10 Great Video Games That Are Ugly On Purpose
2. Minecraft
Now, anybody who knows anything about Minecraft will appreciate that its blocky 3D aesthetic is one of its most identifiable elements, and certainly hasn't prevented it from selling 238 million copies and becoming the single best-selling video game of all time.
Though there's absolutely a quaint charm to Minecraft's low-fi visuals, make no mistake - it is ugly.
While players have created their own stunning texture modifications over the years, and the game does now support ray tracing, that blocky, ill-aged style still prevails to this very day.
Though developer Mojang announced an aesthetic overhaul with a planned 4K "Super Duper Graphics Pack" in 2017, it was ultimately cancelled in 2019 due to technical issues with getting the pack working across platforms.
Yet this really only reinforces that Minecraft's low-rent visual presentation is one of the reasons for its success - it's simple, clean, and easy for kids and adults alike to understand, while technically undemanding enough to work on basically every gaming device known to man.
Minecraft's complex crafting system likely wouldn't be so popular if the game opted for a more detailed, even "realistic" style, and so this more pared-down aesthetic fits the game's design philosophy like a glove.