Brandinho
deng xiaoping gang
I have Shadowruns Returns and haven't played it. I'll get to it someday
I have Divinity: Original Sin on my watchlist, but I'm waiting for it to get cheaper since I have so many games I haven't played already.
I really liked Pillars of Eternity.
I didn't enjoy Fallout 3 at all, so I don't plan to try Fallout 4. I don't like Oblivion or Skyrim or any of those games. In general, I prefer either action or plot, not world building and exploring. I don't mind doing it for bits at a time, but not like that. I like exploring in a game like Super Metroid or Ori and the Blind Forest. Even the older Final Fantasy games, where you could just fly around the world in a few minutes. But not in these massive worlds.
I haven't played any of the Deus Ex games. Actually, I got the original at some point, but it was well after it had been old. I just couldn't handle how dated it was at the time.
And I certainly don't need to limit to RPGs. I love a good FPS campaign. Bioshock are some of the best games of recent years. I really like good platformers too. I would kill for Capcom to start pumping out classic style Megaman games. Or some new Metroid games, Prime or Super style. Ori is the closest I've played in years, and it was fantastic.
Dishonored is one of the better recent games too. Its connected with the hub area, but could honestly play like an old style level 1, level 2, level 3 setup and be the same game.
IIRC Shadowrun Returns only took me 12.5 hours to beat and that's with a restart that probably padded that out for an hour and a half. It's definitely the shortest of the SR games, which makes it a solid intro. If you end up liking it, the other games are more of the same in terms of what made Returns great, but with a lot more to broaden the experience.
As for Fallout 4, I was going to talk about how much it improved the gameplay over the previous games, but if you fundamentally dislike exploring a large world and you didn't like any of the Bethesda RPGs, you won't like FO4 either.
Yeah, the original Deus Ex is very dated graphically. However, there are some really nice texture packs out there that actually make it presentable. Even so, I'd recommend starting with Human Revolution. Totally different character and plot so if you start there, all you'll miss are references and some little worldbuilding tidbits. Deus Ex is about as pure of an RPG as you'll find, whereas Human Revolution involves a lot more action. You mentioned Dishonored, which isn't all that dissimilar of a game tbh. If you remove magic and take away the assassination angle, the games play out similarly in terms of choosing violence or non-violence and the way you need to navigate big levels filled with lots of neutral and hostile characters. I'd also mention that it's an incredible game if you like noir, especially with a futuristic sheen.
Speaking of Dishonored, I didn't mention it before because I wasn't thinking of that game within the frame of being very recent, but I agree that it's a wonderful game. Dishonored 2 should be out fairly soon and it's looking great too.
As for FPSes, I'll just list a few that I really liked with a brief description.
Metro 2033 + Metro Last Light: probably the most atmospheric game I've ever played, incredible lighting and a great implementation of survival mechanics (ie, you need to change out gas mask filters every so often) and the setting is extremely unique.
Shadow Warrior: incredibly fun, irreverent shooter where you fight all manner of demons. You get a sword, which is both extremely powerful and so satisfying to use you can largely skip guns. Tons of ways you can upgrade your character too with different special abilities and weapon upgrades. Also, moreso than anything, it's super fun. The protagonist constantly makes quips that are genuinely funny and there are a lot of really silly sequences.
Hard Reset: same devs as Shadow Warrior, same tight gameplay mechanics, but different in just about every other way. It's much more bleak and not played for humor and setting is very dystopian, although you're not going to play this for the plot. One key negative I should mention for both games is that the enemies get pretty bullet spongy, especially in Hard Reset. It's not that annoying, but it's worth mentioning.
Call of Juarez Gunslinger: This game really caught me off guard. It's 10x better than I think anybody would have expected. You play as a character narrating a tale of revenge to a kid in a saloon. There are regular gun fights and duels against famous outlaws from the old west. The game packs nearly everything I enjoy into one package. It's incredible colorful - almost cell shaded. The levels are gorgeous (although it's very linear, don't expect to explore much), the gunplay is super tight, it's very humorous and the ending is great. Potentially the best part is that it's very short, I beat it in 5 hours. That's a bit on the short side for my tastes, but not a second in the game is wasted so it's 5 hours of really strong content.
The best part about CoJ: G is that there's a pack out there that frequently goes on sale for around $6 that includes it alongside Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, another very fun FPS. That one took me about 8 hours and I didn't enjoy it quite as much, but it's still very fun. It's too short to really have filler, but it's not as tightly paced as COJ: G, which does make sense as there's no concrete mission structure. You're plopped in a world, you know what you have to do and you go about it in whatever order you want. $6 for those two games is a steal.
Should also mention that everyone I know who enjoys FPSes raved about Doom. Can't vouch for it myself, but it looks like a very good single player experience. Played the multiplayer closed beta back in the day and really didn't enjoy it.
