Unity games

[MamboGator]

Has anyone else noticed that games made with the Unity engine all have a particular look or feel to them? Not that they all look alike or play the same. A huge variety of games types and art styles have been made with Unity. I can't place exactly what it is, but there's always something peculiar about them to me. Maybe it's something about the physics or the rendering. Whatever it is, it's subtle enough that I can't figure it out definitively.

I just played Oddworld Soulstorm for the first time and it gave me the same feeling as when I played Recore and a dozen other Unity games. It's always there but I don't know what "it" is.

I can't say it's a nice sense I get from them. Even if it's made by a major developer with a big publisher, something about it just feels low budget to me. (Not that low budget inherently means the game is bad, of course.)

I was just curious if this is all in my head or if anyone else gets the same feeling.

[/home/user/]

It can have a variety of reasons, honestly.

First of all, Unity being free and there being plenty of easily accessible tutorials makes the engine extremely popular among low skilled or inexperienced developers, who often also follow the same few basic step-by-steps to implement common systems like movement, collision or lighting. That leads to a lot of "samey" feeling, low quality games where you can see the "Unity" stamp from afar. However, it's not really a matter of Unity's fault; it's what comes with having a very popular beginner engine.

People also over- and misestimate the amount of influence an engine has on the finished product. Sure, some technical aspects are going to be stronger or weaker in this or that engine, like in-built lighting capabilities, culling or support of large models, and some engines have pre-built templates for common systems like movement or collision, which means the same kinds of bugs appear in games that use the same engine, but people underestimate how much a skilled developer can bend any engine to look and behave like they want to.

[thesolitarygamer]

Pretty much what /home/user said, honestly. I tend to notice the same but with Unreal Engine games more than anything, they have that particular 'style' that is somewhat noticeable at times-- though that could also be my imagination. I remember seeing the trailer for the SH2 remake and thinking partly through, "Oh this was made with Unreal wasn't it?". Granted, this is something less noticeable compared to Unity games, where it's a lot easier to notice such things.

[Melooon]

I know exactly what you mean! Unity vibe is a very constant feeling and its almost impossible to get away from it - but its also almost impossible to nail down exactly what causes it! I actually have the same issues with Unreal Engine too; I can spot a UE game instantly after a few minutes of playing with it.

It comes from the way it renders colours, the way the physics interact, the slight blur Unity always seems to have, the speed it runs at - human perception is very good at spotting weirdnesses like that.

There are a few exceptions and mitigations you can do - Using the High Res Pipeline in unity changes the overall rendering feeling - using the DOTS project actually totally replaces the rending system too (it even removes the unity splash screen on early versions), so both change the vibe a bit.

City Skylines is a famous unity game that I didn't notice was Unity at first, but once you know its Unity you can reaaallyyyy see it!

There's nothing wrong with it.. Unity is great for short smaller projects (particularly if they are collaborations) and for prototyping ideas - but I don't think I would use Unity as a production engine if I was doing a big project - feeling unique is more important than having access to every feature!

[thesolitarygamer]

City Skylines is a famous unity game that I didn't notice was Unity at first, but once you know its Unity you can reaaallyyyy see it!

Oh dang, for real? Never actually knew that and I've played a lot of Cities Skylines. Though also that explains a lot on why sometimes it chugs like hell on my computer, haha.

Computer performance aside, I think Melon's summed it up well. Bunch of details that add up and are very noticable once you pay attention to that sort of thing. Takes a real good developer to hide the little quirks of Unity, same goes for Unreal Engine.

Makes me excited for when engines such as Godot really take off, see how people try to work around the quirks of that one.

[MamboGator]

but people underestimate how much a skilled developer can bend any engine to look and behave like they want to.

This is quite true. After making this topic I did a search for a Unity games list and found a lot that I never would have assumed were Unity. So smaller teams and less experienced developers must use a lot of the basic settings but those with more skill or resources can customized it more.

I actually have the same issues with Unreal Engine too; I can spot a UE game instantly after a few minutes of playing with it.

What I usually notice about Unreal Engine games is the animation is kinda stiff and the lighting is very harsh with a lot of bloom and shine.

[Zusk]

Most of the time when people "notice a Unity game", its usually in a derogatory way.

Nobody cares that Hearthstone is a Unity game. Hearthstone is just Hearthstone.

[Melooon]

It might have even been on this forum; but a few people Iv encountered don't actually know Unity is a free game engine; Iv seen people mistake it for a company that produces (or publishes) shovel-ware games - because the unity logo is at the start of SO MANY crappy games - its actually a bit of an issue if you do make games with Unity and cant afford to pay the $400 a year to remove their logo from it

[/home/user/]

It might have even been on this forum; but a few people Iv encountered don't actually know Unity is a free game engine; Iv seen people mistake it for a company that produces (or publishes) shovel-ware games - because the unity logo is at the start of SO MANY crappy games - its actually a bit of an issue if you do make games with Unity and cant afford to pay the $400 a year to remove their logo from it

As far as I know that's intentional, because the target audience of Unity is not gamers, it's developers. They make money by selling their engine and additional content to would-be indie developers. By putting splash screens in front of unverified games, it reinforces the idea that anyone can make a game with Unity, no matter how crappy, which is just free advertisement for their target demographic.