After all, pixel art is often chosen in an indie context to begin with because it is cheap. Finally, on a more practical level, this style strikes me as more expensive because of the financial and technical costs associated with these newer technologies. In addition, in some cases, such as The Last Night, it's debatable what the pixel art is even adding, because of how many other elements are contributing to the scene, versus Illustration, or other artistic styles. The core challenge with this style is that you have so many technologies available to you, on top of said pixel art, that balancing those technologies to work together towards a cohesive, readable whole can be difficult.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is an arguable first example of this style, as I understand that used new lighting technologies, in addition to some excellent sprite work. Octopath Traveller is a great example, (as is the Last Night, which I think got cancelled), because it uses modern lightning technology, post-processing, even stuff like 3D models mixed in, on top of pixel art. Post-Bit: These are games that aren't limited by even 2D, or to Pixel Art. Note also that, in the case of Sword and Sorcery, these games will sometimes, 'cheat,' and use non-pixel elements to help identify things in their Minimalist style. In the video, some of the parts of Sword and Sorcery have like, five colors, or something that is low even by NES or other early console standards. Instead, this minimalism is an intentional artistic decision that suffers from how washed out everything is from the limited color palette.

These are games that have extremely limited color palettes, use simple shapes, etc., but aren't trying to evoke a specific console, or prior era of technology. Minimalist: Sword and Sorcery is an excellent example here, as is arguably Blasphemous(although Blasphemous isn't as extreme about it as Sword and Sorcery is). This makes the style something that takes a lot of experience to pull off, and a high technical ability within pixel art, to among other things, have a work process that allows you to work with an effectively unlimited color palette, no real resolution limits, etc., Note you're still using pixels as pixels, to quote the video, and aren't using things like modern lightning effects or 3D models. The downside of Max-Bit is that it is extremely labor and time intensive to pull off. The key here is there are no limits on the pixel art other than it being pixel art, which in the case of Owl Boy leads to a gorgeous painterly style. Max-Bit: Owl Boy is the quintessential example here. In addition, the limited color palette, and resolution for that matter, can make it difficult for the game to be readable, although this isn't as bad as it can be in a style we'll talk about below.

The primary weakness of Retro styles is that, given the sheer number of indie games alone that have used this aesthetic, along with the games they're emulating, this style makes it very difficult for a game using it to standout. The thing that defines Retro is game art that intentionally limits itself to, for example, the technical and color palette limits of the NES, SNES, etc., I think the max detail you can get away with and still be considered Retro, the way this video defines it at least, would probably be 16 bit, although I could imagine a game trying to emulate either the Neo-Geo or the Sega Saturn messing with this. Retro: Shovel Knight is the quintessential example here. To summarize a lot, there are roughly four styles: A little bit longer than thirty minutes, but a lot of what you need to know he explains relatively early on.

Modern terraria house