11 Best video game covers of all time

From an young age we are told to never judge a book by its cover. Let’s be honest though – it’s impossible to look at a video game and not form a judgement based on the artwork. Often it’s not even a bad way of evaluating a game. Of course there is occasionally a terrible game which comes out with an awesome cover but for the most part, the artistry and awesomeness of an effective piece of cover artwork is typical of the entire gaming package.While video game cover art is often as carefully designed as any movie poster, this area of graphic design is rarely given much thought. In this post we would like to change this by highlighting few brilliant examples of game art and explaining why they are so darn good. Check it out!!

#1 Borderlands

Cult favourite Borderlands is an open world game built by 2K games, and it has an unusual design direction of using a blend of a cartoon style with heavy cell shading to almost providing a strange mix of 2D and 3D graphics. The cover art makes use of the cell shading shown in game, and is both violent and unexpected, much like the game itself.

It would seem that, a man pretending to shoot himself with his fingers wouldn't seem too noticeable these days, but the subtle, artistic splatter against his head moves the eyes back to his hand-gun then back to the splatter repeatedly. When the dots are connected, it's nothing short of clever.

#2 Sleeping Dogs

What really needs to be said? From the menacing dragon in the background to some guy holding a bloody cleaver, and even some helmet-wearing hunk simultaneously riding a motorcycle and shooting a gun, every aspect of this cover is epic. It's so good that if you spent several minutes contemplating keeping the game wrapped it's understandable.

But such greatness is to be expected from artist Tyler Stout, who's responsible for alternate movie posters for Shaun of the Dead, Drive and Django Unchained. The moral of the story is this: Tyler Stout should be doing more video game cover art. (And more video game cover art should feature dragons.)

#3 Ico

Any art history buffs will immediately recognise that Ico’s superb cover is based on the surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico’s The Nostalgia of the Infinite. De Chirico is known for painting when psychoanalysis was an emerging theory, influencing him to transfer his subconscious landscapes and dreams onto the canvas.

Ico’s cover has an incredible quality where you feel like you’re peering into someone’s dreams. Anyone who played the amazing game all those years ago will definitely feel strong pangs of nostalgia as they look at this classic cover.

#4 Limbo

Indie fan favourite, puzzle game Limbo was a surprising success when it launched in 2010. The visual style of Limbo is instantly recognisable - dark, minimalist and constantly in the shadows, and the cover art depicts the overall mood and style perfectly. Limbo’s visually arresting cover is genius – not only does it tell a story but it leaves you with questions which you want answering. Who is the small child? Why are they alone in the dark woods? Where are their parents?

It is incredible that such a minimalistic, simple cover can provoke all of these questions. Our desire to find answers also makes us all the more likely to play the eerily dark platformer.

#5 Heavy Rain

Heavy Rain is a game that blends cinema with games, and which has a very atmospheric, film-noir tone throughout. Created by Quantic Dream and released in 2010, the game earned critical acclaim and won multiple Game of the Year awards.

The box art is reminiscent of Blade Runner, with an origami figure slowly being destroyed in the rain - and fits the game’s unusual, dark and moody visual style. This interactive drama action-adventure video game was developed by Quantic Dream and published by Sony Computer Entertainment exclusively for the PlayStation 3 in 2010.

#6 Halo 4

Crouched and with buildings towering over him (some of them burning and destroyed), Master Chief looks like he's almost at his wit's end. Sure, just like cover art for previous Halo games this cover art has the protagonist looking as heroic as ever, but he's insignificant in comparison to everything around him.

This reflects Halo 4: a game where just about everything isn't in Master Chief's favor, including going up against some of the toughest enemies the Halo series has to offer. But judging by how determined he looks in the game's cover it was pretty foolish to doubt him at all.

#7 Destiny

Destiny is a mythic science fiction game by Bungie, creators of the Halo series. Designed exclusively for all platforms and PC, it was released in 2014 and tells the story of humanity's last city on Earth. It was published by Activision and Sony.

This FPS game has elements of open-world sandbox and persistent world where humans are up against an alien threat seeking to rid them of existence. The cover art of the game depicts a last stand, with the mysterious sphere known as 'The Traveller' shown in the background.

#8 Crysis

The washed-out blue/gray of color scheme draws attention to the points of red light on the power suit, as well as to the EA logo, which is cleverly modified for the cover of Crysis. While the power-suit is distinctly sci-fi, the tropical mountain and palm-trees hint that the setting may not be quite what you expect!

The colors are also extremely cold, consistent with the freezing temperatures that you encounter periodically throughout the game. This creates an interesting contrast with the tropical setting subtly depicted on the cover.

#9 The Saboteur

The Saboteur was created by Pandemic Studios, and is an open world action-adventure game set in Paris during World War II. As the protagonist, your goal is to use stealth to blend into the shadows.

The game itself makes heavy use of black and white, with only a few other colours used brightly, like the colours of characters eyes, and the red of the Nazi flags. The game's cover reflects this well, with a black and white focused design showing the protagonist blending into the background.

#10 Grand Theft Auto III (Vice City)

The legendary Grand Theft Auto games utilize a design theme that is recognizable from across the room. Cover of this trendsetting open-world game featured split section artwork capturing the characters and scenes you will find inside the game.

The GTA cover art has been of an exceptional quality since Grand Theft Auto III. Vice City represents the series on our list thanks to its classic neon typography. Even though the Grand Theft Auto IV’s cover seems to be exceptionally good, it was all inspired by Vice City.

#11 Resistance: Fall of Man

Resistance: Fall of Man a science-fiction horror first-person shooter video game published by Sony in 2006 had one hell a cover.This game's cover art uses the classic image of a helmeted skull in a battlefield with a new and striking twist.

As you can see, the skull is thoroughly mutated, suggesting that the world is no-longer as we know it. The intricate detail in the logo design is also worth mentioning. This Isomaniac developed PS3 exclusive was one of the highest rated game of 2006.