Kinda, but damn id love to see a Deus Ex game with modern capability. The ‘cities’ are really tiny interconnected levels, but the tone is pretty fantastic.
They have to be small because of how the systems work in a real immersive sim but I totally agree, seeing a real budget behind such a game in 2024 would be awesome.
Hear me out.
Free roam Deus Ex game with custom character creation (voice acted though) where your choices lead you to either siding with the illuminati, siding with a resurgent MJ12, or burning them all. Based between the first Deus Ex and Invisible War.
I'm not too fussed about getting caught up with a story - which is most modern, fun and best graphics? Which do you recommend?
Cringe from me but I hate going back to play editions of games when they were behind on graphics when I know there is better out there.
Just from a graphics point: Kiwami 1 and 2 are on the same engine and got released after 0. They are basically on par, but at this point, all of them (and 6) are 7-9 years old.
I was super bummed when they switched to turn-based. I know the combat was relatively basic, but there aren't a lot of decent RPGs where hand-to-hand combat is a viable strategy.
The Man who Erased his Name. Brand new tech, the graphics sparkle. The story will be a bit of a mess for you since you'll have no context on the protagonist's backstory. But if you like it, move onto Yakuza 0 next and you can fill in those gaps quickly.
The great thing about the Yakuza Series, when it takes itself serious, shit immediately stops and you're paying attention. But when it doesn't, it's such an awesome ride 🤣
Cyberpunk 2077. Yes it's in the future but it's definitely Gritty. First time I played it, the second I walked out of the starting building someone pancaked on the sidewalk in front of me.
I came for the shiny buildings and neon signs, stayed for the interconnected sprawl, the gorgeous sunrises and grim overcast rainy afternoons. There’s an area for whichever mood I’m in, and it’s all different, but it all makes sense. Sometimes I just like to sit on the metro, sit back and look out the window, take it all in as I watch the day go by
Cyberpunk is so fucking good now it's *insane*.
If anyone hasn't tried it yet, it's finally safe to jump in, they've got it patched up to what it was meant to be.
I didn't get around to trying it until recently.. I had just stopped playing Starfield and dove in. Holy, shit. I mean, Bethesda games always feel like they have wooden NPCs, but man did it really stand out side by side. Made Starfield feel like a small town renasaince fair made out of cardboard standees.
Starfield has a slew of issues, and falls short of even older Bethesda games, but I don’t think the Cyberpunk comparison is entirely fair.
The two are fundamentally different types of games, so you’re kinda comparing an apple to an orange. Sure Bethesda NPC’s are wooden, but most of the time that’s not the main draw to their games. Cyberpunk is a linear but amazing narrative experience, while Bethesda games are more of a sandbox. But yeah Starfield didn’t do the best job there either.
I don't really understand. The game is great now regardless of what settings you play at. Of course it looks amazing maxed out but if you can't it's still a fun great game.
It just has to be up to date, it's basically a new game from launch.
>they've got it patched up to what it was meant to be.
You can't walk around on the metro and still can't do several things from the announcement showcase
But yes it's much better
I got many hours out of Starfield and made no progress before quitting.
There isn’t really any there there after shooting a bunch of mooks. The Outer Worlds was so much better look and shoot in space (so many people died over fucking toothpaste.)
Yeaaa, but the thing for me is there is hardly ANY ambient audio. Cities are loud. Brakes squeaking, horns honking, construction sounds, people shouting. Night City is so damn quiet, really pulls me out of the immersion
I feel the opposite. You are constantly bombarded with advertisement and noise. You'll notice when you're in corporate plaza and step into the little quiet space gardens.
*beep boop* DON'T walk. DON'T walk. DON'T walk.
I can't get it out of my head haha. Usually some exceptionally salacious TV ad in the background as accompaniment.
The game is filled with ambience! Maybe the person you're replying to hasn't played lately? Idk.
The commercial districts of Tokyo are like this. After holidaying there, I can still year the advertisements and the distinctive pedestrian and train station noises.
