Hic Sunt Dracones - Games with illustrative maps
I've always had a soft spot for when a game would go the extra mile by drawing their ingame maps to suit the artstyle or setting. A good map is a near-useless map; aesthetics first, floriated and adorned with mythological beasts, a warped sense of scale, downright drunken to look at. List idea mainly struck me when I realised heartless blobby vector diagrams of collision data were sucking my blood.
I realise there are likely hundreds of titles that do this, but why not make a start at cataloguing the best ones? Feel free to suggest titles that are unafraid to break out the pen and paper and sketch out a stylised chart.
I realise there's a decent amount of subjectivity here, so my criteria is just:
- The map itself has to be ingame, not a fanciful recreation in supplementary material, such as a guidebook or manual.
- I'm not keen on vector topologies just because they have an earthy colour scheme
I realise there are likely hundreds of titles that do this, but why not make a start at cataloguing the best ones? Feel free to suggest titles that are unafraid to break out the pen and paper and sketch out a stylised chart.
I realise there's a decent amount of subjectivity here, so my criteria is just:
- The map itself has to be ingame, not a fanciful recreation in supplementary material, such as a guidebook or manual.
- I'm not keen on vector topologies just because they have an earthy colour scheme
14 Games
5 Comments
Pentiment has a map that looks like it was drawn by the main character
Huh, I meant the Final Cut version, apparently they updated it. Never knew.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/discoelysium_gamepedia_en/images/7/75/Final_cut_map_.jpg/
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/discoelysium_gamepedia_en/images/7/75/Final_cut_map_.jpg/
Oh jesus christ, first I've seen of this too, looks sick beyond belief
stumbled across this list browsing around pentiment and absolutely love it!!
the drakengard franchise has painterly tapestry-esque maps across all three entries, as well as the first nier game maintaining the style ^^
d1: https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PqjM_ObUxoo/XhKfgotH5gI/AAAAAAABWMw/sXjMtn7JBXIVnmUeubty8_uF_-2TN_KNgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Drakengard_%2528PS2%2529_50.jpg
d2: https://lparchive.org/Drakengard-2/Update%2036/4-clocktower14.jpg
d3: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/drakengard/images/c/ca/DOD3_Midgard_Map.png/revision/latest?cb=20140507055258
nier: https://video-game-guide-walkthrough.supersoluce.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/17/NieR-Replicant-Walkthrough-Damaged-Map-010.jpg
HQ images are hard to find... i'm a little mad automata abandoned this wonderful artistic aesthetic ;;
the drakengard franchise has painterly tapestry-esque maps across all three entries, as well as the first nier game maintaining the style ^^
d1: https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PqjM_ObUxoo/XhKfgotH5gI/AAAAAAABWMw/sXjMtn7JBXIVnmUeubty8_uF_-2TN_KNgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Drakengard_%2528PS2%2529_50.jpg
d2: https://lparchive.org/Drakengard-2/Update%2036/4-clocktower14.jpg
d3: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/drakengard/images/c/ca/DOD3_Midgard_Map.png/revision/latest?cb=20140507055258
nier: https://video-game-guide-walkthrough.supersoluce.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/17/NieR-Replicant-Walkthrough-Damaged-Map-010.jpg
HQ images are hard to find... i'm a little mad automata abandoned this wonderful artistic aesthetic ;;
Jackier
1 year ago