This popped into my head as I've been playing God of War III recently. I got into gaming around 2007-2008, when the then new generation hardware was finally gaining some steam after a sluggish start, and graphics were improving drastically. I was subscribed to a gaming magazine (remember those?) back then, and every now and then some game would make an impression with its violence to the point where it was specifically mentioned in the review. God of War III was one of the foremost pioneers of videogame violence in its day, since the PS3 could render gory details previously undreamed of, like skin tearing realistically or the veins of Helios' head swaying with full physics simulations.
However, I just recently realized that I haven't really heard or seen any discussion about how violent some video games are in ages. Granted, I don't follow gaming news that much anymore (never did much to begin with), but I follow several youtube channels that report on gaming, and I think I'd have heard if some title made a splash in this regard. Even Mortal Kombat, perhaps the #1 grandaddy of video game violence, seems these days to elicit more of a chuckled "oh you" with its violence: it's just something they do, no big deal. Back in the day I remember games like Manhunt, Sniper Elite, God of War, Splatterhouse and others really looking to make an impression with their violence and raising discussion.
But as graphics hardware seems to have progressed to the point where it's really hard to impress with fidelity anymore, it feels like there's nowhere left for videogame violence to go. Of course you can always dedicate more detail and pixels to the minutia (Last of Us 2 did this to an almost creepy degree), but as to what games are capable of showing... well, it seems we've reached the zenith. Maybe if you made some hyper-realistic first-person serial killer simulator where you could really zoom in on the details, but who would 1. publish that or 2. play that?
Anybody else feel this way?
However, I just recently realized that I haven't really heard or seen any discussion about how violent some video games are in ages. Granted, I don't follow gaming news that much anymore (never did much to begin with), but I follow several youtube channels that report on gaming, and I think I'd have heard if some title made a splash in this regard. Even Mortal Kombat, perhaps the #1 grandaddy of video game violence, seems these days to elicit more of a chuckled "oh you" with its violence: it's just something they do, no big deal. Back in the day I remember games like Manhunt, Sniper Elite, God of War, Splatterhouse and others really looking to make an impression with their violence and raising discussion.
But as graphics hardware seems to have progressed to the point where it's really hard to impress with fidelity anymore, it feels like there's nowhere left for videogame violence to go. Of course you can always dedicate more detail and pixels to the minutia (Last of Us 2 did this to an almost creepy degree), but as to what games are capable of showing... well, it seems we've reached the zenith. Maybe if you made some hyper-realistic first-person serial killer simulator where you could really zoom in on the details, but who would 1. publish that or 2. play that?
Anybody else feel this way?