Fuchsia

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,008
Horizon Zero Dawn reached a point where I think that it will always be consider a nice looking game.
Its very consistent and stylized.
Since Much118 just posted them in another thread, behold:
J6NTBeS.gif


IV2CGh1.gif

This will never not look good.

Wipeout Omega Collection will also hold up till eternity.

I don't think Uncharted and God Of War will hold up as well as these.
Parts of God Of War will hold up, but the game is not as consistently good looking as Horizon for example. Same is true for Uncharted.

Timelessness of visuals depends mostly on the artstyle. Consistency is key.
The more a game is trying to imitate realism the harder it becomes to consistently reach a certain level of realism.

Horizon is what I thought of when I read the thread title and those gif's reinforced that notion. There's something about the style of that game that will hold up well I think.
 

Zhukov

Banned
Dec 6, 2017
2,641
Horizon Zero Dawn reached a point where I think that it will always be consider a nice looking game.
Its very consistent and stylized.
That dialogue animation though. Looked terrible by current standards, let alone next gen.

Far Cry 5.

Fired it up yesterday after not touching it for months after getting the Platinum and my jaw dropped again.
Funny. I fired that up this morning and my first thought was that Ubisoft seem to have fallen behind in the graphics department.

...

To address the actual topic, it can be safely assumed that the heavily stylized games will age well while the ones going for a more realistic look will not. Like always.
 
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Much

The Gif That Keeps on Giffing
Member
Feb 24, 2018
6,087
That dialogue animation though. Looked terrible by current standards, let alone next gen.

Yeah side quests in the base game were pretty rough, truth be told. Main missions were absolutely fine though, and The Frozen Wilds seriously upped its game.

MFtLbbn.gif


xiGxsiK.gif



And yeah, Ubisoft are always left out of this question, but the games look amazing. AC Origins and Far Cry 5 are stunning!
 

ffvorax

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,855
Games with beautiful art direction, even if the 3d looks old, can still be enjoyable in my hopinion.
Like Shadow of the colossus....even without remaster still had a unique art style and direction that made it beautiful.
Usually anyway 2D games age better.
 

Much

The Gif That Keeps on Giffing
Member
Feb 24, 2018
6,087
Yeah, I noticed that too.

Nice to see them responding to feedback. Or at least I assume that's what happened.

Yeah, it's impressive and a good sign to see. Correct me if I'm wrong here since I may literally be speaking about something that isn't true, but I think they might've collaborated with Kojima Productions on lip syncing for TFW seeing as GG are helping out with the Decima engine for Death Stranding.

Here's Origins:

VcImB5u.gif


VOLB3hU.gif
 

Segafreak

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,756
10 years from now, barely anything, especially in the cinematic and open world games genres. Witcher 3 already looks dated with Horizon out and Death Stranding/Ghost of Tsushima coming soon. There will be games next gen that will make them look dated too. We said the same thing about UC2 but look how far games have come, one of the few PS3 games that still hold up is Killzone 2.

Artistic stuff like Tearaway, Cuphead, Bloodborne and Team ICO games will always look good tho.
 

Dan Thunder

Member
Nov 2, 2017
15,416
The obvious answer is 2d or cel-shaded stuff. Games like Okami & Wind Waker still stand up to this day.

What's interesting to me is that I suspect a lot of 3D games will also stand up for a while. Now we're reaching a point where BC is being taken seriously and cross generation platforms are likely to be standard we're seeing the manufacturers start to put effort into upscaling titles. You only have to see how good the likes of RDR and Crackdown look when running on XB1X to see that with a bit of technical nous you can make a title look and perform better with little to no effort on the developer end.

I reckon that the likes of Uncharted, God of War, Horizon, Arkham Knight, Witcher 3 & Driveclub could all easily carry over to the next-generation and still look great even if it's 'just' a bump to full 4K/60fps.

