The best box art doesn’t just condense the experience of a game into a single image, it elevates it and makes it look even better than it actually is.
There are an endless number of reasons to love video games, and it’s truly remarkable how advanced and intuitive the medium of entertainment and storytelling has become. The gaming industry is a multi-billion dollar playground that’s always pushing boundaries, and there’s no end in sight. The current gaming generation offers unprecedented freedom and technology, which has resulted in a new era of games that have never looked better.
The graphics and aesthetic elements that make up a game are fundamental, but the title’s box art is also an important marketing tool that shouldn’t go overlooked. Effective box art isn’t always the priority, but it’s a strong way to tease the experience that lies ahead. There are times when the game’s box art even trumps the game itself.
Doom is a groundbreaking achievement in gaming, and it helped push forward and popularize the first-person shooter in major ways. There’s a growing lore to the Doom franchise that’s become more vital to the games, but the original titles are excellent examples in minimalism.
Doom’s protagonist is a bit of an empty cipher, as evidenced by his Doom Slayer nickname. The games are more interested in moody atmospheres, horrifying enemies, and an entertaining arsenal. However, the original Doom’s box art is practically synonymous with the series for how effectively it establishes the game’s world, tone, and hero.
There are few series that have reached such complicated places in their larger lore than the Kingdom Hearts franchise. The series continues to deliver spin-offs, remasters, and sidequels that bloat the fantasy RPG world that mashes together Disney and Square icons.
The current narrative of Kingdom Hearts might be incomprehensible to many, but the franchise’s start holds such exciting potential. The sheer concept of an RPG that pulls from these disparate properties left audiences excited, and the first game’s box art is beautiful in its simplicity. The evocative tableau catches the game’s eclectic cast in an inspirational moonlit moment.
It’s easy to argue that video games are an immersive art form rather than just entertainment when there are games like Ico that exist. Unconventional gameplay, sprawling environments and storylines, as well as a gorgeous art design all make Ico a standout PlayStation 2 game. Ico is such a unique title that carves out its own gaming niche, so one would hope that the game’s box art doesn’t sell this atypical experience short.
Ico‘s North American box art isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s very traditional. Alternatively, the European Ico art is more sparse and artistic, which properly gets the audience excited over what’s to come.
Konami’s Castlevania games have found new life through the popular Netflix animated series, which have decades of titles to pull from. There’s some appreciated uniformity across many of Castlevania‘s game covers that bring gothic horror literature to mind. The artistic flourishes and rich colors create the image of a haunting adventure that needs to be experienced.
Lots of Castlevania covers prominently feature their heroes and villains in exaggerated poses, but the very first Castlevania establishes this powerful precedent. The NES’ Castlevania advertises its game through an exciting vision of Simon Belmont in action as Dracula’s evil visage looms over the land.
The Dreamcast was Sega’s swan song in the first-party console business, and there are a number of exceptional releases that are exclusive to Sega’s final console. Elemental Gimmick Gear is an intricate RPG that mixes a gorgeous hand-drawn 2D aesthetic with 3D battle aesthetics and mechanics.
The 2D look may have seemed old school at the time, but there’s been a greater appreciation for the retro style. The game’s box art is equally elegant and looks like it could be the cover of a fantasy or sci-fi novel. The Japanese box art is also effectively moody and brings steampunk anime like Ghost in the Shell to mind.
Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda series is one of the company’s most celebrated franchises, and there’s a popular opinion that the Nintendo Switch’s Breath of the Wild is the series’ magnum opus. Each Zelda game offers something new to the audience, but the scope and possibilities have never felt greater than within Breath of the Wild.
Some Zelda box art adopts a less is more approach, but Breath of the Wild proudly showcases the gigantic world that Link and the player get to experience. It’s box art that evokes the hero’s call to action.
The survival horror gaming genre has evolved from a niche interest into one of the industry’s most reliable ones. Series like Resident Evil and Silent Hill broke new ground with their frightening and psychological stories. The Clock Tower games never achieved the same level of notoriety as other survival horror hits, but there’s still a lot to enjoy in these dark games.
The PlayStation’s Clock Tower is a surprisingly tense experience that leaves the player perpetually vulnerable to the attacks of Scissor Man. Clock Tower’s box art makes the game’s villain and his trademark weapon its centerpiece. It’s a visual that’s considerably more disturbing than Resident Evil and Silent Hill covers.
Zombies aren’t going anywhere in the video game industry, and there are numerous franchises in both the horror and shooter genres that embrace these undead threats. Dead Island started with a lot of traction, but there have been diminishing returns through its subsequent sequels.
The box art for the later Dead Island games get a little too broad and silly for their own good, but the original game’s cover is a masterpiece of visceral horror. Zombies fill up the beach locale and vicious weather conditions contribute to a more grueling visual. It’s box art that could be the poster of a 1970s zombie movie.
There is an endless amount of first-person shooters and video games that set their campaigns during the height of real-world wars. Resistance: Fall of Man is a 2006 shooter from Insomniac Games for the PlayStation 3 that reinvents the formula slightly through its apocalyptic science fiction influence.
Resistance: Fall of Man’s gameplay connects, but the game’s box art is a powerful achievement. The skull of an extra-terrestrial soldier is in the foreground of a devastated society. It’s both simple and evocative with a striking visual that appropriately brings both Terminator and Alien to mind.
Street Fighter irrevocably changed the fighting genre, and it remains one of gaming’s most popular franchises. The original Street Fighter flew somewhat under the radar, and its box art is fairly perfunctory as well. Street Fighter properly comes into its own with its sequel, Street Fighter II, which offers sublime gameplay and the perfect box art.
The look of Street Fighter II‘s box immediately transports the audience into its exaggerated world and brings arcades to mind. The battle is frozen in the height of action, and its focus on the monstrous Blanka highlights how different this game will be from its predecessor.
Daniel Kurland is a freelance writer, comedian, and critic, who lives in the cultural mosaic that is Brooklyn, New York. Daniel’s work can be read on ScreenRant, Splitsider, Bloody Disgusting, Den of Geek, and across the Internet. Daniel recently completed work on a noir anthology graphic novel titled, «Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Noir: A Rag of Bizarre Noir and Hard Boiled Tales» and he’s currently toiling away on his first novel. Daniel’s extra musings can be found @DanielKurlansky on Twitter.
