Favorite and Not Favorite Video Games of 2016 Sort Of

I totally wanted to do this for 2015 as well but I suddenly needed to move to another city in December which cut down on the time I had for writing.  So...each category, where applicable, I have included a 2015 version for shits and giggles.  

Ground rules: I must have played the game....that's it.  Here are the best, and a little bit of the worst, games of 2016.  

Game of 2016 That Came Out in 2016...

Overwatch

Review here.
Competetive Season One Thoughts here.
A super inaccurate beta impressions here.  (Don't read that).

Like it was going to be something else?  I typically shy away from multiplayer only games but this was too good to ignore.  The gameplay is really good even if the balance is still a little off (poor useless Bastion).  They added a much needed arcade mode for more casual stuff as well as making Quick Play more of a practice mode for Comp even though the entire rule set isn't the same yet.

The characters really sell it though, from inspiring to...lets say, thirsty.  For such a shitty 2016 for minorities and women, Overwatch has a ton of representation.  While three women follow typical sexy game models (Tracer, Mercy, and Widowmaker...though I guess she represents the blueish-purple skinned people), others don't.  Pharah is old school Samus from Metroid in full armor and that's just to start.  Ana is a grandmother, Mei is short and chunky (also, bae), and Zarya is a hero to beefcake women who might be Trans according to every fan theory.  Also, recently released Sombra has been welcomed with a ton of applause from the Hispanic community because holy shit.  What other Hispanic women characters can you name in video games?  Not a whole lot out there.

The dudes are all over the place too.  Roadhog looks like he weighs 1000 lbs, Junkrat is a scraggly fucker, Reinhardt is ancient, and some of them....are robots.  Lucio might be a BIT of a stereotype as a black DJ but how many also roller blade?  Yeah.  Exactly.

The only thing that might kill this game is the community.  Don't get me wrong, it's still mostly fine.  It's not toxic.  It's also popular enough that toxicity tends to be sort of rare.  But, that liiiiiittle bit always annoys me.  I work in service jobs.  My tolerance for asshats during my gaming time isn't that high and a big reason I stick to singleplayer games most of the time.  In the right mood, I can either laugh them off or talk shit right back IF they are directing their angst to me.  Other times, even when it's not directly at me but just the whole team, which is the most common, sometimes I'm just like nah.  Quit the game and open Civilization VI instead.  Wish that wasn't the case but what are you gonna do?

2015 version:  Life is Strange.

Review here
Criticism review here.

Still love this game.  Season 2 is gonna be weird with all new characters but hey, I'm down.

Almost every critical review of this game has a, "but I can't help but kind of love it" vibe.  Yeah.  I get ya.  It's rare to see a game revolve around a relationship, specifically between two teenage girls friendship/potentially romantic relationship depending on how you played it.  That...sounds like a dumb porn but trust me it's not.  It's sweet, and touching, and heartbreaking, and all those emotions David Cage wishes he could do in his games.  There is a layer of authenticity here in its characterization that is SUPER rare in video games and something I cherish.

Runner Up Game of 2016 That Came out in 2016...

Deus Ex:Mankind Divided.

Review here.
Story review here.
Microtransaction bullshit here.  Also, one of my least read things.  I make good arguments against this practice yo.

Despite all my bitching, I do really like this game.  I'm currently playing through it a second time to try a perfect stealth, no kill run (except for some scripted moments where you have to be seen).  It's going well but I'm not at the hard parts yet.

Most of my complaining was about this games pretty good story just hitting the wrong marks.  WELL...that was before heir Trump got elected so now....I'M NOT SO SURE.  I'm (sort of) kidding here as its themes don't really match its real world references but hey, they mostly don't match BECAUSE the previous game is one of my all time favorites.  On its own, it kind of works in a sick way.

2015 version:  Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Review here.
Quiet controversy here.
Spoiler filled hate fest here.

I'm seriously sick of talking about this game but 3 real quick points.  1.  The gameplay is phenomenal and I still stand by my position that this is the best stealth gameplay of all time.  2.  The story is bizarre while also being so unlike any other Metal Gear Solid story it will infuriate long time fans.  3.  Fuck Konami.

Best Game Of The Last Two Years Because I Played It In 2016 Despite Coming Out In 2015 And Yes, Better Than Overwatch...

Baddest ass picture ever

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Review Here......That is all I said about this fantastic game?!?!

I can not rave about this game enough.  I want to do a 11-20 favorite game post even though it gets kinda fuzzy after 15 and this one is seriously climbing the more I think about it.  First open world game I've loved.  Even in my review, my criticisms were pretty nitpicky which...I HAD TO DO because the game is that good.  One of the two non-nitpick complaints was about the oppressive number of random bullshit to do on the map but I remembered, "hey! I don't actually have to do all that if I don't want too"...so I didn't.  The other was about the absurd amount of running around needed for the crafting to work right but that's only if you want to get the best gear.  The main quests and secondary quests (which were given as much care as the main quests) were more than enough to still push this game over 60 hours on that stuff alone.  All the rest puts this game into marathon territory (I played 120 hours and still didn't do everything).

I want to talk about 3 things I didn't mention in the review.

1.  I have complained about the villain deficit in fiction a lot but the villains in this game are great.  Top to bottom!  Raid a bandit camp and afterward you will find a letter the bandit never got to send (because you murdered everyone) to his wife and kids.  It will say something about how this last robbery will let them be able to buy bread for a few weeks.  Augh...my heart breaks.  Why are you humanizing this game's version of Goombas game?  And at the top, even the main villains, the Wild Hunt, are sympathetic as fuck.  I still don't want to spoil it but trust me.  You kind of feel bad for them.

This game takes the M rating for real.  Instead of just for violence and bewbs (okay lets be fair, just bewbs) it actually deals with adult themes that younger players wouldn't notice or understand.  This game takes the phrase, "Nobody sees themselves as the villain", and makes it a trope.  It's great.  Granted, many of the monsters in the game are just fodder, but like I said in the review, even some of them are sympathetic and some question the idea of if they should even be considered monsters.  But, this is a choice orientated game.  You can choose to slay them, or not.  It's so fucking good.

