I gave Codex a single brief: pick a hundred games that truly matter to players, and design a poster for each one in the style of one of twenty master illustrators. Five games per artist. No text, no logos, no direct copies of existing artworks - just the pure technique and compositional mindset. The result is a visual atlas: stretching from Zelda as a Hokusai woodblock print to Pac-Man rendered in Depero’s futurism.
Every single piece was created using Codex’s built-in image generator, all in a vertical 4:5 aspect ratio at 1080 by 1350 pixels. Below you will find all one hundred: one featured poster in large format for each series, accompanied by the remaining four alongside it. As for how I crafted the prompts to get these results rather than generic “AI-style” plastic, I covered that in a separate piece: classic illustrator-style game posters: a step-by-step guide.
A quick heads-up before you dive in. The game characters belong to their respective publishers, and these posters are simply my fan-made interpretations, not products for sale. I chose classic artists whose work is historically established, most of whom passed away decades ago. The prompts contain zero artist names - only descriptions of their techniques - and next to each series, I have listed a museum where you can see their original works.
Katsushika Hokusai: The Rhythm of Landscape
Diagonal foreground cuts and a rhythm of fine lines breathe motion into water, wind, and snow. It worked best wherever nature itself takes center stage in the game. Celeste and Journey look as though they were always meant to have posters like these.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - “Seven Years on the Water”. Young Link plays beside a pool of water, his adult self reflected on the surface. A single melody holds both chapters of his life.Download in full sizeGhost of Tsushima - “The Grass Shows the Way”. A rider is submerged waist-deep in grass. The path ahead is revealed only by the wind sweeping leaves across Tsushima.Download in full sizeSubnautica - “A Breath Below the Surface”. Next to the colossal Reefback, the diver looks like a tiny air bubble. The creature’s gentle presence turns the deep sea into a sanctuary.Download in full sizeJourney - “Scarf in the Wind”. The traveler’s scarf floats over a dune, pointing for a fleeting moment toward a distant, elusive peak.Download in full sizeCeleste - “A Gust Before the Leap”. A deep crevasse splits the snowy slope. Madeline’s red hair and drifting snowflakes reveal the exact trajectory she must take.Download in full size
Streamlined forms and dramatic foreshortening guide the eye along the vehicle’s path. Cassandre made legendary posters for luxury trains and ocean liners. Racing games and GTA VI are a natural fit here, where everything revolves around momentum and the open road.
Grand Theft Auto VI - “Vice City Rearview”. Lucia and Jason share a getaway car. In the rearview mirror, pursuit lights slice through a calm Vice City evening.Download in full sizeWipEout - “A Millimeter off the Track”. A thin sliver of light reveals the tiny gap between the anti-gravity craft and the tarmac. The entire sensation of speed is packed into that single slit.Download in full sizeBioShock - “Last Descent to Rapture”. The bathysphere’s heavy chain plunges straight down. The city on the ocean floor boasts its own skyline and its own submerged sunset.Download in full sizeDeath Stranding - “River Crossing”. Cargo cases tower high on Sam’s back. The defining movement of this journey comes down to one deliberate step across a narrow ladder.Download in full sizeMirror’s Edge - “The Red Ledge”. Faith’s hand grips the edge of a rooftop. The urban skyline resolves into a clear running route only at the very final second before the leap.Download in full size
Twisted ink lines and translucent watercolor washes blur the boundary between figure and landscape. Rackham is famous for fairytale illustration, so games where the wilderness hides dark secrets worked best. The Witcher with roots twisting into the shape of a monster is my personal favorite from the entire collection.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - “Beneath the Roots”. Geralt studies a footprint in the mud. Knotted roots across the swamp twist into the silhouette of a lurking beast not yet seen.Download in full sizeHollow Knight - “Subterranean Bench”. The Knight rests beneath a glowing lantern. The bench seems ordinary enough, until you notice the colossal cocoons looming overhead.Download in full sizeOri and the Blind Forest - “Passage Through the Bark”. Ori’s light carves a delicate path out of ancient tree bark. The forest offers shelter only to those who know how to see it.Download in full sizeLittle Nightmares - “Beneath the Tablecloth”. Six creeps under a heavy tablecloth. The looming tines of a fork above her yellow hood immediately establish the colossal scale of the dining room.Download in full sizeStardew Valley - “The First Sprout”. A farmer lifts a wet leaf after the rain. The tiny Junimo hidden underneath is a reward for paying close attention.Download in full size
Giovanni Battista Piranesi: Architecture of the Ordeal
A diminutive figure makes you feel the crushing weight of monumental masonry. Staggered staircases and endless bridges force the eye to search for a way through. Piranesi drew infinite prisons. You could hardly ask for a better patron saint for Dark Souls and Control.
