Journey

The game Journey is perhaps the most visually beautiful things I have ever experienced,  let alone video games. Say what you want about the actual game play, but the visuals are absolutely exquisite. It also demonstrated to me how important visuals are to a video game.

The plot is incredibly simple with hardly any threat or difficulty but when playing the game I never found that to be a problem, in fact I feel it would have slightly taken me out of the game to have to fight any villains or go through any obstacles that are very difficult.
                                             

Basically the premise is you're this person who has to travel miles of windswept desert to the peak of a mountain where a bright light is that is always on the horizon.  That's basically it and eventually you pick up the ability to fly.

But every shot could easily be a painting or a desktop screen saver on of itself. I'm not an avid gamer myself but for anyone who appreciates background design, Journey is an absolute must play. Furthermore it has also inspired me to think about background design in every one of my shots in animation