Summary
Today, singleplayer games are known for stunning visuals. It’s a given that booting upCyberpunk 2077orFinal Fantasy XVIis going to provide unparalleled graphics coupled with masterfully designed audio to create a sense of immersion and awe. Even smaller studios can create incredible visuals. Games such asBlasphemousare visually breathtaking despite keeping themselves to a two-dimensional plane.
Multiplayer games, however, are not usually associated with their cinematic prowess. They tend to focus on map design and weapon balance to ensure fair play and keep matches engaging. It’s much more important to make sure a map isn’t unfair to one side than it is to make it visually stunning. But, some multiplayer games have managed to do both, creating a cinematic masterpiece that occurs naturally through gameplay.
An extremelyapproachable tactical shooter,Hell Let Looseis known for its realism and attention to detail. Guns kill almost instantly, and gunfights can quickly deteriorate into a mess of artillery and gunfire. Each encounter is a mix of coordinated squads and loose groups of players trying to capture or defend their objectives.
When a pitched battle begins in Hell Let Loose, it can go on for the entire match. Machine gun nests are created and tanks are rolled into position while squads attempt to flank and suppress the enemy. Commanders can even call in rolling strikes or katyusha rockets to rain down hell on their foe.
No Man’s Skyis one of gaming’s greatest redemption arcs, evolving from its much-maligned release to the modern masterpiece the game has become. Initially, the game didn’t actually feature multiplayer. However, later updates introduced the functionality.
The procedurally generated galaxy inNo Man’s Skyis beautiful, featuring sprawling alien worlds, the vibrant colors of space, and wildly diverse wildlife — from bioluminescent plants toprocedurally generated fauna. That might be what is most impressive about the game. Each world is completely unique and yet each one still manages to be visually stunning.
The incredible visuals ofDestiny 2are down to its unique “mythic sci-fi” setting, combining the traditional science fantasy elements with godlike characters and incredible vistas and set pieces. Players can expect to see the normal moon, Mars, and Earth environments but coupled with strange and otherworldly structures and enemies.
The incredible fortresses raised by the Hive, colossal tanks of the Cabal, and mausoleums of the Scorn are so incredibly well-detailed and distinct from one another that they suck the player in.Destiny 2delivers immersive environments that just yearn for exploration — even if missions tend to focus on linear narratives.
A fresh take on the tactical shooter genre,Rainbow Six Siegewas revolutionary when it came out in 2015, introducing map destruction and hero shooter-esque abilities to the franchise. Players can rappel up and down buildings to get better angles on their opponents and use cameras to figure out where the enemies were hiding.
What makes the game so cinematic is the destructable environments. Players can breach through walls, doors, and windows, using everything from dedicated explosive charges to simply kicking in broken barricades. Bullets can even cut holes in walls, turning gunfights into terrain-destroying chaos.
As a strategy game, it might be hard for players to appreciate the cinematic scale of theTotal War Series,given that most of the time, players will be observing the battlefield from above. However, zoom in, and the scale of the battles becomes much clearer.
Monsters cleave through platoons of infantry, smoke billows from cannons, and cavalry knock soldiers aside like nothing. Coupled with the multitude of sync animations to give certain kills a cinematic edge or make hero units appear even cooler, and the game takes on a new life.
One of the most popular MMOs on the planet,Final fantasy 14is a massive game with tons of content for players to enjoy. Players can pick from one of three roles for combat: Tank, Healer, or DPS. Each role represents a subset of classes that can wield their own flashy, crazy abilities, from firing magical arrows to summoning a shadow clone of themselves to help in combat.
The most cinematic parts of the game are the raid bosses. Even the early ones can be of an incredible scale, forcing players to take on colossal krakens and fire-breathing dragons. Many battles feature striking set pieces — battling aboard a ship on a roiling sea or sci-fi platforms surrounded by neon lights.
For fans ofWarhammer 40,000,Space Marine 2is a cinematic masterpiece. While the player vs player portion of the multiplayer is good, it’s not what makes the game such a wonder to look at. The co-op mode, Operations, are cinematic gold.
Operations utilize the power ofSpace Marine 2’s engine to really make players feel like walking death machines. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Tyranids can be on the screen at once, forcing players to slice through them in melee or blast them apart using the wide variety of guns available. This even extends to the campaign, which is also fully playable in online co-op — although the Operations mode allows players to use charactersthey’ve created themselves.
TheTekkenfranchise has always had cinematic battle arenas and iconic stage themes, butTekken 8has taken it up a notch. The game boasts some of the most insane stage locations and the option to change each stage’s music to suit players' individual tastes.
It’s got everything from fighting in a roiling sea listening to rock, to fighting in a fully destructible dojo blasting electro. It evenfeatures Clive Rosfield, fromFinal Fantasy XVI,battling in a half-destroyed castle. The game additionally expands on the “rage arts” introduced inTekken 7, with characters performing incredible feats and even warping the stage around them.
A co-op masterpiece,Helldivers 2was one of 2024’s most popular releases and continues to have a dedicated fanbase. Players drop in as a squad of four to battle one of three enemy factions, given free rein over how they complete objectives and what ordnance they bring to a battlefield.
The large hordes of enemies, impressive graphics, and multitude of striking environments would have been enough to landHelldivers 2on this list. But, what catapults it to the top are the abilities available to players and the colossal enemies that they can face. Star Wars-style walkers and colossal bug monsters are met with rolling artillery strikes and miniature nukes deployed by players, turning the battlefield into a organically cinematic mess of explosions, gunfire, and giblets.
The ultimate trench warfare emulator,Battlefield 1made sure that while it isn’t exactly accurate, it is extremely authentic to its brutal setting. Even now, you can find people who turn all the HUD off and just run around the game with nothing but their iron sights in massive player vs player battles.
Battlefield 1is a perfect storm of everything that makes a game cinematic. From the amazing graphics that still hold up even almost a decade since its release, to the incredible attention to detail across every map — even the audio is a horrid mix of well-performed screams and grim mechanical music to immerse players in the grim setting of World War 1.
