Best story in a video game ever?

[StaceyPowers]

What video game have you played which had the most compelling storyline? No spoilers please.

For me, it is currently tied between The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite (I'm still in the middle of the latter, but I think I am closing in on the end soon).

[Katri Marcell]

For me it's Metal Gear Solid. No other franchise has so much tension and background story as this one. You'll have to replay or see the cutscenes many times in order to know everything there is to it! I would also add Transistor to my answer. The story is amazing for an indie game!

[o-o]

18 hours ago, StaceyPowers said:

What video game have you played which had the most compelling storyline? No spoilers please.

For me, it is currently tied between The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite (I'm still in the middle of the latter, but I think I am closing in on the end soon).

I absolutely agree with The Last Of Us. It's awesome!

[DylanC]

19 hours ago, StaceyPowers said:

What video game have you played which had the most compelling storyline? No spoilers please.

For me, it is currently tied between The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite (I'm still in the middle of the latter, but I think I am closing in on the end soon).

100% agree. It's got to be The Last Of Us, yeah. I think a few other likely contenders would be Final Fantasy VII, Silent Hill 2 and Heavy Rain.

[DylanC]

Oh, and the OG Bioshock! That's got a very strong narrative, for sure.

Edited November 25, 2018 by DylanC

[Yarik]

I would vote for all of The Walking Dead video games. They have an amazing story but at the same time very sad. Anyway, these ones are very good games with one of the best stories in my opinion.

[Reality vs Adventure]

FFX had a great story. It was unique. 

[killamch89]

1. Metal Gear Solid
2. The Last Of Us
3. Deus Ex
4. Broken Sword: The Shadow Of The Templars

[The Blackangel]

In no particular order, my top 5:

1) Blaster Master (NES)
2) RDR2 (PS4)
3) FF8 (PS1/Switch)
4) Tell Me Why (Xbox One)
5) Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Switch)

Edited May 2, 2021 by The Blackangel

[skyfire]

I loved the entire story progression of the darksiders and the devil may cry. I am a huge fan of that franchise. 

[m76]

1. Beyond: Two Souls

It had such a profound effect on me, I've never felt such responsibility for the protagonist in any other game.

2. The Last of Us was great, too, but it never felt so personal as Beyond

3. The Last of Us II overall, I think the game is better than the first, but the story has many small things that could've been told better, or that were counter to the overarching  narrative. I felt that it tried too hard, a more subtle approach would've raised it above the first game story wise, or even to the very first place on my list.

4. Detroit: Become Human there were some elements in the story that were great, but I felt it had too many parallel stories going on, and it didn't really do justice to most of them.

5. Ghost Recon Wildlands This might be an odd choice you think, but the game appealed to me exactly because it was not your story, for all intents and purposes the main protagonist in the game is an NPC, and you are just a mercenary on the ground helping her achieve her revenge. I think the atmosphere captured perfectly the mindset of mercenaries working in hostile territories.

[Crazycrab]

1. The last of us:  The story it's is actually not that unique when you think about it, but it far surpasses other games and even TV shows and movies based on this genre because of how it takes advantage of it's platformto tell an otherwise liner story.  It's SO engrossing and makes you really care and sympathize with the characters, even when their doing some pretty bad things.  The characters, writing, pacing, music and performance's are all spot on, it is a quite simply a masterpiece.
2. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater:  Coming of the convoluted, nonsensical mess of Metal Gear Solid 2 my expectations of MGS3 weren't that high.  But Kojima and his team addressed those issues and presented this prequal in a manner that was more consistent, had more emotional weight and where the twists where actually clever and made sense rather than "well we did that in MGS1 so lets do that again then explain the bullshit reason why later".  It's more straight forward and less pretentious than the other games in the series and in my opinion, way better for it.
3. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice:  This was an incredible experience, especially given the limited resources the dev's had to work with.  They couldn't even to cast an actor, the used their YouTube channel video editor in the lead role!  Don't get me wrong though, she was brilliant but it still makes me giggle!  I don't want to say to much but is one the most unique and brave gaming experiences out there.  I'm not going to say why but if you haven't played I recommend you do so with a 7.1 surround sound headset.
4. Horizon Zero Dawn:  Many stories in open world games in particular often feel like they drag or get sidetracked.  This is the only one I can recall thats more interesting, deeper and relatable the further it goes.  It's a fascinating journey as learn about the how the origins of both Aloy and this world are tied together.  The other part of what makes this so special is that Aloy is such a likeable protagonist with her charm, wit and even sarcasm.
5. Life is Strange:  It's certainly not for everyone and even I HATED the prequal.  The original is what I feel really pushed narrative games to the next level with not only choices that effect the ride but also having the ability to experiment with different ones on the fly.
6. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim:  I know some of you are probably rolling your eyes right now and I wouldn't even blame you, but I get fully invested in this world every time I play.  It does a great job of making you feel like someone important and the modding community over the years has done a great job of expanding this game even more.
7. Beyond Two Souls:  I'll be honest, I'm mostly including this in the list for one reason and one reason only....  Elliot Page (known as Ellen Page at the time of release).  In my opinion his captured performance is hands down the best in ANY game I've played to date, he even beats out Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker of the forementioned The Last of Us which was released the same year.  If it weren't for him this whole game would have fallen flat on it's face because of David Cage's ridiculous decision to go Tarantino on presentation of the story.  It completely works against the aspect of player choice because not only do the choices have little to no effect but the player KNOWS going in they don't.  Later releases have sorta fixed the problem by allowing the play to through chronologically instead but man, I will never get that choice.  Don't get me wrong It's a good game but it could have and should have been so much better.

