Most beautiful game you've played?

[Thedutchjelle]

Hm,

Mirror's Edge. A very clean, neat style that still looks "realistic". I prefer it over Portal's minimalism. The bit in the large stormdrain was fantastic.
Deus Ex: HR: Again a very good looking and consistent art style. Some people complained about the overuse of yellow, but that was never an issue for me.

Honourable mentions go to Civilization IV and V. Although they aren't "beautiful" in the way FPSes usually are, they have a very clean and easy-to-read look with a very nice user interface.

 

[Hazy]

Journey

The combination of the beautiful soft visuals, incredible score, and the smooth floating gameplay creates a unique dream-like experience. And the final level becomes something all together greater then that.

Oh, absolutely. Journey was a prime example of just how much emotion you can convey through intelligent design alone.

 

[NortherWolf]

Dust: An Elysian Tail. It's so gorgeous I fell in love with the first pictures I saw, then I got to play it and oh Cthulhu was I sold.

 

[Ishigami]

Mirror's Edge:

A dystopia that doesn't utilize black or shades of grey and brown as its main colour pallet? Hell yes the white city with its glass facades, bright neon coloured features and fair weather was a nice change of pace.
It doesn't have the best effects nor the most complex models or whatever but it turned this "weakness" into a strength by depicting a super clean high-tech future that doesn't intimidate via dark visuals but sinister implications.

Spoiler: A not so dark dark future

Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-:

Technically speaking this game isn't out yet. However I am blown away by Arc System Works ability to put the IMO very best anime style cell-shading on display to date.
Even the cinematics which look like an anime sequences were actually in engine rendered.
Cell-shading has been around for quite some time and while some games like Tales of Vesperia, Valkyria Chronicles or Ni no Kuni do a pretty good job I feel like Xrd is simply on a whole different level.

Spoiler: This is a 3d render and no anime darwing

Gran Turismo 5:

I don't like GT5. I think it is boring. But there is one thing I can't deny: The premium car models and used shaders and materials are amongst the best to ever have been used in a racing game.
These cars just look like real cars.
It is a pity that the environments can't hold up to that and the game is a snore fest and void of any evolution or innovation.

Spoiler: Looks damn good to me

Tomb Raider (2013):

It may have problems with Lugoscababib Discobiscuits but to be honest I couldn?t care less. I enjoyed it a lot and it looked simply gorgeous.
I could have also picked a Uncharted, The Last of Us, Max Payne 3, a Assassins Creed or a Crysis here. It is simply my ?generic? good looking game choice since it doesn?t really do something special aside from maybe the TressFX hair.
I just think the scenes as a whole look pretty good.

Spoiler: Yes really gorgeous.

 

[Patshiv]

Since Journey has been mentioned:

Dear Esther

It's one of the most faithful explorations of 'games as art'. And naturally as with every other time this game is brought up in conversation, it will devolve into a discussion of whether or not it can actually be called a game. To my mind games are not just a mixture or hybridization of gameplay and story. A game with hardly any gameplay is just as much a game as a game with hardly any story, and there are plenty of those. But that really is beside the point, Dear Esther is one of the most beautiful experiences I have had with any form of entertainment, and it deserves a mention here.

 

[deathbydeath]

This is interesting. I'd say Beyond Good & Evil, Final Fantasy 6, Hotline Miami, Sword and Sworcery, Klei's stuff, The Stanley Parable HDR with the museum/second narrator ending in particular, and Darksiders when it feels like showing off its environments.

 

[VodkaKnight]

Wind Waker.
Not the HD version, just the default one.
It's just so colourful and lively I find it hard not to love.

 

[The Tibballs]

I love Wind Waker as much as the next person, but I'd actually have to say Braid is my all-time favourite for artistic styling.

 

[Cabisco]

Far Cry 3 was such a vibrant beautiful place to explore, it was the perfect game to play after the splurge of brown/grey games I had played before it.

