I think what bothers me most as an Unreal dev with Unreal Engine 5, is how tone deaf the engine devs are about shader compile times. Most people I know prefer a shader compilation load screen over game stutter. And the Unreal team just keeps trying to push async shader compilation and other workarounds instead of just making it easy out of the box to setup a shader compilation screen.
what cracks me up is the engine version release names. within 2 years it'll have to be called ue6 unless they hit 5.900000000000f like calculating the numbers for pi ffs. I also love how they touted it as opening up all these performance gains by doing more with less and we've had nothing but diminishing returns where the technology is so half-baked and trying to be everything to everyone from offline to realtime rendering. I get why developers use it, you can get up and running really quickly with it and start prototyping gameplay and not have to worry about delivery milestones to match cadence with the technical art team. There's definitely room in the market for other off the shelf engines. UE5 has made the current gen consoles seem so underpowered that it reminds me of the ps3/360 generation where devs put the cart before the horse and added effects that were never meant to run on the machines. I miss a really good high budget rasterized game and think we're being fed a line of bs about silicon transistor density having to almost grow at a log scale so chips are big enough to support raster graphics that still look good. Show me a game with a ray tracing or path tracing implementation and scoped properly so that textures and poor denoising do not equal a disgusting boiling effect. Art style should compliment gameplay design and not the other way around. A word on snow drop as well, the fact the game is garbage and has horrible denoising turns it into a boiling mess of a game when textures cannot be resolved correctly due to over-reaching. Avatar looked much nicer on an earlier version of the engine albeit in marginally less boring overall package. We're still a decade of rtx90 series architecture releases before any of these new features become less annoying. Upscaling is also horrible, dlss may be the better of the algorithms but it's a bolted on piece of software written to justify the silicon budget allocated to it so we feel as if we're getting more value when we plop down for a new top tier card every 2 years since turing came out. There's also no reason that framegen cannot run ampere as well (albeit lesser performant) given they're using well known methods for utilizing motion vector look up tables used for rendering video for the longest time. I've yet to saturate the 24gb frame buffer in any game on the last two nvidia architectures and rarely does a game run at 100 percent utilization across both cpu and gpu at the same time. The argument that cpu's cannot saturate a graphics card is bs. There are so many phd students graduating computer / software engineering the last ten years where they only use python that's it has also led to a generation of lazy programmers who cannot fully utilize the compute power afforded to modern pcs due to so many layers of abstraction stealing away performance that would be better used had they followed traditional programming paths to learning to build and design performant realtime software. There are exceptions to this blanket statement, many I'm sure. I know many people who still use C-based languages exclusively or verilog or the like. We are not seeing any of them get into the gaming industry anymore because the money sucks compared to other computer / software engineering jobs out there. Why get a phd in graphics rendering when you can get one in fpga development and graduate with a job and stock options off the bat at some misc firm that specializes in automation or prototyping bleeding edge hardware designs like in a next generation keysight or rhode and schwarz oscilliscope or other piece of text gear.
You can just manually compile all shaders through the brute force method of loading every single asset you have for the entire game into one map and forcing the engine to render it all at once hidden behind a loading bar that merely says "compiling shaders". I know this seems ridiculous but I swear it's actually more effective.
For me this year it had to be star wars outlaws. Technicaly Indy might have been the best one, but i really enjoy playing, exploring star wars universe in that game. If they had nailed cutscenes I think this would have been different discussion. Indy can look vers good but I have problem with the time period and environment settings that are not attractive to me which is what immersion is to me.
I was more immersed in HB despite the fact that I was more immersed into it as an interactive movie than a game. It is just next gen in graphics, animation and direction. (4080S)
Of course, there is not even Ambient Occlusion and no Raytracing, unless you have a Nvidia Card and 12 Gig of VRAM or more. No wonder it performs so good.
Surprised Stellar Blade or Space Marine 2 didn't make the cut even as an honorable mention but Black Myth Wukong and Dragon's Dogma 2 did, with all their problems on console.
Ehh. Stellar blade had some pretty boring looking levels. I played and beat this and wukong multiple times. Stellar is nice. It's not wukong with graphics, though.
@@WUKONGSerieS10GBofRAMbudget equipment is still faster than current consoles. 😭 Most users have a 4060, I don't even think any equipment that slow is made anymore brother 😂
I agree but even while agreeing, VR games don't tend to have very appealing visuals. Metro Awakening is the best VR game this year for non-Quest 3 and it looks worse than many older VR titles.
Totally agree. Their weekly directs I get because it’s them yapping which is fine. But a yearly video about graphics, every second of this should be relevant footage
I agree that Indy wins, the thing that edges it for me is the fact its high res, RT and 60fps on console, while also supporting full path tracing for PC.
It's not only that. It's also the visual stability of the game. I really think we got to start condemning and taking marks off games that try to push technology at the expense of visual stability.
Both Massive Entertainment (Star Wars Outlaws) and Machine Games (Indiana Jones) are Swedish developers. Not bad for a country of only ten million people.
@@Dionyzos And DICE, also in Sweden, they are responsible for the tech behind Dragon Age Veilguard. Sweden especially has been very good about tech in video games for a very long time.
"Not bad for a country of only ten million people." Yeah, what a poor underdeveloped country. The struggle must've be hard. Can we get a Nobel peace prize for them already, especially for the average game with performance issues like Outlaws?
Shame we couldn't get a HDR option in the video settings... Especially considering it is a best graphics presentation. Prior, DF HDR content spoilt us.
@@helloguy8934 I think the HDR black level is just mismatched, but if you incorrectly set your black level to the limited range while having the game output of the full range, it seems to look perfect. I think they just really screwed up somewhere in the pipeline and accidentally compressed the output to the limited range for hdr. Give it a try if you have a chance
HDR ? Wow i will never use IT again HDR making games washed out and darker its overhyped ,.. most ppl dont have OLED screen and they use HDR 😅😅 for what You cant see HDR on LCD ... IT fucks the image. But ppl are just dump and doesnt knows anything
I’d love for Digital Foundry to delve deeper into interactivity and physics when evaluating game visuals. Games like Black Myth: Wukong or Hellblade 2 look absolutely stunning, but at times they feel more like beautifully painted sets rather than truly living, interactive worlds. It’s reminiscent of the old days of 'pre-rendered visuals,' where the lack of interactivity-combined with invisible walls-makes the world feel static and artificial. This disconnect between my character’s movement and the environment really breaks immersion. For me, immersion isn’t just about how a game looks; it’s about how alive and reactive the world feels. To this day, I still remember the first time I played Crysis, Half-Life, or GTA IV. It wasn’t just the graphical fidelity that blew my mind-it was how those games made you feel like part of their worlds. Everything felt connected, alive, and reactive, and that’s what made them truly immersive. I think this aspect of game design deserves more attention when discussing modern titles and graphical fidelity.
I agree, Space Marine 2s tyranid swarms are awesome and I count that as a visual and technical accomplishment. Same way style applies to visuals so should things like that.
John, at 39:28 you start talking about the lighting in Brookhaven Hospital. I had the EXACT same feelings and experience in that moment. I literally stopped to take it in. There was just SOMETHNG about that first simple hallway on the right-hand side that felt incredible. Hearing the way you articulated those feelings is awesome!
Hwy guys. Great video as always but next year, can you please include more footage / gameplay in relation to what you guys are talking about? There was a lot of discussion about each game and very rarely any footage to show what you are talking about. It struck me that you were using footage captured previously and not new footage captured to show what you were describing in each game.
That's because much of the discussion was deeply dishonest, which was evident when they put star wars outlaws in top 3. embarrassing to hear them wax poetic about the environments while showing brief clips of character animations and faces that look inferior to games from the previous gen.
I don’t see people’s complaints with Hellblade, it doesn’t try to deceive anyone about what it is, if you go into it knowing what to expect it’s still a great experience and looks absolutely stunning
I think some of the pushback could be due to the fact that it's less mechanically involved for the player compared to the first game. It feels less gamey and more cinematic, and the first game was already pretty cinematic. I think the skewing of that balance irked some people.
It's a great experience, I think it's just a little bit worse than the original. If I rated the first as a 8.5, II is a 7.5-8. will definitely remember my experience with both
Really glad to see Riven make the list. Technically, it's a suitably impressive game, but the art direction takes its into a whole new stratosphere. Next to The Great Circle, it was my favorite game to just walk around in and explore this year.
Hellblade 2 blew my mind. I loved that experience. I haven't been so immersed in a game atmosphere, combined with its story, in a while. Loved that sequel to Hellblade 1.
It's a very demanding game though, just like Alan Wake 2, and should be played on a high-end PC. The current consoles just aren't strong enough and have it capped at 30fps which isn't great. You can appreciate graphics a lot better at 60fps because of motion clarity.
It's so un-interactive and slow that I couldn't play for more than two hours TBH. The combat felt underwhelming too. I loved the first Hellblade but not the second one.
I have been working with CG since the 80's and Indy is indeed a stunner. What an amazing job they did; even pixel peeping. Riven as well in VR. And this channel is amazing, thank you!
