I feel like we're in a weird space right now where a lot of stylized 3D-modeled games just.....don't look SUPER great visually? I think because they don't have the budget or the time or the processing power to pull off what would work better?
Like there's games that I LOVE how they look...like Mario Odyssey and Mario Wonder, or Kirby and the Forgotten Land, or Pikmin 3 and Pikmin 4, or Dragon Quest 11.
But then there's games like the new Dragon Quest Monsters, Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Superstars, Super Mario RPG Remake, Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, Detective Pikachu Returns, stuff like that...where stuff feels really off?
I genuinely wish that more publishers would start taking "make games in 2D again" as a genuine option for games that have lower budgets. Something about how the colors and lighting and such work for a lot of lower-budget games just makes me regret that they're 3D at all.
Big credit to games like A Hat In Time and Penny's Big Breakaway and Flock who feel like they accept their limitations and tackle an art design they can fully pull off.
Long story short I guess I just wish there were more AAA 2D games. There's still so much on the table that could be done with 2D.