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As another year comes to a close, Digital Foundry unleashes its traditional holiday video, celebrating the best game graphics of the year. Outside of some highly honourable mentions, ten games are lauded for their phenomenal visuals. John, Alex and Oliver share their thoughts in a massive 108-minute long celebration!

0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:58 Honourable mentions: STALKER 2, Persona 3 Reload, Metaphor ReFantazio, Nightdive Studios, Tiny Glade, FF7 Rebirth, Power Rangers
0:20:46 Dragon’s Dogma 2
0:26:35 Riven
0:30:32 Dragon Age: The Veilguard
0:37:24 Silent Hill 2
0:48:50 Astro Bot
0:54:32 Penny’s Big Breakaway
0:58:05 Black Myth: Wukong
1:08:49 Top 3 Discussion

 

[adamsapple]

Top 3:

3. Star Wars: Outlaws
2. Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2
1. Indiana Jones and The Great Circle

 

[TxKnight7]

so many great looking games this year!

john did say " in terms of pure visuals Hellblade 2 would probably be at number 1 for me " .

Imo it is!

one of them said if it wasn't for Path tracing on Indiana jones PC he would have picked HB2

 

[skyfinch]

top3 available on Series S.

 

[adamsapple]

If Metaphor had shipped with a decent or any Anti Aliasing solution, I would have replaced Persona 3 Reload with that as an honorable mention, but as it is, the game is very jagged and the IQ suffers.

 

[Flabagast]

It feels like stalker 2 is way too low

 

[Gaiff]

Lol at Indiana Jones being number 1 probably due to Alex’s nonstop gushing over ray tracing. It can look good with PT, but it has so many visual flaws such as questionable texture work and unimpressive geometry. The art style is also middling, the character models look worse than TLOU on PS4, and the animations are rigid. Looks like a PS4 game with high-quality ray tracing. Good performance though, so I can credit it for that.

Star Wars Outlaws is just lol. It has ray tracing though, so it must be there. Don’t mention the poor quality of the RT, however. Alex wouldn’t like it.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is ugly as shit even on a maxed out PC.

Dragon Age doesn’t look good and doesn’t play good. They’ve been trying to gaslight us for months with this game, but the bad sales and bad fan reception tell you we weren’t duped. Stop trying to prop up this game.

Senua’s Saga does look amazing. Argument for number 1.

Glad Astro Bot made it. Maybe the visuals aren't cutting edge, but the fantastic art direction and cohesion make it a gorgeous looking game.

Black Myth Wukong shits on most of them, especially with its art and characters designs. It really does justice to Chinese craftsmanship in a way no other game did before it. My girlfriend was watching me play and she’s half Chinese. She said the game reminded her just how beautiful their art can be. My only problem is with the texture bug that causes some textures never to load.

Wasn’t 2023 better? This feels like a weak year. I also think ray tracing gets way too much attention, even in games with mediocre implementation.

 

[Senua]

Dragon age? Wow

Hellblade is the most impressive game I've ever played visually, glorified tech demo or not.

 

[Hrk69]

Let the cries of "This generation sucks!" echo dramatically!

 

[sncvsrtoip]

I wouldnt put Indiana for number 1 just for very underwhelming animation and rigid character models (face expressions) at cutscenes

 

[adamsapple]

Let the cries of "This generation sucks!" echo dramatically!

Already begun lol

There were some absolutely fantastic looking games that came out this year, no doubt about that.

I would have personally put hellblade over Indiana Jones myself, but I can see their reasoning, the scale and scope is much higher and it also aims for a much more ambitious performance profile on the console version with a high frame rate, high resolution and also rtgi which they have improved even on consoles with patches.

 

[rodrigolfp]

top3 available on Series S.

Not their full graphics. It's obviously the PC version(s).

 

[Magic Carpet]

Nice to see Riven mentioned anywhere. It looks and plays great using a Quest 3 on PC.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Let the cries of "This generation sucks!" echo dramatically!

