If you give me the choice between a game that offers me freedom, and the opportunity to shape the story and the direction with my own choices, versus a game that limits my freedom, and insists that I play and behave in a certain way, I’m always going to pick the latter. I like direction. I like vision. Fallout, Grand Theft Auto, and Red Dead Redemption 2 might be some of my favorite games of all time, but if I had to choose a side - if I had to belong to one kind of ‘church’ of videogame structure - then I’d be an acolyte of shorter, more linear, and more organized and governed games where my own agency is sacrificed for greater thematic cohesion. I’ll take the original Metal Gear Solid over Metal Gear Solid 5. The narrow corridors of the first Half-Life are more impactful to me than the gorgeous, wide-open world of No Man’s Sky. Continue reading XCOM 2 is the greatest strategy game I’ve ever played, and this is why MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best strategy games, Best RTS games, Best 4X games