For me, i'd still vote for Hellblade 2 for how much they pushed the envelope in real time graphics, and not only but specially facial expressions, it feels real, you are in this journey with Senua, you see and feel how she does, all of the tech combined with the brilliant Melina Juergens performance as Senua, made it possible. This kind of immersion is really special and there nothing like it. It's an extreme tailored and well polished experience, as it should be, and since it's their vision from the first game, i think they achieved. The other thing, Hellblade 2 was made by a team with 80 developers, much lower than the average triple A title, so this game has a really special place in my view, and can't be cherished enough.
@TheCactuar124 I agree, and by that logic, digital foundry didn't go by its own metrics.. I think Indiana Jones is 100% the more fun game.. But Hellblade 2 is 100% the better looking..
Super enjoying this. What I would really like to see: DF speaking out what is the best graphics on console. It can be a bit messy to switch between PC and console in the way that you have. I feel like some games do so much better on pc (e.g. BM Wukong, AW2) and others scale really well on console. I would love your clear vision on that.
Wukong on consoles is far inferior to Horizon. Graphics are full of noise, likely from poor upscaling technology or very low internal resolution. In my opinion, Wukong's graphics deserve a 6.5 on consoles, while Horizon is at least a 9.5.
There are multiple reasons why Wukong performs worse on console. The biggest reason is the physics and lighting are far more intensive in Wukong, while in Horizon, physics are minimal, and most of the graphics are just decorative. Additionally, the lighting in Horizon is not ray-traced. .
The only thing I don't love about the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's visuals are the characters faces. They're not terrible, but they have that almost cartoony look that their Wolfenstein games have.
Yay! I did a RUclips search for this very video, yesterday. I always look forward to their graphics review. The techniques available to devs and how they use them to build game worlds is particularly interesting to me. Digital Foundry, Spawnwave and a few others really have served to fill the voids left by the lack of printed gaming magazines, as well as giving us familiar, consistent places to go that we all depend on for our gaming and tech news. Thanks DF
In the Silent Hill 2 section, John articulates the beauty of the game (in regards to lighting) really well. Almost makes me wanna hear a physics lecture on the topic from him 😅
Pennys Big Breakaway being in the top 10 is just silly. Oliver and Alex must have given John a free pass since they kicked Silent Hill out of the top 3 haha
With all my respect to John, and his love for the oldschool (which is mainly why I started following DF to be honest), but Penny has no place in this video. I don't want to offend its creators, many things are subjective, like maybe the character design being unappealing, and colors feeling not bright enough, the sterile environments, and the weird DoF effect, but putting this game among the rest of the video, makes the "Another Phenomenal Year!" part title sound like a joke. Everyone but John was staying there in an awkward silence while John was praising the visuals, but what cracked me up is when he tried to squeeze some words from Alex and it was hard for him to say anything positve lol.
Absolutely agree. This feels like a case of letting the game itself and its development history cloud one's view of the technical aspects. It shouldn't matter that they build it from scratch, it still looks distinctly average and like many other unremarkable 3D platformer throwbacks we've seen over the years.
agree but also astro bot should not be in this video. astro bot first demo was john 2020 video on that time not in graphics of year vide. 4 year later new astro bot look good but not so ahead of that first demo. outcast new begging should be in video. you are using jetpack in that game flying every where unreal open wold game yet work good. should be in honorable mentions.
37:52 is there a technical reason why (blonde) hair often looks so glowy in games? RE Engine suffers from the same issue iirc. This issue and the heavy trailing artifacts when moving the camera also puts it outside top 3 for me
Ray traced and path tracing can solve this as long as hair is simulated. Now hair is done in a way that proper lighting into human skin and folicules is far from the real thing. Simulating light on grass, hair, fire and water in a realistic manner requires an entire rendering farm.
Watching this back and I realize no space marine 2. Why? It looks insane Stellar blade although UE4 imo looked better than wukong and its extremely optimized
Great job guys in honoring Dragon’s Dogma 2. The game isn’t perfect but for some reason I put over 200 hours into the game and it was easily my biggest surprise of the year. I really enjoyed the game and the visuals were really consistently amazing.
Agree with John on SH2, I have a 2000 nits TV and damn the lighting in the game is out of this world. From an artistic perspective the visuals are just beautifully crafted as well which the lighting enhances further. Rarely been as captured by a game's visuals and the atmosphere overall. Have to mention Stellar Blade as well, looks stunning and plays smooth as butter.
@@AJ-xv7oh most games even if they aren’t on this list do too. Bloodborne, Elden ring, many others have issues and are still great games. Maybe you’re just too picky pal. Keep missing out👍
They rewarding unoptimized games like Silent hill 2. Also Star Wars Outlaws second place ? Are you joking. The PC version of Red Dead Redemption looks better than that game.
Top two games are Xbox games, nice. Heckblade 2 is absolutely the best audiovisual experience I've ever had playing a video game. Absolutely spectacular.
Space Marine 2 was amazing, weird how they didn't put it in top 10. It was the most gorgeous game I have ever played, right after Hellblade 2. Silent hill was great too ofc.
Rita’s Rewind 17:37 “varied gameplay levels” is the next big step for EVERY genre of 2d action games. And an autoscrolling hoverboard/attack snowmobiles/hovercraft side scrolling level or 3 … … a horizontal shmup helicopter level …. A sprite scaling “chase level” or “racing level” or “rail shooter” level. This sort of varied gameplay in beat em ups and several others styles of 2d platformers or run’n’gun or certain metroidvanias …. …. It’s gonna be a huge game changing development, and “new standard” for old school gameplay.
Best graphics doesn't necessarily mean most photorealistic graphics. I see it as most visually striking or stylistically pleasing. If you have a small team that manages to craft a beautiful world with a unique art style, while at the same time maintaining tight level design, I think it can be included on a list like this.
Yeah it would’ve been totally great on his own best games of the year list, but not on the DF best graphics of the year list. I played it and really didn’t like it at all. Visually and gameplay wise
I think highlighting games that use novel methods of graphics rendering is important. People always complain that developers are lacking ingenuity and are overly reliant on unoptimized UE5 features, so rewarding examples of the complete opposite should be encouraged. You might not think it fits on this list, but performance and scalability are things they are weighing in their rankings, in which case Penny scores very highly.
@@jon....Exactly… they built their own engine and tools from scratch, with incredible (and unique looking) graphical results. It surely deserves its place in this list just as much as any of the games where the hardest work was done by the off-the-shelf rendering engine the developers paid for (Unreal, id Tech, etc).
@@jon.... the game released end of february and the last update on steam is march 14th so they didn't even support it for a single (1) MONTH. I am sure John had no issues when he played otherwise he would have named them but many people reported issues and bugs on the steam forums which seem like they will never be fixed. I wanted to grab this game eventually but if you don't do minor patches and fixes after 3 weeks passed that's not acceptable.
Always an interesting video. My personal graphical highlight of the year is Indiana Jones. To support high resolutions, 60 fps and ray tracing all at once on both Series X and S blew me away. And besides that its a damn fun game too!
26:42 Omg Thank you….. I was looking for the name of that game for so long. I was about to cry when you started talking about it lol. my dad went to his friend house to buy a copy of Riven for me and bro. Men… I’m old. Good old times.! Btw the game was on console by that time. I think it was ps1,sega genesis. I can’t remember which one.
It was ported to PS1 shortly after the PC release. The following year, it was ported to Sega Saturn in Europe only. The Genesis could never be able to handle it, except for maybe with the Sega CD add-on, but Sega had long moved on by then.
there is another game out from 1999 this year Outcast new begging. its kinda re imaginaiton of first game like new river . should be in this video but jonhn already make vidoe for that. my favorite fmv game those times is xfiles and ı think xfiles fmv charaters way better than riven you feel in x files episode not just traviel around. my seconf fmv game was byzantine game. ı also mention they said slient hill 2 orginal was impressive that time ı dont agree that there waas pc exlusive survival horor game out 1999 Nocturne. terminal reaility game that game graphics look like ray tracing today shadows lightings even sh2 reamke or alan wake 2 not beat nocturne yet. check outcast and nocturne they suppose to out sega dreamcast with half life 1 but when dc died they stuck on pc. alone in dark remake also out this year another game those years with that and sh2 remake out this year make only dino crisis and nocturne not remaked from end of 90s. dino crisis remake probably happen capcom and maybe night dive studios relase nocturne again like the thing this year. nocturne engine that time was better looking than unreal and quake engines. such a crime that no one knows.
Not that it deserves a top 10, but it's a shame that the crew overlooked Infinity Nikki in their honorable mentions discussions. It's a fantastic open-world game that uses RTGI, RT shadows, and some RT reflections to make its world absolutely gorgeous. The sheer amount of flowers and environment details leaves me stunned every time i play it- but the vast majority of people who play it aren't going to see this detail as it's primarily mobile-focused, and the mobile version of the game cuts down a massive swath of the environment
Thank you DF for another awesome year of content. This is hands down one of my favorite channels on RUclips. The DF team is awesome and I can't wait for your individual GOTY lists!! Happy holidays, happy new year, cheers, Prost und zum Wohl, Jungs!
