Summary
- Omno's painted world immerses players in a meditative adventure with soothing pastels & gentle gameplay.
- LittleBigPlanet 3 is a crafty universe bursting with arts-and-crafts chaos that feels handmade & interactive.
- A Hat in Time offers a whimsical, cartoonish journey with vibrant, surreal worlds straight out of a Saturday morning show.
3D platformers have always had a bit of a whimsical streak, but there’s a special magic when one goes all-in on a truly unforgettable art style. Some don’t just stick to looking colorful or quirky; they build entire worlds that feel like they could only exist through a brushstroke, a dream, or a child’s imagination.
The following games aren’t just fun to jump around in. They’re places players will want to get lost in, not because they’re the most technically impressive, but because their art direction leaves an imprint that’s impossible to shake.
6 Omno
The Lonely Beauty Of Omno’s Painted World
Omno
- Released
- July 29, 2021
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E For Everyone
- Developer(s)
- Very Positive
- Platform(s)
- PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Exploration, Platformer, Puzzle
Omno isn’t about saving kingdoms or fighting monsters. It’s about a lone wanderer making a pilgrimage through ancient lands, chasing the fading echoes of a lost civilization. What makes Omno feel so different, even before a player moves an inch, is its striking, pastel-tinted world that looks like it was brushed together with soft, slow strokes of light itself.
Created almost entirely by a solo developer, Jonas Manke, Omno has this gentle, almost ethereal aesthetic that perfectly matches its meditative gameplay. There are no enemies to fight, no HUD cluttering the screen. Instead, players surf down dunes, glide across misty lakes, and bounce through alien forests, accompanied only by ambient music and the occasional burst of ancient technology waking up around them.
The low-poly landscapes, with their soft edges and saturated skies, look like they were pulled straight from a forgotten storybook. Nothing feels rushed or busy; every rock, tree, and floating platform seems like it’s exactly where it needs to be. In a gaming landscape obsessed with making things look hyper-realistic, Omno proves that simplicity, when done right, can feel more alive than a thousand photorealistic forests.
5 LittleBigPlanet 3
Basically A Craft Store Come To Life
LittleBigPlanet 3
- Released
- November 18, 2014
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E For Everyone due to Comic Mischief, Mild Cartoon Violence, Tobacco Reference
- Developer(s)
- Sumo Digital
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4
- Genre(s)
- Puzzle, Platformer
Some games try to look handmade. LittleBigPlanet 3 actually feels like it was stitched together by someone elbow-deep in glitter, yarn, and googly eyes. From the moment Sackboy waddles into view, it’s clear that the game’s universe isn’t just quirky — it’s practically bursting with arts-and-crafts chaos.
LittleBigPlanet 3 took everything players loved about the earlier games and dialed it up even further, especially when it came to visual creativity. Cardboard hills, felt trees, and woolen clouds make every level feel like a diorama assembled on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Materials interact realistically, too; paper crumples, yarn stretches, and stickers slap onto surfaces with an audible "plop."
Astro Bot Might Be Taking the Throne that Little Big Planet Left Empty
Astro Bot just might shape up to fill a void that Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet and subsequent spin-off games left behind on PlayStation.
While the game introduced new characters like Toggle, Oddsock, and Swoop to mix up the platforming, it never lost focus on its aesthetic roots. Each character even has a texture to match — Toggle’s plump form looks like it's stitched from corduroy, while Oddsock’s speedy legs meld into a scruffy blur of fur. In a series built around players making their own levels, it’s almost poetic that the game's main levels look like they could have been cobbled together by the community themselves.
4 A Hat In Time
The Saturday Morning Cartoon Everyone Secretly Wanted
A Hat in Time
- Released
- October 5, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
Developed by Gears for Breakfast, A Hat in Time radiates that kind of joyful, mischievous energy that most games would be too embarrassed to pull off. The art style leans into chunky character designs, exaggerated animations, and brightly saturated worlds that feel one part Wind Waker, one part Banjo-Kazooie, and somehow still entirely its own thing.
