Every terrain I make looks the same....

I'm not really sure where I'm going here but does anyone else feel this way?

I've bought at least half the trees and grass and terrain textures on the asset store. I've bought gaia and mapmagic and cts and nature renderer and vegetation engine and vegetation studio. From nature manufacture to procedural worlds to alp8310 and everything in between.

Every freaking terrain/forest I make is samey samey. It just has this "house look" to it. Made With Unity (tm).

But then I play Valheim. I play Stranded Deep. I play The Forest. And other unity games. And I feel like at times I can recognize assets. "That grass moves like vegetation studio". "That palm tree looks like speedtree". "That looks like AQUAS water"

Yet... There's a uniqueness that sets these things apart. Even if I feel like they've maybe used some familiar assets... There's a look and feel that's always different and sets these games apart. In some ways you could even say that these games, despite being made with Unity, "don't look like typical Unity games" and that's what sets them apart.

Is it handmade textures and trees? Is it a shader thing? Lighting?

For lack of a better way to put it... How do I make my Unity game not look like a Unity game?

 

Yep. In alot of cases, these things you mentioned and alot more, can make your game, not have "the engine look."

Interestingly, some people who use Unreal, ask this exact same question, but in reverse. "How to make my game, not have the Unreal look."