2.  For a story with as much misery as this story has, this game is smart in taking time off and doing............borderline comic relief moments.  WAIT, wait, hear me out.  For being an emotionless Witcher, Geralt sure does have some sick one liners at times.  They even make fun of the ridiculous trailer to this game that seems out of character and WOW did they rush that scene out.  Also, there is a point in the game were Geralt decides to get drunk with his Witcher buddies.  Protip:  Go all the way.  Trust me.  Fun times happen.  Since this is a choice orientated game, there are times when you can quit drinking and you might think you should because the wife will get mad but I don't even care if this is a spoiler....it doesn't matter.  It won't effect anything.  Just go for it.

3.  There are a couple battle themes but Steel for Humans is fantastic battle music.

I don't have a 2015 version of this.  I just wanted to say Witcher 3 is the best game of 2015 and 2016!  It is that damn good.  I just happened to play it the year after release.  

Worst Game of 2016...

No Man's Sky

Review here.

I was skeptical of this game being like Spore in its promises but didn't want to be right and damnit...I was right.  (Yes, I will gloat about that).  But what is TRULY weird is that the game ended up being like Spore in design too.  The procedurally generated animals in the game do sort of look like Spore animals.  It's fucking bizarre.  I mean, sure, they are less penis shaped, but they are still a weird amalgamation of things....

....OH.  EXCEPT FOR SONIC.  LOVE HIM. * Best thing to come out of this game.  He just wants to go fast.....ahem, anyway.

*Why can't I embed your video bro?

I know a base building update recently came out which is super bizarre since the size of the universe makes back tracking nearly impossible.  You leave the planet you built that base on, gooooood fucking luck ever finding it again.  Also, why does so much of this game seem to rip off Subnautica, yet Subnautica still looks way better?

This game desperately needs a purpose.  It's an existential nightmare.  I think the reason so many of these survival crafting games never make it out of "Steam early access" is because they fail at, you know, THE POINT.  Why am I doing any of this?  I can play around with mechanics in a setting for a while but without a reason to do so, I get bored.  And for such a huge game world, this is one of the loneliest I've ever seen.  Why do the AI aliens suck so hard?  How was that part of the game fucked up so bad?  They're like 1990's (hell, maybe 80's) era PC adventure game NPCs.  They were not good then.  I just remember thinking, "Man, I can't wait for technology to advance to the point where these NPCs can walk around and be active and act like they exist".

I shouldn't dog pile so much on an indie developer that bit off more than it can chew but come on.  They bought into their own hype and over sold their product to an insane degree.  I'd love it if a indie game could compete with AAA games and....wait.  I forgot.  One already did.  It's called Minecraft.


Other Noteworthy Video Game Things:

Shockingly good soundtrack:  VA-11 HALL-A

I gotta course correct here.  In my review I linked to the soundtrack and picked the song that LEAST represents that game.  If anything, take one of my favorites, Every Day is Night.  Yeah it's poppy (no singing though if you are scared) but I dare your head not to start bopping.  I love the transition at 1:40.

I also really like Skyline, which has a slow start but it builds, and You've Got Me which I think is a re-work of the same song.  It sounds like an 80's love ballad.  It's great.

A Horror Game That Was Actually Scary:  Anatomy

While not nightmare inducing, I did distract myself with non-scary Youtube videos before going to bed.  I'm super bummed my stream of it kept quitting and also didn't record but I fixed the recording part at least.  It also made my wife wonder what the hell I was buying when I bought something from someone named "Kitty Horrorshow" on my checking account.

A Game I've Played A Lot But Can't Write a Review On:  Civilization VI

It's like any other Civ ever.  It's the same good game with minor adjustments here and there.  Don't fix what is not broken.  That said..

Probably Best Game I Didn't Play:  Firewatch

It's pretty up my alley.  It just didn't happen and I've seen so much of it I may not actually get around to it for a long time.  Also, 2015 version: Undertale

Two games inexplicably missing...

Back in January, I wrote about 5 games I looked forward to in 2016.*  I've played one of them, Deus Ex.  Two of them got delayed to 2017 (Mass Effect and Persona 5, both of which coming out near each other goddamnit) but what about the other two?

*"Year of Jason"....dude.  I think I've handled 2016 with a fuck ton of grace considering.

Mirrors Edge:Catalyst is still on the back burner and it might be there for a long while.  I got turned off from the constant "combat improvement" talk which I can't see without serious compromises to the parkour controls.  I also hate that it is a prequel since there was so much more to explore in the original game's universe.

Dishonored 2, despite being my Twitter header, is just too similar to Deus Ex (it's steampunk Deus Ex) and I'm not ready to play another stealth game.  Also, the PC launch was super rough so patches are nice.

Finally.

Oxenfree has been sitting on my hard drive for over a month now.  Part of me wants to stream it but my internet will probably make that impossible without constant interruptions.  Also, it's a story driven game so it's questionable how entertaining that would be for people.  I dunno.  I'll likely just play it on my own.

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Other best/worsts of 2016 coming soon.

The SQUARE ENIX of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

So after the very good (gameplay and level design), the good but parts are iffy (story), we now get to the ugly.  This game has so many DLC, mircotransaction, freemium bullshit hidden I have no choice but to call it out.

Way back in the spring, I never finished a potential blogpost about the "augment your pre-order" thing Square Enix launched about this game before even announcing...the game.  Before any details whatsoever about Mankind Divided was released, Square Enix wanted us to pre-order for a bunch of horrendous shit.  Expendables, different jackets Jensen can wear, weapons only available for pre-orders and of course, a day one DLC.  The public overwhelmingly called them out on their bullshit so they dropped the pre-order advertising (they just re branded it) and made the day one DLC free.

Day one DLC is my most hated video game thing on this or any planet.  I have a hard time believing any worthwhile DLC came into being post-production on a game and hurried along for the day of release.  Desperate Measures, the day one DLC for this game, almost looks like a post-production DLC as it's only ONE HOUR long.  It's just a side quest loosely based on the main story.  However, the game recommends playing the DLC at the end due to spoilers but this side quest takes place about one third of the way into the story.  I smell bullshit.

Why Am I Here?

This side quest makes no sense to play after completing the game.  It deals with an event that happens at the beginning of the game and after learning who the villain is later in the story, makes this entire side quest a waste of time.  I know it's supposed to be a little side story that happens during the right time in the side story but that just begs the question, "Why isn't it THERE?"  Why is it separate from the main game?  Also, why do I have to re-spec my character?  My skill tree is empty at the start of this.

