Games With The Best Storylines

People play video games for different reasons. Some like to unwind after a long day, the others enjoy the multiplayer experience with their friends. There are some games, though, that aim for a bigger goal: they are trying to excel at storytelling. This allows them to linger on in players’ minds and leave a mark, ensuring that players will remember them fondly not only for graphics and fun gameplay mechanics. Today, we would like to talk about must-play story games.

What Defines an Exceptional Story Mode Game?

It’s difficult to point out the aspects of storytelling that resonate with all people. Most popular story games tend to touch something deep inside players’ souls. However, some players like several aspects, the others enjoy something else. There are however some things that can be distinguished. Let’s look at them.

Key Features of the Best Video Game Stories

1. Engagement and immersion: A very important aspect of storytelling that can help create the best story mode games of all time is immersion, which can be achieved by intricate, detailed worldbuilding. It’s much better if you create a world that feels natural and real and tells a story that occurs in this world.
2. Well-written charismatic characters: Players of story mode games are going to spend time with these characters, so it’s crucial to make them feel humane and interesting. No one ever likes cardboard cutouts that feel like walking clichés, but everyone will like and remember vulnerable characters with their personal struggles, problems and traits. 
3. Intricate substories: Substories in story-type games are a great way to add depth to the world you’re creating, but it’s also very important to make them interesting to follow on their own. In some cases, substories can be even more interesting and memorable to some players than the main story! Some vaults’ lore in the Fallout series and some quests in The Witcher 3 are quite like that. 
4. Unexpected twists: In must-play story games, when things cannot be simply predicted, it’s always great. But creating a logical conclusion to a very complicated story that comes out of nowhere and makes you say “wow” is truly a remarkable achievement that makes a story great.
5. No “deus ex machinas”: “Unexpected” is great, but it’s better to avoid unlikely resolutions. They are perceived as something unrealistic, breaking the immersion and overall feeling boring and anticlimactic. Most popular story games tend to provide a logical conclusion that feels right and realistic and ties everything rather elegantly together.
6. Emotional impact: Emotions mean a lot to us, humans, and when video game storylines leave a lasting impact thanks to particularly emotional moments, it’s always welcome. It resonates with us on a personal level, as if we see it happening with our friends that mean a lot to us, or even us, or our in-game avatars.

Before discussing top 10 game storylines, let’s talk a bit more about the emotional impact in detail.

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How Story Games Engage Players Emotionally

• Choices and consequences: When you allow players to choose their path in story type games, to affect their walkthrough by making their own choice on how the story should go, you increase the agency, leading to players believing that their actions matter and influence their own experience. This leads to taking everything seriously, as if it’s not a game, but a real life. 
• Environmental storytelling and overall immersion: Instead of telling things, best story mode games show them: A newspaper stand a player can interact with may reveal some info on the world surrounding these characters, and it tends to be better than a black screen with white letters on it, telling players about the war that took place before the game starts. It helps to immerse players, make them feel as if they discovered something about this world they have to exist in.  
• Universal and enduring themes: It’s much easier for players to engage in story-type games if it’s relatable on a human level. Characters seeking for revenge or trying to save the world that means so much to them are a perfect match for most of players, since it’s so easy to step into these shoes. Love, loss, grief and redemption tend to be emotions that are universal in their language and everybody who lives can relate to them.

‍If you want to make must play story games that will hook your audience with its storyline and never let them go, feel free to approach a game outsourcing company.‍RocketBrush Studio has been working since 2016, assisting prominent gaming industry developers such as Applovin, Supercell, Paradox Interactive, Romero Games and many more. We have been working in various types of styles and genres, from retro pixelated roguelites to cozy mobile puzzles. If you have a great story in mind that you would like to expand on, reach us at hello@rocketbrush.com and let’s talk about it! ‍

Top 10 Game Storylines That Captivated Players

In no particular order we will look at some of the greatest video game storylines that left an enormous impression on players.

Disco Elysium‍

Genre: RPG | Developer: ZA/UM | Release date: 2019

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One of the most well-written RPGs of all time: a detective story set in an eerie, incredibly detailed and immersive world that feels too real and too dreamlike at the same time. The way it handles politics of the real world and integrates them into their world is very mature, its characters with their flaws and strengths have become fans’ favorites, its themes are deep and thought-provoking, its twists are never boring, with one, in particular, being one of the most cherished, emotional moments in all mediums. Disco Elysium has received a lot of praise and rewards and truly can be considered one of the best story mode games of all time.

Fallout: New Vegas‍

Genre: RPG | Developer: Obsidian Entertainment| Release date: 2010‍

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The classic Fallout series has always gained a lot of attention, thanks to its intricate lore and story, which combined the war paranoia, ironic 50s post-war optimism and cynical, wistful tone. New Vegas was originally called Van Buren, the third installment in a classic series that never has seen the light of the day, up until the New Vegas release, which quickly became a game with one of the best storylines. A unique blend of a post-apocalyptic game and a Western with a very interesting main story of fractions trying to gain power in the lost world was greatly appreciated by players. In addition, some substories were so fun and interesting that they still remain a standard of how you should handle the optional quest storylines in video games.

