Beautiful games?
Suggest some beautiful games. Genre doesn't matter. 3d or 2d no big deal. Hyper Light Drifter, Satisfactory, Cliff Empire, etc.
Mostly I'm talking about moments in the game where you can just stand there and look at the world and not be bored.
Thankssss.
17 years on, Okami is still one of the best.
Just picked up the HD remake and was thrilled to see someone made a mod to patch out the film grain and motion blur. I'm puking rainbows.
I came to say the same thing
Journey still looks pretty pretty.
Not sure whether it's still enjoyable to play, since probably not many people are playing it these days.
Mmm yess. Recently did a play through, and luckily I played most of it with a fellow pilgrim. IMO Journey will always be gorgeous. The graphics are perfectly balanced between realism, performance and art. To me, it's a timeless classic.
Though exclusively single player, ABZU is also a nice, atmospheric game as well.
Hollow Knight, if you're not afraid of bugs.
That first City of Tears moment is incredible.
Music in this game is probably in my top 5
I think getting platinum for that game on ps is my crowning achievement of my gaming career, I'm never going to able to do that again.
Can't wait for silksong!
Firewatch is a very beautiful game
Was coming here to say this. Game is good, but the artwork and feeling of the game is amazing.
Outer Wilds.
Really encapsulates the meaning of beauty a couple different ways.
Tetris Effect, particularly if you can play in VR.
Though if you're strictly talking "aesthetically pleasing", the options get wider. I absolutely loved the aesthetics of Hi-fi Rush. The absolute beauty of this comic-esque, cel-shaded world with every element, background and forground, moving to the rhythm of the soundtrack just blew me away when I started playing. But I'm a slut for rhythm games, so there's just something about everything tiny fiber of the space connecting and syncing up that gets me.
Gris, it has an exceptionally good art. Great landscape, sound effects and the storytelling.
Currently playing that game, and I fully agree.
The soundtrack by Berlinist is on Spotify.
Stray. There were lots of times I'd perch up high and look around at everything going on below.
Horizon Zero Dawn. The sequel is likely even more beautiful but I haven't played it yet
NMS is amazing to play in VR.
Ori (both ones). Absolutely stunning platformer. One of the best games I've every played, just started a second playthrough.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps has gorgeous art. The Luma Pools area is my personal favorite.
Sable. No fighting. Just exploring and getting immersed.
That ones on my wish-list already, now it's on my actual wish-list in my head.
Just a heads up the game kinda made my head hurt physically. The characters move at like 24-30fps while the background moves at a full 60 (or something >30, was not sure). It's a stylistic choice which I can respect but I couldn't get into it due to the stark difference in fps between the two which made it feel laggy.
Abzu has a few moments like that, especially towards the end where you're swimming through more and more densely packed environments.
Thanks! The same publisher is working on Nivalis, I'll definitely check that one out sometime.
Transistor - really any Supergiant game, but Transistor in particular.
Gris.
I think if you enjoyed the beauty in Hyper Light Drifter, then you will be entranced by Tunic. Bonus points for being one of the best puzzle exploration games of all time.
Spiritfarer is very, very pretty as well. It is dripping it atmosphere and I often found myself just afk breathing it all in.
Tunic is an amazing experience, I filled multiple pages of a notebook trying to figure out the puzzles, I wish I had more games that made me do that
Not only is tunic beautiful; the experience is amazing. It's even better if you try to solve the main optional puzzle as you go.
Definitely agree that it's one of the best.
Witcher 3. The scenery there is just beautiful. And you get your first beautiful scenery pretty much immediately in the tutorial, just go to the balcony in your room and look.
Esp. when you get to the Blood and Wine expansion. The stars at night are beautiful.
Ghost of Tsushima for sure. I didn't see anyone else mention it, which is a big surprise to me.
I really liked the look of Stray and Biomutant too, but they are a bit more on the cartoon side
Half Life 2: Episode 2. Especially the Citadel with the portal storm, White Forest itself, just so immersive.
Guild wars 2 has one of the best artstyles of any game IMO. Also very nice to just explore the world and the core game is free 2 play with a generous way to buy and keep forever without sub or mtx.
Outer Wilds has a lot of beautiful things to look at, whether it's a planet or moon soaring overhead impossibly close, or something more cosmically spectacular. The music and sound design enhances the experience a lot too.
People already said Horizon, which is my #1 choice, but I'm surprised I didn't see anyone say Sekiro. That game is gorgeous. I'd often stop and look at the environment when I wasn't killing people lol
I take it your server has been BUSY.
tbh my most recent one is probably Forza Horizon 5. I'm not really a "car guy" but nothing beats getting high and doing sick jumps over gorgeous natural landscapes in bodacious sports cars. Bonus points if your Ferrari has an anime girl spraypainted on the hood.
A car of culture as well I see.
Ori, both of them.
The Witness
I love how distinctive the art style is, but also how the gameplay rewards you for paying attention to the world and design.
For some strange reason nobody mentioned Tunic yet. Definitely take a look at it!
Journey
Ico / Shadow of the Colossus / The Last Guardian
No Man's Sky
Second for Journey, it's a master class in non-dialogue storytelling, and it's just a beautiful game all around. I got introduced to it through its music (via a cover artist) and have fallen in love with the game.
