Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is the gripping tale of an angry white guy murdering and enslaving hundreds of orcs because some other guy murdered his wife and son (and him, I guess). Talion is the perfect AAA protagonist: awesome, attractive, and angsty. He free-runs across Mordor, destroying enemies with supernatural finesse and brutality. Talion’s shaggy, bearded face and chiselled ranger’s physique secure him a spot alongside paragons of masculinity Aragorn, Faramir, and Eomer. And the murder of his family leaves Talion with a particularly angsty disposition, causing him to forgo kinship or aid under the notion that he alone must claim bitter vengeance—and not because, you know, he’s now immortal.

Final Fantasy XV was first announced in 2006 as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, part of the 'Fabula Nova Crystallis' collection. Nine years ago, Final Fantasy XII was still a fresh commodity and I was a depressed 14-year-old who found himself unsurprisingly drawn to the pensive-looking, sword-wielding dark-haired dude gracing the promotional images for this bizarre new pseudo-spin off title.