retro ’80s graphics are sentimental fluff for modern adults who grew up in front of 1980s game-console machines. Eight-bit graphics are pretty easy to carve out of styrofoam. There’s a low barrier-to-entry in making sculpture from 8‑bit, so that you can “rupture the interface between the digital and the physical.” However 8‑bit sculptures are a cute, backward-looking rupture.
An Essay on the New Aesthetic | Beyond The Beyond | Wired.com
Which is also what I find so tiresome about much of indie game aesthetics today.