Thady

Could be an 11/10 game, but the abysmal vehicle controls and the lack of a single satisfying ending prevent that. The driving can be improved a bit with mods (try the 'Sunday Driver' mod for the Xbox controller, or 'Immersive Driving' for the keyboard; both on Nexus) – but even then, it's nowhere near Mafia (2002) or GTA IV (2008), not even the gray middle ground of such games, Watch Dogs or the like. With the endings, no mods can help. Including DLC, there are eleven (!) of them – none of them are satisfying, ranging from a kick in the face to an empty, dull feeling in the guts. Imagine a GTA IV with terrible vanilla driving and (despite the rockstar alter ego) meh music, combined with Mass Effect's cinematic presentation and relationship/morality system and a modernized Deus Ex gameplay. Highest standards and ambitions, realized with a 9/10 – respect. Best game of the 20s, so far, maybe together with TLoU II.

It's an 8/10, but I'm giving it a 10 to compensate for the review bombing. The outraged wokism allergists please note that there were already gay romances in Mass Effect and Origins. Yes, these themes may be played on a bit heavily here, but then just deduct a point or two. And yes, it's not Origins, but neither were DA2 and Inquisition. It's a fun, engaging game with dense atmosphere, modern gameplay and cinematic presentation in the Dragon Age universe. For what it is, it's an 8/10. (Origins being a perfect 10/10 -1 for the the less vivid characters, weakened bonds amongst the party and somewhat bipolar moral system, -1 for the less pronounced "classic" role-playing elements, reduced to maybe a Mass Effect level) T.