Game of the Year: Best PS5 Art Direction of 2025

Alongside our Game of the Year top 10 list and personal picks from the Push Square editorial team, we are recognising the best PS5 games of 2025 in select categories. Today is the turn of the best PS5 art direction of 2025.

Bronze Trophy: Ghost of Yotei

We lost count of how many times Ghost of Yotei made us stop and breathe its frankly stunning landscapes in. The game knows it's good looking because it'll actually pull the camera back a bit whenever you approach the edge of a high cliff.

Go on, take a screenshot of that view...

As was the case with its predecessor, Yotei makes sublime use of vibrant colours and pretty lighting techniques to create picturesque environments. Art-wise, it's one of those games that's just a joy to look at — even when you're covering such a lovely canvas in blood.

Silver Trophy: Dispatch

Taking obvious inspiration from comic books and animated shows, Dispatch whips up a brilliantly colourful feast for the eyes.

Having such instantly recognisable character designs certainly helps as well, and it's difficult not to be left impressed by how cohesively Dispatch comes together as an experience that's meant to be watched as much as it's meant to be played.

There's a lot to get right with something like this; elements such as scene direction become way more important when the player isn't in control of the camera, for example. But AdHoc Studio and its animation partners absolutely nailed it from the very first episode.

Gold Trophy: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Death Stranding 2 is one of the best looking games out there from both a graphical and technical perspective — but the artistry that drives its overall look shouldn't be ignored.

In true Kojima fashion, this is an obsessively detailed and meticulously crafted visual experience. From the open world's stunning vistas — which can appear photorealistic at times — to the immaculate character, enemy, and vehicle designs, Death Stranding 2 is a ridiculously rich work of art.

Even after tens or possibly even hundreds of hours, it feels like there's always something new to behold.

Platinum Trophy: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

It may not have the graphical heft of Sony's eye-melting first-party efforts, but the sheer creativity of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 simply can't be overlooked.

Its shifting, fractured environments. Its consistently surprising enemy designs. Its use of vibrant colour and explosive visual effects. It's a memorably dark and moody game, but it never settles for greys and browns.

The game's weird but wonderful art direction helps sell its equally strange atmosphere, as your expedition journeys into the unknown. From a visual standpoint, the whole thing's very cohesive, despite being packed with oddities.

Artistically, Expedition 33 is going to be one of those games that goes down as an all-time favourite for many. People will be playing this thing decades from now and saying that it still looks so unique.

Do you agree with our picks for the best PS5 art direction of 2025? Share your thoughts in the comments below and check out more of our Game of the Year coverage through the link.