The Best Story Games of All Time
I love story games. In fact, that’s mostly the reason that I play games – for a good story that makes me feel something for once, rather than the deep pit of despair that plagues my daily life. So, I decided that it’s probably a good idea to make a list of the best story games of all time. If you’re looking for new story games to play, then you might find this list helpful.
Now, let’s outline what this list IS and ISN’T, and the parameters we’re working within. Firstly, what do we mean by story games? It might sound obvious, but we’re talking about games where the emphasis is heavily on the game’s narrative. That means that some of the titles in this list are “technically” in other genres – like horror or action-adventure – but because the game revolves around or relies on the main plot, then we will include them in this list. There are, however, some games that have amazing stories that simply aren’t included here because they are focused more on their huge worlds or game mechanics. TLDR: this is about the best story games, not games with the best stories.
Life Is Strange
Life Is Strange is a modern masterpiece of story games. What first appears as cheesy teen drama quickly descends into a nightmare when you investigate the disappearance of a local girl in small town Oregon. Life is Strange does one thing better than anything on this list, and that’s capture the atmosphere of what it’s like to be a teenager in a rural town with not a lot going on. You dream of more, of escape, but will it ever happen? This is one of those games where you just want to take your time, talk to people, and listen to the absolutely amazing soundtrack that Don’t Nod managed to cook up. Coming out in 2015, Life Is Strange landed at just the right time to take the world by storm as a small, almost indie story game that left a lasting legacy on how we think about story games a decade on.
What Remains of Edith Finch
What Remains of Edith Finch is one of those games that makes full use of the fact that it’s a video game and not another form of media, like a book or a movie. Set in the Pacific Northwest, which I’m convinced is now the best location for story based games, and developed by Annapurna Interactive, What Remains of Edith Finch is exactly what you’d expect from a game made by Annapurna. You visit your eccentric family’s home on a small island off the coast of Washington to explore their colossal house that is full of hidden secrets and areas. It plays out as a series of interactive stories that revolve around the Finch family’s mysterious history, its supposed curse, and why none of them are alive anymore. It’s full of twists and turns, and manages to bring the short stories together with great effect to those who love story. What Remains of Edith Finch is unrivalled in atmosphere and emotion, and if you’re not sobbing by the end of the game, then are you even human?
Planescape Torment
This one is for the OG gamers out there; the ones with grey beards and that have the screeching of 56k dial-up modems interrupting their sleep in fits of PTSD of a bygone age. Planescape Torment came out in the grand old year of 1999, when Tony Soprano was obsessed with feeding ducks. Luckily, it’s been remastered since, so we can all play one of the best story games to grace gaming. In Planescape: Torment, you play as The Nameless One, a man cursed with immortality for thousands of years. Every time he dies, another person in the multiverse dies to fuel his resurrection. Upon rebirth, The Nameless One has little to no recollection of his past life, and often has a completely different personality than before. That’s useful for us, because it uses a Dungeons and Dragons slash Baldur’s Gate alignment and character creation system. Planescape Torment’s world is at the centre of a multiverse filled with different creatures, factions, and worlds. The Nameless One continues to discover more about his past as the game goes on, slowly learning about his previous incarnations and the influence they have had on the world.
Firewatch
I think a large part of Firewatch’s success boils down to the premise of the game being extremely relatable to many of us. You’re a guy who just wants to get away from it all after life gets you down, so you decide to apply for a job as a firewatch lookout. You’re all alone in a huge tower in the middle of the wilderness, or so you think, with only your work to keep you company. Well, that’s not completely true, because you do have another firewatcher on a nearby mountain keeping you company called Delilah. One of the main mechanics is deciding on the responses that you give over the radio, as well as exploring the surrounding area. Throughout the game, you build your relationship with Delilah, and investigate spooky goings on when things start to take a darker turn. It’s a game that manages to deliver an amazing story in a unique way, with themes of isolation, tragedy, and unrequited love.
