Best Story in a Video Game

[Thorn]

Bioshock Infinite. I remember being so overwhelmed and confused by the story at times, and then the ending was just super impressive.

 

Fallen London might not be a video game exactly, but the world is so deep and rich and it's full of top-quality writing. Though even talking about the storylines is spoilery, given that the fun of the game comes mostly from sorting them all out, so...I can't contribute much here, haha.

 

 

 

[Pyrowings]

Gonna add my 2 cents here to nominate Ace Attorney as some of the best storytelling I've ever read... Or at least the Phoenix trilogy.

[dracofyris]

Okami/Okamiden

Any Legend of Zelda game (especially Majora's Mask)

OFF

Undertale

Most well known RPGmaker games

Super Paper Mario

 

A few of my extremely biased recommendations, most I own, others I've watched playthroughs of on YouTube due to my inability to own them.

[impi]

I agree that Portal was amazing. Ive really enjoyed the Walking Dead so far (on season 1 Ep 4) and The Witcher series as well

[naked-snakes-box]

Many people mention Final fantasy 7 but I think Final fantasy 8 was the best for me because it created that fantasy feel of strange environments, warped story line very strange creatures and very beautiful characters with extreme sense of fear that the tale contains.

 

Final fantasy 7 is a brilliant game but its overrated and made 8 lack any further production even low ff8 made more of a profit which is a shame for ff8 fans.

 

Bloodborne- has a fantastic story line very deceiving

Metal gear solid- tell a very unique story line with beautiful characters and something for everyone.

 

Dead Space was a scary and shocking in most parts

 

other games worth playing are, dark souls, gears of war, street, fighter zelda I could keep going lol

 

[Moonlight_Eevee]

I think Stardew Valley looks like a pretty good story line. I haven't played it, but I've watched a couple of my friends stream it and it looks pretty good.

[PKfreeze]

Of course I'm going to say Mother 3. The story is so fleshed out and captivating and it's just amazinggg

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky had an amazing story too. And The Binding of Isaac isn't really story centric but its lore fascinates me for some reason.

[SheridanCharon]

Dragon's Dogma. There is just so much lore and it has such an in-depth and detailed plot and every time I play it I see something new and....it's just soooo good!

 

Danganronpa. That game just......wow.

[hedy]

I don't play that many story centric games so I have to say GTA V, which is, in my opinion, utterly brilliant. The movie vibe to it, how it's still so easy to follow even when doing the side missions at the same time and just how the whole game just flows. Sexist vibe and jokes apart, it's an amazing game all in all.

[Aqub]

I think my favorite video game story-wise is Soma... it had a really interesting story that I was not expecting.

[Sazandora]

I adore the story in Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and its sequel, Last Window: The Secret of Cape West. The moment I stepped into those games, they hooked me in for days. I'm usually not a very emotional person, but good golly did the ending of Last Window very nearly make me burst into tears.

 

I also absolutely worship Shadow of the Colossus, it has a really minimalist story that leaves a lot up to the players' imagination, but I don't mind it at all. I love coming up with theories and story ideas of my own to fill in the blanks. And what little story the game has is told in a beautiful way that toys with my emotions so hard.

[Fortune86]

Back to nominate Detriot: Become Human and Greedfall. 

[Moonlight_Eevee]

Oh, here's another one: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Explorers of Sky.

[purpledragonclaw]

Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 10, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Okami, and The World Ends With You are my favorites.

[Zhiyi1015]

Deemo! It's not a video game but it's a music game on phones and it has the best story I have ever seen in all of the games! 

[AmaNoGawa]

On 1/12/2020 at 9:24 AM, Dalek said:

Oh, here's another one: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Explorers of Sky.

Gonna second this, it was my first Mystery Dungeon game and it gave me all the feels 😭😭

 

[MaiqTheLiarr]

I would have to say The Last of Us franchise... if you can’t tell by my profile pic! The second game blew me away and was also amazing gameplay and mechanics-wise. Such a fun game and compelling, heart-wrenching plot with very human characters that you really, really grow to care for.