Yeah good on you,I agree too much fluffing of Playstation most of the time. Id say Xbox fans have had a lot of good games and wins this year and of late massive value for money with gamepass. im on PC. Its good but a little unfair that we we get game pass cheaper. Indiana has surprisingly ended up as my game of the year.
@zorastin very nice bro. I also have a gaming rig, but I have back problems, so sitting at a keyboard and mouse is painful after a short time. I prefer console for the convenience. I do realize I could use my PC similarly if I set it up more to play more console like, but console is easier for this old man. Lol
Great stuff. May I ask why DF doesn't talk about HDR implementation when talking gaming about game look? HDR is a big deal and can make game look amazing without incurring extra performance. So why HDR isn't part of equation when elaborating game look?
Small correction: original Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl did not have parallax mapping. I distinctly remember parallax mapping being introduced by the first shader mod for the game. Still, glad to see a shoutout for the game!
i gotta say purely graphics its HB2 its just so consistent, IJ is great but it has issues with its LOD on effects, it isnt as consistent as HB2 across the platforms. HB2 is just consistent rendering wise its almost flawless. I also disagree that its like a FMV style game. It's a curated linear narrative game with some open-ish areas. We're just fed so many open/semi open games a linear game always gets compared to more open games. Its an unfair comparison.
Really good video. Always enjoy these. Just some feedback. I thought sometimes you got stuck talking about the negatives of the game a bit too much, for a video that was supposed to celebrate the best graphics of the year. I agree that one should definitely point those issues out, but not spend as much time as highlighting the good parts. Otherwise, thanks for this video. I enjoy the look back and reflection on great graphical achievements ❤
12:12 Tiny Glade also shows that the Rust programming language has the chops needed to make games. The Bevy engine, on which Tiny Glade is based, looks fascinating. There is a great interview with the lead dev of that engine, on the Developer Voices podcast.
It's mid in terms of graphics. The only thing that's impressive is the number of enemies and draw distance but honestly, I wasn't blown away by it. I thought Gears 5 looked a lot better.
What are your thoughts on Tekken 8? I know it’s nothing compared to these large scale games but it always felt like a pretty impressive game visually, especially the insane detail in photo mode.
You guys are missing out on The Talos Principle 2: Some of the best Lumen UE5 Graphics & Lighting, amazing World & Level Design and phenomenal Artistic Direction. And Talos 2's massive DLC Expansion (2024): Road to Elysium: The visuals are phenomenal - the models, material work, atmosphere, Lumen GI Lighting etc - I played on PS5 Performance Mode and now playing on PS5 Pro on Quality 60 FPS. I can't imagine how amazing the game must look on high end PC with full RT Reflections as well! Please cover The Talos Principle 2+ DLCs in your next PS5 Pro video!
It's from last year though. They talked a bit about it last year when it came out and all their footage was from the starting area of the game (tutorial basically, that doesn't look nearly as good as some of the epic later areas). From which I kinda concluded that this type of highly cerebral puzzle games aren't their cup of tea. 😢
@@kosmosyche DLC is from this year 2024. They also DIDN'T cover it last year and didn't mention it in the top graphics list - and I'm sure it blows mostly of 2023-2024 games out of the water - in visuals design, graphics prowess, tech utilization and artistic vision. Also I think it's important to revisit older games that are Upgraded by the Pro, Talos 2 doesn't have a Pro Enhanced Update yet sadly - but still benefits from Pro Game Boost: Quality Mode at 60 FPS!
Oh and to add to this: I totally agree. They BARELY showed the beginning Egyptian Throwback area that was supposed to look less than realistic because it simulated the SIMULATION that is TALOS 1. IT WAS A THROWBACK. They didn't cover the actual game that only gets progressively better, more stunning and more mind blowing. They didn't go into the Mega Structure, or Anthropic Hills, or the islands and snow areas. They never checked out the amazingly gorgeous, immersive and mind bending DLCs. Even if it's not their type of game - they mentioned freaking Riven, but not Talos 2 - which is my GOTY of 2023-2024 by a long shot (along FF16 in 2023).
@@normanblack4005 for sure man! Playing this right now on PlayStation 5 Pro - after Platinum 100% the main game and beating 2 DLCs out of 3. Now I'm playing on Quality Mode running a smooth solid 60fps! I still want a Pro Enhanced label on this with an actual PS5 Pro Patch Update. Maybe at the Ray Tracing Reflections especially in photo mode. PSSR AI Upscale up to actual 4K! 120 HZ support. Remove of ghosting artifacts etc. The game can look so much better than it already does.
All this stuff has evolved so much. I feel like 5 to 10 years ago I had at least a novice understanding of many of the technologies that go into a game, but nowadays I feel like I need a glossary just to get the basic gist. I know, wikipedia exists, but it's just too in-depth for me. If I open one article and read the first paragraph I'll have understood at most 3 of the words, and will subsequently look at 20 other articles to even get a general idea what the thing does.
Have DF realised the Microsoft Flight Sim 2024 has released, with the amount of attention visuals on MSFS 2020 received i expected a bit more coverage.
They are probably waiting for a couple more patches, hopefully it gets a bit of attention from DF next year, as there is plenty there for them to talk about in terms of real-time rendering really pushed to the limits. But yes, I don't think the game was in a finished enough state for them to cover it at the end of this year, so I get why it wasn't here.
I think it released to late for this video, they mentioned how they started brainstorming for the video, but had to wait for Indiana Jones. Probably didn't want to wait for MSFS 2024
I still get confused how Indiana Jones looks that good running at 60fps on Xbox Series. Looking at this generation it almost feels like a miracle. And included on Gamepass? Man…
Because games weren't optimized for Series X but for the weaker console which is PS5. Now you have a situation where some games play better on Series X even than on PS5 Pro. Thats just showing how much unused potential was there whole time.
@@nikolagvozdenovic940games werent optimised for xsx? Which cross platform games that ps5 performs better were not optimised? I’d love to know which titles you’re referring to.
@@vigour6786 i am not talking about "Series optimised" I am talking about MAKING game from the ground up for a specific hardware. It's pretty obvious that they used PS5 for most multiplats as benchmark to optimise while not testing/optimising enough for Xbox consoles.
The way that hair interacts with light in Dragon Age the Veilguard is absolutely the best I've ever seen in a video game. I often just stop and stare at my character's hair when entering sunlight from shadow. It's spectacular.
I was surprised how perfomant it was for a UE5 game and I think it ticked about every box for a good PC port, including a shader comp step. Shame the RTAO was broken on launch.
I think Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 should've taken Star Wars Outlaw's spot, or at least a honorable mention. It might have a lot of bugs but we're specifically talking graphics, and the graphics are very impressive.
its kinda look like same with mfs 2020. ı still think ace combat 7 look better no ground dteail like mfs but on fly look better. there was aslo another unreal 4 jet game called projet wingman. also notice all this games scale down xbox one ps4 even switch but mfs 2020 not out on those so make game little less known. using always net no demo of game and size all these things make mfs down. mfs 2020 was pc physcal copy 10dvd now with 24 no dvd copy only usb stick for collector editon. not the mention launch problems.
Regarding Indiana Jones: The 3rd open world level (thai jungle) breaks the high praise for the graphics for me a bit. Because of the incredibly annoying LOD pop-ins where the whole jungle canopy warps in front of your eyes and the lighting suddenly changes from bright light to occluded sunlight from the leaves and trees. Awful. And yes I'm talking about max settings with full PT. Looks lite nobody at DF has played this far :D
I love Indy, but Hellblade 2 deserved to win this. They even admit this is basically what PS6 games should look like. It literally looks a full generation better than everything else. Seriously. If PS6 games look like it but are 60fps and have more scope, i would feel perfectly satisfied with next generation of visuals. Also, I feel they should kick that Penny game that John is clearly obsessed with and move Stellar Blade into the top 10. The fact it didn't even make honorable mention is insane. Game looks and runs great.
Lots of games could look like Hellblade if they restricted the player that much. Other games try to do what Indiana Jones does but less successfully, that's why it's impressive
@RoryWilliamson actually, I dont think even most movie sim type games look even close to as good as Hellblade 2. Its pretty much in a league of its own visually rn
Astro Bot is my favorite game in years. It's the main reason I bought a (used) PS5 and to me it was totally worth it. I've been playing video games since the 90s, and in the past few years I slowly stopped caring about graphics - in the past decade, two of my favorite games were Factorio and Minecraft. Astro Bot for me brought back my joy with good graphics! I have a nice mid-range TV and sound system, so 4K / OLED / HDR / 5.1, and this game feels right at home there.
I'm playing Indy Jones with full path tracing, and while usually amazing, what bothers me is the lack of truly "in the dark/no lights" sections! Even inside a cave/catacomb, with no light reaching from the exterior, it seems like Indy has a lightbulb in it's hat!! All is magically lit... Absurd. Just give me a way to light my way or suffer the dark.
I really did love the accessible ray tracing implementation and the immersive artwork of Star Wars Outlaws. The game really looked lovely in letterbox mode. Yea the story sucked but while everyone was complaining about the game, I enjoyed exploring the world.
