Following our Top 10 Worst Optimized and Top 10 Most Optimized PC games of 2019, today we are presenting you the top 10 best PC games graphics of 2019. In this article, we are focusing purely on the most visually impressive PC games of 2019.
Do note that we are not focusing on a game’s art style or its overall optimization. In other words, the following games looked absolutely gorgeous on the PC, mainly due to the tech powering them. Moreover, some of them pushed the graphical boundaries of what PC games can look like in 2019.
So, without further ado, here are the top 10 best PC games graphics of 2019.
10) A Plague Tale: Innocence
A Plague Tale: Innocence is one of the most beautiful games out there. Asobo Studio has used photogrammetry and as a result of that, the in-game textures look really detailed. The game uses an in-house engine and its lighting system is really great. Most characters are also highly detailed, though the lip-syncing is a bit average-ish and sometimes the transition between various animations is not that smoothly. Still, and despite its flaws, A Plague Tale: Innocence looks really impressive.
9) Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again; Ghost Recon Breakpoint is a huge disappointment. However, the tech powering it is incredible, and the game pushes some truly amazing environments. Ghost Recon Breakpoint looks and runs better than Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, The Division 2 and Watch_Dogs 2. The game also features some cool weather/wind effects and the grass bends as you walk through it. Ubisoft has used photogrammetry and all of the textures look incredible. The only downside here are the character models that are not as mind-blowing as what COD or Battlefield currently offer. Still, Ghost Recon Breakpoint is one of the best looking games of 2019.
8) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare looks amazing on the PC, even without its Ray Tracing effects. The character models are among the best we’ve seen in a first-person shooter, and the animations are really smooth. The environments also look incredible and Infinity Ward has used Photogrammetry. There are a lot of cool environmental and particles effects, and the levels are full of small details. The game would have been higher in the list if it didn’t suffer from some really ridiculous pop-in issues.
7) Gears 5
Gears 5 looks stunning on the PC. The character models look great, and the lip-syncing is very good. However, they cannot come close to what Resident Evil 2 Remake or Detroit: Become Human have achieved. Similarly, its environments look amazing and there are some cool environmental destruction set-pieces. However, there are also some limitations here that really surprised us. For instance, the gameplay environmental physics/destruction are toned down. Furthermore, the lighting is nowhere close to what Metro: Exodus and Control achieved. While Gears 5 looks and runs incredibly well, it does not showcase what future games can look in Unreal Engine 4; it feels more like a “refinement” of what modern-day games can look like.
6) Resident Evil 2 Remake
Resident Evil 2 Remake looks absolutely stunning. The character models look incredible (you can also dismember them) and a lot of light sources cast shadows. Seriously, and mainly thanks to its incredibly detailed character models, the game can sometimes feel like a next-gen title. The environments and the lighting are top notch, though overall interactivity is quite limited. There are also some minor “noise” issues with the game’s reflections but these are nitpicks. Resident Evil 2 Remake 2 is undoubtedly one of the best looking PC games of 2019.
5) Detroit: Become Human
Detroit: Become Human is not well optimized on the PC. After all, we’ve included this title in our Top 10 Worst Optimized PC Games of 2019. However, Quantic Dream’s game packs some truly impressive visuals. Its character models are the best we’ve seen in 2019. Seriously, just look at the following screenshots. The lip-syncing is also incredible. Detroit: Become Human also packs some amazing, though small, environments.
4) Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 looks absolutely gorgeous. Yes, this is a really demanding title, however, we feel that the game does justify its high GPU requirements. The draw distance is great, the character models are amazing and the environmental/weather effects are stunning. The light sources can even affect the snowflakes, and there are some beautiful snow deformation effects. Red Dead Redemption 2 is currently the most beautiful open-world game on the PC.
3) Metro Exodus
Metro: Exodus is one of the most beautiful games to date, mainly due to its Ray Tracing effects. 4A Games has used RTX for the game’s Global Illumination, Ambient Occlusion and Indirect Lighting. The end result is stunning and significantly improves the game’s visuals. Alongside CONTROL, Metro Exodus showcases the great benefits of real-time ray tracing. In some cases, the ray traced version feels like a next-gen game, and that says a lot about the tech powering it. Not only that, but the game also supports some cool PhysX and Hairworks effects.
