What games do you consider to be "artistic"?

I'm helping a friend of mine out with a big project naming examples of artistic video games and why they are artistic. She wants the reasons as to why your pick is artistic to be exclusive to video games.

So far, her list has:

Bastion – Immersion, story, design, atmosphere

Binding of Isaac – Atmosphere, design

Black and White – Gameplay, morals, innovation, AI

Braid – Visuals, story, dynamic soundtrack, puzzles, writing

Flower – Visuals, dynamic soundtrack, environmental design, atmosphere, gameplay, immersion, story, mechanics

From Dust – Gameplay

Go W – Environmental design, cinematic, franchise, mechanics

Graveyard – Gameplay, innovation

Ico – Immersion, atmosphere

inFAMOUS – Morals

Journey – Immersion, visuals, story, design, commentary, morals

Loved – Commentary

Mario – Mechanics, franchise, innovation

Metroid – Atmosphere

Minecraft – Immersion, mechanics

Nevermind – Immersion, innovation, atmosphere, mechanics

OFF – Immersion, story, design, atmosphere, morals, commentary

Okami – Visuals, mechanics

Pokémon – Immersion

Portal – Story, writing, dynamic soundtrack, puzzles, atmosphere

Psychonauts – Writing, design

QWOP – Mechanics

Limbo – Visuals, story, puzzles, atmosphere

Sot C – Story, music, design, morals, atmosphere, commentary

Spore – Immersion, mechanics

Superbrothers – Design, writing

TLOU – Immersion, story

TWAU – Immersion, gameplay, morals

TWDG – Immersion, story, gameplay, morals

Yoshi’s Island – Mechanics

Zelda – Cinematic, puzzles, franchise, innovation, music

Consoles – Immersion, mechanics, franchise, innovation

So if you can list other examples and how they are artistic, please name them!

You know, I have to wonder why Pit is obsessed with this site. It’s gonna ruin his life!

Half-Life and the rest of Valves works tend to be spot on for most of the same reasons as Portal.

Planescape: Torment's story/writing/characterization is often hailed as one of best in all of fiction, let alone games.

Most of BioWare's works (like Mass Effect, Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age, etc.) tend to be lauded for their great characters.

edited 13th Jul '14 10:36:04 PM by Ekuran

Antichamber - I can't really explain it. Something to play.

edited 13th Jul '14 10:45:01 PM by neobowman

Along with Bastion, I would add Transistor (made by the same people). Music, style, story; all of it is amazingly crafted.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - gameplay, storytelling, the way those two play with each other.

Legacy Of Kain — really pushed story, script, and voice-acting. Still some of the best in video game history. If you're limited to individual games, then the first game, Blood Omen.

Dragon Age Origins — utilized video games' unique interactivity element with a focus on choices and the ripple of consequences.

The Walking Dead: The Game — ditto

edited 14th Jul '14 12:10:19 AM by Phoenixflame

If you mean artistic as in how impressive and immersive they are then you have to look at the NBA 2K series. When this first came out the reaction was, "holy *&^%$#@ %(*% the graphics are amazing," and as the series progressed they got better, and better, and better, the same goes for the sound, the same for the level of detail and how accurate it all is. You could slap any seventh or eighth gen game on, stick on a match between your two fave teams, and have someone walk in and be fooled into thinking NBA on NBC were on. It's that good.

Currently reading up My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours

Quest 64, more or less. The enemy designs are beyond unique, with very few recolors or model swaps(although many NPC's tend to just have different faces but the same model, although with different positions sometimes. Folded arms, off to the side, etc.) The spells looked fairly nice, although not terribly special, mostly due to the low polygon count. Simple, but worked.

The music was pretty notable(once you hear it), although not like Zelda notable, but rather good for a n64 Midi. Enough to be remixed by fans, having metal covers(as in people using a Guitar to play the song), and even showing up in some Zelda Classic quests.

The story was... bad, though. Like, non-notable. Generic RPG plot, as bad as Dragon Warrior. It has a small twist or two, but that's about it.

...It's weird having so many websites and no way to properly display now, lol.

Perhaps controversial, but one mission from one game, the rest of which wasn't particularly artistic:

No Russian, from Modern Warfare 2.

