Photorealism Has Cost Games Their Art Style

Summary

Technology makes games look better than ever, but now they all look the same
When perfection was impossible, games found more interesting solutions
The next evolution needs to be a more creative voice instead of technical prowess

I'm heading out to Gamescom later this summer, and when TheGamer is there we'll be doing some quizzes to test the gaming knowledge of the attendees. While I was putting the quizzes together earlier this week, I realised how much the borders of gaming's visual creativity have tapered inwards. Increased technology has put greater emphasis on fidelity and realism, meaning visual style has faded. Put simply, too many games look the same nowadays.

There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. In the past two weeks I have played Ete, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Thank Goodness You're Here, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, all great indie games with highly stylised visuals. Indie studios cannot afford to chase realism, and so they keep the creativity of yesteryear alive. Even at a triple-A level, the likes of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tears of the Kingdom, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Elden Ring, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Alan Wake 2 all manage to create a personalised and highly specific aesthetic with increasing amounts of realism. But most g𒉰ames do not go that extra mile.

What Is The Point Of Great Graphics If They're Boring?

Aloy draws her bow and aims an arrow in Horizon Forbidden West.

Every game that manages to mimic photorealism will be able to point you to its team of highly talented developers who worked hard to make that possible (or would, if they hadn't been laid off). I am not saying this is lazy - even with modern technology, successfully creating a video game that looks 'real' and can sustain those visuals across a 20 or 50 or 100 hour game takes a lot of intelligence and hard work. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:My question, ultimately, is 'why?'.

When making these quizzes, it's easy to see this tapering inwards. The most expensive, highest-end games still looked very different from each other ten years ago. Even if they were aiming for 100 percent realism, they couldn't get there, and the 70 percent that they managed was different to the 70 percents all the other studios were managing, so they all still looked unique. These days, we call them 'dated' because it's obvious to see what they were aiming for, and how they fell short. But back then, they were groundbreaking, and it felt like it.

Graphics Were Better When They Were Ugly

Games with a more timeless style have been able to endure and survive (spoiler for the quotes quiz), but even the imperfect games feel special looking back. These days, games are perfect. Maybe not to play and maybe not for everyone (no game ever really could be), but in terms of looking like exactly what they want to look like, they nail it. And as a result, they're boring. They want to look like real life, and they do, and once you get over being impressed by the realistic eyelashes, there's not a lot to say. They don't feel deliberate, despite having the power to be.

The way a game looked used to come from a sense of problem solving, and it led to an often iconic incorporation of technical limitations into the gameplay experience, like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Silent Hill's spooky fog to compensate for the lack of draw distance. This should be an age of cinematography, and while there are (again) exceptions that highlight moments of directorial vision in modern video games, it doesn't feel like realism is being capitalised on. Despite the hard work behind making it a reality, it feels more like a laurel upon which to rest.

I've written before that the 2020s doesn't have much of an identity in gaming, which is why we're seeing so many remakes, and this feels like an extension of that. There are no more great leaps to take. Gaming cannot continue to strive upwards, having finally reached the apex. But there is nothing to do at the top of a mountain but plant your flag. The journey is the point. Now, perhaps studios should slide down the mountain, shifting away from expensive photorealism that achieves very little connection with the audience, to create something more unique and exciting. Perhaps that, after everything, is the reward for the climb.