/vr/ - Retro Games

Especially when it comes to lighting. I can appreciate that modern textures and models are higher fidelity. But I'm not convinced modern lighting engines are always an improvement. So many games try to cram as many unnecessary and unrealistic lighting effects as possible, with no regard for artstyle. It's like they think "it exists, so I should use it".

This leads to a certain "look" that I find immediately revolting in a way that's hard to describe. Doom 2016 comes to mind as an example of this. I find that game disgustingly ugly to the point I don't want to play it. I think this is also what people are complaining about when they talk about the "generic UE4 look".

Games like the classic Silent Hill games though, have amazing atmospheric lighting that's better than most modern games, even if it's technically less advanced. Another good example is Luigi's Mansion 1 vs Luigi's Mansion 3. LM1's lighting utterly embarrasses LM3's lighting.

Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Can anyone do a better job of putting into words what the problem is and why a lot of retro games have such better lighting than most modern games?

Pic related is a screenshot from my recent playthrough of SH2 Born From a Wish so feel free to talk about that too. I don't quite understand the meaning and the internet isn't doing a good job of explaining it.