Plus I think we'll end up seeing games shipped with hi-res textures so that they can take advantage of more powerful hardware when the inevitable mid-gen refresh comes out which will improve things further. For example I can see it being the equivalent of the PS3 version of TLoU vs the PS4 one. Both versions are on the same disc but when the game detects more powerful hardware it automatically switches to better textures, frame-rate, AA etc.
 
Oct 27, 2017
1,297
Based on the E3 demo I'd wager Ghosts of Tsushima, mainly because it seems to have a really strong art direction and cinematography.
 

Edgar

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
7,180
Witcher 3 , art direction and just general atmosphere is second to none, sure pure graphics wise its not gonna hold up due to LOD and wonky animations and flatter lighting model. But the views are still pretty damn impressive ,and blood and wine still looks pretty darn good.
Another would be RE7 , 60 fps , stellar art direction and impressive lighting and facial animations deserve some praise .
 

Fredrik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,003
60fps games

Seriously, anything that looks pretty while still runs at 60fps will stand the test of time best I think. 30fps games looks great in pics but will look very very dated in reality if 60fps or VRR and ~50+fps becomes the norm next gen.
 

Barrel Cannon

It's Pronounced "Aerith"
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
10,240
I feel with the laws of diminishing returns a lot of stuff holds a lot better even from last gen. It's only when I go to the 6th gen or 5th gen where things hold up a lot less.
 

Dictator

Digital Foundry
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
5,190
Berlin, 'SCHLAND
Yeah, it's impressive and a good sign to see. Correct me if I'm wrong here since I may literally be speaking about something that isn't true, but I think they might've collaborated with Kojima Productions on lip syncing for TFW seeing as GG are helping out with the Decima engine for Death Stranding.

Here's Origins:

VcImB5u.gif


VOLB3hU.gif
The game does not actually have this motion blur actually.
 

nib95

Contains No Misinformation on Philly Cheesesteaks
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
18,498
Some PS3 and Xbox 360 games still hold up, so I imagine many PS4 and Xbox One games will too.
 

pswii60

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,837
The Milky Way
Most games from this gen will still look just fine with a resolution bump. Just play any X enhanced BC game and you'll see. And nothing new for PC gamers.
 

Dave Mash

Banned
Feb 19, 2018
154
It's pointless saying stuff like Cuphead and Ori. Clearly they'll still look good because they're not relying even on current gen tech.

The interesting question is which cutting edge games will hold up.

I think God of War has a nicely stylised aesthetic, so I think that could be one.

Driveclub as well, that's a beautiful game.

I can't imagine Ratchet and Clank ever not looking beautiful.

I think Doom and Sea of Thieves both have classic visual design.

Otoh, I don't think Horizon will hold up very well. I'm not really sure why though.
 

Fafalada

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,243
...They are always intentionally leaving rooms for improvement so there will be a next installment....
...wait... What?

I think RockStar will try its hardest to make Red dead Redemption 2 as timeless as possible so the single player side will probably be given a boost as well.
I dunno - I'd never say R games held up visually before - then again I usually found them not very pretty at respective launch dates either, so maybe they're just always equally ugly.
 

Chamber

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,308
Not very many for me, Horizon and God of War are going to instantly look dated when the PS5 sequels hit. Shit, I have a hard time going back to old Pixar movies much less games. I watched The Incredibles before the sequel came out and damn, that movie looks rougher than I remembered.
 

Salvor_Hardin

Banned
Jun 7, 2018
21
Horizon Zero Dawn reached a point where I think that it will always be consider a nice looking game.
Its very consistent and stylized.
Since Much118 just posted them in another thread, behold:
J6NTBeS.gif


IV2CGh1.gif

This will never not look good.

Wipeout Omega Collection will also hold up till eternity.

I don't think Uncharted and God Of War will hold up as well as these.
Parts of God Of War will hold up, but the game is not as consistently good looking as Horizon for example. Same is true for Uncharted.

Timelessness of visuals depends mostly on the artstyle. Consistency is key.
The more a game is trying to imitate realism the harder it becomes to consistently reach a certain level of realism.

