Elden Ring and God of War were the big winners at the Game Awards 2022. However, the event’s awards were largely tied to certain genres. The software and hardware experts at “Digital Foundry” see an exclusive PlayStation game at the forefront in terms of graphics.
Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarök were the big winners of the Game Awards 2022, which took place on the night of December 8.
Elden Ring was awarded Game of the Year, also receiving awards for its Art Direction and Game Direction. God of War came to the competition with 10 nominations and secured six of them – including awards for Best Story and Best Soundtrack.
According to the experts at “Digital Foundry”, a title from 2022 is entirely missing from the list, which, however, has quite an advantage over the Game Award hits in terms of graphics: the action RPG Horizon: Forbidden West.
Which games the experts see as the top 3 in terms of graphics, we show you on MeinMMO.
Top Graphics 2022 – Victory goes to a PS exclusive
What is Digital Foundry? It is an association of gaming experts who specialize in the technical aspects of games.
The think tank evaluates software beyond gameplay mechanics and pays increased attention to aspects like graphics or performance. Hardware is also part of the program.
Recently, Digital Foundry published a video analysis of CoD: Warzone 2. The video discussed whether players on a standard PS4 would have disadvantages compared to a PS4 Pro or Xbox One X.
Which games had the top graphics in 2022? In a video, Digital Foundry presented their graphic gems of 2022, and none of the games even won a prize at the Game Awards:
- 1st Place: Horizon: Forbidden West
- 2nd Place: Callisto Protocol
- 3rd Place: Portal RTX
What speaks for the games? In the analysis, the experts also discuss the reasons for their selection. We summarize this briefly for you for each title:
- Portal RTX
The 15-year-old game Portal received some love from its developers in 2022 and was re-released with ray tracing/path tracing graphics.
Portal RTX uses the latest graphic techniques and impresses the experts with its dynamic lighting. They argue that light is an important factor of immersion, and a small incorrect shadow or lack of lighting quickly reminds one that one is in a video game.
The lighting in Portal RTX is precise, seamless, and interacts perfectly with the environment, making the experts impressed by the revamped graphics.
- Callisto Protocol
The disturbing horror game actually deserved to rank higher, according to the experts. However, technical issues at release prevented that. The graphics were received so well by Digital Foundry that it had to be included in the top 3.
The experts say Callisto Protocol still uses the older Unreal Engine 4, but you wouldn’t know it just by looking at the game. They were thrilled that the game could showcase high-quality graphics at every corner and that the old engine had been pushed to its limits.
Moreover, the animations of the characters in the game were praised. The transfer of motion captures from the actors into the game was “incredible”. Some playable sections already feel like cutscenes.
- Horizon: Forbidden West
The winner in Digital Foundry’s graphics ranking stands out particularly due to the characters in the game. Expert John Linneman goes so far as to say: “They now look and move really like real people”. You can find images of the game in our preview report.
You can interpret the body language and recognize emotional impressions on the faces. The many clothing details complete the overall impression convincingly. You actually feel like you are talking to a person and not a lifeless dummy.
But the world is also “incredibly detailed” and designed such that better hardware will provide an additional boost – particularly evident in the differences between the PS4 and PS5 versions.
Additionally, water, lighting, or the tracks that characters and even small animals leave in the grass contribute to impressive effects.
By the way, we may soon explore the world of Horizon in an MMO: Sony is likely planning a new MMORPG for Horizon: Zero Dawn – Bringing in the developers from Blade & Soul.
If you want to check out the analyses yourself, you can find the English video from the experts at Digital Foundry here:
Which titles are at the top of your graphics ranking? Whether from 2022 or earlier. Leave a comment on the topic.
On MeinMMO, we recently published a list focusing on the major releases of 2023. Perhaps the next graphic blockbuster is also already included here, which we will get to admire next year: 5 extremely ambitious multiplayer games that are set to be released in 2023