The story follows Hat Kid, a tiny alien girl trying to recover her lost Time Pieces, but every new world she visits feels like it’s operating on its own bizarre Saturday morning logic. There’s a haunted movie studio where players sneak past ghostly directors, a sleepy alpine village blanketed in painterly snow, and even a spooky forest ruled by a snarky, deal-making spirit.
What ties it all together is the way A Hat in Time never breaks its cartoonish logic. Shadows are thick and inky, characters’ emotions are stretched to near-absurdity, and each area pulses with color that seems to hum right off the screen. It’s the kind of game that reminds players why the phrase "animated" once meant "full of life."
3 Concrete Genie
Proof That Street Art Can Save More Than Just Walls
Concrete Genie
- Released
- October 8, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ // Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- PixelOpus
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 4
- Genre(s)
- Puzzle, Adventure
Most games ask players to defeat darkness with swords, magic, or superpowers. Concrete Genie hands them a paintbrush and tells them to color it away.
Set in the dilapidated fishing town of Denska, Concrete Genie follows Ash, a boy bullied into retreating into his sketchbook. When magic grants him the ability to bring his drawings to life across the city’s crumbling walls, the entire world transforms. Every brick, alley, and abandoned storefront becomes a canvas for shimmering, neon graffiti that writhes and dances once players finish painting.
The contrast is what makes Concrete Genie unforgettable. Denska is purposefully dreary — a hollow shell of industry lost to pollution — but the creatures and murals players create explode with vibrant, surreal life. Vines slither across buildings, fantastical beasts leap from painted forests, and whole alleyways become alive with flickering constellations. It’s not just a game about creation; it’s about restoring hope, one mural at a time.
Pixelopus didn’t just lean into a unique visual style; they made it central to the mechanics, worldbuilding, and emotional arc. By the time players light up the darkest corners of Denska, it’s impossible not to feel like the real magic wasn’t the brush, but the act of caring enough to bring color back into the world.
2 The Artful Escape
Looks Like A Concept Album Broke Free And Became A Game
The Artful Escape
- Released
- September 9, 2021
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Alcohol Reference, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Tobacco
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Music
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
Developed by Beethoven & Dinosaur, The Artful Escape follows Francis Vendetti, a teenage guitarist struggling under the shadow of his famous folk musician uncle. Rather than conform, Francis blasts off on a dimension-hopping journey of self-discovery, shredding neon-lit riffs across planets, starfields, and entire realities that look like they were painted by someone on a Bowie-and-laser-light-show bender.
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The visuals aren’t just colorful — they’re psychedelic. Mountains sing, jellyfish float through the air like parade balloons, and alien monarchs lounge on thrones made of electric currents. The art style shifts constantly, from surrealist landscapes that look like they belong on a prog rock album cover to impossible cities stitched together from light and sound.
Gameplay-wise, The Artful Escape is more about rhythm and spectacle than challenging platforming. But that’s the point. Players aren’t battling bosses or solving puzzles; they’re performing their way across the universe, and every particle of the world seems to pulse to the beat of their journey.
1 Psychonauts 2
Turns The Mind Into A Living, Breathing World
Psychonauts 2
- Released
- August 25, 2021
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Alcohol Reference, Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Tobacco
- Developer(s)
- Double Fine
- Platform(s)
- PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC, Linux, macOS
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
Picking up right after the original left off, Psychonauts 2 once again follows Razputin "Raz" Aquato as he dives into the minds of others — but this time, the art style doesn't just depict different personalities. It becomes them.
Each mental world Raz visits is built from the anxieties, regrets, and dreams of the character it represents. There's a dusty casino that doubles as a hospital, symbolizing gambling addiction and risk-taking, a psychedelic pop-art world inspired by 60s music videos, and even a haunted cooking show that manifests a character’s intense fear of judgment. Nothing is random; every twisted hallway, melting staircase, or patchwork sky is a direct window into the soul of the person Raz is trying to help.
Visually, Psychonauts 2 gleefully breaks every rule of conventional design. Textures stretch and warp like rubber bands, characters' proportions defy biology, and color palettes shift from soothing pastels to stomach-churning neons depending on the emotional tone. It’s not just creative for creativity’s sake. Everything players see is anchored in storytelling, making each platforming challenge feel like a genuine battle against the mind’s own demons.