I wouldn't even say the story sucked, a few scenes had some cringe-worthy writing though. But overall, the open world genre mix was fun and very atmospheric. I liked it more than i thought.
Tiny Glade as a competitive city-building, real-time strategy game would be really something. If I were the dev this game would be a good base for that as their next game.
Hellblade 2 did one thing well and that was looking like the most realistic thing I have ever seen in my life Feel like Stellar Blade deserved at least an honorable mention, gorgeous character models and the art direction was phenomenal. I was blown away by the time I got to the ending.
Indy has been super fun, and is cool to see it take the top spot here this year! Though I find it interesting that from a purely average/mid range hardware graphics output perspective (imo 1440p High Settings Quality or Balanced DLSS) I honestly feel that this may be the first year where last year's pick looks better in most scenes than this year's. Indy can totally still be stunning in many areas (especially with enthusiast hardware), but there's still so many areas in Avatar that feel so ahead of anything else... honestly so un videogame-like in it's presentation. Super excited for the future with both of these games existing!
The fact that Ubisoft is shitting its pants while still having it's games to come on top 3 of DF that too two consecutive years is a testament to how much talent the studio has which is such a shame because the execs are running the company into the ground.
on contrary, its testament to silly community hate bandwagon. DF being professional cant deny that outlaws is decent game with awesome graphics, while youtube clickbaiters pictured it as garbage game with ps3 graphics
Agreed. They might not be putting out great games, but there's undeniably a lot of talent, at least in some areas. The same has been true for Bethesda for a long time. Excellent visual design, bogged down by baffling quality elsewhere.
Ubi open word games have stellar graphics. Last year, Avatar blew me out of my mind. Too bad it's a mediocre game otherwise, but I bought it just to see the lush jungles
As someone with fairly higher end PC hardware I agree with the ordering. I didn't play Outlaws because I actually like _good_ SW games, but with the footage I've seen it absolutely belongs in a "graphics only" ranking. With the top 2 spots, as jaw dropping as Hellblade 2 was (which I did play) I feel a lot of that "OMG that looks REAL" factor comes from the developer often seizing full control of the camera and animation to _force_ it into a cinematic role. While Indiana Jones often left control in your hands letting you know this is a _game_ first, and not an interactive movie. I truly feel if Senua's Saga _didn't_ hold control of the camera and animation with an iron fist a _LOT_ of that hyper realism would vanish with the way you naturally tend to move in a game. Ironically this is a lot of what makes people argue over whether it's a "game" or not. Meanwhile Indy fulfills the great graphics box while actually making path tracing viable at launch (?!) while not taking away from the _experience_ of being a game and feeling like it's YOUR character and not a puppet you're giving suggestions to, no matter how gorgeous that puppet is. If only Senua's Saga offered a lot MORE of the gameplay you got while fighting the giant instead of the slow slog the game director that thought he was filmmaker created, Hellblade 2 would have undoubtedly finished the year at the top of many more lists instead of carrying the asterisk of "it's not really a game." I think that's what frustrated a lot of people with it.
@MrStrangermoon Astro bot looks fun. I'll probably pick it up eventually when a deep sale eventually happens... Like when it eventually hits the 19.99 PS greatest hits.
Sold Astro Bot after beating the first world. I'm going to play through the game on PC with everything maxed out. I'm only keeping my PS5 for the PSVR1 games, mainly Astro Bot and Wipeout.
I think what bothers me most as an Unreal dev with Unreal Engine 5, is how tone deaf the engine devs are about shader compile times. Most people I know prefer a shader compilation load screen over game stutter. And the Unreal team just keeps trying to push async shader compilation and other workarounds instead of just making it easy out of the box to setup a shader compilation screen.
preach brother.
You hiring for a prop artist? I'm one of the unfortunate layoffs...been out since last November...CA unemployment is a joke.
what cracks me up is the engine version release names. within 2 years it'll have to be called ue6 unless they hit 5.900000000000f like calculating the numbers for pi ffs. I also love how they touted it as opening up all these performance gains by doing more with less and we've had nothing but diminishing returns where the technology is so half-baked and trying to be everything to everyone from offline to realtime rendering. I get why developers use it, you can get up and running really quickly with it and start prototyping gameplay and not have to worry about delivery milestones to match cadence with the technical art team.
There's definitely room in the market for other off the shelf engines. UE5 has made the current gen consoles seem so underpowered that it reminds me of the ps3/360 generation where devs put the cart before the horse and added effects that were never meant to run on the machines. I miss a really good high budget rasterized game and think we're being fed a line of bs about silicon transistor density having to almost grow at a log scale so chips are big enough to support raster graphics that still look good. Show me a game with a ray tracing or path tracing implementation and scoped properly so that textures and poor denoising do not equal a disgusting boiling effect. Art style should compliment gameplay design and not the other way around.
A word on snow drop as well, the fact the game is garbage and has horrible denoising turns it into a boiling mess of a game when textures cannot be resolved correctly due to over-reaching. Avatar looked much nicer on an earlier version of the engine albeit in marginally less boring overall package.
We're still a decade of rtx90 series architecture releases before any of these new features become less annoying. Upscaling is also horrible, dlss may be the better of the algorithms but it's a bolted on piece of software written to justify the silicon budget allocated to it so we feel as if we're getting more value when we plop down for a new top tier card every 2 years since turing came out. There's also no reason that framegen cannot run ampere as well (albeit lesser performant) given they're using well known methods for utilizing motion vector look up tables used for rendering video for the longest time. I've yet to saturate the 24gb frame buffer in any game on the last two nvidia architectures and rarely does a game run at 100 percent utilization across both cpu and gpu at the same time. The argument that cpu's cannot saturate a graphics card is bs.
There are so many phd students graduating computer / software engineering the last ten years where they only use python that's it has also led to a generation of lazy programmers who cannot fully utilize the compute power afforded to modern pcs due to so many layers of abstraction stealing away performance that would be better used had they followed traditional programming paths to learning to build and design performant realtime software. There are exceptions to this blanket statement, many I'm sure. I know many people who still use C-based languages exclusively or verilog or the like. We are not seeing any of them get into the gaming industry anymore because the money sucks compared to other computer / software engineering jobs out there. Why get a phd in graphics rendering when you can get one in fpga development and graduate with a job and stock options off the bat at some misc firm that specializes in automation or prototyping bleeding edge hardware designs like in a next generation keysight or rhode and schwarz oscilliscope or other piece of text gear.
I just added this handy plugin called "Shader Compilation Screen" and it does the job. But, yeah, I wish it came by default with the engine.
You can just manually compile all shaders through the brute force method of loading every single asset you have for the entire game into one map and forcing the engine to render it all at once hidden behind a loading bar that merely says "compiling shaders". I know this seems ridiculous but I swear it's actually more effective.
Thank you all for the hard work and dedication over the years
Not surprised Indy Jones won. It looks the most impressive and performs twice as fast as most other UE5 titles. idTech delivers max immersion.
For me this year it had to be star wars outlaws. Technicaly Indy might have been the best one, but i really enjoy playing, exploring star wars universe in that game. If they had nailed cutscenes I think this would have been different discussion. Indy can look vers good but I have problem with the time period and environment settings that are not attractive to me which is what immersion is to me.
ue5 is an everything engine that does everything as poorly as possible while making idiots think it's the best thing since sliced bread.
I was more immersed in HB despite the fact that I was more immersed into it as an interactive movie than a game.
It is just next gen in graphics, animation and direction. (4080S)
Of course, there is not even Ambient Occlusion and no Raytracing, unless you have a Nvidia Card and 12 Gig of VRAM or more. No wonder it performs so good.
And bizarrely, people still want Todd to use UE5 for ES6 instead of the one they have right there.
I feel like the 2023 video just dropped yesterday. This year went by fast 😅
Literally kinda scary feeling tbh doesn't feel 5 minutes ago I was watching 2023 list
Indeed. Happy and Peaceful New Year to you all 🫂
@@saphyre-l4wSame to you.
Yea agreed! Father time gotta let go of the pedal just a bit Lol 😁
You're getting old. It happens.
Surprised Stellar Blade or Space Marine 2 didn't make the cut even as an honorable mention but Black Myth Wukong and Dragon's Dogma 2 did, with all their problems on console.
Nearly all the games here had performance issues, seems to be that games with good graphics these days come tandem with bad performance.
Ehh. Stellar blade had some pretty boring looking levels. I played and beat this and wukong multiple times. Stellar is nice. It's not wukong with graphics, though.
Stellar Blade and Gran Blue Fantasy should have been at least mentioned. I don't even know how Outlaws made the list at all.
I mean console is irrelevant in these discussions. The point is highest end graphics potential on PC
@@WUKONGSerieS10GBofRAMbudget equipment is still faster than current consoles. 😭
Most users have a 4060, I don't even think any equipment that slow is made anymore brother 😂
Astro's playful physics was a personal highlight. Felt like being a hyperactive child in a ball pit.
