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Digital Foundry's Best Game Graphics of 2022 - Another Great Year For State-of-the-Art Visuals!

No surprises, it's a monster.

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Holy fuck. I mean... PS studios are absolutely mind blowing for graphics. Have always been.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Cool, so, maxed out on a high-end gaming PC, you understand why it's the best lighting and shading around. Good chat.
Good faces and great graphics.
Tlou and horizon still better each in some way.
The only thing that Callisto got the best is faces maybe.
 

ZehDon

Gold Member
... Tlou and horizon still better each in some way.
The only thing that Callisto got the best is faces maybe.
TLOU1's lighting is pre-canned and lacks the punch of Callisto's real-time ray traced volumetrics. Outside of its cut-scenes, it's still a great looking game, but overall fidelity takes a clear hit despite its extremely linear nature. I think Demon's Souls is a better-looking game overall, honestly.
Horizon has lots of amazing little details that really add up to an impressive overall package, but the individual elements in isolation aren't really the best. Cyberpunk 2077 and RDR2 are still more impressive open world games from a visual perspective, in my opinion.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I agree the year was subpar but graphics were quite fine. It was still somewhat crossgen but great looking anyway.
Put GT7 next to GT Sports, put TLOU Part 1 next to Part 2, and tell me if you or anyone else can tell the difference. maybe do an experiment on twitter, or in your home, or hell even on gaf. In fact, 90% of the games on their list cant compare to RDR2, a game designed on a 1.3 tflops console in 2018.
In fact crossgen might be the last chance we get good looking games at 60fps
Mid gen refreshes will fix that in 1-2 years. If not, buy a PC.

As for my attitude, i think the attitude of complacent developers is far more concerning. We are now officially in the third year of this gen, have gone through the third holiday season of this gen, and HFW, a cross gen game is the best looking game out there. that to me should be our main concern instead of whatever attitude you think i have.
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Put GT7 next to GT Sports, put TLOU Part 1 next to Part 2, and tell me if you or anyone else can tell the difference. maybe do an experiment on twitter, or in your home, or hell even on gaf. In fact, 90% of the games on their list cant compare to RDR2, a game designed on a 1.3 tflops console in 2018.

Mid gen refreshes will fix that in 1-2 years. If not, buy a PC.

As for my attitude, i think the attitude of complacent developers is far more concerning. We are now officially in the third year of this gen, have gone through the third holiday season of this gen, and HFW, a cross gen game is the best looking game out there. that to me should be our main concern instead of whatever attitude you think i have.
I've been one to say that we're still getting a big leap this gen once crossgen ends but I also realize that the economy and the pandemic changed things for these early years

2023 should be the year we'll start to see more next gen visuals

I hope y'all are ok with 30fps and 40fps though
 
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Where the fuck is GOW:R? If you put GT7 and NFS in there surely you put GOW:R also in.
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Images contains heavy spoilers for GOW:R
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yeah, theres just no way dying light 2 or NFS look better than this, not from a graphical fidelity POV or an art design POV but Digital Foundry’s word is pretty much god so this is set in stone.
 
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S0ULZB0URNE

Member
I think I might consider replaying horizon. It’s not too great but I will just switch it on easy maybe to avoid Boring grind.

I’ve played it day1 and finished day 5 maybe. The graphics were still aliased. The game was nicely patched and 40fps mode got added.

Does 40fps mode lowers resolution or something?
It uses the tv's 120hz mode to give a 4K@40hz instead of 30hz. So it feels closer to 60hz.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
That's not true at all. Take the ps4 gen- nothing from ps3 looked as impressive as either: ryse, kz shadowfall, mgs ground zeros, second son, or bf4

And yet none of these games looked as good as the likes of TLOU 2. The same team made KZ Shadowfall and Death Stranding 2. Both PS5 only games. Which one looks better? Ditto for Ghost of Tsushima vs Infamous Second Son.

