This one image speaks volumes about the progress that game graphics have made over the years. On the left, we have the graphics of Atari 2600 running Indiana Jones and to be quite honest, those of us who actually got to play that game when it was launched, never imagined that a game with the graphics of Nathan Drake (left) could ever come to the table.

Computer games used to be fun when I was a kid, now it’s very much a form of art. Far be it from me to say that graphics are the only part of a game that matters, but it is pretty clear that graphics are one of the essential elements that make a game great nowadays. We’ve long moved forward from games like Adventure designed by Will Crowther that focused exclusively on storyline and creating settings by providing the player with only text descriptions of his surroundings and allowing him or her to choose the next step by writing it out. Now settings, characters and objects are a lot more refined than the coloured pixels they once were and in some ways it’s better, while some may argue that enhanced graphics deduct from the overall performance of a game.

Truth be told, some of the newest games released this past year have stunning graphics that most gamers can only dream of on their computers. Therefore, they turn to reducing the same graphic tour-de-force in order to get the game running in a marginally acceptable way. Then there are games like Assassin’s Creed Unity that put so much time and effort into recreating the historical landmarks of Paris during the French Revolution, that it neigh became the laughing stock of the Internet with glitches like characters without faces or sporting body positions previously only seen in exorcist films and so on.

Nevertheless, the advances that we’ve made in the field of game graphic design are well beyond amazing and while the finished product may look polished and attractive, the amount of work put into every carefully designed frame should not be ignored. With concepts like parallax scrolling, sprites, rotoscoped animation, multimedia advent and more, the people behind computer and game graphics have made sure that we are properly entertained.

Here’s a collection of some of the best graphics in games that have come out in 2014. Take a look and let us know what you think are the best designed games of this year.

Far Cry 4

The Last of Us: Remastered

Alien: Isolation

Destiny

Grand Theft Auto V

Titanfall

Tomb Raider

Crysis 3

Ryso: Son Of Rome

The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings

Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Infamous Second Son

Dying Light

Watch Dogs

Assassin’s Creed Unity