Best 'Hand-Drawn' Game

RiffRaff

Human Person, Maybe
Robot
May 11, 2020
404
394
63
Italy
I've been playing a ton of Spiritfarer on Switch and after 20 hours or so with it I can confidently say it's a very strong front-runner for my GotY2020. Besides being one of the most warm and heartfelt games I've ever played I love the hand-drawn art direction. I even went and bought the rest of Thunder Lotus' catalog since they were on sale and they also have that same amazing hand-drawn style.
And the more I think about it I gotta say my favorite technological advancement in modern gaming is that games can now look and move like crisp and clear hand-drawn animation; something that I've always wanted since I was a kid.

So, as of right now I'll give Spiritfarer my pick. I love the Ghibli-style softness to everything and how perfectly the animation expresses such subtle emotions (those hugs, man!). And the character designs are among the best I've seen in my 40 years of gaming!

What are your favorite hand-drawn games? The inevitable Cuphead (I love the art direction, butt fuck do I hate playing the game)? Something from SuperGiant? Darkest Dungeon?

spiritfarer-thumb-1560747015464.jpg
 

Cactüs

Swamp Creature that Smells Nice
Jun 30, 2020
16
17
3
Well you just convinced me to pick up Spiritfarer. :D

As someone who has been obsessed with animation for as long as I remember, I too absolutely love this newer ability devs have.

As for my pick, that is VERY tough, but I would go with: Dragon's Crown. Even though the big tiddee anime girls character design is embarrassing. Also shout out to Street fighter Three and Darkstalker's (even though they are sprites they are heavily based on hand drawn animation).
 

RiffRaff

Human Person, Maybe
Robot
May 11, 2020
404
394
63
Italy
Well you just convinced me to pick up Spiritfarer. :D

As someone who has been obsessed with animation for as long as I remember, I too absolutely love this newer ability devs have.

As for my pick, that is VERY tough, but I would go with: Dragon's Crown. Even though the big tiddee anime girls character design is embarrassing. Also shout out to Street fighter Three and Darkstalker's (even though they are sprites they are heavily based on hand drawn animation).
I have a confession. I don't really care for the gameplay of Vanillaware games but have bought and finished almost all of them only because I like the art so much.
 

Scrustle

Active member
May 11, 2020
74
114
33
Yeah Vanillaware is the obvious answer for this. Love Muramasa and Odin Sphere, they look amazing.

Always liked Braid's look too. Like a moving painting almost.

Figment has a really cool art style, and it's a super convincing illusion too. I thought most of the backgrounds were 2D until I saw a dev diary video after I finished and saw that the levels were all actually 3D. Crazy.

I'm sure there's loads more I'm forgetting right now too.

Also does pixel art count? That's "hand-drawn" in a sense too.
 

Roager

Rogue Ogre
May 11, 2020
55
61
18
I don't think pixel art counts. I feel like 'hand-drawn' suggests a style you could do on paper. Which, yes okay, you could draw a bunch of little squares or whatever, but pixel art is kind of inherently 'computer-y'

Anyway, Guacamelee was a cool one.
 
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