Desperate Measures is in a section called "Jensen's Stories" on the main menu.  It's where one more DLC as of this writing has come out, the one featuring Pritchard that I referred too and no, I'm not the least bit angry about that.  This one is 12 dollars and I'm sure this side quest could have been in the main game.  And apparently, you need to re-spec your character again.  What?  Why?  Ugh.  My head hurts already.

Also on the main menu, is a game mode called Breach.  This mode, you'll be surprised to learn, is garbage.  Why is this shitty free-to-play mobile game included?  I only played about an hour of it but it's so, so bad.  The controls feel like they should have been done with a touch screen and the difficulty of the levels went up astronomically fast.  Why?  You know why.

Microtransactions!

Game developers have gotten kind of smart about them since Dead Space 3 as you kind of have to look for them.  They aren't in your face in AAA games (mobile games though, sure).  And, just like in Overwatch, the games balance didn't feel like it was necessary to buy them.  The problem though is that this game sets a precedent on how they can sneakily make their way into games in a way they feel mandatory, eventually, in future games.  It's like Square Enix turned the douche nozzle up one notch just to see what they can get away with and if successful, they could turn it up another notch in the next game and so on.

A co-worker* of mine complained that a lot of the cool late game guns from Human Revolution are not in Mankind Divided, not in the game world anyway.  He browsed the mircotransactions for the hell of it and what do you know?  You can buy them there.  I only barely noticed as I played the game the right way, unlike my co-worker peasant, and only looked for those guns to resell in in game shops.  I didn't think much of it and just assumed I didn't find them for whatever reason. He wanted to use them because he plays Deus Ex guns-a-blazin lethal style like a lowly serf.  He looked for them with purpose and they are not there.

*This is unrelated but today I was talking with him about Dishonored 2 and he said he wasn't a big fan of stealth games.  BWAH?  How is he a big fan of Deus Ex and NOT a big fan of stealth games?????  Deus Ex is very stealth heavy.  Jesus man.  Ya think you know a guy.......

The most egregious change I saw was with the Praxis Kits.  Praxis Kits are this games ability points for your skill tree.  In Human Revolution, you get them from leveling up, found hidden in the world, or bought from in game shops.  In Mankind Divided you still get them from leveling up but if you can find one in the world, I'm still looking.  Okay I lied a little.  I found one...after looting the body of the final boss.  You know?  When ability points are super useful!  The end of the game!

This Asshole Has One.

In Mankind Divided, about half way through, Praxis Kits do appear in in game shops.  Here is where Square Enix gets tricky.  They now cost 10,000 credits.  In Human Revolution, they are 5,000 credits.   I know there is an in canon reason for the price hike as Limb Clinics closed down after The Incident and they are now rare but Hmmmmmmmmmmm........

For perspective, Deus Ex has always been stingy with credits.  I get excited finding a credit chip with 50 bucks on it, for example.  I didn't get over 10,000 until late in Mankind Divided so I bought one whole Praxis kit.  Not very convenient.  You know what is though?  You can buy one as a mircotransaction for 2 dollars of real world money.  Just 2 bucks.  You think maybe, just maybe, that price increase had little to do with lore and more to do with enticing people to buy the microtransaction?  I dunno......Buuuuuut, of course it fucking did and there are reports that Eidos Montreal, who actually made the game, didn't want to do any of it.

And what's really sad is that Square Enix has largely stayed away from this bullshit, instead opting for other bullshit.  Instead of DLC, they made two whole sequels for the worst Final Fantasy ever.  They then sold out the protagonist, Lightning, to appear, in...Louis...Vuitton...ads what?  They also claimed that the first Tomb Raider reboot was a failure despite selling 3.4 million copies NOT including digital sales (this was in 2013 too, not 2003), then deciding the way to fix that is make the sequel an Xbox One timed exclusive (it still isn't available for PS4 and PC).  Hell, this is a company who only recently decided remaking their biggest game of all time, Final Fantasy VII, might be a good idea while also being hellbent on fucking it up.  Seriously?  Making the combat system "modern" and going episodic is the dumbest idea ever.  Just make the exact same game as the original, step-by-step, with current gen graphics....you morons.

 For a second, you thought I was joking about the Louis Vuitton thing huh?

Unfortunately, Square Enix has always had a bit of envy towards the bigger publishers.  What's that Dark Knight quote? "You either die a hero or you live to see yourself become Activision"?  Just look at their super bizarre and woefully prepared 2015 E3 conference which happened to be their first ever.  They got embarrassed I guess and didn't bother in 2016, instead opting for the Nintendo Direct route by streaming stuff.  Wow!  That envy runs deep.  Even Nintendo Squeenix?

This guy happened in 2015 and honestly, I miss him.

As for Deus Ex, we need to call out this DLC/pre-order/mircotransaction bullshit when it happens even in an otherwise great game.  When we let this go and say "ah, it's no big deal" publishers are going to get more gutsy.  They have tried to emulate GTA/Skyrim, they have tried to chase the sweet COD dollars, they are currently trying to cut themselves a pie of Overwatch, but the worst is chasing Angry Birds/Candy Crush/Clash of Clans/...uh...World of War probably (the Kate Upton one?  Is that the one?).  Those mobile games nickel and dime massive profits for companies in a way that actually destroys the integrity of the game.  It brings the media back to toy status.  A cheap toy.  That feels awfully regressive.  So much for those "are games art?" debates.

Then again, Square Enix published this game.  They're usually good at the art part.  Terrible at the business part.

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Okay.  No more Deus Ex posts for a while.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Story Review.

Spoiler alert for Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.  I did my best to write this for people who have never played the games and don't plan too as well.  

Played on PC.  Overall review is here and I refer to things I said in that post so read that first if you haven't.  

I will not be discussing the Icarus symbolism everywhere because I have no clue.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution has a superb story.  What starts as a basic corporate security revenge story against some terrorists with a dash of missing person mystery (You: "....what?") turns into a world wide danger conspiracy theory story with the Illuminati (You again: "....WHAT?").  Underneath this is a treatise on Transhumanism* that really puts this games story into all time classic territory.  It's this meta narrative that really helps this games' universe by using real world analogues to flesh out its augmentation discussion.  The game doesn't fully take a stance, although due to the nature of the main story it does lean pro-augmentation, so that the player can decide literally in a final choice at the end of the game.  The ending choice deals exclusively with the events at the end and lets the player, aka Adam Jensen, decide what message the media will tell.

