We’ve given this list a fresh end-of-summer update with many stunning-looking games, including the gorgeous 16-bit inspired Sea of Stars.
While the Switch might not be able to compete with other platforms in pure processing terms, there’s certainly no shortage of beautiful-looking games on the console. Switch may not output at a native 4K at 120 fps, but Nintendo diminutive little hybrid can still pack a punch for the eyeballs. Couple clever programming with excellent art direction and Switch can deliver stunning visuals on a little console you can throw in a backpack. How far we’ve come since the Game Boy days!
Below we’ve put together a list of the best-looking games on Switch — titles that prove you don’t necessarily need a dozen teraflops, HDR lighting and fancy-pants liquid-cooling solutions to produce gorgeous visuals in a modern video game. Many cross-platform titles such as Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Witcher 3, Warframe and Alien: Isolation look truly remarkable on Switch considering the console’s comparative power limitations, but the following list highlights games we believe stand alongside the very best visuals of the generation, regardless of platform — you’ll find no ‘considering the hardware’ caveats here.
So, without further ado, let’s dive in and swim in the graphical loveliness of the best-looking Switch games (in no particular order)…
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Next Level Games
There was perhaps an element of surprise to how lovely Luigi’s Mansion 3 looked which took us aback. Not that we expected it to be anything less than lovely–it is a top-tier Nintendo release–but we weren’t quite prepared for the prettiness of Luigi’s threequel. Developer Next Level Games really lived up to its name with this one and sucked every last big of graphical juice from the hardware.
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Publisher: Shin’en Multimedia / Developer: Shin’en Multimedia
With performance locked at a silky-smooth 60fps and the pixel count maxed out whether you’re playing in docked or handheld mode, The Touryst from developer Shin’en is an absolute treat for the eyes. With a colourful voxel art style and a bright island-based setting, it’s a wonderfully good-looking little adventure to embark on and we highly recommend giving it a try if this one passed you by.
Publisher: Raw Fury / Developer: Noio
While 2D pixel art games are ten-a-penny, few of them are quite as breathtaking as Kingdom Two Crowns. Performance might not be perfect, but one look at the wondrous reflections, subtle lighting and sheer detail in the ever-changing landscapes of this game is enough to forgive and forget any frame rate hiccups you might encounter.
Publisher: Square Enix / Developer: Square Enix
HD-2D has just continued to look better and better with every single game, and Octopath Traveler II is the culmination of this. With stunning lighting, beautiful depth-of-field, and gorgeous character animations and sprite work (those bosses), it’s the gold standard for retro throwback RPGs for the modern era. It’s a feast for the eyes and ears, and with the improved gameplay elements, it’s a dream for any turn-based RPG fan.
Octopath Traveler and Live A Live are also well worth your time, too, both for their beautiful visuals and excellent gameplay, but for the complete package, Octopath Traveler II is the way to go.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: PlatinumGames
This Switch exclusive has all the easy style you’d expect from PlatinumGames, the studio that makes Bayonetta, but we were especially impressed at the world-building effect of Astral Chain’s cohesive art direction. Rich colours contrast against worn surfaces and tech of the Police department, with sharp character designs by Masakazu Katsura giving this dystopian future a unique look when it could so easily become another one-of-those.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Nintendo
Taking the blueprint of the original Game Boy game and dressing it up in a wonderful toy-like aesthetic, developer Grezzo did a fine job at reimagining a classic for modern hardware. Only some patchy performance issues take the shine off it, but Link’s Awakening on Switch is still one of the system’s graphical jewels.
Publisher: Ubisoft / Developer: Ubisoft
This may be a leftover from the previous generation, but Rayman Legends remains one of the best-looking 2D platformers ever, and that’s no less true of the Definitive Edition on Switch. Its cartoon art style is timeless and stands up just as well in 2020 as it did when it first wowed us on Wii U back in 2013. This is frequently available at a vastly discounted price in the eShop sales, so if you haven’t taken the plunge, we highly recommend getting acquainted with Ubisoft’s limbless wonder.
