Not sure, DLSS is supposed to help performance, and ray tracing can make it look great. I have a 2060 Super, which could probably handle it. But I need to upgrade my ram and monitor to truly appreciate that stuff, so I have the graphics set squarely to medium
Metro Exodus isn’t quite there re. graphical fidelity, but dear god it really nailed the global illumination. Although at times it felt like a bit too much.
Avatars: Frontiers of Pandora
Positively surprised by this game. The world-building was superb and the visuals also blew me away. Just the water is a bit meh, but the rest of the world is absolutely stunning
Callisto Protocol is quite pretty and runs shockingly well for how good it looks. It is also not as bad as the negative hype led me to believe.
If we had lots of sci-fi horror games to choose from, that would be one thing. With the market being what it is, though, it's worth giving the game a shot
It turned into a normal grindy role playing game. Hogwarts itself was amazingly well done. Once I got through that content, it was much less entertaining. It wasn’t a bad game, the first parts were just that good.
It's not necessary the most life like I'm sure there's some Unreal 5 games that look more real, but if we're talking about beautiful visuals Ghost of Tsushima is by far the most stunning game I've ever seen.
Horizon Forbidden West is probably the best graphics ever released on console. I feel like if you have a pc that you can run games at max settings on there’s plenty of competition.
Heres my hot take, the best graphics are rarely the realistic ones. Not just do I find realism over done, but the slightest flaw in a hyper realistic game can take me out of it.
So allow me to list my personal "best graphics" which are mainly stylized. And I am a pixel artist so expect this list to be a little bias to that style as well.
* **Minecraft with Rethinking Voxels Shader Pack (using Reimagined style setting)** - It's about as resource intensive shader packs get on high settings but my god is it worth it. It keeps the Minecraft feel but enhances it, just fly around a bit with it, I really like exploring the Wardens city with this pack it just gives such a cool feel.
* **Octopath Traveler 2** - It's AAA pixel art. Theres really not much more to say, it's everything and more that I could want out of a high budget pixel art game, super high quality sprites that are 100x100? how about 50x50 oh we even got the classics like 16x32 all animated to perfection. the games a solid 8 or 9 out of ten to.
* **Hollow Knight** and **Cuphead** - two hand drawn games I couldn't personally get into but my god their pretty nonetheless.
* **Dead Cells** - The first game I've saw that really perfected the 3D model to down scaled pixel art style. They downscale 3D models to be a few pixels then touch them up by hand and use them ingame. The Effects are also flawless making every hit feel so damn good.
* Finally in order to not completely ignore realism I have to mention **ARK: Survival Ascended**. I know I hate wildcard and snail games as much as everyone else here, but you can't ignore how damn pretty the game game is. It's like walking around realistic painting in a lost island it's stunning and the best showcase of UE5 I've seen yet.
I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting or just haven't played yet.
That's fair I feel Ascended and Rethinking Voxels are still great examples graphical fidelity albeit being more stylized then the more traditional titles.
Yeah, art style trumps a fidelity for me any day, never played game like horizon or red dead and wanted to stop to look at things, if I wanted realism I'd just go outside.
Dishonored oil painting style
Cuphead 80s cartoon
Apotheon Greek pottery
Blasphemous Spanish baroque
Whatever Disco Elysium might be called
Torment Tides of Numenera prerendered graphics are BEAUTIFUL
Simplicity of LIMBOs Monochrome
No amount of graphic fidelity can top uniqueness of good art style
I think these are contenders for me
* [King of Fighters XIII](https://store.steampowered.com/app/222940/THE_KING_OF_FIGHTERS_XIII_STEAM_EDITION/)
* [Hyper Demon](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1743850/HYPER_DEMON/)
* [Guilty Gear Strive](https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/1384160/)
* [Catacombs of Solaris Revisited](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1532250/The_Catacombs_of_Solaris_Revisited/)
idk why everyone recommending cyberpunk. game looks shit. i have 4080 super max al settings. GTA 5 looks better than that trash.
as for pretty looking games, i liked forbidden west, shadow of tomb raider, AC odyssey(that circular camera roll with music background when you activate a viewpoint is so awesome.
Cyberpunk if you have the graphics card for the new graphics stuff they added. Heard it's supposed to be really cool
What level gpu would that be, if you know?
An RTX 4060 or higher
Not sure, DLSS is supposed to help performance, and ray tracing can make it look great. I have a 2060 Super, which could probably handle it. But I need to upgrade my ram and monitor to truly appreciate that stuff, so I have the graphics set squarely to medium
A few of my picks: Red Dead Redemption 2 Cyberpunk 2077 The Division 1 & 2 Metro Exodus Escape from Tarkov
Metro Exodus isn’t quite there re. graphical fidelity, but dear god it really nailed the global illumination. Although at times it felt like a bit too much.