Lost Records Bloom and Rage
Lost Records Bloom and Rage is up there on the list of best story games of all time, and that shouldn’t surprise you because it was made by the same team who made the original Life Is Strange. This time, though, it’s like Stranger Things if Stranger Things was set in the 1990s. You play as Swann, a teenager who is obsessed with recording things with her tape recorder. It has a more mature tone than their previous games, and Lost Records deals with some heavy themes, like being the unpopular kid in a small town. It beautifully captures those intense first friendships of youth when she gangs up with a group of rebellious girls, who then stumble upon some otherworldly goings on in the woods near where they live. Fans of realistic dialogue and relationships are going to want to play this Stephen King-esque game if they haven’t already.
The Wolf Among Us
Bigsby needs no introduction. Okay, well maybe I should introduce him because you might not have played the game but still. The Wolf Among Us is a Telltale game hailing from the year 2013, when Telltale was in its golden age. It’s based on a comic book series called Fables, where all of the fairy tales we’ve been told as kids are real, and living in New York City. You’re Bigsby, the big bad wolf (yeah, that one). You’re a detective, and you discover that a brutal, bloody murder embarks you on an investigation that leads to the very heart of a conspiracy involving all of the local inhabitants of Fabletown. It has that quintessential Telltale choice based system style, and the worldbuilding in The Wolf Among Us is right up there with Telltale’s best.
The Walking Dead
Speaking of Telltale’s best games, The Walking Dead IS their best ever game, and to this day it remains one of the best story games of all time. Drawing more inspiration from the comics than the show, The Walking Dead puts us into the shoes of Lee, a man convicted of murder and in police transport when the zombie outbreak occurs. He comes across Clementine, a young girl whose parents are out of town and who also just happens to be the cutest character of all time. I mean, this game was a monumental hit when it dropped in 2012, and is perhaps one of the best examples of how to do a story game correctly. It takes inspiration from the comics rather than the TV show, and you‘ll spend a healthy chunk of the game with fan favorite character Glen, so nostalgic replayability is always on the cards with The Walking Dead. Most of your choices actually matter too, and you’ll feel the repercussions even in the later games in the series. If you can play through all of the episodes in this game and get to the final scene without shedding a tear, then you’re a monster who will almost certainly fail the psychopath test at Arkham Asylum.
Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is one of the only games I’ve EVER finished and immediately restarted again from the beginning. The game should need no introduction whatsoever, but in case you’re a heathen who hasn’t played Disco Elysium before, here we go. You are a man with amnesia who awakens with amnesia in Revachol. There’s been a murder next to the hotel you’re staying in, and apparently you’re a detective investigating it, but it seems like all you’ve done for days is drink yourself into a stupor until your partner turns up. Not only do your choices matter in Disco Elysium, but you can also customize your character, stats, and choose your own dialogue. The game heavily relies on dice rolls, too, which means every playthrough is different. You’ll talk to the denizens of the city in pursuit of finding the killer, and encounter everything from bigoted dockworkers to psychics who might just convince you that the paranormal is real. As your character finds out new ideas, you can choose to identify with them, so maybe you’ll decide you’re a fascist cop, or maybe you’ll decide you’re a feminist lesbian – who knows? Revachol is your oyster. Just a very, very dirty one.
Red Dead Redemption 2
You might think I’m crazy, but I actually debated NOT putting Red Dead Redemption 2 on this list of best story games of all time, mainly because it’s more of an open-world action game. However, when you think about it, everything you do in Red Dead Redemption 2 is to lead up to and fill in the gaps of the original game’s story, and hey, the saga of Arthur Morgan is just downright fantastic. Roaming the plains as an anti-hero with morals, looking after the camp, and watching Dutch slowly descend into madness is one hell of a ride. There really isn’t a more realistic game about life in the wild west out there, and I would say that Red Dead Redemption 2’s story is even better than the original’s, especially when you spend time with a young John Marston and see how his father treated him. Now, if you need me, I’ll be making my way to Tahiti.
