Compared to 'anime' aesthetic, why are there so few western games w/ 'comics art' aesthetic?

[Hey Please]

It is evident that 'anime-aesthetics' have and continue to form the basis for visual identity for myriad Japanese (as well as now, S. Korean) games ranging from gacha mobile to AAA titles. On the flip-side, western animation aesthetics have generally relied broadly on more realistic proportions (esp. the facial features) for tv shows- presumably derived from aesthetics of character designs (on average) found in comic books, especially towards in 1990s through to 2010s, barring the roided out physique (which itself has seen notable reduction):

Of course the western devs have released myriad games over the last two decades with 'Stylized' aesthetics. Some of the most notable recent examples in the AA - AAA space:

• Sea of Thieves
• Dishonored series
• Prey

But it begs the question why have there been comparatively so few games developed by western dev teams, to feature comic-book-esque stylized aesthetics that feature realistic human proportions:

​

The only notable examples I can recall to put in that clip are from:

• The Wolf Among Us
• The Walking Dead series
• Borderlands series (not shown: Tales from Borderlands)
• Batman: The Telltale Series
• Prince of Persia (2008)

4 out of 5 games/series in that list are from a single studio..... Telltale Games.

To me, they look like comic books come to life with potential for vividly portraying character emotions via etchings of lines, hatching and playing between gradients of lights playing across their visages.

So why has there been such a reluctance for wider western developers to adopt a style that has the capability to convey strong sense of emotions and atmosphere as well as providing a buffer for fidelity shortcomings that would otherwise stick out like a sore thumb when draped in the more traditional, realistic aesthetic?

 

[Rosebud]

I played Comix Zone recently and wondered the same

 

[Exist 2 Inspire]

Loved XIII back in the day.

 

[Jarmel]

Pure conjecture but maybe because comic books are viewed as being nerdy or childish and production leads want to reach as broad an audience as possible. Additionally it's harder to show high resolution graphics improvements in a cartoony artstyle compared to more realistic ones.

Also from a technical side, a lot of the middleware engines such as UE don't handle cartoon aspects as well as realistic components. They're better than they used to be though.

 

[citrusred]

I mean most comics aren't that popular so why would their art be? Aren't the top selling floppy comics generally around 200k max?

 

[Xenosaga]

I don't know... but when I think of "western aesthetics" in comparison to Japanese anime aesthetics, I think of something like graphics of Fortnite first.

 

[spartan112g]

Don't forget Ultimate Spider-Man on the Xbox and PS2. Does Cuphead count since it's stylized as a cartoon? Also, Mad World on the Wii.
I think there is a giant misunderstanding in the West where they think cell-shading is somehow for kids. You wouldn't believe how many times I've been in a forum where a person will call a game "kiddie" just based off of it being cell-shaded.

 

[My Blue Heaven]

Many western games struggle with having half-decent art design or even a definable aesthetic. Dishonored series and Prey strike me as some of the few titles to have a strong/engaging atmosphere and visual language for their worlds.

 

[Z-Beat]

Ultimate Spider-Man

And I always forget the name but there's this motorcycle game that used to be in arcades. You'd pull the handlebars out to jump and in to slide and you have to run from the cops. It had a comic feel too but idk if it was a Western dev.

Edit: Nah it was a Sega game called Wild Riders. Nevermind

 

[Deleted member 29682]

Void Bastards was the most recent one I could think of.

 

[Stay Up Be Easy]

I hoped the success of Cuphead would lead to copycats of different style.

The comic style leads pretty straight into Saturday morning cartoon style.

I would give anything to play a competent action/beat em up that looked like an episode of Gargoyles/Spiderman TAS/Batman TAS/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

 

[NazoNazoXLR]

People will argue this but I think on a fundamental level comics are just more popular in Japan, across more demographics, and that's part of the reason that anime and the so-called "anime aesthetic" have turned into what it has.

Beyond that, a lot of American game dev has it's roots on the PC side, and PC games didn't uh... I mean if you wanna call "Tabletop roleplaying book illustrations" an aesthetic, then that'd be it. But even then, that stuff has painterly aspirations of "realism" that would ultimately manifest into the kind of art styles you see in stuff like Gears of War and Dragon Age.

 

[Big One]

Mainstream Western art is obsessed with realism and grittiness. There was a time when stuff like that Infinity War cover was considered to be realistic and gritty, even though that couldn't be farther from the truth. This is why comics and Western video games in general have gone down this path.

 

[Raigor]

I don't know... but when I think of "western aesthetics" in comparison to Japanese anime aesthetics, I think of something like graphics of Fortnite first.

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This has to be a troll right?

