Digital Foundry's Best Game Graphics Of 2019: The Year's Best Tech In Review! 

John is finally a friend not just a colleague😂

*Timestamps: (Spoilers)* *Honorable Mentions:* 1:16 Resident Evil 2 4:32 Devil May Cry 5 6:52 Ace Combat 7 9:36 The Touryst 12:00 A Plague Tale: Innocence 15:09 Ion Fury *Top 3:* 17:24 Quake 2 RTX _(#3)_ 21:38 Control _(Alex's #2)_ 26:05 Gears 5 _(John's #2)_ 29:28 Metro Exodus _(Alex's #1)_ 33:14 Death Stranding _(John's #1)_

Digital Foundry Presents: "My Friend & Colleague"

Yay, A Plague Tale getting its deserved recognition, really great lower budget title! Can't wait for the sequel which is apparently already being worked on

Diehardman has a scene in the end of death stranding that is _absolutely_ insane.. probably one of the best looking scenes in gaming

Friend & Colleague: A DF Story

Death Stranding is one of the most beautiful games I have ever played, the atmosphere is rivaling games like Okami and Shadow of the Colossus for me. thanks for giving it the recognition it deserves!

HZD won 2017, now DS for 2019, respect to Guerrilla and the extraordinary Decimal engine

I think Luigi's Mansion 3 deserved a place on this list. The animations of that game are amazing like the Disney Pixar moves.

Great how they play along with the friend and colleague joke!

(Re-)Watching this in april 2020 and hearing John say “next year is gonna get crazier...” (@39:40) brought a tear to my eye. But overall it was great fun hearing two nerds geeking out over stuff that I don’t even notice, let alone understand, half the time! Here’s hoping that the new consoles will not be delayed into 2021 and we will get to enjoy many more videos oh-ing and ah-ing over the next gen’s leap in performance, graphical and otherwise!

No wonder you like 60 fps games. Who wouldn't and I really hope that will be the focus of next-gen. And not something asinine as 8K graphics.

to me death stranding is a win because of one aspect that accelerates graphic experience but not many people are talking about it. it's not about how it looks, but how it moves. the physics of death stranding, how the legs interact with different terrains, how in intense times the expression of sam is not wooden, face expressions, etc. skyrim could look very good with mods, but the physics and how to character moves will never be replaced by any mods to respond such details of the environment, the movement and expression will always be wooden

Trust DF to place 90s games in top graphics of 2019 lists

Norman Reedus looks so confused in death stranding all the time, which is quite representative of what the player feels, which makes for a starkly immersive experience.

Good job DF in 2019 - Looking forward to your excellent content in 2020 with the new consoles!!

I love the MGS interface

Hahahahaha! YES!!! Finally, Alex is both John's FRIEND and colleague! How long we have waited! xD (very nice edited with the colors, comic sans font and the music, just what the community needed) xD

The fact that they used a Shining Force 2 soundtrack for the Friend and Colleague part is enough reason for me to give this video a like.

Very nice! This feels like a bonus for me, since John was saying goodbye for the year at the end of his previous standalone video. It's always nice to have more great content! Happy New Year und Auf Wiedersehen!

i have been a subscriber to this channel from the past 9 years,these guys have never disappointed me and they have come a long way,love you DF, hope you make videos till i die and more...

Having played them all on a 2080 super (minus DS), Metro Exodus, is the game that stands out the most. It's the game I want to go back to play the most and I've never played either of the prequels for it. It is just insanely gorgeous and atmospheric with Ray tracing pumped up! Best graphical game I've ever played!

Thank you guys for bringing unique content to YT. Wish you all at DF a great holiday season and hope you keep up this quality level in 2020.

John, Alex. It's been a pleasure. Looking forward to another year of DF.

261? Thats like 3 videos every 4 days. Thats a LOT of editing. Lol Considering the quality of your scripts and the vast amount of info being presented, thats impressive. Even with 4 of you at the helm. Good job guys! i,m looking forward to 2020! Cheers!🍻

Alex: Im joined by my friend John: **laughs** WAT DOES THIS MEAN

Awesome finale (?) for 2019 - well done, guys! Just became a Digital Foundry patr(e)on on the occasion. Please keep up the excellent work!