I just recently bought a PS4 Pro. First game I played was UC4, and now I'm about half way through Horizon. UC4 is far superior to Horizon in terms of animation, and it feels like the next massive stride in gaming visuals will be animation. If I'm right, then I can't imagine Horizon will be looked upon fondly - every character looks and animates like a plastic doll in this game. The cutscenes are super disjointed from the gameplay, and the production quality just isn't as good as UC4.

Having said that, Horizon's raw graphical fidelity is top notch, but that's the stuff that ages the fastest. And I haven't even mentioned the weird sky box. It animates really nicely (I'm guessing it's real time volumetric), but it looks incredible low res. As someone who didn't follow the production of this game, what happened to the clouds resolution? Would love to know.
 

R dott B

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,159
Racing games and 2D games.

I went back to games that I found beautiful like Ryse, QB, Horizon ZD, The Witcher 3 and I found that they didn't look that great to me anymore.
 

Deleted member 4093

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,671
Most of them wont. Especially the realistic looking games. They dont hold up well as far as textures and shadows and lighting. A resolution bump will do good and will be exciting like the xbox one bc updates but nothing comparable imo.
 

Shark

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,126
Raleigh, NC
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Inside
Cuphead
Ori and the Blind Forest
Persona 5
Pyre

I think a case can definitely be made for Horizon and God of War but they use too many realistic looking 'humans' that I think in time that stuff erodes our perception and memory the fastest.
 

christocolus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,953
Forza Horizon, Tomb Raider, Ori, Gears, Unravel, Inside, Little Nightmares, Doom, GoW, Assasins Creed, Cuphead, The Order, Ryse,......
 

Gestault

Member
Oct 26, 2017
14,123
The more stylized, the better the chances: Inside, Cuphead and Ori and the Blind Forest are the most pronounced examples I can think of so far from current-gen.
 

MeltedDreams

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,757
Journey, one of these games that will always looks incredible.

giphy.gif


Yeah side quests in the base game were pretty rough, truth be told. Main missions were absolutely fine though, and The Frozen Wilds seriously upped its game.

MFtLbbn.gif

I just finished Frozen Wilds, holy shit i did not expected such a noticiable jump in visuals. Also the quests and new machines were all great. One of the better exansions this gen.
 

Euler007

Member
Jan 10, 2018
5,098
Most games could just be pumped up to the highest resolution it can run at 60fps and look impressive.
 

Andri

Member
Mar 20, 2018
6,017
Switzerland
Pretty much all the 2D indies, as well as most Nintendo games.

If a game goes for a non realistic artstyle, chances are that it will hold up over generations.

The games that were graphical showpieces with a meh artstyle are the ones that generally wont hold up once graphics improve past what was impressive when they came out.
 
Oct 25, 2017
12,716
United Kingdom
Most of Sony's 1st party exclusives, DriveClub, Uncharted 4, Horizon, God of War ect will hold up nicely I'm sure.

Probably most games this gen to be honest, it's not like we get tons of ugly games these days.
 

Kenzodielocke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,286
I think most games regarded as good looking, no matter what art stlye, will hold up way better than previous gens.
 

AppleMIX

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,800
Most games will hold up well.

Next gen is mostly going to be about 4k and 60fps rather than polygon count.
 

Shifty1897

Member
Oct 28, 2017
702
2D and cel-shaded games like usual.

We're getting Tales of Vesperia Remaster soon and even if that's a past gen game it still looks incredible. Nintendo could port The Wind Waker right now to the Switch and it would still look gorgeous as another example.

and 2D games like Cuphead and Hollow Knight will FOREVER look incredible, just timeless beautiful games.

First reply nailed it. If you want your game to stand the test of time, hand-drawn art or cel-shading are the way to go.
 

Iceman83

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
379
United States
Here's my question. Will already X Enhanced games get further 'enhanced' next gen? For example, Battlefront II going full 4K and locked 60, and these games with a dynamic scaler also going full 4K.