Anyone else not blown away with graphics these days? Me neither

Talal writes: "I'm talking about having that rush of excitement - that feeling you get when you know you've just made a memory for a lifetime."

[OptimusDK]

There are different games. Some have gamplay at it highest priority, some have the story, some have the replay value and choices... There are a lot of different game experiences.

It is laughable that just now graphics does not have anything to do with that experiene. We have had many games of that type over time. This is just the one that have come closest to feel like playing an actual movie. Just look the the Digital foundry walkthrough it is a masterpiece in that perspective and hence wrth trying. But yes do not do it for the gameplay - but that was never the goal of this experience.

[GamerRN]

It's because it's on Xbox. When Xbox has amazing graphics, they don't matter. When PlayStation does, it's a game changer!

[Lightning77]

Pretty much my thoughts. They were technical marvel's on PS and still are. The moment Xbox puts out a graphically intense game is doesn't matter suddenly.

4 years ago this month would the UE5 tech demo debut with the girl flying (tech demo said it was only possible on PS5 because of the SSD. Glad to finally see it in its glory.

[fr0sty]

FFS, gaming journalism has really gone downhill. At least hire people with a basic grasp of grammar... "Me neither" means the exact opposite of what the "author" is trying to say. That's like saying "I could care less"... lol.

[S2Killinit]

Maybe because the gameplay being dull allowed it to have the amazing graphics and people are not as impressed by graphics alone anymore? I mean there is a lot of sites saying the story and the gameplay are lackluster. So what are we supposed to enjoy then? Cgi graphics are beautiful but since they arent interactive, they dont impress me as much as they used to. Thats an extreme example, but you get my drift.

[Terry_B]

When Playstation (Sony) does it..its usually a great game and not a cinematic experience..or at least something new at the time..like Until Dawn back in 2015.

[1Victor]

@gamer:” It's because it's on Xbox. When Xbox has amazing graphics, they don't matter. When PlayStation does, it's a game changer!”

The game looks as good as any other PlayStation game in my eyes why can’t you and the other hardcore Xbox be happy about it and drag PlayStation into every conversation and force PlayStation hardcore to look into the game and find flaw that most games have in one way or another.
@light: “ 4 years ago this month would the UE5 tech demo debut with the girl flying (tech demo said it was only possible on PS5 because of the SSD. ”
Yes at that time it was only possible on PlayStation SSD how ignorant of you to think that after 4 years the technology wouldn’t evolved and move to a industry standard 🤦🏿I wish your mentality wasn’t so naive and narrow to post stuff like that 😩 in a year or 2 a new game will come out that might look better, it’s the nature of the industry.

Now that the distraction is gone I feel that is a good thing that the graphics in games are starting to hit the rooftop and hopefully the developers will put more thoughts into story and gameplay mechanics than just the next shiny oily skin of old.

[Reaper22_]

So true. Not surprised by all the negativity. It's a really good game and looks better than any game I've ever seen. GOTY nominee for sure. Like I said before, sony screwed up big time by not purchasing Ninja Theory.

[Asplundh]

Pretty much. It's like how the Switch and Steam controller using haptic feedback in their controllers wasn't a big deal but then Sony did it and it was then a "game changer".

[fr0sty]

The game runs at as low as 21fps... That isn't much to brag about no matter how good it looks.

[MajorLazer]

We've had graphical gamechangers before, such as Crysis but those games still had gameplay to compliment it. Hellblade pretty much has none, and only achieved such graphics through being incredibly linear and having very small, closed off environments where very little is happening.

[Vx_]

GFX does not mean anything if the game is boring. It is simple like that and these major companies need to understand this simple concept.

Games are like your lady, she may be beautiful to look at for a while but then it gets boring if her character isn't interesting and fun to be with.

[badboyz09]

Rockstar we gotta wait

[Kneetos]

Mario kart 8 ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[Sonic1881]

Horizon forbidden West has great graphics and great gameplay

[anast]

I second this

[GamerRN]

Yeah but graphics don't matter, remember?

[anast]

@RN

I've been pretty consistent in saying that we need both.

[GamerRN]

So until dawn, too human, or whatever those series of games were... Graphic masterpieces it garbage with no gameplay?

[VincentVanBro]

I agree and I actually think Forbidden West looks better than Hellblade 2. I easily prefer looking at it at least.