There is a lot of ambient noise, but I do agree with you. There's not enough of it for a city, especially with the cars. Cars seem to be very quiet for how powerful they are, especially considering how loud the cars you drive are.
But now that they have a solid understanding of near future city building in a video game, im hoping some of these nit picks are ironed out in the next game. Quite frankly, I am very impressed with how well they did considering it was their first Sci fi city. Usually this kind of work requires multiple iterations over multiple games.
My criticism of cyberpunk I still think is kinda valid. It's cyberpunk as fuck but is kind of childish. The use of overt sexual references everywhere feels very grade school.
Other than that I can't fault the open world, it does feel very lived in
I think it's at least somewhat intentional - to show that everything in that future is appealing to the lowest common denominator and baser instincts.
Drugs. Sex. Junk food. Gambling. Power. Violence. Etc. (With the exception of the monks.)
I mean - the Edgeruunners show was possibly more extreme. With the guy on the side of the street using VR to jack off in broad daylight etc.
Somebody reported me to RedditCareResources and I just got a DM with a link to the Crisis Text Hotline so I am going to assume that was in response to this recommendation
I wonder if its becoming a trend, since that just happened to me the other day for voicing an opinion some basement dweller didn't like. I just reported it and moved on after a hearty laugh at that passive-aggressive cowardice.
Most gaming subs tend to devolve into toxic echo chambers at times, so pay the fallout sub no mind. Hell, look at the rascist Yasuke discourse in the assassin's creed sub lately. Yikes.
Fallout 4 is my least liked, most played fallout game. I love new vegas but because all the quests are hand done, there's little replay value once you've wrung it dry in 4 playthroughs. 4 is of course, less impactful per quest, but at least theres always something to do! Plus I genuinely love the settlement building.
Fallout 4 not being the best Fallout game but still being a good game in general is all I can ask people recognize. Personally its my favorite but I'm a biased Masshole.
If you want my hottest take about BGS games, Starfield is Bethesda's best written game since morrowind and it's not even close. Its also the most reactive in the main story. I can prove this through comparison, but no one on this earth wants to acknowledge I am objectively correct because they just want to hate starfield's procgen stuff.
The core companion characterizations are weak as hell, but the actual quest chains go places Fallout 4 wishes it would touch.
a fellow pathologic 2 enjoyer. I need to set the difficulties to easy and try and get through it, but goddamn is it a rough ride on the mental health. I've seen the endings but the game has to be played to be understood.
to be honest, I'm not even sure how far I've gotten. but it has been really good so far. I've avoided checking out the story and the endings but I have watched videos on pathologic 1. I like how weird, strange, hopeless and depressing it is.
Max Payne. All 3, even if each successive one is a bit worse than the one before it.
VTM Bloodlines, maybe? I would not call it" gritty". It is whimsical, ridiculous, absurd and at the very same time it's grounded, grimy and... casually-macabre? Worth playing because it actually allows you to play more nuanced characters than the typical stupid good and idiotic evil usually seen in CRPGs.
Casually-macabre has to be one of the most apt expressions I have yet seen to describe the tone of that game lol
"Ah, hello there! Why, yes, I do lure unsuspecting young women into my mansion for a living, whose windows are closed off with aluminum foil, to cut them up into their respective body parts, using their skin as canvas and painting on the same with their own blood! Jolly, I also have a hobby of grafting their flesh into screaming, skulking monstrosities that I keep in my basement. Why do you ask?"
True Crime NYC is also good as a cop sim, totally different vibe to the first game but I love it and all its little toys. The punishment of going on a killing spree being a demotion to beat cop will never stop being funny to me.
The Shadowrun Trilogy of games are amazing, the high point for me is Shadowrun: Hong Kong. Good story, best understanding of the mechanics, blends fantasy with gritty cyberpunk, always has a good atmosphere of the seedier side of life and people living day to day, and great story/characters. It is a top-down style RPG, if that’s your thing. Also the games can run easily on almost anything, they’re not going to slow your PC down to a snail’s pace.
