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What game has a great story and is worth the time investment?

I recently finished Rise of the Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy XVI, and I’m hesitant what I should play next (PC or PS5).

With FF I enjoyed the game and the story was all I expected from it, and I’m really looking forward to the DLC.

With Tomb Raider… damn that game is all over the place. The story is predictable, and also stupid. “Why did you rush in there? Without weapons? Against an army?”, and other similar thoughts kept running through my head. I don’t feel inclined to play Shadow of the tomb Raider (the sequel).

I have a backlog of too many games, and lately it takes a lot of effort to start because I don’t know if it’s worth the time investment. I love games with good stories, and playing a game that puts the lore and story in the background feels like a waste of time.

Sure, I could get started on Baldurs Gate 3, I’ve heard great things. But is the story great? Will I be able to say “oh that chapter/fight/act is awesome!” To other people looking for game experiences?

Experiences like Escaping from the ship in Super Metroid, helping that king in Witcher 3, fighting Psycho Mantis in MGS, fighting Titan in FFXVI, killing the first colossus, escaping from darth Vader, that first Mario odyssey stage, beating the first boss in Bloodborne, playing “Brothers” for the first time and getting to the ending… all great experiences with awesome stories to tell

TL;DR: what am I missing?

EDIT: Holy crap I didn’t expect these many replies. Thank you! There are many recommendations I’ve already played, and many others I will definitely play. Thanks!

If anyone is interested in the result:

Recommended, bought:

  • Bioshock 2
  • Black mesa
  • Cyberpunk 2077
  • Death stranding
  • Deaths door
  • Detroit become human (PS5)
  • Disco elysium
  • Dragon Age
  • Elden ring
  • Fallout 3
  • Fallout 4
  • Fallout new Vegas
  • Ghost of Tsushima
  • Hades
  • Half life alyx
  • Hellblade senuas sacrifice
  • Homeworld
  • Horizon zero dawn
  • Inscryption
  • Just cause 3
  • Life is Strange
  • Mass effect 3
  • Metro series
  • Ori and the blind forest, and sequel
  • Oxenfree
  • Persona 5
  • Planescape: torment
  • Shadowrun dragonfall
  • Shadowrun Hong Kong
  • Soma
  • Spider-Man
  • Subnautica
  • Tyranny
  • Wolfenstein series

Recommended, to buy:

  • 13 sentinels (PS4)
  • Age of decadence
  • Cruelty squad
  • Dead space
  • Ghost recon wildlands
  • God of war ragnarok
  • Grandia
  • Kingdom Come Deliverance
  • Octopath Traveler 1 & 2
  • Outer wilds
  • Pathologic 2
  • Red dead redemption 2
  • Song of horror
  • Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG
  • The hex
  • the last of us part 2
  • The upturned
  • Torment: tides of numenera
  • Withering rooms
  • Yakuza

Already Played, and yeah, these are awesome:

  • Alpha centauri
  • Bioshock 1
  • Bioshock infinite
  • Borderlands series
  • Control
  • Dark souls series
  • Deus ex human revolution
  • Deus ex mankind divided
  • FFXIV
  • Ghost trick
  • God of war 2018
  • Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Hollow knight
  • Hotel Dusk
  • Mass effect
  • Mass effect 2
  • Nier: automata
  • Nier: replicant
  • Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney
  • Portal
  • Portal 2
  • Psychonauts 1 & 2
  • Spec ops: the line
  • Stray
  • the last of us part 1
  • The Stanley parable
  • Titanfall 2
  • Undertale
  • What remains of Edith finch
  • Witcher 3
Navarian ,

I’ll throw my hat in the ring and say - the newer Wolfenstein series.

Incredible story, Incredible gameplay with choices that matter, and a lot of content to occupy your time across the like 3-4 games.

Perroboc OP ,

Including the one with the sisters?

Navarian ,

I believe that has some relevance to the story but honestly I haven’t tried that one.

UntouchedWagons ,
@UntouchedWagons@lemmy.ca avatar

The Outer Wilds, Fallout New Vegas and Just Cause 3

ExtraMedicated ,

I was also gonna say Outer Wilds. My Steam library is almost entirely indie games and not much else stands out to me story-wise except maybe:

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

The Upturned

Song of Horror

Withering Rooms

rustyricotta ,

Cannot say Outer Wilds enough. Wonderful experience. Exploration and lore is everything in this game. But it’s not too much. Some games have exploration and lore just for the sake of having it. Whereas everything in Outer Wilds is purposeful and motivating to do.