Second Shadow of the Colossus. The moments where you can just sit and look, coupled with the soundtrack, are some of the best in gaming history. Plus that bit of tension knowing what you're about to get into...
I strongly suggest Gris. A 2d platformer with an art style and sound track that makes me reflective and emotional.
Loved that game. Came here to mention it as well.
Dishonored 2. The city of Karnaca is beautiful imo, even despite all the dirt and bloodflies
Chicory is an artistic top-down Zelda-style game that is not only adorable with its cute characters and world, but it also invites you to add color to the world and give it your own touch.
skyrim, i have loads of pictures just of the sky in that game
also hogwarts legacy has some very beautiful locales throughout the game, and hogwarts itself is wonderfully done
I played Skyrim AE right after Horizon Forbidden West and I kept finding the simplicity and visual clarity of the game to be so damn beautiful. The game has the right amount of clutter, right amount of volumetric fogs and right amount of texture detail to be easy on eyes and believable as a consistent and functioning world.
i like the ants marching on some of the logs, easy to see in riverwood by the area where gerdur talks to you after the intro
Factorio, I've never had another game keep me so focused I forgot the sun would eventually come up.
I really dig that art style, it's sort of the logical conclusion to things like Diablo 2 or Age of Empires 2. Something about the high fidelity 2D rendering of 3D objects from an isometric perspective is so aesthetically pleasing.
It feels more descriptive of the reality of the world and less stylized even though it's, of course, its own style.
I've given ~2000 hours of life to that game as well.
The factory must grow!
Fire watch
Inside and Naissancee have a lot of moments that just gave me a huge sense of awe. They have some really haunting, yet beautiful scenes.
Thumper just makes me constantly question how the hell the devs made the game look that way.
Half Life Alyx is weird because it didn't so much blow me away with the huge things as it did with the small things. There's so many small objects and details everywhere that stand up even when you're physically shoving your face into them.
Bastion from supergiant games, most of the game is hand painted, it gives a floating feeling, and given the game is on floating islands it gives really nice atmosphere.
On the other side, the art style of Katana Zero and Hotline Miami is dirty and distorted, but I really dig that style . Probably wouldn't work with standing still part, but in motion they are works of art.
most of the supergiant games tbh, hades and transistor both have some beautiful scenes as well.
Monster Hunter World is five years old and holds up great.
They did a great job of making the maps feel like a living system that goes on while you're not there. (Sadly, this is much less true of the newest MH game, Rise, where the maps are full of traversal puzzles but the wildlife pretty much all exists only to attack you.)
+1 for MHW, the environments always felt alive and you start to learn the patterns of wildlife as you spend time in them
I liked rise because the gameplay felt more streamlined and flowy but I agree, the environments felt a little more stale
Most recently horizon: forbidden west had me moments that I would stop and just look the beautiful scenery. As a hardcore introvert, staying inside person I really admire such a great view.
I feel that. I'm anxiously waiting for it to be ported to PC. ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ
Interesting, no one has mentioned Red Dead Redemption 2. Looks absolutely stunning.
The worst part of the game? Interiors, because of lack of RTX lighting, it will never look anywhere close to amazing, unlike the magnificent exteriors. Oh boy, have I lost myself in nature in that game...
Journey?
I imagine you're not going to like this answer but since the genre doesn't matter: Genshin Impact
The Octopath Traveler games
Such beautiful pixel art game. Really enjoyed playing it.
Ghost of Tsushina
Either in color or black and white, that is a gorgeous game
My recommendation list is going to be a wild mix of different styles. Basically aynthing in my Games Library that I find visually appealing...
Love that shot from Elite, nice work.
Thanks! I caught it more or less by chance though. I was just scanning all moons in the system, and thought that landing would be a nice break from the scanning routine. And then this happened. It looked even better a few moments before, when the sun that's visible in the shot was still partially occluded by the gas giant. Took me too long to fire up camera mode to catch that though...
DayZ. Walking in the woods and hearing a deer in the distance or going up on a cliff and watching the sunset is quite serene.
Okami and Child of Light are good options.
Minecraft? Or if that's too detailed, maybe Manifold Garden.
This might be weird, but Just Cause 3. When I was playing it a lot, I would just stop and look around at sunset and marvel at the view.
Firelord is an old one but gorgeous. Chicory is pretty, in a colouring book sort of way. Child of Light and Forgotton Anne have fairly similar aesthetics but are both lovely.
Endless Legend is the most beautiful 4x game I've seen so far. All of the races are great designs and feel really different in gameplay.
Both Sludge Life games. A bit unconventional but I found a lot of spots in the games where I would just stand there and take in the various scenes going on. Both games can be beaten fairly quick but it took me hours to get through them because I kept stopping to just take in everything going on.
Only played the first but agreed, it was a nice little vibin' setting. Makes sense because if I recall there was a lot of picture-taking in the game
Monument Valley. Visually beautiful enough to warrant repeated play-through just to admire the design, and conceptually brilliant as well.
And another vote for Gris, too.
These are maybe not what some would consider beautiful, but I love the variation in art styles and how they can be beautiful while either being simplistic or retro-inspired. All but Sea Of Stars were very cheap during the Steam Summer sale or in a Fanatical bundle that may or may not still be available right now.
I can't believe no one has mentioned A plague tale - Requiem! It's a stunning game to just soak in the atmosphere of middle age France.