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[H . R . 2]

Dark / Gloomy

The Order 1886

Inside

Bloodborne

Killzone 2


VS.

Bright / Colourful

Kena

Ori and The Will of the Wisps

Mirror's Edge Catalyst

Red Dead Redemption 2



I personally have a particular liking for dark atmospheric games
Having said that, I do enjoy colourful visuals with the right art direction (e.g. Mirror's edge, RDR2, Horizon)
but if I were to pick only one, I would definitely choose dark and gloomy
BUT
what would you prefer if there were a choice and a degree of wiggle room for the art direction of a game that can benefit equally from either style?​

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

Fortnite style too colorful for me but now that I have an HDR OLED I will take bright colors over dark and drab any day.

 

[Kenpachii]

colorfull

 

[nani17]

Whatever fits the game.

 

[H . R . 2]

Whatever the opposite of Fortnite is. It's too colorful for me.

Seriously though, now that I have an HDR OLED I will take bright colors over dark and drab any day.

that's an interesting point about HDR OLEDs. I wonder if that makes you change your visual preferences in the long run

 

[H . R . 2]

Whatever fits the game.

I believe the art/creative direction early on has a huge impact on the visual style of a game.
take Killzone 2 vs. Killzone Shadowfall

both are beautiful games but I like KZ2 better

 

[Closer]

I like bright and colourful. Dark and gloomy is for soulsborne only. Maybe Diablo also.

 

[Arcadialane]

Doesn't look good when almost everything in the scene is basically the same gray colour, even in a thematically dark game.

Madness returns is a bleak game, yet the artists made an effort:

 

[Punished Miku]

It can be both really. I know I talk about the Ascent a lot and everyone must be rolling their eyes. But its as dark and gloomy as it gets. Then you get near the city and its one of the most bright and colorful neon games of the year. Do both and the contrast makes both styles pop more.

I like both styles when its fitting for the game. I'd never pick one over the other arbitrarily.

 

[Mozzarella]

Generally speaking i prefer the colorful ones, because they allow for more symbolism and better art direction. Bloodborne nailed the gloomy one, but it gets stale in most games while with Colorful you have lots of options.

 

[Daymos]

Bright and colorful and mostly non-realistic.

 

[H . R . 2]

Doesn't look good when almost everything in the scene is basically the same gray colour, even in a thematically dark game

I beg to differ. it actually adds a lot to the visual fidelity (e.g. The Saboteur, Thief)
unless by "good" you mean appealing in which case I must disagree again

The Saboteur

Thief

 

[H . R . 2]

oh that reminds me:

Prince of Persia Sands of Time

Prince of Persia Warrior Within

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

That first image in the OP is everything wrong with modern “realistic” presentation in media for me. Not only games, but most movies too. Almost everything, especially in open air shots, has this dark, gloomy tone, natural color and lighting be damned. It’s terrible. When you see a screenshot of a pre-90s movie you immediately know when it’s from because of natural lighting. It’s become a rarity these days. Even the most natural scene looks filtered now, and it probably is.

Bright doesn’t equal colorful. The Ori games are colorful, but often dark and gloomy.

Just give you graphics appropriate color. Piss/dark filters don’t make anything better.

 

[ParaSeoul]

It depends on what atmosphere they're going for.

 

[existensmaximum]

It depends on the game? There are many games of both kinds that I love.

 

[Danjin44]

Whatever fits the game.

Basically this, I mean I don't think anyone wants colorfull Dead Space.

 

[ParaSeoul]

That first image in the OP is everything wrong with modern “realistic” presentation in media for me. Not only games, but most movies too.

I still see this in movies but games have moved passsed it. The 7th gen was oversaturated with them.

 

[ParaSeoul]

Whatever fits the game.

Basically

 

[Bakkus]

oh that reminds me:

Prince of Persia Sands of Time

Prince of Persia Warrior Within

Ummm, there's obviously a second picture missing here.

 

[H . R . 2]

It depends on the game? There are many games of both kinds that I love.

what I mean is what would you prefer if there were a choice and a degree of wiggle room for the art direction of the game
for example GEARS 3,5 are a lot more colourful than 2 and 1, and both styles seem to have served the series well

 

[Elektro Demon]

Bright and colorful.
And also stock. Whatever devs intended it to be, that's how I like it.

 

[Exentryk]

Generally prefer bright and colourful, but there needs to some balance of dark and gloomy. Too much of one thing is bad.

 

[Orta]

Generally I go for colour but now and again a bit of gloom can look really beautiful, this year's Little Nightmares 2 being a wonderfully atmospheric looking game for example.

 

[SpiceRacz]

C'mon

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

I like good games, end of story.

 

[jigglet]

Both. I like bright and cheerful when it's warranted (e.g. Nintendo games), but some games I don't think it fits (e.g. those stupid grunts things in Halo that feel like comic relief, never felt they fit in the franchise).

