Beautiful Game Appreciation

[Rensje]

Been playing a little new game called SnowRunner. It's a semi-open world successor to the Spintires-franchise and it's very fun. Never thought I could get so invested in what you could describe as 'Euro Truck Sim but the roads are terrible'. I'll have some more thoughts to share on it soon, but I've been taking snapshots of the game and she sure is a beauty.

These screenshots are all from the 'Michigan' biome, but there's also Alaska and Russia. I'll post some more pics once I get there.

I've also spent a considerable amount of my time in lockdown playing more Escape From Tarkov. A recent patch added new graphics settings which give the game a nice touch of colour and fidelity. It was never ugly, but it looks a bit better now.

 

[Zloth]

@Inspireless Llama - oh! I've got almost exactly the same shot with Lara and her two pistols. That was a big moment for me! Through all the old games, dual pistols were the mainstay weapon. Getting them back was great! (Then she forgot all about them. <sigh>)

Back to Kingdom Come...

And there's still more. Just search on... on... errr, OK, why have me put tags on pictures if there isn't a way to search on them?? Arg. Well, here's thumbnails for people who can't get enough of the sun near the horizon:

 

[Zoid]

I'm gonna go digging later to find some of my old screenshot archives, but here are a couple I had laying around from KSP.

The beauty of Duna-rise over Ike after a long trip to get there:

The start of a comms network over Kerbin, assembled 2 satellites per launch:

 

[Zloth]

Wow, you got way further than me!

 

[Inspireless Llama]

Decided to take some area screenshots of Sniper Elite 4 to have some difference from all the xray shots of blown up brains.

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

Some Firewatch mood

 

[Inspireless Llama]

Finished Sniper Elite 4 yesterday. Fun game, even though I didn't enjoy the last few missions as much as the first ones.

No Lara Croft, but still 2 guns.

Even though she died during the game, I still think it'd be pretty cool to have female snipers (during WW2 Russia did have female soldiers)

 

[Rensje]

I love the Sniper Elite series and those shots look cool, but wow, that game engine hasn't aged particularly well. The character model and lighting in that last screenshot are not great. Compare that to other 2017 games like Horizon: Zero Dawn or Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and it looks almost last-gen by comparison.

 

[Frindis]

Been playing Sanatorium and I appreciate the art design.

 

[I Will Haunt You]

@Frindis Is it weird that when I saw those pics I instantly could hear the music that plays during that section?

 

[Zloth]

The Last Remnant

 

[Frindis]

@I Will Haunt You Well Now then, what music are you hearing? Let Doctor Frindis hear aaaaaaaall about it

The music is quite good in this section, kind of a mix between the gothic music from Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within and the music from Max Payne.

 

[I Will Haunt You]

@Frindis There are about 4 incredible tracks on Sanitarium's soundtrack. It's funny you mention Gabriel Knight because I also thought that particular piece (called Sarah) was reminiscent of some of the music from Robert Holmes.

 

[Frindis]

I guess it was time to start up GTA V again:

 

[Inspireless Llama]

Started trying to play Dishonored 2 again. Last played it in 2017 but quit because I kinda got a burnout from it.
The colors seem really off to me and I"m not sure if it's supposed to be or that I've set my color settings for the game wrong.

 

[Rensje]

Started trying to play Dishonored 2 again. Last played it in 2017 but quit because I kinda got a burnout from it.
The colors seem really off to me and I"m not sure if it's supposed to be or that I've set my color settings for the game wrong.

Looks normal to me? The series has always had this certain watercolour style with a soft palette, so it could just be that?

I have been singing Breath of the Wild's praises lately, so I figured it was time to share some screengrabs from my 250+ hour journey. This game is -massive-. I haven't even cleared all of the Divine Beasts in my playthrough, let alone beat the final boss or the DLC content. I just keep wandering off and doing my own thing.

The game's render resolution is low (900p docked, 720p handheld) but it holds up shockingly well on my big screen TV because of the cel-shaded art style. There's a very tasteful depth of field effect applied in some scenes and the draw distance is crazy good for a 'mobile' game.

 

[I Will Haunt You]

What could be more beautiful to a ghost than a graveyard at midnight?



Maybe a grave robbing at midnight?



Catherine, is that you? (kudos if you get that reference)




Too soon? 👻

 

[Zoid]

@Rensje Man I need to get Breath of the Wild...

 

[Zloth]

Mass Effect 1

 

[Rensje]

@Rensje Man I need to get Breath of the Wild...

Mate, you really do. It's on sale regularly these days, but if you don't have a Wii U or a Switch and you really want to play it, you could use CEMU on the PC. I don't use or endorse emulation, but there's no denying the game works well on PC and looks incredible to boot. You can even use a special GFX pack to push the 'fog' effect out a bit further and enhance the colours.

It's easy to sell this game based on its visuals, but it's the gameplay that really makes it sing. The incredibly natural way in which you discover things is deeply satisfying and the world is just so lush and diverse and interesting every step of the way. There's really no other game like it. It's the perfect deconstruction of open world game design.

 

[Zloth]

 

[Zloth]

Mass Effect 2

It finally got stuck...

 

[I Will Haunt You]

Not beautiful in the traditional sense, but I find this beautiful in its simplicity and might be my favorite screenshot I've ever taken.

 

[Zloth]

Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain

Unicorns do not have to be cute

 

[Frindis]

@Zloth Loved the first picture! Thanks for reminding me to pick up that game again