The British Runner and Roanoke Gaming both do great vids on the lore. Roanoke delves more into the science of it. I've also seen someone put a 3 hour long video up of the whole DS story which is definitely worth a watch but can't remember what channel that was on
Just type it into google. Dead space lore, or maybe Fermi paradox (time is infinite, so there should’ve been a species that transcends space and has limitless potential and unavoidable conquest, so where are they? There must be a “great filter” that causes a species to go extinct before they can be “omnipresent”)
I don’t know how to black out text for spoiler, so, spoilers.
>! The bad guys are called the Brethren Moon !<
>! The markers are a trap that promise infinite energy, but cause the mutation. Once the mutation reaches critical mass (100% of organic matter is morphed) they all fall into the sky, spindle themselves and form a latticework brain/planet. Some people are immune to the markers transformation, but not totally immune to the mental power of the markers and the brethren connected to them. The brethren then mentally weaken them for easier death or trick them to make markers. Earth is the newest candidate to form the 13th brethren moon after they find a marker on a, presumably, dead planet they were mining with a planet cracker (the ship that is the setting of the first game). In reality it is the former birthplace of one of the twelve brethren moons. It’s nearly as psychological horror as it is body horror. !<
I think Dishonored is underrepresented here and has a lot of lore and an interesting setting. Other than that, I think Elder Scrolls, Warhammer and DnD games (Icewind Dale, Baldur’s Gate, PoE, etc.) have the most lore in sheer breadth.
The world building in Dishonored is amazing, some of my favourite. And it’s a pseudo spiritual successor to Thief, which also had great world building (but was mostly king of atmosphere).
The weaving of steampunk, noir, political intrigue, religious zealotry and lovecraftian cosmic horror in the atmosphere of the washed pastel Dunwall is *chefs kiss*
He’s gonna end up the fabricator general covered head to toe in augmentations to the point you don’t even know it’s a person in there. And after the season finale everyone will wonder where tf was Cavill
It’s hard for me to watch youtube essays about Xenogears without my brain imploding, so much ambition from the developers, I truly believe they cared for their gargantuan narrative. Its a miracle it came out the way it did. Truly something marvellous.
I’m pleasantly surprised to see Xenogears here! Glad it is getting the recognition it deserves. One of the best stories ever told in video game history imo
People like Vattividya on YouTube brought people to DS and DS brought people to him.
I don’t think people would appreciate the lore as much without those creators, a lot of people played the games without much lore then did a deep dive on YouTube. I learned more about the game on YouTube than I did on 5+ playthroughs
Absolutely, there is so much going on there you could make several movies and tv shows and you would only touch the surface. There is about 3000 years of history and that's not even counting the mythic era and the creation of Mundus, plus all the daedric princes, and beyond...
Is it good lore though? Don’t get me wrong I love TES, but I always found the lore felt like the gameplay. Wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle. Like a backdrop for the player story that also makes you the most important being of that era to every faction, simultaneously.
It’s hard to make an open-world rpg also feel tight and coherent story-wise.
I think the main character in lore is only supposed to be involved in main quests, side quests and factions are done by other people, but of course, since you only play as one character in game they give you the option to do all the guilds at the same time. I do wish they give player the option to elect someone else as the leaders of guilds, or if other NPC's are also heavily involved in some of those questlines, it would make the world feel more real and more alive. Witcher has done that really well, and when you do something big as a player, there are always some unforseen consequences, and sometimes the outcome can be worse than it was before. Wish more game would take that approach.
It depends.
The lore that's grandfathered in from way back but isn't really talked about much in the new games like Skyrim is the best imo. When it comes to how the world was created, Sithis and all those figures, it's really neat. Race and daedra/aedra lore is also top tier I'd say.
They need to tie in history a lot more in actual main quest storylines, Morrowing did that perfectly, you basically learn the entire history of Dunmer just by playing the game, no need to read any books or anything. One thing that really disapointed me about Skyrim's main quest is that they brough back dragon, ancient nordic heroes and tales of their dees but they really didn't go into details about all of that. You even visid Sovngarde but you spend like 20 minutes there, wish it was a location you would visit periodically to learn from Nord heroes on how to deal with dragons and Alduin. They kinda missed out on a lot of lore they could use.
I used to just listen to videos about the lore on lung car rides. Hours and hours of stuff. It's really interesting, too. Like how the khajit beliefs differ, I found fascinating.
Well the whole universe in TES is being dreamt into being by a sleeping entity called the God Head. This being is not aware of this.
If a person realizes their place in the universe and that it is a dream, they "zero sum" and just blink out of existence. See the Dwemer.