It works pretty well as a scene, augmented by the interactive nature of video games to really prove the point of the scene. If it were a surprise, it would've been truly shocking and amazing.

noisivelet naht nuf erom era srorrim

Panzer Dragoon, Jet Set Radio, Final Fantasy until 10, Lost Odyssesy, Rayman, Resonance of Fate(although its storytelling falls right on its face), Ookami, No More Heroes, Bayonetta, Mario Galaxy, Sonic games even.

edited 14th Jul '14 2:31:34 AM by Vertigo_High

This isn't really going to be helpful, but... all of them?

Literally every video game created is "artistic."

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."

I think you're going to have to narrow down your friend's precise "want", what they think is artistic, because otherwise I'm running on "aesthetically pleasing games" and "games that are creative". All games are in some form creative, so I think a lot of what you're going to see posted here are just games with stories/music/graphics that we like - which may not be the most accurate representation of what your friend is after.

I think any game with a "point" to its violence instead of just points or achievements, or comments on the violence itself, has some right to being called "artistic". Typically, any game where the focus isn't on "points", "goals", meta achievements, "meta game", online play, or tournament play. That comes down to a number of indie games (since small budgets seem to elevate the necessity of tight plotting, characterization, and symbolism over replayability and multiplayer) and some flash-based ones I used to play on Newgrounds that, these days, seem to be all the rage.

edited 14th Jul '14 8:01:53 AM by FOFD

Akira Toriyama (April 5 1955 - March 1, 2024).

Here is what she said:

"Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll definitely check out a few of these. The list I made is only notes and I'm going to go more in-depth with my discussion. The point of this write-up isn't so much a list of "games that are artistic", but more an argument for video games as an artistic medium on their own merits. A game may have great music, but that really just speaks for music as art, not the game it accompanies. I'll be focusing a lot on the use of immersion, though I'm really interested in discussing use of gameplay itself - literally the controls and how they're integrated - in unique ways (for example: the first-person kill from 'God of War 3'; motion controls and touch screens; maybe quick-time events). I'm also interested in any games that make some kind of commentary on the nature of gaming (such as 'OFF' and 'Loved')."

You know, I have to wonder why Pit is obsessed with this site. It’s gonna ruin his life!

I don't know if inFAMOUS is really an "art" game, per say. That's not to say it's a bad game by any means, and "artistic" is a very subjective concept, but with some of the others it just seems like an odd fit. And its choices aren't exactly great — it's simple "be a hero" vs "be a dick" that pops up again and again. You'd have a better argument with something like Fallout or even Fable.

If The Walking Dead is mentioned, I'd also give a nod to The Wolf Among Us. It lacks the whole relationship dynamic (and there's nothing really like Clementine/Lee), but visually it's very unique and impressive, both for the noirish feel and the comic-book-like art.

edited 14th Jul '14 8:35:59 AM by MangaManiac

If I may make a suggestion, one element that I feel has been missed thus far in this discussion (although I apologise if I've simply missed it being mentioned ^^; ) is that (I feel that) a major strength of games as an artistic medium lies in player agency (or, in some cases, the illusion thereof).

An example that comes to mind is Planescape: Torment:

As I interpret it, the game is to some degree about choices, about choosing who one is. To this end we have an amnesiac protagonist—a blank slate, essentially—who is revealed to have had multiple "lives" of varying characters. But thus far nothing that I've described of this game wouldn't work in a book or movie—as perhaps demonstrated by the fact that all of this is pretty much backstory, and revealed to the player in a non-interactive manner.

However, I feel that this changes once play begins. Throughout the game the player is faced with choices, some game-mechanical—do I play as a warrior or a mage, for example—others more character-driven—do I help this person or that; do I try to persuade this person, threaten them, or convince them through debate, for examples. All of these choices define the character, and backstory elements revealed over the course of the game provide contrasts or comparisons from the protagonist's previous "lives".

Now, one could do something similar in a movie, perhaps by picking a "path" through the game—a particular set of choices—but I honestly think that this would be a rather weaker experience, and convey the themes of choice and personality rather less effectively than does the game, simply because in the game the player takes a hand in those choices, indeed makes those choices themselves rather than watching them play out.

