Video game graphics is kind of a weird topics, I think there are two different ways of thinking about them, and at least for me personally there is one way that works way better than the other one.

One way of thinking of game graphics is, the newer the game, the higher fidelity and more lifelike the graphics should be, and it seems to be something that drives things like console development and things foreward, but I still don’t really understand it, for me it doesn’t really give me much, other than I look at a picture or two and am impressed over how fancy graphics can look now a days.

The other way, and the one that was more forced back in the days were to let art direction, restrictions and gameplay decide how the game looks, and it’s something that I at least feel works way better for me, does this game need to be 3D? Is there something that can be done with the graphics to better support the gameplay itself, if it doesn’t really have to look lifelike the game authors are more free to do things that may be counterintuitive, but really enhance the gameplay. There can be a lot, like the size of the in game avatar in comparison to the world around them, colours.

I have to say that I’m still partial to the chunky pixel look of old games, it may be nostalgia to some degree, but I think that the game is just easier to parse and focus on when it’s done in that style. Lately I’ve been retrying some old platforming favourites, ori and the will of the whisps and the messenger. Ori does look beautiful, but I find it so much harder to parse than the more spartan look of the messenger, while they do colour the enemies different than the background it just has more of a tendency to blend into the background and foreground than the messenger’s more contrasting style for enemies, which makes it clear what is a threat, and what is just a background element.

I’ve also found many games that do fancy 3D and things like it to be harder to control, while 2D more art direction focused games usually control well with a D-pad, and usually have more of a direct feel, when we move over to a 3D free camera thing it gets really restrictive, and you kind of have to rely on control sticks to get the control to feel decently intuitive.

Now how many games really need that? I have the feeling the need for sticks and that granular control often is more in the service of the fancy graphics than it really is needed to make fun gameplay, and it often feels more like something that is a hinderence for the flow of the game than a real enrichment, but well, maybe that’s just me being a grouchy old fart :p