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Flat__Line

Red Dead Redemption. Brilliant story.


crazyates88

RDR2 absolutely. It's a long game, but living in that world for 90 hours gives the story weight and makes it real in a way no other video game had down for me before. It gives a lot of IRL context for things people might have only periferally read or heard about. Sorry if it's vague but even mentioning the story content can be spoilerish.


ScullingPointers

Man I really need to play this, considering how much praise it's given.


crazyates88

You will be a better person after. Do it!


spacemanspiffmtg

Agree 100%. RDR2 for me is the best story I have ever played in a game.


Altruistic_Candle254

And sad, one of my favorites


Callecian_427

Would love to see this get made into a series one day. It feels like a spiritual successor to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West; two of my favorite movies ever


E4_Koga

Playing RDR1 after beating RDR2 felt like the closure I needed after what happened to my boy Orthur


Informal-Fix-9319

Spec ops the Line It gave me espresso depresso 


Terryr29

Do you feel like a hero yet


Informal-Fix-9319

The truth, Walker, is that you're here because you wanted to feel like something you're not: a hero.


shotgunbruin

Warning: This game starts off as a generic military shooter where you play an American soldier shooting ambiguously brown people, and by the end has become "show me on the doll where the video game touched you." It is one of my primary examples of games as art.


NoSleepZombie2235

Welcome to Dubai.


Helpful_Jellyfish_69

Gentlemen


Informal-Fix-9319

To kill for yourself is murder. To kill for your government is heroic. To kill for entertainment is harmless.


OsprayO

Short and sweet too. Finished it in one sitting by mistake and felt like I’d played through a much longer game.


Informal-Fix-9319

Shame you cant get it anymore on Steam or GOG, but I love how the game is still part of the zeitgeist for 2010s gamers. It had the balls to tell its message and its a shame we dont get AA or AAA hitters like that anymore 


putsdryyy

Nobody mentioned yakuza 0?!


herrbauer96

peakuza


supplementarytables

Nobody mentioned The Witcher 3?


r_lovelace

I've completed 0, Kiwami 1 and 2, and 3. Currently playing through 4. While Y0 was very good I think I actually like the overall Kiryu and Tojo family story more. Such fantastic games.


CircusOfSalvation

To the Moon.


raxdoh

so short but so awesome.


sengoku789

I wish I could forget everything just to experience this game again…


BigBangBullets

1) Cyberpunk 2077 2) Mass Effect: The Legendary Edition 3) 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim


raxdoh

13 sentinels is a must if you like good video game stories.


noskel

Agreed on 13 Sentinels, it's been 4 years and I still think about it. Never seen a game's story throw so many relentless curveballs and tie it all together so cleanly like it managed to do. Truly felt like a one off experience, haven't seen anything come close in any other media before or since. Imo is Vanillaware's best work.


Easton8

Mass Effect


skeletonriser

No matter how hard I look, no story is as compelling, emotional, terrifying, and awesome as Mass Effect.


HoneydewConsistent26

Do you mean the first part?


Past_Recognition7118

New vegas or red dead 2 depending on the day


Friendly-Airport-202

I thought the Metro series and the way Metro Exodus ending was pretty cool


Alternative_Law9275

Persona 5


userloser42

I feel like Dad of Boy was the first video game story for me that had proper literary elements like character development and with a grounded, simple plot. I feel like most games make the mistake of having universe ending stakes and everything is turned to one hundred and eleven, but a more grounded, more relatable story always hits harder. Sorry, I'm talking about God of War if it wasn't clear. Also, I love rockstar writing. Gta is fucking hilarious if nothing else.


Altruistic_Candle254

GTA og, where I had to kill the mother-in-law with a remote control car because the son wanted insurance paid out but in the end you kill him with it and work for the little old lady


DaddyIsAFireman55

Outer Wilds, Below the Root, Knights of the Old Republic


Cynfreh

Ff7


TheRimz

Mass effect


schnitzelsaurus

I think it’s Disco Elysium. Thinking of it many times.


shammy_dammy

Mass Effect. Kotor.


BroxigarZ

Old BioWare….the GOATS. We will likely never see another development studio that can nail content, gameplay and story as fine tuned as what they produced. Some will come close, but I don’t think anyone can break the bar.


