As the game industry moves forward, the focus on having great graphics has never gone away. It can be enough to bring new people into video games when they see shiny new visuals that look incredible. While this is mostly achieved in open-world games and first-person shooters, platformers have also had plenty of love and care placed into their graphics as well.
Just because you play something that's often more accessible to players of all ages doesn't mean that you have to settle for a visually stunted experience. Numerous platformers have gorgeous visuals and push graphical boundaries to create something that looks and plays incredibly.
8 Psychonauts 2
Psychonauts was a cult classic, holding its slew of fans for years. After what felt like an eternity, Double Fine came through and launched Psychonauts 2. The sequel proved to be everything fans were hoping for and more. Not only was it a return to the classic platforming style of the original game, but it was also elevated by modern hardware and contemporary design principles. The game's wacky and trippy visual style benefited greatly from modern consoles, leading to a game that looks like no other. Even outside the platforming genre, you won't find another title that looks anything like Psychonauts 2.
7 Ratchet And Clank: Rift Apart
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Insomniac has proven itself as an extremely efficient studio during the PS5 generation. Launching Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Spider-Man Remastered with the system launch and then coming out with Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart the following year with two other titles on the way is nothing short of impressive.
What's even more jaw-dropping is how good their games look and feel despite their stacked schedule. Rift Apart is one of the few PS5-only games, and it does its hardest to earn that status. The titular duo has never looked better, with impressive texture work, rock-solid performance, ray tracing, 4K output, and several diverse planets to explore.
6 Super Mario Odyssey
The first year of the Nintendo Switch remains one of its best. Among the reasons for this is the launch of Super Mario Odyssey. This was a return to the sandbox design seen in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. Odyssey was like a dream, featuring completely new settings for Mario to get lost in.
Despite the fact that this large platformer is running on what is ostensibly a tablet, Odyssey also looks great. Whether you're hopping across the buildings of New Donk City or running across the beach of the Seaside Kingdom, everything looks inventive, and beautiful, and runs without a hitch.
5 Astro's Playroom
Astro's Playroom is the pack-in game when you purchase a PS5, and it remains one of the best of its kind. It takes place inside the PS5 itself, where you control the adorable Astro as you travel through levels based on the GPU, CPU, cooling fans, and more.
Running with the sheer horsepower of Sony's latest console, Astro's Playroom looks awesome. Whether you're skating on ice, walking through grass that looks like ribbon cables or trudging through a storm, there's always something to gawk at on screen. It makes the idea of a full-scale Astro 3D platformer a tantalizing prospect.
4 Sackboy: A Big Adventure
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If you have a PS4, PS5, or PC and want a more traditional platformer that takes advantage of modern hardware, then look no further than Sackboy: A Big Adventure. While the gameplay is largely dissociated from LittleBigPlanet, there's still plenty to love in this title.
The entire world has a hand-crafted aesthetic, using real materials to create its platforms, enemies, and UI elements. Having stronger assets and lighting helps sell this as well. Sackboy is also very well optimized, getting steady performance on a base PS4, meaning you won't lose much by not having top-of-the-line hardware.
3 Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
After the successful launch of the Crash Bandicoot N' Sane Trilogy, Activision set Toys for Bob to work on a new fourth entry into the series. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is not only a successful modern evolution for the classic platformer series, but it also has an excellent and consistent visual style that makes the game as much a joy to see as it is to play.
The game is styled differently from the trilogy that came before, but the harsher lines and more exaggerated designs lead to gorgeous levels that are stuffed with detail and color that will make your adventure a joy to witness from start to finish.
2 Oddworld Soulstorm
While the feedback for Oddworld Soulstorm has been mixed since its launch, there's no denying that the game looks very good. The scale of the levels is much larger than the original games that it's based on, and the team at Oddworld Inhabitants seemed intent on making the environments translate well into a modern setting.
The usage of color leads to a much more dynamic yet restrained lighting system than the New N' Tasty remake, and the real-time cutscenes have some of the best-looking animations put into a video game. It was visually very successful in taking these classic characters and placing them into a game with a lot more headroom.
1 Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
Ori and the Blind Forest was a good-looking game, having a consistent visual style that complimented its setting and tone extremely well. Ori and the Will of the Wisps took that foundation and turned it into something truly special. The biomes are much more distinct, having multiple layers of detail that look nothing short of mesmerizing. The game feels like playing through an ephemeral dream. With the addition of boss fights, larger levels, and plenty of new characters, there's always something new to gaze at when you play.