The difference isn't really one of immersion, I don't think: books and movies can immerse one very effectively, I find. It's rather the sense of agency that games provide, the sense of choice, of being an actor in the events portrayed rather than a separate observer, that provides one of the more potent advantages of games.

This agency can have various effects: it can be used towards conveying a point, as described above; it can make matters more personal, encouraging the player to invest emotionally, by giving the impression of events occurring to or around them, rather than an observed protagonist; and probably a great many more effects besides.

(Note: I'm not saying that agency is the be-all and end-all of games as art; far from it. I just think that it's a significant point that has been missed thus far.)

My Games & Writing

Was Child of Light mentioned yet? It has the atmosphere/immersion going for it. Arguably the story too, for being a "fairytale" type.

On that note I recommend The Stanley Parable for this topic. It'a entirely about exploring player agency.

edited 14th Jul '14 9:50:08 AM by VeryMelon

Books and Movies can't match video games for immersion. A movie will always have a degree of separation between the audience and the story that video games can eliminate. Games can get away with stuff like just exploring a new world in Minecraft for hours because of how immersive the game is. In a movie that would get boring in minutes, if not seconds.

Here's my suggestion: Don't look for "artistic" games. Look at AAA action games. Look at a good one, and look at a bad one. Look at the artistic decisions made in the good one. Look at the level design and how it affects the game's atmosphere. Look at the pacing. Then look at the bad one, and look for decisions that were made haphazardly. Look at where things are dissonant. Studying bad art gives you insight into good art.

Don't fall into the trap of looking for things that try to mimic the pretensions of art. Pick something where the artistic qualities aren't obvious at first and break it apart to find them. You'll wind up with a far more interesting argument than "Well look at how abstract and colorful this game is!" or just pointing out examples of other art forms being included in the game.

In all honesty, all of them. Video games are a combination of many art forms - music, visual, writing, etc...

Every game.

Art is art. Not all art is good, but it's still art. Transformers 4 and the crayon drawings your four-year-old does are an equal amount of art as Vertigo and Cezanne.

I interpret the question as "what game/s do you think are True Art?"

To which I say, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Final Fantasy IX.

I interpret people trying to answer the question "what game/s do you think are True Art?" as "people who are likely to start huge arguments and flame wars".

As for the original question, I'm going to go with and .

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

If you want a game where perceived player agency enhances the story, you might try looking at the first Bioshock. The game plays a lot with the idea that you, the player, are making certain choices, and what the meaning of those choices might be. Also, there's the famous twist. Going to spoil that as little as possible. Really, I think even saying would you kindly is a bit too spoilerish, because it cue the viewer to the fact that a seemingly minor detail is actually important.

edited 14th Jul '14 6:40:44 PM by arks

Video Game Census. Please contribute.

I can agree with the first Bioshock as well.

Yes. This is the only thing that games have over other media.

Spec Ops: The Line uses choice — and the illusion of choice — to really drag the player in. The protagonist of that game, though he has good intentions, ends up committing multiple atrocities. The part that sticks out the most in my mind (and I'm not alone in this, it seems to be the most memorable & haunting part of the game) is where you have to use White Phosphorus to proceed — and at the end of that section, you use it on a bunch of civilians. The player character doesn't realise at first what he's done — but I as the player absolutely did. Those screams... I just sat there for three minutes, after I'd done that, until the lone surivor that I'd missed in the bombing round finally killed the protagonist. The second time I tried, I couldn't even bring myself to pull the trigger. I forced myself to do it, eventually, just to continue with the game, and I felt implicated in what happened in a way that wouldn't be possible with a book or a movie — because I had to pull the trigger. While there are several choices to be made throughout that game, this is actually something you have no ability to avoid (apart from by turning the game off and walking away), and yet it still felt like I was responsible for it, like I had blood on my hands.

In a sense, when the player character does something, the player is himself responsible for it. When Wander sticks his sword into an ancient, majestic giant it feels like I'm personally killing an elephant. When Joel runs and kicks a raider in the head to protect Ellie, it feels (in a sense) like I'm protecting my own child — even though I'm only actually pressing a button. This is the power that video games have: other art forms can make us feel great empathy for fictional creations, but only video games can make us feel as if we are that person.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.