I got a $20 Steam gift card from my daughter for Christmas, and I'm getting a few games.
Among my choices as possible purchases:
-Grand Theft Auto V
-Dishonored 2
-Watch_Dogs 2
-Saint's Row IV
-Far Cry 4 (and Season Pass)

Obviously the $20 won't cover all of any of those purchases (especially since my cart already has Tales of Symphonia And Garry's Mod in there. But my question is, which of those other purchases would you recommend and why?

This isn't a "Steam vs GOG" thread, so I'd appreciate if you kept your rhetoric to yourself. I'm genuinely interested in reasons for and against each title. Thanks in advance.

GTA or Saints Row

If I was to get a gift from one of my children I would naturally want to spend it in a game that glorifies theft, murder, drug dealing, gang warfare, and prostitution. :P

Saints Row IV: Game of the Century Edition is on sale for $5 on Steam. I'd say get that.

How old is she and what are her general interests? Perhaps that could make a difference in suggestions....

With more than 350 hours spent on GTA5/Online, I would naturally advocate for it. :o) As implied, for the same amount of money, you get both the solo game and the online one. The solo part can be pretty repetitive if she has already previous GTA games as while some missions are interesting, the design of the sandbox aspect of the solo game is quite subpar. For a good sandbox experience, the online is the way to go as over the years they've released many interesting updates. BUT.... the multiplayer experience can suck a lot when playing with random guys/gals because of misbehaviours so the trick is to shut down some internet ports so you can play the online solo without being bothered (or she can play with selected friends as you can make groups). Besides the huge amount content, if she's a bit creative, she'll surely enjoy the "rockstar editor" which let's you record gameplay footages then you can edit it for making movies or take some photo shoots from the angles you want (with filters, etc.):
https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=%23GTAPhotographers&src=tyah
Add to that the possibility to design your own races and deathmatch areas. So with all those possibilities, there are higher chances that she'll get hooked on one aspect of the game. Oh, and in the Online version, you can play as a woman ;)

As a second choice, I would recommend Saints Row 4 because versus the other games,it's the one which offers the most variety and potential fun in its core gameplay.


For Dishonored 2, Watch Dogs 2 and Far Cry 4, I haven't played them but I think they're more an acquired taste and they would depend more on the interest of your daughter in the respective background universes of those games rather than on their gameplay/features.

To be fair most games employ violence...

Well, the only ones on the list I have any opinion on are GTA V and Saints Row IV. Both are awesome games, if you enjoy that sort of thing, as in "open world crime simulators".

For Saints Row IV, I would recommend that you at least play Saints Row III first (if you haven't already), since it carries on directly from that one. Also, be aware that Saints Row IV is quite... silly, for lack of a better word. Apart from the open world urban setting and the mission-based gameplay, it has very little in common with GTA. It's still tremendously fun though.

GTA V is a masterpiece, pure and simple. Additionally, if you have any interest in the online part of the game, you can spend an unbelievable number of hours on it. The singleplayer part of the game is long, well done, and takes acting and storytelling in those kinds of games to new heights. Oh, and for that one, you don't need to have played any of the previous games in the series.

No they don't. There are many many maaany games out there with no violence at all.

No disagreement there. Some of my favorite games are non-violent.

But most of the games i can think of have violence in one way or another, sometimes there's just implied violence. Or maybe that's the most popular games are violent.

I'd need a comparison list of games in categories, before we could really say yay or nay to something this large.

Buy games that have possibility to appear in gog connect.

Seems like fairly decent advice...

Although if it was $30 and not locked to steam, I'd almost suggest the current humble bundle which has like 32 games, some not yet revealed yet. Seems like the best bang for your buck there.

It's a huge, HUGE game with funny characters and a lot of possibilities. The main story itself is pretty meh (but with good missions, so it's still fun), but there are lots of great side stories. Wait for the complete editions which include all DLCs ;) The new Far Cry games... I loved Far Cry 3, but Far Cry 4 and Primal are just more of the same old stuff from Far Cry 3 (yes, Primal looks quite different, but it really is the same). Instead of just playing the story, you'll be busy with visiting all the little symbols on your minimap, hunting and finding other stupid ressources for crafting. So... If you have NOT played Far Cry 3 or Far Cry Primal, this could be a decent game. If you have played one of them already, be aware that it could feel like "just more of the same, old, annoying shit".

I would get Saints Row IV Game of the Century Edition. It's like GTA on steroids and if you're like me, meaning don't care about multiplayer, then it's a lot better imho.

Dishonored 2 also sounds great, haven't played it though.

What? The game is for me. She bought me the gift card.