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Game Screenshots that don't look like they came from video games

Garlador

Garlador

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
14,131
The recent Machinarium appreciation thread reminded me of something I've always enjoyed in certain games - a visual identity that is so unique and stylized that if you saw a screenshot of the game, you'd have no idea it was from a game at all.

apps.564.9007199266420524.27bb40a1-e98e-4d52-8780-aec53a9be9ca.baecd30d-f30e-4be2-b017-96097b03033e


Sometimes a game just has an illustrative look to it that looks like it was just a framed painting. A lot of prerendered backgrounds and classic JRPG art did this very well.
tumblr_ncy9rpnPtY1rvenmoo1_500.gif

(I would do unspeakable things for an HD version of Chrono Cross...)

Modern games have really leveraged their art style and technical prowess though to make games that at first glance look like they're not games at all.
Cuphead looks like a classic cartoon...
Cuphead-the-video-game-is-coming-to-Tesla-the-cars-760x428.jpg


Gris blew me away by looking like a crazy painting brought to life.
284515450417697868_GRIS.jpg


While I'm sure it's easier to do this in 2D than 3D, we've had a lot of 3D games with styles that don't immediately make me think of video games either.
0150cc1388e0e5c069aeb75782c0b4f6.jpg

obra%20dinn%20dante%20main.jpg

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Sometimes I see a game and it looks like it could've just been a hand-crafted illustration, or a pic from a gorgeous cartoon, and those visuals always stick out in my mind compared to what we normally see and expect from video game graphics.

What are some games or visuals that at first glance you might mistake for something outside of video games?
 
Dlanor A. Knox

Dlanor A. Knox

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Apr 6, 2018
4,159
Ah, I love pre-rendered backgrounds. I wish it was still popular.

Baten kaitos had some amazing pre-rendered backgrounds aswell

tumblr_othw1w5mwL1tln6w5o7_r2_540.gif


tumblr_m4nqzyXB1i1qh18two2_1280.png


tumblr_owffx8J2Vy1tln6w5o1_r1_500.gif
 
OP
OP
Garlador

Garlador

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
14,131
Ghos said:
Ni no kuni
Ni-no-Kuni-First-Media.jpg
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That's a very good one. In a similar boat, Square did some stuff in KH3 that if I didn't know better I'd say was straight from the movies. The Pirates section may not be photo-realistic, but it'd definitely pass for a Robert Zemeckis-style CG film like Beowulf or Polar Express, while you have to squint to know which version of Frozen is from the film and which is from the game.
wwgkingdomhearts39-1010189.jpg

mivay5gkozd21.png

bAG2qL2boODAOXhydZPVIPZ3MuuqJ6V5cU3Ja8-fLAs.jpg
 
Falchion

Falchion

Member
Oct 25, 2017
40,935
Boise
Garlador said:
That's a very good one. In a similar boat, Square did some stuff in KH3 that if I didn't know better I'd say was straight from the movies. The Pirates section may not be photo-realistic, but it'd definitely pass for a Robert Zemeckis-style CG film like Beowulf or Polar Express, while you have to squint to know which version of Frozen is from the film and which is from the game.
wwgkingdomhearts39-1010189.jpg

mivay5gkozd21.png

bAG2qL2boODAOXhydZPVIPZ3MuuqJ6V5cU3Ja8-fLAs.jpg
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Yeah KHIII looks insane in some parts.
 
Gundam

Gundam

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,801
Man I always thought Okami was ugly. By far not the worst looking cel shaded game but it just feels like it was too ahead of its time for its own good
 
bombermouse

bombermouse

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,056
I think perspective and "gamey" elements kill the vibe for most games in this thread. I agree with machinarium and that one Chrono Cross gif though. I mean, Cuphead looks too gamey to not look like a game.
 
banter

banter

Member
Jan 12, 2018
4,127
It's really nice to see this thread topic without it focusing on hyperrealistic games and getting filled with forza and gran turismo pictures. As incredible as they are, this is a bigger achievement to me (just my opinion). When I saw the first cuphead trailer i was blown away with how it looked like a playable cartoon rather than a cartoon themed game. Games like GRIS and Okami really take you to another world and it's incredible.
 

