I recently started getting some CP2077 books (World of, Guide, comics collection) and discovered I really enjoy having nice, high-quality physical media that expand on my favorite worlds. I started poking around my favorite series and already have my eye on Hyrule Historia, the Dishonored art book, the Dark Horse MGS I-IV art book (Like $500 for that one, yikes. But also Yuji Shinkawa. Hm.), and the Last of Us I-II art books. Also really want the Wheeler, Rawson & Co. Catalog from RDR2.
Not as into books like retrospective yet, especially for something as general as an era of gaming. More focused on either one game or one setting, ideally from the creators. Official books, sources of canon, etc. I’ve heard good things about books like the Burch siblings’ book on MGS, the Spelunky book from the same publisher, etc, they just dont grab me the way more official, visual ones do.
So do you have any books like this? Any standouts of ones to get? Ones not to get?
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This is slightly outside the bounds of what you asked for, but I think you might appreciate Vermis.
It’s an art book/game guide for a dark fantasy action adventure game, except the game doesn’t actually exists. The whole thing is entirely fake — basically all of the world building of a video game but without the actual game. The art is fantastic and there’s really nothing else quite like it.
I think originally it was only available in paperback, but a hardcover edition is available now as well for more of that “coffee table book” vibe.
The official guides for From Software games published by Future Press are great if that’s your cup of tea.
They’re all cool if you’re into the games or whatever they cover, imo. Having books on stuff that you’re not familiar with feels weird, imo. Google Books covering your favourite games and stuff and I’m sure you’ll find plenty. But if you don’t care about that and just want cool gamer stuff to put on the coffee table, The Game Console 2.0: A Photographic History from Atari to Xbox might be one of those. There’s a LOTR illustrated edition. There’s a tomb raider cookbook and travel guide. World of warcraft also has tons of cool art and a cookbook. There’s God of war lore and legends. There’s The Art of Video Games from pacman to mass effect, etc. And for more, there’s This site.
I found one for NieR: Automata at a used bookstore that has maps, a ton of concept art, and a short story.
The Art of Titanfall 1/2 are both excellent.
I really like flipping through Blades in the Dark every now and then. It’s a really cool and unique setting with enough vagueness/obfuscation to keep my imagination soaring.
