What is the best story video games have ever told?

I'm getting old and stingy with my games. I rarely play a game that has a story worth hanging on every plot device and character and I'm generally kind of down overall about how much time and effort gets pumped into a lousy story and cinematics, yet I'm still playing a 3rd person action game that feels like all the others.

Still... There have been some really amazing games that have been worth my time in terms of story... Rdr2 just recently was ok in the gameplay department but I reeeally wanted to see what happened with these characters I grew to empathize with.

My all time favorite story was Kotor... I loved those characters and I loved where it all built to. It still sits with me more than any other games narrative and outcome.

I'd like for you to offer 1 game that you'd consider as the example of best story ever told in a video game... It doesn't have to be cinematic or hit any marks for graphics or gameplay, but that story had you hooked from beginning to end...

What is that game?

The Last of Us had movie quality storytelling.

Brothers: a tale of two sons. Combined gameplay and story to create an experience that gave me goose bumps.

Witcher 3 had a good story to tell and the same goes for both the Expansions as well.

The Last of Us isn't so far behind either & Horizon: Zero Dawn.

MGS3.

@Bread_or_Decide: brothers was soo good. The way relevant gameplay mechanics tied into the ending was a master class on how games can be better than cinema.

these 2 has single greatest story told in any of video games ever. its hard to find any game that has better story than those 2.

kudos for Mafia 1 for still being best third person game ever made.

The Darkness, probably. That one still sticks by me after all these years. Wish they would enhance that for xbox one.

Horizon Zero Dawn was surprisingly interesting. Movie game Beast Within was also pretty good. Dragon's Dogma was a clean well executed interesting story.

Most games suck at storytelling because they try too hard to be epic/twisting/long/cool etc.

RDR 2 is still fresh on my mind but i have to go with Spec Ops The Line.

@freedomfreak: I've had that game sitting on my 360hd for like what seems 10 years. I should really play it. I remember it was different than a lot of FPS games

Yeah. It's cool. Hasn't aged well, although it didn't play great to begin with, but it's a weird game with cool characters and storytelling.

And metal soundtrack, too.

Yakuza 0, though the whole series is amazing. Its the same with Shenmue, but there's still a ways to go until the end.

I really dug the storyline to Persona 5 as well. That game had me hooked from beginning to end. I know some there were moments of predictability whereas other parts had me guessing what twists will happen next. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and juxtaposition of a high school social sim turned Inception-esque political espionage story.

Persona 5 was one of those games where I felt like I really got to know the cast of characters, as if they were real people. Characterizations like that really stand out to me.

Life Is Strange, FFIX & FFX, Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture, Journey, The Last Of Us, Uncharted 2, Dark Souls franchise (incl. Bloodborne), Shadow of the Colossus, Dear Esther, Halo CE, The Stanley Parable.

That’s off the top of my head, though several have questionable gameplay quality standards.

At this point I've played far, far too many games to say with any kind of certainty what would be a single best story ever. It's completely subjective, and will change based on what you're looking for in a story at any given moment.

If I want emotionally evocative and personal, I go with To The Moon.

If I want a meta commentary on gaming, I go DDLC, Undertale, or Nier.

If I want something that's thought provoking, I'd go with SOMA.

If I want a ridiculous ocean of lore to sort through, I go with Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, or a Forgotten Realms game.

And if I want a nice all 'rounder to play I'd play classic RPGs like BG2 or Chrono Trigger.

If you're just looking for some random game you don't know about with a good story, go play CrossCode. The story is solid, earnest, and well executed, perfectly capturing the essence of classic SNES and genesis titles.

I'd reluctantly have to say Halflife 2.

As an example, If you watch the making of Rocky, Stallone rather than prolong the ending, opted for an abrupt ending where the movie hits a stop on the characters face at the peak point of happiness. It's something he would repeat, along with many other imitators. A perfect ending to his masterpiece.

At the point the player defeats the combine, Halflife 2 does the exact same thing, time slows like a movie frame at the absolute peak point of the game, almost breaking the fourth wall in the process. An incredible genius moment that's definitely better than any Naughty Dog game.

Planescape torment and FF7 is still the ones who stands out for me! The witcher 3 is a close second though!

The problem is the people who know how to make games don't know jack about how to tell a story.

For me it’s a toss up between Chrono Trigger and Mass Effect.