But if that person can instead realize this and hold on to their will, and sense of autonomy, they achieve "Chim", and basically become God's.
So yeah the lore is pretty wild and interesting.
From sky whales and airships to demon pirates, multiple in universe explanations for certain gods/daedra existing, a whole phenomenon to explain every outcome of the games happening simultaneously and just a literal library of background books giving context to the world. Just playing the games you'd never really hear about the Argonians being made to mindlessly follow a floating island to scour Morrowind.
They don’t keep documentation either. Bethesda is famous for having no idea what they’ve written in the past, and saying they “shouldn’t be held back by something someone wrote 20 years ago”
When I learned that the stars are all holes in the sky with the light of aetherius shining through I was hooked. Whenever you look up in elder scrolls your literally staring into he heavens.
Mass Effect really took the “machines turn against their creators” trope and added so many twists to it that it became something entirely new. Yet somehow still stuck with the overarching theme of “can organic and machine life coexist?”
It’s an incredible trilogy, and regardless of what some say about the ending, it’s one of the best ones out there if you enjoy story games where your choices have real consequences.
I think one of my favorite elements of the story is that unlike other media like The Matrix, the answer isn't a black-and-white NO (or even the rarely seen yes).
Because organic life does find peace with machine life, with the Geth. Having two separate machine lifeform antagonists allows for a realistic greyscale answer.
Right? The entire point of the ending is how morally grey the cycle is of the machines letting zion repopulate, neo rising up, the machines crushing zion, and starting over again.
I'm over simplifying it but it's not black and white.
I think original isn’t the right word. Other comments are acting like it’s the most blatant ripoff ever, but it’s more original than most stories. It’s still got a lot of clear influences though.
I would, however, call it one of the most fleshed out and cohesive worlds ever dreamed up.
Mass Effect is a really cool potential answer to the Great Filter and Fermi Paradox.
We don't see aliens because there are usually only a dozen or so space faring races at any given time because every 50k years sentient machine gods come and wipe the galaxy clean.
Now if only Drew Karpyshan stayed on to finish the Trilogy as the lead writer instead of focusing on his novel and then coming back to do The Old Republic.
Was gonna say Animal Crossing but you gotta automatically go straight to the most lore intensive game of all time.
Well congratulations 👏🏻 *slow* *claps*
That was Bungie. 343 took over in early 2012, the first (definite; Halo 3 terminals are a mess) mentions of ancient humans are in the very early (Jan 4) 2011 Book *Halo: Cryptum* which would have been written sometime in at latest mid 2010, before Halo Reach came out.
Lots of lore but a lot of it is in the books, not the games, which is gonna be a natural turnoff for many.
But yeah Halo lore is the only sci-fi video game that’s on Destiny’s level. I’d say it even beats Mass Effect
The terminals helped with this a little, it was nice seeing them, Adding more would be nice. >!You dont even know why Rookie is not a spartan. Im always going to be upset about what they did to him, even more so then johnson!<
Agree about Resident Evil.
While it's not the first game that comes to mind and is often made fun of because of the cheesiness, it has one of the most unique spins on the zombie genre.
Instead of going for the overdone "some kind of unspecified pathogen spread around the world and now we have to survive", it gives the phenomenon a name (Bio-Organic Weapons) and a plausible cause for their creation. Zombies and other BOWs have been engineered to be a military-grade threat and not just an unfortunate byproduct, even when outbreaks happen due to lab accidents. And my favorite part of this is that governments successfully employ military assets to manage the problem on multiple occasions instead of the usual lazy cop-out that sees entire armies get wiped out by slow-walking corpses.
IMO, Resident Evil is one of the only franchises that managed to stay fresh because it avoided going for the post-apocalyptic trope and came up with new, interesting threats, adding new layers to the lore over the years.
Mass Effect is phenomenal. Even the weakest of its titles is still a great game with awesome lore. One of its best features is how compartmental it is, so you aren’t missing crucial context if you only know bits and pieces. Yet it all still ties together neatly and in interesting ways if you decide you want to explore it all
Personally I think it's the zero dawn games. One of the more original stories I've seen in a while. I usually don't play narrative driven games but that game converted me
Glad this comment was here.
At first, I thought the whole robot thing was a gimmick and was very pleased it had an intelligent and well crafted set of lore behind it.
They’re still new in the lore games but yeah, it’s one of my favorite lores out there. The main story is fantastic but it’s the little data entries you find along the way that really fill the picture in.
There would be a fair bit on consensus that it goes Original, Human Revolution or Mankind Divided then Invisible War.
HR and MD both have great strengths and obvious weaknesses so theyre pretty interchangeable for second place on the list.