MrNesser ,

It’s a bit older but I always loved Grandia’s storyline it’s on steam at the moment.

DasRundeEtwas ,

borderlands 2

optimally you scour up up to three friends to play with, but even alone the game is excellent.

it has a great story with one of the best villains in gaming ever (my opinion) as good as glados.

apropos glados the portal games are also a definite must play (what with portal 2 being the highest ranked steam game ever.)

hangonasecond ,

My personal disclaimer on this is that Borderlands is way more fun with friends, but if you want to pay attention to the story you probably need to be selective about who you play with. I find most of the people I’ve played with don’t really pay attention to the story and I either need to skip everything or force them to wait for me, not ideal for either person.

DefiantBidet ,

God of War 2018 - such a great story and you don’t need to know the previous games.

God of War - Ragnarock - it’s rare a sequel to a banger is good. Even more rare when the sequel to a banger is an even bigger banger. 2018’s story was good, ragnarock is so damn moving.

Red Dead Redemption 2 - never played the first one but bc 2 is chronologically before it, no matter. This game is so immersive and deep.

Horizon Zero Dawn - this one is probably hit or miss. You either lovr the lore or couldn’t be fucked. For me it was a great story. Gameplay may not stand the test of time however.

Ghost of Tsushima - this game is so fucking pretty.

Hollow knight - the lore. Omg the lore and the art style and omfg the music. Hidden gem.

I can’t think of more but there are a ton 🙂

MajesticSloth ,
@MajesticSloth@lemmy.world avatar

Horizon’s story stuck with me for a few weeks after completing it. Also one of the few games I played all the way through without playing other games as well. I usually have to play a few different games so I don’t get burned out of any one game.

I agree on the God of War games as well. So well done.

Also, Fuck Ted Faro.

DefiantBidet ,

Fuck Ted Faro.

Edit to add: for me the lore of HZD was like 1 generational leap from plausible. Like it’s science fiction for sure but 1 leap in tech and it’s science plausible. That said… Fuck Ted Faro

Xanvial ,

It’s already here actually. reuters.com/…/factcheck-eatr-robot-flesh-idUSL1N3…

Just like in HZD maybe they can use alternative if no plants near them

HeyJoe ,

I also agree, I loved Horizons story and lore. I also agree people either love it or hate it which is super odd to me because it is such a great game and reminds me of all the other great games yet somehow this one gets shafted. You never got to see the past but just the retelling of what happened throughout the game was perfect.

MajesticSloth ,
@MajesticSloth@lemmy.world avatar

Also the lore you could find that gives glimpses into the past really helped if you cared or took the time to listen/read them.

Chobbes ,

I liked the lore, but the game was a bit of a slog for me. Just kind of sick of that kind of open world game, I guess! I don’t think it’s a bad game at all, but I can imagine others might feel similarly. Also I guess I really wasn’t invested much in what was happening story wise in the present in that game and the side quests are just aggressively mediocre and I kind of regretted bothering with any of them.

flames5123 ,

God of War 2018 & God of War: Ragnarök. I would recommend this first on PS5.

Next I would say is 100% worth the time investment: Final Fantasy XIV. It’s an MMO, but the story is amazing. You can play 99% of the story with NPCs easily. They made it so easy to pay older dungeons with the new NPC system to keep players going. It starts off very slow and just bleh (war story with light fantasy), but it gets better and better. I’ve played the 3rd expansion twice and plan on playing the 4th expansion again soon. I’ve cried so much. Even the side stories have great stories as the writers get their footing after the first bit. You’ll recognize several of the fantasy elements from FF16. I’ve only every played 15 before 14, so it’s not like I’ve spent a a lot of time in the series.

Starb3an ,

I haven’t seen anyone mention BioShock. BioShock 1 and 2. I’ve heard mixed reviews about the third and haven’t played it so I’ll make no comment on it.

Prey is in the same vein as BioShock.

Dead space has some horror but is also good.