Dark Souls - “Warmth on the Step”. A knight rests by a bonfire beneath a towering cascade of stairs. This brief moment of respite is the smallest sanctuary inside a vast, unyielding structure.Download in full sizeControl - “Office Without a Floor”. Jesse stands inside a government bureau where an entire floor has broken away from the wall. An ordinary office corridor suddenly demands pure courage.Download in full sizePortal 2 - “The Same Jump Twice”. Through an oval aperture, Chell looks across to the far side of the test chamber. The shattered floor forms a continuous pathway only through the portal.Download in full sizeShadow of the Colossus - “A Wall That Breathes”. The massive shoulder of a colossus rises like a stone bridge. Only Wander’s small hand gripping the fur reveals that he is scaling a living creature.Download in full sizeICO - “Far from the Door”. Ico guides Yorda across an exposed footbridge. The clasp of their hands is the only passage the castle cannot lock shut.Download in full size
Decorative flourishes grow organically from the character’s pose. The outer framing tells the story of the game world alongside its hero. Art Nouveau motifs work surprisingly well even wrapped around Samus’s heavy armor - a pleasant surprise I did not expect.
Hades - “The Final Seed”. Zagreus holds a split pomegranate. Its seeds encircle him like repeated attempts to escape the Underworld.Download in full sizeMetroid Prime - “Reflections on the Visor”. An alien plant is mirrored in the curve of Samus’s visor. Her battle armor and the winding foliage share the same graceful arc, despite belonging to entirely different worlds.Download in full sizeFinal Fantasy VII - “The Last Flower Girl”. Aerith cradles a blossom within the ruined church. The vaulted ceiling’s stone ribs converge directly into its petals.Download in full sizeGris - “Color Finds Its Voice”. The first bloom of color spills from the folds of Gris’s dress. A delicate ornament unfurls alongside her restored voice.Download in full sizeOkami - “Spring Beneath the Paw”. A tender bud bursts into bloom beneath Amaterasu’s paw. A leafy branch guides the eye along her back up to the solar reflector.Download in full size
Dense patches of solid black meet razor-thin line work. Blank paper carves out space for silence or dread. Pure black ink and white lines. Return of the Obra Dinn was rendered in monochrome to begin with, so here, the aesthetic and the game speak the exact same language.
Dishonored - “Mask of the Tide”. Corvo’s mask emerges from the pitch-black canal. The silhouettes of swarming rats form a current carrying you toward Dunwall.Download in full sizeBloodborne - “After-Hours Service”. The hunter’s trick weapon sweeps in a wide arc beneath ornate stone balustrades. The streets of Yharnam look like the interior of a sealed chapel.Download in full sizeReturn of the Obra Dinn - “A Second Before Silence”. Trapped inside the open pocket watch, a sailor is frozen mid-fall. The investigator can pore over this moment for as long as he needs, but he cannot rewind it.Download in full sizeINSIDE - “In the Break of Light”. A young boy hesitates right on the edge of the spotlight. Barely half a step keeps him from being spotted across the empty warehouse.Download in full sizeCuphead - “Intermission in the Big Band”. Cuphead keeps time on the bell of a brass trumpet. Suspended over the dance floor are just a straw, white gloves, and a single step hanging in the air.Download in full size
Paper cutouts turn an in-game prop into an unmistakable, instantly recognizable silhouette. Saul Bass revolutionized Hitchcock’s title sequences. One bold mark replaces an entire scene: a crowbar and the shadow of a headcrab are all it takes for any player to get the picture.