Happy Holidays to the DF staff. We appreciate all of your work. Cheers 🍻

Metro Exodus and Gears 5 were stunning beautiful!

Despite all the stupid criticism Death Stranding for me was the GOTY hands down.

Merry Xmas fellas and thank yall for all the hard work over the last year! This chanel continues to push the boundary of what is possible when discussing and analyzing the games we all love to play. Hope your holidays are filled with joy and that the new year brings even more great things!

A Plague Tale: Innocence used Quixel Megascans assets.

Death Stranding and Gears 5 are the usual example of the end of life of a console circle were the developers know so much about the system and had twick their engines to the best level possible to fully unitilize the system. I bet Ghost of Tsushima will be another such title when it comes out next year and by the end of the year it may be the only title that makes it to such a video despite being on previous consoles by then and not having ray tracing etc. Well The last of Us II may also make it.

Love what you guys do on this youtube platform You guys are underrated

I can't believe this video is over a year old. I felt like I just watched it a month ago. Time flies.

Fantastic selection of games and graphical techniques! Great job, Alex and John!

I’m excited to see what graphics we can achieve in the 9th gen.

I really like John man, he does such great work. He has an unusual professionalism for my generation, while still being relatably casual...

Ah, love the shining force ii reference during Alex's amazing #1 intro.

Excellent video! I especially liked your enthusiasm when talking about Quake 2 RTX. I'm really excited about what this technology may bring in the future.

Hahahaha love the og MGS interface and music. Massive throwback

Has anyone ever seen Rich Leadbetter and Techmoan’s Matt Taylor in the same place?

Appreciate that Iridion soundtrack you guys put in there. Among my favourites.

I love that MetalGearSolid codec screen for this video! Glad to see I wasnt the only one that enojyed Death Stranding.

I thought call of duty came back with a vengeance this year graphically

5:24 - Me, when I'm just a colleague and not a friend.

You guys are technical AF!! Love the analysis fella's!! Keep up the great work!

Thank you, Digital Foundry has taught a new way to appreciated the technology in video games

I know it's not strictly a 2019 game but the Red Dead 2 PC release has easily some of the best graphics I've ever seen. Playing at 4K it's stunning and with gsync enabled the 40s and 50s framerate is acceptable. Unfortunately you do need both a 2080ti and a 4K gysnc screen, but, if you've neglected to have a child and found yourself with a decent amount of disposable income, it's highly recommended.

That moment when a console game graphics surpass those of the PC... Plague Tale looked amazing though, that game snuck by me.

Agree with every game on this list. While this year may not have been so good in terms of quality game releases, the jump in graphical presentation continues to get better year after year. Ive been playing games for 20 years and this year has blown me away with some of the games on this list. Im playing through Control right now with RTX and its absolutely mindblowing! As always, great job DF, this is my favorite channel on YT! Keep up the good work :)

Merry X-Mas and thank you for an awesome 2019!

Greetings from Dominican Republic!, nice video, looking forward to the next gen.

I'd love to see df do a documentary episode like what they did for the surge 2 but for shinen, seeing as they're so close to them

Thorougly enjoyed all your videos this year. Good work guys

I love you guys, such a great two man team filled with enthusiasm and knowledge.

Love you DF!

Oh man! You earn my like with this MGS sweetness :D

Excellent video. Usually my attention span on RU-vid for a video is roughly 10 minutes, but not this time.

Awesome vid guys! Appreciate it! Will check out the games...

A Plague Tale looks amazing, but I wish we could get a remaster with RT since the fly in the graphical ointment is the SSAO shadows always flickering at the edge of the screen as geometry moves in and out. The art is amazing in Plague Tale, I would love to see that fixed. It shows the limitations of screen space graphical hacks. RT isn't just a nice-to-have feature going forward; graphics are getting to the point where screen space artifacts are the ugliest things onscreen.

Red dead Redemption 2, Metro Exodus and Gears 5, was just stunning beautiful and some close and native 4K on the Xbox one X. Just stunning

Great choices! Proud to say I own both of your top 2 picks and most of your runners up.

More power to your channel guys! I love this channel!❤️❤️❤️ see you next year.

