Let me start off by saying that I've played and enjoyed many games with ASCII graphics or primitive tilesets; such as NetHack, DF and Brogue. ASCII graphics allow me to use my imagination to visualize what is happening, and I really like that. I understand that the gameplay itself is the most important aspect of a game, second to none. I also understand that investing time and money into the art assets means less development time for gameplay, which is bad. However this is not entirely an issue of art quality, this is more so an issue of bad artistic decisions.
I'd also like to point out that RimWorld is a fantastic game and I've logged 55+ Hours on Steam so far, still enjoying it a lot.
RimWorld's character models (pawns) are legitimately painful to look at. It is disruptive to the gameplay because I simply cannot get over how ugly everyone and everything is. I struggle to use my imagination like I can in ASCII or Tileset graphics because I'm instead forced to look at these hideous blobs of flesh that look nothing like human beings. The majority of the default hairstyles are goofy and distracting, despite being the primary visual identifier for pawns. I understand that the game is mimicking Prison Architect's style, but it just DOESN'T WORK for RimWorld.
Prison Architect's characters had "hands". Just a couple of circles was enough to make them feel like human beings. RimWorld's pawns not having any hands feels jarring and strange. Furthermore PA's characters were all basic shapes; composed of circles, squares, and a lot of sharp edges. Even hats and helmets followed this formula. Prisoners did not change their silhouette even while removing uniforms, and turning was a very slight skew rather than attempting to show them from a side view. RimWorld's pawns, however, look like a bunch of hideous flesh-blobs because they went for a slightly more realistic approach to body types (such as trying to show man-boobs).
And above all: Prison Architect was a totally different game, and its art-style was great for a free-build management game where you didn't really care about each individual person that much. But RimWorld is a ruthless survival game where each individual person matters greatly, and you want each of your pawns to be recognizable at a glance so you can micromanage them easier. RimWorld's pawns are primarily identified by their hairstyle, but that gets covered up completely when you give them a hat or helmet. It honestly just feels like zero thought was put into their design, even though I know that's not true, I know Tynan has put a lot of thought into it and I've read his reasoning. I know that the point of having a simple art-style is one part budget, one part less visual clutter. I find it incredibly hard to care about the character's well-being when they look so ridiculous, and that's not good for a game that's focused on clutch-survival.
Just my two cents.
EDIT: I will admit that this game's mod-friendliness has made it fairly easy to tweak some of the problems I have with the game's visuals. At least there's that. I now have 140+ hours of RimWorld played and I continue to enjoy it. Despite this review seeming harsh, I honestly really like RimWorld and I still tell my friends about it. It is easily the best Early Access games I've ever bought on Steam.
I'd also like to point out that RimWorld is a fantastic game and I've logged 55+ Hours on Steam so far, still enjoying it a lot.
RimWorld's character models (pawns) are legitimately painful to look at. It is disruptive to the gameplay because I simply cannot get over how ugly everyone and everything is. I struggle to use my imagination like I can in ASCII or Tileset graphics because I'm instead forced to look at these hideous blobs of flesh that look nothing like human beings. The majority of the default hairstyles are goofy and distracting, despite being the primary visual identifier for pawns. I understand that the game is mimicking Prison Architect's style, but it just DOESN'T WORK for RimWorld.
Prison Architect's characters had "hands". Just a couple of circles was enough to make them feel like human beings. RimWorld's pawns not having any hands feels jarring and strange. Furthermore PA's characters were all basic shapes; composed of circles, squares, and a lot of sharp edges. Even hats and helmets followed this formula. Prisoners did not change their silhouette even while removing uniforms, and turning was a very slight skew rather than attempting to show them from a side view. RimWorld's pawns, however, look like a bunch of hideous flesh-blobs because they went for a slightly more realistic approach to body types (such as trying to show man-boobs).
And above all: Prison Architect was a totally different game, and its art-style was great for a free-build management game where you didn't really care about each individual person that much. But RimWorld is a ruthless survival game where each individual person matters greatly, and you want each of your pawns to be recognizable at a glance so you can micromanage them easier. RimWorld's pawns are primarily identified by their hairstyle, but that gets covered up completely when you give them a hat or helmet. It honestly just feels like zero thought was put into their design, even though I know that's not true, I know Tynan has put a lot of thought into it and I've read his reasoning. I know that the point of having a simple art-style is one part budget, one part less visual clutter. I find it incredibly hard to care about the character's well-being when they look so ridiculous, and that's not good for a game that's focused on clutch-survival.
Just my two cents.
EDIT: I will admit that this game's mod-friendliness has made it fairly easy to tweak some of the problems I have with the game's visuals. At least there's that. I now have 140+ hours of RimWorld played and I continue to enjoy it. Despite this review seeming harsh, I honestly really like RimWorld and I still tell my friends about it. It is easily the best Early Access games I've ever bought on Steam.