when they want to be videogames can be
the most beautiful form of art out there
these video games certainly want to be
well you stop being so mysterious and
eat your breakfast
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down our picks for the top
ten instances of unique art direction in
videogames for this top 10 we’re looking
at the more artistic games that employ a
unique graphical style effectively to
make themselves stand out instead of
just trying to look the most realistic
not only do these games look good but
often the art style directly influences
the gameplay since cel-shaded games
aren’t exactly unique these days we’ve
already got a list for the top 10 cel
shaded games so be sure to check that
out too number 10 another world
aka out of this world we’re starting off
with an oldie but boy has aged into a
strange work of art
this is the perfect instance of a game
that sets itself apart with its
beautiful art direction remember this
was 1991 the story of boy messes with
science gets sent to another dimension
has to fight off hordes of aliens who
want to dissect him isn’t exactly
earth-shattering for a video game but
the game’s minimalistic flat color
animations made up of simple polygons
give it a unique feel that’s dare I say
it out of this world
number 9 Paper Mario series it’s right
there in the title Paper Mario is the
beautiful result of everyone’s favorite
plumber being flattened onto a piece of
paper in this spin-off RPG series
players get to travel through the
Mushroom Kingdom like they’ve never seen
it before
entirely made of paper
it’s a wild aesthetic choice that leads
to a whole host of fun visual gags and
sometimes Mario’s paper form even helps
him save the day like when he has to
turn into a paper airplane or a paper
sailboat man Nintendo gets creative huh
number eight Super Mario World to
Yoshi’s Island easily one of the most
beautiful games on the Super Nintendo
Yoshi’s Island reimagines the world is a
magical art project come to life the
gorgeous visuals look like they were
drawn with chalk and crayons the colors
are vivid and everything’s always
buzzing with life
this art direction truly captures the
innocence of the game what could be more
fitting for a game about a tiny baby
Mario on a quest to save his baby
brother Luigi number 7 ninokuni wrath of
the white witch ready
take it slow to start with okay yeah all
right if you ever wanted to run around
in one of Hayao Miyazaki’s famous anime
films this is your chance or at least
the closest thing to it when Studio
Ghibli and level 5 Studios teamed up to
make an RPG of epic proportions gamers
everywhere shed tears of joy at the work
of art the two studios concocted me how
can I don’t frak man is a big
responsibility I know but you’d be
alright
ninokuni does a phenomenal job of
capturing the style of Studio Ghibli’s
films with fluid animation and the
attention to detail that movie buffs
have come to love now conveniently
packaged in video game form so I’m good
to you to whoever came up with this
blessed Union thank you from the bottom
of our hearts man you got it
number six journey
an unexpected gem from the last
generation journey is all about if
foking emotion
designed to make the player feel small
amidst a world of wonder this indie
developed critical darling takes players
on a you guessed it journey through a
beautifully rendered minimalistic desert
it might appear desolate at first but
what you can find there is lovingly
rendered from the mesmerizing sand to
the fluttering cape of the player to the
intricate and mysterious ruins littered
around
it’s truly a game that you have to
experience to appreciate
so grab your cloak and set off on a
journey of your own
number five the Neverhood claymation is
a sort of lost art these days due to its
time-consuming process and nisha peel
but that didn’t stop earthworm jim
creator doug tennapel from creating this
elaborate world with over three tons of
clay this quirky point-and-click
adventure was rendered entirely out of
clay and stop-motion technology giving
it a look that’s completely unique or at
least it was until recently 2015 saw the
release of armikrog a spiritual
successor that came out nearly two
decades later but unfortunately it’s not
great Tommy Tommy don’t touch that thing
you know now where it’s fed number four
tearaway series
get your confetti ready for this
playstation treasure from the minds that
brought us LittleBigPlanet if you’ve
ever played one of these games you know
just how beautiful and innovative these
designers are with their worlds that
will give this song a nasty twist this
time you play as either iota or @oe in a
mesmerizing landscape inspired by paper
