Well, it’s like this: games are not made by just one person and whilst it seems their art direction for this game is competent, it also seems their game design is not.

Maybe it’s something to do with the MBA CxOs of many of these “top” game makers nowadays neither being nor ever having been gamers, but they can, just like most people, look at something and think it’s pretty (or not), with the end result that they’re putting more money into and hiring better people on that which they can judge - the visual side of things - rather than on that which they cannot - the gameplay side of things.

Further, nowadays it still does make a difference for sales how good the game looks on the pictures and short videos customers see on whichever online stores they use to buy their game, something that also pushes towards focusing on looks more than the rest.