Certainly, you cannot rule out visual improvements later in the gen purely from devs learning more how to exploit the hardware
 
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rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Put GT7 next to GT Sports, put TLOU Part 1 next to Part 2, and tell me if you or anyone else can tell the difference. maybe do an experiment on twitter, or in your home, or hell even on gaf. In fact, 90% of the games on their list cant compare to RDR2, a game designed on a 1.3 tflops console in 2018.

Mid gen refreshes will fix that in 1-2 years. If not, buy a PC.

As for my attitude, i think the attitude of complacent developers is far more concerning. We are now officially in the third year of this gen, have gone through the third holiday season of this gen, and HFW, a cross gen game is the best looking game out there. that to me should be our main concern instead of whatever attitude you think i have.
You are right, I know. Tlou2 might even look better than part 1 in some places lol.
But it’s the same graphics but touched up and at 4k.

I don’t really want mid gen refresh. It’s not fixing anything. They can’t do too much with pro consoles this time around and I don’t want one because we still have not seen this gen used properly. Throwing more power at a problem without and innovation is a pc way of doing things… I play on a console to avoid that. If we got uc4 and rdr2 in weak ps4, we should see miracles on ps5 with way better gpu, cpu and ssd! It’s all about the devs.
As long as devs are treating it as a pc, we will get this uninspired, unoptimised crap.
And I don’t mind 30 fps but almost no gauge this gen for 30fps right. It’s all super slow and vsynced. Terrible
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
What did you play tlou1 remake at. Fidelity or Performance?
I played in fidelity mode. I do think tlou2 looked better in places despite low res.
TLOU1's lighting is pre-canned and lacks the punch of Callisto's real-time ray traced volumetrics. Outside of its cut-scenes, it's still a great looking game, but overall fidelity takes a clear hit despite its extremely linear nature. I think Demon's Souls is a better-looking game overall, honestly.
Horizon has lots of amazing little details that really add up to an impressive overall package, but the individual elements in isolation aren't really the best. Cyberpunk 2077 and RDR2 are still more impressive open world games from a visual perspective, in my opinion.
I don’t mind it being baked in. What good does dynamic light does me if there is no dynamic time of day or breakable lights.
Horizon is also baked. It’s just that they have like 18 different bakes to match each time of day
 

Msamy

Member
Where the fuck is GOW:R? If you put GT7 and NFS in there surely you put GOW:R also in.
God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221112012908.png


Images contains heavy spoilers for GOW:R
God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221119023844.png

God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221113022252.png

God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221114232818.png

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I think gow ragnarock deserve better, but I really don't like what sns doing with ps5 version of the game by making it only have higher resolution and framerate than ps4 version ,otherwise it looks identical in almost all other aspects, they choose the easy way, in the other side Guerrilla Games choose the hard way and make hfw a true next gen title and anyone can see the huge difference between ps5 and ps4 versions even they are limitations due to ps4 version ,they really doing much better job than sms in graphics side.
 
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Klosshufvud

Member
I think gow ragnarock deserve better, but I really don't like what sns doing with ps5 version of the game by making it only have higher resolution and framerate than ps4 version ,otherwise it looks identical in almost all other aspects, they choose the easy way, in the other side Guerrilla Games choose the hard way and make hfw a true next gen title and anyone can see the huge difference between ps5 and ps4 versions even they are limitations due to ps4 version ,they really doing much better job than sms in graphics side.
I feel like even GoW 2018 was visually a fairly mediocre entry for Sony standards. It's definitely not the paradigm-shifting series it once was.
 

RJMacready73

Simps for Amouranth
Having recently completed Forbidden West on a PS5/Oled set up, I have to agree DF got it 100% correct, the game is an absolute visual assault, ive never had a game (bar ND's) that constantly got me up off my sofa to stand close in front of the telly and just marvel at the scenes, the sheer density of detail, incredible art and design and visual splendor, it's fucking breathtaking sometimes especially at certain times of the day, not to mention the sheer variety of biomes, from desert, to jungle, to snowy mountains it's all leagues ahead of anything else and then in the last section they give you a fucking bird to fly anywhere you want and the vista just stretches to the horizon...