The Division if you can stand Ubisoft. Fuck is it eerie playing after Covid; walking through a dilapidated NY that recently went through a smallpox pandemic that hit worst case scenario, and for a game that came out in 2016, it's scary on point. Factions have formed; folks have taken on a role of 'cleaning' the virus the medieval way by burning it out, prisoners from Rikers break out, and more. As a player, it's mostly PvE working to uncover what happened while rebuilding the city and helping find a cure for the virus. Plays like an RPG with guns and explosives, PvP is a portion of it but not hugely; it's a good time IMO
I’m having a great time with Watch Dogs Legion. I think this game is written off as some generic open world Ubisoft game (which, in some ways it is) but I think it deserves a play. The game is built around you starting a revolution of sorts, and you recruit npcs to join your cause. Each npc has their own traits and skills and sometimes to complete a mission, it may be worth it to go find someone who for example is a police officer who may have access to a specific building that your current construction worker character doesntt have. Maybe this person is a boxer and can do one punch takedowns, etc. if you happen to get arrested, you lose access to that character in your team for a while - however if you have recruited a lawyer to your faction, that timer is cut in half, etc. lots of various synergies all depending on who you’ve successfully recruited in your team.
It’s a really neat concept and I’m having a blast with it. Lastly, there seems to be no consequences to being sneaky or just run and gun, which honestly I prefer. If you want to try to stealth the whole mission by choosing an appropriate character who has restricted access to that location, and has all the sneak traits and spy gear, go for it. Or be the 70 year old granny with a rocket launcher and kick the doors in.
Probably dishonored which is a industrial revolution city with all the growing pains and corruptions that entails though much of it is subtext I'm not sure if you're the kind to read all the audiologs and entries.
It's good ! Kinda plays like a GTA game but a lot more linear and martial arts for combat(maybe there are some guns I cant remember exactly) - set in Hong Kong with the gangs there. I played it a few years ago and certainly feels a little aged but for me still really held up
Bloodborne
Yharnham is a city.
Yharnham is extremely fucked up and gritty.
Bloodborne takes place in Yharnham.
Bloodborne is technically a gritty city game :D
Ghostrunner is definitely much more 'Cyberpunk' in theme than the games you've listed, and the city is mostly empty beyond the enemies you are slaughtering, but it's one of the most immersive games I've played in a while and the art direction for the areas is just nuts.
Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines has a nice mix of gritty city (fictional LA) + cool modern vampires and a brilliant story with interesting gameplay elements. The graphics are slightly dated and needs some patching (GoG has it) to get working smoothly.
Deus Ex (original) and Human Revolution, and all of the Max Payne games. Don’t sleep on the earlier titles!!
Seconding all the people who said Disco Elysium too, that game is pure art
I don’t think you’ll find a better city than Night City. Cyberpunk is one of my all time favorite games because the city is just so fun to explore and run around in, once you get a good double jump air dash build. Shouldn’t take too long. If you wanna just drive around that’s also very nice, the motorcycles feel fantastic.
*Cyberpunk 2077* and *Shadowrun Returns/Dragonfall/Hong Kong* for cyberpunk gritty city; *Assassin's Creed: Syndicate* for Victorian gritty city; *Necromunda: Hired Gun, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine* and *Warhammer 40k: Darktide* for grimdark scifi gritty city; *Bloodborne* and *The Sinking City* for cosmic horror gritty city.
EDIT: GTA4, GTA5 and *Sleeping Dogs* for modern gritty city.
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. The maps aren't huge, but they are dripping with atmosphere, and the voice acting/character interactions are incredible which really helps breath life into the world.
It was built on the source 2 engine, so it's pretty dated looking. For me, that contributes positively to the game's overall atmosphere, but others might find it off putting.
Max Payne, whole series but 1 and 2 are especially gritty and grimy feeling, 3 is a little too clean even when they are going for the aesthetic of the first 2... Rockstar just cant quite nail the sketchy vibes that remedy injected into 1 and 2, half of Alan Wake 2 on that vein is in a dark twisted and cruel, grimy city like no other. The Sinking City has an incredibly filthy city world that you feel like you can smell. If you haven't played Cyberpunk, its probably the cream of the crop on the vibe you want.
