Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Writeup by Aleks Franiczek
You’d hope a game where painting is such an important narrative motif comes through in the visual department. Fortunately, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s art team showed up for the assignment. Each of the game’s environments are drenched in carefully chosen color palettes infused with inspiration from Belle Époque-era French art, making up an often surreal dark fantasy world where beauty and ruin intertwine. There’s enough architectural variety to make the zones feel like coherent places and navigation fluid without a mini-map. Considering the environmental storytelling details the designers baked in and just how darn pretty it all is, the lack of UI clutter is a nice touch that supports the game’s lofty aesthetic ambitions.
Speaking of UI, how about them menus? As if the lush painterly environments weren’t enough, the art team clearly took notes from Atlus RPGs on how to make navigating menus (whether in battles or the overworld) feel stylish and expressive.
Runner-Up: Hades II
Writeup by Patrick Gann
The character portraits alone put Hades II in the running for best visuals. Side characters like the adorable Arachne and the subdued Echo fit in the same visual world as Hecate and Eris. Meanwhile, the animation of boss enemies like Typhon and Chronos are spectacular!
Perhaps even more impressive is the balance of layers, lighting, and color in the mayhem of combat. The instant visual feedback offers so much more regarding bonuses, status effects, and more—even more than the first Hades. The fact that it all works is no small feat.