It's mental stims everywhere, all the time. I love it.
looking like "old cgi" was a perfect comparison!
Yeah it was a great experience!
The physics and the feedback you get on the Dual Sense are so satisfying.
Cope.
The snow drop engine in Star wars Outlaws is outstanding. The Raytracing is crazy
Would love if John did a VR category as well next year.
💯 %. VR is the most incredible advancement in gaming (and I'm OLD), yet it doesn't get nearly enough the coverage it deserves.
I agree but even while agreeing, VR games don't tend to have very appealing visuals. Metro Awakening is the best VR game this year for non-Quest 3 and it looks worse than many older VR titles.
And most PS4 games.
Yes, and don’t let oliver creep in please
This would be amazing! PC VR has been my most enjoyable gaming experience this year.
You should include more footage. Hearing you explain about some scene looking really good and not having any game footage is meh.
Totally agree. Their weekly directs I get because it’s them yapping which is fine. But a yearly video about graphics, every second of this should be relevant footage
@@Krazenosome developers block them from using their own footage, or footage after a certain point.
@@Armataan The games are already out so why would they block them from showing their graphics!?? makes no sense!
110% agree. I made a similar comment more direct saying John was rambling way too much ..
Most of these games already have their own exclusive videos.
I agree that Indy wins, the thing that edges it for me is the fact its high res, RT and 60fps on console, while also supporting full path tracing for PC.
It's not only that. It's also the visual stability of the game. I really think we got to start condemning and taking marks off games that try to push technology at the expense of visual stability.
I'm no longer impressed by graphics if this is the best current gaming has to offer.
@@joefawley9264i showed a screenshot to my wife. She said: "that's a game?!". You clearly didn't grow up playing Wolfenstein on a 386.
@@joefawley9264 in a few years PT (path tracing) will become much more accessible and then graphics will make their final leap.
@@Root_boy I grew up with Sega Genesis. Seems like PS4 could pull off these graphics fine
Both Massive Entertainment (Star Wars Outlaws) and Machine Games (Indiana Jones) are Swedish developers. Not bad for a country of only ten million people.
The Scandinavians are doing well, there's also Remedy in Finland
@@Dionyzos And DICE, also in Sweden, they are responsible for the tech behind Dragon Age Veilguard. Sweden especially has been very good about tech in video games for a very long time.
"Not bad for a country of only ten million people."
Yeah, what a poor underdeveloped country. The struggle must've be hard. Can we get a Nobel peace prize for them already, especially for the average game with performance issues like Outlaws?
Star Wars OUTFLAWS !!??
Japanese know the game mechanics but they could spend extra Dev Time with graphics.
Shame we couldn't get a HDR option in the video settings... Especially considering it is a best graphics presentation. Prior, DF HDR content spoilt us.
May have been because some of the showcased games (like Wukong and Astro Bot) don't support HDR. Who knows though, maybe that wasn't the reason.
@@molsen7549 Astro bot doesnt have HDR really? That game is a pure tech showcase how can they forget HDR?
@@rejectxzit has hdr, but it isn't that great
@@helloguy8934 I think the HDR black level is just mismatched, but if you incorrectly set your black level to the limited range while having the game output of the full range, it seems to look perfect. I think they just really screwed up somewhere in the pipeline and accidentally compressed the output to the limited range for hdr. Give it a try if you have a chance
HDR ? Wow i will never use IT again HDR making games washed out and darker its overhyped ,.. most ppl dont have OLED screen and they use HDR 😅😅 for what You cant see HDR on LCD ... IT fucks the image. But ppl are just dump and doesnt knows anything
I’d love for Digital Foundry to delve deeper into interactivity and physics when evaluating game visuals. Games like Black Myth: Wukong or Hellblade 2 look absolutely stunning, but at times they feel more like beautifully painted sets rather than truly living, interactive worlds. It’s reminiscent of the old days of 'pre-rendered visuals,' where the lack of interactivity-combined with invisible walls-makes the world feel static and artificial. This disconnect between my character’s movement and the environment really breaks immersion. For me, immersion isn’t just about how a game looks; it’s about how alive and reactive the world feels.
To this day, I still remember the first time I played Crysis, Half-Life, or GTA IV. It wasn’t just the graphical fidelity that blew my mind-it was how those games made you feel like part of their worlds. Everything felt connected, alive, and reactive, and that’s what made them truly immersive. I think this aspect of game design deserves more attention when discussing modern titles and graphical fidelity.
I agree, Space Marine 2s tyranid swarms are awesome and I count that as a visual and technical accomplishment. Same way style applies to visuals so should things like that.
This is why SW Outlaws feels cheap and sluggish. The gameplay, mechanics and graphics disconnected.
They talk about this during the Astro Bot conversation
RIVEN's accuracy to the look of the original IS STUNNING! Great pick!
John, at 39:28 you start talking about the lighting in Brookhaven Hospital. I had the EXACT same feelings and experience in that moment. I literally stopped to take it in. There was just SOMETHNG about that first simple hallway on the right-hand side that felt incredible. Hearing the way you articulated those feelings is awesome!
Hwy guys. Great video as always but next year, can you please include more footage / gameplay in relation to what you guys are talking about? There was a lot of discussion about each game and very rarely any footage to show what you are talking about. It struck me that you were using footage captured previously and not new footage captured to show what you were describing in each game.
That's because much of the discussion was deeply dishonest, which was evident when they put star wars outlaws in top 3. embarrassing to hear them wax poetic about the environments while showing brief clips of character animations and faces that look inferior to games from the previous gen.
@@Quoxozist graphics doesn't mean character animations or we'd still be nominating LA Noire. They were correct to pick Outlaws for a top 3.
I don’t see people’s complaints with Hellblade, it doesn’t try to deceive anyone about what it is, if you go into it knowing what to expect it’s still a great experience and looks absolutely stunning
Agreed. I loved playing Hellblade II from begining to end. it was an experience piece and deserves to be in this list for sure.
Masterpiece. Kids will scream and hate everything that goes against their brainrot brains, 2 sec attention span and zero emotional maturity.
I think some of the pushback could be due to the fact that it's less mechanically involved for the player compared to the first game. It feels less gamey and more cinematic, and the first game was already pretty cinematic. I think the skewing of that balance irked some people.
It's a great experience, I think it's just a little bit worse than the original. If I rated the first as a 8.5, II is a 7.5-8. will definitely remember my experience with both
@@vertegrasI'm @ an 8 with it myself
Really glad to see Riven make the list. Technically, it's a suitably impressive game, but the art direction takes its into a whole new stratosphere. Next to The Great Circle, it was my favorite game to just walk around in and explore this year.
Hellblade 2 blew my mind. I loved that experience. I haven't been so immersed in a game atmosphere, combined with its story, in a while. Loved that sequel to Hellblade 1.
Too many puzzles were annoying
It's a very demanding game though, just like Alan Wake 2, and should be played on a high-end PC. The current consoles just aren't strong enough and have it capped at 30fps which isn't great. You can appreciate graphics a lot better at 60fps because of motion clarity.
It’s so lame compared to the first game.
It's so un-interactive and slow that I couldn't play for more than two hours TBH. The combat felt underwhelming too. I loved the first Hellblade but not the second one.
And of course everyone is finding something to complain about...
I think it’s a fine enough list
I have been working with CG since the 80's and Indy is indeed a stunner. What an amazing job they did; even pixel peeping. Riven as well in VR. And this channel is amazing, thank you!
For me, i'd still vote for Hellblade 2 for how much they pushed the envelope in real time graphics, and not only but specially facial expressions, it feels real, you are in this journey with Senua, you see and feel how she does, all of the tech combined with the brilliant Melina Juergens performance as Senua, made it possible. This kind of immersion is really special and there nothing like it. It's an extreme tailored and well polished experience, as it should be, and since it's their vision from the first game, i think they achieved.
The other thing, Hellblade 2 was made by a team with 80 developers, much lower than the average triple A title, so this game has a really special place in my view, and can't be cherished enough.
It’s not a gamey game tho, not even a video game. It’s an immersive graphical experience in the format of a game.
@xTaimaX it definitely is a video game, love to see you do those fights on hard...
It's the only game so far to live up to the graphics of The Matrix Awakens demo.
@@xTaimaX We’re not here to talk about what qualifies as a “game.” We’re here to talk about graphics. Stay on topic.
@TheCactuar124 I agree, and by that logic, digital foundry didn't go by its own metrics.. I think Indiana Jones is 100% the more fun game.. But Hellblade 2 is 100% the better looking..
Super enjoying this. What I would really like to see: DF speaking out what is the best graphics on console. It can be a bit messy to switch between PC and console in the way that you have. I feel like some games do so much better on pc (e.g. BM Wukong, AW2) and others scale really well on console. I would love your clear vision on that.
Wukong on consoles is far inferior to Horizon. Graphics are full of noise, likely from poor upscaling technology or very low internal resolution.
In my opinion, Wukong's graphics deserve a 6.5 on consoles, while Horizon is at least a 9.5.
horizon is a 10 on console
There are multiple reasons why Wukong performs worse on console. The biggest reason is the physics and lighting are far more intensive in Wukong, while in Horizon, physics are minimal, and most of the graphics are just decorative. Additionally, the lighting in Horizon is not ray-traced.
