Have you played the Dishonored games?
I didn’t list them above but both Dishonored 1 & 2 are great games and IMO are the closest in gameplay to “immersive sim”-games like Deus Ex.
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I forgot about Dishonored; thanks for mentioning it!
I tried the first one and it didn’t click with me at the time, but that was a while ago.
Hmm, Dishonored 1 currently matches its all time lowest price for PS4, and likewise for a Prey + Dishonored 2 bundle.
I think I’ll be making a purchase. 
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I haven’t had time to play any games for a few months now sadly, but the last game I played was Frostpunk.
It’s a city builder survival/resource management game where you’re responsible for running the last city on earth, which happens to be entirely frozen over.
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I played the beginning of the first one, but didn’t get into it at the time. Maybe I’ll try it again.
There was a discussion about Deus Ex style games yesterday on HN.
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Today I stumbled upon a Factorio-inspired game called shapez.io.
The game is also open source:
Click for the game's description, taken from Steam.
shapez.io is a game about building factories to automate the creation and processing of increasingly complex shapes across an infinitely expanding map.
Upon delivering the requested shapes you’ll progress within the game and unlock upgrades to speed up your factory.
As the demand for shapes increases, you’ll have to scale up your factory to meet the demand - Don’t forget about resources though, you’ll have to expand across the infinite map !
Soon you’ll have to mix colors and paint your shapes with them - Combine red, green and blue color resources to produce different colors and paint shapes with them to satisfy the demand.
This game features 18 progressive levels (Which should already keep you busy for hours!) but I’m constantly adding new content - There’s a lot planned!
Purchasing the game gives you access to the standalone version which has additional features, and you’ll also receive access to newly developed features.
I haven’t played much yet but, compared to Factorio, the focus seems to be more on manipulating materials on the belt and less about financing construction assets. In fact, tools like extractors, belts, balancers, etc. appear to be free and unlimited.
I’m looking forward to playing more but, as always, where will I find the time? 
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Mindustry looks intriguing, too! 
To be honest, I’ve been disabling the biters in Factorio because I did’t want the added tension, so I’m a little concerned that Mindustry might have that same factor.
However, if the gameplay is really tuned for defending against incoming waves then, who knows, it might become a new favorite. 
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The enemy waves in Mindustry aren’t a side thing like biters in Factorio (though I play death worlds in factorio, lol), rather Mindustry is a tower defense game with factorio-like resource management too, the enemies are the very purpose of the game so that is what it is tuned for. 
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So, I’ve recently finished The Last of Us 2 (no worries, won’t spoiler anything) and I personally all around liked it. I must admit that I felt the game dragged a bit at the end; I think I would have enjoyed it more if they kept the story but made the gameplay sections tighter and shorter.
Also I really must applaud that Naughty Dog had the guts to try something different in terms of storytelling. It’s not every day that a AAA studio makes the decision to tell their story, even if that means making some people angry, as you could clearly see with the metacritic shitstorm after release.
On the other hand I think the game has some tonal issues but I can’t go into that without spoiling the crap out of it.
Are people interested in a spoiler thread about the game? I would love to have a chat with whoever finished it. 
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Go for it! Just perhaps add in the opening post that it is for people who have completed the game so will contain spoilers 
(I will have to stay out of it myself as I haven’t played it yet!)
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- Nier:Automata on PlayStation 4. The most philosophical game.
- Assassin’s Creed - Odyssey, on PlayStation 4. Socrates is really annoying, but I like this guy.
- Metal Gear Solid V - The Phantom Pain, on PlayStation 4
- The Elder Scroll V - Skyrim, on PlayStation 4
- Bayonetta 1 and 2, on Nintendo Switch
- Octopath Traveler, on Nintendo Switch
- 逆転裁判 1 ~ 3 (sorry for not knowing the English title) on Nintendo Switch
- Civilization 5 and 6 on Mac
- Armored Core 4 and for Answer, on PlayStation 3. I really really really wish that FROMSOFT could revive this franchise.
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Looks like this is the Ace Attorney trilogy.
I’ve never played any of the titles, but perhaps I should because creator Shu Takumi has directed two of my favorite Capcom titles: Dino Crisis 2 and the fantastic Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective.