There is MUCH more variety in western aesthetics compared to jpn anime one and you think about Fornite? lol

 

[Strangelove_77]

Maybe I'm talking out of my ass, but I'm sure anime is waaaaaaay more popular than comic books. The Marvel movies may be extremely successful but those fans don't turn into comic book fans. They don't care about the source material. They're two separate things.

 

[808s & Villainy]

There is MUCH more variety in western aesthetics compared to jpn anine one and you think about Fornite? lol

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Anime has a ton of aesthetics too...

 

[Vitet]

I don't know... but when I think of "western aesthetics" in comparison to Japanese anime aesthetics, I think of something like graphics of Fortnite first.

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Exactly.

Anime is not manga, so I don't understand why the western side is comic book.

There are tons of stylized western games, that are cartoony, Fortnite being a great example.

 

[Watchtower]

Another thread for me to whinge over people rejecting Codename STEAM because the Mignola/Timm comic aesthetic turned people off. There's plenty of other reasons why the game sucked but that wasn't one of them you uncultured sunsuv-

Ahem

Also Telltale's graphics don't get attention for being comic book-like, they get attention for being cel-shaded, which probably doesn't help.

 

[Midgarian]

I think it's the classic cultural argument. So my assumptions (with no evidence) are as follows:

A higher ratio of Japanese people watch animation than Western people.

The mainstream view in the West is that animation and cartoons, comic books are kiddy or weird, and realism is preferred. This kind of rhetoric by gamers starts in childhood.

In Japan it's seen as "normal" to watch animations and cartoons, read manga and play videogames with colourful cartoony aesthetics as an adult.

In the West it's seen as a quirky character trait to have. It's not just normal the way watching Netflix or playing realistic shooters is normal.

So the above demographic tastes inform both consumer choices and company choices, in what kind of art style are prevalent in the games produced in each country.

One of the Japanese games that is to their market, what COD and GTA are in the West, is Dragon Quest. Monster Hunter PSP used to be their equivalent of COD. That says it all really.

People will argue this but I think on a fundamental level comics are just more popular in Japan, across more demographics, and that's part of the reason that anime and the so-called "anime aesthetic" have turned into what it has.

Beyond that, a lot of American game dev has it's roots on the PC side, and PC games didn't uh... I mean if you wanna call "Tabletop roleplaying book illustrations" an aesthetic, then that'd be it. But even then, that stuff has painterly aspirations of "realism" that would ultimately manifest into the kind of art styles you see in stuff like Gears of War and Dragon Age.

Click to shrink...

Mainstream Western art is obsessed with realism and grittiness. There was a time when stuff like that Infinity War cover was considered to be realistic and gritty, even though that couldn't be farther from the truth. This is why comics and Western video games in general have gone down this path.

Click to shrink...

You both echo my thoughts.

 

[My Blue Heaven]

Anime has a ton of aesthetics too...

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Yeah pigeonholing an entire visual medium because someone has a grudge against "anime" games is not helpful.

 

[oxymoron]

XCOM: Chimera Squad just came out and leans pretty heavily on that kind of aesthetic for its marketing and UI design.

I think Freedom Force and its sequel flopping back in the early 2000s might have scared people away from doing comicsy games? A developer with a fantastic pedigree, amazing games that look fantastic, and the market reaction was a complete wet fart.

 

[Brivs]

We did this in our most recent game (Worse Than Death), as I'm a comics creator and lifelong fan. It's weird, as you'd think there is a huge cross section of "people who like western comic book art" and "people who play videogames" but they don't necessarily meet that way.

And I totally agree with Raigor; "western comics" is a huge swath of art styles and approaches, from European comics, UK-style hardcore pulp comics, Heavy Metal, American superhero, slice-of-life, underground, etc.

 

[Mik317]

to many John/Jane Marketing and the data he/she must have; Cartoony = Kiddy = No Big sales.

I love the MCU but lets be real, if the same exact films was done Spiderverse style they wouldn't be as big.

its a weird stigma that has existed forever now. As such most of the more "cartoony" art styles exist in indies. Fortnite took off despite its artstyle and moreso because of the big battle royal boom and them having a working and unique set up IIRC.

 

[Bishop89]

Darksiders?

 

[Raigor]

Anime has a ton of aesthetics too...

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Never said they dont, but claiming that western aesthetic reminds to Fortnite is some bullshit right there.

 

[Chibs]

Glad to see Ultimate Spider-Man mentioned, amazing game and it got me into comic books.

Maybe the Darkness 2? It had more of a comic book aesthetic when compared to the first game at least.

 

[Xenosaga]

This has to be a troll right?