*"Transhumanism" for lack of a better term.  For those maybe new to the term, the game has nothing to do with Transgender people.  Transhumanism is basically the term for cyborgs.  Someone with a prosthetic leg could be considered Transhuman.  In Deus Ex, they are referred to as Augmented, or "Augs" for short.  I know the use of the prefix "Trans" for this fictional world can be pretty insulting to Transgender people out of context so I thought I should clarify.

As the game takes place at a time when people are not quite sure what to think of this new technology, you are exposed to the pros and cons of augmentation.  Pro: It can give a war veteran a robotic leg/arm/eye/whatever.  Con: People need a drug called neuropozyne so that their bodies don't reject the augment (that corporations charge an obscene amount for).  Pro: They can push humanity into a level of awesomeness unachievable with our ape limitations.  Con:  Many are expensive and the rich just stay richer.  Pro:  They basically cure every disease.  Con: That neuropozyne dependency has some nasty side effects in some users.  Pro: They have uses beyond the ordinary like robot hands to be a great pianist or personality reading mind augments for the autistic.  Con:  Their price and demand leads to a black market.  Pro:  They make super soldiers!  Con:  They make super soldiers!

Pro: You get a skill tree...?

By the end, you have to decide between a world that, A. has unchecked augmentation research and a world that is very pro-augment, B. outlaws augmentations, or C. allows some augmentation but it is heavily regulated by the UN (Illuminati).  It ends up not mattering because Deus Ex: Mankind Divided retcons all three and opts for the hidden 4th ending which is fuck it.*  Yes, the hidden (barely) 4th ending lets Jensen not control the media narrative and let the world decide what happened.....but since the impetuous of what is known as "The Incident" had no media at Panchea (The secret facility in the arctic that lead to the whole thing), the thing is shrouded in mystery.

*Technically, Jensen dies in this ending but they just leave that part out for Mankind Divided.

The only people who know what really happened is Adam Jensen and David Sarif in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.  Sarif is relegated to a game long side quest about Jensen's missing two years of his memories and it's not resolved.  Sarif does research on your behalf to find the person who likely put in the new augments* but it turns out that dude is dead.  The trail goes cold and the player is left with questions.  Nice.

*It is cool that the game tried to give a story reason for your new augments, aka, new skills the designers added to this game.

Despite how Sarif dresses, he is not an Illuminati member....OR IS HE?

With Sarif neutered, the only other character who knows the truth is Jensen. (There are other survivors at Panchea, but none appear in Mankind Divided, so they're pointless).  Jensen can't really go public with his information as nobody would believe him and The Illuminati wants his ass dead.  So we are left with a world that doesn't understand what "The Incident" was and a deep fear that augmented people may flip out and start indiscriminately murdering again.

By choosing the non-ending, Mankind Divided does not continue the great conversation its own world built up.  Now it's a warning about police states. Augmented people are oppressed, many are forced into ghettos, only two businesses still make neuropozyne (both of which the Illuminati control) and are frequently the victims of violent crime the police don't bother to investigate.

Why did a franchise, that wanted to be a cyberpunk discussion of transhumanism, that even tested the waters with heady philosophical discussion on what it even means to be human, turn into an allegory for apartheid?  Am I still playing the same story, or a spinoff?

Augs, are, aliens?

Don't get me wrong.  I like the fact that a big budget AAA title is willing to talk about modern social issues.  It's just that this came out of nowhere, doesn't fit the main story, and its real world references are bad.

Okay....I've been delaying this while writing this very post.  I didn't want to talk about this because it diverges into the political but it needs to be said.  About the real world references....

Deus Ex: Human Revolution used arguments that were.....lets say "inspired" by real world arguments about gun control, gay marriage, and even abortion.  These worked because it helped the meta narrative by relating the fictional (for now) social issue of transhumanism to something the audience knows about.  I liked this in Human Revolution as it made its universe feel more alive.

Mankind Divided also uses real world analogues for its story but take a wild guess what it uses for being oppressed by a police state?  The Black Lives Matter movement (and to some degree Muslim oppression vs ISIS as the game has an all augmented terrorist group as the main villain).  #Augslivesmatter.  Oh my.  This is not a 1 to 1 comparison.

First of all, augmentations are expensive.  There are socio-economic underpins to #BLM.  And yes, while even affluent African Americans are also subject to discrimination (don't get me wrong, it's more racial than social), the poor communities are hit hardest.  I have a hard time thinking the Deus Ex society suddenly turned on these rich cyborgs because of The Incident.  If a bunch of rich people suddenly started going crazy and murdering people, do you really think they would be oppressed afterward?  They can control the narrative, just like what Jensen was given the ability to do at the end of Human Revolution, then I guess, didn't?  Also the Illuminati is a thing in the Deus Ex universe, some of its members ARE AUGMENTED, and why are they even doing anything?  Seriously.  I don't know what the Illuminati are doing in this universe.

Bob Page is augmented Illuminati member code named "Douche-nozzle"

Secondly, augmentations are usually a choice.  You do run into people where it was forced by necessity, like war vets and cancer victims, and some where it was FORCED forced like a mercenary and even player character Adam "I didn't ask for this" Jensen, but really?  Nobody was born an augment.  Unlike race, gender, sexual orientation....I can't think of one person born with a plasma cannon as a right arm.

Using Black Lives Matter, and the hints to Muslim discrimination, is a disservice to both the game and the real world issues.  So the question is, what is the purpose of them?

If it's to flavor your own fictional story, like Human Revolution does with its real world references, then it's sloppy.  It doesn't really relate and feels forced in this case.  The story is no longer a discussion on Transhumanism.  If it was, maybe using bits and pieces of BLM would be alright and add context to that discussion.  Mankind Divided however, is overtly pro-augment in its now direct story of police states and shadow governments.* The universe is no longer taking the middle ground on augmentation.  The discussion is gone.

*There isn't much, but there is some real world references to way too powerful corporations influencing governments and the UN.  These I liked better despite it all existing in the vague Illuminati plot.

If the game really is an allegory to real world issues, then it's insulting.  The apartheid story comes from the non-ending to Human Revolution and is comparing apples to oranges.  I honestly don't think the game meant to be this though.  I'd hope a game that was purposefully an allegory to real world issues, with a writing staff this good, would do a much better job.  But, it is an unfortunate accident that the story could be portrayed this way, even if that wasn't the intention.