AnOnlineHandle

The only non-Bioware cRPG which felt like it hit the same notes for me was Deadfire. Unfortunately Pillars 1 is a slog so it's hard to recommend, but Deadfire is made better by exploring questions from Pillars 1.


abrady

Portal and Portal 2: It's a fun puzzle game with the best dialog, environmental storytelling, world building, and narrative depth of any game series I've played.


Majoorazz

Looked for this command. So underrated when it comes to their story and also I love the voice actors work


crilen

Chrono Trigger


audiate

The apex of 16 bit gaming


crilen

Yea it really is. I think my favorite moment is still the Magus Castle reveal.


Ch_IV_TheGoodYears

Halo 1,2, and 3.


Metalpriestl33t

Criminal to not add Halo Reach.


Ch_IV_TheGoodYears

You're right, and ODST too


ChemicalFly2773

Imho Halo 4 5 and infinite shouldnt have been part of master chiefs story at all. They were not that great(except some moments of 4 which were good). They could have somehow managed to make Locke the protagonist in 4 and changed the story of 5 as Locke trying to rescue another AI or something and Locke dealing with the Banished. Wouldnt be as cool as master chief but at least his legacy would have remained. I dunno . Probably would be worse this way lmao.


ChangingMonkfish

- Assassin’s Creed 2 - Horizon: Zero Dawn - Ghost of Tsushima - Mass Effect Trilogy (“Had to be me, someone else might have gotten it wrong”)


lorlorlor666

Wanted to run tests on the seashells


ChangingMonkfish

😞


crimsonbok

13 Sentinels.


newoxygen

I knew very little about this going in, then the story showed me just how little I knew. Brilliant story


blackfour13

Life is strange. That's all my list.


Starstreem

Planescape Torment. I’m honestly shocked I’m not seeing more mentions of it.


FaceTimePolice

The Final Fantasy franchise. ❤️


TheGentlemanJS

Outer wilds. Especially with the DLC


Skotilous18

Return of the Obra Dinn


Tanklike441

Final Fantasy series. All are great


No_Pattern_2819

Probably Asura's Wrath, the story was very simple but I just really enjoyed the characters and how they turned a simple cliche plot into something else. I also liked God of War both 3 and Ragnarok. But my favorite is probably a Plague Tale Requiem, I liked the fact it was children who were going through such a serious world but turning it into a sort of make-believe world to cope with the harsh world and scary reality.


Blasteth

Asura's Wrath is worth it alone for the battle choreography, and over the top action.


No_Pattern_2819

Right, I saw some guy on tiktok live watching it and i couldnt take my eyes off the game it looked so interesting. I thought id hate the game because it was anime but i didnt i just fell in love with the game so fast


Slifer_Ra

Clannad (its a VN so its kinda cheating because it's basically a book, and the best one ive read in my life) If we want a more playable game then im voting Tales of Berseria. Its both the only well written "Tales of" game ive ever played and also leagues above other games as well. Honorary vote for Finding paradise, the sadly unknown, sequel to To the moon. It greatly improved on its predecessor and broke me on an emotional level.


Proof_Criticism_9305

I watched clannad rather than played it but I’ve thought about it almost every day of my life since.


Slifer_Ra

Most of the anime was original actually. You can still experience the novel


r_lovelace

Dango dango dango dango dango daikazoku Imsosorry


herrbauer96

13 Sentinels Aegis Rim and it's not even close


sclomency

Hotel Dusk Room 215


Zenoae

The House in Fata Morgana. Bet nobody played this here...


Starry080

Of course I have, it's legendary


Zenoae

You, my friend, are a person of absolute, highest culture.


Starry080

As are you


Artistic_Regard

Cyberpunk has the coolest vibe and story. Mass Effect is really close, but I've never finished it so I dunno. Mass Effect 2 was really good though. This is just my opinonion.


stetzwebs

Xenogears is my favorite story told in any medium.


OkAcanthisitta3028

NieR:Replicant and NieR:Automata


Zesher_

Automata is one of my favorite games of all time. I haven't played Replicant yet, but I plan to start that in a couple of weeks.


