
Best Art Direction of 2020 - Article
by Taneli Palola , posted on 14 January 2021 / 2,505 ViewsCombining art and design to evoke a desired cultural or emotional reaction - that's the basic definition of art direction. It's more than just putting a host of beautiful imagery into your product and expecting people to love it. It's about how, where, when, and why you use these assets; how can you use a specific piece of art to elicit the effect you want from the people who see, hear, or otherwise experience what you've created? With that in mind, here are the games showcasing some of the Best Art Direction of 2020.
The Shortlist:
Cyberpunk 2077
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Ghost of Tsushima
The Last of Us Part II
The Winner:
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Runner-up: Ghost of Tsushima
To call Ori and the Will of the Wisps gorgeous would be a massive understatement. Moon Studios had already done an amazing job with the art direction in Ori and the Blind Forest back in 2015, but with this sequel it somehow managed to completely outdo its earlier work. Practically every moment, every scene, every small detail works together to create something truly special; an audiovisual masterpiece on a level rarely seen or heard regardless of the medium.
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Ori and GoT are both beautiful games.
Well deserved, Will of the Wisps is one of the most gorgeous games I have ever laid eyes on
I'm surprised 2077 didn't get a win, because it's art dept was one of the best looking aspects of the game, RT and all.
I think this should have gone to Cyberpunk personally. The one thing they definitely nailed was the art style and atmosphere. But the backlash against the bugs and against CD Projekt Red for some of its shitty decisions pretty much killed its chances of winning anything unfortunately.
All style, no substance
This one was a tough one for me to vote on, Ori, Tsushima, and Cyberpunk all had fantastic art design, but I voted for Ori and I'm glad it won. I probably would have given Cyberpunk 2nd place though with Tsushima at 3rd.
Ghost is way more impressive to be honest and tlou2 was a close second!
I would have prefered to see ghost of tsushima winning this one, but at least its not Animal Crossing. Cyberpunk and TLOU p2 are graphically more impressive, but are not really artistic since they aim for photorealism. Although if that's the aim TLOU can't even hope to compete with Demon Souls.
Ghost of tsushima isn't graphically as impressive as TLOU p2 or Cyberpunk. But the art actually serves as a guiding purpose in the game. Whether its folliwing songbirds, the wind or smoke cloud, they all guide to new activities. This level of interactivity outside of missions is somewhat rare and makes it more special to me than the other games. But hey Ori looks really beautiful.
Don't agree with this one. Ori looks terrible to me. Better than Animal Crossing winning I guess, since that looks terrible too. But IMO the award should have went to Cyberpunk, Tsushima or The Last of Us.
Well deserved.
Tlou2, easily
The absence of FFVII Remake in this category is strange at best.
It got my vote.
I definitely think it should have Animal Crossing's place in the top 5, Animal Crossing artstyle doesn't do anything for me at all.
...but but but... VGChartz said Ghost of Tsushima is a 5/10