[Sonic1881]

It does look better in my opinion as well. I don't know why it looks better but there's something about the Decima engine or that guerrilla games is using tricks that we don't know of

[anast]

Same

[Abear21]

Can you fly a mount under water in Hellblade 2? I think not! One of the best moments this Gen

[CrimsonWing69]

I dont know how anyone can see a game like Hellblade 2 and not say if it has only one thing amazing about it, it’s the visuals. Like, when I was playing this game I actually wished all current-gen games had visuals like this. One of the biggest stand out things to me so far is the GTA6 trailer and part of that was because of the visuals. I felt like it could be a game changer… assuming we ain’t getting watchdogged.

[MajorLazer]

What blew me away most about the GTA VI trailer was the crowd density. RDR2 is still the most detailed, life-like game I've ever seen and that was built for an ancient PS4. Scary to think what GTA VI will be like.

[CrimsonWing69]

I hear ya, man. Like, if they really pull off what they showed it’ll be raising the bar for visual fidelity in the industry.

[P_Bomb]

My heart’s in the framerate nowadays.

[Barlos]

This. I couldn't care less about Ray tracing and the like. They're nice to have but not at the expense of framerate. I never play games in graphics mode on PS5 if that mode is 30fps. I always go for performance mode for 60fps.

[Abear21]

Fallout 4 new patch proves you correct friend

[OhReginald]

Different strokes for different folks.

[VincentVanBro]

Hellblade 2 is technically impressive but subjectively boring looking. That’s the reality.

[Number1TailzFan]

If they made a Mario or cartoony looking game with those graphics it'd probably look great, like Richard of DF said they could make a game that looks like the Mario movie on PC these days pretty much.

[Inverno]

I'm not because all the games I've played in the last 3 gens have had pretty graphics. Every time a new game comes out with pretty graphics people pretend the year before didn't have a game with pretty graphics. There are games from the early PS4 gen that have visuals that rival if not exceed current Gen visuals. I'm tired of the lack of substance and variety, stale gameplay loops and basically every other aspect of a game taking a back seat to pretty graphics. The last 2 gens have been filled with mediocre stories, and tedious mechanics shoehorned in to extend the length of games. I've played some boring, and i really need to emphasize, BORING AS F*CK games that have been lauded as masterpieces because of their graphics and their level of polish. Polish as in presentation looks attractive but once you start playing it you notice that for as polished as it is it takes no risks whatsoever.

[Noskypeno]

Last generation of gaming is when we got into what I like to call the Martin Scorsese era of gaming, where everything needed to be focused on serious cinema instead of focusing on fun. Sure there were some games that focused on fun and having a unique art style and there always will be, but now that they have the technology and Hollywood appeal, they're going to try and get Martin Scorseses approval, because that's super duper important. There was a time when game studios just wanted to make fun games and the studio leads were gamers themselves, now it's about spreadsheets and quotas and pleasing the shareholders and all that other business talk.

[Petebloodyonion]

Indeed, Death Stranding serves as a prime example, particularly when considering Hideo Kojima's statements about the nature of fun in the game.
https://www.gamesradar.com/...

[Silly Mammo]

Dude! What the hell does Poland have to do with this game? j/k English is such a strange language.

The Polish certainly no a thing or too about polish in they're video games.

[GotGame818]

The polish no a thing? You do mean the Polish Know a thing. Right?

[Silly Mammo]

GotGame- jokes! You set the grammar police on me but you didn't correct me for the "too" or "they're"? 😁

[Pepsi_Man3000]

Myy man is fucking PREACHING

[Abear21]

They are all using the same tools so only devs with their own engine are gonna look different. Be ready for Unreal 5 to become the “samey look” for end of this Gen and next

[isarai]

It shines in moments that feel like a new level, but not always and ive seen other games jast as if not more impressive. But to be perfectly honest we really need to stop chasing photorealism and start focusing on physics and world interaction/reaction. Game worlds are too damn static these days, which is insane given PS3/360 games put almost all modern games to shame in that regard.

[Einhander1972]

I have two comments.

1. 30 FPS

2. A whole lot of the resources are used for unnecessarily high detail landscapes, which aren't even interesting it's mostly just rocky and lifeless.

Graphics can still be exciting, just not when it's all rocks...

[Barlos]

I don't know. I'm playing through Rebirth right now and I have to say I've been very impressed. I'm not sure if it's necessarily the graphics themselves or the overall presentation and art style. I know it has a few graphical issues with some low res textures and such, but overall it's still very polished.

