Video games today are more beautiful than they have ever been. At last month’s Game Awards, we saw cinematic trailers for games boasting stunning graphics. One was Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, from The Last of Us creators Naughty Dog, whose wry heroine was animated with such fine detail that she communicated more through facial expressions than dialogue. Another was The Witcher 4, sequel to the popular fantasy series, where equal artistic attention was lavished upon the fur of a monster’s six hideous arms as on the delicate play of firelight across the protagonist’s face.
It all looks undeniably gorgeous. Still, a casual onlooker could be forgiven for confusing the graphics of these games for others that came out five, or even — if you squint — 10 years ago. Once a medium where each console generation marked a seismic shift in visual fidelity, today gaming is approaching a graphical plateau. You could justifiably argue that Red Dead Redemption 2 or Cyberpunk 2077, which came out in 2018 and 2020 respectively, are the best-looking games released to date. So when graphical advancements each year seem incremental at best, is it time to finally give up on the graphical arms race?