Mature Games that are actually Mature

[Thyunda]

Fallout... No. While it did delve into slavery, drugs, and prostitution, there was rarely anything remotely mature about it. Especially Fallout 2 and New Vegas. Both games were excellent, but both games were rather juvenile for the most part.

I'd have to disagree with you there. If you play Boone's story to the very end, you have a real touching moment.

Spoiler

Basically, Boone's wife is kidnapped by Caesar's Legion. He tails the Legion until they set up a little slave market. The Legion are well known for their atrocities toward women, which, by the way, is the reason I will never, ever support them, and Boone had only his rifle to save her. He shot her, to protect her from the torture they'd subject her to.

That little story actually quite got to me. In fact, so did Raul's. I don't know where you got juvenile from, well, some of the characters are infantile...but people are different. Deal with it. Not you personally deal with it. You know what I'm getting at.

 

[Ironman126]

[ I'd have to disagree with you there. If you play Boone's story to the very end, you have a real touching moment.

Spoiler

Basically, Boone's wife is kidnapped by Caesar's Legion. He tails the Legion until they set up a little slave market. The Legion are well known for their atrocities toward women, which, by the way, is the reason I will never, ever support them, and Boone had only his rifle to save her. He shot her, to protect her from the torture they'd subject her to.

That little story actually quite got to me. In fact, so did Raul's. I don't know where you got juvenile from, well, some of the characters are infantile...but people are different. Deal with it. Not you personally deal with it. You know what I'm getting at.

Sure, there are some truly mature parts, but when you walk into New Vegas and then get hired to find a sex-bot, any pretensions of maturity are immediately shot to hell. FISTO, the fact there is a Wild Wasteland trait, and a psycho Nightkin who is in love with a robot. Yes, this is a very mature game. It is as Fallout has always been, a game made to entertain with soft science and hilarity that occasionally, and almost accidentally, hits upon gritty, mature themes. It's Fallout and we love it for that, but to hold this series up as the model of how a mature game should conduct itself is only slightly better than doing the same with Postal or Duke Nukem.

Basically, there is too much wackiness and too little grittiness to get the "Mature, Stuck-up, Adult gamer" stamp of approval. Which is fine by me. It's not meant to be played totally seriously because it can't be. That's all i'm saying.

 

[northeast rower]

Kane and Lynch, both of them.

In the first game:

Spoiler

Kane is broken out of prison, only to be told that he will be murdered in a few days along with his family if he cannot recover two suitcases. He eventually tries to get one back by blackmailing a mob boss by kidnapping the boss's daughter, only to have Lynch shoot her. This forms a really interesting contrast between one side of Kane that wants only to protect his daughter and another that is willing to kidnap another man's child to do so. Eventually, Kane is left sitting in a shallow grave as his wife is shot in front of him. Attempting to protect his daughter, he manages to get out and beat the shooter to death with a shovel, blind with rage. What does he do then? He buries his wife in an unmarked grave. This was one of my favorite turning points in games- probably ahead of that of KOTOR. The game later devolves into a shoot 'em up, but redeems itself at the end, where Kane is left cradling his dying daughter, whispering to her

In the second game:

Spoiler

Lynch is the central figure of the story here- after a few hours of standard shoot 'em up, he finds himself naked and bleeding, rushing through a maze of hallways trying to find the screaming Kane. Upon finding him, he also finds the dead body of his girlfriend, his first lover since his wife, whom he may or may not have killed in a fit of schizophrenia. A few minutes later, after speaking in choked words, he collapses, sobbing, while Kane tries to get him back on his feet.

As a whole, I just found the dynamic between Kane and Lynch hugely fascinating. Kane is stable, but amoral and driven to complete his goals, whatever the cost. Lynch, on the other hand, is completely unstable, but often serves as Kane's moral compass. These games are really the story of two guys who absolutely hate each other but can't function alone.

 

[Ironman126]

For the most part, only RPGs or games that have lots of RPG elements in them (like STALKER) manage to actually make Mature games contain mature content. Especially when compared to Halo, Duke Nukem, or GTA.

What about adventure games? See my above post. And toss in others, like Beneath a Steel Sky. Cripes. Beneath a Steel Sky had a slightly schizophrenic tone in terms of maturity, but when it got mature, IT GOT MATURE.

Blood vessels in the subways, anyone?

Please read my words: "For the most part..." That does not say, "Only RPGs..." Thus it means that RPGs tend to do it more often than other games. That's not to say that there aren't games of other genres that aren't mature, Half_life 2 is a great example of an FPS, it just seems that RPGs are generally more mature.

So, please read EVERYTHING. Lest i go off on a 5,000 word rant about how important the use of the comma is.

And i apologize for sounding like a dick. I get tired of people reading my posts and not reading them fully then missing key information.

 

[allinwonder]

The Witcher.
Planescape: Torment

 

[lacktheknack]

For the most part, only RPGs or games that have lots of RPG elements in them (like STALKER) manage to actually make Mature games contain mature content. Especially when compared to Halo, Duke Nukem, or GTA.

What about adventure games? See my above post. And toss in others, like Beneath a Steel Sky. Cripes. Beneath a Steel Sky had a slightly schizophrenic tone in terms of maturity, but when it got mature, IT GOT MATURE.

Blood vessels in the subways, anyone?

Please read my words: "For the most part..." That does not say, "Only RPGs..." Thus it means that RPGs tend to do it more often than other games. That's not to say that there aren't games of other genres that aren't mature, Half_life 2 is a great example of an FPS, it just seems that RPGs are generally more mature.

So, please read EVERYTHING. Lest i go off on a 5,000 word rant about how important the use of the comma is.

And i apologize for sounding like a dick. I get tired of people reading my posts and not reading them fully then missing key information.