[Elda]

Hellblade 2 graphics look fine but I was not blown away & I definitely was not blown away with the resolution running on the XBSX. On the other hand I think Stellar Blade is a gorgeous game & the design & detailing of the bosses in the game look great as well.

[SimpleDad]

I just saw two characters, who made weird faces on the screen, on a procedurally generated rock formation with fog as a background.

Let's just say... I wasn't impressed.

[Nacho_Z]

Diminishing returns innit. These days you're more likely to be impressed by art style than graphical fidelity because we reached a peak of sorts a while ago.

Destructible environments have the potential to take over from texture detail etc as something to wow people but not many seem to focus on that.

[isarai]

My sentiments exactly

[badz149]

I really miss destructible and dynamic environments in games. during the PS3 gen, we had Red Faction Guerilla, the Battlefield series, Far Cry 2...those games were awesome and so dynamic due to the destructions

[purple101]

I remember hearing talk of this for a game called red faction
Then again with crackdown and some other shooters even cod has the occasional bit of wood that can be shot through,

The new level we may see, is death stranding 2 trailer, has floods and mudslides

[Nacho_Z]

Changeable environments might be a better term. It wouldn't work for every game especially ones married to barriers being a key design feature, which is pretty much every game, but it certainly has the potential to impress and provide a genuinely new experience.

[Huey_My_D_Long]

Art Direction is more important anyway

[anast]

The juice wasn't worth the squeeze.

[Barlos]

Yeah but sometimes you just need a squeeze

[anast]

This is true for more reasons.

[YourMommySpoils]

Specially if the graphics are that ugly. What I mean is, Senua makes even Aloy look like a supermodel.

[Barlos]

That's superficial beauty though. It's nothing to do with how good the graphics actually are. Plus, Aloy has the personality of a piece of dried seaweed.

[Crows90]

Chefs kiss comment right here!

[YourMommySpoils]

Uh, yes it does! Would you watch a Superman movie with something I can't even mention here lol. If I'm playing a third person game, it has to have something appealing. Both games are not appealing, just trying to send the mental awareness message to gamers who don't care about these issues and just want to be entertained. . And if Aloy's dried seaweed, I'd hate to mention what Senua is.

[gleepot]

It's impressive that technology has accomplished the realism that can be portrayed in games now, but the problem for me is that I don't want realism in my games. I want games that take me to new worlds and escape reality. I much prefer interesting art styles and creations.

[PhillyDonJawn]

Lmao, people destroyed Halo for nothing having industry leading graphics. Craig meme galore. Now suddenly you aint worried or care about graphics lol.

[S2Killinit]

Way to go tonedeaf

[HyperMoused]

Currently playing songs of conquest on PC and its a great time, 8 bit

[DarXyde]

Hellblade II is visually exceptional. It's truly a technical showpiece in the way The Order: 1886 on a base PS4 was insane.

Is it the biggest deal? Depends on the person, of course. Ni-Oh gave us the option, and I run it at 60fps, every time. Been that way ever since. Didn't even play The Last of Us Part II until the PS5 came out.

For a title like Hellblade II, at first, I thought it needed a performance mode. I totally get that point, but I'm now more of the opinion that Hellblade II exists in this strange place as an interactive narrative experience. I don't really see it as a game. You're not wrong if you think it is, I'm just pointing out how I see it. With that, I feel that the visuals are very impressive, like seeing Avatar for the first time.

[derek]

Hellblade would be much more impressive if it wasn't on rails. In all for graphics.

[gigoran8]

Cool. So this guy doesn't need a next gen console or upgraded PC. Just getting him an OG Xbox, or better yet a SNES.

[Petebloodyonion]

It's hard to be impressed by flatscreen graphics today simply because they don't bring new dimension of possibility.

Atari to Nintendo = Basic shape in a shape world to identifiable objects in a relatable world
16 bits Era = Inclusion of special effects (Zoom, rotation parallax scrolling) and precise drawing
32 bits Movie inclusion and early 3d gaming
And so on

I feel that we have peaked with Flatscreen graphics as insane graphics translate to showing amplified effects (winds, rain, storms) on the environment and the next real graphics excitement rush will be in VR.

