Hey everyone! I’m on the hunt for some incredible story-driven games—ones that pull us into their world with gripping narratives, deep characters, and immersive gameplay. Some examples of what I’m looking for include the Homeworld series, the Horizon series, The Last of Us, some Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider games, etc. So I’m not too picky about the genre.
If you’ve played any unforgettable games with amazing storytelling, do tell! What games had you hooked from start to finish?
CrossCode - My favorite RPG of all time, and that’s a very high bar. This is a game that is perfect in every way and adds up to more than the sum of its parts. Fantastic combat, tons of side content, endearing characters, emotionally powerful story, beautiful visuals, amazing soundtrack. I could gush for hours about Lea as a protagonist, but it’s surely better to experience this one for yourself than let me get into spoilers.
Chrono Trigger - I am hesitant to recommend most JRPGs from this era if you did not grow up on them, because many of them haven’t aged so gracefully. Chrono Trigger is the exception, this game is a fine wine. You may want to check out one of the rereleases though, or at least a retranslation patch, because the original translation was made on a rushed deadline and bound by heavy technical limitations.
Earthbound/Mother 3 - Compared to Chrono Trigger, I do feel Earthbound is somewhat dated, but still does hold up better than many of its contemporaries. It’s a bit of a slow burn, especially at the start, but the writing carries it. Just know that this is required reading before going into Mother 3, which is absolutely peak. Skip Mother 1 though.
OneShot - If you liked Undertale, you will like this. It’s a game that’s best experienced blind, I will say nothing other than trust me. Short and sweet, you can play through it in a single afternoon.
Tales of Symponia/Vesperia - Story-wise, Symphonia is my favorite in the series, but if you’ve played any later entry you might get very frustrated by the lack of Free Run and certain QoL features. If you haven’t played a Tales game before, I recommend starting with Symphonia since it will be harder to go back to later. Then play Vesperia for the most mechanically polished combat.
The World Ends With You/NEO - Square Enix at their most creative, this game has such a striking style and aesthetic. The first game is built around the DS hardware and I highly highly highly recommend playing that version if possible. The Switch port had to make some unfortunate sacrifices to convert it to a single screen. If you really can’t play DS, Switch is okay, but the DS version is so much more special.
VA-11 HALL-A - Visual novel with a unique bartending framing device: instead of directly choosing dialogue options, the story unfolds based on the drinks you serve customers. Sounds bizarre but it somehow works. Great atmosphere, charming characters, hilarious writing.
999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors - Excellent pair of Visual Novel/Escape Room Point-and-Clicks. Do note that the first game is best experienced on the original DS version if possible, but you can’t the remaster is fine. There’s a third game in the trilogy that I haven’t played and can’t vouch for, I’ve heard it was not as good.