When I was a youngling, graphics improved quickly and that made older games look worse by every year. What initially looked amazing and “life-like” turned dated in just a couple of years, however it seems graphics has plateaued in the last ten-ish years.
I would say that we reached the point of diminishing returns around next-gen GTA V / MGS V. Not that you can’t see the difference between those and modern games, but it’s nowhere the leap from San Andreas to GTA IV.
I recently started playing MGS V again and I’m shocked at how good it still looks, compare it to RDD 2 and you would probably need a side by side comparison to see the extra detail.
We have finally reached a point where old games dont get less immersive because our baseline in visual fidelity keeps increasing, or if it does it’s atleast a lot slower.
I think graphics are better and worse. Higher resolution and framerates, and higher resolution textures and enhamcements. But also grainy and flickery and fuzzy on the edges and certain details like hair, depending on the game and the tech it’s using. For example, Sniper Elite 5 has beautiful levels but I’ve never been able to get the AA looking decent. But games like Far Cry 6 and Starfield are much clearer.