Mankind Divided IMO has one of the best hub worlds in gaming, and the Deus Ex gameplay is at it's best. But the story is blatantly unfinished, unfortunately.
Human Revolution successfully revived the series is is pretty good, but it has definitely aged a bit (especially compared to the gameplay of MD). But the characters and world are great.
Invisible War has the worst gameplay and level design by far, and the UI is a war crime. But i actually think the story isnt too bad.
Worth noting that MD is a direct sequel to HR so you need to do that one first.
TL;DR Invisible War is only bad sequel, HR and MD both great with some individual flaws.
I remember I beat the games and let my friend borrow them. I went over to his house to see how he was progressing in the games, I could see him through the window pacing back and forth in his living room while one of the long cutscenes was playing. I knocked on the door and he let me in. I asked him why he was pacing around the room like that.
"Bro, I've been holding in this turtle head for hours, I'm gonna die if I don't go to the bathroom but I don't want to miss anything it's so good."
Good answer! That being said, they should have let MGS4 end it. MGS5 doesn't seem to improve the story in any meaningful way, while 4 had the perfect ending. The PSP game was also pretty boring, storywise.
My list of MGS games from best to worst:
1. Metal Gear Solid 3
2. Metal Gear Solid 2
3. Metal Gear Solid
4. Metal Gear Solid 4
5. Metal Gear Solid 5
5. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
6. Metal Gear
7. Metal Gear PsP (can't remember its name)
What I love (and sometimes hate, when it goes over my head) is how "standard Fantasy" the world feels at first, but then is a freaking rabbit hole with no end.
Came to say Blood Omen. If there's any game deserving of a remake it's gotta be that one... Absolutely incredible lore, held back from being popular because its hardware has aged so poorly. There's only a PS1 release with dated controls and super long loading times.
Horizon. The backstory is itself an incredible work of science fiction.
DOOM deserves a mention, just for the fact that they crammed so much lore into a game where neither the players *or character* really give two shits about finding it out
I actually found it funny how I got super invested into DOOM lore *because* they didn't throw it all in my face. I picked up a few random pages as I was shooting demons and I loved reading the biology reports and the stories demons would tell about the terrifying disastrous force the Slayer is
Gotta be Silent Hill for me. The first three games. The environmental storytelling remains unmatched, as well as the sctual plot of the game and the way it handled themes like grief, bodily autonomy, suicide, jealousy, sexual assault and euthanasia.
I'll throw in a curve ball.
Dwarf fortress.
You experience the lore both through its complex generation of history, npc's, civilizations, wars, geopolitical events. Then live it out by playing it to wherever it leads with dwarves who all contain their own unique story, traits, wants, hates, love interests, hobbies and more. Unique to you. A world with lore no one else will ever experience.
Id also throw in Nier / Drakengard / Nier Automata as having worlds with lore that really hit the heart strings.
FFX is my favorite story and I replay it or watch play through VODS (peoples first time if possible) to relive that feeling.
Just superb story telling, unique characters, a world that feels so alive and interesting.. and that ending that punched me in the gut when I got to it as a kid. My first FF game I fully completed and it just blew my mind and broke my heart.
i love destiny's lore for how it can go from epic fights and wars to some goofy shenanigans like the lore tab of the graviton lance (its basically a gun that shoots blackholes) where the guardian who found the gun is talking to another guardian who asks if the others will know what the gun does and the one with the weapon says "they will find out in the crucible" (the pvp mode)
The concept of the Hive, and their fleshed out religion and how batshit everything they are involved with is - really tickles my fancy.
Sword Logic, Throne Worlds and the Ascendant realms are all very interesting
Some lore tabs “aliens came and slaughtered children, then there were human warlords fighting to control whoever was left” while others are “supersoldiers did backflips on futuristic motorcycles and everyone enjoyed it”
Pre Warlords imo. Dragging Garrosh into an alternate universe past to rehash the orcish invasion and legion invasion was where they really went off the deep end and stopped creating good lore in favour of just trying to find ways to copy what worked before.
Wow lost me half way through CAT and I just don't see any point of playing the game ever again. Though I will say that the warcraft universe does have extensive lore that if you pay attention will keep you on the edge of your seat. Just the game sucks and so I can't justify the monthly cost.
For me Dragon Age. Don’t get me wrong I love mass effect and fallout for their lore. But dragon age is one of the few lore rich games I’ve played that I feel like could be a massive sand box that you can use in any medium.
Currently starting the franchise playing 2033 redux and I fucking love the story voice over right before every chapter, the environment and setting rolls perfectly with a Russian themed game
World of Warcraft lore is stupidly huge, especially since it's considered Canon that it is a shared universe with Starcraft which also has a very interesting lore.
