Before we get started, yes, I know, most gamers generally prefer physical media. It’s a given that having something tactile to interact with as opposed to a virtual product is better, and a majority of players feel the same. There’s the fact that should your digital storefront no longer support the title you still have access to play it, you can share the game with friends, and in some cases the value of your game can increase over time. Physical copies are cool.
in no particular order here are some game covers that I think are awesome.
Now that we have that out of the way, I just wanted to say that I frikkin’ love videogame boxes. It’s a serious vice as often it leads to me having duplicate copies of games on various platforms, and re-buying games in order to have a physical copy of something I may have played via digital purchase. It’s a costly endeavor. In recent years I have toned down somewhat and have downscaled my collection to feature titles I have a connection too as opposed to just collecting everything. That doesn’t change the fact that I may own several copies of Mass Effect, which leads to what I really wanted to ramble about – some cool cover art.
There are multiple articles online regarding which games feature the best box art, every review site tends to have one, and I am not going to attempt creating my own. That said it is interesting to see what motivates these lists and how favourites are chosen, for me it’s 100% about my connection to the title itself – and the art style chosen to market the game. Also, because of localisation and marketing to the audience of those territories, we get some great variant covers. So, in no particular order here are some game covers that I think are awesome.
- The Dig – This big box PC cover was a favourite of mine growing up, featuring shiny art of the some of the Atlantis shuttle crew unearthing something mysterious.
- Children of Morta – The game itself features stunning pixel art, so it’s no surprise that the cover art is an epic rendition of the Bergsons.
- Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within – Another great big box PC cover, and sadly one I never owned as such. The art features a fanged face covered by white fabric which sets the stage for the supernatural journey of the title.
- Riven: The Sequel to Myst – I feel like the blog has been a little Myst-centric lately, but the Riven cover is really cool, highlighting an intriguing structure that feels otherworldly.
- Sea of Thieves – I like artwork that takes the idea of the experience and creates a cover icon made of imagery around these themes. The Dragon Age series and Resistance 3 had the same and I really like it.
- Psychonauts 2 Motherlobe Edition – A stylised render of Raz featuring a lenticular cover that explodes with colour. What’s not to love?
- Road 96 – Artwork of a desert road leading to a mountainous landmark in the distance perfectly captures the not only the visual style of the game, but also the road trip nature of the experience. It’s a great cover.
- Broken Sword: Nenereru Ryuu no Densetsu – A very different cover to that of the western release, the Japanese version of Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon has a cool cover, one I hope to add to my collection someday.
- The Talos Principle – This amazing puzzle game has an amazing cover featuring a robot holding a white cat, something a little more unique in comparison to most video game covers.
- No Straight Roads – The cool art of the cover perfectly captures the fun and style of game itself, with our hero characters set against the backdrop of Vinyl City.
- Mass Effect – The Japanese version of the original game has an amazing cover, it feels like a sci-fi movie poster, and it’s one I had to have in my collection.
There are of course more, and I will probably put together a similar post in the near future. Below are images containg the box art of the above-mentioned titles, in the order they were listed.
