Most beautiful game you've played?

[wintercoat]

Do you mean visually beautiful or thematically beautiful?

For the former, I've always held Square Enix's games as beautiful. Final Fantasy XII has some breathtakingly beautiful environments in it, as does Final Fantasy X, even with it's dated graphics. Xenoblade Chronicles is also a rather visually stunning game.

For the latter, Bastion is my go-to answer. It's atmospheric, well paced, the difficulty is fair, and the end of the final area is one of the most thematically beautiful moments I've had the pleasure of experiencing. And it also fits into the former category to boot!

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Journey and Flower do the whole "strikingly beautiful" thing better than any other games I can think of right now. That studio really knows how to weave their polygons.

For raw visual fidelity, it has to be Witcher 2. Witcher 3 should take over this spot with relative ease.

Theoretically, I think it's SotC. It was tops when it was released, and a legit re-imagining using next-gen tech would probably reclaim the throne. Maybe Guardian will eventually do so.

 

[aozgolo]

The game that WOWed me the most graphics wise was actually the very first Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssee, they hardly stand up now (though still not terrible) but at the time when Super Mario RPG was the cutting edge of graphics for me, when I first got my PS1 this and Final Fantasy VII were my two first games, and Oddworld blew me away, the sheer amount of detail it has was breathtaking, and I can't say any other game save for possibly Oblivion has had the same level of graphic intensity that Oddworld first had on me.

As far as most beautiful however? Well I'm actually gonna have to go with another PS1 game: Legend of Mana. It still holds up today because it didn't use ANY 3D graphics at all. Everything was beautiful sprites reminiscent of watercolor paintings. There were quite a few games since that used similar graphic styles like Odin Sphere or the more recent Dragon's Crown, but I think Legend of Mana is the most beautiful because it managed to fully capture a very light and cheerful atmosphere where needed and a dark and sombre one at other times, the entire presentation just works beautifully for the game and it never really gets old no matter what age I play the game at.

 

[symphonymarie]

All of these answers are making me so so happy and excited!
Also, someone mentioned the Myst series. I loved that so much as a kid, I was always torn between being incredibly creeped out and wanting to live on those islands forever.

 

[Sofus]

Not sure, I mean beauty is so very subjective. But to me a beautifull game is one that has a good art direction and a belivable world layout. I imagine that it's probably one of the following.

NOX (nostalgia may have clouded my judgement)
Baldur's Gate 2 (background/map/oilpainting)
Icewind Dale 2 (yeah I know... same as the above)
Batman Arkham City
Assassin's Creed 2 or 3
Bioshock Infinite
Deus Ex Human Revolution

 

[TheRiddler]

A couple of games I haven't seen here yet.

Arkham Asylum: The medical facility really brings that whole BioShocky "this place seems like it should be beautiful but obviously something's gone terribly wrong" vibe. Also, fresh designs that perfectly fit iconic characters like Batman, the Joker and the Scarecrow. Areas inhabited by certain characters really bring that character's specific feel to them.

TF2: I'm a sucker for cel shading, and seeing this art style in action is a wonder. I mean, it lets us laugh at things that we'd otherwise find horrifying ("If you could just hold your rib cage open for me..."). It's as close as we'll get to playing a Warner Bros Cartoon. With hats!

The Wolf Among Us: I really like the angular, noir style that they went with here. It lets the game play around with some pretty cool shadow effects.

Wind Waker: See first sentence of TF2.

Twilight Princess: All complaints aside, it's hard to deny that TLoZ:TP was a very pretty game.

 

[Eddie the head]

Recently? Dust An Elysian Tail. I haven't been playing games much lately though.

 

[Galen Marek]

Skyward Sword was beautiful, shame in the lack of Wii Power to make it full HD, still dam beautiful.
Windwaker, original was beautiful, HD remake is stunning.
Twilight princess. See Skyward Sword.
Pikmin 3 is absolutely stunning. Many pikmin lost during my periods of admiring the games beauty and not actually playing.


Torchlight 2 is beautiful as was Ni No Kuni, but neither made me stop playing and stare like Skyward Sword did.

Darksiders 1/2 were both really good looking games.
Crysis 2, Batman Arkam, Last of Us all look nice no arguing there but none stand out as stunning like the others, they all look graphically fantastic though.

 

[Edapurg]

Skyrim. Just... Skyrim. Even without mods, it's a beautiful game.

 

[symphonymarie]

Skyward Sword was beautiful, shame in the lack of Wii Power to make it full HD, still dam beautiful.
Windwaker, original was beautiful, HD remake is stunning.
Twilight princess. See Skyward Sword.
Pikmin 3 is absolutely stunning. Many pikmin lost during my periods of admiring the games beauty and not actually playing.


Torchlight 2 is beautiful as was Ni No Kuni, but neither made me stop playing and stare like Skyward Sword did.

Darksiders 1/2 were both really good looking games.
Crysis 2, Batman Arkam, Last of Us all look nice no arguing there but none stand out as stunning like the others, they all look graphically fantastic though.

I agree, the Zelda series keeps getting more gorgeous. I can't wait to see what the next one will look like.

 

[saxman234]

I think only one other person mentioned this but, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, is visually very interesting and beautiful. I actually thought the gameplay was pretty fun although I can see why people think it is clumpsy at some parts. It is probably the most visually interesting game I have played and has some of the most adorable characters.

<img src=http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/13/135472/1862765-elshaddai81613.jpg>

Most of the gameplay does not take place like these 2d sections and is even more visually impressive and varied. The game is pretty epic also. Minor spoiler, but these incredible cute things begin to go crazy in the next level and start eating everything and turn sinister, the visual change is very shocking and interesting.

Besides that game, I would have to say Dark Souls. Everything is so well placed that once you fight through tooth and nail you are rewarded with the most beautiful sunshine. It really makes you Praise the Sun!

I disagree with Skyward Sword comparison. In my opinion, only the forest level with the giant tree stood out as very pretty, the other environments were just alright. I much prefer the encroaching doom of twilight in Twilight Princess.

 

[pearcinator]

Dear Esther

Almost anywhere in the game you can take a screenshot and make it an amazing desktop background! I have never played a game so immersive even if all you do is walk and listen to someone narrate a story. The detail is breathtaking and it was done using the Source engine too! So it will play on almost any PC and look amazing.

As for older games...The art style for The Curse of Monkey Island will never grow old on me...This game came out 1997!

Those clouds are so cool!

 

[Candidus]

1st place: Odin Sphere
2nd place: Dragon's Crown
3rd place: Journey
4th place: Zone of the Enders 2
5th place: Baldur's Gate 2 (Amn in particular, but every place generally)

That's my top five, but the order is only good at the moment. I tend to rearrange them mentally from time to time.

 

[Icehearted]

Easier to say beautiful moments than games, but since this is games... Shadow of the Colossus. There were moments where I just stopped, not deliberately mind you, and just realized how in awe I was of the design, the style, the whole experience. It wasn't a visually perfect game, but it was beautiful, especially when facing a colossus.

On pure aesthetics alone, modded Skyrim. If I could play that game with everything up I think it would dwarf nearly everything else out there. Maybe The Witcher 2, but I have never really seen how it looks on anything over medium settings, though screen shots suggest it's gorgeous.