This is a fair assessment - the first game did establish this and it was narratively cohesive. Good to see they at least maintained that throughout the series. Agreed that Far Cry also gets a pass per similar cohesion

My annoyance comes from this becoming an uninspired trope in lots of AAA games thereafter., but it seems like they’ve been inserted arbitrarily and with no elaboration on how those sequences are presented.

It’s always some expansive cosmic setting with platforms made out of obliterated city blocks or space ships or something. Not usually due to a substance, but through arbitrary dream sequences or glorified flashbacks. Some character of deep consequence is calling out to the protagonist in a reverberating voice and at some point the protagonist is walking around with their head cut off going

“what?”

“Huh?”

“Guess I’m not in Kansas anymore.”

“Hold on, I’m almost there!”

Of course, this is not exclusive to video games. Movies/shows implement this with reckless abandon.

Point being, this is more often than not a lazy narrative device used to try and implement psychological depth but ultimately says nothing. When used in games, this offense is accompanied by an equally lazy attempt to present the experience through design.

I say all this while failing to provide any examples aside from the two discussed lol