There is MUCH more variety in western aesthetics compared to jpn anime one and you think about Fornite? lol

Click to shrink...

I am not saying Western aesthetics don't have more variety than Japanese anime ones. What I am trying to say is that as someone who is more used to Japanese anime aesthetics, the "First thing" that comes to my mind when I think of unique Western aesthetics look is something like the visual of Fortnite and Overwatch style before the American comic book style. I just think there is more to Western aesthetics than the American comic book style OP mentioned.

 

[My Blue Heaven]

Never said they dont, but claiming that western aesthetic reminds to Fortnite is some bullshit right there.

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Fortnite is pretty emblematic of a western cartoon aesthetic though. I don't really see the problem.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

Yeah pigeonholing an entire visual medium because someone has a grudge against "anime" games is not helpful.

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Agreed, these discussions always tend to devolve into "samey anime vs grey/brown realistic western" pigeonholing with little to no regard for the massive aesthetic variety we see worldwide. It just doesn't make for good discussion and leads to "my favourite media is better" tribalism.

 

[Hey Please]

Many western games struggle with having half-decent art design or even a definable aesthetic. Dishonored series and Prey strike me as some of the few titles to have a strong/engaging atmosphere and visual language for their worlds.

Click to shrink...

And neither of them features absolutely realistic facial features. As mentioned in the OP, there are dime a dozen stylized games that have come from western developers, seldom (in the greater scheme of things) did they feature realistic facial proportions.

Don't forget Ultimate Spider-Man on the Xbox and PS2. Does Cuphead count since it's stylized as a cartoon? Also, Mad World on the Wii.
I think there is a giant misunderstanding in the West where they think cell-shading is somehow for kids. You wouldn't believe how many times I've been in a forum where a person will call a game "kiddie" just based off of it being cell-shaded.

Click to shrink...

I completely forgot about Ultimate Spider-man and Mad World. Thanks. Insofar as Cuphead, it is definitely stylized.

Void Bastards was the most recent one I could think of.

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Yea, this game recently caught my eye purely for its aesthetic.

Also Telltale's graphics don't get attention for being comic book-like, they get attention for being cel-shaded, which probably doesn't help.

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Yes, they are cel-shaded but they also feature realistic human proportion (esp. the face), something that is amiss from myriad other cel-shaded game coming from eastern developers.

 

[Biosnake]

The 'anime' aesthetic is for the waifus.

 

[Weiss]

Not to go all weeb but it's kinda funny that we've broadly accepted "anime" as looking like one particular style but comic books can be defined entirely by pulp superheroes.

I get it, but it's still kinda funny.

 

[Seesaw15]

Because most western comic art goes for realism. "Realistic" 3d renders of idealized characters is a pretty close approximation of the generic comic art style. Just slapping cell shaded lines onto a model would kind of defeat the purpose. Plus by and large most western audience think cell shading=cartoony=kiddy.

 

[Thera]

If we are talking purely about old shool comics like you put in exemple, I would say it is probably difficult to put in motion. That's also why series made from comics are more anime that comics.

I love Spiderverse, but I am not sure I can play a game with that amount of informations.

 

[Mirage]

I hoped the success of Cuphead would lead to copycats of different style.

The comic style leads pretty straight into Saturday morning cartoon style.

I would give anything to play a competent action/beat em up that looked like an episode of Gargoyles/Spiderman TAS/Batman TAS/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Click to shrink...

If you want to see Cuphead copycats.

 

[My Blue Heaven]

Not to go all weeb but it's kinda funny that we've broadly accepted "anime" as looking like one particular style but comic books can be defined entirely by pulp superheroes.

I get it, but it's still kinda funny.

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If people want to have a real discussion both art styles have tons of different design schools and sub-genres. Not every western game is defined by realism nor is every japanese game defined by shonen anime archetypes.

 

[Greywaren]

I wish more western games used more unique art styles. They mostly stick to being realistic and it's kinda boring.

Games stick out a lot more if the art style is different.

 

[Deleted member 31092]

Anime and manga are far more popular than comics and cartoon in the US.

A lot more popular and most of all they are all-age.

 

[Rosebud]

Void Bastards was the most recent one I could think of.

Click to shrink...

Oh damn, I usually don't play shooters but this caught my attention. It's SP?

 

[Dyle]

Anime and manga are a much bigger part of Japanese culture than any comics are in the West, so it makes sense that creators and consumers are more drawn to it in general. Western comic styles tend to be very, very loud and in your face, which is generally not ideal for video games, where such bold looks can make it hard to discern what's going on.

 

[JuniperAndSage]

The pictures you posted up top are hideous. I would actively avoid a game that looked like that.

