. Its like playing real life. It looks odd. Like something you shouldnt be controlling. Sadly, day time isnt that great, and tracks are still last gen. I prefer Forza still.
3. Kingdom Come 2 - I spent most of the time trashing the game's look pre-launch and boy did they prove me wrong. Beautiful day time lighting. Great vistas. Foliage and grass to die for. I wish Kutenberg looked better, but 90% of the game is set in the wilderness and it looks simply beautiful there. Indoor lighting also looks great unlike other games with no ray tracing.
2. Black Hawk Down - Free game that is probably the best looking UE5 game out there. Great scale, stunning UE5 lighting and asset quality. You can go to a random building hallway or room and it will look perfect thanks to lumen and nanite.
1. AC Shadows - First lets get the negatives out of the way. The character faces HAVE to get better. Cutscenes HAVE to get better. The intro areas just dont showcase the game that well, and seasons dont really come into play until you are like 10-15 hours in. Other than this, the game is perfect. Great lighting, asset quality, foliage, destruction and weather related physics effects, gorgeous looking water, beautiful animations and some of the best art direction ever. People always post vistas but the temples in this game my god. They use tech like ray tracing and virtualized geometry in service of the artists who might have arguably the prettiest world ever. Other games like Avowed, Outer Worlds 2, Doom, and Mafia might also use these techniques but their artists just let them down.
Critical Hit
Member
You should play "Keeper". The gameplay is worse, but the art style is equally beautiful. Play in HDR if you can.
[at the risk of going off-topic and derailing the discussion], happy new year, friends
May 2026 be the year when we finally get The Matrix-Awakens level of graphics in an actual open-world game
Not happening.
PeteBull
Member
Thats coz those games are made with gamepass in mind, unfortunately, aka the devstudio alone is fine with launching mediocre product by design- just good enough to get inflated metacritic reviews to 70-80 range and fulfill quantity needed so ppl still subscribe to the service, no soul/passion/enthusiasm/anything extra poured into the project tho- they dont need to sell well so no need to make them exceptional after all 
I mostly agree on the SW2 games comment, but let us not forget that while for example MP4 runs in 1440p60 and 1080p120, many PS3 games ran at sub720psub30fps. The PS3 could never display MP4 even close to 1440p60. There were outliers like Ridge Racer 7, which ran in 1080p60 on the PS3 (insane achievement actually I think), but SW2 could run this game in 4K60 and improved visuals on top.
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Just enable it globally my friend.