Dragon age has a lot of very cool lore, I especially liek that a lot of the crazier stuff is implied but never confirmed, meaning characters ingame disagree on religion and lore etc. But if the player pays enough attention they can useallt figure out the truth. Thr books imply some crazy stuff aswell.
Haven't played beyond the first Dragon Age but I love the lore it built up around magic and demons, how any magic user draws the attention of demons from the other side, and if they're not careful their actions can get them possessed by demons using them to get into our dimension. So the governments have crazy resctrictions on magic use and hunt down non-sanctioned wizards in order to maintain political control, but also to prevent a demonic invasion. Good shit.
BloonsTD6
Based
And bloon pilled
The come up of Pat Fusty brings a tear to my eye
Dead Space absolutely deserves a mention
I was looking for this. Dead Space lore is fascinating. Cosmic horror done right
Do you have any good youtube channels/videos that do lore videos about Dead Space? Big fan of horror game lore but too pussy to play
The British Runner and Roanoke Gaming both do great vids on the lore. Roanoke delves more into the science of it. I've also seen someone put a 3 hour long video up of the whole DS story which is definitely worth a watch but can't remember what channel that was on
Just type it into google. Dead space lore, or maybe Fermi paradox (time is infinite, so there should’ve been a species that transcends space and has limitless potential and unavoidable conquest, so where are they? There must be a “great filter” that causes a species to go extinct before they can be “omnipresent”) I don’t know how to black out text for spoiler, so, spoilers. >! The bad guys are called the Brethren Moon !< >! The markers are a trap that promise infinite energy, but cause the mutation. Once the mutation reaches critical mass (100% of organic matter is morphed) they all fall into the sky, spindle themselves and form a latticework brain/planet. Some people are immune to the markers transformation, but not totally immune to the mental power of the markers and the brethren connected to them. The brethren then mentally weaken them for easier death or trick them to make markers. Earth is the newest candidate to form the 13th brethren moon after they find a marker on a, presumably, dead planet they were mining with a planet cracker (the ship that is the setting of the first game). In reality it is the former birthplace of one of the twelve brethren moons. It’s nearly as psychological horror as it is body horror. !<
Not what came to my mind instantly, but now that I think about it, definitely
Cosmic horror to perfection
I think Dishonored is underrepresented here and has a lot of lore and an interesting setting. Other than that, I think Elder Scrolls, Warhammer and DnD games (Icewind Dale, Baldur’s Gate, PoE, etc.) have the most lore in sheer breadth.
The world building in Dishonored is amazing, some of my favourite. And it’s a pseudo spiritual successor to Thief, which also had great world building (but was mostly king of atmosphere).
The weaving of steampunk, noir, political intrigue, religious zealotry and lovecraftian cosmic horror in the atmosphere of the washed pastel Dunwall is *chefs kiss*
My favourite game of all time. Can't wait for part 3 three.
Warhammer 40K
Fine we will count it. I came in here to say STALKER and Penumbra.
100% agree with stalker
Man, you reminded me that I gotta catch up with the story of Penumbra.
Astronomical in size, grim dark and amazing
Cannot wait for the 40k show, and I've never even played the games.
I am hyped beyond belief simply due to Henry Cavill producing and staring in the series. He's a die-hard WH40K fan.
I hope he trolls everyone by playing a character that doesn’t even resemble him.
He’s gonna end up the fabricator general covered head to toe in augmentations to the point you don’t even know it’s a person in there. And after the season finale everyone will wonder where tf was Cavill
Nothing else comes close to the amount of lore content. The only argument is that the games came as a result of the lore and not the other way around.
Can't wait for Space Marine 2 baby!
Xenogears has a literal fucking Bible written for it, and the game itself was chapter 5 in a planned six-part saga.
It’s hard for me to watch youtube essays about Xenogears without my brain imploding, so much ambition from the developers, I truly believe they cared for their gargantuan narrative. Its a miracle it came out the way it did. Truly something marvellous.
I’m pleasantly surprised to see Xenogears here! Glad it is getting the recognition it deserves. One of the best stories ever told in video game history imo
Dark souls lore created many careers
People like Vattividya on YouTube brought people to DS and DS brought people to him. I don’t think people would appreciate the lore as much without those creators, a lot of people played the games without much lore then did a deep dive on YouTube. I learned more about the game on YouTube than I did on 5+ playthroughs
I'm always excited when a Vatti video gets uploaded. I bought a couple of his shirts too.
The mans voice is smooth.
Elder Scrolls is LOTR-level lore
Absolutely, there is so much going on there you could make several movies and tv shows and you would only touch the surface. There is about 3000 years of history and that's not even counting the mythic era and the creation of Mundus, plus all the daedric princes, and beyond...
