Nothing sells a video game to the masses quite like the promise of realism and immersion, because who among us doesn’t want to escape reality and disappear into a rich, teeming game world?
Though the tireless pursuit of photorealistic visuals has certainly become a divisive subject in the current period of relentless games industry layoffs, it’s nevertheless evident that the average player will be drawn to games that both look and feel “real.”
Real can mean many things to many people of course, and as this list will prove, realism isn’t strictly limited to purely grounded video games.
No matter how supernatural a game might be, if the character models and lighting effects are meticulous enough, it becomes incredibly easy to buy into the “reality” it presents.
And similarly, tactile gameplay mechanics which make movement, combat, traversal, and exploration feel like more than mere inputs will contribute hugely to the immersion of the overall experience.
And on PS5, it simply doesn’t get more believable than these 10 video games, which from gory actioners to racers, open-world masterpieces and everything in-between, completely sell the illusion of reality to everyone holding a DualSense controller…
The Last of Us Part II is the summation of everything that Naughty Dog had worked on prior to its release.
For while the character models are some of the most impressively believable in gaming history and the diverse environments feel staggeringly lived-in, it’s the deeply human storytelling which takes it to the next level.
Whether you ultimately vibed with its bolder storytelling choices or not, The Last of Us Part II shows human beings in all of their stripped down, raw ugliness in ways few video games ever have.
And even more than that, it achieves the impressive feat of making its plentiful violence feel absolutely nauseating.
For as expertly designed as the combat is, there’s nothing sexy or particularly fun about taking down hordes of enemies, and by the end of its 20+ hour play-time, there’s a good chance you’ll feel completely sick of killing people.
That the NPCs tout some of the most advanced AI routines and expressions the medium has ever seen sure doesn’t hurt.