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Digital Foundry's Best Game Graphics of 2020 - PC, Xbox, PlayStation - An Amazing Year For Visuals

Krisprolls

Banned
Demon's Souls should be first if Alex and Richard weren't both on Xbox and PCMR bullshit train.

Cyberpunk looks very good in some parts on a good PC with RT but it's really ugly in other parts. Consistency should matter more. Demon's Souls lighting and details are unmatched in the whole game. It looks even better than Miles Morales in my opinion.

Flight Sim looks only really good from far away, it looks pretty bad when closer to the ground. It's barely a game anyway, more of a pure simulator, and those are just views made from satellite data and photos...

And Half Life Alix or Minecraft definitely shouldn't be on this list. Just not on top 10 level... Ghost of Tsushima should easily get on the list before them.

Ultimately, a strong PCMR bias, no surprise here with Alex and DF. It's as meaningful and unbiased as if Jim Ryan was the guy making the list.
 
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blastprocessor

The Amiga Brotherhood
Cant believe black ops is on the list. MW shits all over it in terms of presentation and animations. Technically Warzone is a 2020 release using the MW engine making MW a pick that should easily bump black ops off the list imo.
Yeah agree MW was really good.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Demon's Souls should be first if Alex and Richard weren't both on Xbox and PCMR bullshit train.

Cyberpunk looks very good in some parts on a good PC with RT but it's really ugly in other parts. Consistency should matter more. Demon's Souls lighting and details are unmatched in the whole game. It looks even better than Miles Morales in my opinion.

Flight Sim looks only really good from far away, it looks pretty bad when closer to the ground. It's barely a game anyway, more of a pure simulator, and those are just views made from satellite data and photos...

And Half Life Alix or Minecraft definitely shouldn't be on this list. Just not on top 10 level... Ghost of Tsushima should easily get on the list before them.

Ultimately, a strong PCMR bias, no surprise here with Alex and DF. It's as meaningful and unbiased as if Jim Ryan was the guy making the list.
while i agree that half life and minecraft dont belong anywhere near that list, i am not sure if demons is the best looking game on any platform. yes, it's consistent, but nothing spectacular. playing it feels like playing gow with more realistic lighting. they should've pushed the graphics more in the 30 fps version like insomniac did with miles. i think the 60 fps target for the base game holds the graphics back and makes it look like its a cross gen game. a very good looking one but i look at miles, cyberpunk and demons and they all look cross gen to me. if demons looked photorealistic like the unreal engine rebirth demo or flight simulator, it would not even be close.

right now, it looks very gamey despite supposedly being next gen only.
 

sublimit

Banned
That list looks like something made by a diplomatic committee that tries really hard to keep a balance and please everyone at the cost of downplaying games that should be placed higher (like Demon's Souls) and places undeserving games (like Minecraft) higher than they should be.
I'm actually surprised they didn't include Animal Crossing too just to have something from Nintendo as well.
 

//DEVIL//

Member
Demon's Souls should be first if Alex and Richard weren't both on Xbox and PCMR bullshit train.

Cyberpunk looks very good in some parts on a good PC with RT but it's really ugly in other parts. Consistency should matter more. Demon's Souls lighting and details are unmatched in the whole game. It looks even better than Miles Morales in my opinion.

Flight Sim looks only really good from far away, it looks pretty bad when closer to the ground. It's barely a game anyway, more of a pure simulator, and those are just views made from satellite data and photos...

And Half Life Alix or Minecraft definitely shouldn't be on this list. Just not on top 10 level... Ghost of Tsushima should easily get on the list before them.

Ultimately, a strong PCMR bias, no surprise here with Alex and DF. It's as meaningful and unbiased as if Jim Ryan was the guy making the list.
I do not agree with this. While I love Demon Souls, it's basically a very limited game in terms of scope. just small area after the other with not much going on aside from a couple of enemies on the screen at once. where cyberpunk is way above that in terms of destructive environment, lighting, the city being alive, ray tracing, character models in even NPCs.

Demons souls physics is still to a point, a port from the PS3 game. one would argue you would even get better graphics with fewer things happening on the screen, etc.

its not really fair to compare them together at all. one is a true next-gen game and the other is just pretty due to a very big headroom thanks to the old PS3 engine.