Aye it's well deserved, tbh I can't see how they can ramp up the graphics for the PS5 only expansion but you just know they'll push it hard af and it's a day 1 purchase for me,

One of the few games where I did every side mission I came across just to marvel at the world and ended up OP for the main missions lol
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Scorn should have been in the top 10 instead of NFS Unbound, IMO.

 
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rolandss

Member
Not surprised Ragnarok didn’t make the cut. Seriously looks like a PS4 game, no idea how so many people consider the game amazing looking, I really don’t.
Totally agree. Been playing since Christmas and it’s objectively a good looking game but the PS5 version looks exactly like what GOW2018 looked like on my PS4 Pro. It’s not a generation ahead, but then again no game is. Sony has been serving us cross gen games the whole of this PS5 generation that aren’t really impressive compared to PS4 versions.
 
Totally agree. Been playing since Christmas and it’s objectively a good looking game but the PS5 version looks exactly like what GOW2018 looked like on my PS4 Pro. It’s not a generation ahead, but then again no game is. Sony has been serving us cross gen games the whole of this PS5 generation that aren’t really impressive compared to PS4 versions.
that is not the issue.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Good list overall (I need to play HFW I guess), but I don't see how for example that Warhammer game is ahead of Ragnarök. Cross-gen or not that game can look absolutely stunning at times. Oh well.
 

Turk1993

GAFs #1 source for car graphic comparisons
I think gow ragnarock deserve better, but I really don't like what sns doing with ps5 version of the game by making it only have higher resolution and framerate than ps4 version ,otherwise it looks identical in almost all other aspects, they choose the easy way, in the other side Guerrilla Games choose the hard way and make hfw a true next gen title and anyone can see the huge difference between ps5 and ps4 versions even they are limitations due to ps4 version ,they really doing much better job than sms in graphics side.
But there are upgrades over the PS4 version, lighting, textures, shadows, reflections, draw distance, tessellation and particle effects are all upgraded over the PS4 version. And the PS4 version looks also better than 2018 so it looked better than the previous game with all the extra upgrades that i mentioned on PS5. They don't give SM enough credit for how good the PS4 version looks and how much better it looks compared to 2018. They put GT7 and TLOU part 1 in there which has the same type of upgrades as GOW:R compared to there last gen releases.

Some of you need to be reminded how GOW 2018 looked, because you guys need to take off the nostalgia glasses
All on PS5!
God-of-War-20220524224212.png

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compared to
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Now tell me how is this not a massive upgrade over the previous game.
 
But there are upgrades over the PS4 version, lighting, textures, shadows, reflections, draw distance, tessellation and particle effects are all upgraded over the PS4 version. And the PS4 version looks also better than 2018 so it looked better than the previous game with all the extra upgrades that i mentioned on PS5. They don't give SM enough credit for how good the PS4 version looks and how much better it looks compared to 2018. They put GT7 and TLOU part 1 in there which has the same type of upgrades as GOW:R compared to there last gen releases.

Some of you need to be reminded how GOW 2018 looked, because you guys need to take off the nostalgia glasses
All on PS5!
God-of-War-20220524224212.png

God-of-War-20220521224753.png


compared to
God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221112013628.png

God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221117020020.png



Now tell me how is this not a massive upgrade over the previous game.
There is something weird (lackluster) with this engine's lighting
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Where the fuck is GOW:R? If you put GT7 and NFS in there surely you put GOW:R also in.
God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221112012908.png


Images contains heavy spoilers for GOW:R

Im glad it wasnt nominated but his reasoning is hilarious. By that logic, TLOU Part 1 and GT7 shouldnt be nominated either.

There is something weird (lackluster) with this engine's lighting
This. The game looks very cartoony during day time, and extremely dated during the open world sections of Alfheim, Svarthelheim, and Vanaheim. Vanaheim especially has that really bad Unreal Engine 3 look during day time.

Oddly enough, midgard open world looks the best. Covered in snow with some really great lighting to give it some pop even though its set under gloomy skies. vanaheim at night looks gorgeous in some of the linear levels, bland in others and Ironwood's linear levels are by far the best looking in the game, but almost all the story dungeons just have this really bad lighting that holds back the visuals. The dungeon where you find Tyr, the Alfheim dungeon, and pretty much all other indoor levels have really mediocre lighting.

