Lowpoly is the new PunkRock?
By Zaid Al-Shaheed
a couple of years ago, I wrote a blogpost about Lowpoly is Digital 3D impressionism as it shares a lot of traits with the concept of impressionism, the concept of the impression of the shape, light and shadow to create something that resembles things that we are familiar with. lowpoly-3d-is-digital-impressionism
now we are here 2026 and seeing how games with high graphical fidelity still fails hard, massive budgets that does not meet expectation but also high budgets that does not generate back what was thrown at it.
at best barely breaking even.
it is not that High graphical fidelity is bad, but it is expensive, to produce and also expensive to run.
with the raise of indie, we have notice a new trend of solo developers making small scale games but most important for 3D... Lowpoly.
Lowpoly is lowbudget, a rise of style against the mainstream Triple A realistic graphics and dripping face sweat, challenging the normal convention building upon a foundation that was left unexplored once hardware was upgraded, for games that has bigger budget, bigger teams, more polished look.
Lowpoly serves few purposes but as a 3D artists who is involved in game development I know it is the following :
1- lowbudget ( Quick, does not require monster hardware to create, does not require Monster hardware to run! )
2- more accessibility
the points above does not mean it requires less mastery of the craft to make, it actually requires more experience similar to impressionism.
going deep dive recently in certain video articles talking about going against convention and mainstream makes me think.
is Lowpoly and the current games we are seeing now, is Punk?
I mean pulling similarities between Punk as a movement comparing it to what is happening now with lowpoly and low resolution pixalated texture, dithered alphas and heavily stylized 3D lowpoly.
Punk rock did not expect anything back they just wanted to do and express.
a lot of indie lowpoly games are doing that.
Lowcost or no budget
Indies are doing that.
going against the standard and norm, and not giving a fuck!
indies are doing that.
creating a game to communicate a feel that you have.
that is fucking Punk AF at least how I see it.
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| Of Love and Eternity |
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| AirFrame Ultra |
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| Samurai Unicorn |
This is not to discredit high fidelity graphics games or high budget games, or any other game is " not punk " go check Suda51 games, Punk AF!
just an observation and a question that has been going on in my mind.
Indie 3D lowpoly games for the love of the genre and going against the mainstream and standard is Punk?