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Yes, 逆転裁判 is Ace Attorney (according to the logo). The series is extremely thrilling but some of the contents require a sense of Japanese humor to understand, so I doubt if they can be translated into English. For example, the surname of the main protagonist “成歩堂” pronounces “naruhodou” and is very close to the word “成る程” (means “so that’s it”). I don’t get the reason why his name becomes “Phoenix” in English.
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Phoenix’s surname is Wright, so the localization team was able to adapt some of the Naruhodou / “so that’s it” jokes into “Wright” versus “right” (as in “correct”).
And according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Wright:
Conception and creation
The idea of a lawyer was conceived when director Shū Takumi was searching for ideas for a game in which the player could discover lies or contradictions in statements.[12]
Wright’s Japanese given name, Ryūichi, alludes to the mythical dragon with its use of ryu (竜).[13] His Japanese surname, Naruhodō, references the Japanese expression naruhodo (なるほど), which equates to the English “I see”. This phrase is often used in Japan to express attentiveness to the subject at hand. Takumi chose the phrase to highlight Wright’s inexperience; even though his name reads “I see”, he may not in fact understand what is happening, something which may also be true of people using the phrase. It is also commonly used in mystery novels when investigating, a core gameplay concept of the series.[14][15]
In English versions, Wright’s name was localized to present a similar meaning to English-speaking audiences. His first name is also a mythical reference: to the phoenix, known for “rising from the ashes”, an allusion to his almost impossible comebacks, or “turnabouts”, during trials. This is referenced in the first game, in which the fifth case is titled “Rise from the Ashes”. His surname is a pun, allowing for wordplay (such as “Right, Wright?” and “Phoenix Wrong”).[14] Early brainstorming suggestions for Phoenix’s name included “Cole” and “Wilton”, but “Phoenix” was chosen as a name that would “stand out”.
And here are a few articles discussing the Western localization of Ace Attorney that I found interesting:
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Naruhodo 
I’ll try the English version when I have time. By the way, my Japanese is better than my English, so it’ll be a good chance to practice my English reading.
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I played a little XCOM recently and it’s pretty good. It has been on sale a couple of times over at Humble Bundle [1 and 2] for about USD $10-15.
It’s a turn-based strategy game, something like tabletop wargaming. You’re the commander of XCOM — an organization that defends Earth against an alien invasion. I like it because it’s held together by a good story.
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I think it should be noted here that you mean XCOM 2 
There’s also a difference between XCOM and X-COM, because the publishers thought that was a good idea. Also also, the first game in the series isn’t even called XCOM, but “UFO: Enemy Unknown” (there’s also an “XCOM: Enemy Unknown”)
Also also also, if you want a more quirky XCOM feel, there’s the Nintendo Switch game “Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle” which is a mix of the Mario characters and universe with the Rabbids from Rayman all set in a XCOM-style game. It’s great fun. 
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It has a lot of confusing names.
I think X-COM: UFO Defense is the North American name of what was also called UFO: Enemy Unknown. It’s from the 1990s and is still sold as “X-COM Legacy”. I haven’t tried it, but I’ve heard that it’s great.
The ones I’m referring to are XCOM: Enemy Within and XCOM 2. (I might have linked to the wrong URL above, but I’ll update it after I post this.)
(Even more confusing is that XCOM: Enemy Unknown is the name of the reboot, and XCOM: Enemy Within is an expansion on top of that one — same game but with more stuff. My link says XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but Enemy Within is included.)
Then there are some free mods like The Long War which adds another 150 hours of missions on top of the XCOM: Enemy Within game. I’d recommend XCOM: Enemy Within first, then try Long War (free expansion) and XCOM 2.
I posted a video of XCOM 2 because it has good trailers.
Edit: it won’t let me edit my earlier post, but the correct links are in this post.
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Lately (well, more than just lately), life’s been too busy for getting into anything more involved than a few rounds of Slitherlink on my phone or some fencing in Wii Sports Resort with my wife.
I’ve been squeezing in a few hunts in Monster Hunter Rise, though, and I’m happy to see some of the biomes from Monster Hunter Tri making a comeback.
And some day I’ll find the time to give Factorio 1.x a spin.
Yet another game languishing in my backlog but I’m looking forward to some whimsical tactics. Glad to hear I made a good purchase.
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