Because good graphics = good game???

 

[tmlDan]

I actually didn't think Indy looked good, not sure i agree with this top 3 to be honest.

I'd actually have Hellblade as number 1 and Astrobot as number 2, both are just overall more visually appealing

 

[Hrk69]

Because good graphics = good game???

To many posters here, it's considered the pinnacle of gaming

 

[Fbh]

Yeah Indy is great. Not only because it looks great maxed out on PC but because they still managed to make it look great on console while targeting 60fps with good IQ and good REAL resolutions. None of this FSR on 720p crap.

 

[Big Baller]

Good list.

 

[Gaiff]

I actually didn't think Indy looked good, not sure i agree with this top 3 to be honest.

I'd actually have Hellblade as number 1 and Astrobot as number 2, both are just overall more visually appealing

I'd have Wukong at 1. Hellblade at 2. Astro Bot would probably take the 3rd spot.

 

[Topher]

Top 3:

3. Star Wars: Outlaws
2. Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2
1. Indiana Jones and The Great Circle

Not so sure about Outlaws, but Indy and Hellblade are deserved here, imo. Both are great looking games.

 

[Celcius]

No mention of Unicorn Overlord is criminal

 

[T4keD0wN]

Why are games like "Nobody Wants to Die" and "Still wakes the Deep" mentioned? They shit all over everything but Hellblade 2, Wukong and Indy (which should be below HB2 and Wukong). Only played Stalker 2 for like an hour, but it was pretty meh.

Half the games they mention look mid, Dragons Dogma 2 looks straight up bad and theres no great art direction to point at.

 

[Arsic]

Lmao at dragons dogma 2. Did they never look up at the clouds?

 

[Topher]

Lmao at dragons dogma 2. Did they never look up at the clouds?

 

[Punished Miku]

Interesting video. I would put Hellblade in the top spot pretty easily but it was interesting to hear their reasoning. I'm also not playing Indie on PC. Indie seriously is a phenomenal game, and graphics are like 4th place on the list of great things its doing. Hellblade has like 10+ moments that are forever burned in my mind on par with the flames / cannibal intro they always reference. The cave fight. The green particle lighting area, and on and on. Never seen color like I have in Hellblade, so its a mixture of graphics and phenomenal art direction. It literally looks like real life people on film multiple times. That has never once been done before this game.

Sounds like Outlaws will be worth picking up for $15 like I do all Ubisoft games.

 

[Fbh]

No mention of Unicorn Overlord is criminal

Yeah it's not what usually comes to mind when you think about "graphics". But it's certainly the best looking game I played this year.

I played it on Switch so it was actually kinda surreal that for a while I could go from playing something on Ps5 to playing this on the Switch, and I'd feel like I got a visual upgrade compared to what I was playing before lol.

 

[Sebastian1295]

Top 3:

3. Star Wars: Outlaws
2. Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2
1. Indiana Jones and The Great Circle

Can't take the list seriously with outlaws on their and hellblade 2. Hellblade 2 is a static world that has 0 interactivity to it and yet it's beating something like ff7 rebirth graphically?? A massive world that's lush and beautiful with incredibly different locations. No way. And outlaws is not impressive graphically too me either and looks mediocre at best.

 

[R3TRO]

Outlaws? Interesting opinion

 

[Sebastian1295]

Yeah it's not what usually comes to mind when you think about "graphics". But it's certainly the best looking game I played this year.

I played it on Switch so it was actually kinda surreal that for a while I could go from playing something on Ps5 to playing this on the Switch, and I'd feel like I got a visual upgrade compared to what I was playing before lol.

Unicorn overlord has a gorgeous artstyle that gives me modern day battle ogre vibes. I think it's gorgeous.