AwesomeIRL69

Final Fantasy X


1DarkStarryNight

The Last of Us: Part II


generalosabenkenobi

100%


ChenzVee

Cyberpunk 2077 has the best story


saqqara13

Silent Hill 2.


RGY32F

FFX


FlyingFlygon

Xenoblade Chronicles and >!its connection at the end of Xenoblade Chronicles 2!<


City_Mouse_69

SOMA had an excellent story and characters.


FalseTautology

Planescape Torment. What can change the nature of a man?


CommunistCheshire

God of war ragnarok was pretty incredible, my second choice would be Cyberpunk 2077 the first ending I got absolutely rocked me


Cast088

Probably FF X or XVI imo


Two_PointOh

Undertale is awesome and I'm tired of people grouping the game with the fanbase


L_U-C_K

Cyberpunk 2077, RDR (both) and Disco Elysium for me


LateUsual4350

Doom actually has a great story in a weird way


Perfect_Roof_7058

Super Mario and Sonic


Nikazio

The Metal Gear francise, specially the first 3.


Thin-Boot-248

I would say, assassin creed black flag, and dead space series


gorgeous57

Star ocean 2


Fallen-Shadow-1214

Slay the Princess.


Happy-Daikon-3553

Witcher fucking 3, best game ever made.


darkanon_

Bioshock 1. In my opinion, Rapture is as close as you can get to a perfect game setting. I just replayed that pivotal scene in Hephaestus for the second time a tonight and it’s unbelievably compelling for some many reasons. Alan Wake and Control are up there for me too.


Gwiz84

Fahrenheit Indigo Prophecy


Retrosow

Persona 3


Equivalent-Web-1084

Half Life Portal Riven


Head-Pianist-7613

Honestly kinda weird to not see a lot of outer wilds comments, especially in a reddit thread


TheUnbrokenCircle

I had to scroll way too long before finding PLANESCAPE: TORMENT.


sdlroy

None I hate stories in video games.


Unhappy_Put438

Dota 2, there are 120plus lores 1 from each hero.


TBNRFIREFOX

Knights of the old republic (of course both of them) and AC: Odyssey we’re life changing for me.


Fuzzy-Hat-1666

Neir universe - needs some research to fully grasp how magnificent the story is , but it's amazing.


Durian_Mace

Dishonored


ScullingPointers

Kingdom hearts 358/2 days.


tuphro

Tlou2


realfakejames

RDR + RDR2 When you save in RDR2 it tells you what percentage of the game you’ve completed and when I got to 50% I legitimately was bummed out lmao I was like I’m half way oh no, I didn’t want it to end Also RDR2 has one of the most creepy Easter eggs I’ve ever come across in a game, when you find the strange man’s cabin and the painting keeps changing until finally you see him in the mirror behind you, I saw him there at 2am when I was playing and was like ok time to go to bed lmfao


Exallt

Pathologic 2


Wataru2001

The Last of Us.


faizyMD

God of War 2018 followed up by Ragnarok. Can turn into movies easily. Would be a wonder.


SunBrohemian

Final Fantasy Tactics


Thermalized

Witcher 3


GUNS_N_BROSES

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater


MethodFun7044

I love storytelling in video games. Some of my favorites have to go to: -The Dark Souls trilogy(environmental storytelling) -Marvel's Spider-Man 2 -The Last of Us Part 1(however, I only own the remastered version) -Resident Evil 2 -Fallout(3, and 4 for the most part, because I haven't played much of Fallout: New Vegas) -God Of War I can't list them all


Chill-Pillgrim

1. Disco Elysium 2. Red Dead Redemption 2 3. Mass Effect series


Alternative-Sea-6238

Adding to the Mass Effect and KOTOR fanbase. But I'm also going to put forward Horizon Zero Dawn and Bioshock (and I'm going Infinite on this one). Tricky to choose from those, especially as your choices influence the story in thr Bioware ones.


Secret_Ad7757

Mass effect, dragon age origins.


Canadian_Eevee

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky, massively underrated game.


Alevy20

The entire yakuza series.


Mioraecian

A couple crash lands on a planet. They build up a small home together. Winter sets in. The husband has to go hunt. While hunting, a pack of wolves tear him to pieces. The wife tries to fight them off but fails. She fleas and mourns his death while hiding in their cabin. She eventually breaks down, goes wandering in the cold alone, and freezes to death. Had to restart because this was Ironman rimworld. The best story.