Actually, I did see the word "most". I just felt a massive urge to toss in the ever-neglected Adventure genre.

 

[DevilWolf47]

Silent Hill 2's psychological aspect. Repressed memories, sexual abuse, a peak at the inner workings of the mind of a serial killer...

Another game that is actually "Mature" as opposed to just violent and profane is killer7. True you've got some satire and the "Handsome Men," but the intricate web of conspiracies, murder, and deception are a little too sophisticated for people who still laugh at Dane Cook jokes.

...mind you both of these games are several years old. I can't really think of any recent titles.

 

[Ironman126]

Actually, I did see the word "most". I just felt a massive urge to toss in the ever-neglected Adventure genre.

So then that makes you the dick for being overly argumentative.

Besides, Adventure games are relatively similar to RPGs when you get down to it. I'd even go so far as to say that some are a sub-genre of RPGs, given that you play as a certain character (even if nameless) and you generally have an inventory and/or are required to solve puzzles. Unless i totally have my definition of an Adventure game wrong.

 

[OldGus]

Ok, its a mod, so it doesn't actually have a rating, but I'd say Korsakovia.
Just looking at my game library now, I'd say Army of Two and smack myself. Yeah, there's so much cheese and machismo you'd think its a parody, but if you look at the story, it does at the basic level handle the idea of and provide commentary on the PMC from both sides of the issue, as the "do anything for a dollar" mercenary, and the protector/warriors. It also handles government willingness to hire a PMC rather than better equip the military, and as a strange point, a somewhat realistic look at mercs in a PMC becoming a victim.
That said, there was still a metric ton of machismo, cheese and patriotism.
Ok, what about Thief, specifically Deadly Shadows (Thief 3)? Sure, Garrett doesn't actually do much in the constructive element that would make an amazingly mature game, but it does handle some other elements well. The Pagans represent more of the environmental run, while the Hammerites, though religious fanatics, represent responsible expansion and industrialization. It addresses the good and evils of established order, but ultimately results in power consolidated in the hands of only one responsible individual not holding political power. Last, just seriously take a look again at the Cradle level. Just do it. Everything there is actually historically accurate, and some of the tamer practices are still used today.

 

[Crystalite]

Silent Hill 2's psychological aspect. Repressed memories, sexual abuse, a peak at the inner workings of the mind of a serial killer...

Wait, what? I´m sorry, don´t mean to derail anything, but which character was a serial killer?
(serial killer is not the same as a mass murderer, if you are interpreting Eddie that way.)
What am I missing?

But I would definetly agree about the maturity in Silent Hill 2.
I think that is the most mature game I´ve ever played.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

matture i.e. Encouraging serious thought

So where did you get this defintion of "mature" from? Thin air?

 

[lacktheknack]

Actually, I did see the word "most". I just felt a massive urge to toss in the ever-neglected Adventure genre.

So then that makes you the dick for being overly argumentative.

Besides, Adventure games are relatively similar to RPGs when you get down to it. I'd even go so far as to say that some are a sub-genre of RPGs, given that you play as a certain character (even if nameless) and you generally have an inventory and/or are required to solve puzzles. Unless i totally have my definition of an Adventure game wrong.

1. No... I used your post as a jumping-off point. Not an argument. No one's a dick here (yet).

And sure, if you want to define it that way.

 

[lacktheknack]

matture i.e. Encouraging serious thought

So where did you get this defintion of "mature" from? Thin air?

Why not? It's as good of a definition as any. He's referring to "games that don't rely on blood and breasts and epic badassery to grab the player".

 

[Halo Fanboy]

matture i.e. Encouraging serious thought

So where did you get this defintion of "mature" from? Thin air?

Why not? It's as good of a definition as any. He's referring to "games that don't rely on blood and breasts and epic badassery to grab the player".

Because it's different from any definition of mature that I've ever heard. I'd like to see a dictionary that uses the term in that way at least. If run forrest run wanted to talk about games that encorage thought he could have used that phrase as the topic title rather than make up a new definition for a word.

Yours and his definition don't actually share anything in common btw.

 

[OtherSideofSky]

All the Front Missions that count (i.e. not FM Evolved) starting with three (maybe two, but my Japanese isn't good enough to say for sure) have interesting stories and well written and varied casts of characters. I wouldn't say they really tackle any specific issue per-se, but they deal with war in a manner that it is much more mature than the average game. I don't think any of them are actually rated M, but I figured I might as well make the suggestion.

 

[Ironman126]

1. No... I used your post as a jumping-off point. Not an argument. No one's a dick here (yet).

And sure, if you want to define it that way.

Alright, far enough.

 

[Trolldor]

Silent Hill 2's psychological aspect. Repressed memories, sexual abuse, a peak at the inner workings of the mind of a serial killer...

Another game that is actually "Mature" as opposed to just violent and profane is killer7. True you've got some satire and the "Handsome Men," but the intricate web of conspiracies, murder, and deception are a little too sophisticated for people who still laugh at Dane Cook jokes.

...mind you both of these games are several years old. I can't really think of any recent titles.

Actually, I wouldn't call that mature. Repressed memories are pop-psych, they don't have any substance in real psychology. That makes it a pandering title.

Bioshock , Deus Ex, Baldur's Gate I and II.

Just Cause as well developed satire and parody.

Probably more, but am tired.

 

[brumley53]

Persona 3 and 4, and from what I know the rest of the Shin Megami Tensei series is good at being mature whilst still having a sense of humour.

 

[burgbrand22]

I'm not sure why people see games like Braid and Bioshock as something mature in the sense that it comments on some important social issue. I am not ready to consider video games on that level at all.

These games are great on their own by just being highly entertaining.