In a lot of ways it’s easier than ever to make an incredible looking game, thanks in no small part to the broad accessibility of Unreal Engine 5 to developers across the whole industry, and the technical baseline that the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S console provide.
But visual design isn’t just about how many pixels you can throw around the screen, how many polygons you can zoom in on or how realistic everything can look. There’s absolutely a place for that – especially when you can apply it in new and unusual ways – but it’s also so important to have an individualistic streak and a real artistry to make a game stand out from the hyper realistic crowds.
Metaphor Refantazio is the story of a boy who wants to build a fairytale world, but that means something rather different when he lives in a world of high fantasy. When his world already features a tribal caste system, where certain races have bat and dog physiologies, demon horns and angel wings, and institutional racism sees the more human-like tribes rising to the top, his dreams look much more mundane to our eye.
It all stems from a book that describes our modern world. Effectively, our version of a fairytale world has characters who dream of ours.
All of this takes a stunning visual design, with the book pages painting themselves in monochromatic watercolour as the story unfolds. This contrasts beautifully with the colourful and highly saturated overworld. And that’s before considering the anime sections or the ridiculous pedigree at this studio, with accolades from Persona to Neon Genesis Evangelion.
The mix of styles and stylisation come together beautifully in Metaphor, which has an incredible story of coming together and overthrowing a corrupt and racist regime that runs alongside it. If you’re looking for the prettiest game of the year, you won’t find one better than Metaphor.
– Nic B
Empire of the Ants – Runner Up
You know what ants look like in the real world? Empire of the Ants looks like that, but like, really close up. It’s pretty great… unless you have some kind of insect phobia.
Making use of Unreal Engine 5, it really is nearly photorealistic, but uses that to show us the world from a perspective that we very rarely have. The woods and gardens that Empire of the Ants plays out across play home to some of the most stunning ant and insect-based animations you will have ever seen. Everything is alive, everything is moving, and as the colony sets about individual tasks you can wander about as Ant 103,683rd, marvelling at just what Tower Five have created.
– Dom L
Ultros – Runner Up
If you ever wanted to know what its like to play a game that’s a 70s prog rock album cover, then Ultros is the answer to that. With artwork from El Huervo – of Hotline Miami cover art fame – this is more than just a step into the realms of psychadelia, the alien ship and world that you explore bombarding you with colours across its juxtaposition of organic and mechanical environments.
It’s an alien setting that blends into with the narrative and the gameplay, as you gradually explore this adapted metroidvania structure with a completely fresh set of eyes, needing to learn about the world, how to cultivate and nurture it through each cycle of the story.
– Stefan L
Honourable Mentions (in alphabetical order)
Which games and their visual design really stood out for you this year? Let us know in the comments, and keep tabs on TheSixthAxis as we run through all the other awards we’re handing out.