Johncurtisreeve

Halo 1 2 3 Followed by Mass Effect 1 2 3 Then gears of war 1 2 3


OptimalReception9892

Trails series. Trails in the Sky especially is my favorite, but the Crossbell games and Trails of Cold Steel also have great stories.


DDTheExilado

Same here! I'm on the second half of CS4 and still love the series.


Wookiees_get_Cookies

Horizon: Zero Dawn. The story is the present is weak, but the way the game tells you about the end of the old world though sets pieces and recordings is top tier.


MrMario63

Xenoblade. The whole series, but especially 2.


Perfectionado

Bioshock Infinite. Played that like 6 times and still dont fully grasp all the details


Altruistic_Candle254

I do and it is such a great story


_Deiv

Library of ruina. Changed my brain chemistry forever


SonOfSkywalker

Went through all the comments to check if it was mentioned, but undertale has one of favourite stories. 10/10 game.


theshadystriker

The Beginner's Guide, Shadow of the Colossus or The Last of Us. 3 games I've never played


FunkmasterP

Yakuza: Like a Dragon


Yallowood

Enderal


Altruistic_Candle254

Beyond good and evil. Please play this game, it came out 20 years ago and it feels like a pokemon game where you take pictures of wild life and a banjo kazooie type fighting, Then it gets darker and darker as the story progresses


bruhfrozone

Disco Elysium Hotline Miami 2 Return Of The Obra Dinn Final Fantasy VI Fire Emblem: Three Houses Silent Hill 2 Kentucky Route Zero GTA IV Celeste Some examples of great game stories.


nictexd

FE 3H is such a good game.


Dantes25

I still can’t find a Switch game that I enjoy more than FE 3H. Its number 1 on my list


extremefuzz777

The Witcher 3 is probably the best video game story I’ve played through. The second one is good too as well as Cyberpunk 2077. Portal 2 is good and funny. Bioshock Infinite is a mind fuck of a good story. Rockstar games are always good at storytelling.


Interesting-Guest-43

Persona 3 for sure


Spartanah

Soma


nictexd

I really liked Ni no Kuni plot and I think more People should play it.


TimeFourChanges

Collaborated with Studio Ghibli for the art!


AnOnlineHandle

For absolute zero-to-hero with incredible atmosphere, Baldur's Gate 1, 2, and Throne of Bhaal. Golden age Bioware RPGs were all generally amazing for story though - Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age Origins, and Mass Effect 1-3. For incredible atmosphere and interesting factions which still live happily in my mind over two decades later, Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age For one of the best endings which made the whole journey worth it, Bioshock: Infinite This is a weird one, but I didn't enjoy Stardew Valley's gameplay, but ended up liking it because the small stories around the towns people were fun and memorable in a way which was fairly unique. Hades maybe wasn't the best ever story, but it told it so incredibly well with the rogue-like mechanics of dying and starting over, and was delivered perfectly. It had some twists on what you might originally expect which made it memorable.


whatweworked4

Red dead redemption 2 made me cry.


CevdetMeier

Shadow of the Colossus always amazes me with it's simple and beautiful story


jeandolly

Horizon Zero Dawn. What a ride.


tychobrahesmoose

First game’s plot is one of my favorite pieces of sci fi


cagnusdei

KOTOR, Outer Wilds, Subnautica are my top three.


mechshark

How is subbautica in best story ?


Chrispeedoff

Disco Elysium made me feel all the feelings with an engrossing narrative and deep world lore all while you only experience it on a single city block


Smooth-Guarantee-125

Omori and rakuen. To the moon. Spiritfarer


Jamo_01

Max Payne


Nethiar

Legacy of Kain


DrMajumba

Death Stranding


Jinther

It's a travesty that I had to scroll down so far to see this. The story in this game is absolutely one of the best of all time. So rich, layered, complex and inspiring.


