Fallout 4 Vs The Witcher 3: Which Is The Best RPG Of 2015?

8. Graphics

I'm not part of the seemingly global opprobrium against Fallout 4's graphics. The more saturated colours and vibrancy of the game world make the Boston wasteland a much more appealing place to wander around in than its predecessors, and it's pushed the 50s-retro visual style further than ever to great effect. But on a technical level, Fallout 4 suffers from many of the problems running through other Bethesda RPGs. Character animations are about as fluid as a ballet-dancing Sentry Bot, and while faces no longer look like anthropomorphic potatoes, the lack of variety in expressions and dodgy lip-syncing make most of characters aloof and un-relatable. With all that said, the wasteland can be a genuinely beautiful place, and the graphics don't detract from the joy of exploring it all.

For some reason, The Witcher 3 caught a lot less flak for its graphical shortcomings than Fallout 4, despite having its fair share of them. The game looks vastly inferior to the gameplay trailer that was released in 2013, and many compromises were made to the PC version so it could run smoothly on consoles (thanks for that, console gamers). The Witcher 2, on the other hand, was originally developed for the PC, and therefore had outstanding graphics from the off that still look incredible today. That's not to say The Witcher 3 isn't one of the most beautiful games around. Trees sway sadly in the wind, sunsets look absolutely incredible and environments look moody and stunning. Crucially, facial animations are very well done, with wrinkles in all the right places and nice animated eyebrows bringing characters to life. The Witcher 3 is a looker, and a technical achievement despite not quite living up to the expectations set by its own developer.