If it wasn’t for the next RTX game, CONTROL would have been the best looking PC game of 2019. Remedy has excelled itself and the game’s real-time ray tracing effects are among the best we’ve seen. Remedy has used RTX for the game’s reflections, contact shadows, diffuse global illumination and transparent reflections. The end result is a sight to behold and CONTROL is a game that showcases what PC games can truly look like, without having any console limitations.
1) Quake 2 RTX
Contrary to all the other games featured in this list, Quake 2 RTX is a truly next-gen experience. This is a game that will simply leave you speechless the moment you run it. Yes, this is a really old game. However, this is also a full ray traced game, running in real-time and with 60fps on the PC. Not only that, but NVIDIA has recently released a new patch that further improves the game’s RTX effects. Quake 2 RTX is the perfect showcase of real-time Ray Tracing, and it’s something you really need to experience. Here is hoping that NVIDIA will release more RTX versions of classic PC games in 2020 and beyond.
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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I am not sure what is this RTX hype. Putting Quake 2 RTX above others which is something ridiculous.
I recently upgraded to an RTX card (2080 Super), and I’ve been meaning to test out all the games with RTX to see what kind of difference it makes. Didn’t notice much of a change in Metro Exodus after trying it for ten minutes or so with RTX enabled, but still am wondering how much of a difference there is, so gotta test them all out one by one.
Stand in the train where the engineer is in Metro, and you’ll immediately notice a difference between RTX on vs. off. Also, ten minutes? Really? Give it more time than that. Check out the big rundown factory where the Tsar Fish lives.
Yeah, that’s what, I was expecting instantly noticeable change with RTX, I pretty much just ran the game for ten minutes just to see overall performance and if RTX makes a huge difference. Will do a more thorough test. Thanks for the tips!
RTX ON is the way forward.
Yeah, focusing on visuals instead of gameplay is the way forward…ffs! if you want to look at nice things, watch a movie!
You know Minecraft is THE bestselling game out there?
DMC 5 Graphics > REmake 2 Graphics
Two people downvoted you, Baby Yoda!
3. I’ll be proud to be the 4th.
May the 4th Be With You.
Agreed RE2 remake still has texture and lighting issues. Not sure what all the fuss was about with that title.
I completely disagree with this top.
Trash Stranding is not on the list LMAO.
Not on pc
This a “PC” list…it’ll show up on next years list once its released in the Summer 2020 on our platform
1.plague looks amazing
2.breaking point also looks pretty damn good
3.rdr 2 also looks pretty impressive especially on pc with the extra graphics
4.metro exodus looks great.
5.cod looks ok, weapons look too samey, game lacks the artistic direction of the previous cod its too bland and the graphics are not that impressive.
6.detroit is a david cage game, most of its graphics are face scans and its too scripted
7.gears 5 is just gears 4 with some upgrades it looks decent but its not impressive.
8. re2 remake just looks good because its a remake of re2 its not graphically impressive its just standard graphics, re7 looked better.
9.most of control’s rooms feel like an empty physics testing map, so no. When it doesnt take place in the otherworldy monolith enviroments it looks great
10. LOL quake 2 xp looks better than memetx
With you on the David Cage point. I like his games for the story, but I wish that Quantic Dream would release at least one game with gameplay that doesn’t include just walking around and pressing buttons to do things that may as well happen on their own for how useless the button pressing can feel. Maybe next one they’ll do something now that they have larger budgets since Detroit. Maybe save some by not getting known actors and focus on better gameplay by paying their developers more (not sure how that works, but still).
that moment when his first game was the best.
actually it should be control.
graphically, Control followed by rdr2 are by far the best looking games this year for sure.
best games of 2019 for me :
1-a tie between control, rdr2, metro, fallen order and RE2 remake
2-outer worlds, sekiro and disco elysium
3-darksiders genesis
4-rage 2, my friend pedro and untitled goose game
5-borderlands 3 and devil may cry
rest of the games that came out this year are shet and if you like them then you have an inferior taste in games.