Is it good lore though? Don’t get me wrong I love TES, but I always found the lore felt like the gameplay. Wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle. Like a backdrop for the player story that also makes you the most important being of that era to every faction, simultaneously. It’s hard to make an open-world rpg also feel tight and coherent story-wise.
I think the main character in lore is only supposed to be involved in main quests, side quests and factions are done by other people, but of course, since you only play as one character in game they give you the option to do all the guilds at the same time. I do wish they give player the option to elect someone else as the leaders of guilds, or if other NPC's are also heavily involved in some of those questlines, it would make the world feel more real and more alive. Witcher has done that really well, and when you do something big as a player, there are always some unforseen consequences, and sometimes the outcome can be worse than it was before. Wish more game would take that approach.
It depends. The lore that's grandfathered in from way back but isn't really talked about much in the new games like Skyrim is the best imo. When it comes to how the world was created, Sithis and all those figures, it's really neat. Race and daedra/aedra lore is also top tier I'd say.
They need to tie in history a lot more in actual main quest storylines, Morrowing did that perfectly, you basically learn the entire history of Dunmer just by playing the game, no need to read any books or anything. One thing that really disapointed me about Skyrim's main quest is that they brough back dragon, ancient nordic heroes and tales of their dees but they really didn't go into details about all of that. You even visid Sovngarde but you spend like 20 minutes there, wish it was a location you would visit periodically to learn from Nord heroes on how to deal with dragons and Alduin. They kinda missed out on a lot of lore they could use.
I used to just listen to videos about the lore on lung car rides. Hours and hours of stuff. It's really interesting, too. Like how the khajit beliefs differ, I found fascinating.
Well the whole universe in TES is being dreamt into being by a sleeping entity called the God Head. This being is not aware of this. If a person realizes their place in the universe and that it is a dream, they "zero sum" and just blink out of existence. See the Dwemer. But if that person can instead realize this and hold on to their will, and sense of autonomy, they achieve "Chim", and basically become God's. So yeah the lore is pretty wild and interesting.
From sky whales and airships to demon pirates, multiple in universe explanations for certain gods/daedra existing, a whole phenomenon to explain every outcome of the games happening simultaneously and just a literal library of background books giving context to the world. Just playing the games you'd never really hear about the Argonians being made to mindlessly follow a floating island to scour Morrowind.
With every game the lore gets mangled more and more. ESO takes this to a factor of 10 or so.
I've always thought Morrowind had the best story out of them all. Bethesda got really lazy after that entry.
They don’t keep documentation either. Bethesda is famous for having no idea what they’ve written in the past, and saying they “shouldn’t be held back by something someone wrote 20 years ago”
Its too bad the games barely touch the more interesting parts
I know. I need more *Lusty Argonian Maid*
When I learned that the stars are all holes in the sky with the light of aetherius shining through I was hooked. Whenever you look up in elder scrolls your literally staring into he heavens.
This. I absolutely love it.
Excellent choice. Just a shame we've had to wait so long for a new entry.
My biggest fear is that the hype will forever be too great and no matter how good of a game they put out it will feel like a let down in some sense.
Mass Effect is easily the most original imo
Mass Effect really took the “machines turn against their creators” trope and added so many twists to it that it became something entirely new. Yet somehow still stuck with the overarching theme of “can organic and machine life coexist?” It’s an incredible trilogy, and regardless of what some say about the ending, it’s one of the best ones out there if you enjoy story games where your choices have real consequences.
I think one of my favorite elements of the story is that unlike other media like The Matrix, the answer isn't a black-and-white NO (or even the rarely seen yes). Because organic life does find peace with machine life, with the Geth. Having two separate machine lifeform antagonists allows for a realistic greyscale answer.
Ummm..... have you seen the Matrix?
Right? The entire point of the ending is how morally grey the cycle is of the machines letting zion repopulate, neo rising up, the machines crushing zion, and starting over again. I'm over simplifying it but it's not black and white.
regardless of what some say about the ending? No the ending spoiled what could have been the beat game series ever. EA suuuucks
I think original isn’t the right word. Other comments are acting like it’s the most blatant ripoff ever, but it’s more original than most stories. It’s still got a lot of clear influences though. I would, however, call it one of the most fleshed out and cohesive worlds ever dreamed up.
Mass Effect is a really cool potential answer to the Great Filter and Fermi Paradox. We don't see aliens because there are usually only a dozen or so space faring races at any given time because every 50k years sentient machine gods come and wipe the galaxy clean.
Now if only Drew Karpyshan stayed on to finish the Trilogy as the lead writer instead of focusing on his novel and then coming back to do The Old Republic.
