Playable on: Nintendo Switch, PC

An indie game that puts players in the shoes of an anthropomorphic bird as they strive to get cellphone reception, A Short Hike is easily one of the more unique titles on this list. Any fan of indie titles owes it to themselves to try this title

Those who did stick around to see the credits roll were surprised by just how quickly things wrap up. Liberating the city’s districts, which essentially requires a Far Cry-style assault on a military base, didn’t take very long, and the whole affair could be sorted in ten to twelve ho

However, perhaps the most interesting portrayal of morality – one that Fable should take notes from – is that found in The Witcher 3. Choices in The Witcher 3 have real weight, in part thanks to how well the game portrays its world as being “lived-in.” That manifests itself in many different ways, and on a surface level may not even look like a morality system. Geralt is, after all, a hero, but with his decisions determining who lives, who dies, and, in some cases, the well-being of entire cities, it’s hard to deny the state of the world at the end of the game as a sort of morality system for Ger

When I say this game aspires to be Paper Mario , I’m not talking about a few little touches here and there. From the second you load up Bug Fables, you will know that this is a Paper Mario game in practically every way except the name. Each character is a flat 2D model with big fat black outlines walking around a 3D world. The art style looks simplistic, as if it was drawn by a crayon-wielding kindergarten class, yet it’s bursting with life and personality. Even the music evokes the soundtracks of Nintendo’s games, with songs that reminded me of Final Fantasy games, Donkey Kong Country , Earthbound , and of course, the Paper Mario ser

The gaming landscape has changed considerably in that time. With the new generation of consoles came new standards for design, and while Fable , for the most part, holds up in terms of gameplay, there are mechanics within it that may have trouble in the new wave of video games. Specifically, there are bound to be difficulties with Fable’s handling of morality, and with how significant the mechanic is to the game, it may create other hurdles as w

Alongside games like Knights of the Old Republic , which featured its own morality system with a light side and dark side meter, black-and-white moral systems were fairly common in a game, adding an additional layer of depth to individual characters. It was an early blueprint for what was to come, providing ways for players to impact a game’s narrative, at least to a degree, with decision making, but not quite having the effect on entire worlds like fans see in more modern ga

One of the most demonstrable shifts in the way morality systems work now is in the Mass Effect series. While Andromeda’s facial animations and other aspects faced major criticisms when it released, most of which were deserved, it ditched the paragon and renegade system found in the first three entries of the series. The newer system, which gave players the option to respond in four different manners rather than just two, was still flawed, but it marked a departure from the standard good versus evil archtypes, attempting to give players more characterization, even if it didn’t necessarily succ

Playable on: PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC

Released on the same day as the hugely underwhelming Assassin’s Creedy Unity , Rogue plays like a followup to 2013’s Black Flag and feels like an addendum to 2012’s Assassin’s Creed 3 . Though head and shoulders above some of the less inspired entries in the series, Rogue’s world still felt a bit too empty and bland, and it’s one of the shortest mainline AC experiences by

Nintendo hasn’t made a true Paper Mario game since 2004’s Thousand Year Door , and if you’ve always wished for another game like those first two in the series then you should probably check this out. It doesn’t revolutionize the RPG formula, but Bug Fables shows that you don’t need an Italian plumber to have fun playing with pa

That being said, it’s a necessary change for a modern title. Ideally, there will be a balance between the old system and the creation of the new one, though, with no Adventure game Release date confirmed so far, it’s difficult to say what exactly that will look like. Fans may get a decent idea if the game is announced at Xbox’s July event, though they’ll just have to wait and find

Originally a PlayStation 5 exclusive, Ghostwire: Tokyo is also available on PC and Xbox Series X/S. The visually striking title takes advantage of the more advanced hardware and helps the neon-drenched city of Tokyo come to life in a way that rivals the Yakuza ga

Watchdogs 2 is an open-world action game set in California. It centers on a hacktivist group, Dedsec as they take on corruption and the gangs that dominate the streets. It plays similarly to a modern-day Assassin’s Creed game with GTA eleme