The Witness could stack up too I feel. A handcrafted 3D world with an almost painterly feeling thanks to the modelling and texturing, yet it still feels lifelike because of the correctness of the lighting.
Correctness of lighting has a really important role in making unique 3D art feel real and believable. With how mature lighting pipelines have become, the role of PBR and now the introduction of raytracing I think we actually have a lot more room to make unique 3D art that still feels immersive and "real" as it is the lighting that sells that feeling of correctness. More so than the texture map, art style or the modelling in my opinion
A game like Cyberpunk for one example has some instances where an objects texture is pixelated and blurry yet it still feels entirely part of the world because the lighting correctness sells it's existence in the world so well.
A game like mirrors edge was so compelling even with simple textures because the lighting made the space feel real.
Even Minecraft feels like a world you can live in with Raytracing.
Correctness of lighting has a really important role in making unique 3D art feel real and believable. With how mature lighting pipelines have become, the role of PBR and now the introduction of raytracing I think we actually have a lot more room to make unique 3D art that still feels immersive and "real" as it is the lighting that sells that feeling of correctness. More so than the texture map, art style or the modelling in my opinion
A game like Cyberpunk for one example has some instances where an objects texture is pixelated and blurry yet it still feels entirely part of the world because the lighting correctness sells it's existence in the world so well.
A game like mirrors edge was so compelling even with simple textures because the lighting made the space feel real.
Even Minecraft feels like a world you can live in with Raytracing.