If anything, Last of us 2, while i hate the game thanks to agenda they are pushing, has way better graphics and physics and should be number 2 or 3 or 4 as I believe Gears of war should be there on the top 2 to 5 list
 
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lefty1117

Gold Member
faesfPo.gif
The guy controlling the puppet looks like a puppet
 

vpance

Member
while i agree that half life and minecraft dont belong anywhere near that list, i am not sure if demons is the best looking game on any platform. yes, it's consistent, but nothing spectacular. playing it feels like playing gow with more realistic lighting. they should've pushed the graphics more in the 30 fps version like insomniac did with miles. i think the 60 fps target for the base game holds the graphics back and makes it look like its a cross gen game. a very good looking one but i look at miles, cyberpunk and demons and they all look cross gen to me. if demons looked photorealistic like the unreal engine rebirth demo or flight simulator, it would not even be close.

right now, it looks very gamey despite supposedly being next gen only.

Demon's Souls graphics are great, nothing gamey about it. But it undersold itself a lot by staying true to the OG, keeping everything very dark and almost monochromatic.

The engine is really impressive, doing real time GI with dynamic lighting at native 4K30. I would definitely have it at #1 if we consider both technical and visual graphics accomplishments.
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Oh, I expect we're going to get a toned down version of the ray-traced reflections, but probably not much else in regards to lighting.
Ray traced reflections are pretty toned down as is. You don't often get a clean look at them because they don't use them for mirrors (except for one or two) but when you do you can see the image is very simplified, missing pretty much all lighting/shadowing, and a lot of times things like hair or whatever.

I think on console we'll see the equivalent of the medium rt lighting and rt reflections maybe with a closer draw distance or updating every other frame.
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
TLOU2's motion matching animation is my favourite graphical feature of the year

Flight Sim should probably be number 1 with its tech though. Cyberpunk hasn't really impressed me
The animation in TLOU2 is hard to go back from. The way the characters feel aware of and able to negotiate their environment.

Cyberpunk's rendering and art are a absolutely stunning, it's definitely the prettiest game I've ever played but the animation, even though it's way higher quality than The Witcher, feels light-years behind. Especially when characters walk around.

TLOU2 amazes me with the amount of effort they put in to get the little things perfect, even if they're really hard and totally unnecessary. Like one thing that always looks bad in games is eating things, they always hold it up to their mouth and it gets swapped for a model with a bite out. But in TLOU2 Abby eats a burrito, and you see her bite into it and it deforms with realistic burrito physics she chomps down. For one damn shot.

Another thing you NEVER see in games is people taking their clothes off. The camera always cuts away, because getting cloth physics to work right to actually show that is too hard. But in TLOU2 when Abby takes her shirt off you actually see her peel the shirt off. Again for one fucking shot.

The game is full of stuff like that. The rope physics. It's just the most polished games I've ever played, with no cut corners.

Cyberpunk is beautiful, but when you see a character try to negotiate stairs, or when you step in water and there's no caustics, or when a character walks into the other room to dress you realize there are still limits to what they could do.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Ray traced reflections are pretty toned down as is. You don't often get a clean look at them because they don't use them for mirrors (except for one or two) but when you do you can see the image is very simplified, missing pretty much all lighting/shadowing, and a lot of times things like hair or whatever.

I think on console we'll see the equivalent of the medium rt lighting and rt reflections maybe with a closer draw distance or updating every other frame.

Really? I'll have to pay close attention next time I find a mirror-like surface, but I've been extremely impressed with the quality and especially resolution of the RT reflections on maxed out settings. Haven't noticed anything odd about them other than V being missing!
 
Finally a website that doesn't cater to popularity contest games. FS2020 should have been #2 though. I can't see how Spiderman MM looks better. All the other games are just fluff for me. Amazing that Demon Souls is ranked so far down at the bottom based on all the Sony Warriors crys for absolutely mind-blowing graphics. Doesn't seem so.. in any case, good list.
tenor.gif
 

Self

Member
The animation in TLOU2 is hard to go back from. The way the characters feel aware of and able to negotiate their environment.

Indeed. That's the problem of Cyberpunk. On the surface it looks next gen, but the animations look very, very dated. It's really a very old engine dresses into emperor's robes.
 
Demon's Souls should be first if Alex and Richard weren't both on Xbox and PCMR bullshit train.

