History Main / RealIsBrown

* Parodied by ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''. In April Fools 2013, Mojang released a joke update called Minecraft 2.0 with lots of stupid features which basically made fun of community suggestions. One of the features was a filter called Super HD Graphics. It didn't change the resolution of the game at all, it just made everything look really brown by desaturating the graphics.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'': Thanks to it being a direct response to the massive fan backlash that ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' received outside of Japan, this installment moves away from its predecessor's highly stylized, brightly colored, and cel-shaded visuals in favor of an art style that leans heavily on both realistic detail and amber palettes. Ironically, the homeworld of the Twilight Realm averts this trope, as it instead uses shades of purple and yellow for the sky, and grey with blue for both the ground and the internal rooms of the Palace of Twilight. The HD remake is considerably brighter and less brown in many places, although certain areas such as the Twilight and Eldin areas retain similar color schemes.
* ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' is said to have popularized the Real Is Brown trend, seeing as it was still a breathtakingly beautiful game, aesthetically speaking, and inspired other games to go with muted colors and lots of bloom. Note that the designers were not actually going for realism, but rather, a very stylized look. The game accentuates whatever the prevailing colours are in the area you're currently traversing. For example, when the player explores places of lush green, those colours are picked for enhancement instead of the yellowy brown of the desert or the dark earth.

* ''VideoGame/TombRaiderAnniversary'' is noted for its greys and browns (particularly in Egypt) compared to the bright colors of the [[VideoGame/TombRaiderI original]]. It makes sense considering most of the areas have been subject to hundreds if not thousands of years of weathering, dirt, and dust.
* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2008'' seems to be this. Though it's a thematic choice; as the title character liberates the world from darkness, it becomes verdant and lush again.
* ''VideoGame/IAmAlive'' is just one small step above complete grayscale. Fitting when one thinks of the dust of the [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] world it takes place in covering everything.

* While the ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' series has traditionally avoided this trope like the plague, a few of the tracks in ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' have a strangely subdued, low-contrast palette. This is particularly notable in the [[NostalgiaLevel Retro]] tracks, when you compare both versions and notice just how much brighter the old versions are (compare Piranha Plant Slide from ''VideoGame/MarioKart7'' to its appearance in ''8'', for instance). There are still plenty of courses with the familiar bright colors of past Mario Kart games, though, and the tracks are generally much better at distinguishing what amount of less saturated colors is ''actually'' realistic than some other examples on this page. The [[UpdatedRerelease Deluxe Edition]] takes advantage of the Switch's more powerful hardware and gives a tracks a brighter color palette, averting this trope.

* Many parts of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' do this when the bloom and brown come close together, particularly outside of the Snow, Zora and Forest areas. Most of the background art during the first half of the game is either gray, brown or light green with a brown filter over it; and that's before you enter the Twilight Realm, in which case, the Twilight descends over the scenery, making everything look even more brown. In an ironic twist, the homeworld of the Twilight Realm averts this trope, as it instead uses shades of purple and yellow for the sky, and grey with blue for the ground and the internal rooms of the Palace of Twilight. The HD remake is considerably brighter and less brown in many places, although certain areas such as the Twilight and Eldin areas retain similar color schemes.

* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' and its spinoff ''[[LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline AGGO]]'', the online game of ''Gun Gale Online'' is presented as this, taking place in a post-apocalyptic landscape largely consisting of abandoned cities, deserts, and forests. The rest of the series, which takes place offline and in other online games, averts this with bright and cheerful colors.

* Disney's [[Film/DisneyLiveActionRemakes live-action remakes]] tend to have noticeably darker color palettes and dimmer lighting as just one of the many ways they attempt to look more [[UnintentionalUncannyValley "realistic"]] than their respective original animated versions, .

* Many of the ''Film/DisneyLiveActionRemakes'', as just one of the many ways they attempt to look more [[UnintentionalUncannyValley "realistic"]] than their respective original animated versions, tend to have noticeably darker color palettes and dimmer lighting.

* Many of the ''Film/DisneyLiveActionRemakes'', as just one of the ways they attempt to look more [[UnintentionalUncannyValley "realistic"]] than their respective original animated versions, tend to have noticeably darker color pallettes.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'' makes use of this for the purpose of allowing the viewers discern quickly to between the various locales; The pseudo-arctic Wall and the Land Beyond are typically white and grey, the tundra-filled North is dark grey (getting lighter with onsetting winter), the wind-swept Iron Isles are grey and dark blue, the temperate Vale is grey and washed green, pseudo-mediterranean Kings' Landing is gold and olive, pseudo-Moor Dorne is luscious yellow and bright green, and pseudo-Levantine Slaver's Bay is dirty desert brown.

