Do Game Graphics really matter that much?

I’ve been doing a whole lot of gaming recently, but it suddenly hit me – every single game I’ve been hooked on for the last 3 or 4 months have been pixel graphics.

That’s the right. It’s like going back to the DOS days on my Steam library at the moment. I have this whoppingly expensive and nice gaming PC rig, but all I ever do is play games that remind me the early 90’s at the moment. So that leads to the question, do graphics really matter when it comes to gaming nowadays? Or is there a lot more to them than just pretty polygons?

2018 saw the release of highly anticipated Red Dead Redemption 2, which is praised for its stunning graphics.

As of recent, I see a lot of hype surrounding triple A gaming titles such as Red Dead Redemption 2 receiving praise for their “realism” and beautiful graphics. I’ll be honest here – I thought RDR2 was overhyped. In some ways it’s too “realistic” and about 80% of that game is riding around an empty (yet pretty) landscape.

Instead, I’ve found a lot more entertainment with 2D indie titles. Some popular ones that gamers may be familiar with include Terraria, Stardew Valley and Starbound. There isn’t a single 3D model in these games. In fact, all three are completely made up of sprites and pixel graphics. While it was likely just nostalgia that initially attracted me to these titles, I feel I’ve had more fun with them than any recent top tier triple A title.

Terraria is a cool nod to the old side scrollers. Not as visually appealing as RDR2 but I still have more fun with it.

In my spare time I’ve sunk at least a few hundred hours into these games (I have nothing better to do) and I’m still having a lot of fun with them. I know I’m not the only one who has done this too, looking at the games communities. If you ask me, I think a lot of so-called “gamers” are too focused on whether a game is pretty, BEFORE the actual gameplay.

Do you think that graphics are over-hyped currently? Or do you think I’ve just got my nostalgia goggles permanently glued on? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.