That said, I still really liked the story.  The villain, Viktor Marchenko, has a pretty blah motivation as being a radical pro-aug terrorist while also being an Illuminati agent, so what his TRUE motivation is is sort of unknown but maybe a paid shill...????  Also, his past is mysterious and not well known either so who the fuck knows.  Other new characters are really solid.  I particularly like Alex Vega who is really Jensen's only real friend and confidant.  She is also one of the few characters you actually learn a lot about.  Elias Chikane, the new helicopter pilot character, is okay but I miss Faridah Malik.

Miss you. (She can actually die in Human Revolution but I refuse to fail that part.  She lives.  This is my canon).

As the kids would say, I ship Jensen and Malik.  Well, I did.  Vega sorta took her role over despite not being the helicopter pilot and instead being a cool hacker aug, so I ship Jensen and Vega now.

Bae.

Weirdly, only two major secondary characters from Human Revolution return, one being the aforementioned David Sarif.  You can ask him about Megan Reed, which who cares she shouldn't be here anyway, and Frank Pritchard.*  I miss the banter between Jensen and Pritchard.  That relationship dynamic was so good.  What starts as two characters unsure of if they can trust each other and trading witty barbs, become trusted friends who still throw witty barbs.  It was great.  I guess Chikane tried to fill that role but he was too much of a hard ass means business dude.  He literally tells Jensen he doesn't want to be his friend.  Jensen may have robot eyes Chikane, but do those eyes still not cry????? (They do not).

*Oh?  Oh what's that?  Pritchard is back!  In a DLC mission?  Thanks Square Enix!!!!!!!!  Oh.  Sorry.  I meant, go fuck yourself Square Enix!

Eliza Cassan also returns but the news anchor feels off.  Who is this lady on the news?  That is NOT the Eliza that helped me in Human Revolution.  Well.....she isn't!  There is an excellent side quest that starts with a glitching ad at a subway station asking for help.  You go place to place eventually connecting to one of the precog women from the end of Human Revolution (the ones with their minds attached to a super computer, The Hyron Project).  But THAT is because her memories are fuzzy and when you find her a "memory fragment" (on a floppy disk lol), the real Eliza returns!  Well, real being the previous AI that Eliza was, aka, my buddy!!!  She helps you later and just sorta hangs out in the ether as she can't exactly usurp the fake Eliza, but it's a nice change of pace to see a rogue AI story line where the AI is GOOD.  I love, love, loved this side quest.  It truly caught me of guard (I raved about it on Twitter) and it's just a great example of a side quest with a great story.  I'm....also a Deus Ex fanboy so YOU may not think it's as cool but hey, give me this.

She is kinda creeping me out though.

Finally, the ending.  Please put in a patch that lets people know this is the last mission because that was unexpected.  I was warned before hand so always did everything before every main story mission anyway but we should have more of a warning than the SAME warning every other main story mission gets.

Other than that, yay for using a Witcher 3 style ending where choices earlier in the game matter!  No pick three options.  You do have one final decision which seemed possible to save everybody if you do it lightning fast but it was my first playthrough so of course I failed.  I don't know how an augmented person saving a building full of people from an augmented terrorist made the world worse for augmented people but....oh yeah the Muslim references.  But still, this game literally wants you to save a few dozen pro-aug politicians instead of hundreds of innocent people for the better ending which LOLZ.  I get it, I do, but why again am I saving the rich people?  Your message is cloudy Mankind Divided.

Also in the ending, you learn the office psychiatrist Delara Auzenne is an Illuminati spy (Jensen doesn't learn this just the player) so that's a thing.  Jensen and Vega also decide to figure out who the leader of the hacker group Juggernant Collective, Janus, really is.  I'm assuming this is going to be a plot in the next game.  My guess, Janus is Bob Page.  He has a few cameos in this game and is the villain of the original Deus Ex.  Also, he's augmented and seems to be going off script with the rest of the Illuminati.

The fantastic story of Human Revolution still feels like a one off and not part 1 of a trilogy.  Mankind Divided puts a good amount of effort into continuing that story while also taking a sharp left turn into other themes.  This is a game I will likely playthrough another time and the world is deep enough that I may find new insights (I did not hack every computer and read every e-mail).  Just like Human Revolution, it may jump to classic status on that 2nd playthrough, but I kinda doubt it.

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Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Review

Played on PC.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is one of my favorite games of all time.  It's in my top 10!  It's a prequel to "every media outlet everywhere poll for the best PC game of all time", the original Deus Ex.  While I've played the first Deus Ex and thought it was great, DE:HR felt far more in tune to modern technology, modern society, modern politics, and skirted those just enough to be its own thing.  Deus Ex: Mankind Divided tries to be those things soooooooo hard, but it doesn't match up.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided has a massive problem from the start.  Human Revolution had 3 (technically 4) endings that were at odds with each other.  Mankind Divided decided to make one canon and ret-con the others.  What feels weird here is they decided to make canon the ending, which was in my opinion, the worst.  Why?  Well Square Enix decided their money makers are in places that isn't obvious (Like another Chrono Trigger sequel you assholes. Hell it took them years, YEARS to realize a remaster or remake of Final Fantasy VII would make them ALL THE MONEY.) and so they decided Human Revolution is part one of a trilogy retroactively! This has disaster written from the start but I hope Eidos Montreal, who actually makes the game, is up to the task.

Spoiler.

So a game that is part two of a trilogy where part one was never intended to be the start of a trilogy feels disjointed and weird, which is not the least bit surprising.  Its story is still really, really, REALLY good considering most game stories are usually god awful and Deus Ex is a try hard, but wow did this just feel wrong.  It has an abrupt ending, a pretty major side quest being unsolved for either game 3 or DLC, and there are other side quests with no resolution.

Or hell....the MAIN STORY has a sort of resolution.  I.....

....Okay, I got the worst possible ending and I wasn't trying to get a bad ending.  I'm a little bitter.  The ending is much more like Witcher 3 as choices in the game determine the ending rather than a final "choose 3 options" choice, but I picked the wrong thing every time apparently.  This is due to my play style (more on that later) but I feel cheated.  I tried, I FUCKING TRIED, and I know that the best endings aren't that happy, but this was abysmal.

