I picked up Phoenix Point because I was feeling that XCOM itch and knew if it wasn't this I would start a Long War game of XCOM2 which would probably take 2 years to finish if I did at all.
Far Cry 5 is $6 and though I'm not particularly tempted I've heard good things.
Mad Max is $2 and if you haven't played it I would say it most certainly a bargain at that price. It is fairly boilerplate open world where you take towers and bases to gather resources for upgrades and eventually unlock tougher and tougher zones. The vehicle combat is really the standout and your car is the star of the show. Just tearing around the desert is fun in itself. Taking caravans is particularly cinematic and satisfying to eventually bag one that you just weren't quite able to before your latest upgrade. Unfortunately the base assault and dismounted fighting is pretty forgettable with batman arkham-style auto-target with quicktime blocking that doesn't change very much as you unlock new abilities. My 2nd favorite open world game after shadow of mordor/war.
Regarding Mad Max, I have a question about the Steam version of the game. The Steam sales page for it claims that it uses Denuvo, which doesn't sound right for an older game being sold for $1.99. Further, Mad Max is being sold on GOG without Denuvo, so there isn't any consistency about this between vendors. Can someone who owns the Steam version please confirm whether it actually uses Denuvo or not?
If they ever updated it to remove Denuvo on the Steam version, there's no sign of anyone saying so. The Steam forum even still has a post stickied from some random shill talking about how awesome and necessary Denuvo is, full of retarded arguments. The curator 'Games That Hate You' still lists it as having Denuvo and that curator has been pretty reliable for me in tracking games that have it removed post-release.
Even if I had it still installed, I wouldn't know how to check for Denuvo implementation. I played it on an older rig (gifted from a friend, since I hate Denuvo) but didn't notice any of the stutters or huge loading times that sometimes make Denuvo's presence obvious. Or if I did, I attributed them to that ageing rig, before I later learnt the game had Denuvo.
Thanks!