10 Video Games with Awesome Stories

As the theorem goes – if you shove a bunch of chimps in front of typewriters for an infinite amount of time, one of them is inevitably going to produce the full works of William Shakespeare.

So what’s to say that given an infinite amount of time, a room full of video game developers would somehow inevitably create an FPS version of ‘Hamlet’, complete with upgradeable paternal ghosts?

Perplex’d cousins! Haste thee to Kickstarter!

But until that day comes, there are some games out there that have already done an excellent job at crafting characters and stories that stay with us, even after the credits roll and we mash the buttons in an attempt to skip them. They make us laugh, they make us cry, and they make some of us write really bad fan fiction. So let’s take our seats and direct our attention to centre stage, as we explore some of the best storytelling gaming has to offer.

 

1. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Before Disney, much like a familiar and evil Galactic Empire, seized control of the Star Wars franchise, there was a little thing called the ‘extended universe’. A rich, colourful galaxy of characters and stories was eradicated when Disney declared the Extended Universe to be non-canon. There was a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced (snuck that in there).

Nevertheless, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is an excellent narrative bridge between Episode III and Episode IV. With more well-rounded and believable characters than the entire prequel saga, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed weaves together a space-tapestry of betrayal, hope, loss and redemption that centres around it’s brooding protagonist and Vader’s apprentice – Starkiller. Explaining the birth of the Rebellion and it’s origins from the Empire itself rather seamlessly is probably it’s best narrative achievement. Too bad that now Disney is in charge, it’s all lies. Lies, I tell you. LIES.

 

2. The Darkness

The Darkness is pretty dark. Who’d have guessed? A sickly tale of murder, revenge and bloodlust follows Mafia contract killer and hardcore goth Jackie Estacado as he slaughters his way through New York’s underbelly in this comic book adaptation. Helped of course by a demonic entity called ‘The Darkness’, which grows in power by extinguishing lights and devouring human hearts. It couldn’t be more metal. Unless Faith No More front man and all-round maniac Mike Patton provided it’s haunting and eerie disembodied voice from within Jackie’s own head. He does, by the way and astoundingly well, too. Emotional, brutal and very, very dark.

 

3. Splinter Cell: Conviction

A pissed off middle-aged Black Ops agent falls off the radar, until he re-emerges as a baddie-pounding, gadget-slinging, pipe-climbing rogue agent, violently inquiring as to the identity of his daughter’s killer. Sam Fisher is mad, and he’s doing a lot of punching, shooting and sneaking. Layering a nice emotional roundedness to an otherwise cold and unengaging character, Splinter Cell: Conviction shows us a Sam we’ve never seen before as he exacts his fatherly wrath and uncovers a deadly conspiracy in the process. A few glimpses into his past and his closest relationships are what make this installment the best in the series so far. Or until he finally retires or takes a desk job or something. What is he, sixty now?

 

4. Assassin’s Creed Series

Regrettably declining in narrative quality over the years, the deep and gripping conspiracy themes were very prominent in the early days of Assassin’s Creed. When not focused upon smashing into haystacks at terminal velocity, tying an ancient war for world domination between two secret organisations into historical events such as the Third Crusade and the Italian Renaissance was brilliant. Altair’s fall from grace, subsequent redemption and slow realisation that he may be killing the wrong people is a powerful plot device, but the charming and lovable Ezio Auditore and his quest for old-school Italian revenge is what really brought the series into the limelight. Black Flag’s story wasn’t too bad either. Who doesn’t like pirates?

 

5. Bioshock: Infinite

At times confusing, contradictory and complex, but awe-inspiring in it’s execution. Bioshock: Infinite’s story is a tornado of poignant moments and sheer what-the-hell-is-going-on plot twists that make the player wonder whether what they just saw had really happened. When Booker DeWitt embarks so casually upon his mission to kidnap a child (as you do) in order to write off his crippling debt, we join him on a surreal journey which makes it pretty difficult for me to avoid spoilers. Just play it already, and you’ll see.

