The non-judgemental, hexagonal eye of a shrimp from Runescape. The comically splayed legs of a pigeon from The Sims 2. The oddly soothing smudged visage of a capybara in Age of Empires III. @lowpolyanimals is a place to escape the world and appreciate the angular fauna of gaming’s yesteryear.
The Twitter account launched just two weeks ago with a killer opener: Daytona USA’s sentient flannel.
Seagull from Daytona USA pic.twitter.com/bAhsDReHduOctober 23, 2020
Since then, animal life from a number of PC classics has featured, including Unreal, classic WoW, and Half-Life (which has just three documented rats, apparently, with a fourth alleged by the game’s wiki).
Cockroach from Half-Life pic.twitter.com/sRxZJTxPAPOctober 24, 2020
Runescape has become a regular fixture, because, well:
Crocodile from Runescape pic.twitter.com/HBR4UlGe9CNovember 2, 2020
Now that Low Poly Animals has acquired a fandom, questions have emerged about what qualifies new entries. The account owner hasn’t put a figure on the maximum number of polys, but broadly speaking, the lower the better.
“Look, I’m gonna say it,” they posted last week. “Halo 3 Rat is a good boy but he is too round. I want to see a literal brick with sticks for legs passed off as an animal.”
The appeal is peculiar but undeniable, somewhere between impressionistic art and the tragicomic, relatable energy of being not quite right for the world. Toontown Catfish knows what I’m talking about.
Cat Fish from Toontown Online pic.twitter.com/nr5seX6ql6November 4, 2020