1eyedking's List of Games Full of Tasteful Art Direction
Disclaimer: this is not a best games list, but a best artistic games list (which, in my educated opinion, is immensely more important).
***
The Crème de la Crème
In no particular order, games that can really get into your skin:
Fallout
Fallout 2
Thief: The Dark Project
The Witcher
StarCraft
DOOM 3
RAGE
Diablo
Rome: Total War
Medieval II: Total War
(lesser than RTW but still great)
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Company of Heroes
Darkwood
***
The Honorary Mentions
a.k.a. games that got a good couple of things right artistically, but don't achieve a new level of immersion or lack a cohesive whole:
RUINER
Path of Exile
(visual design is pretty good though, terrible voice-acting and music)
Thief II: The Metal Age
(much less art direction than the first)
Risen
DOOM
DOOM II: Hell on Earth
Icewind Dale
(HoW is good up to the meeting with the Seer; avoid Trials of the Luremaster entirely)
Icewind Dale II
WH40K Dawn of War
(not Soulstorm, that one sucks)
Early Command & Conquer games
(they've got something going on, but not terribly atmospheric either)
Early Lucas Arts point-and-click adventure games
(MI 1-3, Full Throttle and The Dig in particular)
Daemonica
(play it if only for the music)
DreamWeb
(ditto)
Inquisitor
Left 4 Dead
(the sequel is OK but misses this one's atmosphere)
Stronghold
Stronghold: Crusader
X-COM: UFO Defense
X-COM: Terror from the Deep
Nuclear Throne
(p. good music)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl
(great music & atmosphere, abysmal game mechanics)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Clear Sky
Planescape: Torment
(the plot is good, however the writing itself is very uneven, oscillating between good and bad—an example of bad is Deionarra's sensory stone)
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 4: The Room
Diablo II
Diablo II - Resurrected
(the only remaster I know of that actually improves on the original)
Alien: Isolation
Penumbra: Overture
Penumbra: Black Plague
(avoid The Requiem)
HATRED
(good music, sort of gloomy—overall it's OK, which says a lot about general art quality nowadays if this game made it here...)
Darkest Dungeon
Metro 2033
Metro: Last Light
Metro Exodus
Total War: SHOGUN 2
GTA V
(nice visuals: take a ride through Sandy Shores at night and you'll see what I mean)
Red Dead Redemption II
(more of a simulator than a game—story, writing and characters are terrible though)
Assassin's Creed: Unity
HOM&M 4
(great soundtrack, cheesy yet sometimes endearing writing, but beware bad visual design)
Battlefield 1
(would be at the top if it weren't for the needless SJW'ing and it being a pop-a-mole shooter)
Hunt: Showdown
>Observer_
(braindead walking sim, but it's got some good imagery)
The Witcher 3
(wilderness out of German Romantic painting, a pity the plot is beyond terrible; writing and dialogues are good in polish but english translation is bad and reads like a literary major trying too hard; music is forgettable)
SOMA
(great atmosphere and plot, albeit bad dialogue and voice-acting ultimately hinder the experience)
Space Hulk: Deathwing
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
(great japanese voice-acting, good music, good plot)
Factorio
Ghostrunner
Blasphemous
Necromunda: Hired Gun
The Ascent
WORLD OF HORROR
***
All other games in neither of those two lists severely lack tasteful direction in one or more artistic departments (music/sounds, visual design, writing) -- even if their gameplay mechanics are top-notch (CIV4, FTL, SMAC, MOO, CS, etc.).
Disclaimer: this is not a best games list, but a best artistic games list (which, in my educated opinion, is immensely more important).
***
The Crème de la Crème
In no particular order, games that can really get into your skin:
Fallout
Fallout 2
Thief: The Dark Project
The Witcher
StarCraft
DOOM 3
RAGE
Diablo
Rome: Total War
Medieval II: Total War
(lesser than RTW but still great)
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Company of Heroes
Darkwood
***
The Honorary Mentions
a.k.a. games that got a good couple of things right artistically, but don't achieve a new level of immersion or lack a cohesive whole:
RUINER
Path of Exile
(visual design is pretty good though, terrible voice-acting and music)
Thief II: The Metal Age
(much less art direction than the first)
Risen
DOOM
DOOM II: Hell on Earth
Icewind Dale
(HoW is good up to the meeting with the Seer; avoid Trials of the Luremaster entirely)
Icewind Dale II
WH40K Dawn of War
(not Soulstorm, that one sucks)
Early Command & Conquer games
(they've got something going on, but not terribly atmospheric either)
Early Lucas Arts point-and-click adventure games
(MI 1-3, Full Throttle and The Dig in particular)
Daemonica
(play it if only for the music)
DreamWeb
(ditto)
Inquisitor
Left 4 Dead
(the sequel is OK but misses this one's atmosphere)
Stronghold
Stronghold: Crusader
X-COM: UFO Defense
X-COM: Terror from the Deep
Nuclear Throne
(p. good music)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl
(great music & atmosphere, abysmal game mechanics)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Clear Sky
Planescape: Torment
(the plot is good, however the writing itself is very uneven, oscillating between good and bad—an example of bad is Deionarra's sensory stone)
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 4: The Room
Diablo II
Diablo II - Resurrected
(the only remaster I know of that actually improves on the original)
Alien: Isolation
Penumbra: Overture
Penumbra: Black Plague
(avoid The Requiem)
HATRED
(good music, sort of gloomy—overall it's OK, which says a lot about general art quality nowadays if this game made it here...)
Darkest Dungeon
Metro 2033
Metro: Last Light
Metro Exodus
Total War: SHOGUN 2
GTA V
(nice visuals: take a ride through Sandy Shores at night and you'll see what I mean)
Red Dead Redemption II
(more of a simulator than a game—story, writing and characters are terrible though)
Assassin's Creed: Unity
HOM&M 4
(great soundtrack, cheesy yet sometimes endearing writing, but beware bad visual design)
Battlefield 1
(would be at the top if it weren't for the needless SJW'ing and it being a pop-a-mole shooter)
Hunt: Showdown
>Observer_
(braindead walking sim, but it's got some good imagery)
The Witcher 3
(wilderness out of German Romantic painting, a pity the plot is beyond terrible; writing and dialogues are good in polish but english translation is bad and reads like a literary major trying too hard; music is forgettable)
SOMA
(great atmosphere and plot, albeit bad dialogue and voice-acting ultimately hinder the experience)
Space Hulk: Deathwing
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
(great japanese voice-acting, good music, good plot)
Factorio
Ghostrunner
Blasphemous
Necromunda: Hired Gun
The Ascent
WORLD OF HORROR
***
All other games in neither of those two lists severely lack tasteful direction in one or more artistic departments (music/sounds, visual design, writing) -- even if their gameplay mechanics are top-notch (CIV4, FTL, SMAC, MOO, CS, etc.).
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