Decline Relatively recent eye-candy games that're good as games?

[deuxhero]

Having finally upgraded my new machine's GPU (well it's in mail) from the old one's 4GB RX 480, and likely updating to a new display in the not so distant future, I'm left wondering: What games have there been in the last 4/5 year that actually take advantage of my upgrade, are worth playing on their own merit, prominently feature living creatures (vehicles are easy mode for graphics), and actually need the new GPU for reasons other than "programmed by idiots"? New card is a 6700 xt, current display is 1080 and any replacement isn't likely to be more than 1440p.

Edit: Apparently it was an 8 GB RX 480 the whole time. No idea why I thought it was 4. I've already played KCD on it.

 

[Ash]

lol., none. And nothing is precisely what graphics whores deserve.

 

[Dadd]

Infra Arcana

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Metro Exodus - very surprisingly good FPS with cutting edge graphics. Earlier games in the series were very linear, but Exodus is pseudo open world-ish, and combines really nice story-telling with decent gameplay.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance - excellent RPG about medieval Europe with outstanding graphics. For best results, play on Hardcore mode with mod suggestions from the Codex review.
Cyberpunk 2077 - outstanding latest graphics combined with a decent game after all the patches.
Witcher 3 - This one is older than your time frame (from 2015), but it recently got a graphical upgrade patch, and dialed up to max graphics, one of the most beautiful games ever made. For best results, play with Enemies of Rivia mod.

 

[laclongquan]

You can always check your old Fallout New Vegas, but this time install a bunch of high graphic mod.

 

[Lemming42]

Metro Exodus looks good with RTX if your new card has that.

Otherwise the main advantage of your new rig is that you can run games that look like shit but nonetheless have inexplicably high system requirements. Gears Tactics is a good game which requires a fucking supercomputer to run (or did at release, anyway).

 

[Lady Error]

BG3 is good, if you can stomach the occasional degenerate cringe. And it is turn-based, unlike CP2077 or Witcher 3.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Nothing like turn-based bear sex.

 

[karoliner]

Armored Core 6, Atomic Heart, Elden Ring, Resident Evil Village, Trepang2 and Yakuza 7.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

I could barely run Control, and it left me wondering how it would look when run on max with all effects enabled.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Are there even non-eye candy games that are good as games?

 

[Dadd]

Turns out modern games look like shit, play like shit, and are shit

Path of Exile 2 is coming out soon™, which looks visually impressive for what it is, and hopefully will be good until it gradually turns to shit

 

[Iucounu]

ARK: Survival Evolved was pretty demanding, thanks to its huge areas, high quality graphics and lots of animal species with unique and varied AI.

ARK: Survival Ascended is basically the same game upgraded for Unreal Engine 5, it seems to be even more demanding (and likely janky):

 

[Grauken]

Nothing like turn-based bear sex.

The only people who see bear sex are those deliberately looking for it

 

[jaekl]

BG3 is good, if you can stomach the occasional degenerate cringe. And it is turn-based, unlike CP2077 or Witcher 3.

"occasional"

 

[mastroego]

Having finally upgraded my new machine's GPU (well it's in mail) from the old one's 4GB RX 480, and likely updating to a new display in the not so distant future, I'm left wondering: What games have there been in the last 4/5 year that actually take advantage of my upgrade, are worth playing on their own merit, prominently feature living creatures (vehicles are easy mode for graphics), and actually need the new GPU for reasons other than "programmed by idiots"? New card is a 6700 xt, current display is 1080 and any replacement isn't likely to be more than 1440p.

Well for similar reasons I tried Control recently.
Gameplay wise it's decent. There are other issues of course.

 

[Lady Error]

BG3 is good, if you can stomach the occasional degenerate cringe. And it is turn-based, unlike CP2077 or Witcher 3.

"occasional"

You can play as Dark Urge and murder everybody if you want. There is also a Dark Elf character who only joins if you do not side with the Druid refugees camp early on.

 

[jaekl]

BG3 is good, if you can stomach the occasional degenerate cringe. And it is turn-based, unlike CP2077 or Witcher 3.

"occasional"

You can play as Dark Urge and murder everybody if you want. There is also a Dark Elf character who only joins if you do not side with the Druid refugees camp early on.

Yes, it has every type of cringe that you could ever ask to cringe to.

 

[Lady Error]

Not really, since you have the choice if you want cringe or not.

 

[jaekl]

Cringing is involuntary

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

90s era moral choices: Save everyone or kill everyone.
2020s era moral choices: Sex bears/octopi or kill everyone.

 

[Lemming42]

There is also a Dark Elf character who only joins if you do not side with the Druid refugees camp early on.

Making Minthara exclusive to the "evil route"* is one of the biggest mistakes they made with that game IMO. She's great, one hundred thousand times better than Halsin, and provides a nice counterbalance to the cartoonishness and special snowflakery of the other companions. But the overwhelming majority of players will obviously choose to defend the grove given that you have no reason whatsoever to side with the Goblins unless you're LARPing as a dumb psychopath, which most people save for a second playthrough. She doesn't even make sense as a companion exclusive to an evil player because she herself isn't really evil, I don't get what they were thinking.

*I know about the other way to get her but who the hell is going to ignore the massively-telegraphed grove quest and walk straight to Act 2

Halsin, meanwhile, is absolute balls. He sucks and there's nothing positive to say about him. The actor does his best but the character just blows. So most people miss out on one of the best (and least "cringey") companions in the game, and end up with total deadweight in her place.

Thread tax: yes, BG3 looks pretty good on max settings. You can also probably run AssCreed Odyssey at max without it shitting itself, fun game if you want to mindlessly drift around getting into increasingly ludicrous swordfights for a hundred and fifty hours.

 

[Lady Error]

So most people miss out on one of the best (and least "cringey") companions in the game, and end up with total deadweight in her place.

You kill the cringe, you get the non-cringe character. Based Larian.

 

[Falksi]

Persona 5 Royal is the last game to wow me artistically and be enjoyable to play too. Some of the environments in Bards Tale 4 are pretty lush as well, but I wouldn't exactly call it "eye candy" either.

But yeah, most modern games which look great play shit.

 

[Terenty]

Atomic Heart for sure. Great graphics, top notch art direction, good gameplay