Would you play a video game with graphics comparable to a Bricks game or “Pac-Man”? Personally, the PVP Live team would rather spend time on games with high-quality and realistic graphics. However, others would invest their time in these games with poor graphics, known as pixel video games.
Pixel games, otherwise pertained to as pixel art games, are usually developed by indie game developers. So, they are not mostly mainstream. Their design is, well, “pixelated,” but it is also this simplicity that makes it difficult for them to take in more attributes. Here are the favorite pixel games of all time.
1. ‘Hyper Light Drifter’
If you have a “Hyper Light Drifter,” will you forget those high-octane designs of apocalyptic video games? Perhaps.
This RPG game is not just a pixel video game but also a retro game. Even if its art and animation are not realistic, they are hauntingly beautiful, enigmatic, and captivating, filled with life despite the looming Judgment Day.
Here, pixel art is the centerpiece, laden with details and evocative whenever necessary. Each screen is unique and never monotonous, regarded as inspired by the “Final Fantasy” and “The Legend of Zelda” games.
2. ‘Octopath Traveler’
Notable is the perfect word to describe “Octopath Traveler,” aside from being innovative and ushering players into a new dimension. Literally speaking.
This game merges the beloved pixel art style of classic Japanese role-playing games of the late 1980s and early 1990s to make them tastefully and beautifully 3D.
But it’s not just 3D, as it is, since the developers and artists found a way to craft the in-game world with modern touches but still clinging to its retro vibe. The storytelling? Wonderful.
3. ‘Dead Cells’
This game may also be pixelated, but its quality is vibrant and detailed. If you are familiar with the gameplay of Metroidvania games, “Dead Cells” is reminiscent of them in terms of how fast-paced and rogue-like they are. Its rapid and fluid battles contrast with the richness of the environments, giving you the opportunity to enjoy both the action and the aesthetics.
Journey across the goosebump-y dungeon-y corridors, then to the vibrant, glowing skies. The game’s art helps construct a world just as rich as its gameplay. The pixel art and its characters’ dynamic motion are the perfect match made in gaming heaven.
4. ‘Blasphemous’
If you love “Dark Souls” and “Castlevania,” take “Blasphemous” as the mashup of these two impressive video games, though it’s in pixels, of course.
Attributed as atmospheric and immersive, “Blasphemous” has a gloomy theme that will completely envelop you into its world.
Despite its pixel art being not like realistically designed games, the art shines with the incredible execution of its animation. Thus, anybody who loves the genre and the thrill of pixel art games will appreciate “Blasphemous.”
5. ‘Until Then’
Real people in pixelated graphics? That’s daring, and “Until Then” does it perfectly. Somehow, it combines slice-of-life anime with the action of video gaming. Traditional pixel art coexists with modern 3D elements and even Gen Z features like social networking interfaces.
Set in Southeast Asia, the game is deeply rooted in the culture of this region, providing a unique and authentic backdrop for gamers to experience what it is like to live in this part of the world.
6. ‘Inmost’
The official “Inmost” cover art will remind you of the Tim Burton movie “Corpse Bride.” It’s all about gloom and doom here, all in a stunning classic pixel style that will time-travel you to the 80s and 90s.
The art stays within its retro style bounds while adding more, such as its next-level and next-generation atmosphere and immersion. It is beautiful and has great animation that you will play as your primary game of choice, not just when breaking the ice.
7. ‘Tails Noir’
Lo and behold, this video game has human-mimicking animals in a noir-inspired setting. There’s an intelligent detective, Howard Lotor, but he is a raccoon, your playable character. All angles of this game feature a moody and atmospheric vibe that brings you to your favorite noir movie.
Vancouver inspires the streets here, but they are dirty and drenching in rain. These set the scene for the adventures of the game’s characters as they uncover solutions for problems like racism and ghettoization. Have you heard of the talking animal in “Wicked”? That’s the feeling.
8. ‘Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove’
A pixel game released in recent years? That’s daring, too. It is a retro game that exists with a lot of hyperrealistic video games today, so it’s like the rose among the thorns. Yet, it does not leave the past, as it brings all the things you love about retro gaming classics to the modern age. You cannot go wrong when playing this video game.
9. ‘Fez’
Meanwhile, the best description for “Fez” is groundbreaking. Nothing is quite like it when you can rotate the in-game world to explore levels in new dimensions, like Luna Lovegood in “Harry Potter” rotating her favorite magazine.
Generally, the game is designed simply but brilliantly. The rotating screen allows you to discover hidden elements and new perspectives.
Everything about the game is in pixelated art, creating a colorful, abstract, and vivid world, together with its simple but iconic characters. Experience limitless in this pixel art video game.
10. ‘Enter The Gungeon’
Last but certainly not least is a game that’s as witty as its name. It’s a retro-inspired dungeon crawler side-by-side with the bullet-hell type of genre.
Loot, shoot, crawl the dungeon, unleash bullets, and more – be able to do this in a seamless pixel art package that will bring you all the way to the 1990s. Its modern effects and chaos feel much more exciting and cool at that.
In a world where you can find yourself sitting beside a passenger inside a train playing the same “Mobile Legends” game that you do, pixel art games are flowers blossoming, and you can smell in a garden. But why do so many players support them? Basically, it is how it drives you back to the time in gaming history when realistic graphics were not much of a big deal. You can access those games above on Steam.
