In modern gaming of today, we’re seeing new worlds, and their depiction of them mesmerizes us with detail of shadows, textures, and rendering. We’re also laughing and applauding the environments in Paper Mario: The Origami King, or feeling captivated by the hand drawn artwork in Gris. No matter how how you look at it, graphics obviously play a big part in games because they’re what you look at the entire time, but how much does do they really matter?

As a retro gamer, I grew up with the sprite based games. When the transition to 3D occurred, the enhanced graphics helped to make these fictional worlds have depth, which gave the player a much more interesting world to explore. Now developers, depending on what platform they plan to put their project on and want the graphics to be immersive. The players want to see these graphics and wonder if the graphics will enhance their experience.

I for one think that art styles are the most important part when it comes to games. An art style can age a game, which in turn either makes the graphics look pleasant or deplorable. I see games such as Quantum Break or Yoshi’s Wooly World standing the test of time, while games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Turok will look dated and unappealing.

As technology advances and engines are created, we’ll see improved graphics fighting for our attention, but there will still be a place for 8-bit or 16-bit style games like Cyber-Shadow. We’ll also love the beautiful landscapes close to God Of War on PlayStation 4, the burning roads and cities of Forza Motorsport, or the Horizon series in the near future–all beautiful graphics in their own right as our nostalgia grows with time.

In my opinion, graphics really do matter. There’s going to be discussion as to what games had the best graphics, but in this age, if the game can draw us in with its graphics then who delivers it won’t matter. I love to see how the creativity of the art style can be used for the graphics. That’s what really matters to me.

Tell us what you think? Do graphics really matter? How important are they in terms of games you love? Share your reactions in the comments below.