Witcher 3
Again, I struggled with whether the Witcher 3 should be on the list because it is a giant RPG after all. But then you remember that The Witcher 3 has branching dialogue, and your choices in the game affect the outcome of the story, so the game is very much focused on story – and boy what a story it is. The end of Geralt’s saga as a witcher and book ending the trilogy, the Witcher 3 puts you in the shoes of the mercenary monster slayer from Rivia. You have to track down Ciri, the child of a prophecy that can shape the whole world, while also performing side missions to rid the citizens of this grim land of monsters both supernatural and human, because, ultimately, is it the monsters that rely on instinct who are truly the monsters? Or is it humans who know full well the chaos they cause?
Mass Effect Trilogy
I’m breaking rules with this one by choosing the whole Mass Effect trilogy and not just a single game, but I think it’s justified because who in their right mind would play JUST ONE of these games? If you play one, you play them all. What starts out as Commander Shephard investigating some minor disturbances on space colonies turns into a full on galactic conspiracy where you have to try to save mankind. The Mass Effect series, especially at the time it came out, was absolutely groundbreaking. The story was engrossing, your choices genuinely mattered and carried through the whole series, and the characters have some of the best backstories to date. If you go back to the first one and see how janky its combat actually was, there is no doubt in my mind that Mass Effect belongs on this list, because the entire game revolves around its narrative.
Gone Home
Gone Home is a game that a lot of people skipped, but it delivers its story in the absolute best way possible: there is no dialogue, there are no other characters, there’s just a spooky old house. It’s the mid-1990s and you arrive home from a year abroad, ya know, back in the days when you had to use actual telephones and everybody wasn’t all up in your business every 2 seconds. Anyway, you get home expecting to be greeted by your family, but no one is there. What happened and where did they all go? Well, that’s the central mystery you have to work out. You work this out through examining objects and piecing together clues, and you have to use your brain to put the story together yourself. It’s not only a clever game, but its atmosphere and story will stay with you for years after you finish Gone Home. This one is along the lines of Firewatch and Edith Finch, so if you haven’t played Gone Home yet, then pick it up.
The Last of Us
The Last of Us makes it onto this list for being pure a masterpiece. I’ve specifically picked the first game because its story is almost perfect, and nobody could have predicted the way that game would end. You play as Joel and Ellie in a zombie apocalypse. I feel like just saying zombie apocalypse doesn’t even do justice to the creatures that will haunt your nightmares for years after playing The Last of Us, but hey, it’s easier than saying weird mushroom creatures that open their faces to suck you dry. Anyway, it turns out Ellie might be the key to fighting this virus, so the pair embark on a dangerous cross-country trip to get Ellie to doctors and potentially save humanity. Along the way, some of the most heart warming but also abhorrent events occur, making The Last of Us rival depressing movies like The Road in the story department. I recommend playing this one late at night with the lights off, and maybe some tissues nearby.
Bioshock
The OG, the shock that gave you the bio, the Andrew Ryan golfing academy. In case you hadn’t worked it out, next up on the list is Bioshock. You’re a mysterious individual who manages to survive a plane crash in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, only to discover a lighthouse nearby. Inside that lighthouse is an elevator that takes you into the darkest depths of the sea, to an underwater city called Rapture. It’s ostentatious, with a beautiful art deco style of the early 20th century, except there’s a problem – something very bad has clearly happened in Rapture. You have to fight and survive your way through this underwater nightmare. It makes this list of best story games not only because it has one of the most amazing plot twists in gaming history, but also because it spawned two sequels which both use the same universe and plot undercurrents. Bioshock is pretty much as perfect as it gets.