 

[Punished Miku]

Why are games like "Nobody Wants to Die" and "Still wakes the Deep" mentioned? They shit all over everything but Hellblade 2, Wukong and Indy (which should be below HB2 and Wukong). Only played Stalker 2 for like an hour, but it was pretty meh.

Half the games they mention look mid, Dragons Dogma 2 looks straight up bad and theres no great art direction to point at.

I just played Still Wakes the Deep. Its a masterpiece. My favorite horror game ever made possibly. But it is not shitting on Hellblade 2. It is top 4 for me easily though and not mentioning it while talking about stuff like Persona is insane. Oh well, their list. But yeah, nice to see someone mention how fantastic SWtD is.

 

[xrnzaaas]

I have no idea why Outlaws and Indiana are in the top 3, Dragon Age gets mentioned (lol) and something like Nobody Wants to Die is ignored. Nobody looked so good because they focused 80% on the graphics and 20% on the gameplay.

Not to mention Outlaws looks and runs like ass on the consoles (at least on the PS5). You need to have a good PC to extract its graphics.

 

[Gonzito]

Persona 3 and Metaphor shouldn't be on that list or even mentioned

 

[Darsxx82]

I don't see Space Marine 2 even in honorable mention? For me it is ahead (and by a long shot) compared to many of those mentioned

Otherwise, many visually very grateful and worthy games this year.

 

[Luipadre]

Not so sure about Outlaws, but Indy and Hellblade are deserved here, imo. Both are great looking games.

Im currently playing outlaws and its absolutely deserves its spot in the top 3 and im not even on PC

 

[Luipadre]

I have no idea why Outlaws and Indiana are in the top 3, Dragon Age gets mentioned (lol) and something like Nobody Wants to Die is ignored. Nobody looked so good because they focused 80% on the graphics and 20% on the gameplay.

Not to mention Outlaws looks and runs like ass on the consoles (at least on the PS5). You need to have a good PC to extract its graphics.

Because both of those games looks phenomenal especially on PC and outlaws looks gorgeous on the pro too in 40fps quality mode and runs at a locked framerate

 

[analog_future]

I love The Great Circle but it being #1 is absurd

 

[Topher]

Im currently playing outlaws and its absolutely deserves its spot in the top 3 and im not even on PC

Good to hear. Obviously they put some work into it since I played it.

 

[Calverz]

For me hellblade 2 is graphically the best game Iv seen so far. But I appreciate it’s very basic and essentially like playing a movie. Indiana jones I enjoyed more but graphically wasn’t that great. Although the large open areas were handled well. It stands in good stead for new doom. Game im really excited for.

 

[Luipadre]

Good to hear. Obviously they put some work into it since I played it.

I never played it until a few days ago, but the game looks stunning and feels polished, im really enjoying it

 

[Elios83]

Lol at the Atlus games honorable mentions They're PS3 games!
Also Star Wars Outlaws?Dragon's Dogma?
Indiana Jones is a PS4 game with good ray tracing.

UE5 games won imo, Wukong, Hellblade 2 and Silent Hill 2.
FF7 Rebirth could have made the list if it wasn't for the uneven texture quality issues.
Also no mention for Horizon Zero Dawn remastered even though they made videos about how good and clean it looks??

 

[xrnzaaas]

Because both of those games looks phenomenal especially on PC and outlaws looks gorgeous on the pro in 40fps quality mode and runs at a locked framerate

I have seen gameplays from Outlaws running on a high-end PC and while I would agree it deserves a mention I don't think it's good enough to be in the top 3, not in the same year when other devs managed to extract so much from UE5. The smaller the world, the easier it is to have better graphics and you have to be extremely talented to overcome that. I could only name Forbidden West and RDR2 as truly awesome looking open world games.

Can't comment on PS5 Pro, though. It's good it received the upgrade, because I was very unhappy with how it performed on the base model without having a valid reason to run so bad.

 

[GHG]

No mention of space marine?

Man, these guys are such fragile cucks.