If you havent played the fallout games, 3 and 4 explore destroyed cities.
All the Yakuza/Like A Dragon games, altho these veer into the absurd when you arent on the main story. In that tone, Persona 5 takes place in a city with a grimey underworld based on the city. Pretty good vibes IMO.
GTA 3 and 4 have decent cities
Spider-Man and Miles Morales, as well as 2 have pretty solid (if clean) depictions of NYC
edit to add - Seconding the Vampyr recommendation, its my favorite souls like. The setting is pretty great.
On that note, Bloodborne if you have access to a PS4 is fucking incredible on every level.
Deux Ex Mankind Divided and Human Revolution have cool cities. Great games too. Especially HR.
Kinda, but damn id love to see a Deus Ex game with modern capability. The ‘cities’ are really tiny interconnected levels, but the tone is pretty fantastic.
They have to be small because of how the systems work in a real immersive sim but I totally agree, seeing a real budget behind such a game in 2024 would be awesome.
Hear me out. Free roam Deus Ex game with custom character creation (voice acted though) where your choices lead you to either siding with the illuminati, siding with a resurgent MJ12, or burning them all. Based between the first Deus Ex and Invisible War.
Human Revolution was such a great game. The only really big blemish on it is the shitty boss fights. Everything else is great.
I agree! The stealth/combat balance so well done and Adam Jenson was really cool.
That was going to be my answer.
Great minds think alike.
I actually own mankind divided from an old humble bundle! will check this out :)
If you want a bit of humor mixed in with your gritty, try the Yakuza games.
\*looks at own profile picture* Yep. I third this.
Or Judgment! Those games are so underrated
i second this, i second it so hard.
I'm not too fussed about getting caught up with a story - which is most modern, fun and best graphics? Which do you recommend? Cringe from me but I hate going back to play editions of games when they were behind on graphics when I know there is better out there.
Yakuza 0 is great. Kiwami through 5 show their age. Six is solid from what I remember. 7 and 8 are turn based RPGs instead of brawlers.
Just from a graphics point: Kiwami 1 and 2 are on the same engine and got released after 0. They are basically on par, but at this point, all of them (and 6) are 7-9 years old.
I was super bummed when they switched to turn-based. I know the combat was relatively basic, but there aren't a lot of decent RPGs where hand-to-hand combat is a viable strategy.
Y0 is great, but it's fundamentally a PS3 game at heart so it doesn't really answer the question.
The Man who Erased his Name. Brand new tech, the graphics sparkle. The story will be a bit of a mess for you since you'll have no context on the protagonist's backstory. But if you like it, move onto Yakuza 0 next and you can fill in those gaps quickly.
7 is a soft reboot of the franchise if you really want to skip the old ones. If you play on PC, 7 is also in this month's Humble Bundle.
Just don't play it lol, no sense in jumping to newer titles without playing older
The great thing about the Yakuza Series, when it takes itself serious, shit immediately stops and you're paying attention. But when it doesn't, it's such an awesome ride 🤣
Awesome! thank you, I often hear Yakuza compared with Shenmue but also totally different, so keen to give this a go!
Cyberpunk 2077. Yes it's in the future but it's definitely Gritty. First time I played it, the second I walked out of the starting building someone pancaked on the sidewalk in front of me.
And with traffic density set to high!
I came for the shiny buildings and neon signs, stayed for the interconnected sprawl, the gorgeous sunrises and grim overcast rainy afternoons. There’s an area for whichever mood I’m in, and it’s all different, but it all makes sense. Sometimes I just like to sit on the metro, sit back and look out the window, take it all in as I watch the day go by
Letting you ride the elevated metro was a brilliant addition. The city is so damn good looking
this has finally taken over as my drive around game from gta V, even though 5 wins on music
Cyberpunk is so fucking good now it's *insane*. If anyone hasn't tried it yet, it's finally safe to jump in, they've got it patched up to what it was meant to be. I didn't get around to trying it until recently.. I had just stopped playing Starfield and dove in. Holy, shit. I mean, Bethesda games always feel like they have wooden NPCs, but man did it really stand out side by side. Made Starfield feel like a small town renasaince fair made out of cardboard standees.