I was playing Gotham Knights last night. A pretty mediocre looking open world, but it took me to a cave in a story mission that was lit up beautiful with great volumetric bounce lighting that felt far more dynamic than the baked lighting we saw in GOW's indoor areas. I actually recorded it looked so good. Just thick atmosphere that is completely lacking from GOW.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
But there are upgrades over the PS4 version, lighting, textures, shadows, reflections, draw distance, tessellation and particle effects are all upgraded over the PS4 version. And the PS4 version looks also better than 2018 so it looked better than the previous game with all the extra upgrades that i mentioned on PS5. They don't give SM enough credit for how good the PS4 version looks and how much better it looks compared to 2018. They put GT7 and TLOU part 1 in there which has the same type of upgrades as GOW:R compared to there last gen releases.

Some of you need to be reminded how GOW 2018 looked, because you guys need to take off the nostalgia glasses
All on PS5!
God-of-War-20220524224212.png

God-of-War-20220521224753.png


compared to
God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221112013628.png

God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221117020020.png



Now tell me how is this not a massive upgrade over the previous game.
Yeah, its stupid to put TLOU Part 1 and GT7 in there and then dock GOW for doing the same thing. There are definitely upgrades over GOW 2018. No doubt about that.

But as good as that night time shot looks, we both know that the game doesnt look that good 90% of the time. Some areas look stunning, most of the time, the game looks very mediocre. There is great bounce lighting in that shot but vanaheim at night doesnt look like that most of the time. it has a very baked looking night time lighting. During day time it looks ok at best. Just comparing your shot to this shot i took of horizon, you can see just how dated the lighting looks.

God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221112012908.png


FbvraeXWQAAgsY3

FbvraeaWQAA5NmB


Now, lets look at the lighting in midgard. Amazing. If the game looked this good most of the time, it wouldve been on the list.

FiCheP4XkAARF6q
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes

giphy.gif

Honestly getting kinda tired of how much they gush over ray tracing. Why not talk about what massive input lag ray tracing generally introduces? Also doesn't data show the overwhelming majority of players prefer frame rate over RT?
The funny thing with ray tracing is that generally speaking it isnt even that big of a difference. At best, you are getting accurate lighting, reflections and shadows, not always better.

I made some cyberpunk comparisons and plan to do the same with witcher 3. im one of the biggest graphics whores around and i cant tell the difference.

Ff9MziJWIAEYwTa

Ff9MziMX0AYO9Ur

Ff9MziKXkAEplQG

Ff9MziMWYAAKyI9


This is Psycho RT maxed out vs no RT. I mean i cant tell you which one is RT because i never bothered labeling it back when i first uploaded it on twitter.

If Portal had gotten a next gen remake, it would seriously look that good even if it didnt have RT.

Dying Light 2 pre downgrade wasnt using RT and it looked a million times better than the downgraded version with RT.

Even the Matrix demo looks stunning if you switch from hardware accelerated Lumens which is using Ray tracing to Software Lumens which doesnt use ray tracing. There is a slight drop in quality but its no different than going from high to medium in PC games. Id rather consoles target Software Lumen until midgen consoles arrive.
 

sncvsrtoip

Member
Im glad it wasnt nominated but his reasoning is hilarious. By that logic, TLOU Part 1 and GT7 shouldnt be nominated either.


This. The game looks very cartoony during day time, and extremely dated during the open world sections of Alfheim, Svarthelheim, and Vanaheim. Vanaheim especially has that really bad Unreal Engine 3 look during day time.

Oddly enough, midgard open world looks the best. Covered in snow with some really great lighting to give it some pop even though its set under gloomy skies. vanaheim at night looks gorgeous in some of the linear levels, bland in others and Ironwood's linear levels are by far the best looking in the game, but almost all the story dungeons just have this really bad lighting that holds back the visuals. The dungeon where you find Tyr, the Alfheim dungeon, and pretty much all other indoor levels have really mediocre lighting.