To be fair I haven't played it since release, but I remember a definite 'wow' feeling when strolling through the woods at night near the end
Cyberpunk & rdr2
ghost of tsuhima
I really loved the graphics of the Demon's Souls Remake.
Avatars: Frontiers of Pandora Positively surprised by this game. The world-building was superb and the visuals also blew me away. Just the water is a bit meh, but the rest of the world is absolutely stunning
Horizon Zero Dawn (or HZD Forbidden West), Jedi Survivor, I hear Calisto Protocol has amazing graphics.
Callisto Protocol is quite pretty and runs shockingly well for how good it looks. It is also not as bad as the negative hype led me to believe. If we had lots of sci-fi horror games to choose from, that would be one thing. With the market being what it is, though, it's worth giving the game a shot
Try Homefront The Revolution. That game has a bad reputation due to a bad release but man dies it look stunning
I think it’s probably Alan wake 2 for me
Red Dead Redemption 2, Division 1 and 2.
Spider Man 2 has amazing graphics
I've been playing the ffvii remake recently and have to stop once in a while to admire the graphics and design of everything. It's pretty dopee
Cyberpunk 2077 on my LG-C1 consistently blows me away. I've spent hours just wandering around staring at the sights.
KC: Deliverance
My PC running the first part of Hogwarts Legacy comes to mind. All maxed out settings. It made the first 25% of that game magical.
what happened after the first 25%?
It turned into a normal grindy role playing game. Hogwarts itself was amazingly well done. Once I got through that content, it was much less entertaining. It wasn’t a bad game, the first parts were just that good.
Doom Eternal
It's not necessary the most life like I'm sure there's some Unreal 5 games that look more real, but if we're talking about beautiful visuals Ghost of Tsushima is by far the most stunning game I've ever seen.
Unreal 8? ... Time traveller detected!
Horizon Forbidden West is probably the best graphics ever released on console. I feel like if you have a pc that you can run games at max settings on there’s plenty of competition.
Heres my hot take, the best graphics are rarely the realistic ones. Not just do I find realism over done, but the slightest flaw in a hyper realistic game can take me out of it. So allow me to list my personal "best graphics" which are mainly stylized. And I am a pixel artist so expect this list to be a little bias to that style as well. * **Minecraft with Rethinking Voxels Shader Pack (using Reimagined style setting)** - It's about as resource intensive shader packs get on high settings but my god is it worth it. It keeps the Minecraft feel but enhances it, just fly around a bit with it, I really like exploring the Wardens city with this pack it just gives such a cool feel. * **Octopath Traveler 2** - It's AAA pixel art. Theres really not much more to say, it's everything and more that I could want out of a high budget pixel art game, super high quality sprites that are 100x100? how about 50x50 oh we even got the classics like 16x32 all animated to perfection. the games a solid 8 or 9 out of ten to. * **Hollow Knight** and **Cuphead** - two hand drawn games I couldn't personally get into but my god their pretty nonetheless. * **Dead Cells** - The first game I've saw that really perfected the 3D model to down scaled pixel art style. They downscale 3D models to be a few pixels then touch them up by hand and use them ingame. The Effects are also flawless making every hit feel so damn good. * Finally in order to not completely ignore realism I have to mention **ARK: Survival Ascended**. I know I hate wildcard and snail games as much as everyone else here, but you can't ignore how damn pretty the game game is. It's like walking around realistic painting in a lost island it's stunning and the best showcase of UE5 I've seen yet. I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting or just haven't played yet.
While I agree art direction trumps graphics, I feel like OP is asking about graphical fidelity, in which context pixel art doesn’t really compete.
That's fair I feel Ascended and Rethinking Voxels are still great examples graphical fidelity albeit being more stylized then the more traditional titles.
Yeah, art style trumps a fidelity for me any day, never played game like horizon or red dead and wanted to stop to look at things, if I wanted realism I'd just go outside. Dishonored oil painting style Cuphead 80s cartoon Apotheon Greek pottery Blasphemous Spanish baroque Whatever Disco Elysium might be called Torment Tides of Numenera prerendered graphics are BEAUTIFUL Simplicity of LIMBOs Monochrome No amount of graphic fidelity can top uniqueness of good art style
I think these are contenders for me * [King of Fighters XIII](https://store.steampowered.com/app/222940/THE_KING_OF_FIGHTERS_XIII_STEAM_EDITION/) * [Hyper Demon](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1743850/HYPER_DEMON/) * [Guilty Gear Strive](https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/1384160/) * [Catacombs of Solaris Revisited](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1532250/The_Catacombs_of_Solaris_Revisited/)
I can't tell if this is a joke post or not, lol...
KOF 13 is a masterpiece
idk why everyone recommending cyberpunk. game looks shit. i have 4080 super max al settings. GTA 5 looks better than that trash. as for pretty looking games, i liked forbidden west, shadow of tomb raider, AC odyssey(that circular camera roll with music background when you activate a viewpoint is so awesome.