Visual Style

What kinds of visual styles do you like in a video game? Do you like dark and brooding? A Pixelized faerie land? Do you like realistic visuals or cartoonish styles? Bright backdrops or dark and spooky ones?

Me? I've seen them all and I think I prefer the brooding dark and the CyberPunk styles if they're on offer. Most games I own don't venture into the bright zones and instead stick with dark tones rather than bright ones.

Just a thought I had to see how many people liked old school pixels or 'the best graphics ever' in terms of style. I hope that makes sense...

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I actually prefer more vibrant visual styles still with realistic visuals. Sometimes I also enjoy cartoon-y visuals.

Even though it's pretty brown I still have to say Half-Life has my favorite art style while anything steampunk/industrial revolution timed tends to be the catalyst of all I hate (brown and ugly metal everywhere)

I like my vibrant styles, because it makes the games' atmosphere look lively rather than dull.

Satoshi Ookami said:

Static anime images of waifus.

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Woah what? I thought for sure you'd be a fan of the breathing waifu phenomenon a la Hyperdimension Neptunia.

Honestly I'm not all that picky. I just want the game to have good art direction and not look incredibly bland.

Which, considering how so many video games are trying to go for the "realistic" look (Which to video game publishers apparently means dull and brown,) seems to be a tall order.

While I certainly don't judge games based on just the aesthetics, I'd say I'm definitely drawn to styles that are just different. Anything that isn't your typical 3D models in a hyper-realistic setting usually grabs my attention first these days.

I do like realism, but one of the things I've noticed is it tends to age faster than more stylized visuals - "top of the line" graphics is only top of the line for so long, then a few years later, you look back on it and can't believe you thought it was good. But I do think that as technology advances, the aging has slowed down a bit - like the difference between realistic graphics from, say, circa 2005 and 2010 is pretty huge, but the difference between 2010 and 2015/16 is smaller. The gap is closing.

I just find that games with more unique aesthetics (eg. Okami, TWEWY, TellTale games style, etc.) appear more timeless compared to games that strived to be realistic for its time. Pixel art, in my opinion, also ages pretty well and while it's also pretty commonplace these days, I do like the style a lot.

As for vibrancy vs. dark, I don't think I really have any preferences as long as it fits my above 'criteria' of being different or appealing enough in its own way. When I think of games with "fun" visuals, they're usually more colourful and vibrant, but a few examples, like LIMBO and Darkest Dungeon - while they certainly fall in the "dark/brooding" kind of style they're still very eye-catching and unique.

As long as I see anything I'm doing or am supposed to do I am fine. Major reason I stay away from modern games and prefer playing older "retro" graphic like games tbh, most have such realistic graphics that everything blends in so well you could be staring at something important and not even realize it, then kicks in that I am somewhat colorblind and yeah...

Honestly, anything that doesn't try to make it so that it's trying to be hyper realistic. I remember watching the Sony E3 conference this year and thinking that the visuals of a lot of the games felt pretty soulless. Much prefer a game that can establish its identity through its art direction (or directions in the case of Kancolle and Fate/Grand Order), but I think I prefer bright and colorful graphics best with hints of "hey the graphics of this game are top of the line".

Visual styles I like in video games... hmmm

There's the usual Big block buster Triple A style of graphics.

And then there's the "anime-ish" (Not exactly anime) art or visual style that's seen in the likes of Guilty Gear and Blazblue.

To me, if it fits the genre or series that a game belongs to, then I'll like it already. I usually expect shooters to look gritty, serious and realistic (a good example would be Battlefield 3, 4 and 1. They all look dark and grimy, like a proper war), while platformers feel like they should look cartoon-esque and light-hearted to me (like Sonic Generations, the colours are for the most part bright and...well, colourful, and the Sonics both look very cartoonish). If they check those boxes, then it's a pass for me. I'm not saying that games have to be like that, but it's become standard for me.

My boosted little brother-in-arms in Peepi Comings and I have the same sentiment regarding a favorite artstyle.

My favorite visual style in a video game has got to be the big budget OMG BEST GRAPHICS EVER TRIPLE AAA IDTECH6 Engine is the best damn video game engine right now for mother f*cking performance and over the top graphics, BYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEECH!.

I get that people often hate or sh*t on modern games for trying too hard with graphics and immersion BS, but there are exist games that don't have the most Photorealistic backdrops but have visuals that match well the game and art direction that was intended. I could always mention my favorite game of 2016 but obviously I'd be a quadrillionare by now if I mentioned a certain game once again as my benchmark of what a great game in 2016 should be like, at least in its particular genre.

Nitty Gritty, but never sh*tty, my fave visual style should be in 3D, especially when it comes to over-the-top visual ultraviolence. Games such as Doom 2016 (oh okay, f**k it i said it. Now I'm a quadrillionare), Killing Floor 2, Flying Wild Hog's Shadow Warrior reboot and its sequel Shadow Warrior 2, and the Gears series (yep, pretty much all of them) showcase what i love when it comes to visual style. Its not the most photorealistic of graphics but it greatly showcases what over the top 3D graphics should be, without sacrificing the quality of gameplay of course.

Xin said:

...especially when it comes to over-the-top visual ultraviolence.

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You'd like the Warhammer universe I'd imagine.

Because all the consore pheasants need to get used to the movement since 2015.

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In all seriousness, my favorite visual style is really something that looks serious but not overly grim or depressing. As mentioned before, all of the games I mentioned are shining examples of the visual style that i like, especially when it involves some delicious bloody messes. 3D graphics that are well used and well textured, heck, its always nice to also see some of those NVIDIA physX come to play.

Oh did I mention my love for those Nvida Gamesworks features oh I love them soooo much Really helps with the art style and direction.

I like anything really, except realism. Pixel art especially, but I like unique styles, not just the AAA war-shooter-with-guns style.