.
@@MantashaMonster The reason is unreal engine 5, let's be honest.
Horizon, specifically ZD that I replayed, was phenomenal. It was a total treat to replay it with Frozen Wilds as a total cherry on top. Amazing work!
Horizon is the best looking game on any console.
The only thing I don't love about the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's visuals are the characters faces. They're not terrible, but they have that almost cartoony look that their Wolfenstein games have.
Yay! I did a RUclips search for this very video, yesterday. I always look forward to their graphics review. The techniques available to devs and how they use them to build game worlds is particularly interesting to me. Digital Foundry, Spawnwave and a few others really have served to fill the voids left by the lack of printed gaming magazines, as well as giving us familiar, consistent places to go that we all depend on for our gaming and tech news. Thanks DF
In the Silent Hill 2 section, John articulates the beauty of the game (in regards to lighting) really well. Almost makes me wanna hear a physics lecture on the topic from him 😅
Pennys Big Breakaway being in the top 10 is just silly. Oliver and Alex must have given John a free pass since they kicked Silent Hill out of the top 3 haha
John being John as usually. Giving his friends time.
Did they forget Lego Horizon? That game looks amazing on PC.
With all my respect to John, and his love for the oldschool (which is mainly why I started following DF to be honest), but Penny has no place in this video. I don't want to offend its creators, many things are subjective, like maybe the character design being unappealing, and colors feeling not bright enough, the sterile environments, and the weird DoF effect, but putting this game among the rest of the video, makes the "Another Phenomenal Year!" part title sound like a joke. Everyone but John was staying there in an awkward silence while John was praising the visuals, but what cracked me up is when he tried to squeeze some words from Alex and it was hard for him to say anything positve lol.
I don't think it's should be one the list either. Could have filled it with something more impressive
Absolutely agree. This feels like a case of letting the game itself and its development history cloud one's view of the technical aspects. It shouldn't matter that they build it from scratch, it still looks distinctly average and like many other unremarkable 3D platformer throwbacks we've seen over the years.
Yeah, you can see it in Alex's and Oliver's eyes, too, they understand that it's not a serious choice. Oh well, let John have his retro toy.
100 percent agreed
agree but also astro bot should not be in this video. astro bot first demo was john 2020 video on that time not in graphics of year vide. 4 year later new astro bot look good but not so ahead of that first demo. outcast new begging should be in video. you are using jetpack in that game flying every where unreal open wold game yet work good. should be in honorable mentions.
37:52 is there a technical reason why (blonde) hair often looks so glowy in games? RE Engine suffers from the same issue iirc. This issue and the heavy trailing artifacts when moving the camera also puts it outside top 3 for me
Ray traced and path tracing can solve this as long as hair is simulated. Now hair is done in a way that proper lighting into human skin and folicules is far from the real thing. Simulating light on grass, hair, fire and water in a realistic manner requires an entire rendering farm.
Watching this back and I realize no space marine 2. Why? It looks insane
Stellar blade although UE4 imo looked better than wukong and its extremely optimized
yeah I'm playing stellar blade right now and it's probably the smoothest game i've played/seen on PS5, and I'm not even on a Pro
Great job guys in honoring Dragon’s Dogma 2. The game isn’t perfect but for some reason I put over 200 hours into the game and it was easily my biggest surprise of the year. I really enjoyed the game and the visuals were really consistently amazing.
I was sure Space Marine 2 would be featured in this. It's an incredible-looking game that is pushing a lot of polys.
Agree with John on SH2, I have a 2000 nits TV and damn the lighting in the game is out of this world. From an artistic perspective the visuals are just beautifully crafted as well which the lighting enhances further. Rarely been as captured by a game's visuals and the atmosphere overall. Have to mention Stellar Blade as well, looks stunning and plays smooth as butter.
Thank you for featuring Riven and its remake!! Myst was great, but Riven was perfection that blew us all away.
Another solid year of gaming. Despite what the people who are determined to hate everything say.
One reason why I love this channel. The fan base (mostly) isn’t a bunch of hateful clowns.
Almost every single game mentioned in this video has some kind of performance issues. Some of them unplayable. You keep consuming though 👍🏻
@@AJ-xv7oh most games even if they aren’t on this list do too. Bloodborne, Elden ring, many others have issues and are still great games. Maybe you’re just too picky pal. Keep missing out👍
They rewarding unoptimized games like Silent hill 2. Also Star Wars Outlaws second place ? Are you joking. The PC version of Red Dead Redemption looks better than that game.
@@randydonovan7844early 2000s developers didn't have the luxury to ship incomplete unoptimized games.
Agreed with Indy and HB2, either could have taken the #1 spot and I would have been fine.
Penny's Big Breakaway looks like a Wii game in the best way possible
wii got a new game this year. battlefront 3 2008 build. you can travel to space to ground without loading impressive than star wars oulaws lol.
@MrStrangermoon looks pretty good for a Wii game too. Super cool it got leaked
Top two games are Xbox games, nice. Heckblade 2 is absolutely the best audiovisual experience I've ever had playing a video game. Absolutely spectacular.
I hope they eventually add full RT shadows and reflections to bodies of water to indiana jones so it can look even more incredible.
It will need a mako reactor from Midgar to run
Space Marine 2 was amazing, weird how they didn't put it in top 10. It was the most gorgeous game I have ever played, right after Hellblade 2. Silent hill was great too ofc.
No space marine 2 with the 4K texture pack. You guys are crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!’
Rita’s Rewind 17:37 “varied gameplay levels” is the next big step for EVERY genre of 2d action games.
And an autoscrolling hoverboard/attack snowmobiles/hovercraft side scrolling level or 3 …
… a horizontal shmup helicopter level
…. A sprite scaling “chase level” or “racing level” or “rail shooter” level.
This sort of varied gameplay in beat em ups and several others styles of 2d platformers or run’n’gun or certain metroidvanias ….
…. It’s gonna be a huge game changing development, and “new standard” for old school gameplay.
Space Marine 2 not being on the list is MIND BLOWING
Sorry john but that penny game should not be on the list.
Is about best graphics not about effort.
they have to ban both john and oliver from these important vids
I remember once john put a doom clone over real doom😂
I find it strange that the rest of the team let it on the list.
Best graphics doesn't necessarily mean most photorealistic graphics. I see it as most visually striking or stylistically pleasing. If you have a small team that manages to craft a beautiful world with a unique art style, while at the same time maintaining tight level design, I think it can be included on a list like this.
Yeah it would’ve been totally great on his own best games of the year list, but not on the DF best graphics of the year list.
I played it and really didn’t like it at all. Visually and gameplay wise
Penny’s big breakaway - good design sure, but this video is about graphics not design, John.
I think highlighting games that use novel methods of graphics rendering is important. People always complain that developers are lacking ingenuity and are overly reliant on unoptimized UE5 features, so rewarding examples of the complete opposite should be encouraged. You might not think it fits on this list, but performance and scalability are things they are weighing in their rankings, in which case Penny scores very highly.
@@jon....Exactly… they built their own engine and tools from scratch, with incredible (and unique looking) graphical results. It surely deserves its place in this list just as much as any of the games where the hardest work was done by the off-the-shelf rendering engine the developers paid for (Unreal, id Tech, etc).
Impressive graphics can also be about delivering an extremely optimized experience on low end hardware.
@@jon....Performance is weighed into their ranking.... Erm, more than half these games ran like garbage. What are you talking about.
@@jon.... the game released end of february and the last update on steam is march 14th so they didn't even support it for a single (1) MONTH.
I am sure John had no issues when he played otherwise he would have named them but many people reported issues and bugs on the steam forums which seem like they will never be fixed. I wanted to grab this game eventually but if you don't do minor patches and fixes after 3 weeks passed that's not acceptable.
Always an interesting video. My personal graphical highlight of the year is Indiana Jones. To support high resolutions, 60 fps and ray tracing all at once on both Series X and S blew me away. And besides that its a damn fun game too!
Stellar Blade deserved to be mentioned because of its stunning 80fps+ mode.
Excellent top three. All very much deserved.
26:42 Omg Thank you….. I was looking for the name of that game for so long. I was about to cry when you started talking about it lol. my dad went to his friend house to buy a copy of Riven for me and bro. Men… I’m old. Good old times.!
Btw the game was on console by that time. I think it was ps1,sega genesis. I can’t remember which one.
It was ported to PS1 shortly after the PC release. The following year, it was ported to Sega Saturn in Europe only.
The Genesis could never be able to handle it, except for maybe with the Sega CD add-on, but Sega had long moved on by then.