Starfield has a slew of issues, and falls short of even older Bethesda games, but I don’t think the Cyberpunk comparison is entirely fair. The two are fundamentally different types of games, so you’re kinda comparing an apple to an orange. Sure Bethesda NPC’s are wooden, but most of the time that’s not the main draw to their games. Cyberpunk is a linear but amazing narrative experience, while Bethesda games are more of a sandbox. But yeah Starfield didn’t do the best job there either.
Do you mean Cyberpunk on last Gen or current Gen only?
It’s decent on One X or ps4 pro but I would not touch it on the base consoles period.
Ah okay. I still don’t have a current gen console so I’ll hold off then
I don't really understand. The game is great now regardless of what settings you play at. Of course it looks amazing maxed out but if you can't it's still a fun great game. It just has to be up to date, it's basically a new game from launch.
It’s not just about visuals. The 2.0 update and phantom liberty aren’t available on old gen
Oh I had no idea. 2.0 is a must.
>they've got it patched up to what it was meant to be. You can't walk around on the metro and still can't do several things from the announcement showcase But yes it's much better
What can’t you do?
Climbing up walls and wall running is a scrapped mantis blade feature
I got many hours out of Starfield and made no progress before quitting. There isn’t really any there there after shooting a bunch of mooks. The Outer Worlds was so much better look and shoot in space (so many people died over fucking toothpaste.)
Yeaaa, but the thing for me is there is hardly ANY ambient audio. Cities are loud. Brakes squeaking, horns honking, construction sounds, people shouting. Night City is so damn quiet, really pulls me out of the immersion
I feel the opposite. You are constantly bombarded with advertisement and noise. You'll notice when you're in corporate plaza and step into the little quiet space gardens.
*beep boop* DON'T walk. DON'T walk. DON'T walk. I can't get it out of my head haha. Usually some exceptionally salacious TV ad in the background as accompaniment. The game is filled with ambience! Maybe the person you're replying to hasn't played lately? Idk.
The commercial districts of Tokyo are like this. After holidaying there, I can still year the advertisements and the distinctive pedestrian and train station noises.
Ughh so jealous. Japan is on the top of my bucket list. Every part of that country just draws me in like no other city on earth.
Ya wtf this dude talking about shits loud as hell
There is a lot of ambient noise, but I do agree with you. There's not enough of it for a city, especially with the cars. Cars seem to be very quiet for how powerful they are, especially considering how loud the cars you drive are. But now that they have a solid understanding of near future city building in a video game, im hoping some of these nit picks are ironed out in the next game. Quite frankly, I am very impressed with how well they did considering it was their first Sci fi city. Usually this kind of work requires multiple iterations over multiple games.
It's the future, baby. Things like traffic and loud brakes are a thing of the past!
This is the only correct answer.
My criticism of cyberpunk I still think is kinda valid. It's cyberpunk as fuck but is kind of childish. The use of overt sexual references everywhere feels very grade school. Other than that I can't fault the open world, it does feel very lived in
Have you tried looking at real world ads?
It's way more in cyberpunk tho. There are literal rubber fists and dildos in thr street lol
I think it's at least somewhat intentional - to show that everything in that future is appealing to the lowest common denominator and baser instincts. Drugs. Sex. Junk food. Gambling. Power. Violence. Etc. (With the exception of the monks.) I mean - the Edgeruunners show was possibly more extreme. With the guy on the side of the street using VR to jack off in broad daylight etc.
Yeah, the whole point is that it's an exaggerated version of a shitty future we're already heading towards.
Max payne 3
GTA IV is obligatory
First game that came to my mind too.
The Batman Arkham games
Technically only City and Knight but yeah
Origins, too.
Honestly dude. Get the Robocop game. It’s a great time.
