Breaking up is hard to do

Sad Adam Jensen.       Sadam Jensen.

So I've finally finished Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (until the next bit of DLC comes and waves its cybernetic tassels in my face). Overall it was pretty good, and I'm definitely going to play it again at some point. But not for a while. I teach games, so I need to play more games. Otherwise every session will be about Deus Ex, which isn't really in the best interests of the students. I know - I asked.

So now I'm faced with what to play next.

The answer should be obvious. I've got Oxenfree, sitting on the dashboard of the PS4, looking at me with adoring eyes. OK, yes, I told it I loved it. I played it for a while and got all excited about how beautiful it is and how atmospheric, and ooh the soundtrack. And I do want to go back to it.

But, promiscuous tease that I am, I went and downloaded Uncharted 4 the other day, because the PlayStation store had it on sale. So now that's sitting next to Oxenfree, pushing it's manly chest out as if to say "Come on, we both know I'm next."

And Oxenfree is looking a little alarmed, if I'm honest. Yes, it's pretty, and intelligent, and fun to be with. But Uncharted looks so damn exciting. And I'm so very weak.

My biggest fear is that Oxenfree will talk to the other games on the console. Those games that got pushed further down the dashboard as new games came along. Unfinished and unfulfilled.

"Oh yes," spits Invisible Inc. "He told me he loved me too. Until that whore Adam Jensen came along, and suddenly I'm sitting here with a bunch of saved games that he says he's definitely coming back to."

"He never came back to me either," sniffs Soma. Who might be tearful, but might just have a cold because the entire thing is set underwater and makes you feel wet and shivery and hang on I'm remembering now why I stopped playing.

Other games mutter and sulk from their dark corner of the game library. Will I ever finish what I started with Beyond Two Souls? I did get very annoyed with how it kept changing its mind about what mechanics to wear. Then there's a bunch of games who I haven't seen since we had a furious row about an unreasonable difficulty spike. And some who just seemed too high maintenance. Don't present me with a load of rules on the first date and expect a second.

And I'm sorry Ethan Carter. You're beautiful, but you're dull. Yes, you too, Everyone's Gone to the Rapture. I could look at you all day, but I'd be thinking of Metal Gear Solid's excellent stealth mechanics and emergent gameplay.

But no. I'm going to play Oxenfree. It's probably not that long, and it's perfect for Halloween month. Uncharted 4 will wait.

Oh, hang on. I said I'd see Virginia again this week.

And what about Volume? I never called Volume back.

And didn't I just download the remastered Resident Evil the other day?

And Dishonored 2 is out in a bit.

Sigh.

A Burrito For Adam Jensen

I really liked Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It consumed me in a way that few games do, with its exciting world of side quests and mysteries and its cool cyberpunk aesthetic. So I was very, very excited about it's sequel - Mankind Divided.

I bought the game the second it came out and finished it last week. It's been an enjoyable experience, if not quite as absorbing as its predecessor. Storywise it is nowhere near as coherent - I finished the game without being 100% sure exactly how the world was different now I'd killed a bunch of cybernetic bad guys. But I did enjoy killing them. So I suppose that's a success of sorts.

Hacked

My absolute favourite thing to do was to hack security terminals and turn turrets and robots against their own masters. I found this hilarious and did it as often as possible. I don't think the game AI allowed them to respond any differently that they would to a regular attack, but my imagination added a layer of surprise, betrayal and indignation to the faces of the guards as their previously trusted robotic friends started to blast away at them.

So it's been a good experience. But I found the world slightly less involving, for some reason. A lot of work has gone into making future Prague feel real. The NPC dialogue is pretty good and gives a flavour of how it must be to live a normal life in the world that I charge excitedly through. The computers, all of which I hack into, are full of interesting, world building stories.

But there's something missing, and I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's that part of me knows that all these details - all these wine shops and carefully decorated apartments -  are just a pleasing aesthetic veneer over the real stuff of the game. I want to hack door locks, find secret passages, disable security cameras and - crucially - fight guards. That's where the game play is.

No hard feelings

No-one is ever going to ask me if I care about the woman in apartment 23 whose husband got artificial augments against her wishes. It's not really going to feed into the story proper, except at a vague, thematic level. It's not gameplay, so part of me discards it. A sniper rifle, on the other hand, fills me with joy.

I don't always feel like this with games, so I'm not sure what it is.

Today I stood outside a burrito shop, in real life, waiting for it to open. I watched the people passing by. A big guy in a hoodie. Five young lads, probably in college. A bunch of University students. A shuffling guy, likely homeless, searching empty bags on benches. All people with stories and lives and agendas of their own. All of whom would react in different, astonishing ways if I so much as spoke to them.

Meanwhile the inhabitants of future Prague brush me off whenever I click a contextual prompt in an attempt to interact. They say their pre-programmed phrase, and turn away, to stare at the same thing they were staring at before. If I start to throw grenades about, they will cower and cry, but only for a while. Then they'll go back to their staring, motionless lives. I saw one man weeing into a urinal for the entire time I was knocking out guards behind his back. He never stopped, and he never will.

Salsa, cheese and sour cream

I wonder if there can be a game where Adam Jensen can buy a burrito. Where it can be as meaningful as my experience, choosing the salsa, the guacamole, the sour cream - not because it will inflate my health bar, but because I want it for its own sake. Because it's nice. Could a game make me do things for genuine pleasure, rather than through mechanics? There are some that come close, maybe.

I'm going to eat my burrito now. The matter will convert into energy to keep me going. The taste will activate pleasure centres in my brain, raising my mood. I also got another point on my loyalty card when I bought it.

But it's different. Isn't it?