Torment

Xenogears. There's no game to date to has surpassed that game's story and characater development, it was a very convoulted game, and pretentious at times, but in a good weird kind of way... i think Xenogears spoiled/ruined gaming for me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Mass effect, witcher, The last of us, dragon age etc... all those games have great "narratives" but that does not equal good "story". But i think it depends of what you personally want for a story to be tho, be complex or to be emotionally enganging, it's very hard to have both. and Xenogears did it, plus it had an splendid narrative for it's time.

Link To The Past.

Soma had a great narrative... with a real gut punch realization.

Fallout has excellent lore... with the great divergence from our current history to an alternate nuclear powered history.

Phantasy Star arc from a utopia Algo system in I and II... to a barren aftermath in III and a revitalization of a ruined world in IV.

For what its worth... I think RE7 had a great story with a tragic fate for a once happy family.

@jaydan: Xenogears has my favorite story of all time, but Persona 5 came dangerously close to be honest, i'm with you.

I still think the most well told story is Portal 2. The set up and execution is nearly perfect. I'm not saying it's the best, or even my favorite, but I think it's the most well done.

I’m a sucker for at least a decent twist so therefore I really liked BLOPS story.

Planescape Torment

Your favourite of course Uncharted 4. Quite good character study when it comes to games.

- Final Fantasy X

- The Witcher 3

- Horizon Zero Dawn

- Persona 4 Golden

- Uncharted 2

@IMAHAPYHIPPO: yep... that's another great story.... told well from the players perspective

FFTactics its game of thrones with demons

RDR 2, Witcher 3, Walking Dead Season 1 and Mass Effect Trilogy come to mind.

Ewww.... Don't even.

None that I can think of off the top of my head.

The Stanley Parable was pretty cool too

I think KotOR still ranks as one of my highest. I don't play all too many story-heavy indies, so I can't comment. Other than that, my other favourites would be FF9/Witcher 3/TWD S1/ME/FF6.

Brothers was very good. I also enjoyed Knights of the Old Republic, the original. It's a good Star Wars tale I don't think we're gonna get in any form anymore.

Planescape Torment gets my vote, but I also really enjoyed To The Moon.

It’s a tie between KOTOR and Detroit Become Human for me. If I had to pick it would be for Detroit to win. Bring your mature audience hats for Detroit Become Human.

Danganronpa 1 and 2, and Ultra Despair Girls are brilliant and top tier games for me.

Yakuza is the king when it comes to story-telling

best title screen music too

Space Invaders

Life is strange gets my vote. I only played it recently and damn its really good!

I mainly plays jrpg and while many of em is very memorable, it also became very cliche due to same plot is reused in other jrpgs. That said, Persona 3 baby. Best Persona ever.

The best video game stories are generally visual novels. Examples:

Clannad - one of the greatest drama stories told in any medium.

Steins Gate - one of the greatest sci-fi stories told in any medium.

MuvLuv Alternative - one of the finest post-apocalyptic sci-fi stories (which also inspired the hit manga/anime series Attack on Titan).

Celeste is a really great time to be had.

There are some games where the world/story was so good that I read up on all the lore I could:

• Bioshock

You could probably write books on the themes in this game. The most interesting of course being creating a society under water, free of government medeling. And how that comes to backfire the creater of that world in the end.

If you just want to ignore the themes of this game, you can still have a bunch of fun by blasting plasmids and guns.

• SOMA

One of the best realised worlds and stories in my opinion. The story begins a little cliche, but it definitely ends up being wildly interesting, thoughtprovoking and unique.

A cataclysmic event happened, you are the last survivors on earth. But gradually you get to know the full story: You aren't on the surface anymore, you are on the bottom of the ocean, how did you get there? What happened to the other survivors? And how can you survive when there is nothing on the surface left?

The story unfolds in such an interesting way and meeting the other survivors is impacful. It's a game I still hold dear to me to this very day.

• Dishonored

The city design by Victor Antonov, the industry powered by whale oil, the story development, the characters, I love all of it!

I was so enthralled by the world of Dishonored that I searched for and read every single book I could in the game.

It's also entirely unique from a TV series, a movie or a book, in that the story can unfold completely differently the way you play. It's a game that can make you think about what it means to take 'vengeance' for something.

I mean if FF6 still counts as video game I would definitely vote for this one...

Personally, I was enthralled by the Final Fantasy X, even now I cannot forgot the feeling when seeing Tidus leave us..