Top 5 Best Videogame Stories
by James Rasley
The Play’s the Thing
Not all videogames are just video and just game like NBALive. Some are stories told in a game format. Some game stories are as elaborate and deep as a novel, but with the added “game” elements that make the fiction interactive and participatory. In some games, the player actually collaborates in the creation of the story, by defining and “becoming” one of the characters and making the choices and committing the actions that affect the plot events.
With “environmental placement,” players can locate clues such as journals and discarded “cassette tapes” that provide backstory and exposition. This exploits both the interactive and visual nature of videogames to deepen the story experience. With player choice, the players can make decisions to take one or another path, ultimately changing the course of the story.
As the novel was the primary story medium of the 19th century, and TV and Film of the 20th, videogame might be the medium that shapes the story design for this century. With greater interactivity, player collaboration, and crowd-sourcing, the game-story paradigm will have effects on authors of other types of story—reminding us to add more drama and participatory elements even to short stories.
But at base, the best videogame stories, like most of the best stories of any kind, show characters in conflict with power and poignance.
The best videogame stories are:
Minor spoilers ahead-
Also JMHO!
1. The Last of Us
What's great about this story?
I could type until my fingers bled without fully answering this question. “The Last of Us” is such a compelling story for many reasons. Naughty Dog Studios has created a dark world that is as strangely beautiful as it is depressing. It is believable and terrifying while allowing the protagonists to move through and react to it.
It is a story of a man and a teenaged girl who find a father/daughter love amidst the frightening and inevitable horrors (both the human and monster kind) that litter this post-apocalyptic America, while trying to deliver a cure to the scientists who might be able to use it and save the small numbers of human beings that have survived.
It is a story of sacrifice. It asks its characters, what sacrifices are you willing to make for the ones you love? What sacrifices are too great even if they will benefit countless others? It is a story of finding love and family when you are drowning in hopelessness. It maintains a level of ambiguity that leaves its story mysterious while providing a beautiful and fulfilling conclusion. It also has one of the highest levels of presentation and acting that we have seen in videogames.
2. Metal Gear Solid
What's great about this story?
“Metal Gear Solid” is a tactical espionage thriller that sees “Solid Snake” come out of retirement to single-handedly stop a terrorist nuclear threat while unintentionally uncovering the truths of his birth and upbringing.
This is a grand political thriller on the grandest scale told from the perspective of one man who is unwillingly caught up in events that he must unravel for himself and discover whom he can and cannot trust. He must stop a terrorist who looks remarkably similar to himself, defeat a team of highly trained supernatural soldiers, and defeat the most powerful weapon ever created all while being manipulated and kept in the dark by those he is supposed to rely on most.
What really makes MGS a great story is the interactions between Snake and his “friends and foe” while always maintaining the goal of stopping Metal Gear (a walking nuclear battle tank) from being acquired by “Liquid Snake's” group “The Sons of Big Boss.” It has some of the best and most innovative boss encounters and characters of any game period end of story.
3. Life Is Strange
What's great about this story?
“Life is Strange” is about a teenaged girl Max, who loves photography. She has come back to her hometown to enter the prestigious Blackwell Academy, and has to solve a murder mystery using her newly found abilities to control time while maintaining or rebuilding relationships along the way.
Max is a well-meaning if awkward introvert who struggles with issues every teenager must face, but is never willing to sit by while a friend or even a foe is hurting. She must deal with bullies, boys, and her trouble-making best friend (and perhaps more than a friend) Chloe. It is her relationship with Chloe that really makes “Life is Strange” stand out. It is a relationship that must be rebuilt, but is also full of contradictions. Chloe is brazen and disrespectful yet secretly loving. Max is awkward and insecure yet inside she is kind and stronger than anyone knows.
“Life is Strange” is a time-travel murder mystery that remains grounded and familiar with interesting characters to interact with and choices to make. It is a reminder that the seemingly small and normal aspects of life can become strange, fantastical, and tragic very quickly. But also that love, hope, and good can rise up out of tragedy. It is a story of a teenage girl coming of age and becoming a woman and learning that life can be strange, some things can be controlled, and sometimes sacrifice and pain are necessary.
4. Bioshock Infinite
What's great about this story?
“Bioshock Infinite” appears to be a story of redemption, fighting for freedom, and love. It does not appear at first to have much to do with quantum mechanics, loss, bloodshed, and the question “can our sins ever really be washed away.”
Infinite asks, what does infinity really mean? What does revolution really look like? If I made different choices, would I be a different person and how different would I be? The way that Infinite chooses to answer these questions are often disturbing, uncomfortable, and thought-provoking, but they are always compelling. Ken Levine respects his audience enough to give them intellectually intense questions and ambiguous answers that have led to thoughtful conversation and self education from many of Infinite's players.
Infinite asks more from its players than most video games. Its intellectual and philosophical exploration has left some asking themselves what just happened. It also suffers from some dated mechanics, but with its strong performances, world building, and characters, it is a must-play story full of twists and turns.
5. Final Fantasy VI/VII
What's great about these stories?
Two great games named Final Fantasy.
Which game has the better story? They are both great. Not everything has to be a competition. This is not a cop out. You're a cop out.
This is a cop out, and I apologize.
FFVI is a powerful story that was way ahead of its time in many ways. It has one of the most terrifying and powerful villains in videogame history in Kefka. I'm sure many players just shuddered at the memory of that laugh. He is brutal, strong, and violently insane. He is arguably the best character in the series while representing hatred, loss, and despair.
Terra is a young woman who has lost her memory. Terra must through new friends and adventure learn how strong she really is, discover her future as much as her past, and grow into the hero that her world needs. She becomes a representative of hope and love.
FFVI has some of the most beautiful and well-known moments in videogames. My favorite is the opera scene. It makes players love, root for, and sometimes lose a colorful cast of characters that are some of the best in the series.
FFVII has a convoluted but compelling story of loss, rage, exploitation, friendship, and ultimately hope and love. Cloud, Tifa, Aeris (she will always be Aeris to me), Barret, Vincent, Red XIII, Cid, and even Yuffie are some of the strongest characters in the series.
FFVII is an extremely ambitious game. It was an absolute technical juggernaut at its release that was full of memorable moments and secrets that people still brag about all of these years later. It is the characters that really stand out and make people look back on this game fondly and beg for a remake. Also it has an amazing soundtrack.
Sephiroth is the embodiment of hatred and rage who will stop at nothing to seek revenge for the injustices he has endured. Cloud, the protagonist who oddly mirrors the villain in many ways, and his crew are a ragtag team of underdogs fighting for their planet who will stop at nothing to stop Shinra, an evil corporation set on exploiting the planet for personal gain, and Sephiroth. Like FFVI, this game is uncomfortable and depressing at times, but it is the love for the characters and its intriguing story that draw you in so can feel pain but also ultimately triumph.
(p.s. I haven't finished Persona 4, but that might end up being on this list,
because the characters are lovable.)
Agreement? Arguments? Additions! Let us know!