For generations, video games have been considered as just another form of entertainment meant for nothing but wasting time, but with all the creative minds and technological advancements in the industry, developers (devs) have been able to create compelling and immersive games. Through interesting characters, wondrous worlds, fantastical settings, and visceral gameplay, Devs can provide players with countless memories and experiences.
Despite all the time and effort invested in making a game look good, they are often neglected in the arts. Things like paintings, drawings, pictures, photographs, etc, are all accepted as valid forms of art, but why not video games? There is a stigma that video games can’t be art, that they are purely for ‘fun’, ‘entertainment’, and sometimes ‘distracting’. Many people ignore the contributions that video games have made to art.
A game considered an art piece is the 2018 breakout hit, Hades, by Supergiant Games. The game is based on Greek mythology; it follows a demi-god named Zagreus, who is the son of Hades, and his journey to escape the underworld. Hades has a very distinct style, outside and inside of gameplay, it often looks like a drawing. Its contrasting colors, sharp imagery, and unique backgrounds/settings combined with flowy gameplay allow Hades to be more like a moving comic book.
2017’s Game of the Year, Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild (BOTW) developed by Nintendo, is a game that uses its open-world feature to give the player full access and exploration. BOTW, and its recent sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, include an amazing setting of the fictional world of Hyrule. It has large and populated forests, thundering jungles, vast plains, towering mountains, and compelling locations. Countless locations will entice any player to go off-task and explore. The game also has varying character and creature designs, with the ability to wear unique outfits and armor; each creature has its interesting features. BOTW gives you the tool to take pictures, you can photograph your outfits and weapons, or, you can capture breathtaking moments. They want you to fully experience its beautiful world. Being able to capture the world around you is an art form in itself; after all, that is what photography is. Zelda brought fans a gorgeous world to explore the same way photographers bring us the real world.
Many art pieces have been created to have a deeper meaning, this is true with video games, too. The games Shadow of The Colossus and Ico by Team Ico and Sony Interactive Entertainment are unique because they were made with a message in mind.
Shadow of The Colossus (SOTC) has interactive gameplay with stunning environments that draw the player in, but the message in SOTC is the focal point of the project. It’s about endurance, perseverance, and when in moments of hardship, never giving up. The player controls a young boy on an adventure in a foreign land with the sole mission to save his kingdom’s princess. To save this princess’s life he has to defeat large colossi made of earth and stone; each design of the giants is different, in each encounter, you experience something new. Each new environment is different aesthetically with swamp lands, forestry, deserts, plains, and lakes. For a long time, people have explored and painted/drawn the beautiful landscapes that they see out in our world. Shadow of The Colossus does this, too; you can traverse and admire the topography with the capture feature on the PlayStation 4.
Ico has primarily platforming gameplay. We play as a boy who must traverse the map while escorting a young girl named Yorda to escape evil spirits. The setting is an abandoned fortress on an isolated island. The message of Ico is being in solitude, dealing with pain, loss, and feelings of hopelessness. The visuals and settings of the game are dull but abstract, it’s not pretty like BOTW or artsy like Hades, but Ico has a unique e
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nvironment like no other. The design choice of Ico makes you feel lonely; it sets a tone for the whole game. Much like how the settings/visuals in Ico make you feel certain emotions, art does this too, when you see a bright, colorful art piece, feelings of joy or energy are felt. Verses when you see a dull and dark painting, you can feel sad or dreadful. These are just some of the ways that art and video games connect.
A list of honorable mentions includes the following: Elden Ring by FromSoftware, Minecraft by Mojang and Microsoft, Ghost of Tsushima by Sucker Punch Productions,
Elder Scrolls III Morrowind by Bethesda, Legend of Zelda Tears of The Kingdom by Nintendo,
The Last of Us Part II by Naughty Dog, The Witcher III Wild Hunt by CD Projekt Red, Little Nightmares by Tarsier Studios, and last but not least, Forza Horizons 4 by Playground Games and Microsoft.
After taking an in-depth look at these games, we can see that video games can be considered more than just a form of entertainment. Games, while providing entertainment, can mean so much more. They can have deeper meanings, interesting worlds, unique art designs, and compelling stories. If developers didn’t care about the look of a game, we’d still be playing text-based adventure games. The effort and time put into designing the environments within a game should not be disregarded. Video games are art, and there are countless games that prove it.