[UltimateOwnage]

Agreed. VR is the next frontier for higher resolutions, more immersion and new ways to create effects that change the game. HDR on flat screen games has helped a little for the rare few that use it correctly, but nothing compares to VR on a microOLED HMD.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

I play mostly just visual novels and "boomer shooters" so I wouldn't know. My laptop only has an Intel Iris Xe GPU with 128MB of VRAM. Once I get a settlement then I'm definitely getting a Steam Deck OLED so I can find out for myself, lol.

[antikbaka]

like everythibg Miscrosoft does - money well wasted

[Terry_B]

Comments and Reviews..and especially sales would be different if Hellblade 2 was actually a good game.

[BioDead]

Before the graphics used to jump in quality, today they grow little by little.... maybe that's why the "new graphics" doesn't seem so wow.

[UltimateOwnage]

Agreed. I played the first 3 hours of Hellblade 2 on my 4090 desktop today on the highest settings, and the main thing that impressed me was the lack of pop in and the tons of tiny stones everywhere. The rest is over-blurred, too much CA for style, and honestly isn't the UE5 leap I was expecting. It has moments of greatness, but we are certainly in the diminishing returns at this point in general.

[gold_drake]

depends on the game. there are definitely some that look absolutely great.

[EazyC]

I'm not that impressed but at the same time I don't really care.

If games went back to PS3 graphics but improved gameplay, ai, story etc I'd be fine with it

[Abear21]

Ratchet and Clank and Demons Souls are still best in class on ps5 imo.

[GamingSinceForever]

With great graphics comes a compromise in gameplay/performance. That’s the unfortunate part.
Every now and then we’ll see a true gem that masters both.

[VariantAEC]

Like most of the games that released on PS3 PS4 and now PS5 that are critically panned or didn't get the respect they deserved at launch.

Games like Driveclub also had decent human characters which to be fair were not bleeding edge even at the time, but considering how realistic looking the rest of the game was that was impressive. The game also had as much gameplay as any other street racing game ever made. But it was treated like garbage for having practically no functional online day 1 which to be fair to the reviewers was a marketing point for the title. To undersell the visuals driving, mechanics the, dynamic events and all the other stuff that was all there day 1 really helped kill the franchise and developer. It was petty and uncalled for. The media was also very quick to totally forget that Driveclub existed when its online became functional.

There were games like Beyond: Two Souls which was "a walking sim" and even that had more than 5 times the gameplay as HB1 never mind SS2HB. B:TS was a PS3 game, too. It really broke ground regarding realistic character rendering in 2013. Many other games had so many of these aspects but the first to combine them all from the sea to the sky was Death Stranding which turned the literal act of walking itself into a focal point of the game. DS is legitimately a walking simulator!

DS on PS4 and the PS5 Director's Cut managed only a slightly higher score than SS:HB2. Of course DS also is more than just about delivering packages on foot there are many vehicles and tools you can use along with all manner of other things to do and combat encounters. SS:HB2 is just a 1 weapon walking story game with braindead puzzles. How can that be rated as highly as a game like Death Stranding?

HB 2 is not bug free like any other game there are bugs and glitches people are running into. Just watched a video of someone clipping through the ground and another where Senua gambled up to slip through the environment falling back to where the player started (videos below).

https://www.youtube.com/wat...
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Add to that, I don't know what Hellblade 2 is doing that we haven't already become accustomed to, besides being a videogame devoid of player control.

[GhostScholar]

I find it strange to use hellblade 2 in the thumbnail considering it’s one of the best looking games of all time. That’s n4g for you.

[glenn1979]

well I was blowing away with the graphics, btw haters gonna hate

[kindi_boy]

I'm not impressed by this article

[easternbalboa]

I'm Not buying a ps5 for that sole reason will wait for ps6

[Deeeeznuuuts]

Depends, think the art style has a lot to do with it, I still remember riding through that field at the beginning of ghost of Tsushima, I'll never forget that, was literally blown away and I would say GoT has the best graphics per se but with the art style too, just looks phenomenal

[PiNkFaIrYbOi]

Well graphics for the most part have peaked, we are not going to get any big leaps anymore like we use to from generation to generation in video game consoles. While graphics are important it isn't the most important thing in a video game.

[Goodguy01]

This gen is more of reaching higher resolutions and performance imo. Visuals were already amazing on last gen and still look great today.

[Si-Fly]

Something like Persona 5 or Hades impress me way more, not cutting edge graphics by any means but the style and artistic flair is off the charts and I both enjoy and admire that more than AAA’s quest for photo realism.