The Battle for Best Graphics of the Year: Indiana Jones, Hellblade 2, and Star Wars Outlaws Face Off
Annually, the Digital Foundry team shares their insights on the most technologically impressive games of the year – and in a lengthy 108-minute discussion, John Linneman, Alex Battaglia, and Oliver Mackenzie present their honorable mentions along with a top ten list of titles that captured their interest. However, just as in the previous year, it is the leading three games that truly stand out, and again, choosing which game deserves the top spot sparked intense discussion.
There is unanimous agreement regarding the placement of Star Wars Outlaws at the third position. The game is praised for delivering the ‘lived-in’ Star Wars aesthetic to gaming in a remarkably vibrant way, driven by Ubisoft’s state-of-the-art Snowdrop engine. From a technological perspective, the application of RT reflections, diffuse global illumination, and RT shadows represents a significant accomplishment considering the somewhat limited ray tracing capabilities available on consoles. The availability of a ray tracing option (RTXDI) for higher-end hardware in the PC version is the icing on the cake.
It is an aesthetically pleasing achievement overall, hindered only by its cutscenes where the animation appears noticeably inferior in comparison to in-game animation.
- 0:00:00 Introduction
- 0:01:58 Honorable mentions: STALKER 2, Persona 3 Reload, Metaphor ReFantazio, Nightdive Studios, Little Glade, FF7 Rebirth, Power Rangers
- 0:20:46 Dragon’s Dogma 2
- 0:26:35 Riven
- 0:30:32 Dragon Age: The Veilguard
- 0:37:24 Silent Hill 2
- 0:48:50 Astro Bot
- 0:54:32 Penny’s Monumental Breakaway
- 0:58:05 Dark Tale: Wukong
- 1:08:49 Star Wars Outlaws vs Hellblade 2 vs Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
The area of contention lies in the ranking of the top two games: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Obviously, from a gameplay standpoint, MachinesGames’ narrative is a clear frontrunner – but that isn’t the primary focus of a Digital Foundry ‘Best Graphics of 2024’ discussion. Hellblade 2 received accolades for its stunning character work and digital cinematography, to the extent that some environments look almost indistinguishable from real-world photography.
The scale is certainly more limited than Indiana Jones, but it also contributes to a tight, admirable level of consistent quality throughout the experience. It is a demanding game, yet surprisingly adaptable – Hellblade 2 can run on Steam Deck, while the 30fps cap on consoles can be effortlessly exceeded on more powerful PCs.
Ultimately, the team agreed that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle deserves to claim the prestigious ‘graphics of the year’ award. The extraordinary quality and variety of its assets and environments are impressive, and the implementation of high-quality RT global illumination across all console versions – and at a high resolution on Xbox Series X – cannot be overlooked.
The fact that the game runs effectively locked at a remarkable 60fps is another accolade in itself.