Best Art Direction of 2023 - Article
by Taneli Palola , posted on 19 January 2024 / 4,733 Views
Art direction is an element that can often go unnoticed and overlooked when discussing the quality of a game, but that's often by design. Art direction is usually meant to support and enhance other aspects of a title, from its story and characters, to the atmosphere and even gameplay, but it obviously takes great skill and care to achieve that. The following five games all succeeded in conveying the desired atmosphere and tone with their art direction, but only one can be the best.
The Shortlist:
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Hi-Fi RUSH
Octopath Traveler II
Alan Wake II
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Runner-Up:
Alan Wake II
Leaning further into horror than its predecessor, Alan Wake II not only had to create a very tense and uneasy atmosphere for its various different locations, but also achieve that in two very different ways thanks to the dual protagonist approach. With Saga Anderson in the real world, and Alan Wake still trapped in the Dark Place, Remedy had to balance both realities in its art direction. One is more rooted in realism, with hints and touches of the supernatural seeping through, while the other is practically drowning in the strange and unusual, and the game manages to succeed in making both styles impeccable.
The Winner:
Hi-Fi RUSH
What makes Hi-Fi RUSH's art direction truly special is how every aspect of its audiovisual presentation is in sync to facilitate the rhythm-based gameplay. More than in pretty much any other title released in 2023, everything had to look and feel just right to make the game feel as natural and fluid to play as possible, and a huge part of the credit for making everything work as amazingly well as it does goes to the wonderful art direction at play. Not only are the visuals crisp and detailed, but each element is easy to distinguish and make out amidst all the chaos and movement that occurs during gameplay. Tango Gameworks has achieved something exceptional with Hi-Fi RUSH, and the game is more than worthy of winning the award for Best Art Direction of 2023.
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Obvious pick to win and a well-deserved one.
I was going to throw my monitor out the window at a random person if some realistic looking game won.
To be honest I feel like VgChartz has a certain elitisism when it comes to Art Direction. Neither unique stylization nor high end graphics are prerequisites for good looking atmospheric visuals/style, you can find games that fit the bill at both ends of the spectrum, but on here there seems to be a clear preference of the former. It's a bit like if everyone voted for the most avant-garde soundtrack (to exaggerate a little)
Alan Wake 2 actually has some very impressive art design for things like enemy designs and the overall scary atmosphere they created. Just because it is one of the best looking games to date in terms of technical graphics, doesn't mean that it doesn't also have excellent art design. There is a reason why Alan Wake 2 won Best Art at The Game Awards and has been nominated for Best Art Direction in the upcoming D.I.C.E. Awards (the finalists are determined by a panel of 100 game developers and publishers, not game critics like The Game Awards).
That being said, well deserved win by HiFi Rush. While the technical graphics are nothing to write home about, the game has clever art design in abundance, with the art team working with the audio team to make the world itself move to the beat of the soundtrack in spots.
Me too
Nice! Though I think Octopath 2 on PS5 looks shockingly good, if it wasn't a sequel should get the top spot. It was also crazy how much the PS5 improved the visuals over the Switch original.
Well can't say I agree with that choice. It has fairly good art style but of the 4 games 2023 games I played I would place it at the bottom.