Deleted member 54292

User requested account closure
Banned
Feb 27, 2019
2,636
Garlador said:
That's a very good one. In a similar boat, Square did some stuff in KH3 that if I didn't know better I'd say was straight from the movies. The Pirates section may not be photo-realistic, but it'd definitely pass for a Robert Zemeckis-style CG film like Beowulf or Polar Express, while you have to squint to know which version of Frozen is from the film and which is from the game.
wwgkingdomhearts39-1010189.jpg
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whoa
 
msdstc

msdstc

Member
Nov 6, 2017
6,876
"everybody should play this game" *proceeds to post picture of obscure title without posting the name*

Not posting the title of things is such a pompous thing to do.
 
Edgar

Edgar

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
7,180
AC Unity interiors always looked like high quality CG renders

170211050813952211.png

efe96c2969a825be0c42521b0db24774.png
 
Issen

Issen

Member
Nov 12, 2017
6,819
Almost any given Gran Turismo Sport replay screenshot, especially if it's downsampled a bit, looks like a real life photo.
 
Bad_Boy

Bad_Boy

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,624


Credit to RounD

GT: Sport btw... what else would it be lol.
 
Last edited:
Horns

Horns

Member
Dec 7, 2018
2,523
Someone posted a bunch of RDR2 screenshots at the GTA forums recently that looked like real life.

unknown.png

unknown.png

unknown.png
 
pswii60

pswii60

Member
Oct 27, 2017
26,670
The Milky Way
Garlador said:
The recent Machinarium appreciation thread reminded me of something I've always enjoyed in certain games - a visual identity that is so unique and stylized that if you saw a screenshot of the game, you'd have no idea it was from a game at all.

apps.564.9007199266420524.27bb40a1-e98e-4d52-8780-aec53a9be9ca.baecd30d-f30e-4be2-b017-96097b03033e


Sometimes a game just has an illustrative look to it that looks like it was just a framed painting. A lot of prerendered backgrounds and classic JRPG art did this very well.
tumblr_ncy9rpnPtY1rvenmoo1_500.gif

(I would do unspeakable things for an HD version of Chrono Cross...)

Modern games have really leveraged their art style and technical prowess though to make games that at first glance look like they're not games at all.
Cuphead looks like a classic cartoon...
Cuphead-the-video-game-is-coming-to-Tesla-the-cars-760x428.jpg


Gris blew me away by looking like a crazy painting brought to life.
284515450417697868_GRIS.jpg


While I'm sure it's easier to do this in 2D than 3D, we've had a lot of 3D games with styles that don't immediately make me think of video games either.
0150cc1388e0e5c069aeb75782c0b4f6.jpg

obra%20dinn%20dante%20main.jpg

7e3d8f07d14422a0d4838efa670281bd.jpg


Sometimes I see a game and it looks like it could've just been a hand-crafted illustration, or a pic from a gorgeous cartoon, and those visuals always stick out in my mind compared to what we normally see and expect from video game graphics.

What are some games or visuals that at first glance you might mistake for something outside of video games?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Obra Dinn sticks out like a sore thumb there, as it's the most videogamey looking videogame of all time, with it emulating the look of original 2-colour Apple computers/monitors. There's lots of dithering, lots of aliasing. By design.
 
nbnt

nbnt

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,811
It's not out but Sable seems like a moving Moebius painting:

fT0ogPV.jpg

w5flmje.jpg

vCXAz1Y.jpg


El Shaddai is a good contender for this but I can't find decent screenshots for it:

hmxFDEd.jpg
 
OP
OP
Garlador

Garlador

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
14,131
I think another great example are the recent South Park games which could pass as episodes of the show.
90
 
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