Is nighttime too bright in most games?

[StaceyPowers]

I started using a mod that actually makes nighttime dark in Skyrim, and since then, I feel like nighttime is so bright in most video games. Does anyone else find themselves feeling annoyed by how bright night tends to be in games?

[Empire]

It’s dark enough for me. Night time for me looks like the first mission in Modern Warfare. Maybe your monitor/tv settings are set too bright? You can tweak those in your monitor settings, such as contrast, blacklight etc. this is the case for me though so I’m not sure if it would work for you. I hope it works!

[Kane99]

I have no issues with nighttime in games. Maybe RDR2 because it can be tough to sometimes see your surroundings, but you kinda get used to it. Also, you don't want the nighttime scenes to be too dark, because you'll still want to be able to play at night. 

I think most games do night fine. RDR2 and GTA do them best I'd say. But most open world games I'd say do night time pretty good. 

[Shagger]

Yes, in most games (especially if the setting is not like our world full of artificial lights), night-time is usually unrealistically bright, but I feel this is usually a deliberate thing done for practicalities sake. If it actually went pitch black like it does in real life during the night in an unlight area, you wouldn't be able to see anything. So no, it doesn't bother me, on the contrary I'm thankful for it.

Edited October 16, 2022 by Shagger

[Kane99]

It's also why I tend to increase the brightness when playing some horror games, because there are some that are far too dark, even with a flashlight or other sources of light. I want to at least be able to see where I am going. There was a horror game I played years ago, I forget what it was called, but I went into a dark room, and literally got lost because I couldn't see anything. I don't remember if turning up the brightness helped, but it was annoying. 

 

[killamch89]

Personally, it is a bit bright in most games but I don't mind at all. What I don't like is when it's so dark, you can't even see anything in front of you and you're not in a cave or some area that is completely devoid of any natural light.

[HowHammerYou]

On the contrary, I think today's games have gotten too dark. I'm tired of having to bump the brightness up several notches above normal when I start a game, just to make everything visible. I miss the gen 6 and gen 7 days, when the devs realized people actually had to play their level and compromised realism for the sake of playability.

[Ajibusu]

11 hours ago, killamch89 said:

Personally, it is a bit bright in most games but I don't mind at all. What I don't like is when it's so dark, you can't even see anything in front of you and you're not in a cave or some area that is completely devoid of any natural light.

As long as it doesn't make the gaming experience a boring one, I don't even bother to know what happens with it. Nighttime being too dark will definitely mean I have to adjust the brightness. 

[Moonface]

For me it depends on the game. Dying Light for example has some of the darkest night lighting I've seen in any game, and I love it because going out at night is supposed to be very dangerous in return for greater rewards. On the other hand, I use shaders when playing Minecraft and tried out the darkest setting for night, and it just makes the game annoying to navigate because even with a torch in your hand with dynamic lighting enabled to cast light from it without placing it, it isn't good enough to see anything until you're practically on top of it, which is awful when it comes to mobs attacking you because it's hard to defend against something you can't see until it's already attacking you.

It comes down to whether the game is built around poor visibility or not and if it doesn't detract from the game to impair the player. It should enhance everything around it, rather than be an obstacle in and of itself.

[Demon_skeith]

If the last season of Game of Thrones proved anything, if you make things too dark you don't know what's going on. Fine for some games, but most of the time I like to know what I'm doing.

[Kyng]

Yeah, I find it's dark enough for me. Perhaps it's not entirely realistic - but IMO, it's an acceptable break from reality. If you make it 'realistically' dark. then it'll be frustrating for most players, since they won't be able to see half of what's going on. 

[Ajibusu]

12 hours ago, Kyng said:

Yeah, I find it's dark enough for me. Perhaps it's not entirely realistic - but IMO, it's an acceptable break from reality. If you make it 'realistically' dark. then it'll be frustrating for most players, since they won't be able to see half of what's going on. 

That is the point. Make it a bit dark, but not too dark that it will frustrate those that play the game. 

[Justin11]

I think some aren't made too dark so you could comprehend every single detail of what is going on around you but for most survival Horror games I have played they are just right and serves the purpose really well.

[Kane99]

On 10/16/2022 at 12:22 PM, Kyng said:

Yeah, I find it's dark enough for me. Perhaps it's not entirely realistic - but IMO, it's an acceptable break from reality. If you make it 'realistically' dark. then it'll be frustrating for most players, since they won't be able to see half of what's going on. 

Exactly. It's about making the game accessible to play. No one wants to get stuck in a dark room they can't find a door too. It's fine to make games dark, but give the gamer a source of light so that we can see enough. Or a good enough flashlight like in Silent Hill 2 for example. 

[killamch89]

On 10/13/2022 at 1:32 PM, HowHammerYou said:

On the contrary, I think today's games have gotten too dark. I'm tired of having to bump the brightness up several notches above normal when I start a game, just to make everything visible. I miss the gen 6 and gen 7 days, when the devs realized people actually had to play their level and compromised realism for the sake of playability.

Phasmophobia is a huge culprit of this. Resident Evil 7 as well if I'm being honest.

On 10/13/2022 at 11:15 PM, Ajibusu said:

As long as it doesn't make the gaming experience a boring one, I don't even bother to know what happens with it. Nighttime being too dark will definitely mean I have to adjust the brightness. 

I get what you mean but there quite a bit of games that adjusts the brightness ever so slightly even when maxed out - You still can't see anything really.