@ oh I see. It’s been so long tho. Ty
there is another game out from 1999 this year Outcast new begging. its kinda re imaginaiton of first game like new river . should be in this video but jonhn already make vidoe for that. my favorite fmv game those times is xfiles and ı think xfiles fmv charaters way better than riven you feel in x files episode not just traviel around. my seconf fmv game was byzantine game. ı also mention they said slient hill 2 orginal was impressive that time ı dont agree that there waas pc exlusive survival horor game out 1999 Nocturne. terminal reaility game that game graphics look like ray tracing today shadows lightings even sh2 reamke or alan wake 2 not beat nocturne yet. check outcast and nocturne they suppose to out sega dreamcast with half life 1 but when dc died they stuck on pc. alone in dark remake also out this year another game those years with that and sh2 remake out this year make only dino crisis and nocturne not remaked from end of 90s. dino crisis remake probably happen capcom and maybe night dive studios relase nocturne again like the thing this year. nocturne engine that time was better looking than unreal and quake engines. such a crime that no one knows.
Where is Space Marine 2? The quality mode on the Pro and PC is some of the best graphics of the year.
Cope.
It's... fine?
Nah.
Pro 🤣🤡🤣
And Space Marines runs better on the Xbox series X than on the ps5 pro..
Not that it deserves a top 10, but it's a shame that the crew overlooked Infinity Nikki in their honorable mentions discussions. It's a fantastic open-world game that uses RTGI, RT shadows, and some RT reflections to make its world absolutely gorgeous. The sheer amount of flowers and environment details leaves me stunned every time i play it- but the vast majority of people who play it aren't going to see this detail as it's primarily mobile-focused, and the mobile version of the game cuts down a massive swath of the environment
Thank you DF for another awesome year of content. This is hands down one of my favorite channels on RUclips. The DF team is awesome and I can't wait for your individual GOTY lists!! Happy holidays, happy new year, cheers, Prost und zum Wohl, Jungs!
So nice to see Xbox fans finally have a great year ❤
Next year will be a good year for Microsoft as well. Lots of good stuff that will be launching on gamepass day one.
That is definitely a brand
Yeah good on you,I agree too much fluffing of Playstation most of the time. Id say Xbox fans have had a lot of good games and wins this year and of late massive value for money with gamepass. im on PC. Its good but a little unfair that we we get game pass cheaper. Indiana has surprisingly ended up as my game of the year.
Still no goty though lol@@zorastin
@zorastin very nice bro. I also have a gaming rig, but I have back problems, so sitting at a keyboard and mouse is painful after a short time. I prefer console for the convenience. I do realize I could use my PC similarly if I set it up more to play more console like, but console is easier for this old man. Lol
Great stuff. May I ask why DF doesn't talk about HDR implementation when talking gaming about game look? HDR is a big deal and can make game look amazing without incurring extra performance. So why HDR isn't part of equation when elaborating game look?
Hellblade 2 is a new level in real time graphics.
Real time walking simulstor with very little gameplay and it's only like 5 hours lol. If it had more going on it'd be more impressive
Fake game.
It's a new level in linearity, invisible walls, and copy-paste combat too.
Hellblade is art. 🖤
@@basedplants new level in haters tears also 🤣
Great video guys. Very genuine and this was a blast. 😃👍
bot?
Small correction: original Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl did not have parallax mapping. I distinctly remember parallax mapping being introduced by the first shader mod for the game. Still, glad to see a shoutout for the game!
i gotta say purely graphics its HB2 its just so consistent, IJ is great but it has issues with its LOD on effects, it isnt as consistent as HB2 across the platforms. HB2 is just consistent rendering wise its almost flawless. I also disagree that its like a FMV style game. It's a curated linear narrative game with some open-ish areas. We're just fed so many open/semi open games a linear game always gets compared to more open games. Its an unfair comparison.
Silent Hill 2 Cutscenes are on a whole other level, so much detail captured in the mocap
Really good video. Always enjoy these. Just some feedback. I thought sometimes you got stuck talking about the negatives of the game a bit too much, for a video that was supposed to celebrate the best graphics of the year. I agree that one should definitely point those issues out, but not spend as much time as highlighting the good parts.
Otherwise, thanks for this video. I enjoy the look back and reflection on great graphical achievements ❤
12:12 Tiny Glade also shows that the Rust programming language has the chops needed to make games. The Bevy engine, on which Tiny Glade is based, looks fascinating. There is a great interview with the lead dev of that engine, on the Developer Voices podcast.
Space Marine 2 should have been in the top 10. Penny's Big Breakaway barely deserves an honorable mention...
It's mid in terms of graphics. The only thing that's impressive is the number of enemies and draw distance but honestly, I wasn't blown away by it. I thought Gears 5 looked a lot better.
I'm now fully happy that I added "gosh darn" to my John Linneman 2024 bingo card
Gonna have to go with Crysis for the 18th year in a row.
Them characters models look rough nowadays
@@00-JT Yup
The original Crysis was barely the best-looking game release of 2007.
This is ridiculous@@VariantAEC
@@GustavoFil350 that year also had COD4, Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, Uncharted and Halo 3.
Thank you DF for a fantastic year full of wonderful content, discussions and passion. Happy new year to all of you.
What are your thoughts on Tekken 8? I know it’s nothing compared to these large scale games but it always felt like a pretty impressive game visually, especially the insane detail in photo mode.
In my book Indiana Jones is not only the best looking game of the year but also, by far, the best overall game of the year.
No Space Marine 2? What are these guys smoking? Ridiculous!
Astro bot deserved goty
You guys are missing out on The Talos Principle 2: Some of the best Lumen UE5 Graphics & Lighting, amazing World & Level Design and phenomenal Artistic Direction.
And Talos 2's massive DLC Expansion (2024): Road to Elysium: The visuals are phenomenal - the models, material work, atmosphere, Lumen GI Lighting etc - I played on PS5 Performance Mode and now playing on PS5 Pro on Quality 60 FPS. I can't imagine how amazing the game must look on high end PC with full RT Reflections as well!
Please cover The Talos Principle 2+ DLCs in your next PS5 Pro video!
Talos 2 is a gem of a game, and it is a visual treat.
It's from last year though. They talked a bit about it last year when it came out and all their footage was from the starting area of the game (tutorial basically, that doesn't look nearly as good as some of the epic later areas). From which I kinda concluded that this type of highly cerebral puzzle games aren't their cup of tea. 😢
@@kosmosyche DLC is from this year 2024. They also DIDN'T cover it last year and didn't mention it in the top graphics list - and I'm sure it blows mostly of 2023-2024 games out of the water - in visuals design, graphics prowess, tech utilization and artistic vision.
Also I think it's important to revisit older games that are Upgraded by the Pro, Talos 2 doesn't have a Pro Enhanced Update yet sadly - but still benefits from Pro Game Boost: Quality Mode at 60 FPS!
Oh and to add to this: I totally agree. They BARELY showed the beginning Egyptian Throwback area that was supposed to look less than realistic because it simulated the SIMULATION that is TALOS 1. IT WAS A THROWBACK.
They didn't cover the actual game that only gets progressively better, more stunning and more mind blowing. They didn't go into the Mega Structure, or Anthropic Hills, or the islands and snow areas. They never checked out the amazingly gorgeous, immersive and mind bending DLCs. Even if it's not their type of game - they mentioned freaking Riven, but not Talos 2 - which is my GOTY of 2023-2024 by a long shot (along FF16 in 2023).
@@normanblack4005 for sure man! Playing this right now on PlayStation 5 Pro - after Platinum 100% the main game and beating 2 DLCs out of 3. Now I'm playing on Quality Mode running a smooth solid 60fps! I still want a Pro Enhanced label on this with an actual PS5 Pro Patch Update. Maybe at the Ray Tracing Reflections especially in photo mode. PSSR AI Upscale up to actual 4K! 120 HZ support. Remove of ghosting artifacts etc. The game can look so much better than it already does.
All this stuff has evolved so much. I feel like 5 to 10 years ago I had at least a novice understanding of many of the technologies that go into a game, but nowadays I feel like I need a glossary just to get the basic gist. I know, wikipedia exists, but it's just too in-depth for me. If I open one article and read the first paragraph I'll have understood at most 3 of the words, and will subsequently look at 20 other articles to even get a general idea what the thing does.
Have DF realised the Microsoft Flight Sim 2024 has released, with the amount of attention visuals on MSFS 2020 received i expected a bit more coverage.
FS2024 would've been top spot for sure if they had included it.
There are a LOT of games that get missed by DF for no good reason. Scheduling and time I guess.
They are probably waiting for a couple more patches, hopefully it gets a bit of attention from DF next year, as there is plenty there for them to talk about in terms of real-time rendering really pushed to the limits. But yes, I don't think the game was in a finished enough state for them to cover it at the end of this year, so I get why it wasn't here.
I think it released to late for this video, they mentioned how they started brainstorming for the video, but had to wait for Indiana Jones. Probably didn't want to wait for MSFS 2024
FS2024 is a mess is why
Still wakes the deep, also looks nice
59:05 can't believe Rich is gone...🙏
Rich no longer in the here and now
Is gone! What do u mean by that dude. Is gone
What ?
Next Df Direct:...."Somehow Rich has returned."
@MrMeow-xl7pd ok! Got it
Just found the time to watch. Excellent choices! And really nice to see some unexpected games in the honourable mentions.
