We hope you’re having a good time searching for artifacts in the wilds of Siberia in this month’s second-place Second Chance TA Playlist game, Rise of the Tomb Raider, but now it’s time to come in from the cold and cast your vote for next month’s featured game!For the month of March, in honor of British Science Week (8-17 March) as well as Pi Day (3/14, if you use American formatting for the date), we wanted to focus on some of the great sci-fi action games that have come to Xbox consoles over the years. Scientific advances have shaped our world (not to mention giving us video games), but new technologies can be a double-edged sword. From futuristic dystopias and cybernetic enhancements to alien invasions and robot uprisings, Sci-fi games like this month’s nominees give us a chance to explore questions about the purpose of science, the limits of technology, and even what it means to be human. There should be lots to discuss this month, so let’s get on with the nominees!Deus Ex: Human RevolutionUp first is the oldest game on our list, stealth-action RPG Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Developed by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix in 2011, Human Revolution is the third title in the Deus Ex franchise, although it is first chronologically, serving as a prequel to the original games.You play Adam Jensen, a security specialist handpicked to oversee the defense of one of America’s most experimental biotechnology firms. But when a black ops team uses a plan you designed to break in and kill the scientists you were hired to protect, everything you thought you knew about your job changes. At a time when scientific advancements are routinely turning athletes, soldiers and spies into super-enhanced beings, someone is working very hard to ensure mankind’s evolution follows a particular path, and you need to discover why – the decisions you take and the choices you make, will be the only things that can change it.Deus Ex: Human Revolution currently has an impressive TA user rating of 4.17/5 and has been played by nearly 170,000 tracked gamers. Just over 5,000 TA users (~3%) have gone on to unlock all 59 of the game’s achievements, which is estimated to take 30-35 hours with the “Missing Link” DLC included. A Deus Ex: Human Revolution Walkthrough is available by SwelterinBeaver, which covers the base game’s 49 achievements. While the game was originally released for Xbox 360, it is a Backwards Compatible title, and is playable on modern consoles. It’s not available on any subscription services, but it is a former Games With Gold title. PreyNext up on the list is first-person-shooter Prey, developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks in 2017. While it shares a name with Prey (2006), our nominee has very little in common with its predecessor beyond the title.In Prey, you awaken aboard Talos I, a space station orbiting the moon in the year 2032. You are the key subject of an experiment meant to alter humanity forever – but things have gone terribly wrong. The space station has been overrun by hostile aliens, and you are now being hunted. As you dig into the dark secrets of Talos I and your own past, you must survive using the tools found on the station, your wits, weapons, and mind-bending abilities.Almost 168,000 tracked gamers have earned at least one achievement in Prey, with just under 1,000 (1%) unlocking all 58 achievements. The TA community has rated the game a solid 4.13/5.00 and estimates a full completion should take around 70 hours to complete, including the “Mooncrash” DLC. The Prey Walkthrough by SwelterinBeaver will help you keep track of the game’s 51(!) missable achievements. The game is included in Xbox Game Pass.Cyberpunk 2077Our third game for March’s poll is the open-world RPG Cyberpunk 2077, developed and published by CD Projekt RED. After a famously disappointing launch in 2020, Cyberpunk has been one of the great redemption stories in recent years, with extensive updates and patches to fix its early problems.Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure RPG set in the megalopolis of Night City, where you play as a cyberpunk mercenary wrapped up in a do-or-die fight for survival. Improved and featuring all-new free additional content, customize your character and playstyle as you take on jobs, build a reputation, and unlock upgrades. The relationships you forge and the choices you make will shape the story and the world around you. Legends are made here. What will yours be?Despite its issues at launch, Cyberpunk 2077 currently has a strong TA user rating of 4.28/5.00, making it the highest-rated game on the list. More than 330,000 tracked users have started the game, with less than 5,000 (1%) getting the full completion. It’s estimated that it will take 80-100 hours to fully complete the game, including 44 achievements from the base game and 13 from the Phantom Liberty DLC. The Cyberpunk 2077 Walkthrough by RDS is available to guide you through the open world of Night City. Note that the base game is playable on Xbox One, but for the newest updates and the Phantom Liberty DLC, you’ll need a Series X|S console. Atomic HeartOur final nominee takes us not into the future but into an alternate history with FPS Atomic Heart. Developed by Mundfish and produced by Focus Entertainment, the game released directly onto Xbox Game Pass last February. Welcome to a utopian world of wonders and perfection in which humans live in harmony with their loyal and fervent robots. Well, that’s how it used to be. With the launch of the latest robot-control system mere days away, only a tragic accident or a global conspiracy could disrupt it… The unstoppable course of technology, along with secret experiments, have brought rise to mutant creatures, terrifying machines, and superpowered robots—all suddenly rebelling against their creators. Only you can stop them and find out what lies behind the idealized world.Atomic Heart currently holds a 3.66/5.00 rating from the TA community. Over 244,000 tracked gamers have unlocked at least one achievement, but fewer than 400 have gone on to get the full completion. It’s estimated that it will take 40-50 hours to unlock all 51 of the game’s achievements, including the nine achievements in the Annihilation Instinct DLC. No walkthrough is available yet (one is currently in the works), but guides are available to help you with most of the game’s achievements. It should be noted that Atomic Heart came to Xbox Game Pass almost exactly one year ago, and while it hasn’t been announced as leaving, it is among the games that could depart from the service soon.So, which of these sci-fi worlds are you most excited to explore next month? Place your vote and let us know your thoughts in the comments! And as always, if you have any suggestions for future Playlist games or themes, be sure to drop them in the TA Playlist Game Suggestion Thread for possible inclusion in a future poll!Which game should the community play for March 2024’s TA Playlist?
