This year's Game Awards were absolutely jam-packed with exciting new game announcements, and while heavy-hitters like Death Stranding 2 and Hades 2 are sure to be the reveals everyone talks about for months to come, gamers shouldn't forget about the event's smaller announcements, with Hellboy: Web of Wyrd being the perfect example. Coming right at the start of the Game Awards, Hellboy: Web of Wyrd may not have been the biggest reveal of the night, but it may end up being one of the most unique offerings of 2023.
In just over a minute, Hellboy: Web of Wyrd's announcement trailer somehow managed to make the game stand out from the rest of its superhero video game competition. While the game's combat looks intriguing and the Mike Mignola seal of approval is sure to attract Hellboy fans from all over, it's Hellboy: Web of Wyrd's artstyle that really sets it apart from its competition, as it's the perfect fit for a Hellboy adaptation.
Why Hellboy: Web of Wyrd's Cel-Shading Is a Great Choice
Hellboy: Web of Wyrd is using a cel-shaded art style for its monsters, enviornemnts, and titular half-demon protagonist, and it's the perfect route to go for a plethora of reasons. The first and most important reason is that this art style perfectly captures the design of Hellboy in his own comic run, and the wonderfully dark world he inhabits.
In every Hellboy comic fans pick up, he's always got at least half his body encased in shadow, with the environment around him featuring similar darkened highlights. Hellboy: Web of Wyrd looks like it's ripped the art straight from the comics' pages, with its cel-shaded art style imitating the colors and lighting used by the comics' artists. The use of cel-shading can also be practical from a gameplay perspective, with the art style naturally highlighting points of interest, such as a destructible piece of environment, or the weak spots on an enemy demon or monster.
The cel-shaded art style also helps to make Hellboy: Web of Wyrd immediately stand out from its other superhero video game competitors. Nowadays, the vast majority of superhero video game titles aim for a realistic art style, albeit with some stylized elements like particle effects to retain the essence of the comic source material. So while Marvel's Spider-Man, Gotham Knights, and even upcoming titles like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League all have a mostly realistic art style, Hellboy: Web of Wyrd manages to instantly stand out from the crowd. With Hellboy still being a relatively unknown character, with the latest movie adaptation being a real failure, a video game adaptation needs all the help it can get in the current market.
Cel-shading can also be a great tool for smaller developers, who perhaps don't have the budget to create a more realistic-looking game. Cel-shading can mask environmental details and any overly complex aspects of character models, all while remaining visually appealing to the player. Using cel-shading also tends to give the game a longer life, often keeping it looking good long after its initial release date. When gamers head back to play Xbox 360-era titles, for instance, the original Borderlands holds up much better than lower-budget titles that attempted to go for a realistic art style. With gaming technology continuing to advance at an alarming rate, it's important that developers future-proof their games, and using a cel-shaded art style is one surefire way to achieve that.
Hellboy: Web of Wyrd is currently in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.