 

6. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Lightsabers. Force Powers. Aliens saying the same things over and over again. Hailed as one of the best RPGs of the last generation, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel displays some of the most engaging storytelling out there. Fighting the impossible odds of the Jedi civil War in the first installment is bested only by the desperate fight for survival as the galaxy’s final Jedi in the second, hunted relentlessly by the seemingly infinite forces of the dark side and some of the most awesome Sith Lords we’ve ever seen. Darth ‘hockey-mask’ Nihilus, the Dark Lord of Hunger is genuinely frightening.

All main characters are interesting and relevant, but when you find yourself having twenty minute conversations with a beeping droid and feeling like he really ‘gets’ you afterwards, you know something is being done right. Plus, two separate endings for each game based upon your moral compass (or lack thereof) are a nice touch.

 

7. The Last of Us

A pissed off middle-aged Joel (sound familiar?) ekes out a living in a collapsed world filled with oppressive armed organisations and cannibalistic mushroom people, until he meets Ellie, a foul-mouthed teen with the uncanny ability to get in the way. She may be mankind’s last hope, and the two must embark upon a perilous journey across fungal America together. The Last of Us is stuffed with sweet emotion, shocks and close-to-tears moments that threaten to make grown men curl into the foetal position and cry softly into pillows. Don’t look at me like that.

Ellie and Joel’s relationship is a dynamic and believable one set to a backdrop of mutual hardship and loss, and certain twists along the way deepen this relationship further still. The Last of Us is a title that easily outshines many of the silver screen, and will keep the player coming back, if only to drink in those bittersweet feels all over again.

 

8. Mass Effect Trilogy

A game so confident in its story-driven and choice-based nature that there even is a ‘story’ difficulty mode. This mode makes combat so easy as to effectively negate it, allowing for the player to focus on the trademark decisions and character interaction that are the real bread and butter of the Mass Effect series.

This is as close as it gets to Shakespeare in space. Comedy, tragedy and so, so much drama. Iconic characters tractor-beam the player’s interests and hold it, with realistic and engaging personalities for Shepard to interact with, and possibly bang. A well written, epic and high-stakes plot spanning the entire galaxy as it fights a hopeless war against an inconceivably superior alien force is pretty awesome. Never mind that Mass Effect 3 boasts the most disappointing and anti-climactic ending since the Vietnam War, right?

Despite the glowing, faster than light stain the ending left upon the series four years ago (it still hurts, damn it!), the Mass Effect trilogy still remains to be one of the best examples of video game storytelling on the market.

 

9. Sleeping Dogs

Take a dash of crime, a smidge of city-based open world and a sprinkle of style and simmer for… however long it takes to make a game, and what do you get? You’d expect the letters G, T and A to bubble up to the surface, but we’re cooking up a distinctly Chinese dish for you today.

The spiritual successor to True Crime has us stepping into the street shoes of not a hardened criminal mastermind, but an undercover cop. Wei Shen, our protagonist; is getting his hands dirty as he jump-kicks his way to the top of a brutal, powerful and heavily tattooed triad organisation in the steroid-pumped heart of Hong Kong. All whilst struggling between his career and duty to the law, and the loyalties to the vicious criminal underworld that grows to trust him. Did I mention these triad cut-throats include his beloved childhood friends? You had to go and make it personal, didn’t you?!

Drama, betrayal, violence and more tension than Wolverine at an airport security metal detector. Sleeping Dogs does not disappoint.

 

10. The Witcher Trilogy

You could fill entire bookcases with novels inspired by video games, but The Witcher series is one of those few games to have originated from actual literature. Andrej Sapkowski’s works were still being translated from Polish when Geralt of Rivia first grumbled onto western PCs. Scarred, white-haired and strangely alluring to loose milkmaids, the gruff monster slayer was an instant hit. A realistic dark fantasy, much like if The Brothers Grim, George R.R. Martin and J.R.R Tolkien were to eat 400 pounds of grilled chicken and burst into a combined mulch of twisted fairy tale excellence.

A single monster contract quest in The Witcher III: Wild Hunt contains more story than the entirely of Dark Souls. Characters are written with painstaking faithfulness to the books, perfectly aligned into their places in the story to the extent that Geralt’s search for his lost ward, Ciri; feels utterly seamless.

Heartstrings are plucked, legends are told and unforgettable characters are met and lost. The Witcher III in particular is quite arguably the pinnacle of video game storytelling available today.