The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PC, 2015)

The sunsets. The character models. The damn forest that would occasionally trick my brain into thinking I might be breathing in pollen and suffering an allergic reaction. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s graphics made me truly fall in love with my PlayStation 4. Don’t get me wrong, Sony’s 2013 console had some lookers before then, but The Witcher 3’s visuals had a spark of life that drew me in and refused to let me go until I accomplished every possible thing I could in the game.

My PC friends told me it looked better over on their side, and sure, they were technically right, but it didn’t matter for me as the experience of traversing the thick forests, stalking the streets of Novigrad, is all filled with a density of detail and artistic design that jumps to life whether you’re experiencing it at 30 frames per second or 144.

On the surface, The Witcher 3’s tale is merely a common set of fantasy tropes, but the emotional journey of this cast of endearing characters is truly where the magic is, and an enormous part of why that was conveyed so wonderfully was through the impressive face models, animation, and skin textures. Facial models and animation convey a wide scope of emotion, from subtle sadness and longing, to anger, to humor. The characters don’t just look great, they pop to life and help sell this wonderful tale of misfits who need to stick together. — Claire Jackson