After finishing my time with DOOM: The Dark Ages and starting out on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Expect a review of this by the way when I’m finished) I can certainly appreciate what a good art style can do for a game. To make things clear, I think the new DOOM is a gorgeous looking game with plenty of interesting visuals and vistas to make it a nice game to watch in motion, but Clair Obscur is something else.
The game looks pretty, yes, but what is most striking about it is just how unique the visuals and environments look. I spent one part of the game walking through an underwater coral reef that suspended above my head and showed aquatic life flowing through it in beautiful harmony, really showing the kind of dedication the devs had to making the visuals look both unique, and generally pretty. THIS it the type of game I would expect to have to upgrade my graphics card for, having me quite literally stop gameplay to just stare in awe at some of the visuals, something like that is a treat for the eyes. As such, visual style is just as, if not more important, than the visuals themselves. You can make the pixels prettier, but you can’t just arrange the pixels to be in a better form unless you have some real artistic direction behind you.
What do you think of this? What are some examples of games that have excellent artistic style, not just pretty graphics? Let me know in the comments! That’s all for now, and as always. It’s not just a game, It’s a Life.