The story of Mankind Divided is good, but after Human Revolution, it's kinda garbage.  Protagonist and player character Adam Jensen suddenly works for Interpol and has no memory of the last 2 years because why the fuck not?  Yeah.  Sure.  Whatever.  But, Jensen is a double agent, working for the Juggernaut Collective (basically white hat hackers ala Anonymous)  and is spying on Interpol, while Interpol is kinda right about stuff too sooooooooo ahhhhhhhhhhhh ACTUALLY.  That's a good part. I'm complaining about and complementing the same thing.

Also the Illuminati are back.  I still don't know what the hell they are trying to do.

The ending to Human Revolution is referred to as "The Incident".  It's when Hugh Darrow decides to make every Augmented human (basically cyborgs) go crazy and start killing everything in their path due to some control switch because Sci-fi trope.  This leads to a world where Augmented humans are an oppressed minority (something like 88% of augmented humans are wiped out during or after The Incident which feels absurdly high) despite the fact that only rich people can afford augments in the first place.  Match this, with the REAL WORLD PARALLELS that the game tries to draw and I'm at a loss for words.....

....Actually, I'm not.  Human Revolution does it far better and you came here for a review so I'm going to continue this in another spoiler filled blogpost.  I just want to make it clear, that the story, world building, and references to real world issues is what put Human Revolution in my top 10.  Mankind Divided tries so goddamn hard to be that, but it seems to miss the very reason for its own existence.

Spoiler free, let me leave the story like this:  If you want to discuss Transhumanism, then do so like Human Revolution.  If you want to DECIDE what Transhumanism is, in a fictional universe, with almost insulting real world parallels that don't match up, then you need to be a different game.  As Adam Jensen would say, "I didn't ask for this."*

*I will write a second post in detail about the discussion this game desperately needs about its story.  THE STORY IS GOOD, but its issues are.....I don't know what to say without spoiling things.

The rest of the game though, is really, really, REALLY good.  Borderline great.  It's basically Metal Gear Solid V again.

I haven't forgotten you asshole.  You better believe I'll be writing about you again.

The gameplay, the thing I was the most worried about because every trailer made it look like a 3rd person cover shooter, is fantastic.  It is a carbon copy of Human Revolution only better.  The awkward 1st person to 3rd person in cover shift is still there, but the camera work is improved and no longer jarring.  It's still a stealth heavy game with its highly lethal gameplay (neither the player or the enemies can take much damage)  and while you can go in "guns a blazin", that's actually harder even with new augments.

I, of course, play Deus Ex the way it was meant to be played.  Full stealth, low aggression, non-lethal weapons.....WHICH fucked me on the story as I always tried to minimize death.  Fucking horse shit.  Basically, to get the better endings, you need to let some people die even though the alternative always seems like something you could take care of later.  Well, the final choice has people's lives at risk in both scenarios but the previous ones do not.

Anyway, the stealth mechanics are phenomenal with only Metal Gear Solid V being better.  Cover works well and you are given controls on how and where to be in cover that are hard to explain. It's not a dynamic cover system like The Last of Us or Uncharted, but it does give the player a ton of control and is far more fluid than the sometimes clunky stealth systems in other games. There is a new run/roll to side cover that didn't exist in the previous game that is a very welcome addition.

Augmentations, the skill tree for Deus Ex, is filled with old and new abilities.  There are more non-lethal takedowns as well as stealth skills.  Stealth skills include a cloak, leg silencers, vision that lets you see through walls, and a Dishonored style "blink"- fast dash that can also be used as a non-lethal takedown.  You can also hack things from a distance now, thank the fucking sun god, and also you can craft a multi-tool which is a one use device that can hack anything.  Just point it at the thing you want hacked like a gun and boom. The fancy toys you get are balanced between lethal and non-lethal in the skill tree with many being defensive.  I'm not sure about the more lethal weapons as I play Deus Ex the right way you plebeians, but Lets Play footage shows them being far more balanced with non-lethal weapons.

HACK AT A DISTANCE YES YES YES.  (This is far closer than necessary BTW).

The other half of a good stealth game, the enemy AI, is slightly better than Human Revolution.  Enemies will talk with each other face to face, then walk off to do their normal guard route.  Enemy AI varies from just standing there, back and forth patrol, circular patrols, and even some triangular patrols.  By far, one that kept killing me in the early game, is a new feature where guards will walk in one direction, suddenly turn their head to CHECK BEHIND THEM, and I'd be fucked.  Video Game enemies can turn their head to look behind them while walking in a different direction?  What is this madness?  (I like it.  It killed me a ton until I learned to be more patient).

There is one thing this game beats Human Revolution on and it's Mankind Divided's stellar level design.

It's so goddamn good.  This game is a master craft on level design.  It's open world-ish with most of the missions taking place in the city of Prague.  There are so many different ways to traverse the city I need to replay it to see them all.  You can take the streets, the sewers, or go high up along balconies and vents and holy shit.*  The level of detail is absurd.  This is a relatively small open world so it allows a ton of intricate detail you don't see in large open world games and I NEED THIS.  I hate walking up on another random shack in open world games to find nothing worth while.  Everything here leads to something interesting.

That pill ad's mouth leads to a subway station.

No matter where you need to go, at the very least, there is a second way to get in (many requiring the right augment).  Main story missions have DOZENS of possible paths.  I noticed paths in my playthrough that I didn't use because it was dumb to from my position.  Hell, I brought out old open world gameplay tactics and tried to explore everything only to be put in a poor position compared to where I was earlier.  My advice, play Deus Ex as a real person in the situation would.  Just get to your objective.  The gameplay and level design is perfect for multiple playthroughs as trying to "explore everything" is likely to get you spotted and harder to go full stealth.

I cannot rave about this games level design enough.  You wanna go there?  You usually can.  There is a level of verticality here that is reminiscent of Dishonored here, which was desperately needed in the previous game.  While you still don't run along rooftops too much (a little), there is far more to do above the street than in the previous game.

It's gorgeous too.

Other RPG systems are expanded from Human Revolution but iffy in execution.  Dialogue trees seem buggy at times.  I'll have a character tell me I really screwed things up and that it was "chaos" on that last mission despite performing that mission with full stealth and never being seen.  The hell are they talking about?  They didn't even know I was there.  Rarely, but noticeable, and NPC would answer a question I didn't ask.  It didn't happen often but it was jarring when it did.  Also, you now have a Mass Effect style interrupt that is so sparingly used I usually missed it.  However, the "conversation bosses" from Human Revolution are back but more frequent and harder.  A personality type may flash Alpha and Omega during a sentence.  Just pay attention to what flashes the most for the right answer.  Also, you will run into somebody who knows about that augment :D :D :D :D.  It was amazing.