Chrono Trigger

‍Genre: RPG | Developer: Square | Release date: 1995‍

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A cult classic Japanese RPG about companionship and time travel, telling a unique and touching story, is one of the must play story games and gained a lot of praise among fans since its release in 1995. The main character, Crono, and his friends visit different historical eras to change the historical flow and save the world. What seems to be a simple premise is a captivating, emotional storyline. 

Red Dead Redemption 2 

‍Genre: Action | Developer: Rockstar Games | Release date: 2018‍

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Red Dead Redemption 2 is not only incredibly realistic, immersive and gorgeous as a game, but it’s also written like a classic great novel, a tragedy, to be precise, telling you a story of days that slowly go by, dreams being crushed and the idea of Wild West being slowly forgotten. Its main protagonist, Arthur Morgan, is a troubled man with a heart of gold, and the characters he meets during the game all possess unique traits and personalities, making them all very interesting to follow and very memorable, even among the best story mode games of all time.

The Yakuza series‍

Genre: JRPG/Brawler | Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio | First release date: 2005

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When the first game in the series was released in 2005, everybody who played it appreciated its realistic, grim neo-noir, unusual for a story mode game. Interesting, deep, humane characters, unexpected plot twists and the incredibly dark story of the criminal underground world of Japan gained a lot of attention and love from small circles of players. An important aspect of Yakuza storytelling is its substories, which tend to be comedic and heartwarming, allowing creators to give players a break from the dramatic main story and have some fun. 

SOMA‍

Genre: Survival Horror | Developer: Frictional Games | Release date: 2015‍

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It’s nice to live in a world where an existential sci-fi horror that explores human identity and consciousness can be considered one of the best story mode games of all time. Sure, SOMA will have some classic horror moments, with monster chases and all that, but at its core, it scares you as a human – asking you uncomfortable questions and forcing you to make difficult decisions. 

MGS series‍

Genre: Stealth | Developer: Konami | First release date: 1998‍

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Metal Gear Solid series is widely regarded as one of the greatest story type games, blending fun and unique gameplay mechanics with haunting, rich stories full of complex, remarkable characters. Inspired by all kinds of Hollywood films, from action and horror to dramas, MGS gave players an entangled mix of military thriller, philosophy, tech-noir, spy thriller, horror, romantic drama and so on. The series’ story extends for a long period of time, starting with the Cold War and ending in modern, technologically advanced times, criticizing the military-industrial complex and government lies, building its storytelling on conspiracies, philosophical ideas, and human identities, and asking thought-provoking questions. Another interesting aspect of the MGS video game storylines is the fourth wall breaking: engaging you, the player, into its world even deeper, surprising or scaring you, or making you smile.

Bioshock‍

Genre: Shooter | Developer: Irrational Games | Release date: 2007

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The first part of the critically acclaimed series takes place in the underwater city called Rapture, a place that was made with great intentions in mind, but went to hell very quickly. As you explore the city and its dark secrets, you meet fascinating characters, visit haunting places, immerse yourself in the world thanks to a great world-building technique based on environmental storytelling and experience a twist that you will never forget. Bioshock’s story is a great example of a remarkable achievement in story mode games that people still remember and get inspired by even after nearly twenty years since its release.

The Witcher 3

‍Genre: RPG| Developer: CD Projekt RED | Release date: 2015‍

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CD Projekt RED’s games have always been acclaimed for their morally complex choices, and The Witcher 3 is no exception, providing one of the best video game stories of all time. The third part of the series provides us with a vast world full of interesting and gorgeous places to explore, and characters to meet and tells us a story of an empire at war and a man who searches for a person he cares deeply about. A lot of decisions in the game are difficult and require a lot of thought put into them. In addition, the game’s side quests gained a lot of praise, since they are very detailed and rich with interesting paths and mysteries to unveil. 

Silent Hill 2‍

Genre: Survival Horror | Developer: Team Silent| Release date: 2001‍

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Inspired by surreal horror films and even Russian classic books, Silent Hill 2 is one of the most popular story games about a man who comes back to the town to search for his wife, who died of the disease earlier but recently sent him a letter. This game doesn’t need any introduction, really: it has become a cult classic and one of the prime examples and arguments for games medium as an art form. What makes it truly excel, despite the plot twist that most of the players know by now, twenty-three years after its release, is that Silent Hill 2 provided a very deep, personal, intense and psychological look into human nature, something games haven’t done before its release and, to be fair, still rarely do. 

Bottom Line

Games have greatly evolved over the recent years in excellent storytelling, providing rich, detailed stories for everyone. Whether you like simple stories with complex characters or complicated storylines, full of interconnections, with characters that feel like your best friends you’ve known for years, chances are there is a story type game that will satisfy your interest in a good story. And if you like stories in games and want to see more of them, you can try to tell your very own story to the world. ‍

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RocketBrush Studio has worked with a great scope of genres: from zombie post-apocalyptic survival games to futuristic sci-fi projects. We provide services for your projects that vary from environmental art, sound design, animation and background art to user interface, motion capture and so on. The goal is to enhance your project’s storytelling sides and players’ immersion and create a must-play story game together.‍ Our workflow has been established after collaborating with game developers since 2016: providing regular meetings, internal reviews and a dedicated project manager that keeps you in touch with all the changes and challenges.‍‍

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Good luck with telling your own story, and do not forget about all the side quests!