I still get confused how Indiana Jones looks that good running at 60fps on Xbox Series. Looking at this generation it almost feels like a miracle. And included on Gamepass? Man…
Because games weren't optimized for Series X but for the weaker console which is PS5. Now you have a situation where some games play better on Series X even than on PS5 Pro. Thats just showing how much unused potential was there whole time.
@@nikolagvozdenovic940games werent optimised for xsx? Which cross platform games that ps5 performs better were not optimised? I’d love to know which titles you’re referring to.
@@vigour6786 i am not talking about "Series optimised"
I am talking about MAKING game from the ground up for a specific hardware.
It's pretty obvious that they used PS5 for most multiplats as benchmark to optimise while not testing/optimising enough for Xbox consoles.
@@nikolagvozdenovic940The weaker console is not PS5, is Series S
@@nikolagvozdenovic940 which games were benchmarked and primarily optimised for ps5 rather than xsx?
The way that hair interacts with light in Dragon Age the Veilguard is absolutely the best I've ever seen in a video game. I often just stop and stare at my character's hair when entering sunlight from shadow. It's spectacular.
Shout out to Infinity Nikki. Don't know about the tech aspects, but it looks gorgeous to my eye.
I was surprised how perfomant it was for a UE5 game and I think it ticked about every box for a good PC port, including a shader comp step. Shame the RTAO was broken on launch.
Thanks for another awesome year of materials! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year gentlemen!
I think Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 should've taken Star Wars Outlaw's spot, or at least a honorable mention. It might have a lot of bugs but we're specifically talking graphics, and the graphics are very impressive.
they didn't even review it though ...
its kinda look like same with mfs 2020. ı still think ace combat 7 look better no ground dteail like mfs but on fly look better. there was aslo another unreal 4 jet game called projet wingman. also notice all this games scale down xbox one ps4 even switch but mfs 2020 not out on those so make game little less known. using always net no demo of game and size all these things make mfs down. mfs 2020 was pc physcal copy 10dvd now with 24 no dvd copy only usb stick for collector editon. not the mention launch problems.
FS24 actually looks significantly better than 2020 but that horrible launch probably prevented DF covering the game.
Yeah, no. star wars outlaws still takes the cake.😂
@@mohammadashikurrahman7530 SW Outlaws is embarrassing to look at.
Great fun, DF guys. Happy New Year!
Who would have thought that film based game will be such a high quality, but it speaks about people from Machine Games.
Regarding Indiana Jones: The 3rd open world level (thai jungle) breaks the high praise for the graphics for me a bit. Because of the incredibly annoying LOD pop-ins where the whole jungle canopy warps in front of your eyes and the lighting suddenly changes from bright light to occluded sunlight from the leaves and trees. Awful. And yes I'm talking about max settings with full PT.
Looks lite nobody at DF has played this far :D
I love Indy, but Hellblade 2 deserved to win this. They even admit this is basically what PS6 games should look like. It literally looks a full generation better than everything else. Seriously. If PS6 games look like it but are 60fps and have more scope, i would feel perfectly satisfied with next generation of visuals.
Also, I feel they should kick that Penny game that John is clearly obsessed with and move Stellar Blade into the top 10. The fact it didn't even make honorable mention is insane. Game looks and runs great.
Lots of games could look like Hellblade if they restricted the player that much. Other games try to do what Indiana Jones does but less successfully, that's why it's impressive
@RoryWilliamson actually, I dont think even most movie sim type games look even close to as good as Hellblade 2. Its pretty much in a league of its own visually rn
It simply looks how PS5 games should and will look like.
@kraenk12 that's cope. We're more than halfway into the gen and no other games look like it.
Thank you Gentlemen for your good works. Greatly Appreciated.
Astro Bot is my favorite game in years. It's the main reason I bought a (used) PS5 and to me it was totally worth it. I've been playing video games since the 90s, and in the past few years I slowly stopped caring about graphics - in the past decade, two of my favorite games were Factorio and Minecraft. Astro Bot for me brought back my joy with good graphics! I have a nice mid-range TV and sound system, so 4K / OLED / HDR / 5.1, and this game feels right at home there.
You have to play more games lol
AstroBot is so amazing, one of the greatest games released in a long time (:
@@fightnight14 you've never played AstroBot and guaranteed it is far better and more fun than your favorite games
I'm playing Indy Jones with full path tracing, and while usually amazing, what bothers me is the lack of truly "in the dark/no lights" sections! Even inside a cave/catacomb, with no light reaching from the exterior, it seems like Indy has a lightbulb in it's hat!! All is magically lit... Absurd. Just give me a way to light my way or suffer the dark.
I really did love the accessible ray tracing implementation and the immersive artwork of Star Wars Outlaws. The game really looked lovely in letterbox mode. Yea the story sucked but while everyone was complaining about the game, I enjoyed exploring the world.
I wouldn't even say the story sucked, a few scenes had some cringe-worthy writing though. But overall, the open world genre mix was fun and very atmospheric. I liked it more than i thought.
I picked up Outlaws at BB on sale and have really been enjoying it don’t really understand all the hate
@johnwoesthoff2259 it's just culture war bullshit. Game is good. Not stellar but good
@ I’m over both sides of that argument just trying to get my game on when off work
@@ApologyforPepology Better than Jedi Survivor? Was planning on getting it.
Tiny Glade as a competitive city-building, real-time strategy game would be really something.
If I were the dev this game would be a good base for that as their next game.
Hellblade 2 did one thing well and that was looking like the most realistic thing I have ever seen in my life
Feel like Stellar Blade deserved at least an honorable mention, gorgeous character models and the art direction was phenomenal. I was blown away by the time I got to the ending.
Indy has been super fun, and is cool to see it take the top spot here this year! Though I find it interesting that from a purely average/mid range hardware graphics output perspective (imo 1440p High Settings Quality or Balanced DLSS) I honestly feel that this may be the first year where last year's pick looks better in most scenes than this year's. Indy can totally still be stunning in many areas (especially with enthusiast hardware), but there's still so many areas in Avatar that feel so ahead of anything else... honestly so un videogame-like in it's presentation. Super excited for the future with both of these games existing!
The fact that Ubisoft is shitting its pants while still having it's games to come on top 3 of DF that too two consecutive years is a testament to how much talent the studio has which is such a shame because the execs are running the company into the ground.
on contrary, its testament to silly community hate bandwagon. DF being professional cant deny that outlaws is decent game with awesome graphics, while youtube clickbaiters pictured it as garbage game with ps3 graphics
Agreed. They might not be putting out great games, but there's undeniably a lot of talent, at least in some areas. The same has been true for Bethesda for a long time. Excellent visual design, bogged down by baffling quality elsewhere.
You are just a hater, and this video proves it.
Ubi open word games have stellar graphics. Last year, Avatar blew me out of my mind. Too bad it's a mediocre game otherwise, but I bought it just to see the lush jungles
They mostly have good artists. But their game direction and game design in general is...ehh
Metaphor as one of the honourable mentions? You kidding me? The game has good art direction, but graphically it's a PS3+ game.
Indiana Jones! Best game of the year
As someone with fairly higher end PC hardware I agree with the ordering. I didn't play Outlaws because I actually like _good_ SW games, but with the footage I've seen it absolutely belongs in a "graphics only" ranking. With the top 2 spots, as jaw dropping as Hellblade 2 was (which I did play) I feel a lot of that "OMG that looks REAL" factor comes from the developer often seizing full control of the camera and animation to _force_ it into a cinematic role. While Indiana Jones often left control in your hands letting you know this is a _game_ first, and not an interactive movie.
I truly feel if Senua's Saga _didn't_ hold control of the camera and animation with an iron fist a _LOT_ of that hyper realism would vanish with the way you naturally tend to move in a game. Ironically this is a lot of what makes people argue over whether it's a "game" or not. Meanwhile Indy fulfills the great graphics box while actually making path tracing viable at launch (?!) while not taking away from the _experience_ of being a game and feeling like it's YOUR character and not a puppet you're giving suggestions to, no matter how gorgeous that puppet is.
If only Senua's Saga offered a lot MORE of the gameplay you got while fighting the giant instead of the slow slog the game director that thought he was filmmaker created, Hellblade 2 would have undoubtedly finished the year at the top of many more lists instead of carrying the asterisk of "it's not really a game." I think that's what frustrated a lot of people with it.
id Tech engine! 😎
Missed honorable mention of Visions of Mana, just an insanely beautiful game
@@beardalaxythey have Astro Bot and anime games on their list
2 Xbox games 😊
3 stalker 2 also. xbox won kinda but outside of df they give astro bot goty.
@MrStrangermoon Astro bot looks fun. I'll probably pick it up eventually when a deep sale eventually happens... Like when it eventually hits the 19.99 PS greatest hits.
@@MrStrangermoon The is best graphics, not GOTY
@@Blindsyde5762 AstroBot is one of the best games of all time, why would you wait years to play it? You are the spokesperson for missing out
Sold Astro Bot after beating the first world. I'm going to play through the game on PC with everything maxed out. I'm only keeping my PS5 for the PSVR1 games, mainly Astro Bot and Wipeout.