2024 brought with it a cavalcade of visually stunning games, from long-awaited AAA megatons that took our breath away with their graphical advancements to much smaller productions that popped up out of nowhere and proved that you don’t need huge teams and budgets to make games that look great. With the year coming to a close, here, we’re going to talk about 20 such titles that came out this year and made a mark with their visual prowess.
#20. F1 24
We tend to include the F1 games in our annual lists of games with the best visuals pretty regularly, but that’s because the series has this department on lock. Like its predecessors, F1 24 is a beautiful game, touting stellar vehicle models with an impressive level of attention to detail, authentic lighting and weather effects lending new life to the courses, and more. Year after year, this series successfully delivers a realistic and comprehensive recreation of the real sport, and the presentation and visual fidelity play an important role in that.
#19. BODYCAM
Bodycam has a number of shortcomings in its current state that we’re hoping it will address over the course of its ongoing early access period, but one area where the game deserves all the props in the world is the way it looks. As its name suggests, its played from the first-person perspective of a bodycam on your character, and combines that with a hyper-realistic aesthetic that achieves quite a striking result. The game looks startlingly good at times, and we’re curious to see how it will continue to improve on the road to its full release.
#18. EMPIRE OF THE ANTS
Here’s another game coming from a small time that ended up surprising a great many people with its graphics. Empire of the Ants is a decidedly small-budget game, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from just looking at it. Sporting an impressive photorealistic style, the game transports players to a lush jungle where every single blade of grass, every leaf on the ground, every rock jutting out of the ground, and every single insect and critter that you lay your eyes on looks shockingly lifelike. Obviously, there are some rough edges here and there, but the overall result is nothing short of splendid.
#17. GRAY ZONE WARFARE
Indie studio Madfinger Games launched its multiplayer open world FPS Gray Zone Warfare in early access this year, and though there’s plenty of work for the developer to do to address feedback from the community, the game’s visuals are pretty much unanimously liked. There’s a good amount of rough edges that need sanding out, which is to be expected from a game of this size coming from a smaller team and still being in early access, but its open world map is also full of beautiful sights to see.
#16. DRAGON BALL: SPARKING! ZERO
Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO brought the Budokai Tenkaichi series back with a bang this year, and though the list of things in the game worthy of praise is a long one, its graphics are high on it. As you’d expect from a Dragon Ball game, Sparking! ZERO relies more on its stylized art style than on pure visual fidelity, but one way or another, the effect it achieves instantly catches the eye. In motion, the game looks particularly amazing, and watching explosive, map-destroying fights between colossally powerful characters attacking each other with everything they’ve got never loses its charm.
#15. LIKE A DRAGON: INFINITE WEALTH
The Like a Dragon series has always straddled the line between high budget photorealism and mid budget stylization perfectly, and Infinite Wealth does the same, producing yet another Dragon Engine game that you can’t quite tear your eyes away from. Given the scope of the game, it’s not surprising that not everything looks spectacular- but a lot of things to do, and everything else looks at least a minimum level of good. Overall, Infinite Wealth brings its vibrant Hawaii setting to the screen spectacularly, and easily ranks as one of the year’s better-looking games.
#14. STELLAR BLADE
Stellar Blade took many by surprise for multiple reasons, but all of it could be boiled down to it coming from a relatively unknown studio with little to no AAA console experience. For it to turn out as well as it did was a pleasant surprise, then, as was the fact that it also ended up looking as gorgeous as it did. Stellar Blade touts some of the most impressive visuals we’ve seen in a PS5 exclusive game so far (especially if you play it on a PS5 Pro), with everything from the dilapidated post-apocalyptic environments and the excellently designed monsters you fight to the Eve’s slick combat animations looking pristine.
#13. DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD
Like pretty much everything else about the game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s graphics divided opinion, with many expressing their dislike of the new, more stylized art style. And though it is clearly a break from the more grimdark style past games used, we fall in the group that ultimately really likes what the game looks like. The Veilguard is a visual stunner in more ways than one, with a bevy of environments that are brimming with vistas that will take your breath away, not to mention some of the most impressive lighting we’ve seen in a game this year.
#12. STAR WARS OUTLAWS
Calling Star Wars Outlaws an uneven experience would be a huge understatement, but when the game is at its best, it’s really, really good- and in the graphics department, it’s definitely at its best. Yes, the game has its fair share of visual glitches and technical hiccups, but little of it detracts from just how stunning it looks more often than not. No matter where you find yourself in its open world multiplanetary setting, Outlaws finds ways to take your breath away with its sights and sounds. Coming from the studio behind The Division, that doesn’t come as a huge surprise.
#11. DRAGON’S DOGMA 2
Capcom has an admirable habit of cranking out a steady stream of AAA megatons that somehow all look spectacular. Dragon’s Dogma 2 was the company’s big centerpiece in 2024, and though it doesn’t look as good as, say, the best-looking Resident Evil games out there, it does look really, really good. From the detailed environments of its sprawling open world, to the incredibly lifelike (and vastly varied) roster of monster and creatures that you take on, to, of course, how oppressively impressive the game’s darkness feels, there’s a bevy of things in Dragon’s Dogma 2 that illustrate just how visually impressive it is.
