The environments are hauntingly beautiful, blending natural beauty with surreal, otherworldly distortions that mirror Senua’s fragile mental state. Every detail feels alive, from the glistening surfaces of misty caverns to the nuanced game guide lighting that shifts to reflect her inner turmoil. The facial animations are a standout, capturing microexpressions so realistic you’ll feel every ounce of her fear, anger, and determination. You might find yourself forgetting to blink as you stare at the screen, completely entranced. Just don’t blame us if you catch yourself second-guessing what’s real and what’s an illusion.
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For example, the action role-playing game (RPG), ancient Greece-adventuring Assassin’s Creed Odyssey may have the best graphics for one gamer while another gamer may favour the graphics within the open world, monster-hunting Arma 3. Riley Fonger is a freelance writer, music lover, and gamer since adolescence. He loves anything video game-related and grew up with a passion for story games such as Bioshock and The Last of Us.
Cracking into the top three of the PC games with the best graphics with Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition. Earlier I stated that Control is a showpiece for where graphical technology is headed; well, Metro Exodus Enhanced decides to make a game from the future right now. 4A Studios returned to the original version of Exodus, removed all pre-baked lighting, and reworked the whole art direction to serve an entirely ray-traced lighting game. This is the first fully ray-traced game; you can't even launch it without a ray-tracing capable GPU. Battlefront II realizes the worlds of the Star Wars universe to an almost photorealistic degree.
The minimalist aesthetic of the Oldest House, all concrete and shiny floors, really lets you see the impact immediately. It's a lot more noticeable than it is with other games on this list, genuinely having a transformative effect on the eerie building. Despite not taking advantage of all your GPU's bells and whistles—there are no ray tracing options, for instance—it's still a singularly striking game that depends on a powerful GPU to get everything out of. With my old 1080 Ti—still a great card—I had to make a few concessions here and there to get a stable 60fps at 1440p, but with my 3080 Ti there aren't really any hurdles. Of course, Anthem looks good because it was built on Frostbite, and Frostbite is reputedly responsible for the rest of Anthem’s issues. Much as I enjoy adding games to this list, I enjoy playing good BioWare RPGs more.
Because it's from the early days of ray tracing, the effect is subtle, but if you've got a capable card you won't want to be without it. While Battlefield 5 is no longer the newest game in the series, the poor response to Battlefield 2042 means its predecessor is a more tempting offer, and thankfully still looks exceptional. It was one of the first games to take advantage of ray tracing, which brings the carnage up to a whole new level, letting you admire the way that the fire reflects off the chassis of a ruined vehicle, or the way the light hits the bombed-out battlefield.
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It’s absolute hell on a graphics card, and it can be even more punishing thanks to full mod support. In some ways the latest iteration, Just Cause 4 ($60 on Humble) is a step down from its predecessor. Just Cause 3 had better foliage and definitely had better character models. Even the most complicated explosions go off without a hitch here, and the draw distance is incredible.
Another terrifying adventure is in store for Alan Wake, and the player can expect to be sufficiently immersed in the terror thanks to the game’s equally stunningly and horrifyingly good graphics. Taking place on Jupiter’s dead moon Callisto in the year 2320, The Callisto Protocol blends atmosphere, tension, and brutality in its terrifyingly immersive setting of a maximum security prison that gets ravaged when the inmates begin mysteriously transforming into terrifying monsters. Of course, The Callisto Protocol has the additional benefit of modern-day graphics!
It’s worth noting also that Project Cars 2 supports VR headsets, if you want that ultimate racing experience (or just really want to stress-test your PC). Crowds and foliage are also performance-hungry though, and Hitman 2 is full of both. The Miami level, for instance, features both a functional racetrack and a museum, both teeming with onlookers, while the Colombia level is packed with greenery for Agent 47 to hide in. There’s unfortunately no official benchmarking tool this time around, but Hitman 2 is still a great stress test—and one of 2018’s best games as well. Released in 2016, it lasted three years on this list—only to be replaced by its successor, The Division 2 ($60 on Uplay).
Some of it is unsettling, some of it is awe-inspired, but it’s all meticulously crafted and beautifully realized within the game’s graphics engine, especially the Director’s Cut version on PC and PS5. But one thing that was never up for debate even during the height of the game’s notoriety is Star Wars Battlefront II’s graphical quality. Whether you're exploring the decaying remnants of Moscow or battling terrifying creatures in the wilderness, Metro Exodus showcases some of the very best in gaming graphics.
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I particularly love how it enhances stealth sequences, creeping through and slowly turning off lanterns and extinguishing fires until the entire building is shrouded in shadow. In Tekken 8 we saw a number of new mechanics that allow access to enhanced attacks and restore lost health. And thanks to the transition to Unreal Engine 5, the fights look incredibly impressive. We can see every muscle on the characters' bodies, which look great both in static frames and in dynamics. The battles now look as authentic and realistic as possible, even despite the fact that we are talking about a fantasy work.
Experience the story of Arthur Morgan, an outlaw in the Old West who knows he’s in the final days of the “Wild West”, fighting for his survival within a visually stunning world that no longer wants men like him living in it. Uncover the secrets of the United Jupiter Company and explore the depths of fear as you try to escape Jupiter’s Dead Moon of Callisto before you fall victim to the mysterious illness that’s transforming the moon’s inmates into deadly abominations. At 1440p/Max Settings, the NVIDIA RTX 3080 was unable to provide a smooth gaming experience. For gaming with 60FPS at that resolution natively, you’ll need at least an AMD Radeon RX 6900XT. Moreover, at both 1440p and 4K, the AMD Radeon RX 9070XT was slower than the AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX.
Another of the best-looking games on PC, you’ll feel as if you’ve been dropped straight into the worlds of the movies. For instance, playing on Hoth, you’ll be fully immersed in the snowy tundra while dodging the menacing AT-ATs. Of course, if you’re playing as a villain, then you will have to protect those very same AT-ATs. The open-world, stealth, single-player Assassin’s Creed Odyssey brings you back in time to 431 BCE, specifically to ancient Greece at the time of the Peloponnesian War between the city-states of Athens and Sparta. Playing as either a male or female mercenary (Alexios or Kassandra), your character is a fictitious descendant of the real-life Leonidas, king of Sparta. Right as you step into the game the character models put this on full display.