Video Game Art

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Video games are not mere time killers. They are albums of sound, aesthetics, animation and narrative.

This community is in appreciation of that. Screenshots, fanart, animations, gameplay clips. It is all welcome here.

The one common thread should be an eye for the aesthetic. This is not a place to discuss mechanics or stats, but to show off simply the artistic, expressed through the video game medium.

All rules of the parent instance apply. That is, sopuli.xyz
Include the name of the game your post is associated with in the post title.
If your post is fanart, include a link to the artist in post body, if you can. You may also ping @saucechan@ani.social to have it attempt to find the source for you, and provide it in a comment.
MARK ANY TEXT SPOILERS, as for art, do not post content that outright spoils key moments of a games narrative. Content that can only be understood with the context of having played the game, is ok.
No generative AI art.

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MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz

What games have you played that beautifully marry their mechanics with narrative and/or aesthetic? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 7 months ago by MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz to c/gameart@sopuli.xyz

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Title.

You might've heard the fancy term ludonarrative dissonance, which describes something a lot of modern games suffer from. It's the way games often tell stories that don't fit within their gameplay loops. How a character can take 20 shots to the head in gameplay, and then die from a single wound in a cutscene. Or how in the story, characters can act like people who would never do the things they do do in gameplay.

This conflict doesn't actually ruin a game most of the time. But the pictured game is one which is renowned for showcasing what can be done when gameplay is used as a narrative device, reinforcing rather than conflicting with the story. Using every element of a game in concert.

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[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 5 points 7 months ago

Little Nightmares is one game which I adore for the way it marries gameplay, music, narrative and aesthetic.

Everything works together to build a sense of desperation and unease, which eventually through a twist gives way to a cathartic sort of dread as you realise there's no innocence to be found anywhere in the game.

Only monsters.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 5 points 7 months ago

Outer Wilds.

Anything I can say about this game is potentially a spoiler. Just play it. The expansion Echoes of the Eye is well worth the extra pennies as well.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

journey does this in a cool way.

it has some replay value, but its sadly too short

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

My sister played the crap out of Journey, she'd hang around the first area until another player showed up, then guide them through the game, showing the stranger all the secrets she knew, tracing hearts into the sand and such.

The embroidery on the robes actually becomes more elaborate as you find more secrets in the game, so she realized she could tell new players from experienced ones, and would guide players or look to learn from them accordingly.

She got the white robe without ever looking up where to find the symbols for it, just finding other players who'd show her where to look.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 4 points 7 months ago

i'm glad she did, this was the coolest part when i played it!

[–] Adi2121@lemmy.ml 4 points 7 months ago

I would say Hollow Knight. Every new ability you get is from the environment, which changes the environment after you get it. One great example is that the room where you get the double jump is gusty, which disappears once you get the double jump. Those gusts then affect a different area, and any more would be semi-spoilers. Regardless, the whole game is wonderful, especially if you love Metroidvanias.

[–] hakase@lemm.ee 4 points 7 months ago

Really surprised that nobody has said Dark Souls yet.

[–] juergen@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Tchia was that for me. There was no point in the game where I felt pushed to do anything I felt was out of character for her, and gameplay and storyline harmonized beautifully.

Runner-up would be Horizon Forbidden West.

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Horizon is pretty good at keeping Aloy, the story, and the gameplay, walking hand in hand. Combat with the machines is never questionable, but I do think things could have been done better when it comes to the human on human conflict.

I do end up feeling a little bad for all the Quen that needlessly end up as arrow pincushions, especially. They flip-flop between friend and foe so many times and each time you just absolutely slaughter them.

In the Burning Shores, the Admiral is all grateful about Aloy and Sayka bringing the missing people back, nevermind that as the player you probably killed just about every combat-capable Quen among the missing.