As the marketing mantra goes, it’s all about packaging. With the shift towards digital store fronts, this becomes less relevant for video games, but art departments remain eager to produce compelling box art to entice players. Here are seven stunning pieces of video game box art.
Ico
Ico‘s box art is reminiscent of M.C. Escher and Dali, an homage to impossible puzzles and a perfect introduction to the unusually challenging puzzles the game has to offer. The two characters are dwarfed by the large structures evoking the burden of a world intent on using them against their will. Ico
Borderlands
The overall cartoon-inspired art style of Borderlands is unique to say the least, and the box art borrows heavily from this to depict an inventive insight into the madness held within the title. Raving, motorized violence portrayed by the imagined spray of a bullet to the head.
Grand Theft Auto
The box vignette theme has run throughout the Grand Theft Auto series, so much so it has become somewhat iconic and immediately recognizable. Elegant, striking, and perfectly suited to the gun-toting, car-stealing antics of the series’ colorful cast of characters.
Heavy Rain
A origami bird with worn edges, blood stains, and heavy from never-ending downfall: a simple, yet effective cover which oozes atmosphere and eludes at the darker subject matter of adventure thriller Heavy Rain
Katamari Damacy
Looking at the cover of Katamari Damacy, you’ll be excused if you are unsure what the hell is going on. A cow, Mount Fuji, a rainbow, and a ball made of Ferris wheels, stadiums, and an octopus? It’s weird and that’s exactly what Katamari Damacy is: a gallivanting adventure across landscapes sucking up ever bigger chunks of buildings. The cover does the oddness justice.
Hotline Miami
This is another ‘what is going on’ cover that is just so suited to Hotline Miami’s ultra violence and overall surrealism. The neon color palette, the disembodied carcass, the pig-masked axe wielding assailant, and those three seemingly omniscient guys wearing animal masks looming menacingly above – the imagination runs wild as it does when playing Hotline Miami.
No Man’s Sky
Yes, yes, failed launch and all that, but look at the cover of the vanilla version of the game. It quite literally oozes exploration and adventure, alien worlds waiting to be discovered, and all dipped in those classic sci-fi colors. Grandiose and inviting with lots of details to hone in on and enjoy.
