You're not nearly as bad as me and Tyrian. :P

I really miss "Buy Sacrifice!" Where's Licurg btw.?

If you have trouble running Mass Effect: Andromeda, I'd advise against Quantum Break, that game is pretty demanding and badly optimized - I can run Andromeda still better than Quantum Break. (Otherwise it would be a good recommendation.)

Since these two haven't been mentioned yet:

If you liked the cover-based team shooter gameplay in Mass Effect, you *might* enjoy Binary Domain. It plays quite similar, although it can be a bit more frustrating at times; I think it's been criticized for controls, companion AI and lack of polish or something, but I didn't have many issues playing through it. IIRC it doesn't have RPG elements though, it's a rather linear third person shooter, but it's story-oriented and I thought the story - while not the greatest - still was interesting enough. It's also a sci-fi setting and treats themes of artificial intelligence, a bit like the Geth parts in ME. And a fun feature is you can shoot specific parts off the robot opponents, make them topple over of they lose a leg etc.

Remember Me has different gameplay (brawler combat, no shooter, with some very simplistic exploration/platforming elements), but it's also a story-heavy game with a cool setting and an interesting (if somewhat flawed) story.

I strongly recommend both, but only if your're open-minded and ready to see past their flaws,and if you can get them at a discount.

Because nothing's as bad as you, or nothing's as bad as Tyrian? I can believe either one. ;)

You're just prejudice against carrot space ships that fire bananas.

If SOLO had something like that it wouldn't have tanked!

"Keeps crashing after the first mission" is more the reason for me...

I don't recall *any* horror in Bioshock Infinite. There were more than a couple creepy things, but nothing I'd call horror. Certainly nothing as powerfully creepy as you got in Bioshock 1&2. Might be a better entry for you, given that preference.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, Saint's Row 4. That's the point where they pulled off the brakes entirely and just decided to let the crazy train run full speed and see what happened.

Not sure why people are recommending games WAY different like Saint's Row. You want another semi-open RPG action game. The Witcher 2 is a great choice, but as you said you want something other than fantasy. I would therefore say your first instinct of Deus Ex: Human Revolution was a great one. It's a marvelous game and while more stealth focused it is a similar kind of game. I'd suggest the original version over the "director's cut" though, as I did not like the changes the DC made.

Alpha Protocol's gameplay is ok, don't let people on in the internet dissuade you from playing it.

EYE: Divine cybermancy if you want something weird

Mars: War logs and Technomancer if you want something less weird.

tinyE brought it up because SR4 included a parody of SR4 (and I think in a way SR3's Gangsters in Space DLC kind of did that, too, already). The games are pretty different from Mass Effect, yeah, but they also have a few common denominators. In the end, it depends on what the OP liked most about Mass Effect.

SR2 is unpolished and buggy on the PC even with the fan patches, and it's still somewhat close to the GTAs in tone, but starting with SR3, it gets completely nuts and over the top, setting itself apart from GTA despite somewhat similar gameplay. I have yet to find a GTA game I like (if you exclude Bully), but I had lots of fun with Saints Row, so don't let that keep you from trying them. You need to be a bit patient though, personally I hated the beginning of SR3, it doesn't represent that well what the game is about, and it only starts to become fun after 30-40 minutes or so.

I wouldn't say SR4 and Gat out of Hell are better than SR3 though. SR4 is only better if you prefer superhero, sci-fi stuff and flying to gangs, gangster parodies and driving cars. Otherwise they're pretty much the same. Gat out of Hell is more like a glorified DLC, it's short and lacks some of the other games' most prominent features, like licensed radio soundtracks and the ability to create your own character.

Which, btw, is what sets the other SR games apart from GTA - that you get to choose how your character talks and looks like, with lots of options including gender, skin colors, body shape, voice etc.

You used Gentlemen of the Row?
That patch fixed virtually everything for me, WHICH WAS A LOT!!!!

I LOVED IT. SR 3 was even better. I haven't played #4 yet because I haven't finished Mass Effect and I guess you need to that to get most of the jokes.

As far as I recall, yes. It still kept crashing on me occasionally though, and since the game doesn't save during missions, I eventually gave up on it. That was with the Steam version though, but when I tried the GOG version to see if they fixed it, it had the same issues so I didn't bother to fully patch it again and give it another try, because I expected the outcome to be the same.

Ugh those incredibad boss fights tho.

DC is a must just for that. And integrating the missing link directly into the game was a good choice.
Not really. They're not game in-jokes, more jokes about concepts like romance options.

Integrating it was a bad choice, because it throws balance off completely. You get a massive dump of upgrades at the end of the game, and the pacing is way off. It works best as its own thing, same as Mankind Divided's DLC. Also the "Director's Cut" removes most of the gold filter which the game was designed around, making it look ugly and weird. Also, on my old PC anyway, the original release runs better.

The added boss fight options are nice (though honestly I never had an issue with the originals, other than feeling out of place in a pacifist run) but it doesn't make up for those issues IMO. I very much recommend the original game.