crafts meaning it looks like it’s made
out of construction paper with solid
gameplay that’s anything but paper-thin
this imagination powered adventure is
one you won’t be able to tear yourself
away from number three limbo no we’re
not talking about bending backwards and
dancing under a pole this is a totally
different kind of limbo this 2d
side-scroller presents itself in
entirely black and white tones and
you’re given the task of guiding a
little nameless boy through an eerie
black and white forest
the art which masterfully plays with
shadows and silhouettes is as unsettling
as it is beautiful it’s minimalism at
its finest and possibly at its creepiest
– number two Kirby’s Epic Yarn on a
brighter note literally Kirby continues
to be one of the most colorful
platforming series around and this time
we’ve got an adventure that has some
texture to it if the title didn’t spoil
it for you everything in this game from
the enemies to the levels to the little
pink ball himself is rendered out of
yarn it’s so full of charming visual
gags and imaginative levels that
Nintendo decided to pull out the yarn
ball again for 2015’s Yoshi’s wooly
world before we unveil our top pick here
are a few honorable mentions
number one monument vally if you’ve ever
looked at an MC Escher painting and
thought wow that would make a great
video game level you’d probably be
called crazy that is until 2014 when the
indie studio as to had that very same
idea and released one of the most unique
looking games ever Monument Valley
it’s a minimalistic geometric totally
enchanting puzzle game that has players
fighting their way through cleverly
designed optical illusions in a
beautiful isometric world its style is
minimalistic atmospheric and artistic
all at once and that’s all integral to
the game’s mind-boggling puzzle solving
and yes you may have seen Frank
Underwood playing it I guess it’s just
that good your journey is won through a
forgotten landscape of twisting
staircases and morphing castles
cobwebbed with ruins MC Escher could
only grasp at in a dream state do you
agree with our list honestly I wish you
think before you open your mouth did we
miss any Museum worthy games for more
mind-blowing top 10s published every day
be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com
boom
look at that I think they like to do
the most beautiful form of art out there
these video games certainly want to be
well you stop being so mysterious and
eat your breakfast
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down our picks for the top
ten instances of unique art direction in
videogames for this top 10 we’re looking
at the more artistic games that employ a
unique graphical style effectively to
make themselves stand out instead of
just trying to look the most realistic
not only do these games look good but
often the art style directly influences
the gameplay since cel-shaded games
aren’t exactly unique these days we’ve
already got a list for the top 10 cel
shaded games so be sure to check that
out too number 10 another world
aka out of this world we’re starting off
with an oldie but boy has aged into a
strange work of art
this is the perfect instance of a game
that sets itself apart with its
beautiful art direction remember this
was 1991 the story of boy messes with
science gets sent to another dimension
has to fight off hordes of aliens who
want to dissect him isn’t exactly
earth-shattering for a video game but
the game’s minimalistic flat color
animations made up of simple polygons
give it a unique feel that’s dare I say
it out of this world
number 9 Paper Mario series it’s right
there in the title Paper Mario is the
beautiful result of everyone’s favorite
plumber being flattened onto a piece of
paper in this spin-off RPG series
players get to travel through the
Mushroom Kingdom like they’ve never seen
it before
entirely made of paper
it’s a wild aesthetic choice that leads
to a whole host of fun visual gags and
sometimes Mario’s paper form even helps
him save the day like when he has to
turn into a paper airplane or a paper
sailboat man Nintendo gets creative huh
number eight Super Mario World to
Yoshi’s Island easily one of the most
beautiful games on the Super Nintendo
Yoshi’s Island reimagines the world is a
magical art project come to life the
gorgeous visuals look like they were
drawn with chalk and crayons the colors
are vivid and everything’s always
buzzing with life
this art direction truly captures the
innocence of the game what could be more
fitting for a game about a tiny baby
Mario on a quest to save his baby
brother Luigi number 7 ninokuni wrath of
the white witch ready
take it slow to start with okay yeah all