 

[Gaiff]

Can't take the list seriously with outlaws on their and hellblade 2. Hellblade 2 is a static world that has 0 interactivity to it and yet it's beating something like ff7 rebirth graphically?? A massive world that's lush and beautiful with incredibly different locations. No way. And outlaws is not impressive graphically too me either and looks mediocre at best.

The visual gap between Hellblade 2 and FF VII Rebirth is too large for "static world" to be an argument. Rebirth has some of the worst grass and shadow pop-ins I've ever seen. The textures look like mud 50% of the time, and nothing about it is visually impressive. Great art direction and beautiful characters, but to suggest it's above Hellblade 2 is ludicrous. Hellblade 2 is visually consistent, whereas Rebirth frequently looks like dirt and this takes you out of the experience. XVI is far better than Rebirth graphically.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Indiana got it simply cause of GI that doesn’t tank frame rates completely.

Thats a breakthrough in bringing RT to wide hardware and games.

 

[Three]

No idea what Indiana jones is doing ahead of hellblade 2 but I have my suspicions. That game looks pretty bad in comparison especially on console.

Indiana got it simply cause of GI that doesn’t tank frame rates completely.

Thats a breakthrough in bringing RT to wide hardware and games.

At the expense of crap looking shadows on most hardware. Besides lots of games do good GI without tanking frame rate. Including the widely played Fortnite which did it years ago.

 

[Sebastian1295]

The visual gap between Hellblade 2 and FF VII Rebirth is too large for "static world" to be an argument. Rebirth has some of the worst grass and shadow pop-ins I've ever seen. The textures look like mud 50% of the time, and nothing about it is visually impressive. Great art direction and beautiful characters, but to suggest it's above Hellblade 2 is ludicrous.

Hellblade 2 has nothing going on in the world nor environments. It's a walking game with 0 exploration, static movement, static environments, and they use black bars on the screen as well. It's impressive in terms of motion capture and faces, but the world surrounding that is boring with nothing happening outside of scripted sequences.

 

[Topher]

No mention of space marine?

Man, these guys are such fragile cucks.

Space Marine 2 is gorgeous. Definitely deserved mention, especially taking into account the epic scale of everything going on in that game.

 

[Gaiff]

Hellblade 2 has nothing going on in the world nor environments. It's a walking game with 0 exploration, static movement, static environments, and they use black bars on the screen as well. It's impressive in terms of motion capture and faces, but the world surrounding that is boring.

It's visually impressive in everything except for interactivity. The character models, animations, geometric density, lighting, shadows, textures, visual effects, hair, and absolutely everything else royally dumps on Rebirth. You're talking as if Rebirth was Tears of the Kingdom in terms of world interactivity. The fact that it even made the list is enough because of how bad and inconsistent the visuals are. We had a thread dedicated to the frequent muddy textures found in the game. Those are all easily fixed and they hopefully are when it comes to PC in January.

 

[GHG]

Indiana got it simply cause of GI that doesn’t tank frame rates completely.

Thats a breakthrough in bringing RT to wide hardware and games.

Objectively it's not the best looking game on the list though, not even close. If they gave it to Hellblade 2 there could be no arguments.

It's also bizarre that nobody wants to die, bodycam, Horizon Zero Dawn remastered and Flight Sim 2024 were ignored.

The whole thing stinks.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

At the expense of crap looking shadows on most hardware. Besides lots of games do good GI without tanking frame rate. Including the widely played Fortnite which did it years ago.

Fortnite is one. I dont know any others.

Though it does have cartoony look so I assume its not very demanding.

Objectively it's not the best looking game on the list though, not even close. If they gave it to Hellblade 2 there could be no arguments.

It's also bizarre that nobody wants to die, bodycam, Horizon Zero Dawn remastered and Flight Sim 2024 were ignored.

The whole thing stinks.

DF is obsessed with RT.

I also am glad its coming to entry level hardware. So its adaption is going to rise this gen itself.