Look at How Absurdly Beautiful Games Have Gotten in 2016

Graphics have always been one of the biggest, ever changing features about the video game industry. With each new title, we edge closer to video games being able to truly pass as lifelike. Gone are the days of sharp polygons and boxy looking characters, as amazing art and gorgeous graphics have swept through the industry. It’s no longer about just being able to render a character, but detailing everything about them and their entire world.

Yet, photorealism isn’t the only form of beauty in video games, as titles such as Darkest Dungeon and Superhot show off unique and fascinating artistic design. Looking back at this year alone, it’s amazing how many great looking games we have received. 2016 is not even close to being over, yet it has produced some of the most beautiful video games ever made.

When determining this list, we didn’t only look for those video games with realistic qualities, but those with amazing art direction. The quality of the actual title will not come into a factor here, as we are strictly looking at the aesthetic design. We will also not include any DLC for a game that was released in 2015, even if the new content came out this year. This is for fully released titles, regardless if they’ve been in Early Access or Beta stage before the beginning of 2016. These are the video games that made us stop, put the controller down, and stare at the beautiful vistas.