Summary
What are ‘good’ graphics? You’re probably thinking ofRed Dead Redemption 2,Cyberpunk 2077,Horizon: Forbidden West, orGran Turismo 7. Those games are gorgeous, presenting the most realistic depictions of real life (or idealised science-fiction life) possible. Are they good graphics? Clearly. But they’re not the be all and end all of quality graphics.
DoesOctopath Travelernot also look great? How aboutCeleste, orStardew Valley? These games also trade on their aesthetic, but approach it with pixel art instead of realism. Would Octopath Traveler work with realistic graphics? Sure. But is it a bad looking game because it instead opts forSquare Enix’s pioneering HD-2D art style? No.
Hollow Knight, Journey, Ori and the Will of the Wisps,Okami. These are all games with distinct art styles and great art direction. These are all games that look great – thereby having good graphics – but are excluded from the discussions of ‘I want shorter games with worse graphics’ etc. etc. because they don’t opt for realism.
Personally, I’m a big fan of cel-shaded games. Wind Waker, Sable, Jet Set Radio, and of course, Breath of the Wild are some of the most beautiful games I’ve ever played. I would argue until my dying breath that all four have good graphics. When people say they want games with worse graphics, they don’t mean it. They just don’t care aboutrealisticgraphics.
I get it, calling them ‘good graphics’ is easier. People generally understand what you mean. But I think it’s unfair to games with great-but-not-realistic graphics to bundle them into the ‘bad’ or ‘worse’ category.
Art styles vary, but games can look great no matter what their aesthetic. Conversely, games can look terrible no matter what their aesthetic. There are games with realistic graphics that look bad. There are cel-shaded games that don’t quite work for me. There are games with art styles that defy description that look great. Death of a Wish’s hand-drawn scribbles jump to mind. Labelling realistic and non-realistic art styles as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is simplistic and reductive.
Even within games with realistic art styles, some look better than others. It’s not just a case of budget (although that helps), it’s also about art direction. However, graphical prowess and art direction can often get muddled. Take the DICE Award for Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, a prestigious honour in the games industry. This decade, only one winner of the award has not been aphotorealistic game. Ghost of Tsushima won in 2020, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart in 2021, God of War Ragnarök in 2022, and Alan Wake 2 most recently in 2023.
That’s not to say that none of these realistic games have good art direction. It just seems like realistic graphics give you a leg up to winning artistic awards. Alternatively, perhaps it all balances out, and over the course of the ‘20s, we’ll get an even balance of realistic and non-realistic games winning this award. That’s what happened in the last decade.
Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Journey, The Last of Us, Monument Valley, Ori and the Blind Forest, Inside, Cuphead, God of War, and Control won the award in the ‘10s, an even 50/50 split of realistic to non-realistic. But it’s 2019’s winner, Control, that really exemplifies good art direction and how realistic graphics can be elevated beyond God of War’s gimmicky camera angle.
From the brutalist architecture of The Oldest House, to the unsettling corridors and vibrant lighting, every frame of Control has been directed to convey the mood of the game. The same goes for the dim chasm of Hollow Knight, which creates a sense of claustrophobia and foreboding, or the Art Deco designs of BioShock and Transistor, which reflect the arrogance of their worlds.
Art direction is a broad concept that encompasses many things – yes, including applying a liberal coat of yellow paint to ensure players don’t get lost – but I feel it strongest when it uses the environments, aesthetics, and designs to convey emotion. Good art direction doesn’t discriminate between photorealistic and non-realistic design philosophies, so we need to reframe this conversation.
Nobody wants games with worse graphics, no matter how much you’d like them to be shorter and made by developers who are paid better. Maybe you don’t want photorealistic graphics, but that’s not the same. Celeste has just as good graphics as Red Dead Redemption 2. Ori and the Will of the Wisps will be more beautiful than Cyberpunk 2077 to some people. While I can appreciate the ray traced reflections on the hood of a Ferrari in Gran Turismo 7, I’m not particularly into cars, so it doesn’t do anything for me. Racing enthusiasts will feel differently.
Contrary to what some of my colleagues believe,Nintendo’s graphicsdomatter. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has great graphics, even if they aren’t photorealistic. Heck, a Zelda game crafted in perfect realism would look downright odd, as much as a pixel art version of The Last of Us would be discordant with its themes of human violence. The Last of Us wants its characters to look realistic so it makes you feel bad about killing them. This wouldn’t have the same impact with any other art style.
I don’t particularly care for photorealism in video games. I’ve said time and time again thatI like my games gamey. But I do care about good graphics. That just doesn’t mean quite what everyone else thinks it does.