Speaking of bosses, the TERRIBLE bosses from Human Revolution are gone.  Every boss has a Metal Gear Solid vibe to them as they can be beat with stealth and, thankfully, non-lethal weapons. Unfortunately they are really easy as they couldn't counter my brilliant strategy of 1:  Toss EMP grenade, 2: Use cloak augment, 3:  Run up while invisible and PUNCH THEM IN THE FACE.  End fight.

Even this guy just needs one hard PUNCH TO THE FACE.

So, the gameplay is identical and slightly better, the skill tree is identical but with new stuff ripped from Dishonored, the level design is identical but perfected with inspiration from Dishonored (....huh), and the worst part of Human Revolution, the boss fights, are discarded in favor of Metal Gear Solid style "smart" boss fights.  Why isn't this game an all time favorite?

It's all in the story.  See my next blogpost.

Regardless, I do really like this game.  I, again, really like the story despite its different tone from Human Revolution and appropriation of real world news. It's soooooo nagging being forced into a part two of a surprise trilogy.  The 2nd part is the best in many franchises (see Mass Effect 2, Empire Strikes Back, Terminator 2, arguably The Two Towers and the 2nd Hobbit movie whatsitsname) but in others it isn't.  Hopefully, this isn't Back to the Future 2, a good movie that led to an underwhelming final movie.  Deus Ex:  Mankind Divided is a good game.

Too bad I'm too invested to know if it really was.

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Some footnotes that didn't fit into my post.

1.  The hacking mini-game is way better here but with the aforementioned Multi-Tool, which I used a ton, the hacking minigame felt tacked on almost.  Like it didn't need to be there.  Some people love it, I'm indifferent to it.  I rarely had to use hacking software so had dozens of them in my inventory that I should have sold in retrospect.

2.  Oh yeah, crafting parts are everywhere but I mostly just crafted multi-tools.  You can craft ammo too but I never needed too because of my low aggression play style.

3.  This game got Square Enix-ified........OH SHIT.  3rd blogpost!

The Open World Video Game Paradox.

I've hinted at hating open world games in several video game posts but I'd like it to be known, I don't hate them.  I actually like some of them.  But the thing is, I've never loved one.  There are several issues that plague open world games that have kept this barrier up for me and (most) recent open world games seem to be content on keeping these problems going indefinitely.  It only seems like it's going to get worse too as every western RPG in existence is or has gone open world.

It seems like the reason so many games have gone open world, even in franchises that were not previously, is because of...

1. Skyrim's popularity
2. GTA5's sales numbers, although I'm not sure why GTA would only now influence game studios.
3. Stupid complaints of games being too linear.
4. Sometimes justified complaints of games being too short.
5. Wanting choice, "player agency", in games.

Just making a game open world solves the linear problem, even though it wasn't a "problem" to begin with.  Great games can be, and have been, linear as hell.  The vast majority of stories are told linear.  Just taking in account this one point, open world games already have an inherent flaw in trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist.

First image when you Google "Linear Video Games"

Like linearity is FFXIII's largest problem....

Open world games typically have a main quest, which is usually linear fancy that, but to solve the problem of "being too short" they fill their worlds with things to do, known as "side quests".  This is my main problem with open world games.  It's not that side quests exist, or even that there are too many, but the side quests are almost always a dozen copies of the same thing.  Studios faced with the dilemma of creating an open world, while also filling it with enough things to do so that the game isn't too short, creates a quantity over quality problem.

"Too short.  Not enough pointless fetch quests and dungeon clearing." - Some Asshole

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, a game I really liked, was praised for having side quests that don't get repetitive by most game journalism outlets.  I...don't know what the fuck they are talking about because the titles of the side quests themselves are repetitive and numbered.  The Side Op titled "Extract the Highly Skilled Soldier" eventually reaches an "Extract the Highly Skilled Soldier 16".  SIXTEEN.  You do the same thing SIXTEEN times.  Yes, the locations vary and thus present different obstacles each time, but at its core, you are still doing the same thing over and over.  There is maybe 7 different "types" of side op but you do each one over a dozen times.*

*Don't get me wrong.  Every game is repetitive about something.  But at least in linear and pseudo-open world games, there is a narrative to give that repetition gravitas.  Also, MGSV's repetitive side missions are probably a good template on how to make them enjoyable....for a while.

What do the dots and boxes and boxes filled in mean?   

The worst offender, that I've played recently, might be Dragon Age: Inquisition.  Every time you come across a rift (a green vagina in the sky), you fight a mix of 5 demons that you fight a million times in the game, then for some reason, have to fight a 2nd wave of the same demons, then you can "hold X" to close the rift.  There are...........81 rifts in this game.  EIGHTY FUCKING ONE?!?!?*  Well, 81 with the DLC but holy shit.  Oh and don't even get me starting on the fucking shards.  You go to a telescope thing, usually on top of a mountain or cliff, look around to "mark" the shards, then go running around collecting them which sometimes requires platforming in a game NOT EVEN SLIGHTLY optimized for platforming.  You need them to unlock the hardest, coolest dungeon in the game.  How many do you need?.....114.  For perspective, I think I have over 114 books in my house but it took decades to accumulate.  Collecting 114 of anything in a game is downright masochistic.  

*What programmer was like, "You know what?  I think the game needs one more rift".

Sky vagina can be closed with your magical hand.  There is innuendo here......

For reference, Dragon Age: Inquisition has 10 main quests.  Just 10.  These are the only quests that have some uniqueness to them as each one is a bit different.*  MGSV has 38 main missions. OH SURE, it looks like 50 but 12 of those missions are actually just repeating previous missions with different difficulty parameters.  It's a super bizarre design choice in Chapter 2 and a band aid over the content that was supposed to be there (fuck Konami).  