I'd really like to see if you guys could find out how devs will use AI/MachineLearning to help create in game development. There is some exciting technology out there. I think Nvidia has a lot going on there.

I'm surprised RDR2 wasn't mentioned. Their toned down post processing in favour of realism is outstanding.

I found the Touryst because of your video on it, so glad I did because it's brilliant!

Dang, ION Fury looks so cool! As someone that grew up playing and loving the original Duke Nukem games on PC, that’s super rad.

Hey guys, DF is easily one of my favorite channels of 2019. Your content is always top notch

Where is soulja's 1 billon K ultra mega raytracing 900fps mention?

I was actually impressed with Noita this year and its per-pixel physics engine. I was blown away by it! Yeah, I know it's a 2D pixel art indie game, but the technology behind it is nevertheless absolutely mindblowing.

the final die-hardman scene still blows my mind

damn forgot about deep down

Death Stranding destroys everything. Even metro exodus and makes rdr 2 on pc look like a dated gta v mod.

i am happy there is such channel in YT !

Thanks guys for the great reviews.

Death stranding is the best over all its just perfect every thing i would want in a first person game with zombies lol. Its so realistic looking just unbelievable shame this isn't my type of game i like the use of linda wagner in a computer game its was nice to see maybe we will start to get more famous stars in games for the future and make use of there acting skills in a unique way .

No days gone? That looks incredible

Thank you for another awesome video!

Wow what an awesome reference to Shining Force 2 on the Megadrive/Gen, one of the systems best soundtracks! Also hurray for you guys being colleagues and friends!

Surprised Days Gone didn't make the list or Anthem, both are stunning graphically.

I agree, Death Stranding looks just beautiful.

14:44 If it hasn't already been said, A Plague Tale used Quixel Magascans for their assets. Which was smart. It allowed them to use assets someone else generated and they could focus on other parts of the game.

I just finished Control on PC, cause it was on sale... It looked spectacular, and I just have an RX580. I can't imagine what my reaction would've been if I had a Ray Tracing capable card.

If you guys are interested in high fidelity flight sims check out DCS World. It's superbly detailed both in and out of VR.

Looking forward to 2020 visuals, fingers crossed we'll get new GPUs!

the SHINNING FORCE II battle music .. THANK YOU!!

Devil Trigger is such a great track (just picked it up on it during the Devil May Cry section)

Cheers from Brazil, DF is the best on youtube and gaming

Gears 5 is pretty impressive considering how good it looks and runs like absolute butter

So glad to see A Plague Tale get its due. Excellent video.

You might want to play the new RTX version of Deliver Us the Moon and revise your list. Or at least cover in a separate video. It the most feature-rich version of RTX to date. Stunning!

36:36 Well, the reason why it doesn't look like united states is because timefall ages the whole environment and not just living creatures, but yeah I agree that Kojima made the right decision to go with Iceland looking landscape to represent destroyed postapocalyptic america.

Red Dead could've gotten a spot on here nah? (amazing video interesting input from both)

You guys are nerds and dorks and I love you. Next year is going to be wild!

Happy holidays guys

To be honest, One game that I have been completely floored by this year is actually Generation Zero. Not because of character models (they look mediocre at best) or revolutionary techniques like ray-tracing, but rather the sheer natural size of the world, and the environmental art. The amazing weather system in conjunction with the micro detailing of the environment is absolutely excellent. And it actually feels like exploring rural Sweden in the 80's... The morning mist covering the fields, or the sun shafts created by the sun piercing through the humid forests is a sight to behold. Sure the game had a really rough launch with tons of bugs, glitches and asset re-use (and should've been a early-access title if you ask me) but over the last 6 months it actually plays amazing and looks the part as well. I don't know how it plays on console, but on PC with max settings 1440p and 60+fps gameplay it has been one of the most beautiful games I have played this year.

Metal Gear solid hommage, love it!

I don't know anything about development of games, but judging by Horizon Zero Dawn and Death Stranding and considering the platform, I think Decima engine is a 3d graphics miracle machine.

Rdr2 if you count it as new “pc” game With RE 2 and Metro Exodus catching up and Sekiro is great too