#10. INDIANA JONES AND THE GREAT CIRCLE
It may have been a while since MachineGames’ last major full-fledged AAA release, but as a studio that has always delivered visually impressive games, it did not disappoint with its return to the spotlight in the final days of this year with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, a game that impresses graphically in more ways than one. It crafts its period setting with great alpomb, lets players explore a vast and varied collection of beautiful and highly detailed locations, and of course, does it all while capturing that classic Indiana Jones aesthetic. It absolutely knocks the ball out of the park in this department.
#9. SUICIDE SQUAD: KILL THE JUSTICE LEAGUE
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was a disastrous game- there’s just no two ways about it. But even the most disastrous games tend to have at least some redeeming qualities, and so, too, did Suicide Squad. Chief among the few was how good it looked, an area where Rocksteady Studios as a developer has never disappointed in the past. The game obviously has crippling issues that make it an absolute drag to play even at the best of times, but visually, there’s a lot to be impressed with here, especially if it’s the game’s impressive cinematics you’re talking about.
#8. TEKKEN 8
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call Tekken 8 one of the best-looking fighting games ever made. Coming earlier this year as one of the biggest current-gen exclusive Unreal Engine 5 games so far, Bandai Namco’s acclaimed fighter was promising to be absolutely astounding to look at in the lead up to release, and it unquestionably lived up to that promise. From the stages to the character models to the often explosive effects we see on the screen, Tekken 8 has no shortage of tricks up its sleeve to make you stop in your tracks and marvel at its beauty.
#7. WARHAMMER 40,000: SPACE MARINE 2
Space Marine 2 is without a doubt one of the most technically impressive games we’ve played in a long, long time. For starters, it looks excellent, with gorgeously detailed environments, well-crafted character models, and excellent enemy designs. But of course, what’s most impressive about it are the many sequences and moments where you find yourself facing overwhelmingly massive hordes of enemies, when literally hundreds upon hundreds of foes are on-screen together, all barreling in your direction while you stomp around and mow them down. The fact that the game accomplishes all of that without any significant issues with its performance just makes it that much more impressive. It’s truly something of a miracle.
#6. BLACK MYTH: WUKONG
For about four years prior to its launch, every time we saw more of Black Myth: Wukong, one thing that stood out above everything else was just how stunning it looked- something that stood out that much more given the fact that the game was coming from a lesser-known Chinese studio with a nonexistent AAA track record. When it launched in August, Black Myth was thankfully exactly as gorgeous as it was touted to be. Varied environments, spectacularly designed bosses, and some of the most breathtaking vistas we’ve seen in games all year all come together in what’s easily one of the best-looking games of this generation (even if it does have the odd technical rough edge).
#5. FINAL FANTASY 7 REBIRTH
There’s no end to the things about Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth that we can praise endlessly, and its visual splendour is high on that list. Obviously, we can’t ignore the fact that the game does suffer from some graphical inconsistencies, especially when played on Performance Mode. Even at its worst, however, Rebirth has a knack of looking impressive, while at its best, it’s drop-dead gorgeous. Its staggeringly large world is crawling with beautiful sights that are begging to be sought out and taken in, while on a PS5 Pro in particular, it looks absolutely stunning with little to no caveats.
#4. SILENT HILL 2
Silent Hill 2’s remake sparked a good deal of skepticism from many, which, given developer Bloober Team’s spotty track record up to that point, was fair to understand, but the one area where even the game’s biggest skeptics knew it wouldn’t disappoint was its graphics. That’s a department that always shines in Bloober games, and sure enough, Silent Hill 2 is an absolute looker. The decrepit eponymous town and the horrors that it hide are brought to life in spectacular and terrifying fashion, while Silent Hill 2’s familiar cast of characters are given new life by the stellar fidelity that the game now boasts. And yes, the fog looks amazing.
#3. MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR 2024
Microsoft Flight Simulator took our collective breath away when it launched in 2020, and still stands as one of the best-looking games around on any platform. Appropriately enough, Microsoft Flight SImulator 2024 turned out to be somehow even more visually impressive. Marginally gains are definitely setting in, which is unavoidable, but at the end of the day, even the most jaded person can’t help but be floored by the stunning level of detail, authenticity, and photorealism with which Flight Sim 2024 brings its grand vision to life.
#2. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: HEART OF CHORNOBYL
Much like its predecessors, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a little rough around the edges, and with its slate of technical issues and its deliberately punishing nature, it’s definitely not a game for everyone. But boy oh boy is it a visual delight. GSC Game World’s open world shooter is easily among the best-looking games to have been released this generation. It boasts a staggering level of detail and fidelity across a huge world with impressive consistency. The game deserves all the praise in the world for the lengths to which it goes to make its world feel authentic, and to immerse players in its deadly setting.
#1. SENUA’S SAGA: HELLBLADE 2
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 certainly has its critics, and there are many who argue that it doesn’t hold a candle to its predecessor in a lot of ways that really matter. One area where it unquestionably makes huge strides, however, is the graphics department. Ninja Theory as a studio has always prided itself on pushing the envelope with what it does on the technological side of things, and this time, with the financial backing of Microsoft, the developer really went all out. Whether it’s its dark and grimy setting or the incredibly lifelike characters and their facial movements, the stellar lighting and the rich atmosphere it helps create or the spectacular animations that allow even gameplay moments to look like gorgeously handcrafted cinematics- from its first moment to its last, Hellblade 2 remains a visual delight.
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