narratives
favorite video game narratives
27 Games
from a literary point of view this is easily the best written narrative in any video game. thematically mature, deeply psychologically probing and some of the most interesting and understated worldbuilding in any game
like disco elysium, this is an anti-capitalist work, but one that takes a decidedly simpler (but no less effective) approach to storytelling. i dont have much to say about this one; the highlight here is the incredibly potent family tragedy at its core, but there is not one misstep in the larger construction of its narrative. the themes of capital and industry encroaching on nature and compromising the human experience are not very subtle, but that need not be a flaw. they're perfectly executed for what they are, and dont try to go deeper than a relatively simple RPG plot like this can afford to. i particularly love how the endless, all-consuming greed of consumer capitalism is rendered as this laughably grotesque and juvenile impulse through porky.
beyond that it's very funny and charming in that mother way you've come to expect by now if you've played the other titles in the series.
beyond that it's very funny and charming in that mother way you've come to expect by now if you've played the other titles in the series.
doesn't succeed nearly as hard as its follow-up at conventional storytelling fundamentals like having well-developed characters, cogent themes, a ratcheting plot, etc, but is not really trying to either. instead, it's a fun tour through a weird and charming world and is incredibly effective at being just that. which there's nothing wrong with! who says games have to follow the narrative conventions of other mediums?
i think the simpleness of this one really is a feature, not a bug. moments like the livehouse show, the dance and the final song to giygas are the purest distillation of the charm that these games operate on. in general mother doesnt get nearly enough credit for what a breakthrough moment it was for narratives in video games, if there was anything else around this time harboring pathos on this level i certainly havent played it.
still dont really think any game has used the medium to tell a story more effectively than this. fucking blew my 13 year old mind
unparalleled in atmosphere. has some of the coolest presentational stuff you'll ever see in a video game. uses one's familiarity with the usual story structure of zelda games (and with the characters and landscapes of ocarina of time) against you in a brilliant way. simple plot that serves more as a vehicle to explore the darker sides of the human condition through people's reactions to loss. skull kid/majora all timer antagonist.
the plot of this game is really sparse for the most part but i think that simplicity actually facilitates a really interesting theme it develops behind the scenes. on a first playthrough, you're guided through your quest with some pretty clear instructions; gather the lord souls, make your way towards the kiln, link the first flame. this leads to a pretty weird and jarring ending where you're set aflame as sacrifice to perpetuate the age of fire. that this would happen was not exactly made clear in the instructions given to you! on a second playthrough, with some experimentation, you find out that this big prophesized quest you're lead on is, for the most part, a totally fabricated attempt to manipulate undead into doing the bidding of the ruling order, which is, of course, prolonging the current state of things for just a bit longer. i think there's some really thought-provoking stuff being communicated here about class and dominant ideologies! add onto that the wonderful and much discussed environmental storytelling, and the way this game achieves perfect thematic cohesion with its theme of death and decay represented through allegory with the repeated imagery of fading flames, and you have yourself a ludonarrative masterpiece.
this game contains an even sparser plot than dark souls, but simply put, this has one of my favorite ending sequences of any work of art across any medium. and like dark souls, this game also excels at environmental storytelling, with a wonderful but dangerous setting to marinate in, and ties every facet of the game together neatly with its buddhist themes of life, death and rebirth. beyond that, to simply engage in play here is to engage with the (self-guided) storytelling; every time you scavenge for food, narrowly escape a predator or the rain, befriend or battle a scavenger, or bring moon gifts, you're uncovering another layer of meaning in a work of art about nature, survival and life.
a watershed moment for video game narratives. presentation here is obviously outstanding and i love, love, love how its all communicated without one word of dialogue (save for the preamble at the beginning detailing samus's past adventures)
what a forward thinking little gem this is. probably doesnt get enough credit for its pioneering of environmental storytelling, obviously predating even super metroid. ending sequence is nothing short of incredible - really understated, mature stuff that ties together the whole game brilliantly.
really great little family drama that subverts the narrative of dmc3 in interesting ways. for most of the game its just a really fun romp but near the end turns surprisingly introspective and emotional, culminating in a wonderfully heartfelt and sincere ending about repairing bonds, overcoming trauma and holding onto [vin diesel voice] family
WONDERFULLY pulpy, over the top and just batshit insane. ideal action game story. raiden's a really great protag for this sort of game. deals in surprisingly interesting and insightful themes. has the balls to do shit like explicitly namedrop 9/11 in connection to the american military machine. quintessential smart dumb narrative.
maybe the most dream-like quality of this game - more than its odd, surreal imagery and jarring references to other media - is the way it hands you a profound and devastating sensation without any real resolution to it. capitalizes on that universally relatable feeling of waking up from a dream that you desperately want to go back to for just a bit longer.
i unfortunately feel like i dont have many original observations to make about fueda's minimalist masterpiece - it's very much a work that speaks for itself i think. ditto for colossus.
devastating!
more daring and idiosyncratic than its predecessor, at the price of being a bit messy. more importantly it's a narrative that's much better suited to this medium, being far more insular and focused on the violence that takes center stage mechanically, what it means to ellie and what it means to the player. takes a lot of big swings, most of them land for me. ashley johnson gives an all time performance
kicks ass. not a lot for me to comment on, just a really good story in largely conventional ways, and i like how the big Woahhh this character will remember that moments actually affect very little in the grand scheme but instead subtly color your interactions with them going forward. the correct emphasis in a game like this imo.
messier and more interesting than the previous season. really works for me. super mean spirited and bleak which i think makes sense for a dark middle chapter. adolescent clementine a good fit for this absolutely hopeless version of a coming of age story, where everyone you love betrays you or dies. teeters on the edge of misanthropy but crucially doesnt quite tip over to that side, which allows for a lot of tragedy and pathos. kenny an ingenious inclusion as this completely fucked up replacement father figure that you take care of more than the opposite; in fact every adult in this game is totally unequipped to mentor clementine and ends up completely failing her. i like the final decision for, again, how fucking mean it is, but any ending where clementine doesnt wind up alone might as well be non canon to me. still need to finish the final season. a new frontier never happened.
you know, it's been a while since i've played this one, so all i can say is that the ideas and imagery presented in this game have really stuck with me through the years. wonderfully off-beat and an early formative attempt at the sort of metacommentary you see in a lot of indie games nowadays
another game i haven't played in quite a long time, and with this one specifically i suspect it doesn't quite hold up to the reverence i had for it back in the day. that being said, the ending sequence hit me where i live when i played it, to the point where i still think about it now and then, so it must've done something right...
so fucking real. captures the alienation and ennui of being a young (and neurodivergent) adult in this era that we're living in really well. starts out kind of unassuming and barrels its way towards an incredibly effective ending sequence.
another game that speaks for itself i think. pretty perfect execution of its high concept narrative and never wears out its charm
feels weird to include this along a bunch of, like, actual games, but this actually uses walking sim gameplay really meaningfully and its existence as a video game is wholly justified by the premise. the framing device of a tour through unreleased and half-baked experimental game demos is really really good.
really sad and powerfully evocative little tale.
you know, i wish i had something intelligent to say here but it's just been too long since i played it. need to revisit it. still feel confident in putting it on this list. dujanah probably belongs on here as well, i think that game maybe even made a stronger initial impression but this one has stuck with me more
nothing i could say that you dont know already, its fnv, its great, lets move on
powerful work about how people deal with living through history. incredible in how it places you in a setting that feels at once completely foreign and entirely familiar. not a perfect game but all my criticisms come from a place of love. pretty mechanically daring at points, not afraid to inconvenience the player in really effective ways.