Half-Life - “Crowbar in the Fissure”. Gordon’s glasses rest beside cracked concrete tiles. Only the long shadow of the crowbar reveals the silhouette of the headcrab lurking across the gap.Download in full sizeMetal Gear Solid - “Tracks in the Snow”. Boot prints end abruptly at a cardboard box. The patrol marches right past, completely oblivious that Snake left the answer in plain sight.Download in full sizeResident Evil 2 - “Turn the Key”. A precinct key casts a jagged, tooth-like shadow. Turning that lock might turn out to be a far worse idea than staying in the hallway.Download in full sizeHitman: Blood Money - “The Final Chord”. Agent 47 pulls his garrote taut. Its deadly loop tightens around a droplet bearing a dollar sign, right beneath the sharp tip of his red tie.Download in full sizePapers, Please - “Beyond the Stamp”. The rubber stamp slams down like a border gate. Only one hopeful soul in line will be permitted to cross over to the other side.Download in full size
Dense cross-hatching over the chasm falls away wherever light cuts through to reveal the traveler’s path. Doré famously illustrated Dante’s Inferno. Rendered with his meticulous etchings, Elden Ring and Diablo II look like pages torn from that very same tome.
Diablo II - “Light from the Portal”. An ethereal blue portal casts its glow across the stone cloister. The wanderer takes one last backward glance at the road to the encampment.Download in full sizeDOOM - “Shadow over Mars”. A space marine pauses at the airlock threshold. Outside, jagged mountain ridges and demon horns blend into a single suffocating darkness.Download in full sizeElden Ring - “Gold Beneath the Bark”. Resting beside a Site of Grace, the traveler looks like a speck of dust beneath the sprawling roots of the Erdtree. His journey begins with a single ember.Download in full sizeCastlevania: Symphony of the Night - “The Second Ceiling”. Alucard perches on a narrow ledge. Above him looms an inverted spire, its sheer mass defying the architecture of the entire castle.Download in full sizeLegacy of Kain: Soul Reaver - “Hunger on the Other Side”. The spectral twin of Nosgoth bleeds through the skeletal ribs of ancient ruins. Raziel witnesses the same path frozen in two distinct stages of rot.Download in full size
Broad strokes of gouache define depth, distance, and mood. Perspective tilts and stretches to channel a child’s unclouded wonder. Mary Blair was the visionary concept artist behind classic Disney films. Color carries the entire piece here, turning Monkey Island into a frame from an animated feature that was never made.
Crash Bandicoot - “Downhill Chase”. A massive boulder crests the ridge. Crash must decide in a heartbeat: smash the crate in his path or leap blindly into the thick grass.Download in full sizeThe Secret of Monkey Island - “A Recipe for the Night”. Guybrush stirs a steaming brew. The green vapors rising from the cauldron twist into a sinister shape that an aspiring pirate would much rather avoid.Download in full sizeKatamari Damacy - “One More Roll”. The Prince’s katamari has already swept up paperclips and entire city blocks. An ordinary street buckles and warps beneath the weight of his ever-growing hoard.Download in full sizeAnimal Crossing: New Leaf - “Late Catch”. A bobber ripples right above the silhouette of a massive fish. A curious villager peeks over the angler’s shoulder while a basket of freshly picked apples waits patiently nearby.Download in full sizeRayman - “A Beat Between Fists”. Rayman leaps across gargantuan brass instruments. The floating gap between his white glove and his body becomes a rest note in the rhythm.Download in full size
Delicate, hairline ink work gives equal reverence to a tiny valve on a pressure suit and the sweeping curve of a distant horizon. Mœbius helped invent modern sci-fi aesthetics. Seeing Halo and Fallout filtered through his eyes feels like the most natural pairing in this entire collection.