“outer worlds”
my eyes dude
why? you jealous of my white skin?
he’s a jew what do you expect?
he’s not a jew, he’s a shetskin indian who thinks he’s white.
thought he was a jew based on how many rants he goes on praising jews.
indians have a massive hard on for jews and persians. it’s how you can spot them.
ah ok thanks.
Quake 2 rtx 1st? this game is like a pixelated old school game with bloom and shadows enabled…
A lot of these games are being tweaked with Ray Tracing and I guess it looks kind of cool on some of the games.
Unfortunately, a few years ago I spent $330 on R9 390x which doesnt support it. It plays Doom 2016 at 4k at 45fps almost all the way up on graphics but not all the way.
Id like to get a newer card but wow the prices……. I’ll be stuck playing older games till something changes in the GPU market. Or I’ll start playing that Ps4 that’s gathering dust.
Great list till we got to quake rtx… damn what a troll.
I thought Rage 2 and Division 2 looked great as well
Modern Warfare? Really?
Only character models look good, but are on BF4 level max.
Anything rest in this game is below BF3, Crysis 2 , FIRE still is 2D
Yep, texture detail is also pretty lacking, things look bland.
And that trash TAA and post process efects. It just hard to look at it.
Metro Exodus should be #1 in my opinion.
I like your picture. F uck Sony and their shiity games that keep dumbing down gamers.
I like your picture. Ph*ck Sony and their games that keep dumbing down gamers.
like Bloodborne.
Gears 5 PC port is bettwer than everthing PS4 put on this gen. Fact.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ED773AmWkAEGpbe.jpg
only a low iq f4g can like generic third person shooters like this franchise.
Crysis 3 and Assassin’S Creed Unity on PC Maxed out look much better than any PS4 Exclusive to be frank.
Wow a like minded person. I have been saying this for a long time.
The character Models in Detroit: Become Human indeed look good….
Yep, the whole lip syncing looks great when the characters speak. Environments aren’t always great, though. Some look beautiful but other look rather bland, pretty much why it’s hard to understand why it can’t perform better.
I hate David Cage’s hack writing, I hate his interactive movies, and I hate so much of the heavy-handed tone in that game.
BUT, I still wanna get it just to gaze longingly at Chloe, she’s freaking beautiful.
jesus christ that woman from control is ugly she looks like a tranny! why do developers insist upon making tranny looking b*ches in there games.
to annoy incels like you
okay sure…you should go back to letting that man jaw lady of yours peg you some more.
Quake 2 at number 1 is that a joke?! Even fully raytraced it is not a very visually impressive game!
How underwhelming. All games seems to look the same today. Nothing was really impressive this year imo. If anything, im more impressed by the fact that consoles can run RedDead2 at all.
Death Stranding is another impressive looking game, again on console and if you do have a ps4, give the game a chance, its probably one of the best games ive played since my teens.
PC gfx have been falling behind since 2013 not really standing out from the consoles with a wide enough gap (outside of the expected higher resolution and framerates) to make the cost of highend hardware worth it.
Im finding the emulation scene to really be the only thing keeping me on the pc alongside older games like the pc classics of pre 2005.
Then again, im hooked on Tarkov as of last night.
2020 is looking good already for pc games gfx
https://youtu.be/BTETsm79D3A
Control really…! it’s one of the dullest looking games. It reminds me of last gen when games were all using the same dull colour palletes.
Love those devs, but i agree. Pretty average graphics tbf, very simplistic…
No mention of Devil May Cry 5 because?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry-HflQuaFc
NFS Heat?
GRID 4?
DIRT Rally 2?
F1 2019?
Planet Zoo?
Yakuza Kiwami???
Yakuza Kiwami 2??????????
Is this an out of season April Fools joke?
Where the fak is Fallen Order? Also Quake II RTX no1? @ John Papadopoulos eisai gia to peos file.