[The Blackangel]

1 hour ago, Crazycrab said:

1. The last of us:  The story it's is actually not that unique when you think about it, but it far surpasses other games and even TV shows and movies based on this genre because of how it takes advantage of it's platformto tell an otherwise liner story.  It's SO engrossing and makes you really care and sympathize with the characters, even when their doing some pretty bad things.  The characters, writing, pacing, music and performance's are all spot on, it is a quite simply a masterpiece.
2. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater:  Coming of the convoluted, nonsensical mess of Metal Gear Solid 2 my expectations of MGS3 weren't that high.  But Kojima and his team addressed those issues and presented this prequal in a manner that was more consistent, had more emotional weight and where the twists where actually clever and made sense rather than "well we did that in MGS1 so lets do that again then explain the bullshit reason why later".  It's more straight forward and less pretentious than the other games in the series and in my opinion, way better for it.
3. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice:  This was an incredible experience, especially given the limited resources the dev's had to work with.  They couldn't even to cast an actor, the used their YouTube channel video editor in the lead role!  Don't get me wrong though, she was brilliant but it still makes me giggle!  I don't want to say to much but is one the most unique and brave gaming experiences out there.  I'm not going to say why but if you haven't played I recommend you do so with a 7.1 surround sound headset.
4. Horizon Zero Dawn:  Many stories in open world games in particular often feel like they drag or get sidetracked.  This is the only one I can recall thats more interesting, deeper and relatable the further it goes.  It's a fascinating journey as learn about the how the origins of both Aloy and this world are tied together.  The other part of what makes this so special is that Aloy is such a likeable protagonist with her charm, wit and even sarcasm.
5. Life is Strange:  It's certainly not for everyone and even I HATED the prequal.  The original is what I feel really pushed narrative games to the next level with not only choices that effect the ride but also having the ability to experiment with different ones on the fly.
6. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim:  I know some of you are probably rolling your eyes right now and I wouldn't even blame you, but I get fully invested in this world every time I play.  It does a great job of making you feel like someone important and the modding community over the years has done a great job of expanding this game even more.
7. Beyond Two Souls:  I'll be honest, I'm mostly including this in the list for one reason and one reason only....  Elliot Page (known as Ellen Page at the time of release).  In my opinion his captured performance is hands down the best in ANY game I've played to date, he even beats out Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker of the forementioned The Last of Us which was released the same year.  If it weren't for him this whole game would have fallen flat on it's face because of David Cage's ridiculous decision to go Tarantino on presentation of the story.  It completely works against the aspect of player choice because not only do the choices have little to no effect but the player KNOWS going in they don't.  Later releases have sorta fixed the problem by allowing the play to through chronologically instead but man, I will never get that choice.  Don't get me wrong It's a good game but it could have and should have been so much better.

As someone who has to deal with the issues Senua faces, I connected with this game on more levels than just her mental issues. I initially heard about it from your brother @Shagger and got very emotional. Since getting it, I have had to stop many times to cry. But it's more than worth it.

[Reality vs Adventure]

11 hours ago, The Blackangel said:

As someone who has to deal with the issues Senua faces, I connected with this game on more levels than just her mental issues. I initially heard about it from your brother @Shagger and got very emotional. Since getting it, I have had to stop many times to cry. But it's more than worth it.

I really should go back and give that game a try again. I never finished cause I got caught up in other games and the puzzles made me lose excitement. I did like the fighting a lot. Maybe I'll cheat the puzzles so I can progress. I do not function well with puzzles. My patience is broken. I start getting shaky leg syndrome and go boinkers. 

[Empire]

Not really did story games, I have done all GTA series but they not the best that I had or got my hands on at this point in time. Most GTA series is the same just about. if I was to pick then I would say, The Walking Dead games 😉 played them and they are good since you have to tthink and it's like watching the film as you ar eplaying it.