What Are Video Games With Anime Graphics Called? Common Terms & Techniques

There's no single industry term, but these descriptors are commonly used:

• Anime-style / Anime-inspired: Broad catch-all for cel-shaded or 2D-illustrated aesthetics.
• Cel-shaded / Toon-shaded: Technical term for non-photorealistic rendering with discrete light bands, outline shaders, and flat colors—mimics 2D animation. Examples: Dragon Quest XI, Ni no Kuni, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Genshin Impact.
• JRPG (Japanese RPG): Genre label; most (not all) use anime aesthetics. Sub-types: "traditional" (turn-based), "action" (Tales, Ys), "monster-collecting" (Pokémon, SMT).
• Visual Novel / ADV: Narrative-heavy; static anime sprites + backgrounds (e.g., Steins;Gate, Danganronpa).
• "Anime Games" (Colloquial): Licensed tie-ins (Dragon Ball FighterZ, One Piece Odyssey) or original IP with heavy anime tropes (Persona 5, Trails series).
• 2.5D / 2D-HD: Sprite-based on 3D backgrounds (Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, Sea of Stars).

Related Rendering Techniques

• Outline/Edge Detection: Post-process (Sobel) or geometry-based (inverted hull) for ink lines.
• Anime Shading (Ramp Maps): 1D/2D texture lookup for diffuse → sharp terminator lines.
• Screen-Space Line Art: Guilty Gear Xrd's technique—hand-drawn normals baked into models.

When searching, combine terms: "cel-shaded action RPG Switch" or "anime visual novel PC."