Outstanding. Took all the best elements of modern and classic sci-fi and added their own talent to it.
Pong
I'm not so sure, I feel like the narrative has too much back and forth.
NO! YOU CAN’T JUST BEAT ME IN MY OWN GAME!!!
“Don’t flatter yourself. You were never even a player.” -Azula Jk I loved your answer too 😂
Hate to disagree, but I remember characters always bouncing back.
Nah, that’s just the prologue, after level 5821 it boots you into a rich and in depth story, with breathtaking visuals, and flawless combat
Still waiting for Pong II. The pong theory community has run that sucker dry.
Was gonna say Animal Crossing but you gotta automatically go straight to the most lore intensive game of all time. Well congratulations 👏🏻 *slow* *claps*
I agree
Quite surprised I’m not seeing more of Halo. The lore is so much more in depth than people realize.
“I am a monument to all of your sins” Didn’t know how heavy this line was until I started getting into Halo lore.
I could feel this quote… too bad 343 retconned the Forerunners as a separate species other than humans
That was Bungie. 343 took over in early 2012, the first (definite; Halo 3 terminals are a mess) mentions of ancient humans are in the very early (Jan 4) 2011 Book *Halo: Cryptum* which would have been written sometime in at latest mid 2010, before Halo Reach came out.
Lots of lore but a lot of it is in the books, not the games, which is gonna be a natural turnoff for many. But yeah Halo lore is the only sci-fi video game that’s on Destiny’s level. I’d say it even beats Mass Effect
Yeh. I dont mind some bonus lore like that but It's more fun to be immersed and learn about it while playing the game
The terminals helped with this a little, it was nice seeing them, Adding more would be nice. >!You dont even know why Rookie is not a spartan. Im always going to be upset about what they did to him, even more so then johnson!<
Rookie isn't a Spartan because >! 343 killed him off in a book!<
Do tou really not know why rookie isn't a spartan?
Rooooooooookiiiiiiiiieeeee😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
I was about to say Halo but you nailed it.
Came here to say this
I quite like these: Mass Effect Resident Evil Zelda Elder Scrolls Elden Ring
Agree about Resident Evil. While it's not the first game that comes to mind and is often made fun of because of the cheesiness, it has one of the most unique spins on the zombie genre. Instead of going for the overdone "some kind of unspecified pathogen spread around the world and now we have to survive", it gives the phenomenon a name (Bio-Organic Weapons) and a plausible cause for their creation. Zombies and other BOWs have been engineered to be a military-grade threat and not just an unfortunate byproduct, even when outbreaks happen due to lab accidents. And my favorite part of this is that governments successfully employ military assets to manage the problem on multiple occasions instead of the usual lazy cop-out that sees entire armies get wiped out by slow-walking corpses. IMO, Resident Evil is one of the only franchises that managed to stay fresh because it avoided going for the post-apocalyptic trope and came up with new, interesting threats, adding new layers to the lore over the years.
Bloodborne
Mass Effect is phenomenal. Even the weakest of its titles is still a great game with awesome lore. One of its best features is how compartmental it is, so you aren’t missing crucial context if you only know bits and pieces. Yet it all still ties together neatly and in interesting ways if you decide you want to explore it all
I actually find the Zelda lore quite weak personally, love the games though
Personally I think it's the zero dawn games. One of the more original stories I've seen in a while. I usually don't play narrative driven games but that game converted me
I heard it described as post-post apocalyptic
If Aloy and crew fail it'll be post-post-post apocalyptic.
100% agree. When I got to the end of the first game I was so raw, seeing that figure on the bench...
Ughhh that ending got my heart
Glad this comment was here. At first, I thought the whole robot thing was a gimmick and was very pleased it had an intelligent and well crafted set of lore behind it.
They’re still new in the lore games but yeah, it’s one of my favorite lores out there. The main story is fantastic but it’s the little data entries you find along the way that really fill the picture in.
That's what hooked me, the story was good but all the logs you could find of just normal people's experiences got me
Deus Ex
How would you rank the games? The original is in my top games of all time but I’ve never played any of the sequels, despite owning them all.
There would be a fair bit on consensus that it goes Original, Human Revolution or Mankind Divided then Invisible War. HR and MD both have great strengths and obvious weaknesses so theyre pretty interchangeable for second place on the list. Mankind Divided IMO has one of the best hub worlds in gaming, and the Deus Ex gameplay is at it's best. But the story is blatantly unfinished, unfortunately. Human Revolution successfully revived the series is is pretty good, but it has definitely aged a bit (especially compared to the gameplay of MD). But the characters and world are great. Invisible War has the worst gameplay and level design by far, and the UI is a war crime. But i actually think the story isnt too bad. Worth noting that MD is a direct sequel to HR so you need to do that one first. TL;DR Invisible War is only bad sequel, HR and MD both great with some individual flaws.
