First off, this thread is not here to shit all over Horizon: Forbidden West. But it is another latest example of shitty black hair. So, hush your mouth and listen before you try and say something.
Black hair in video games has been notoriously trash. See:
As such I feel we need a whole new thread not just based on a funny video, but pointing out why even today shit is trash and why this seems more of a choice than technical limitation.
To start off with Horizon, the game isn't actually totally horrendous when it comes to black hair. But it does display a noticeable lack of attention to detail that boggles my mind. For instance, you will see certain characters with black hair texture that shouldn't have it, yet full on black people with white hair texture. I'll explain.
Let's start with my boi here near the start of the game. This man has amazing facial textures and animation, and his actual haircut approximates a black fade. But take a second look, dude is clearly rocking white dude hair. That is NOT black hair texture. You can see this better in the second pic.
Now while the devs at least tried to get close to a black hairstyle above, you've also got old hats with full on perms in the middle of the primitive jungle in this game. Who the fuck is perming my dude's hair all the way out here?
But Boss, maybe black hair texture is hard and they can't do it properly. First off, this is a game that puts peach fuzz on Aloy's face because that's how detail heavy they are. Sooooo, I don't believe it. Butttttttttt guess what? They do have black hair texture. Observe:
Alright then, this nigga out here in the desert actually has black hair with black hair texture. No sir, this is not some white hair sculpted into some monstrosity to resemble black a hairstyle. Which means the developers already did the work to create black hair texture for this horrendous mohawk (no offense, guy) yet my boi up top has to suffer a white hair fade? What's more hilarious is you can find white women with this same type of black hair texture hairstyle in the game. Guerilla, were you even paying attention?
But what about Varl?! I'm getting to him, hush. Now Varl has some really nice dreads going on. Check it out:
Because I like the attempt, I won't hate on Varl too much. But a game that wants to be praised for excessive detail has to understand where they are fucking up. Varl looks good...on the top. But check out his sides, guess what? White hair texture sides and not even properly faded (see gif). Also his beard is clearly white hair texture, not black hair texture. I guess that's why Aloy demanded he shave it off, it was against GOD himself. Now compare Varl's cut with this from Demon's Souls below, notice how attention is paid to convincing you this is black hair texture. Also notice how his sides are faded, hell this man even had his sides lined up. Praise this barber:
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Again, I'm not trying to single out Horizon since they are merely following a long line of developers who just do not seem to pay any attention to this stuff. But I do. Now apologists will claim, as previously alluded to, that black hair texture is just hard to get right. They talk about just now having the technology and skilled artists to do this stuff. These people are liars, how do I know? Play any NBA 2K game and you'll see a plethora of perfectly crafted black hairstyles. Take note:
Go ahead though, sound off how black hair is so hard to do while 2K cranks out a game every year with perfect black hair. Devs, hire some black people or go to a black barber shop and learn something because you ain't fooling me trying to pass off white hair as black. End rant.
Black hair in video games has been notoriously trash. See:
As such I feel we need a whole new thread not just based on a funny video, but pointing out why even today shit is trash and why this seems more of a choice than technical limitation.
To start off with Horizon, the game isn't actually totally horrendous when it comes to black hair. But it does display a noticeable lack of attention to detail that boggles my mind. For instance, you will see certain characters with black hair texture that shouldn't have it, yet full on black people with white hair texture. I'll explain.
Let's start with my boi here near the start of the game. This man has amazing facial textures and animation, and his actual haircut approximates a black fade. But take a second look, dude is clearly rocking white dude hair. That is NOT black hair texture. You can see this better in the second pic.
Now while the devs at least tried to get close to a black hairstyle above, you've also got old hats with full on perms in the middle of the primitive jungle in this game. Who the fuck is perming my dude's hair all the way out here?
But Boss, maybe black hair texture is hard and they can't do it properly. First off, this is a game that puts peach fuzz on Aloy's face because that's how detail heavy they are. Sooooo, I don't believe it. Butttttttttt guess what? They do have black hair texture. Observe:
Alright then, this nigga out here in the desert actually has black hair with black hair texture. No sir, this is not some white hair sculpted into some monstrosity to resemble black a hairstyle. Which means the developers already did the work to create black hair texture for this horrendous mohawk (no offense, guy) yet my boi up top has to suffer a white hair fade? What's more hilarious is you can find white women with this same type of black hair texture hairstyle in the game. Guerilla, were you even paying attention?
But what about Varl?! I'm getting to him, hush. Now Varl has some really nice dreads going on. Check it out:
Because I like the attempt, I won't hate on Varl too much. But a game that wants to be praised for excessive detail has to understand where they are fucking up. Varl looks good...on the top. But check out his sides, guess what? White hair texture sides and not even properly faded (see gif). Also his beard is clearly white hair texture, not black hair texture. I guess that's why Aloy demanded he shave it off, it was against GOD himself. Now compare Varl's cut with this from Demon's Souls below, notice how attention is paid to convincing you this is black hair texture. Also notice how his sides are faded, hell this man even had his sides lined up. Praise this barber:
Again, I'm not trying to single out Horizon since they are merely following a long line of developers who just do not seem to pay any attention to this stuff. But I do. Now apologists will claim, as previously alluded to, that black hair texture is just hard to get right. They talk about just now having the technology and skilled artists to do this stuff. These people are liars, how do I know? Play any NBA 2K game and you'll see a plethora of perfectly crafted black hairstyles. Take note:
Go ahead though, sound off how black hair is so hard to do while 2K cranks out a game every year with perfect black hair. Devs, hire some black people or go to a black barber shop and learn something because you ain't fooling me trying to pass off white hair as black. End rant.