 

[RoadHazard]

I like good art styles, which can be bright and colorful or dark and atmospheric. Both can also be awful in the wrong hands.

 

[existensmaximum]

what I mean is what would you prefer if there were a choice and a degree of wiggle room for the art direction of the game
for example GEARS 3,5 are a lot more colourful than 2 and 1, and both styles seem to have served the series well

Hmmm well, I haven't played the Gears games. But sure, for example I really prefer Diablo 1 + 2 before Diablo 3 for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that the first two games are a lot more dark and gloomy. I don't think I've ever felt that a game is too dark and should be more colorful, but the other way around - yeah!

 

[nkarafo]

As long as the contrast is good and not washed out or too intense, i don't mind.

 

[Tschumi]

I'm sorry i have to be boring and say it depends on the game.

Witcher 3 best of both worlds...

I prefer Vanilla WoW when a storm blows over.

 

[H . R . 2]

As long as the contrast is good and not washed out or too intense, i don't mind.

I actually don't mind a bit of contrast if it is handled tastefully
I have fond memories of BFBC2's visuals
I actually tend to increase it just a bit if the option is available

 

[nightmare-slain]

why not both? totally depends on the game.

look at my username and avatar. inspired by these games cause they are 2 of my favourite games of all time:

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

I still see this in movies but games have moved passsed it. The 7th gen was oversaturated with them.

Bloom and green/brown, yes.

But The Order, Bloodborne etc are from the PS4 era and they just shifted the overall tonality from green/brown to grey/blue.

 

[AncientOrigin]

Depends on the game.Games like Mario and Kenia Colorful,games like Resident Evil,Diablo Path of Exile needs to be dark mature serious else the immersion is not there.

 

[MrS]

Dark and gloomy. Diablo 2 R is perfection

 

[Great Hair]

Spoiler

versus

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Bright and colorful but it all depends on the game.

 

[H . R . 2]

Depends on the game.Games like Mario and Kenia Colorful,games like Resident Evil,Diablo Path of Exile needs to be dark mature serious else the immersion is not there.

you are right but I am talking about scenarios where there's enough artistic/creative freedom to make a choice between the two
for instance, both RE2 and RE3 remakes centre around Racoon City but RE2 remake is far darker and grittier than RE3 whose brighter and more vivid presentation was immediately noticeable

 

[H . R . 2]

why not both? totally depends on the game.

look at my username and avatar. inspired by these games cause they are 2 of my favourite games of all time:

the first screenshot is from a more colourful part of Bloodborne but the colour palette is still very gloomy. I mean that's a cemetery!

 

[Wildebeest]

Colour perception doesn't work as well in the dark so the best way to communicate darkness is desaturation. Makes more sense than yellow colour filters used to indicated Mexico, or whatever. I liked the style of ICO at the time. It was sort of washed out looking with a lot of plain environments. But there was also a lot of bright lights and splashes of almost lurid colour. I feel like Bloodborne, even though it has almost no colour, is often almost too much to look at.

 

[Putonahappyface]

Bright and gay of course.

 

[AncientOrigin]

you are right but I am talking about scenarios where there's enough artistic/creative freedom to make a choice between the two
for instance, both RE2 and RE3 remakes centre around Racoon City but RE2 remake is far darker and grittier than RE3 whose brighter and more vivid presentation was immediately noticeable

Yes I understand.They could make the woods and nature in RE2 more colorful but still and the same time be darker that would be also great because nature is very colorful

 

[SirTerry-T]

All depends on the art direction. Going either route "just because" is either going to make your game look like some edgy nonsense or like it was published by Fisher-Price.
I tend to side with wanting my games to look "video gamey" but I'm an old fart brought up on arcade machines.

Recently I thought Yakuza:Like A Dragon got the balance right, the environments and characters were all just on the right side of believable without being slaves to photogrammetry and the colour choices really popped.

 

[H . R . 2]

the votes so far are really interesting.
applied to a larger population of participants this could have huge implications for the future of gaming.
we are already seeing more and more titles that are colourful and less dark. Ubisoft/EA/Activision games suggest such a trend is indeed happening (which could also be in part due to LGBQT movements)
but
I firmly believe that the success of a game such as MW2019 was due to it being darker, more grounded, more realistic ( and if I dare say more adult)
looking at WZ with all the skins and the haphazard visual style makes me really sad

 

[Codes 208]

Yes

 

[Doom85]

Depends on the game. So, basically:

 

[MiguelItUp]

I like both, it just all depends on how they're handled. If they feel honest, true, and very fitting then it works either way.

 

[SirTerry-T]

It's like "pick your poison"

Douglas Fairbanks Jr (ask your grandparents) high adventure...

Or road crew for The Disturbed, circa 2004

 

[Brigandier]

Love both if done well, but I am a sucker for a nice colorful world... Xenoblade series kind of scenery is my favourite, I really liked Kena too.