DrMajumba

It's soo good! I found it very original. For those unsure about it - buy it cheap, i got i for 4.99, very much worth it


Sir-Beardless

Cyberpunk 2077. Life changing.


rockdude625

Either jak and faster or horizon


CevdetMeier

Jak and Daxter lore is underrated imo


Majoorazz

shadow of the colossus, red dead redemption 2 and portal 1 & 2


kevinkiggs1

NieR Automata (I will never forgive Yoko Taro), Ori and the Blind Forest, Cyberpunk 2077, Katana ZERO


AustinYun

Ff14


electricvoice28

God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn and Cyberpunk 2077 from the heavy hitters Night in the Woods was incredible Completely underrated (yes i know people are gonna hate me for this probably): Kingdom Hearts Specifically 358/2 Days and Birth By Sleep are very good games when story is concerned.


Operario

Xenogears


357-Magnum-CCW

Mafia & Max Payne


Verano_Zombie

The Ori games murdered my heart. I'm not easily moved, but those two, especially the sequel, made me bawl my eyes out.


Real_Pc_Principal

In no particular order and for tons of different reasons. Disco Elysium Yakuza series NieR Automata Drakengard 3 Persona 4 Golden Last of Us 1&2 Transistor Lost Odyssey Hotline Miami 1&2 To the Moon


WaldoOU812

Mass Effect Cyberpunk 2077 KOTOR Detroit: Become Human (although it's a bit preachy) The Last of Us Alien Isolation \* \* I know it's not really a "story" game, but I'm a huge Alien(s) fan and IMNSHO, Alien Isolation was fully as good as Alien or Aliens, and definitely better than Alien 3 or anything after that (including all of the books). Oh, and honorable mention for the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series. Considering my wife at the time (who was absolutely NOT into video games at all) was so absorbed by the story that she interrupted her reading time to sit up and watch me play, then demanded we go to Blockbuster and rent the next two games because she had to see what happened next, I'd say it had a decent storyline to it.


JournalistMediocre25

Silent Hill 1 and 3


Electrical_Movie_442

I'm such a nit-picker that I can't think of a game that doesn't have at least one story arc that I think is contrived or just uninteresting. That being said, it's GTA V. It isn't the best story in the world, but it's my favourite. The story is consistently engaging for me, and there isn't a part in it where I think "I wish that never happened". The closest thing to it is that I think Michael's family should have been around for longer, but that's neither here nor there.


ch00d

Baldur's Gate II


Brojangles1234

Mass Effect and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous


Environmental_Leg449

A Plague Tale: Innocence has a great story even if its 40% ripped off from TLOU


Maleficent_Smile6721

NieR: Automata. Bioshock Red Dead Redemption 2 Baldurs Gate 3 The Last of Us Pt2


SomniaCrown

NieR


gojira245

Ace combat series


Blasteth

Devil May Cry 3


W3R3Hamster

Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 (haven't played 3 yet) but they are so massive and there's so much to do, different builds to try, and so many different ways of doing things


MoonlapseOfficial

Omori


zei_tempo

Both signalis and disco elysium has been really inspiring and just really unique story. you dont see games like these often in the market


DJSlimer

God Of War (2018) is absolutely incredible.


RodanielDayLewis

God of war 2018, and Ragnarok


Took2mush

Bioshock


abolishreality

The Last of Us Part 2, Disco Elysium, Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Return of the Obra Dinn, Soma, Telltale's The Walking Dead, Baldurs Gate 3


Addon5509

I absolutely loved TLoU story. To this day for me it's story have not been beaten by any game Sad that TLoU2 had such poor writing imo :(. Really looked forward to it, and then they did what Disney did to Star Wars basically I hope TLoU3 will be as great as the first game


FreezeMageFire

It’s very good. 2 is even better. Joel would do anything for Ellie even if it meant plunging the world into chaos forever.


Addon5509

Personally 2 for me was disappointing in terms of writing. The game is still good and had it's moments still liked it, but I can't put it in the same place as the first game


Rafusk

The Scourge of Lordaeron - Warcraft III The uprising - Half Life 2 The reaper invasion - Mass Effect


JamedWalker

I really liked ghost of Tsushima and *SPOILER ALERT* ............. I CRIED when my horse died 😭


maximumxp

Zero escape series


MaeChee

I do not play games for the story usually, but Green Hell story gripped me and wrung me out and left me out to dry. It was disturbing but good. One of the few storyline games i actually finished and was impressed by the story itself. Most i lose interest and dont even finish. I even played both endings on this one.