Updating Roblox's iconic, if lo-fi visual style, is a risk, but the company views it as one well worth taking to unlock the platform's real potential as a place where just about anything is possible.

Roblox lacks the polished visual language communicated by an Epic Games — or even a Minecraft, arguably — but what it lacks in thematic coherence it makes up for in choice.

Those blocks are composed of what Roblox calls “materials” — stuff like wood for trees, concrete for streets and brick for buildings. Now, Roblox is rolling out an update to make those materials look ...