The days have long gone when water in video games is nothing but a flat blue horizon which only serves to act as an invisible barrier for the players. Nowadays, water graphics behave so realistically that it's hard not to long for a dip and a splash (or at least a bath) upon looking at them. That's how far gaming graphics have come and it's only about to get better in the near future.
The best part about this is that games with good water also tend to have some jaw-dropping overall visuals. That's almost a given in modern games. Because great water is usually an indication of just how much the games' developers care about details. Hence, these games not only have the best graphics but also blow their competition out of the water.
10 Crysis 3
- Release year: 2013
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3
It's nearly a decade old at this point but this is Crysis 3 and that franchise comes with its own pedigree. Each Crysis game has always looked stunning, to say the least, and Crysis 3 just goes above and beyond with what was possible back in its heyday.
The water in Crysis 3, for that matter, is gorgeous and one of the most realistic simulations in video games. Everything from the ripples to the splash physics is spot on, though the reflections can be a little too bright or shiny, especially when it comes to big puddles. Still, even some of the latest games today find it difficult to match this kind of quality.
9 Batman: Arkham Knight
- Release year: 2015
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Batman: Arkham Knight is cheating here a bit since its large bodies of water aren't exactly interactive. If the Batman so much as attempts to take a Bat-bath in Gotham's coastal area or rivers, he'll be punted back to the grimy streets and gothic rooftops.
Even so, one look at the seas near Gotham is enough to convince anyone that the water is too real. It's scarily close to real-world behavior where the scattered cityscape light reflections and refractions and each individual splatter of a raindrop on the waves looks incredible.
8 Assassin's Creed Origins
- Release year: 2017
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Google Stadia
Sure, two newer and shinier Assassin's Creed games have come out after Origins but even Odyssey and Valhalla appear rushed compared to Ubisoft's field trip to Ancient Egypt. Origins notably has more details packed into its visuals — water graphics included.
There are more variations to the colors and styles of water in Origins depending on the locale. It's not just the physics and the animation of the ripples and waves, but the sound design for Origins' bodies of water is also audibly more intricate. Players can even test it out for themselves; in Odyssey, for example, the small waves crashing on Alexios or Kassandra disappointingly have no sound.
7 Spintires
- Release year: 2014
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows
It doesn't exactly have the prettiest water graphics compared to the other games here but Spintires does one thing nearly better than all of them: physics. The water here behaves almost as it should in real life where, if players run their trucks over a river, the vehicles almost act like a dam.
Players can even see water pooling and the vehicle's sides especially if it's large industrial machinery. This also isn't just aesthetic. Water can damage vehicles; players need to be able to see just how much the water is invading the gaps in their vehicles, hence the lifelike water behavior.
6 Bioshock 2
- Release year: 2010
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Macintosh operating systems, Classic Mac OS
The first Bioshock was praised for introducing one of the most unique environments ever in gaming: an underwater city. Thus, the developers worked hard to reproduce digital water that completed the game's atmosphere. The original was, of course, vastly outdated now but luckily, Bioshock 2 also took place in the same locale.
Hence, it improved upon the original's water visuals and physics where it became even more impressive, especially for a 2010 game. Even something as simple as a room flooding with undersea water holds up well to today's standards and even looks better compared to some games.
5 Uncharted 4
- Release year: 2016
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows
All Uncharted games have thus far produced some masterpieces in many aspects, including visually. That very well means the water in Uncharted 4: A Theif's End is unlike any other back when it was released. One quick glance at an in-game waterfall shows just how serious its developers are in crafting the environment.
While the beaches and seas lack the uncanny reactive physics of Crysis 3's waters, Uncharted 4's streams, rivers, and small water bodies are spectacular and fresh. They really nailed down the appearance of rapidly moving water where the white foam and bubbles seamlessly meld in with the placid parts.
4 Red Dead Redemption 2
- Release year: 2018
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Microsoft Windows
Red Dead Redemption 2 got its second wind when it was released for the PC in 2019. The result of the increased quality and graphical fidelity was amazing to behold. The lush and expansive American frontier environment was a sight to behold.
Sure enough, this attention to detail trickled down to the water (no pun intended). The water in RDR 2 is so dynamic that players can even create mini-whirlpools in streams just by running their horses in circles. The splash and ripple effects are a bit conservative though, but everything else is just masterfully done.
3 Metro Exodus
- Release year: 2019
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia, Luna, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Linux, macOS
Metro Exodus' environment consists mostly of post-apocalyptic Russian landscape with barren frigid or scalding wastelands but some of the missions feature a healthy amount of water and boating. There, the game's PhysX engine helped along with Tessellation to produce water that managed to dethrone Crysis 3's.
It's by far the most faithful representation of in-game puddles of water or ripples. The ripples are actually 3D and don't disappear just after a few layers and actually form some mini-waves. If players also look closely in Metro Exodus, they'll even see that even the bullet casings cause splashes and ripples.
2 Subnautica
- Release year: 2014
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh operating systems
Despite the 2014 release date, one can even argue that Subnautica is tied with Metro Exodus for water graphics. Because while it doesn't incorporate Nvidia's latest proprietary tech, Subnautica didn't stop at the surface when it comes to beautifying its water.
Even the underwater imagery is simply heavenly to witness. One can even treat Subnautica as a digital coral snorkeling tour due to how astonishingly it reproduces the way sunlight refracts in reaction to the surface waves and how it illuminates the shallow undersea biomes.
1 Sea Of Thieves
- Release year: 2018
- Platforms: Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Since it's a game about old-fashioned piracy and players spend the majority of the gameplay on the high seas, then it's only fitting for Sea of Thieves to have some stellar water graphics. Truth be told, the rest of the game's visuals pale in comparison to how well animated and simulated the water is in this game.
It's worth noting that even the water's colors and hue change depending on the sources of light, so anything from turquoise depths to the cobalt abyss is available. Also, the waves and those little foams and bubbles that outline them in Sea of Thieves are rendered so genuinely that one can almost smell the saltwater.