Cyberpunk looks very good in some parts on a good PC with RT but it's really ugly in other parts. Consistency should matter more. Demon's Souls lighting and details are unmatched in the whole game. It looks even better than Miles Morales in my opinion.

Flight Sim looks only really good from far away, it looks pretty bad when closer to the ground. It's barely a game anyway, more of a pure simulator, and those are just views made from satellite data and photos...

And Half Life Alix or Minecraft definitely shouldn't be on this list. Just not on top 10 level... Ghost of Tsushima should easily get on the list before them.

Ultimately, a strong PCMR bias, no surprise here with Alex and DF. It's as meaningful and unbiased as if Jim Ryan was the guy making the list.

Tosh
 

acm2000

Member
Yeah sure, but to me it still look like shit, i'm only interested in the final result, i don't care how advanced or how supposedly impressive it is if the final result still look like someone puked some pixels on a screen.
aka you dont understand why its so impressive and thus why it looks so good, gotcha
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
aka you dont understand why its so impressive and thus why it looks so good, gotcha
the rtx on minecraft being highly impressive as a tech demo and the game iteself still looking like shit are 2 different things that can live together, you know that right? what you say and what i say are both correct, and even people who understand rtx more than me in this topic is against minecraft being on that list.

Don't be an elitist pcmr with me dude, i mostly play on pc with a rtx capable gpu and ready to buy an even better rtx gpu in the near future, i'm playing cyberpunk with rtx right now, i think that rtx is more usefull with realistic graphics, on a game like minecraft is kinda wasted even if the tech behind it it's impressive because it's the only game that can sustain complete path tracing of what the hell the name was...
 
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tassletine

Member
This list should be called Most impressive new tech in video games, or something, because the inconsistency in Cyberpunk is pretty glaring, even on high PC settings.
It's stunning in some parts but dogshit in others. It's one of the least cohesive games I've played on a gameplay / graphics level although it makes up for that in the story dept, where it hangs together pretty damn well.

LOU2 has the most consistent and impressive tech, animation and general mood I've seen this gen. Atmosphere is really hard to do and LOU2 does that stunningly.
The way LOU handles light and especially the dark scenes is breathtaking, as is the animation.

Cyberpunk on the other hand has no real style given to individual characters or any real believably to any of it's animations. They're all very well done but the lips still flap, characters move robotically, jank around etc etc. It's pretty robotic. That hasn't really been pushed at all except in regards to the lip syncing of different languages which is impressive.

For Digital Foundry to not take these things into consideration (ie only focusing on what is NEW rather and shiny rather than how refined something is, only shows them up.
I think this game has a serious case of the backhanders going on.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
This list should be called Most impressive new tech in video games, or something, because the inconsistency in Cyberpunk is pretty glaring, even on high PC settings.
It's stunning in some parts but dogshit in others. It's one of the least cohesive games I've played on a gameplay / graphics level although it makes up for that in the story dept, where it hangs together pretty damn well.

LOU2 has the most consistent and impressive tech, animation and general mood I've seen this gen. Atmosphere is really hard to do and LOU2 does that stunningly.
The way LOU handles light and especially the dark scenes is breathtaking, as is the animation.

Cyberpunk on the other hand has no real style given to individual characters or any real believably to any of it's animations. They're all very well done but the lips still flap, characters move robotically, jank around etc etc. It's pretty robotic. That hasn't really been pushed at all except in regards to the lip syncing of different languages which is impressive.

For Digital Foundry to not take these things into consideration (ie only focusing on what is NEW rather and shiny rather than how refined something is, only shows them up.
I think this game has a serious case of the backhanders going on.
Well tbf the only open world game with tlou2 level of animations (worse in some stuff, better in others) is rdr2 and only because it use euphoria engine (also a fuckload of money spended on it)

even stuff like days gone or tsushima have some stiff and robotic animations (days gone melee combat literally looks and feel worse than melee combat on the first tlou game).

but yeah, the game is wildy inconsistent even on pc with high settings and rtx, it's one of my problems.

also it has some strange graphical bugs like shadows on people, sometimes they are absent and make the game kinda flat.
 