Dune II - “The Sand Begins to Sing”. The spice harvester crew cannot spot what is crystal clear from atop the ridge. The initial swell churning beneath the sand is already wider than their massive tracks.Download in full sizeMass Effect - “Arm of the Citadel”. Shepard gazes through the viewport at one of the Citadel’s colossal arms. The lights of distant wards streak past like ion engine trails.Download in full sizeHalo: Combat Evolved - “The Horizon Curves Back”. Looking up along the inner ring, the Master Chief sees rolling hills where open sky ought to be. Stepping onto solid ground starts by looking up.Download in full sizeFallout - “A Century Behind the Door”. A lone Vault dweller pauses beneath the colossal cog-shaped blast door. Out in the blazing wasteland, the bright blue of her jumpsuit still belongs to the subterranean world below.Download in full sizeAnother World - “After the Storm”. Red-haired Lester drags himself out of the black water and onto an alien shore. High up on the crags, the dark silhouette of a creature is the first to register the newcomer.Download in full size
Twisting boughs, heraldic crests, and forest creatures framing the edges make it clear who truly commands the world within. Bilibin illustrated Slavic fairy tales with rich, ornamental borders. Framed in his signature folklore style, Heroes III looks like the cover of a century-old fairy tale book.
Heroes of Might and Magic III - “The Last Crystal”. A mounted hero weighs his choice between an untapped crystal mine and his home castle. A split banner points toward two separate objectives for the day.Download in full sizeBaldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn - “Streets Above the Dungeons”. The party steps out from beneath a stone archway into the bustling avenues of Athkatla. Far beneath the city’s gilded domes, broken manacles remain behind in the laboratory.Download in full sizeThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - “Breath at the Pass”. The breath of the Dragonborn meets the frost of a dragon in the biting alpine air. For a fleeting heartbeat, both creatures are bound by a shared rhythm.Download in full sizePrince of Persia: The Sands of Time - “Sand Flows Upward”. Grains of glowing sand trickle backward into the hilt of the dagger. The Prince reclaims the crucial fraction of a second where the ledge slipped from his grasp.Download in full sizeWarcraft III: Reign of Chaos - “First Frost”. Arthas reaches out toward Frostmourne. In the creeping rime across his gauntlet, a runic pattern mirrors the dark inscriptions etched into the blade.Download in full size
Circles, wedges, and repetitions break down an animal’s behaviour into a few simple signs. Charley Harper distilled wildlife into circles and triangles. The goose from Untitled Goose Game in this style is pure joy.
Ecco the Dolphin - “A Single Echo”. The dolphin pulses a signal toward a sunken gate. The returning rings reveal the contour of an underwater passage.Download in full sizePikmin - “One Burden, Many Legs”. Pikmin carry a strawberry up a slope. The tilt of the leaves on their heads gives away the fruit’s weight.Download in full sizeThe Last Guardian - “Under the Wing”. The boy nestles between two of Trico’s feathers. The giant creature lowers its head to hear his steps.Download in full sizeUntitled Goose Game - “A Beakful”. The white goose steers well clear of the groundskeeper. In the whole flat garden, only the keys bounce to a different beat.Download in full sizeWorms Armageddon - “The Last Scrap of Island”. The blast leaves a round crater in the cliffside. Poised on its rim, a tiny worm peers down and tightens its grip on the rope.Download in full size
Familiar objects shift scale within a single panel. The way out of a bind is almost always further than it looks. Winsor McCay drew Little Nemo’s dreams. Psychonauts and Braid, games all about the mind and time, fit in seamlessly.
Psychonauts - “Emotional Baggage”. Raz comes across a suitcase that is weeping. In this corner of the mind, even misplaced luggage demands a conversation.Download in full sizeDay of the Tentacle - “Yesterday in the Outhouse”. Three privies stand across different eras on the very same lawn. An item dropped down the pipe will outlive its owner.Download in full sizeBraid - “The Key’s Return”. The key slips from Tim’s hand and simultaneously snaps right back into it. Along the stairs, successive stages of a single mistake unfold.Download in full sizeLemmings - “Staircase of the Crowd”. The first lemming lays down a step. The rest press forward, as if the chasm had been bridged long ago.Download in full sizeGrim Fandango - “One-Way Ticket”. Manny waits on the platform holding a single blank ticket. The tracks at his feet are already curving toward the afterlife.Download in full size
A precise cutout is all it takes to spot a hand, a blade, or a beast in the dark. Lotte Reiniger pioneered silhouette animation. Limbo barely needed tweaking, while Thief and Mark of the Ninja thrived in the shadows.