Right now GTAV certainly gets on my list, it's not so much a 'pretty' game in the traditional sense (though it has many a moment) as it is an incredibly detailed one which actually feels alive, you can imagine the world existing without you and the sheer amount of things you can suddenly notice and appreciate is incredible.

Always found the Halo games stunning when they came out, especially Halo 3. It was such an interesting world and the multiplayer levels were full of detail. Very aesthetically pleasing at the time.

Bit of a strange one this, but if anyone remembers it XIII was a gorgeous game which just recently became a decade old.

 

[A Weakgeek]

Im going to skip the obvious ones and mention a game most of you haven't heard of: The Deponia series

While technically or perhaps even artistically its nothing ground breaking, to see a game with this good 2D animation, and a really fun (and original) setting, nowdays is really rare. Additionally, because its a point and click, you get to suck in all the style and detail the artstyle is just full of. Playing it reminded me of playing Curse of the Monkey island way back when.

 

[MrBaskerville]

To me it´s probably Dungeon Master 2, i just love how much atmosphere they get out of those pixels. It´s probably one of the most atmospheric games i´ve ever played, partly because of the amazing artstyle but also a bit because of the melancholic soundtrack. I´ve never played any game where the visuals amazes me to such as degree as they do in DM2, i just love it.

Dungeon Master 2 Gameplay:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UozS0HIARVM

 

[Terminate421]

Here is an odd answer but the Halo games from a distance always looked very unique and crisp.

They always prefer a style trick to hide any sense of "dated" issues, aside from Halo 2 of course, that didn't age well at all. (Except for it's aesthetics)

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

I'm pretty sure it was Final Fantasy XIII. The CG cutscenes are fucking amazing. A close seconds, in my opinion, is the HD remake of Kingdom Hearts 1. So excited to see KHII in the same HD flare.

 

[Fijiman]

I would have to say Halo:CE, Rayman Origins, and I'm kind on the wall between Oblivion and Skyrim.

 

[THeFraz]

Yoshi's Island - It's not traditionally beautiful, but it is has my favorite art style of any Mario game. Also, the fact it holds up great to this day doesn't hurt it either.

Braid - It has the painting aesthetic going, which I enjoy quite a bit.

Superbrothers: Swords & Sworcery EP - The environments are so detailed with its pixel art, I can't help but revel in it.

 

[Username Redacted]

Well I haven't seen (unless I'm being really dense) either of the games that I'd consider for this which would be either 'Folklore' or 'El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron'. Sadly both games balance their gorgeous and creative designs with some truly lackluster gameplay.

 

[otakon17]

Odin Sphere was at first, oh the animation was absolutely stunning. And then Dragon's Crown came around. in terms of 3D... Okami by far, especially the HD version.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Going by Era, I'll say that the game that had the most impact on me for immersive beauty is FFX. When it came out I couldn't distinguish between the Cinematics and the actual game. Of course that isn't the case now, but back then when I first played FFX it was awesome.
I still love the game to this day despite the weak story issues... and learning that Bender was Wakka changed that character for me. I couldn't stop hearing him say "Bite my shiny metal ass!" in my head.
But yeah...
Other games that get honorable mentions:

Aladdin (Genesis)
Mario Kart 64
Ocarina of Time
Extermination (PS2) - For some reason I always liked the way the game looked and played.
Bioshock 1 and Infinite. BECAUSE.
Minecraft, for its simple aesthetic makes me feel nostalgic and modern at the same time
For all its faults GTA V is a pretty game
Skyrim with just the standard HD texture pack was amazing to me.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

Sleeping Dogs on PC at nighttime during a rainstorm with the HD texture pack installed. Holy shit that is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in any game.

 

[white_wolf]

Myst series and Reckoning both in their own way have very lovingly rendered worlds. Walking through the tribal villages of Myst 2 or hanging out at the orb puzzle in Myst one there are many landscapes you just go, " Wow" over. The KOA: the Reckoning has such vibrant colors, enchanted woodlands, even the caves are beautiful there isn't anything in that game as far as your environment that doesn't announce they really put loads of work into it kind of like a painting brought to life.