Publisher: Devolver Digital / Developer: Nomada Studio
A delicate little indie platformer, the watercolour art style of GRIS is just the ticket if you’re stressed and in need of a restorative, relaxing game. Coming from indie studio Nomada, it’s a magical little adventure where you bring pigmentation back to a colourless world. If you’re after something that will attract the attention of others as you play, GRIS is a captivating game.
Publisher: Dotemu / Developer: Lizardcube
Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap is a gorgeous reskin of a Master System classic that’s been reconstructed from the ground up. The visuals alone are enough to earn its place here, although the real ace up its sleeve is the ability to switch between Lizardcube’s incredible artwork and the original 8-bit graphics in real time. You don’t have to go into a menu, you press a button and the other style wipes across the screen. Scrubbing between the two became part of the game for us as we switched between styles and admired the artistic choices made in the updated version.
Don’t get us wrong, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is great, too, but this game has a special place in our hearts. The same artist worked on the sublime Streets of Rage 4.
Publisher: Raw Fury / Developer: Oskar Stålberg
Less a game and more a relaxing (and thoroughly eye-catching) plaything, screenshots of indie curio Townscaper are responsible for taking up approximately half of the storage space on the micro SD card lodged in our Switch at present. With the ability to alter the time of day in real-time via the menu, we’ve lost many happy hours creating impossibly complex towns on the water and grabbing shots from all angles — a beautiful way to pass a few minutes or many hours with no goal beyond creating something aesthetically pleasing. Fortunately, Townscaper makes that easy.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Nintendo
Breath of the Wild, for a launch title on Switch, looked utterly incredible. Tears of the Kingdom is a step up in terms of scope, visual variety, detail, and lighting. With improved performance and brand new environments such as the Sky Islands, it’s honestly staggering to see just how good Tears of the Kingdom looks, both docked and handheld. That beautiful art direction carries through to the sequel, too. If you’re picking up a Switch for the first time, you can’t go wrong with both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom — two lookers, and two all-time greats.
Publisher: Naps Team / Developer: Naps Team
Baldo‘s incredible Ghibli-esque art style caught the eyes of gamers the world over when it was first revealed and it’s probably the single aspect of a incredibly disappointing game which lives up to expectations. We described it in our review as “one of the most exquisite looking games on Switch” — hence its inclusion here — and we utterly stand by that. It’s just a shame that was pretty much the only praise we could give.
Publisher: PM Studios / Developer: Skrollcat Studio
On the topic of Ghibli-esque art, we were pleased to find that 2D platformer Hoa managed to match some great gameplay with its stunning good looks. It’s gentle, lilting game with elements that pay loving homage to Ghibli classics such as Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and more. Nevertheless, the ideas built on those borrowings are emotive and lusciously realised. With lush environments and incredible animation, Skrollcat Studio did a spectacular job here, so if you’re looking for a pleasant, painterly platformer, Hoa’s just the ticket.
Publisher: Shin’en Multimedia / Developer: Shin’en Multimedia
Another entry from Shin’en, the developer’s understanding of the hardware has produced fantastic results on Switch from the get-go. Fast RMX was one of the console’s launch titles and a buttery smooth example of what was possible on this shiny new hybrid console. You could argue that perhaps the angular craft aren’t the most taxing of assets, but this game is one of the smoothest and satisfying racers on the console, and a real looker, too.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Nintendo
Super Mario’s jaunt around the world really shouldn’t work as well as it does. On paper, its mess of art styles and approaches should never gel (what other game could pull off the meeting of a realistically proportioned human, Super Mario and an anthropomorphic fork?), but Nintendo manages to pull it together into a coherent whole through the genius of its mechanics and the high polish of every single element, including the visuals. From an art direction perspective, ‘a bit all over the place’ is a generous description, but the graphical collage Odyssey presents is nonetheless compelling.
We should also mention Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle as another plumber-based game that looks luscious, but the crazy breadth of styles on show in Super Mario Odyssey makes it one of the most impressive (and varied) visual treats on Switch.
