So I'm nearly done with the last of the three Phantasmat games on Steam (Crucible Peak, The Dread of Oakville, and Endless Night). I loved Crucible Peak, didn't really enjoy Dread of Oakville, and Endless Nights is fun so far!
However, playing these games made me realizing something, and the Phantasmat series is honestly a perfect example of it:
I tend to favor Hidden Object games that stylize their art and characters. The backgrounds + hidden object scenes can be unique for sure, some have more of the dark + gothic vibe I like, but they're usually the same detailed scenery that it doesn't bother me too much. (Unless they're lazy 3D objects and are hard-to-navigate). I find that the characters are what matter to me to make a game 'special' out of the hundreds of Hidden Objects out there.
Looking at the original Phantasmat game(and Crucible Peak), the characters are stylized, their designs work with their true 'deceased' forms, and their animations look well-done, there's more fluid movement with their eyes and mouths:
But compare this to Endless Night, Dread of Oakville, and other Phantasmat games, where they make the characters look realistic and generic. Nothing about these designs are truly unique - there's no special silhouettes, the expressions + animations are awkward, and there's no real stylization to make it 'stand out' from other games. You'll find dozens that have characters that look like these:
3D models can have good character designs - my favorite HOPA game of all time, Brink of Consciousness: Dorian Gray Syndrome, has their characters 3D-modeled in-game, but the examples above look too hyper-realistic, and it limits their animations and expressions GREATLY compared to just...2D-drawn characters.
Has this ever bothered anyone else?
