Best artistic visuals in video games?

Recently I got my hands on this game Alice: Madness returns. It came out in 2011. It runs on 30 fps. But still I find it's graphic and design very impressive. I was wondering what game you think has the best artistic visuals.

I loved the artistic visuals and environments in Dishonored. Looking in the distance and the skyline, it felt like looking at a painting.

In terms of what I've played recently here are some that stand out. El Shaddai has a very minimalist and striking aesthetic, which changes with each chapter. Muramasa and Dragon's Crown from Vanillaware are both beautiful. I thought Ni No Kuni looked really vibrant as well. I haven't played a great number of independent games but Limbo and Braid both had very distinctive looks to them... I'm sure people will be happy to point out countless others.

While not as breathtaking as some of the other mentions, I think 'Limbo' really nailed the artistic part well. The simple black and white visuals really added to the overall experience.

definitely anything by Kamitani - especially muramasa: the demon blade

other than that... I really liked The Dream Machine's claymation design. It was one of the only claymation games to be released last gen until The Swapper was released - and then Armikrog. was announced.

other than that... I really liked The Dream Machine's claymation design. It was one of the only claymation games to be released last gen for years until The Swapper was released...and then Armikrog. was announced.

Swapper was claymation? I hadn't realized that...

this is Okami it has a fantastic Cel-Shaded Art Style that varies throughout the game. the picture quality might not be the best here but i couldn't clean it up anymore

yup. there's a picture on the wiki of some of the games assets.

Along with Okami and Muramasa, here are some more 2D artistic visuals that impressed me:

YU-NO (1996, PC)

Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari (1997, Sega Saturn)

Kanon (1999, PC)

Legend of Mana (1999, PS1)

Saga Frontier II (1999, PS1)

Clannad (2004, PC)

Odin Sphere (2007, PS2)

P.S. Don't mind me re-posting a few pics from the Sprites thread.

That was the first game that popped into my mind as well.

I'd probably pick Viewtiful Joe

As of late, loved me some Journey.

on my list of things to play

I love it. Seems to be a love/hate it game. Unfortunately, based on its multiplayer-centric focus, the longer you wait to play the worse it'll be as less people will be on so you might not want to wait too long. Journey is a game best played by two who've never experienced it before. At this point, all the players you're going to run into will be white robes (you get this after collecting all symbols, essentially denoting a veteran who has completed the game).

Still, it's fun nonetheless.

My personal top 5 picks:

Silent Hill. Unbelievable art direction down to the animations. It's often times the details that get you...like that little doll. These guys are truly some disturbed individuals, and I love them for it.

And Ico/SotC. Used to just ride around on the horse shooting lizards to give myself an excuse to spend more time in that world. Amazing use of light and color to achieve emotions that dialogue would have only slurred.

Not really "artistic" visuals per se, but the lighting and shading in The Last of Us really brought the world to life. It wasn't stupidly high contrast like a lot of new games are going for (like Uncharted for example), but had this very realistic tone, and it really accentuated the game world beautifully.

@CoquiNegro said:

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im going to use the a my background XD awesome picture of Okami

@ZZoMBiE13: I really miss Viewtiful Joe. Looking back, that game was pretty much the highlight of that generation for me. It was damn near perfect.

i like a lot of the usual suspects, really. LIMBO, shadow of the colossus, wind waker, etc. there are some oddballs i really like too such as nelson tethers and everyday shooter.

however, tons of people played dark souls and i never hear anyone talk about how great its art direction is. sure, there is the occasional vague praise of "atmosphere" but i'll cut straight to the chase: this game looks incredible.

something both souls games get right is designing their character models and environments with purpose. these people, creatures, and objects tell stories. the trodden sisters of chaos egg carriers aren't there just to look gross. the heavy egg sacs that weigh them down to the floor visually communicate their servitude as they crawl around with their hands in V's. they carry the antidote to their condition on them at all times, but refuse to take it.

the added oomph of dark souls is that there are more than just really dark subjects. there are occasional rays of light too. but rather than just go for contrast, From Software made these subjects harsh light twisted by the darkness around them. the gorgeous butterfly boss lures you in like an angler fish in depths of the sea and then fries you with a bright magic attack. ("praise the sun!" :P )

Wind Waker still has sme amazing visuals, and I'm not talking about the HD remake (although yes it's very pretty). The original Gamecube version is still impressive when played today, and I think that in and of itself is really a testament to its quality. Even the ocean is awesome; sailing the blue waves, watching the sun set in the distance as you reach an uncharted destination. It's awesome.

There are too many games to count with awesome art design, though. Wind Waker is just one of many.

@Randolph: Viewtiful Joe is incredible. The fact that Capcom didn't release some kind of tenth anniversary thing tells me sad things; the series is more or less dead :( Oh well I guess.

Bioshock Infinite

Halo

Journey

Deus ex human Rev .

you can unlock that 30 fps thing, google it and it'll tell you. Basically you just edit an ini file and change something and your good to go.

C:\Users\YourName\Documents\My Games\Alice Madness Returns\AliceGame\Config

open AliceEngine and find MaxSmoothedFrameRate and the value with whatever you want (60fps for example)

WOW! Thanks man.

It's popular it's obvious... Skyrim.

Skyrim's graphics were amazing no doubt. I didn't like the game much to be honest, must be in the minority. Felt it was many steps back from their other games in every part except graphically.

Anyway, it looked lovely and I appreciated the handcrafted world, especially Blackreach, a world beneath a world. Brilliant and beautiful. I think everyone who first layed eyes on Blackreach hit the screenshot button. I went to post an image on it but I couldn't find any that did the place justice when you see it in motion, the moving, pulsing vegetation and fairy lights and all.

Nobody likes Skyword Sword, some views were very beautiful.

Almost forgot about that game. Skyward Sword had some of the most beautiful art design I've seen in the last few years:

El Shaddai was a nice looking game.

Oddworld games...good stuff. Sorry for being too lazy to go through the motions of posting pics right now.

Definitely Valkyria Chronicles on the PS3 for me.

Every part of it looked fantastic, from the map screen:

Through to even the 'book mode' menu system where the entire games story is presented to you through a book chronicling the war effort

For me it really raised the bar for how a game can be presented thoughtfully, efficiently and beautifully by putting just as much effort into every aspect of the game and not just the gameplay.

Definitely not the sequel I (or anyone for that matter) wanted..but damn it was a good looking game.