In my mid-30s but didn’t grow up with video games.
When I started playing them on my own PC, it was NFS, Half Life, Rise of Nations, and Call of Duty that got me hooked.
Now that I’m looking for games to play on my Deck, most of the games perfect for portable gaming appear to be with pixel art aesthetic.
Just why? Is this nostalgia? In the 90s, deveopers were using every trick possible to squeeze performance out of hardware (been watching videos about old games like Rollercoaster Tycoon, Prince of Persia, Doom etc) and I can’t even get indie games with some eye candy?
Never have I been so disappointed to find out that Balatro and Vampire Survivors are pixel art games. My interest disappeared faster than a Lamborghini.
Whatever happened to other art styles? Why don’t we see games with vector or pseudo-3D (or 2.5D) art?
Anyway, that’s my unpopular opinion I guess.
This is less unpopular and more uninformed opinion.
OP clearly knows nothing about making games and only wants every dev to cater to their likings without even considering that pixel art can be a forced choice to keep costs and dev times bearable to small or one-man teams (stardew valley). It can also be an aesthethical choice because it goes well with the game’s concept (sea of stars) or even a way to keep the game cheap (vampire survivors).
Also, saying the pixel art is lazy shows OP has probably never seen a detailed pixel art game. See Chained Echoes or the aforementioned Sea of Stars as examples.
Just because a game doesn’t have shiny 3d graphics doesn’t mean it’s bad or lazy.