right if you ever wanted to run around
in one of Hayao Miyazaki’s famous anime
films this is your chance or at least
the closest thing to it when Studio
Ghibli and level 5 Studios teamed up to
make an RPG of epic proportions gamers
everywhere shed tears of joy at the work
of art the two studios concocted me how
can I don’t frak man is a big
responsibility I know but you’d be
alright
ninokuni does a phenomenal job of
capturing the style of Studio Ghibli’s
films with fluid animation and the
attention to detail that movie buffs
have come to love now conveniently
packaged in video game form so I’m good
to you to whoever came up with this
blessed Union thank you from the bottom
of our hearts man you got it
number six journey
an unexpected gem from the last
generation journey is all about if
foking emotion
designed to make the player feel small
amidst a world of wonder this indie
developed critical darling takes players
on a you guessed it journey through a
beautifully rendered minimalistic desert
it might appear desolate at first but
what you can find there is lovingly
rendered from the mesmerizing sand to
the fluttering cape of the player to the
intricate and mysterious ruins littered
around
it’s truly a game that you have to
experience to appreciate
so grab your cloak and set off on a
journey of your own
number five the Neverhood claymation is
a sort of lost art these days due to its
time-consuming process and nisha peel
but that didn’t stop earthworm jim
creator doug tennapel from creating this
elaborate world with over three tons of
clay this quirky point-and-click
adventure was rendered entirely out of
clay and stop-motion technology giving
it a look that’s completely unique or at
least it was until recently 2015 saw the
release of armikrog a spiritual
successor that came out nearly two
decades later but unfortunately it’s not
great Tommy Tommy don’t touch that thing
you know now where it’s fed number four
tearaway series
get your confetti ready for this
playstation treasure from the minds that
brought us LittleBigPlanet if you’ve
ever played one of these games you know
just how beautiful and innovative these
designers are with their worlds that
will give this song a nasty twist this
time you play as either iota or @oe in a
mesmerizing landscape inspired by paper
crafts meaning it looks like it’s made
out of construction paper with solid
gameplay that’s anything but paper-thin
this imagination powered adventure is
one you won’t be able to tear yourself
away from number three limbo no we’re
not talking about bending backwards and
dancing under a pole this is a totally
different kind of limbo this 2d
side-scroller presents itself in
entirely black and white tones and
you’re given the task of guiding a
little nameless boy through an eerie
black and white forest
the art which masterfully plays with
shadows and silhouettes is as unsettling
as it is beautiful it’s minimalism at
its finest and possibly at its creepiest
– number two Kirby’s Epic Yarn on a
brighter note literally Kirby continues
to be one of the most colorful
platforming series around and this time
we’ve got an adventure that has some
texture to it if the title didn’t spoil
it for you everything in this game from
the enemies to the levels to the little
pink ball himself is rendered out of
yarn it’s so full of charming visual
gags and imaginative levels that
Nintendo decided to pull out the yarn
ball again for 2015’s Yoshi’s wooly
world before we unveil our top pick here
are a few honorable mentions
number one monument vally if you’ve ever
looked at an MC Escher painting and
thought wow that would make a great
video game level you’d probably be
called crazy that is until 2014 when the
indie studio as to had that very same
idea and released one of the most unique
looking games ever Monument Valley
it’s a minimalistic geometric totally
enchanting puzzle game that has players
fighting their way through cleverly
designed optical illusions in a
beautiful isometric world its style is
minimalistic atmospheric and artistic
all at once and that’s all integral to
the game’s mind-boggling puzzle solving
and yes you may have seen Frank
Underwood playing it I guess it’s just
that good your journey is won through a
forgotten landscape of twisting
staircases and morphing castles
cobwebbed with ruins MC Escher could
only grasp at in a dream state do you
agree with our list honestly I wish you
think before you open your mouth did we
miss any Museum worthy games for more
mind-blowing top 10s published every day
be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com
boom
look at that I think they like to do
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