10 Early Contenders For Game Of The Year 2016

4. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Like the stealth-cloaked Adam Jensen who fronts the newest incarnations of the Deus Ex series, it feels as though Mankind Divided snuck up on all of us unawares. It's not anything of a negative though, as in discovering just how well crafted and thought-out every aspect of this sequel to Human Revolution is, it's rather like falling in love with something like The Witcher 3 all over again.

The world of Deus Ex is rife with heavy-handed parallels to our own. Augmented civilians are labelled outcasts as racial battle lines are drawn, Jensen himself is responsible for saving both the 'Fleshies' and 'Clanks', and you'll do this with a mix of first and third-person combat, stealth infiltration, A.I. experimentation and ability upgrades.

Its story is engaging enough to give you the perfect amount of freedom when exploring side missions alongside the main narrative, whilst also providing the requisite pull to uncover the next cutscene if you do decide to mainline that progression. The real takeaway is your moveset though - Jensen is a Six Million Dollar Man for the modern age, a Swiss Army knife of transforming limbs and weapon parts, producing everything from propulsion cannons to projectile wrist blades, super strength to spring-loaded legs for increased jumping distance.

In the end it taps straight into power fantasy territory as Adam is pretty much a superhero, but in doing so, Mankind Divided highlights the appeal of why mankind would give into mechanical augmentations in the first place.

Clever, no?