** Many times when Adam uses TimeTravel to go into the far-distant past, actually, the background goes black-and-white or sepia-toned.

*** In it's prequel show, ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'', everything is incredibly foggy, and it uses even more saturated and duller colors, almost having a FilmNoir vibe, to empathize that this show has less fantasy elements, and is more closer to a HistoricalFiction in genre.

* The Mushroomy Kingdom stage in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' mocks the "brown = next-gen" philosophy by applying it to World 1-1 from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'', turning the bright stage into a deserted wasteland.

* ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers2023'' has brown overtones everywhere. Even the eponymous Musketeers never wear their traditional blue velvet outfit and wear brown leather instead.

** ''VideoGame/Doom64'': [[https://nintendoeverything.com/doom-64-screenshots-fact-sheet/ while it has colorful environments]], the bast majority of the setting is dark military bases and castles.

** That being said, the colorful cast of characters (including even Death Gun himself) contrast heavily with the environment for artistic sense, especially LLENN who wears pink. This continued in the videogame [[ContinuityReboot pseudo-adaptation]] ''Fatal Bullet''.

* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' and its sequel film ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistTheConquerorOfShamballa'', [[spoiler:our side of the Gate]] is presented with darker and more muted colours, in contrast to [[spoiler:Edward's world]] which is full of bright colors.

** That being said, the colorful cast of characters (including even Death Gun himself) contrast heavily with the environment for artistic sense, especially LLENN who wear pink. This continued in the videogame [[ContinuityReboot pseudo-adaptation]] ''Fatal Bullet''.

* Well, it is called Earth...

** ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'' was directly inspired by ''Enslaved'' in this way, [[SceneryPorn and it shows]].

** The team at Naughty Dog went to [[DoingItForTheArt extraordinary lengths]] to avert this trope in normal gameplay, though, and the sheer variety of colors in each environment is simply stunning. Desaturation filters are used, but to great effect when Nathan is low on health, with the shift to near-monochrome being a stark visual cue to get to cover '''now''' so Nathan can heal.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''{{WebAnimation/RWBY}}'''s costume design for new characters, once CerebusSyndrome hit the show, often have the recurring shade of dark browns and dark greens to reflect just how serious the show has become. The only exception being Atlas military personnel having white as their color scheme, but that's an indicator of [[LightIsNotGood something else]] [[KnightTemplar entirely]].
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}'', despite the game's realistic settings and buildings crumbling to ruins, averts this by using rich and vibrant colors on most of the levels.
** ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 4}}'', on the other hand, has many environments with nearly-identical desaturated grey palettes.
* Believe it or not, ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' (which was noted for its "realistic" graphics, back in its day). Sure, plenty of levels go for muddy browns and grays, not helped by the generally dim lighting, but the palette has plenty of ''very'' saturated blues, greens, oranges, yellows and reds. The starting position of the first level of the first episode makes the deep blue floor ''very'' evident. The 2016 reboot was criticized at E3 2015 for being "too yellow." However, the developers later released [[http://qdhd.tumblr.com/post/136769967252/doom-is-looking-incredible-be-sure-to-buy-the/ a series of screenshots]] that showed off the game in various lighting environments and, sure enough, the game actually IS quite colorful. The dynamic lighting is just so powerful (and quite colorful) that it tends to sometimes hide the details of other objects in the scene.
** The biggest offender may be ''VideoGame/Doom64'': [[https://nintendoeverything.com/doom-64-screenshots-fact-sheet/ while it has colorful environments]], the bast majority of the setting is dark military bases and castles.

** ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' looks set to avert this even further, being set in broad daylight on a colorful flying city.

*** It's prequel show, ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'', everything is incredibly foggy, and is even more saturated and duller colors, almost having a FilmNoir vibe, to empathize that this show has less fantasy elements, and is more closer to a HistoricalFiction in genre.

*** It's prequel show, ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'', has even more saturated and duller colors, almost having a FilmNoir vibe, to empathize that this show has less fantasy elements, and is more closer to a HistoricalFiction in genre.

*** It's prequel show, ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'', has even more saturated and duller colors to empathize that this show has less fantasy elements, and is more closer to a HistoricalFiction in genre.