Visual Fidelity has always been a vital feature when it comes to game designs; video games have come leaps and bounds farther than in the early days of sixteen-bit pixels on a screen. With every new generation of consoles, developers continue to push the envelope and reinvent the wheel with extensive overhauls in video game graphics. Realistic textures, destructible environments, and fluctuating weather cycles have all been monumental addition to the cinematic experiences that video games have become.
Sometimes the most beautiful aspects of a video game can be the simplest; while hundreds of hours of work go into creating a particular atmosphere, once experienced by the player, they notice these stunning effects for only a moment. One of the most challenging and most appealing visual effects is when a game has a winter setting. Snow is a complicated ball of chaos and physics that must react in different ways every time it's affected by the player in-game. This is an incredibly difficult accomplishment that goes highly unnoticed in many games. Here are some games with the best-looking snow.
7 Elden Ring
Elden Ring was released with monumental praise for its sensational story and meticulously created open word. A strong contender for the game of the year at the game awards, Elden Ring is one of the most beloved games of the generation and is highly considered a perfectly crafted masterpiece.
The world of Elden Ring is vast, containing multiple sections that have drastically different environments for players to explore. The consecrated snowfield is a high-level area that players will reach as they push deeper through the world of Elden Ring as a lowly tarnished. The player is met with the harsh cold, frozen creatures, and heaps of white snow scattered as far as the eye can see.
6 Super Mario Odyssey
The Legacy of Nintendo and the Super Mario franchise has a history spanning over one hundred years; the influence and advancement that both have had on the gaming community can not be understated or replicated. Super Mario Odyssey is yet another installment of a game that has nearly two hundred installments in its franchise.
The game features a beautiful open world, including the Snow Kingdom. Covered with wall-to-wall snow, Super Mario Odyssey's frozen biome excels at realism with trails and shifting levels of snow that fall when interacted with.
5 Monster Hunter World Iceborne
Monster Hunter World was a juggernaut release for Capcom, bringing the monster hunter franchise to consoles for the first time. The game was met with high praise and a massive player base that enjoyed many of the new features and returning monsters that the game had to offer.
Monster Hunter World's release was rivaled by its Iceborne expansion, which introduced a number of new monsters and environments, including snow-covered tundras and glacial caves for players to prowl, searching for legendary beasts to kill. Monster Hunter World's snowy lands introduced hazardous areas and beautiful, icy environments.
4 Horizon Zero Dawn
Horizon Zero Dawn is arguably one of the best new games of the last ten years; The story follows Aloy, a survivalist with a secret set in a dystopian future where technological beasts walk the earth and humanity holds on by a thread.
Horizon Zero Dawn contains several highly detailed environments from sandy beached, decrepit swamps, and snow-ridden fields that must be traversed by the player. In addition, the skill behind the snowy effects of Horizon Zero Dawn is on another level, as even Aloy can become frosted and covered with a thin layer of snow as she progresses.
3 The Division
When Ubisoft debuted Tom Clancy'sThe Division for the first time at E3 2015, fans were ecstatic with hype and anticipation to get their hands on the visual marvel that was featured on the screen. Upon release, Tom Clancy's The Division had everything finely tuned from Gunplay and open world exploration.
Set in the grand New York City during a harsh winter, players took to the street as Division Agents to combat the dollar flu virus. The well-crafted environment covered the streets in fresh powder, giving off a desolate feel, and roaming blizzards added to the ambiance of the city.
2 God Of War Ragnarok
God Of War Ragnarok has released to monumental success for the second game, in the second telling of the story of Kratos, the god of war. Players will explore both Midgard and Asgard alongside Kratos, Atreus, and Mimir on the eve of Ragnarok sweeping over the world.
An eternal winter has begun to cover the globe after the death of Balder and, with it, a beautiful yet deadly environment for players to endure. Footprints set and collapse in the finely detailed snowy trails of the game, the speed at which Kratos moves also affects how much snow is kicked up in the process making traversing the world a wonder to behold. Truly a next-generation marvel, God of War Ragnarok is a perfect visual spectacle to close out the current year.
1 The Last Of Us Part Two
The Last Of Us is one of the most beloved video games with a massive fan base that has fallen in love and become completely invested in the characters and their stories. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where a dreadful virus has run the human race to the brink of extinction, players follow Ellie, Joel, and a handful of survivors trying to live day by day.
In the second game in the franchise, Ellie and Joel are fresh off of the events of the previous game and are set on an unfortunate series of events during a hard, cold winter. Players take control of a matured Ellie through frozen streets, snowy trails, and fresh snowfall on a revenge mission.