Limbo - “The Eighth Leg”. The boy freezes in a clearing between the branches. One of them has just shifted position.Download in full sizeOddworld: Abe’s Oddysee - “Whispers by the Machine”. Abe and a clutch of workers crouch beneath the conveyor belt. In the gloom, only the cadence of approaching mechanical legs rings out.Download in full sizeThief Gold - “A Pocket of Light”. Garrett flattens himself against the wall. A guard’s torch shrinks his hiding spot by a hand’s breadth.Download in full sizeMark of the Ninja - “Sway of the Lantern”. The hanging lamp is still swinging. The guard investigates its pool of light, while the ninja lies in wait above the beam.Download in full sizeBatman: Arkham Asylum - “Wings Over the Chapel”. Batman’s cape blends into the stone gargoyle. Looking up from the courtyard, you cannot tell where the architecture ends.Download in full size
The hunch of the shoulders and the angle of the light reveal a hero’s decision right before its fallout hits. N. C. Wyeth is the gold standard of adventure illustration. Red Dead Redemption 2 and Uncharted look just like 1920s book covers.
Red Dead Redemption 2 - “The Final Rest”. Arthur reins in a tired horse by the watering hole. Evening crimson catches the empty saddle before it reaches his hat.Download in full sizeUncharted 2: Among Thieves - “Carriage Over the Abyss”. Nathan grips the train car ladder tight. Just beyond his wrist, the entire carriage pulls down toward the valley.Download in full sizeSid Meier’s Pirates! - “Between the Hulls”. The two sides have yet to collide. The rigging is the only route left for a privateer who has already let go of the rail.Download in full sizeTomb Raider - “First Thunderclap”. Lara inspects a fresh paw print in the mud. Deep within the Lost Valley, something is parting the ferns.Download in full sizeThe Last of Us - “Over the Fence”. Ellie reaches out toward the giraffe. For a fleeting moment, the overgrown city becomes a place worth lingering in.Download in full size
A recurring shape hints at the rules of the game. Only on a second look does the exception show itself. Escher and puzzle games are a match made in heaven, and Monument Valley borrows directly from his prints. Tetris as a dead-end tower is my personal favourite.
Tetris - “The Open Column”. A single straight gap remains in the stack of blocks. The long piece slides in like the keystone of the entire structure.Download in full sizeMonument Valley - “Stairs for Ida”. Ida waits for the edges of two structures to align just right. A single turn will bring the floor back under her feet.Download in full sizeFez - “The Fourth Wall”. Gomez perches on the seam between two walls. Rotating the island will turn a vertical fissure into an accessible ledge.Download in full sizeMyst - “The Island Beneath the Cover”. The open book casts a shadow shaped like the island of Myst. On one of the pages, a miniature doorway already stands ajar.Download in full sizeThe Witness - “A Line in the Orchard”. A path, a branch, and a shadow converge on a single vantage point. The whole orchard turns into a puzzle board waiting to be solved.Download in full size
The framing starts among the spectators. Flat swathes of colour and bold outlines capture the performer mid-gesture. Toulouse-Lautrec painted cabarets and the bustling crowd by the stage. Fighting games and rhythm titles suddenly gain a live audience.