*For those of you reading that have heard about Bioware using Dragon Age: Inquisition as a template for Mass Effect: Andromeda....you have been warned.**  My two theories, No Man's Sky will fail to live up to its lofty promises ie. Spore, and ME: Andromeda will have the same flaws DA:I does.***

**Or not.  

***I WANT TO BE WRONG.  I'm being pessimistic.  Please let me be wrong.****

****AAAAAHHHHHH*****

***** Did you know this is supposed to be Lindsay Lohan?

This is the root of the quantity over quality problem.  I don't care how creative the development team is, you are going to run out of ideas and/or money and just copy paste the same activities over and over again to get that "100's of hours of content" label the publisher seems to think we all want.  This brings me too the elephant in the room, Skyrim (and Fallout kinda).  

For the purpose of this post, I'm going to ignore the fact that Skyrim (and Fallout but it's slightly better) has AWFUL combat mechanics that seem ripped from Ultima 7....released in 1992, only Skyrim is in first person.  Just hack at stuff and hope your stats are better (I know there are laughable stealth mechanics and other garbage that doesn't work as well as it should ).  I'm also going to ignore that Skyrim has the worst inventory management I have ever seen.  I mean, holy hell, most people play with a fan mod that organizes your inventory for you.  Why is everything in just a list of shit?  Why aren't things organized into categories like weapons, armor, items, etc.?   For fucks sake, Final Fantasy still gets that right and that franchise is zombie roadkill. 

Uh....I said I was going to ignore those issues.  Right.

"Hello and welcome to beautiful Vancouver".

Skyrim is the screaming neon sign of my second biggest complaint with open world games; The storytelling is usually awful.

In Skyrim, not only does it have a shitty story, it doesn't even attempt to tell a....story! Never mind a good one. You are the dragonborn for some reason (is that ever explained?), then you go collect things for Jarls/witches/random dudes to help them solidify power/while ALSO wanting your help to fight dragons (not how bargaining works!), then you fight dragons the end.  I mean, look at this ending.  ZZZZZZZZ....uh, I mean, "What an epic RPG!!!!  I especially like the part where you hack at a dragon's butt for 2 minutes."  Come on.  Even fans of Skyrim haven't finished Skyrim. It says A LOT about the game when even its fans don't give a shit about the story.  Almost every review of that game is "10 outta 10!  But, uh, the story sucks."

No they didn't.  That was patched out.

Open world game storylines like Skyrim lack pace.  The player is tasked with pacing the story and that creates all sorts of weirdness.  It's a running joke about open world games having a main story that says the "world is coming to an end unless you defeat this evil immediately!" while their presentation wants the player to take their time and go exploring for shiny trinkets.  Some games have tried to fix this by lowering the stakes (GTA5 with one kidnapping exception), or by deliberately having a story that works with pacing slow as molasses (Most of MGSV, Some of Sleeping Dogs, and Witcher 3). Others, like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, present a story where the world isn't going to end UNTIL you are locked into the linear last 15 hours.

"If only I knew how awful Megan Reed is."

This lack of pacing is a problem that can't really be addressed unless some aspects of player choice are taken away....and that's the paradox.  How can open world games give players a compelling story if the player decides how and when a chapter is played?  This paradox can be expanded to a compelling story, plus meaningful side stories, while also giving the player choice.  This is the philosophical problem with open world games, and no game has really solved it.

Because of Skyrim and GTA, most games don't really bother to even try, though I know I'm not the only one who gets annoyed if not outright angry at these issues.  I have a feeling more people will start thinking this way too since all singleplayer games are turning into 1.) Indie, 2.) episodic stuff like Life is Strange, or 3.)  MEGA BUDGET AAA open world game.  This will get tired.  Even Skyrim fans will get sick of playing Skyrim ripoffs eventually.

"Farcry is Skyrim with guns!!!" -  every idiot reviewer ever.  Farcry is Skyrim with radio towers.

So...am I writing this post just out of spite?  Am I jealous (a little actually) that I can't love these games?  Deus Ex: Human Revolution isn't really open world.  Final Fantasy 9 isn't, nor is any Persona game.  Ultima kind of is but those games had severe level/gear requirements that basically forced it into a linear game.  Is Mass Effect open world?  The first one is actually my least favorite of the three.  Yet even that sure doesn't feel like it.*

*BTW, I'm ignoring JRPG's for this post since they have stayed mostly linear.  That said, how WEIRD IS IT going to be that Final Fantasy XV is open world?  It's not Final Fantasy anymore Jason.  It's not Final Fantasy anymore Jason.  It has the name but it's not Final Fantasy anymore Jason.

Maybe I'm an idealist here because RPG's are my favorite video game genre and nearly every single one has gone open world.  Maybe expecting side quests to be worthwhile, have interesting stories themselves, or even better, actually be related to the main story is too much to ask.  Maybe expecting side quests to have a great deal of variation will never happen because of video game budgets and publishers unwilling to take risks.  Maybe I just have to expect the leader of a religion/army has to go pick fucking flowers because the player character must do everything themselves.  Maybe I have to except being Dragonborn because SERIOUSLY was this ever explained?

IT'S LIKE ANGELS SINGING.

Well.....I'm for the first time, optimistic that these issues may not last forever.  Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is SO good you guys.  Yes, it still has some of these issues, but holy shit there seems to be a drastic jump forward into solving them.  This might be the transitional game we, errrr, I have been waiting for.  I haven't finished it yet as of this writing, but I might, just might, love it.

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt review coming soon.

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A couple notes that didn't fit into my thesis.

1.  In case anybody reads this who isn't one of my Twitter friends or non-Twitter friends, if you like Skyrim...THAT'S OKAY.  I like some objectively shitty things too.  It's okay.  I'm just expressing an opinion.  HOWEVER, the more games try to be like Skyrim, the more games as a whole suffer.  Variety is the spice of life and all that jazz.  We all lose if we just get different versions of the same game.

2.  I didn't really address how video game publishers are influenced by GTA's sales but OF COURSE they are.  It's the reason every movie is Star Wars now.....or.....wait, no they aren't.  Granted, most big budget movies are "Star Wars" or "Marvel Movie Empire" or "Same Thing" but at least we get a Mad Max: Fury Road....and high budget war dramas...and high budget period dramas....and weirdly high budget comedies that usually tank but is kinda okay....and....and....

Okay, so those too are kind of rare, but the thing is, movies have learned how to do medium budget movies.  Why can't games do this?  It's either AAA or indie.  Almost no in between.  The only recent two I can think of is Alien:Isolation and Xcom2.  I'm sure I could Google more (Bayonetta 2 maybe?) but my point is, I can think of only a few off the top of my head while I could list more movies.

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I never finished Skyrim either.