PeteBull

Member
For me cp2077, rdr2 pc, demons souls and ms flight sim all are the best/most impressive in their own categhory, so 4way tie for top1, then tlou2,miles, ghost are right behind them graphics wise with the order(old, bad but amazing visually game:p) thats what 2020 landscape looks(and yup i mentioned older games that were impresive:p).
 

Brofist

Member
A lot of bickering over what looks to me like a pretty safe list of games. Obviously Minecraft is the most controversial one there. I can see what they were going with putting it there, but I can also see why some people would disagree.

Cyberpunk is always going to come in first, and if your only experience is playing it on consoles and seeing the PC version in still pics then you wouldn't understand.
 

tassletine

Member
Well tbf the only open world game with tlou2 level of animations (worse in some stuff, better in others) is rdr2 and only because it use euphoria engine (also a fuckload of money spended on it)

even stuff like days gone or tsushima have some stiff and robotic animations (days gone melee combat literally looks and feel worse than melee combat on the first tlou game).

but yeah, the game is wildy inconsistent even on pc with high settings and rtx, it's one of my problems.

also it has some strange graphical bugs like shadows on people, sometimes they are absent and make the game kinda flat.
I agree with all of that. RDR2 is still my high water mark, but 8 years (for Cyberpunk) vs 5 for RDR2 shows CDPR up a little, especially since they seem to have almost disregarded AI.

I enjoyed Days gone but I agree, it's pretty ropey in some parts. In a lot of ways it looks and feels like Cyberpunk actually.

My complaint is more about what Digital Foundry focus on. Cyberpunk is a step forward but only really in the sense that someone else invented tech, CDPR utilised it and it's new and shiny.

CDPR clearly had an extremely hard time trying to integrate all of that into a working game and I think that really needs to be taken into account as they failed at that. They're clearly not great programmers.
I find it a bit shocking that DF don't take these sorts of things into consideration especially given the terrible performance on last gen consoles. I'm sure someone could buy this thinking the graphics were going to be great.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
I agree with all of that. RDR2 is still my high water mark, but 8 years (for Cyberpunk) vs 5 for RDR2 shows CDPR up a little, especially since they seem to have almost disregarded AI.

I enjoyed Days gone but I agree, it's pretty ropey in some parts. In a lot of ways it looks and feels like Cyberpunk actually.

My complaint is more about what Digital Foundry focus on. Cyberpunk is a step forward but only really in the sense that someone else invented tech, CDPR utilised it and it's new and shiny.

CDPR clearly had an extremely hard time trying to integrate all of that into a working game and I think that really needs to be taken into account as they failed at that. They're clearly not great programmers.
I find it a bit shocking that DF don't take these sorts of things into consideration especially given the terrible performance on last gen consoles. I'm sure someone could buy this thinking the graphics were going to be great.
If i remember well, rdr2 was like 8-9 years in the oven, 5 seems very reductive.

I know what you mean with df parameters of choice, mine was more like a "for the record" type of post.
 

acm2000

Member
I agree with all of that. RDR2 is still my high water mark, but 8 years (for Cyberpunk) vs 5 for RDR2 shows CDPR up a little, especially since they seem to have almost disregarded AI.

I enjoyed Days gone but I agree, it's pretty ropey in some parts. In a lot of ways it looks and feels like Cyberpunk actually.

My complaint is more about what Digital Foundry focus on. Cyberpunk is a step forward but only really in the sense that someone else invented tech, CDPR utilised it and it's new and shiny.

CDPR clearly had an extremely hard time trying to integrate all of that into a working game and I think that really needs to be taken into account as they failed at that. They're clearly not great programmers.
I find it a bit shocking that DF don't take these sorts of things into consideration especially given the terrible performance on last gen consoles. I'm sure someone could buy this thinking the graphics were going to be great.
4 years for CP2077
 

Self

Member
Cyberpunk is always going to come in first, and if your only experience is playing it on consoles and seeing the PC version in

I hope you are aware of 4K high res video captures of Cyberpunk running on high spec PC's?

It doesn't really change the fundamental criticism: Janky animations, bad physics, mediocre/last gen world simulation aspects, shitty A.I etc. This game is inconsistent as hell.
 

tassletine

Member
If i remember well, rdr2 was like 8-9 years in the oven, 5 seems very reductive.

I know what you mean with df parameters of choice, mine was more like a "for the record" type of post.
Yes, you're correct. I was going by what I read online during initial press.
 
