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Alan Wake 2 is the best looking game released this year?

TxKnight7

Member
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In this video John from DF has said that it is the best looking game of the year




In another video Alex said :

Alan Wake 2 is the best looking game released so far this generation".​


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Do you Agree?
what is your top 3!
 
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Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Most technically advanced game from a visual perspective ever released, period. Although I gotta say, I'm not sold on the art style. I much prefer the more stylized looks of games like Cyberpunk or Horizon over the gritty realistic and kind of flavorless look of games like Alan Wake or TLOU.
 
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SJRB

Gold Member
Probably, yeah. The visual fidelity is off the chain.

It's very linear so of course there's a ton of resources available to crank the visuals up to 11 and Remedy did deliver in spades. Overall games like Cyberpunk are superior because that game looks fucking insane even though it's a massive open world.
 

T4keD0wN

Member
Definitely better than this years tough competition like Dead Island 2 or Atomic Heart and i dont think Ubisofts Avatar will look better. I dont think we should count Cyberpunk as a 2023 game, but even if we do AW2 looks better and has close to no shortcomings when it comes to visuals (aside the character models) which is like allowed thanks to it being smaller and more linear in scope.

I think it might be the best looking game to date (but only if we dont account for artstyle and scale)

Adding some of my better shots:
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TexMex

Member
I’m about six hours in. It’s certainly up there. Even on a PS5 it’s amazing, can’t imagine getting to play on a 4090.

As far as top 3, it’s probably this, (current) Cyberpunk and Forbidden West.

Couple screens I took last night (something I’m rarely feel motivated to do)

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rofif

Can’t Git Gud
No. I was very impressed but I was more impressed by some levels and scenes in ff16.
And hogwarts beats aw2 for me on ps5 when it come to image quality.
I can see aw2 winning on pc but it’s a grainy ssr and fsr breakup dogshit on ps5. Not even stable 30.
Hogwarts for 40 and image quality is like a postcard. The even is 120fps mode and even it doesn’t have ssr grain and motion break up.

But in the end only ff16 and aw2 have me cgi feel. Aw2 is more constant between the two but ff16 highs are higher.

On pc? Aw2
On console? Ff16
 
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Spiderman 2 is the most impressive ( not the same as the best looking.) The amount of moving parts.... literally lol from npcs, cars, raytracing, draw distance is just off the charts.

Not to mention the traversal speed. I got whiplash watching the avatar footage at how slow and boring the flying the flying looked.

Honestly who gives a fuck at few last gen looking character models? Well we know who!
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Generic as fuck? Dude you're dreaming or something
No. I just don't find that the art design really stands out. It looks gritty and realistic but I couldn't point out a screenshot from it among a bunch of different games, other than the fact that it looks significantly better than almost everything else.
 

amigastar

Member
No. I just don't find that the art design really stands out. It looks gritty and realistic but I couldn't point out a screenshot from it among a bunch of different games, other than the fact that it looks significantly better than almost everything else.
Idk man, it has this realistic not cliché type of world. It's classy, but yeah, you have your opinion i have mine.
 
No. At times the visuals are jaw-dropping but let's understand the factors that contribute to what "best looking" means because a lot of people seem to be clueless: animations, character models, textures, lighting, level of detail, particle effects, performance, physics, environmental design, volume of *unique* assets used. Art style is highly subjective.

Alan Wake is a fantastic game whose visuals *mostly* sing (a lot of these character models are PS3 era) but *overall* Horizon Forbidden West, GoW Ragnarok, Cyberpunk, TLoU all have it beat. RDR2 is *still* the king which is all the more remarkable because it's a massive, open-world game.

Edit: forgot to mention TLoU2 👌
 
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GymWolf

Member
No. At times the visuals are jaw-dropping but let's understand the factors that contribute to what "best looking" means because a lot of people seem to be clueless: animations, character models, textures, lighting, level of detail, performance, physics, environmental design, volume of *unique* assets used. Art style is highly subjective.

Alan Wake is a fantastic game whose visuals mostly sing (a lot of these character models are PS3 era) but *overall* Horizon Forbidden West, GoW Ragnarok, Cyberpunk all have it beat. RDR2 is *still* the king which is all the more remarkable because it's a massive, open-world game.
I can understand the others, but ragnarock?
Cmon.
 

Larxia

Member
I'm really confused by the hype around Alan Wake 2 graphics.
It looks fine but nothing mindblowing for me, especially for a linear game when you compare it to some open world games out there. It's also way too demanding for the visuals it offers.

I don't know, it's just strange. I even saw some people on reddit claiming they couldn't tell the difference between the live action scenes and the ingame scenes... :messenger_sleeping:
 
I can understand the others, but ragnarock?
Cmon.

Don't let your personal feelings over a game cloud your judgement, really think about all the factors listed and apply it to these games, Ragnarok is pure visual spectacle that delivers on all fronts.
 

GymWolf

Member
Is this Robocop? Damn it, youre going to make me buy that thing if it is.
It can look downright gorgeous on pc at times (my pics are low res and taken with my phone :lollipop_grinning_sweat: )

Of course it's a low budget AA so it's kinda uneven, but it never look downright ugly.

The game is also super fun and just a joy to play.

I thought hogwarts or atomic heart were the biggest surprises of the year but robocop could end even better.
 
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Flabagast

Member
I would say yes, but also that a lot of its graphical qualities are more subdued and less in your face than other titles, and thus maybe more easily missable by some players.

For example the level of geometric density is off the chart, even very small props in the background like lighters, pens, clippers are ultra detailed with perfect rounded shapes (to a level not achieved by any other games unless maybe UE5 demos), and the other very impressive things is the dim lighting which is ultra impressive. More often than not this looks prerended cgi like
 

GymWolf

Member
Don't let your personal feelings over a game cloud your judgement, really think about all the factors listed and apply it to these games, Ragnarok is pure visual spectacle that delivers on all fronts.
Dude ragnarock was my goty for that year and i still think that it sucks donkey balls compared to the big boys, and believe me i'm not an aw2 fanboy, people can confirm :lollipop_grinning_sweat:

I gave you that it looks more even than spidey 2 but that one has still higher highs.
 

proandrad

Member
On console, FSR makes the image quality very inconsistent. Sometimes the game looks jaw dropping and other times the artifacts cause by the resolution scaling ruins the image. It kind of reminds me of the image quality of the original performance mode in Horizon forbidden west, before they patched it.
 
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Yes. Even with the shimmering and IQ issues on PS5, I can’t say any game I’ve played (and I’ve played all the graphical stand outs) have reached the level of CGI quality this game does at its best moments.

After which I’d probably say:

2. Ratchet and clank
3. Horizon?
 
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Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Alan wake 2 is my GOTY, and I got to play it with maxed out everything.

It still isn’t the graphics king.

Spider-Man 2 has better reflections and facial animations for one example. The water in cauldron lake when in bright falls doesn’t look good, and faces can look downright turd ferguson in comparison to Miles’ face. Albeit no one looks as hideous as MJ in Spider-Man 2.

Cyberpunk cranked to the max is stunning.

Console wise I think Mortal Kombat 1 is beastly looking.

If anyone is holding the crown right now it’s CP2077, especially the Phantom Liberty portions.
 
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