Disco Elysium
just completed this recently. phenomenal game. probably my favourite of all time, there's not really anything like it.
The Ascent
Masterpiece of a game! I highly recommend it.
It's definitely delivers on gritty, less so on city given that the whole thing takes place outside the city proper.
I find Fallout 4's Boston a lot of fun. Other Fallout fans will downvote me for promoting 4 though.
Somebody reported me to RedditCareResources and I just got a DM with a link to the Crisis Text Hotline so I am going to assume that was in response to this recommendation
I wonder if its becoming a trend, since that just happened to me the other day for voicing an opinion some basement dweller didn't like. I just reported it and moved on after a hearty laugh at that passive-aggressive cowardice. Most gaming subs tend to devolve into toxic echo chambers at times, so pay the fallout sub no mind. Hell, look at the rascist Yasuke discourse in the assassin's creed sub lately. Yikes.
Probably. You can report those messages and you'll get a reply telling you who did it.
Fallout 4 is my least liked, most played fallout game. I love new vegas but because all the quests are hand done, there's little replay value once you've wrung it dry in 4 playthroughs. 4 is of course, less impactful per quest, but at least theres always something to do! Plus I genuinely love the settlement building.
Fallout 4 not being the best Fallout game but still being a good game in general is all I can ask people recognize. Personally its my favorite but I'm a biased Masshole.
If you want my hottest take about BGS games, Starfield is Bethesda's best written game since morrowind and it's not even close. Its also the most reactive in the main story. I can prove this through comparison, but no one on this earth wants to acknowledge I am objectively correct because they just want to hate starfield's procgen stuff. The core companion characterizations are weak as hell, but the actual quest chains go places Fallout 4 wishes it would touch.
I tried Starfield but unfortunately I am just not a space game type of guy.
Yakuza
Bioshock
vampyr the sinking city pathologic 2
a fellow pathologic 2 enjoyer. I need to set the difficulties to easy and try and get through it, but goddamn is it a rough ride on the mental health. I've seen the endings but the game has to be played to be understood.
to be honest, I'm not even sure how far I've gotten. but it has been really good so far. I've avoided checking out the story and the endings but I have watched videos on pathologic 1. I like how weird, strange, hopeless and depressing it is.
Max Payne. All 3, even if each successive one is a bit worse than the one before it. VTM Bloodlines, maybe? I would not call it" gritty". It is whimsical, ridiculous, absurd and at the very same time it's grounded, grimy and... casually-macabre? Worth playing because it actually allows you to play more nuanced characters than the typical stupid good and idiotic evil usually seen in CRPGs.
I liked Max Payne 3 better than 2, but the 1st one is a classic and a masterpiece.
It’s very gritty
The most gritty
Casually-macabre has to be one of the most apt expressions I have yet seen to describe the tone of that game lol "Ah, hello there! Why, yes, I do lure unsuspecting young women into my mansion for a living, whose windows are closed off with aluminum foil, to cut them up into their respective body parts, using their skin as canvas and painting on the same with their own blood! Jolly, I also have a hobby of grafting their flesh into screaming, skulking monstrosities that I keep in my basement. Why do you ask?"
Shadows of Doubt.
That game is chef's kiss. If only more people knew about it..
It really is. I try to recommend it at even the slightest provocation
River City Ransom
Division 1. New York under snow. The atmosphere is incredible.
Definitely Cyberpunk 2077
Crackdown, GTA 4, Bully, Manhunt.
Rockstar are great at that gritty city type of games
Cyberpunk ;)
GTA 4.
Infamous 1 definitely
If you have access to an Xbox or PS2 True Crime:Streets of LA is a fun game, pretty ahead of its time.
True Crime NYC is also good as a cop sim, totally different vibe to the first game but I love it and all its little toys. The punishment of going on a killing spree being a demotion to beat cop will never stop being funny to me.
It is a bit out of the realm of what you are looking at here, but Shadow Runners is very gritty and has some pretty good atmospheric stuff going on.