Sovereign_13 ,

All I’ll say about Bioshock Infinite is that it feels/plays very differently from the first one (and, I assume, the second).

The atmosphere is just entirely different and lacks most of the “horror” element that you had in the ruins of Rapture.

idunnololz ,
@idunnololz@lemmy.world avatar

I love the setting tho

idunnololz , (edited )
@idunnololz@lemmy.world avatar

Undertale

Ghost trick (it’s on steam now woohoo)

BioShock trilogy

The original Ace Attorney trilogy

Also +1 to outer wilds. It’s been mentioned a dozen times here already. It’s my game of the decade.

Shouldn’t need to be mentioned but play all of these games blind because story is a huge part of them.

secondaccountlemmy ,

Spider-man is something that isnt mentioned here yet. It has amazing setpieces and a good story.

LordTekno ,
@LordTekno@kbin.social avatar

Conversation that could go a few different ways. Are you looking for games with massive lore and world building? Dark Souls, Destiny, Nier, FFXIV.
Are you looking for something short and sweet that keeps you engaged with story the entire time? Bioshock, Horizon, Last of Us

I would recommend trying FFXIV if you liked XVI. Same team (Creative Business Unit III) worked on both games. They have done a lot of work so that even tho it is an online game, mass majority of the story elements can be finished solo. And then there's the joke about the free trial....which expands this October to not only include the base game + The full first expansion Heavensward...they are also adding in the second expansion Stormblood for absolutely free.

Also, if you want a mecha sci-fi game, play 13 sentinels. It is an fantastic unique storytelling experience.

Perroboc OP ,

I absolutely loved FFXIV, it was one of the reasons I played XVI. Yoshi-P, Zoken, and Koji Fox are awesome.

ArtVandelay ,
@ArtVandelay@lemmy.world avatar

Do you know… La-Hee?

Callie ,
@Callie@pawb.social avatar

NieR Automata for me, even with its 4 required playthroughs, it’s a fantastic story that genuinely made me question a lot of beliefs I had about life

Alternatively, NieR Replicant which is just as good on its 2nd and third playthrough because of knowing everything in the first playthrough

pricklypearbear ,
@pricklypearbear@lemmy.world avatar

Red dead redemption 2 has a really good story. Gameplay is pretty immersive and lots to explore.

God of war have a really good story and gameplay is overall fun.

Ni no Kuni II I found to be an interesting story. Gameplay was fun overall.

Ori, both games, has a good story to tell. Overall good platformer

Hollow knight is a fun platformer and overall story is good. Similar but not as good, death’s door.

Death stranding has an interesting story but kind of strange. Gameplay is OK but can get a bit repetitive at times.

Spider-Man, overall fun. Story is unique.

Ghost of tsushima, good story and gameplay. Visually lovely.

Cyberpunk 2077 I found immersive, story wasn’t bad but might not be for everyone.

ProffessionalAmateur ,

Second the GOW’s, RDT2 and GOT. Fantastic emotional plot driven games. I’d add both HZD’s too.

pricklypearbear ,
@pricklypearbear@lemmy.world avatar

Forgot about Horizon. That was a good story as well.

JimmyMcGill ,

I’m halfway through RDR2 and the gameplay is boring af. Ok not all gameplay, mostly the quests. The world is amazing, and it’s quite immersive indeed but 90% of the quests are, go here, shoot some guys, come back.

cygnosis ,

The issue with quests in RDR2 is that they give you no autonomy. Most games set a quest objective and give you a dozen ways to achieve it. RDR2 forces you to follow the exact path through the quest that the game wants you to take. If you deviate it either fails to progress or simply fails the quest. It felt more to me like an interactive movie than a game in that respect, though you get full freedom outside of quests.

platysalty ,

The only problem with starting Baldur's Gate 3 now is that it's gonna be a crazy high bar for everything that comes after.

But if you want a great story that's affected by your decisions and character, it's a great place to go.

meiko60 ,
@meiko60@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Octopath Traveler 1 & 2

crypticthree ,

Disco Elysium

zaphodb2002 ,

My favorite game of all time. Second is Portal 2.

FullFridge ,

This should be the top answer. I’m also a person that can’t really enjoy a game unless it has a good story and Disco Elysium blew me away. The best game to come out since 2019 as far as I’m concerned

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