Anyone feels that the environments feel kind of bland and soulless, despite the great art direction?

[BhaalSakh]

I'm gearing towards the end of the game, and so far, no environments gave me any sense of beauty, none of it seems ''magical''. They look impressive, but the vibe is kind of... off? For example, castles, even with their amazing architecture, feel kind of bland. The lighting often looks weird, and the whole vibe seems kind of ''fake''? I don't really know how to put it. When you play Dark Souls 1 or Elden Ring, it almost feels like the environments have a ''soul'' of their own, you can definitely tell that people once lived there. LOTF's environments look kind of... fake? Like a movie set or something. The environments in themselves are very well made, the assets all look great. And yet, everything feels unnatural. I'm not saying that it's a deal breaker or anything, I was just wondering if some people here feel the same.

[Rain]

No, disagree. Every time i ventured into a new area i was like "wow, this looks awesome" (except for the mines, but eh, they are mines)

[BhaalSakh]

Originally posted by Rain:

No, disagree. Every time i ventured into a new area i was like "wow, this looks awesome" (except for the mines, but eh, they are mines)

Environments DO look awesome and impressive. What I mean is that something feels unnatural and fake, despite looking good. It's lacking a ''soul'' of any kind.

[hxsan]

this is how they want you to feel, everything unreal and meaningless

[derw4tz]

yeah i feel like the world is not as captivating as it could be;

on a small scale it looks really good, all the scenes and in the moment

but on a grander scale it is pretty meh

[Cruddy]

I think it's fine, but the absurd amount of enemies and ambushes means I frequently have my eyes glued to corners and can't look at any artistic things.

[Zer0]

Yes and no, I dig the look of the umbral most of the time but I kinda get you, a lot of the aesthetics for me have a bit of a "Unreal High Fantasy Asset Pack" vibe to me. But I kinda get you, cause there's not been areas that have had me like woah environment wise.

[Warbreaker]

Nah, this game doesn't suffer from that, it has other issues but that is not one of them.

[Literally Guts From Berserk ?!]

I see what you mean but I don't think it's the dev's fault. It's def Unreal Engine 5. All UE5 games have this weird fake vibe to them. But this game is by far the best one I've played made in UE5 so far.

[Livy]

The umbral realm could need some more color variations.

[BhaalSakh]

Originally posted by Literally Guts from Berserk ?!:

I see what you mean but I don't think it's the dev's fault. It's def Unreal Engine 5. All UE5 games have this weird fake vibe to them. But this game is by far the best one I've played made in UE5 so far.

Well UEV does look way less cartoony than UE4, it looks more neutral. I think the problem really comes from the art direction itself. Take that ashen city you visit after fighting that progeny boss (the one that vomits laval). It looks like a hollywood set piece for a movie. It doesn't look ''real'' and it doesn't really have a soul. I'm at the monastery (with the red trees). It SHOULD look good and magical... But to me it looks like a bunch of bland gray stone walls, the interior looks boring and bland. As with the other environments, it doesn't look like people ever lived there, it looks like well, a video game level. The world map looks like one big theme park with various sections, instead of a coherent world.