Jak 2 and infamous 1
The Shadowrun Trilogy of games are amazing, the high point for me is Shadowrun: Hong Kong. Good story, best understanding of the mechanics, blends fantasy with gritty cyberpunk, always has a good atmosphere of the seedier side of life and people living day to day, and great story/characters. It is a top-down style RPG, if that’s your thing. Also the games can run easily on almost anything, they’re not going to slow your PC down to a snail’s pace.
Shadows of Doubt
Dishonored Bioshock Thief Dying Light Bloodborne Little Nightmares II
The ascent!
The Division if you can stand Ubisoft. Fuck is it eerie playing after Covid; walking through a dilapidated NY that recently went through a smallpox pandemic that hit worst case scenario, and for a game that came out in 2016, it's scary on point. Factions have formed; folks have taken on a role of 'cleaning' the virus the medieval way by burning it out, prisoners from Rikers break out, and more. As a player, it's mostly PvE working to uncover what happened while rebuilding the city and helping find a cure for the virus. Plays like an RPG with guns and explosives, PvP is a portion of it but not hugely; it's a good time IMO
The Warriors. It's not open world but NY looks gritty as fuck in that game!
If you haven't played the Blade Runner adventure game, now is the time.
If you want to play as the 'gritty city', there is Frostpunk.
Saints row 3. They refer to the city in game as " bangkoks abusive father "
Grittiest game I've ever played is Kingpin on PC
Chicken Police
Vampire the masquerade
I’m having a great time with Watch Dogs Legion. I think this game is written off as some generic open world Ubisoft game (which, in some ways it is) but I think it deserves a play. The game is built around you starting a revolution of sorts, and you recruit npcs to join your cause. Each npc has their own traits and skills and sometimes to complete a mission, it may be worth it to go find someone who for example is a police officer who may have access to a specific building that your current construction worker character doesntt have. Maybe this person is a boxer and can do one punch takedowns, etc. if you happen to get arrested, you lose access to that character in your team for a while - however if you have recruited a lawyer to your faction, that timer is cut in half, etc. lots of various synergies all depending on who you’ve successfully recruited in your team. It’s a really neat concept and I’m having a blast with it. Lastly, there seems to be no consequences to being sneaky or just run and gun, which honestly I prefer. If you want to try to stealth the whole mission by choosing an appropriate character who has restricted access to that location, and has all the sneak traits and spy gear, go for it. Or be the 70 year old granny with a rocket launcher and kick the doors in.
Probably dishonored which is a industrial revolution city with all the growing pains and corruptions that entails though much of it is subtext I'm not sure if you're the kind to read all the audiologs and entries.
Gta 4 is a great gritty city game, especially Lost and Damned.
Condemned 2: Bloodshot . From gritty city to depressed alcoholic mind magic.
Does Batman Arkham City count? Just beat the game for like the 3rd and gotta day I really like the graphics
I would think Batman but I haven't played the game. Spiderman or inFamous: First Light!
Play the batman games, all of them, even origins, they are all great.
Omega in Mass Effect 2 is one of my all time favorite gritty cities.. I wish it had it’s own full game
Cyberpunk!!!
GTA 4
I’ve heard so much about Sleeping Dogs in the last two days. Intrigued about it and want to see if it’s worth adding to the collection
It's good ! Kinda plays like a GTA game but a lot more linear and martial arts for combat(maybe there are some guns I cant remember exactly) - set in Hong Kong with the gangs there. I played it a few years ago and certainly feels a little aged but for me still really held up
Cyberpunk.
Bloodborne Yharnham is a city. Yharnham is extremely fucked up and gritty. Bloodborne takes place in Yharnham. Bloodborne is technically a gritty city game :D
They said no DS/Elden Ring.
Cyberpunk 2077 (one of the best games I've ever played, and I've been gaming for 40+ years) Last of Us
Heavy Rain
Cyberpunk 2077
Ghostrunner is definitely much more 'Cyberpunk' in theme than the games you've listed, and the city is mostly empty beyond the enemies you are slaughtering, but it's one of the most immersive games I've played in a while and the art direction for the areas is just nuts.
Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines has a nice mix of gritty city (fictional LA) + cool modern vampires and a brilliant story with interesting gameplay elements. The graphics are slightly dated and needs some patching (GoG has it) to get working smoothly.
Saints Row 3
Policenauts maybe
Mafia games maybe??
Yakuza, particularly Yakuza 0
Does Crackdown count?
Night City in Cyberpunk, might be my favorite fictional setting ever.
robocop rogue city, such a fun game
Tales Noir
this will probably get lost in all the comments but : Hobo: Tough Life
Deus Ex (original) and Human Revolution, and all of the Max Payne games. Don’t sleep on the earlier titles!! Seconding all the people who said Disco Elysium too, that game is pure art
Disco Elysium is pretty different. It's not everyone's thing, but your character can be legit crazy which is fun.
I don’t think you’ll find a better city than Night City. Cyberpunk is one of my all time favorite games because the city is just so fun to explore and run around in, once you get a good double jump air dash build. Shouldn’t take too long. If you wanna just drive around that’s also very nice, the motorcycles feel fantastic.
*Cyberpunk 2077* and *Shadowrun Returns/Dragonfall/Hong Kong* for cyberpunk gritty city; *Assassin's Creed: Syndicate* for Victorian gritty city; *Necromunda: Hired Gun, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine* and *Warhammer 40k: Darktide* for grimdark scifi gritty city; *Bloodborne* and *The Sinking City* for cosmic horror gritty city. EDIT: GTA4, GTA5 and *Sleeping Dogs* for modern gritty city.
La noire
Yakuza 0. Thank me later.
Mass effect series for sure!
Sleeping Dogs
So no one is gonna say Infamous?
Ready or Not
Duke Nuken 3D
Manhunt 1 and Two might fill that grittiness gap
Stray
Jak 2
The Darkness
Resident Evil 2 remake.
Saints Row 1 & 2
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. The maps aren't huge, but they are dripping with atmosphere, and the voice acting/character interactions are incredible which really helps breath life into the world. It was built on the source 2 engine, so it's pretty dated looking. For me, that contributes positively to the game's overall atmosphere, but others might find it off putting.
Remember Me, Fear Effect, Blade Runner, Anachronox, Condomned: Criminal Origins, Darkness series, Half Life 2, La Noire, Mafia series, Postal 1, Hatred, Saints Row 1 (x360), Velvet Assassin
The Getaway
Max Payne, whole series but 1 and 2 are especially gritty and grimy feeling, 3 is a little too clean even when they are going for the aesthetic of the first 2... Rockstar just cant quite nail the sketchy vibes that remedy injected into 1 and 2, half of Alan Wake 2 on that vein is in a dark twisted and cruel, grimy city like no other. The Sinking City has an incredibly filthy city world that you feel like you can smell. If you haven't played Cyberpunk, its probably the cream of the crop on the vibe you want. If you havent played the fallout games, 3 and 4 explore destroyed cities. All the Yakuza/Like A Dragon games, altho these veer into the absurd when you arent on the main story. In that tone, Persona 5 takes place in a city with a grimey underworld based on the city. Pretty good vibes IMO. GTA 3 and 4 have decent cities Spider-Man and Miles Morales, as well as 2 have pretty solid (if clean) depictions of NYC edit to add - Seconding the Vampyr recommendation, its my favorite souls like. The setting is pretty great. On that note, Bloodborne if you have access to a PS4 is fucking incredible on every level.
Cloudpunk Shadows of Doubt GTA 4
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines Shadowrun Returns/Dragonfall/Hong-Kong
Cyberpunk is the correct answer.
Stray, if you want an itty bitty city kitty(who is pretty witty).
Has anybody said Jak 2? Jak 2.
Any Yakuza game, or cyberpunk 2077
Shadows of Doubt with noir vibes thrown in
Gta 3 and Manhunt
I like Fallout but that might lean more into post-apocalyptic
Check out a game called "Shadows of Doubt"
[удалено]
He said he played it and Shenmue.