 

[mute]

Not a lot of past mainstream successes to point at.

Not nearly enough people want to make/greenlight a game "for this specific group of interests" when they could instead make "something for everyone".

 

[I KILL PXLS]

People will argue this but I think on a fundamental level comics are just more popular in Japan, across more demographics, and that's part of the reason that anime and the so-called "anime aesthetic" have turned into what it has.

Beyond that, a lot of American game dev has it's roots on the PC side, and PC games didn't uh... I mean if you wanna call "Tabletop roleplaying book illustrations" an aesthetic, then that'd be it. But even then, that stuff has painterly aspirations of "realism" that would ultimately manifest into the kind of art styles you see in stuff like Gears of War and Dragon Age.

Click to shrink...

Yup. Pretty much all this.

 

[DrWong]

Borderlands is one of the big western games using western comics art. You can find ton of indies with that approach as well (Darkest Dungeon is a succesfull example, Shadow Tactics, Battle Chasers, Deep Sky Derelicts, Hotline Miami, Valiant the Great War...)

 

[Joni]

Comics aren't popular, Mangas are. The comic market is long past being healthy.

 

[Loanshark]

I mean there are some, but "The West" often seems to mean "everywhere that is not Japan", which is the whole world. But sure, If you mean Europe/North America, then id say that its kind of obvious that the collective output of two continents will be far more varied and interesting than Japans more narrow aesthetics.

 

[Sanka]

Western games imitate the cgi movie aesthetic more. Overwatch or Fortnite come to mind. So I guess both just use the aesthetic that's more popular or familiar for their primary audiences or the creators themself.

 

[Kunka Kid]

Don't forget Ultimate Spider-Man on the Xbox and PS2. Does Cuphead count since it's stylized as a cartoon? Also, Mad World on the Wii.
I think there is a giant misunderstanding in the West where they think cell-shading is somehow for kids. You wouldn't believe how many times I've been in a forum where a person will call a game "kiddie" just based off of it being cell-shaded.

Click to shrink...

Mad World is a Japanese game

 

[Qikz]

Ultimate Spider-Man

And I always forget the name but there's this motorcycle game that used to be in arcades. You'd pull the handlebars out to jump and in to slide and you have to run from the cops. It had a comic feel too but idk if it was a Western dev.

Edit: Nah it was a Sega game called Wild Riders. Nevermind

Click to shrink...

Damn this looks beautiful. I'd love more games like this!

 

[Jakten]

I think part of it is how games have historically been marketed to people in North America. They put a lot of focus on being technologically better than others and the best way they thought to show that was always with how "real" it looked. This sort of made many people belive that any game that has a stylistic art style has bad graphics or must be hiding that they are technologically inferior. Also the console war exacerbated this too.

Second video games have been historically marketed towards children. This means that kids who grew up playing video games and don't want to give up gaming are concerned with being seen as childish. Even "adult" games were largely marketed toward children. This didn't happen the same way in Japan, they always had games aimed and marketed at adults, for instance visual novels.

This coupled with many other stigma that North America has; for instance comics and animation in modern times became associated with kids. Adult animation disappeared for a long time or became something that is very underground, whereas Japan embraced comics and animation. They certainly have some stigma but it's not on the same degree and is more around the style of animation. They don't view art as a waste of time in the same way most of NA do, it's not pompous or arrogant there it's something that enriches your life. They view animation as an artform and most Japanese people are aware of animated properties from all around the world that your average american would have no idea wtf they are. Like Moomin or Cheburaska.

Americans are also more likely to view fantastic ideas and imagery as childish, if you aren't living in reality you are wasting time (obviously that is true in Japan as well but it manifests differently due to viewing animation as art). You can especially see this change in our movies overtime. Comic book movies were originally aimed at kids or families, as those children have grown up companies want to capitalize on that nostalgia without alienating adults by making them feel childish so they try very hard to reduce how much imagination it takes to watch. Dull tones, realistic environments and characters. No nonsense, only serious. Even fantasy movies like LOTR try way more to feel 'real' than movies of the past which embraced how fantastic they were. This isn't the case in Japan, their movies don't mind making the movie stylistic. This means that usually thier comic book movies have all sorts of effects and are more concerned with making the movie look and function like a cartoon. Even comic movies trying to tell a serious story often lean into some more stylistic elements.

You would never seen characters like this in an NA movie anymore, maybe in the 80s or 90s:

They want to be as accurate as possible:

These movies aren't kids movies.


Obviously this isn't a hardlined, definitive thing there are people who believe/like either thing in both countries but I do think that largely this is true as to why this happens..