When I look back at the PC games of the late 90s
and early 2000s, there's a distinct visual style that I believe truly stands the test of time. It's
when the game employs pre-rendered graphics paired with an isometric perspective. Curious about
what that looks like? Here, let me show you. Is it just me, or do these games look just as
beautiful as they did over twenty years ago? The rich details, the handcrafted feel and level
of cohesion all culminate into one of my favorite aesthetics of that era. Where did this style come
from you might ask? Well, allow me to explain. Back in the late 90s, real-time 3D graphics
were still in its infancy. These early games were usually pixelated, lacked details and
suffered low framerates. Rendering complex scenes in real-time required a lot of processing
power and memory, which many computers at the time simply didn’t have. To achieve a higher level
of fidelity, developers thought of a solution. They’d create highly detailed environments,
characters, and objects, then render them on powerful PCs as static images or sequences
of images. All assets were created with a fixed isometric perspective, this means they
are viewed diagonally from above. Despite their static nature, isometric pre-rendered
graphics can create the illusion of depth and three-dimensionality through clever use of
shading, lighting, and perspective techniques. Since these games didn't require rendering
most or any of their assets in real-time, developers could pack them with far more
detail than their true 3D counterparts. This particular art style was most prominently
seen in role playing, strategy and management games. I’d say the golden age started with the
first Diablo in 1997 and ended around the start of 2003 with Sim City 4. Occasionally, you'd
still stumble upon a game using this art style, but by the end of 2004, it had largely become
obsolete. Which leads me to the question: why was this technique mostly abandoned by the mid-2000s?
The whole reason this technique was used in the first place was due to hardware limitations.
However, as we entered the mid-2000s, rapid advancements in new graphics hardware and
rendering techniques emerged. These advancements made it possible to render 3D graphics in
real-time that didn’t look like a slideshow. Oh, how the times have changed.
Another reason for the switch to 3D is the limitation of pre-rendered graphics in terms of
interactivity and adaptability. As games evolved to become more complex, the use of pre-rendered
graphics became increasingly impractical. The same applied to the development of
pre-rendered graphics. If you wanted to change an asset, you couldn’t simply tweak
it; you had to fully re-render it. Being able to tweak a model within a couple of clicks
meant developers could work a lot faster. You’re inclined to think that was
it for that aesthetic, right? Well, I’m happy to report, it's made a bit of a
comeback, especially in the indie scene! It seems I’m not the only one who still adores
that pre-rendered look. Obsidian Entertainment released a game called Pillars of Eternity in
2015, developed by CRPG veterans like Josh Sawyer, Tim Cain, and Chris Avellone. Obsidian would
drop two more games in this graphical style with: Tyranny and Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire.
Another relatively recent game with an amazing pre-rendered art style is Disco: Elysium. In this
game they went for a more painting like aesthetic. Next up are The Brotherhood’s Games, they
are an indie studio that made four adventure games in this style called: Cayne, Stasis,
Beautiful Desolation and Stasis: Bone Totem. Then there are also games that keep
the isometric perspective but don’t use pre-rendered graphics and go for hand drawn
sprites instead, like all of Supergiant’s games. Alongside all of these new releases, a lot
of classic games have received the remaster treatment. This allows people to enjoy
these timeless games on modern machines. And man do they look beautiful on there. It’s a
testament of why hardware and budget limitations can produce some incredible art.
In a world where triple-A studios relentlessly pursue photorealism—nothing
inherently wrong with that, of course— I'm happy to see the preservation of these older games
and the passing of the torch to create new ones. I’ve compiled a list of my favorite games in
this style that I think deserve your attention, feel free to pause the video if you need to. Of course, there are plenty more games that use
this art style but this is a nice place to start.
I want to thank you for taking the time out of your day to listen to me ramble on about video
game art, if you want to see more retrospective content like this, I’d really appreciate it
if you like the video, leave a comment and subscribe to the channel. Now if you’ll excuse
me, I’m off to play some Desperados, Peace!
