This article originallyappeared on Kotakuback in early 2015 but it’s as relevant today as it was then.
Remember Me
Paris, the city of lights and memories.
But what about memories that can be shared and erased?
Neo-Paris has a facelift with bright lights, huge corporations, and rebels called Errorists.
Half-Life 2
What does half a life amount to?
In City 17, the Combine is sucking the life out of humanity.
I’m trying to imagine a world run by Jack Nicholson and Kyle McLaughlin.
On the surface, Motavia seems like a paradise.
As it turns out, these aliens are actually human beings from Earth.
Thanks, humanity, for ruining Motavia too!
Deus Ex
Why’s the future have to be so bleak?
Gray Death is decimating the population and only the elite have access to an Ambrosia that counters the effects.
The rich become richer, the poor die, and a machine AI tries to become a god.
Where’s the deus ex machina where everyone is saved and lives happily ever after?
Beyond Good and Evil took that a step further by combining Orwell with Nietzsche.
Nothing like aliens controlling human sock puppets as defenders of the world.
Bioshock
Underwater haven or sky city—pick your poison.
Both have incredible architecture.
Both are miserable to live in.
Charismatic leaders—men of bold vision who have serious family issues—prop both societies up.
Would you kindly forfeit all your freedoms and privacy in exchange for a modicum of happiness?
Shadowrun
Before the Matrix, there was Shadowrun.
Megacorporations and the Computer Crash of 2029 led to the global connection.
The Matrix is the internet’s shadow, and the big corporations need someone to do their dirty work.
Taking out the trash is hard, even in digital form.
Transistor
When we meet Red the singer in Cloudbank, her voice is gone.
It’s not just her voice that’s taken, but her lover too.
Individuality and independent thoughts, it seems, are lost in this world.
The people’s freedoms are masked by the glowing green pulses of a technologically-created, sterile world.
Then there’s “The Farm” that is located just outside Cloudbank.
What’s real and what’s not?
We’re still trying to put those pieces of the puzzle together.
Enslaved’s vision of New York, on the other hand, was littered with beauty amongst the decay.
It was a sombering experience, vacant of human life and dominated by vicious machines hunters.
Or go forward, enduring excruciating hardships as an exchange for free will?
It takes quite an adventure to restore peace but history proves time and again that happiness is fleeting.
Sound Shapes
You know those websites where people muse about song lyric meanings?
A trip to Beck’s “Cities” playable song level in Sound Shapes has us questioning the same.
It’s a terrifying, lonely scenario, albeit a catchy-sounding one.
Though, we could also be overthinking the meanings behind this one.
Why can’t we just leave the androids in peace for trying to be humans?
Then again, hubris is the greatest crime in Greek mythology.
What’s the word for a machine trying to be human?
Siri, did you hear my question?
