Summary
UPDATE: Alan Wake 2 won Best Art Direction at The Game Awards 2023!
Art direction is one of the most important facets of any video game. While graphics only continue to grow more impressive and realistic over time, that doesn’t matter a whole lot if a developer doesn’t know what to do with it. A great game needs an equallygreat sense of art direction, where the developer is able to use a variety of visual elements like animation, color, tone, and style to give the game a specific atmosphere. Good graphics just aren’t enough to make a game stand out anymore, and the five games nominated forThe 2023 Game Awards' Best Art Direction category know this.
According to the Game Awards itself, the Best Art Direction category is designed to celebrate games that have an “outstanding creative and/or technical achievement in artistic design and animation,” and this year, all five nominees tick that box effortlessly. While some ofThe Game Awards 2023’s categories already have an obvious winner, that definitely isn’t the case here, as any one of these nominees could, and maybe even should walk away with that trophy.
2023 Best Art Direction Nominees
Alan Wake 2
One of the most visually impressive video games of all time,Alan Wake 2is exceptionally worthy of the Best Art Direction Game Award. Leaning all the way into surreal-realism,Alan Wake 2’s art styleperfectly imitates and enhances the supernatural thrillers that have inspired it. Realistic lighting and shadows, life-like character and face models, and weighty animations giveAlan Wake 2a cutting-edge sense of art direction, and that’s taken to the next level when the sequel’s dual narrative is introduced. As well as the realistic town of Bright Falls,Alan Wake 2thrusts players into the nightmare dimension of the Dark Place, where the art style hearkens back perfectly to noir crime thrillers.
Hi-Fi Rush
A stunningly stylish game,Hi-Fi Rushmakes the very most of its cel-shaded art style at all times, and every inch of the game adheres to this cohesive, cartoony art direction. From over-the-top character attack animations, to incredibly bright laser beams, to the cel-shaded character models themselves, every aspect ofHi-Fi Rushfeels like a Saturday morning cartoon in the very best sense of the phrase, and it all combines to really elevate the game’s core rhythm gimmick.
Lies of P
It may not quite be a style all of its own, butLies of P’s art direction is flawless. Clearly heavily inspired byFromSoftware’sBloodborne,Lies of Pperfectly captures that same level of Gothic eeriness that FromSoft did, but its unique fairy-tale spin givesLies of Pan identity mostly its own. Lighting and character design areLies of P’s two strongest art direction features, with them both combining to make the setting of Krat an extremely intimidating, yet magical one, filled with monstrous, murderous puppet machines.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
A true return to form in every sense of the phrase,Super Mario Bros. Wonderis the first2D mainlineMariogamein over 10 years, and maybe the best one in decades. One ofSuper Mario Bros. Wonder’s greatest strengths is its art direction, which manages to capture the vibrant and colorful style of modernMariogames, and apply it to a 2D setting without letting it lose any of its luster.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Just like its predecessor,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis a modern masterpiece, and its art direction is a major factor in that. Usingthe same cel-shaded art style asBreath of the Wild,Tears of the Kingdomis able to deliver some incredibly impressive vistas without pushing the Nintendo Switch past its limits.Tears of the Kingdomisn’t the most graphically impressive game in the world, but it’s still somehow one of the most beautiful, and that’s the perfect sign of excellent art direction.
Final Prediction
When all is said and done, the 2023 Game Award for the Best Art Direction could really go to any of these nominees, but there might be one that has the edge over the others. WhileZelda: Tears of the Kingdomis a visual masterpiece, it is essentially the same asBreath of the Wild’s art style. And a similar thing can be said forLies of P’s FromSoft-inspired look. The most likely outcome is that the 2023 Game Award for Best Art Direction goes toAlan Wake 2, for having the most impressive graphics, and for knowing exactly what to do with them.