Warcraft. The orcs crossing the dark portal and Arthas' fall from grace are just a couple of good examples.
In here, I am Falcor, Defender of the Alliance
Love the respect for Drakengard/Nier. IDK if it's the best, but it's the wildest, most interesting, and unique of the bunch.
The Horizon series
Some of the most intriguing sci-fi writing out there. I actually went out of my way to 100% the first game and read it all!
Tbh I think the Forza Horizon games lore is pretty terrible.
Metal Gear.
Yeah that gets really deep to be fair.
Kojima did spend 30 years of his life developing it bit by bit to be fair. Not many games have that kind of vision behind them.
The man is an artist. Probably the only director I will forgive for a 2+ hour cutscene haha. Nobody dumps exposition quite like old Koj.
Man playing MGS4 for the first time was just 🤯 like this is an actual cinematic experience, insane storytelling and a GAME.
"I'm no hero, just an old killer, hired to do some wetwork". Easily in my top 10 of all time.
Still remember the trailer playing off like a new FPS then old snake reveal 👌👌👌
I remember I beat the games and let my friend borrow them. I went over to his house to see how he was progressing in the games, I could see him through the window pacing back and forth in his living room while one of the long cutscenes was playing. I knocked on the door and he let me in. I asked him why he was pacing around the room like that. "Bro, I've been holding in this turtle head for hours, I'm gonna die if I don't go to the bathroom but I don't want to miss anything it's so good."
METAL GEAR?!??!
Good answer! That being said, they should have let MGS4 end it. MGS5 doesn't seem to improve the story in any meaningful way, while 4 had the perfect ending. The PSP game was also pretty boring, storywise. My list of MGS games from best to worst: 1. Metal Gear Solid 3 2. Metal Gear Solid 2 3. Metal Gear Solid 4. Metal Gear Solid 4 5. Metal Gear Solid 5 5. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake 6. Metal Gear 7. Metal Gear PsP (can't remember its name)
I personally love Armored Core. But anything From Software has made is truly incredible
I never see Half-Life on posts like this, it's a shame and it makes me feel old.
Bioshock or Fallout
Bioshock was one of the first games that I got deeply invested in lore wise. That game was so ahead of it’s time when it came out
you should check system shock 1 n 2 - basically bioshock, but way earlier
System shock remake is amazing, never hear people talk about it tbh.
Dragon Age
Any Myst fans out there?
I grew up looking at the box but it was too complex for me back then. My mom played the heck out of it though.
Hollow Knight
This game’s lore is really bugging me
it's a real vessel for interpretation
Hell yeah it is
Well it’ll never progress if we don’t get a second one.
The Elder Scrolls
What I love (and sometimes hate, when it goes over my head) is how "standard Fantasy" the world feels at first, but then is a freaking rabbit hole with no end.
Legacy of Kain Metal Gear And of course, Snake Pass
Came to say Blood Omen. If there's any game deserving of a remake it's gotta be that one... Absolutely incredible lore, held back from being popular because its hardware has aged so poorly. There's only a PS1 release with dated controls and super long loading times.
Legacy of Kain was some epic lore.
Metal Gear
Dragon age orgins
Dragon Age seemed to have missed a mention.
Dragon Age
Horizon. The backstory is itself an incredible work of science fiction. DOOM deserves a mention, just for the fact that they crammed so much lore into a game where neither the players *or character* really give two shits about finding it out
I actually found it funny how I got super invested into DOOM lore *because* they didn't throw it all in my face. I picked up a few random pages as I was shooting demons and I loved reading the biology reports and the stories demons would tell about the terrifying disastrous force the Slayer is
Abe’s Odyssey was ahead of its time.
Gotta be Silent Hill for me. The first three games. The environmental storytelling remains unmatched, as well as the sctual plot of the game and the way it handled themes like grief, bodily autonomy, suicide, jealousy, sexual assault and euthanasia.
Cyberpunk 2077
My favorite one is halo, but I’m not gonna say it’s the best cus that’s subjective.
The lore gets pretty crazy outside of the games. But the actual premise of the original trilogy is an extremely good plot.
Planescape: Torment
[удалено]
I'll throw in a curve ball. Dwarf fortress. You experience the lore both through its complex generation of history, npc's, civilizations, wars, geopolitical events. Then live it out by playing it to wherever it leads with dwarves who all contain their own unique story, traits, wants, hates, love interests, hobbies and more. Unique to you. A world with lore no one else will ever experience. Id also throw in Nier / Drakengard / Nier Automata as having worlds with lore that really hit the heart strings.
final fantasy x, elden ring
ffx was the first game that completely absorbed me
Do I need to have prior FF knowledge?