Street Fighter II - “Just Before the Bell”. Ryu and Chun-Li measure the distance with their eyes. A ringside onlooker is already flinching from the opening strike.Download in full sizePaRappa the Rapper - “Drop on the Snare”. PaRappa takes his cue from Chop Chop Master Onion. A single raised hand signals him to rhyme back in time.Download in full sizeTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 - “Above the Lip of the Bowl”. A skater locks into a grab above the halfpipe. For a heartbeat, the crowd below sees nothing but the deck and an outstretched hand.Download in full sizeGuitar Hero III: Legends of Rock - “Five Buttons”. Five colours run straight down the fretboard. From the front of the stage, the toy guitar looks every bit as fierce as the real thing.Download in full sizeThe Sims - “Cutaway Party”. Guests dance in the living room while the host stands alone beneath a green plumbob. The removed wall reveals both scenes at once.Download in full size
A suspended sleeve, a branch, or a half-open hand lets you sense movement before the protagonist even makes it. Yoshitoshi was the last great master of ukiyo-e woodblock printing. Sekiro and Ninja Gaiden in his style look like classic samurai prints.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - “Grapple Above the Tile”. Wolf aims his prosthetic at a distant roof ridge. A footprint lingers on the tile, and the grappling hook has already cut across the moon.Download in full sizeSamurai Shodown - “A Drop of Sake”. Haohmaru has set down his flask and waits with his blade drawn. A falling drop counts down the seconds until the duel.Download in full sizeTenchu: Stealth Assassins - “Mark on the Paper”. Rikimaru sees the guard’s shadow through the shoji screen. They pass each other by the thickness of a single sheet.Download in full sizeOnimusha: Warlords - “Hand of the Oni Clan”. The glow of Samanosuke’s gauntlet illuminates the castle gates. The stone floor bears traces of something that has already crossed through them.Download in full sizeNinja Gaiden - “The Dragon Sword”. Ryu draws his blade atop the tower. A taut edge of his garb cuts through the wind at the exact same angle as the steel.Download in full size
Thick, heavy strokes focus on hands and faces. You can read the story from what little the protagonist can still hold onto. Käthe Kollwitz drew poverty and war. It is the most powerful series in the collection, and This War of Mine takes first place here for a reason.
This War of Mine - “Share the Loaf”. Three people share a piece of bread at the table. The hands of adults and a child meet right beside a tin mug.Download in full sizeSilent Hill 2 - “Letter in the Fog”. James reads a letter by a deserted road. The paper is the brightest spot, where the fog has not yet blurred the edges.Download in full sizeSpec Ops: The Line - “Sand Beneath the Nails”. A soldier brushes sand off the radio. Through the receiver, he keeps searching for a voice to tell him what to do next.Download in full sizeS.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl - “Test Throw”. A stalker weighs a plain bolt in his fingers. Before taking the next step, he must toss it onto the deceptively calm road.Download in full sizeDisco Elysium - “The Detective’s Hands”. Harry counts what he remembers on his fingers. Kim waits with his notebook open, letting him finish.Download in full size
The rhythm of triangles, circles, and repeating modules captures the frantic pace of arcade controls. Depero represents Italian Futurism - pure speed and mechanism. Out Run, F-Zero, and Pac-Man in this style make posters I would love to hang on my wall.
Out Run - “Turn Toward the Sea”. A red convertible leans into a coastal bend. Palm trees blur past like speedometer needles.Download in full sizeF-Zero - “G-Force Arc”. A blue racer hugs the guardrail on a sharp curve. A trail of lights stays behind like a bent velocity graph.Download in full sizeSpace Invaders - “The Last Bunker”. A symmetrical armada descends one row lower. Below it, a green bunker crumbles, leaving the cannon with one final clear line of fire.Download in full sizeSonic the Hedgehog - “Endless Loop”. Sonic runs along the inside of a checkered loop. Golden rings mark the path all the way to where the horizon disappears.Download in full sizePac-Man - “A Crumb Around the Corner”. Pac-Man disappears around the corner of the maze. The ghosts must choose their route by following the last visible dot.Download in full size
After looking through a hundred posters, I have reached one clear conclusion: image models today are only as good as the concept behind the frame. The best pieces in the collection do not just show characters; they carry a single idea that any player recognizes instantly: Gordon’s glasses by the rift, the key that drops and returns in Braid, the loaf of bread divided three ways in This War of Mine. That is work for a human, not a generator.
The second thing: an art style works best when it genuinely fits the game, rather than just looking pretty. Escher for puzzle games, Kollwitz for war games, Cassandre for racers. Random mashups can be fun, but the thoughtful pairings immediately look like an official collector’s edition.
I edit and publish Quantslant. AI tools help with research, drafts and translation; choosing topics, running the tests, checking facts and the decision to publish are mine, and so is the responsibility for what appears here.
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