Silent Hill 2
If you just walked into a room with someone playing Silent Hill 2 and didn’t know anything about it, you’d be forgiven for not believing that it is in fact one of the best story games of all time – and that’s mainly because most of Silent Hill is just a grey fog. Yes, it’s got spooks and scares, but the true horror comes from Silent Hill 2’s story. James Sunderland arrives in Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his late wife Mary, who had been suffering from an illness and died three years before. Upon encountering weird creatures and other, quite eccentric, people living in the town, we start to realise things aren’t as they seem. What makes Silent Hill 2 so special is that the town draws upon the psyche of its visitors and forms alternative versions of itself, which differs depending on the character. So Silent Hill 2 itself acts as an internal representation of a person’s guilt or demons. There are just so many layers to this that people are still picking apart the game’s narrative to this day. It’s absolutely wild to think that Silent Hill 2 came out way back in 2001 and still remains as relevant as ever.
Shadow of the Colossus
Shadow of the Colossus is THE quintessential Team Ico game. It’s about a young boy who travels to a shrine with the goal of resurrecting a young girl. A shadowy entity says it can resurrect the girl, but that the boy must first defeat 16 colossi, which are giant creatures roaming the game’s world. So, as the boy, you set out with your trusty horse as your only sidekick to take them down. The game is essentially a montage of boss fights and exploration, but its world is largely silent and unexplained. Story is delivered sparsely, through environmental clues and events. Yet, somehow, this game manages to absolutely tear at your heartstrings in so many ways when you start to piece things together. Are the colossi you fight truly bad? How far would you go to bring back someone you love? Shadow of the Colossus builds much of its lore and story through gameplay, but in a way that makes it even better than having flashy cinematics and extensive voice acting. It’s what makes it a truly unique experience. And the desolation and barren feeling of Shadow of the Colossus mean that when story events DO unfold, they have an even larger impact.
The Forgotten City
Starting its life out as a mod, The Forgotten City is a time loop game set in ancient Rome. You start out as a modern day explorer, who falls into a river. When you eventually drag yourself out, you start exploring some Roman ruins that teleport you to the year 65 AD. The city you find yourself in has a bunch of people who have been turned into gold statues, and you find out that this city is run by real deities who have one golden rule: if anyone breaks the rules or laws, then everyone is turned into gold. The catch is that nobody knows what these laws actually are, so you spend a lot of time talking to people, doing side missions, and experimenting with what actually turns everyone to gold, then beginning the time loop over again. The game has multiple endings, and each character in the game has a strong background story and argument, complicating the decisions you have to make in the game. This is yet another case of how an amazing plot can be delivered through actual gameplay and not just pre-rendered cinematics. Honestly, The Forgotten City is up there with my favorite games of all time, so you really should check it out. Plus it was made mostly by a single person.
Spec Ops: The Line
Spec Ops: The Line surprised everyone by being such a story-focused game, and it still goes underappreciated by the general cohort of riff raff gamers who only play Call of Duty every year. While it might first appear as a standard shooter, players controls Captain Martin Walker, who is sent into a post-catastrophe Dubai with an elite Delta Force team on a recon mission. As the story progresses, Walker’s sanity begins to deteriorate and he begins to experience hallucinations, slowly realizing the horror of war. It’s got apocalypse now type vibes and unlike many other shooters that focus on action, Spec Ops: The Line delves into a more nuanced and thought-provoking story, questioning the very nature of war and its consequences. It’s generally regarded as one of, if not the best stories in any military shooters, which manages to avoid all of the boring, stoic tropes that other war games fall into.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
I tell you what, it’s a good job that I just finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in time to add it to this list because hot damn, I think it has one of the best stories to ever be seen in a turn-based RPG. Taking place in a dark fantasy Belle Époque setting, the game follows the volunteers of Expedition 33 as they set out to destroy the Paintress, a being causing the yearly Gommage, which erases those at or above an ever-decreasing age. The writing and cutscenes deliver the story in a frankly unparalleled manner – characters talk over one another, they have gaping flaws in their personalities, and unravelling the mysteries in this dark and mysterious world are central to everything you do in the game. I mean, it has a cutscene that is straight out of Saving Private Ryan, so if that doesn’t excite you then you may or may not need to see a doctor. I can’t really elaborate any more on any of this without spoiling the game, so just… just go play it. Like now. If you’ve already played it then you know what I’m talking about and likely agree.