Demon's Souls should be first if Alex and Richard weren't both on Xbox and PCMR bullshit train.

Cyberpunk looks very good in some parts on a good PC with RT but it's really ugly in other parts. Consistency should matter more. Demon's Souls lighting and details are unmatched in the whole game. It looks even better than Miles Morales in my opinion.

Flight Sim looks only really good from far away, it looks pretty bad when closer to the ground. It's barely a game anyway, more of a pure simulator, and those are just views made from satellite data and photos...

And Half Life Alix or Minecraft definitely shouldn't be on this list. Just not on top 10 level... Ghost of Tsushima should easily get on the list before them.

Ultimately, a strong PCMR bias, no surprise here with Alex and DF. It's as meaningful and unbiased as if Jim Ryan was the guy making the list.
Interesting use of the word ‘bias’ in this post :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 

tassletine

Member
It didn't enter production till 2016 after blood and wine, this is a long and will known fact, before that was just production faff like scripts and story boarding etc
Could you post a link rather than be condescending?

Also, the script is a major part of any production, especially this one, so you're 100% wrong.

Edit: And upon checking it appears that you are just a big fat liar.

IGN -- "Pietras says the team was entirely dedicated to the game from 2014 onward".


So all your comments do is make me think that certain Cyberpunk fans live in a delusional state. Which I guess is the only way you can ignore the shitshow on display.
 
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acm2000

Member
Could you post a link rather than be condescending?

Also, the script is a major part of any production, especially this one, so you're 100% wrong.

Edit: And upon checking it appears that you are just a big fat liar.

IGN -- "Pietras says the team was entirely dedicated to the game from 2014 onward".


So all your comments do is make me think that certain Cyberpunk fans live in a delusional state. Which I guess is the only way you can ignore the shitshow on display.
that article even says full development didnt start till 2016
 

BuffNTuff

Banned
I just picked up last of us 2 and bit the bullet after seeing it half off on the psn store.

I got to be honest it’s probably the best looking game I’ve seen on any platform pc or console. Haven’t had the same mind blowing experience since like MGS2 on ps2. I literally wasn’t sure if what I was watching was cg or real time it’s that impressive. Just wow.

On the other hand the bigot sandwich bit within the first 10 minutes... if y’all wanna disqualify for that I’m ok with that too.
 
I just picked up last of us 2 and bit the bullet after seeing it half off on the psn store.

I got to be honest it’s probably the best looking game I’ve seen on any platform pc or console. Haven’t had the same mind blowing experience since like MGS2 on ps2. I literally wasn’t sure if what I was watching was cg or real time it’s that impressive. Just wow.

On the other hand the bigot sandwich bit within the first 10 minutes... if y’all wanna disqualify for that I’m ok with that too.

Still not sure why people get upset about the bigot sandwich thing, it's a bad joke but games are full of worse dialogue.
 
I know making me a sandwich after calling me a lesser being for who I have sex with always solves everything.
Dude, he was drunk, and apologized.

Maybe Ellie could not have been a bitch for a second and at least make it look like she accepted the apologies, if only to make the woman who asked her happy.

edit: did see actually faked accepting the apologies? Still a little bitch, I'm sure that sandwich was delicius. Glad the other dude had the chance to eat it.
 
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tassletine

Member
that article even says full development didnt start till 2016
It says a lot of things, including what I quoted, and this -- "It’s certain CD Projekt Red has been developing this game to some extent since 2012 or earlier."

I don't have the patience to argue what your definition of STARTING is so I'll stick with the dictionary thank you very much.
 
Dude, he was drunk, and apologized.

Maybe Ellie could not have been a bitch for a second and at least make it look like she accepted the apologies, if only to make the woman who asked her happy.

edit: did see actually faked accepting the apologies? Still a little bitch, I'm sure that sandwich was delicius. Glad the other dude had the chance to eat it.

You guys are talking like she meant "bigot sandwiches" any more than that guy meant his drunken homophobia.
 

Paulxo87

Member
After experiencing morales and demons souls I can say on a well enough tv nothing comes close for me..

I will say the last of us part 2 would be on their level if it had a 4k native 60fps patch with some more effects though.

The combat in last of us 2 along with other games have spoiled things. I am trying to get into days gone on ps5 for first time but the combat just feels awful. gun and melee
 
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