The video game medium is unique in a way that it can tell a story without focusing too much on the plot.

Each story has many components, but the main three are : Plot, characters, and setting.

Literature and other mediums tend to tell their stories by focusing on the plot. Video games on the other hand, while they CAN focus on plot, they don't have to. All a video game has to do is make you believe and that would be enough, even with a simple plot.

Here are some examples:-

1- Shadow of the Colossus

The feeling of isolation, and the companionship with your horse Agro worked wonders for this game. When you were riding to the location of the giant, you truly felt that it was you riding that horse to those dark, bleak mountains and that it was you facing those colossal beasts. Other than that, the game made me think about whether is was my right to kill those wondorous beings or not, made me question who the villain was.

2- Demons's Souls

That game had a fairly simple plot, but it made you feel like you were out there in a harsh world, on a very dangerous mission. The difficulty contributed to this: Had the game been easy, the immersion would have been ruined. Demon's Souls is one of the most haunting experiences I ever had.

3- Fallout 3

Another haunting experience. Walking into that dark metro and always looking over your shoulder, afraid something was going to jump you any minute was amazing. I don't know how they did it at Bethesda, but it worked!

4- Bioshock

Now there is a game that focused on BOTH immersion and plot, and the result was magnificent. Rapture as you may know is one of the most unique and artistically ambitious settings in the video game medium. It had so much personality that even if you don't focus on Bioshock's brilliant narrative, the immersion alone would be memorable.

5- Heavy Rain

Now there is a beautiful work. That game immersed me into each character's shoes that I cried, smiled, raged, and feared. A lot of the sequences here were nerve-racking, and the feeling I got at the end of the game was something no other work from any medium had given me before.

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There will be more examples to come.

Notice that I said the plot can be SIMPLE, but NOT HORRIBLE. Of course if the plot is crap then the overall game would be hurt. The plot is after all the heart of every story, regardless of medium, if it's damaged, so does the rest. Plot can be SIMPLE, but not terrible.