A Plague Tale Requiem

Brigador has surprisingly excellent writing. And moreover, I mean it literally.
Between maps, you have a config interface where you pick a pilot, guns and a vehicle to put it all on. But you also have a window with Intel. You have to pay ingame money to unlock this Intel, in the same you have to pay to unlock pilots, guns, vehicles, maps. They prices are not negligible. I unlocked every single piece of Intel, many times before I unlocked other more useful things, because it was that good.
I wanted to read more. I wanted to know more. I should point out that most of the Intel was self sufficient : it wasn’t a huge story cut up in parts. I could read one Intel and there was no incentive to buy the next more expensive one to know the end. But it was quality military sci-fi and so much lore building. And here and there, hints about cool equipment combos to try out in game (this pilot in that mech with those guns and gizmo).

It was a complete shock to find such quality in what is otherwise a shooter. Yes, many action RPGs have encyclopedias worth of lore, disseminated freely throughout the world, on items, etc. I think the presentation here helped. But I was genuinely surprised at how good and enjoyable it was to read. I literally sat down and few times spending like an hour reading through bits and pieces and going to play a map or two only so I’d have enough cash to unlock some more.

I hope I get to enjoy such surprisingly good writing in a game again in my gaming lifetime (and I’ve been playing for about 37 years, I should add).

CrossCode. I won’t spoil anything, but Lea very quickly cemented herself as my favorite protagonist of all time.

Blue Prince sure feels like it counts, our whole family is hooked, and has been playing it every day for about 2 weeks now. Even well after rolling credits.

In a similar vein, I’d have to say Hollow Knight and Outer Wilds. Together with Blue Prince, they all have a storytelling strategy of “you have to put some effort into getting the story out of it”, but the effort makes every new discovery or revelation feel super rewarding.

Celeste is the one that comes to mind for a more traditional story that REALLY hit.

Persona 5 comes to mind, too. I was ENGROSSED in that story for months. Even if it went off the rails a couple times.

I’m also gonna shout-out Tales of Symphonia. That game was formative for me.

I’ll say the obligatory Red Dead Redemption. What a ride. From beginning to end. It legitimately feels like an “epic” where the character and world develop.

As you get to the end of the game and you’re in the more populated areas that feel like they have left the wild West behind and the parallel with the story… it’s great.

A Mind Forever Voyaging, by Infocom.

It’s an old text adventure from the 80’s with a particularly cool and oddly relevant concept: You take the role of an AI that’s been meticulously raised in a simulation to truly become a general intelligence. The reason this project was undertaken was to eventually send you, the AI, into other simulations based in the near future to test the outcomes of various political policies of the new republican government, record your interactions, and report back to the engineers who created you.

The game’s designer said that he created the game in response to the despair he felt from Ronald Reagan being elected.

I haven’t gotten super far in it, but it has an incredibly well written short story in the manual that details all the events leading up to the start of the game, and so far the game itself is unlike anything else I’ve ever played.

FFVII set me up to be an eco-Marxist.

Disco Elysium helped me come to terms with my alcoholism and learn to move forward with my life instead of wallowing in self pity and loathing for the things I had done.

Really those are the two games that affected me most heavily in my life.

What Remains of Edith Finch comes to mind for me.

In the game, you play Edith Finch going back to her family home. It was home to multiple generations of the Finch family. This family has a serious case of bad luck, and most of them didn’t get very old. As Edith, you explore all of the rooms and see the final moments of the person who used to live there.

It is not a horror game - but it is haunting, in a sense. If you enjoy good stories and writing, give it a try. It’s only about 2 hours, and best played in a single sitting. It’s also on sale regularly.

Cyberpunk 2077. Years since I booted it for the first time I am still at it

Bioshock infinite, really pulled me in.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 1 and 2 have an awesome main story line with writing that makes me feel like I am playing video game sequels to A Knight’s Tale.

But then it also has some pretty yawn inducing stuff, too, that might be interesting to history buffs since it takes place in real life, during real historical events in Bohemia. A lot of politics and nobility dick-waving. I skipped through a lot of random side quest dialogue because it was just an hour of discussing politics. 🤣

Disco Elysium tho is hands down the best written game I’ve ever played. We need more video games to be written by actual authors. It also just has an insane amount of branching paths and differences in how you play that mostly appear in dialogue, but also just wearing different clothing can change things dramatically.

New Vegas, the writing of the dialoges are brilliant. Some of the funniest or straight up saddest stuff are both there.

Been replaying FFXII, and now I notice it is extremely rich in plot and worldbuilding, including a lot of non-verbal details.

The quarry, and until dawn were pretty good. A bit lacking in gameplay, but awesome stories.

Witcher 3 tells many stories that contribute to an overarching story.

Fallout new Vegas does it with the option of murder hoboing

Bg3 is pretty good story wise too ❤️

I just played around 6 hours of it, but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 intro made me cry. With everything going on in the world right now the sense of despair is very relatable.