I was playing Gotham Knights last night. A pretty mediocre looking open world, but it took me to a cave in a story mission that was lit up beautiful with great volumetric bounce lighting that felt far more dynamic than the baked lighting we saw in GOW's indoor areas. I actually recorded it looked so good. Just thick atmosphere that is completely lacking from GOW.
 

Turk1993

GAFs #1 source for car graphic comparisons
Yeah, its stupid to put TLOU Part 1 and GT7 in there and then dock GOW for doing the same thing. There are definitely upgrades over GOW 2018. No doubt about that.

But as good as that night time shot looks, we both know that the game doesnt look that good 90% of the time. Some areas look stunning, most of the time, the game looks very mediocre. There is great bounce lighting in that shot but vanaheim at night doesnt look like that most of the time. it has a very baked looking night time lighting. During day time it looks ok at best. Just comparing your shot to this shot i took of horizon, you can see just how dated the lighting looks.

God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221112012908.png


FbvraeXWQAAgsY3

FbvraeaWQAA5NmB


Now, lets look at the lighting in midgard. Amazing. If the game looked this good most of the time, it wouldve been on the list.

FiCheP4XkAARF6q
Im not claiming that GOW:R is the best looking thing ever or that it looks better than HFW. I agree that Horizon is the best looking game on that list and better looking than GOW:R. What i don't agree is the other games that they put in the list while not including GOW:R for having the same upgrades if not more than them .
 
Yeah, its stupid to put TLOU Part 1 and GT7 in there and then dock GOW for doing the same thing. There are definitely upgrades over GOW 2018. No doubt about that.

But as good as that night time shot looks, we both know that the game doesnt look that good 90% of the time. Some areas look stunning, most of the time, the game looks very mediocre. There is great bounce lighting in that shot but vanaheim at night doesnt look like that most of the time. it has a very baked looking night time lighting. During day time it looks ok at best. Just comparing your shot to this shot i took of horizon, you can see just how dated the lighting looks.

God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221112012908.png


FbvraeXWQAAgsY3

FbvraeaWQAA5NmB


Now, lets look at the lighting in midgard. Amazing. If the game looked this good most of the time, it wouldve been on the list.

FiCheP4XkAARF6q
I usually agree with you 99% of the time. Definitely agree about Vanneheim and Jotunheim however Svartleheim? That is the best looking area along with Midgard ...svartleheim open world sections looks amazing.

Vanneheim was the most disappointing. Why does that one stand out with such a dated, early Unreal 4 look to it do you think?
 
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Turk1993

GAFs #1 source for car graphic comparisons
Im glad it wasnt nominated but his reasoning is hilarious. By that logic, TLOU Part 1 and GT7 shouldnt be nominated either.


This. The game looks very cartoony during day time, and extremely dated during the open world sections of Alfheim, Svarthelheim, and Vanaheim. Vanaheim especially has that really bad Unreal Engine 3 look during day time.

Oddly enough, midgard open world looks the best. Covered in snow with some really great lighting to give it some pop even though its set under gloomy skies. vanaheim at night looks gorgeous in some of the linear levels, bland in others and Ironwood's linear levels are by far the best looking in the game, but almost all the story dungeons just have this really bad lighting that holds back the visuals. The dungeon where you find Tyr, the Alfheim dungeon, and pretty much all other indoor levels have really mediocre lighting.

I was playing Gotham Knights last night. A pretty mediocre looking open world, but it took me to a cave in a story mission that was lit up beautiful with great volumetric bounce lighting that felt far more dynamic than the baked lighting we saw in GOW's indoor areas. I actually recorded it looked so good. Just thick atmosphere that is completely lacking from GOW.
Some caves and underground locations look amazing

Spoiler area
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God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221119023556.png

non spoiler area
God-of-War-Ragnar-k-20221111170750.png
 
Here's a sad thought .. last night I played some The Order 1886. It's 30 fps and only 1080p but still looks as impressive as many of today's games. If the Order released in 2022 I think DF would've been hard pressed to not include it on their list.

What does that say about the state of graphics today?
 
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