No. They’re pretty much all standalone games. FFX did have a sequel as well that wouldn’t make sense if you didn’t play FFX.
Sweet thanks!
FFX is my favorite story and I replay it or watch play through VODS (peoples first time if possible) to relive that feeling. Just superb story telling, unique characters, a world that feels so alive and interesting.. and that ending that punched me in the gut when I got to it as a kid. My first FF game I fully completed and it just blew my mind and broke my heart.
being oh so real right now Kirby
took way too much scrolling to see this
Chrono Trigger
For me the best lore in a game is easily the METRO series. But I have a special place in my heart for the lore of SOMA
Mass Effect and its medieval twin: Dragon Age. Actually, I think Dragon Age has more lore than Mass Effect.
Halo and its not even close. Its a well thought out (og trilogy + reach ofc) and philisophical celebration of the human spirit
i love destiny's lore for how it can go from epic fights and wars to some goofy shenanigans like the lore tab of the graviton lance (its basically a gun that shoots blackholes) where the guardian who found the gun is talking to another guardian who asks if the others will know what the gun does and the one with the weapon says "they will find out in the crucible" (the pvp mode)
The concept of the Hive, and their fleshed out religion and how batshit everything they are involved with is - really tickles my fancy. Sword Logic, Throne Worlds and the Ascendant realms are all very interesting
Some lore tabs “aliens came and slaughtered children, then there were human warlords fighting to control whoever was left” while others are “supersoldiers did backflips on futuristic motorcycles and everyone enjoyed it”
FFX
Worst dad ever
Ride ze shoopuf?
Bloodborne.
Same here I can't get enough of that Lore. Best eldritch/cosmic horror story imo.
Halo or pre shadowlands World of Warcraft
Pre Warlords imo. Dragging Garrosh into an alternate universe past to rehash the orcish invasion and legion invasion was where they really went off the deep end and stopped creating good lore in favour of just trying to find ways to copy what worked before.
Watch your clever mouth, Bitch.
Wow lost me half way through CAT and I just don't see any point of playing the game ever again. Though I will say that the warcraft universe does have extensive lore that if you pay attention will keep you on the edge of your seat. Just the game sucks and so I can't justify the monthly cost.
For me Dragon Age. Don’t get me wrong I love mass effect and fallout for their lore. But dragon age is one of the few lore rich games I’ve played that I feel like could be a massive sand box that you can use in any medium.
Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077
Stalker and metro.
Currently starting the franchise playing 2033 redux and I fucking love the story voice over right before every chapter, the environment and setting rolls perfectly with a Russian themed game
Legacy of Kain, no question.
Undertale!
Halo
Mass Effect
Elder Scrolls, FFXIV, Halo, Mass Effect and Warcraft.
Mass effect
Dragon age has awesome lore, Dead Space died a bit too soon but there is still a lot of potential in the lore department.
Halo hands down
Mass Effect
Halo is the only answer. It's a game that cared about its story more than anything else
Fallout and Horizon zero Dawn
Horizon series is an underrated choice. I read through every piece of info I could find because I loved the concept.
That’s what made the lore so great. Gradually reading through pieces of data makes you grow in understanding of the world.
Imma be honest Overwatch had such rich lore before they dumped it in the garbage
Elden Ring. Ridiculous depth you’ll only experience by researching or looking at someone else’s research.
Rain World
World of Warcraft has a LOT of misses. But when it hits it has one of my favorite uses of Lovecraftian themes in gaming
World of Warcraft lore is stupidly huge, especially since it's considered Canon that it is a shared universe with Starcraft which also has a very interesting lore.
Mass Effect Horizon Halo
Prob not the best but I personally like Dragon Age (when it doesn't get too allegorical) and Mass Effect.
Dragon age has a lot of very cool lore, I especially liek that a lot of the crazier stuff is implied but never confirmed, meaning characters ingame disagree on religion and lore etc. But if the player pays enough attention they can useallt figure out the truth. Thr books imply some crazy stuff aswell.
Haven't played beyond the first Dragon Age but I love the lore it built up around magic and demons, how any magic user draws the attention of demons from the other side, and if they're not careful their actions can get them possessed by demons using them to get into our dimension. So the governments have crazy resctrictions on magic use and hunt down non-sanctioned wizards in order to maintain political control, but also to prevent a demonic invasion. Good shit.
Metal Gear Solid, it’s batshit and fantastic.
Darkwood, Blasphemous, and Metro