Favourite boxart / digital splash screen

[isleepinabed]

I'd say more and more we get our games as digital downloads, that is to say, box-less.
One of the great pleasures for collectors are gazing over boxart. These sold the game in antecipation as we saw them in the store.
Despite there being fewer actual boxart available, nonetheless I feel digital boxart and digital store splashscreens are still just as important to sell a game - moreso when you're scrolling through dozens of games on sale.

Some, indeed, are great pieces. I think we could share some we appreciate or that we have come across.
To keep it more interesting, perhaps also a few words to appreciate them as well.
I'll start with the one for Last Call BBS

https://imgur.com/KqperTk

View: https://imgur.com/KqperTk


This a gamer's game, and a beautiful yet fantastical recreation of time's gone by. I'm not from the BBS generation, but from the IRC generation. Yet, this exhudes the charm of strange computers that only exist today in specialist shops in Akihabara, and I think any old fella would smile going back to a recreation of old Solitaire - perhaps to most of us the most played game of our youths. The picture tells it all - retro magic.

 

[Johnway]

i'm sure there is plenty but i can't seem to remember most of them. i suppose Command and conquer Generals / Zero hour's ingame main menu splash was quite cool as its just ingame engine of a awesome battle taking place.

Another one? Maybe Dorfromnantik - its kinda elegant that it just shows the current game of the map and when you press continue you jump straight back into it.

XCom2 stood out recently as your operatives standing in cover watching over an area.

 

[ZedClampet]

I only vaguely remember the box art. I'm the kind of person who really didn't look at the front of the box. I just picked them up and immediately flipped them over. But this one sat on my desk for quite awhile:

 

[January's Ghost]

Man, I don't know if I could pick a favorite. The box cover art for some of the classic adventure games like Gabriel Knight, classic RPG series like Ultima and Wizadry, or the SSI gold box series with D&D games and originals like Questron and Wizard's Crown.

I used to display my favorites on my wall, along with things like the cloth Ultima maps, as if my room was an artgallery dedicated specifically to video game art. Well, I guess it kida WAS that, though I had maps from various RPG games on my wall as well (along with an Alyssa Milano poster or two and maybe a Farrah Fawcett one).

 

[Frindis]

The box cover art for some of the classic adventure games like Gabriel Knight[...]

Gabriel Knight: Beast Within has one of the best covers I have ever seen. I guess it only makes sense considering the game is also one of the greatest interactive games ever made +- the stupid Cuckoo clock puzzle and maze.

 

[Zloth]

XCom2 stood out recently as your operatives standing in cover watching over an area.

Like this!

The box art is good, too. https://sl.bing.net/kst2juE72IK (link to Bing image search, hope it works!)

Wizardry's box art was classic. I never bought it, but I still liked the box: https://sl.bing.net/cK6Er8V5qp2

Death Stranding's box art is well done for the director's cut (much less so for the original game): https://sl.bing.net/go91fXJnPPg

Baldur's Gate 3's main menu screen is excellent, but animated!

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intermission main menu is excellent. It's just the Buster sword (or Yuffie's star blade thing if you're doing her stuff) against the dark. Perfect. For all the nostalgia I've got for that game, just putting that sword there brought a rush of memories back. (I cheated on this screenshot, using a mod to move the camera in the main menu screen so I could see both weapons.) https://forums.pcgamer.com/media/main-menu-alternate.2095/full

Cyberpunk 2077 had a bunch of good menu screens, but all the screenshots I have are spoilers!

There are more, but I don't want to hog the topic.

 

[JCgames]

I'm actually working on a box art project, I'm going to frame a bunch together, sort of how you do pictures. Working on the layout and weeding it down.

Two I know that will be on it, the original tomb raider triangle box and mech warrior 3, but most likely diablo, star craft, blade runner and freedom force will be part of it. I have about 20 to choose from. I'll give um a look and see if any other really stand out

 

[isleepinabed]

Good ones!

Here's another one I really enjoy:

https://imgur.com/a/5v7KF5r

View: https://imgur.com/a/5v7KF5r


Sci-fi covers, ever since the early 80s have always oversold the game. Few games could live up to the promise of this cover.
The game is fine, of course, but no classic.
Here, the red white and blue composition projects an awe-inspiring future of spaceships over purple skies. A bit like that Grateful Dead song, Standing on the Moon.

Spoiler: lyrics

Standing on the moon
I'm feeling so alone and blue
I see the gulf of Mexico
As tiny as a tear
The coast of California
Must be somewhere over here - over here
Standing on the moon
I see the battle rage below
Standing on the moon
I see the soldiers come and go
There's a metal flag beside me
Someone planted long ago
Old Glory standing stiffly
Crimson, white and indigo - indigo

 

[Pifanjr]

Here are a couple that jumped out to me scrolling through my Steam library.

 

[Zloth]

Going through my oldest videos, a certain menu screen stood out. Especially with 3D Vision going.

View: https://youtu.be/LZNONHfZKQA?si=qd7MZI5uxOy9gmss

 

[JCgames]

I always like that Magika box, no clue about the game but the box is great!

 

[Pifanjr]

I always like that Magika box, no clue about the game but the box is great!

The game is pretty great as well. It has a very unique spellcasting system that's a lot of fun to play around with.

 

[isleepinabed]

This is the new cover version of Akalabeth when it was re-released and is slightly different from the original but maintains the art style and reproduces the original handmade logo.

https://imgur.com/a/v3W93ML

View: https://imgur.com/a/v3W93ML


The game, of course, is virtual wireframe. Art like this helps us travel beyond computer graphics and into imagination.
Which isn't to say the wireframe graphics aren't endearing...