[Dekka]

On 3/30/2020 at 11:04 PM, AmaNoGawa said:

Gonna second this, it was my first Mystery Dungeon game and it gave me all the feels 😭😭

 

Oh my gosh I'm gonna third this.  I came here literally for the express purpose of saying PMD2.  This is one of the only games that genuinely makes me FEEL something

 

I would also like to nominate Ōkami as runner up.  Such a lovely game, I will never get tired of it

[Fly-by-Night]

The Blackwell series. Story-wise, it starts off small, but as the series progresses, there is more depth (and darkness), and you can find more and more connections. Also, the relationship between Joe and his Blackwell women is just so well done. 

Edited June 25, 2022 by Fly-by-Night

[Kestra15]

'Life is Strange' is a fantastic story from start to finish. Must get round to playing the other two.

Edited May 26, 2021 by Kestra15

[calona]

I just finished Hades and I loved discussing with all the characters, developing relationships and unlocking everything !
You have to earn the story, but it is so satisfying.

And it is just too beautiful !

 

Spoiler

 

[Platykwak]

I live for the stories I experience in video games. They are often a great love and passion for me, that also give me great pain... because I am somehow cursed to love the indie, the niche and the forgotten, I rarely have anyone to talk to about them. Or if I ever do, nobody has yet seemed to reach even a fraction of the amount of heart that I'd bled for the stories. My heart is like 15 years younger than I am by now, and I just keep getting older.

 

...*sigh* I just cannot find someone who bleeds the way I do

 

Well, I'm glad that some of them had blown up too. I feel like everything Supergiant Games has put out has been magnificent. Bastion legit became an instant favorite and a special love when I played it. The narrator made me care about a world that had already ended. Made me care about the history and significance of every scattered, ruined place and every faction that was turned to ash by the Calamity. I yearned more narration, I was sucked into it, and it just made everything all the more heartwrenching for me. What a beautiful start for the studio.

Transistor was eerie, heartfelt, fascinating, and absolutely beautiful. The first time I heard the soundtrack's songs where the main character was singing, it really got to me how devastating it was that she had lost her voice. The world, again, was like a puzzle, slowly revealing its true nature. Man, I gotta replay it someday.

 

...my computer right now is a potato, but the moment I get myself a new one, I will play Pyre and Hades. I am SO glad that this genius studio has seen such success, and boy do I LOVE me some mythology. Hades will very likely become one of my favorite games of all time the moment I play it. I just know it.

 

Okay, enough about Supergiant. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE, that one of the pioneers of indie games, one of the most beautiful games I've EVER played, has fallen into obscurity so hard???

I am talking about Aquaria. I just recently played it. It's been on my backlog for years, I admit. I am not any better than anyone else. But now, I have experienced it. It's rare for me to fall so flippin hard, but here I am. It's a new love and a temporary obsession that I'm gonna be thinking about for a long while. Oof. It was so beautiful... exploring the beautiful underwater worlds, and slowly discovering the history and fate of biomes and ancient civilizations... I guess it had the same draw as Bastion had for me.

But fine, I know some reasons why it never became the same kinda legend that Braid is (coincidentally one of my favorite games ever). It starts slowly, so some people get bored. And, well, it has a very unfortunate way of teasing a sequel that will never come. What a flippin shame. I've also read complaints about the controls, although I personally didn't have an issue with them.

 

At least I got to vent, not that I expect people to really read it all.

[Neonriser]

I could say the best story in a video game is Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Sky Version, but let's get the obvious out of the way.

 

I enjoyed Crosscode's plot, which is about self-discovery and the quiet main character resonated with me a lot.

 

I know it's actually a mobile game that can be played on the PC, but Honkai Impact 3rd has to be my personal best story in my opinion. It has plenty of lore, and a set of complex characters you can play as. And yet it has a deep, yet still ongoing plot!

[Ethanos]

For me, the games I've played with the best stories (in my opinion of course) are Undertale, Yakuza 0, and Red Dead Redemption 2.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Ethanos
Fixed a typo

[Nectaris]

One I have not seen mentioned, but I adore the story of Horizon: Zero Dawn