Games with great stories have the ability to turn a straightforward narrative into something deeply impactful. From those with an established tale to tell, to games where your choices really matter, these story-based games ask a little more of us, but give a whole lot back.
Here, we’ve rounded up the best story games every narrative game lover should play, plus some surprises from games that don’t push their story front and center, but still tick all the boxes. Plenty of these titles would also be at home in the best indie games hall of fame, but we’ve snuck in a few AAA games with great stories as well. Some are subversive games that will mess with your head, while others craft a cozy game narrative where you can be the hero of your own story. There’s something here for every kind of gamer.
Then of course, once you’re finished here, go and figure out what book you should read based on your favourite game.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Developer: Sandfall Interactive
- Release Date: April 24, 2025
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
- Genre: Turn-based RPG
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been arguably the biggest hit of 2025 so far. A gorgeous RPG that mixes thrilling turn-based combat with a heartbreaking, challenging story – if you play just one game this year, make it this one. Even the legendary Hideo Kojima has said he’s a big fan of the game, so we’re among excellent company.
In our review of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, we were most struck by the complex and honest reflections on death, fate, and inevitability – how do you stay strong in the face of a seemingly set ending? Where do you gather your strength when the odds seem stacked against you? Clair Obscur has many strengths in its combat and world design, but it’s the story that will stick with you long after completion, making it a great entry to kick off this list.
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Elden Ring Nightreign
- Developer: From Software
- Release Date: May 30, 2025
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
- Genre: Souls-like RPG
Much is made of its brutal combat, but Elden Ring’s worldbuilding is also the stuff of legend. It’s got it all – sinister locations rich with history, rounded characters tied by the strands of fate, and a vast open-world where the story unravels at the player’s own pace. With Nightreign – an experimental, multiplayer non-sequel – fans can glean more information about the mysterious world of Elden Ring through new events and stories.
In our review of Elden Ring Nightreign, we were surprised by the quality of the stories despite the multiplayer-centric structure. If you’re craving more forays into this grim fantasy landscape, you won’t want to let this one pass you by. You don’t have to go in unprepared, either. We’ve already put together a list of the best Elden Ring Nightreign mods, as well as a range of Elden Ring Nightreign guides on anything from picking a class to how to beat the Darkdrift Knight Boss.
Wanderstop
- Developer: Ivy Road
- Release Date: March 11, 2025
- Platforms: PS5, PC
- Genre: Management sim
Wanderstop is a calming, yet challenging, tea shop management simulator with a twist from the creator of The Stanley Parable. The game begins with a mystery: a fierce, unstoppable fighter suddenly finds themselves unable to wield their sword properly. Again and again they’re beaten in battle, until it becomes clear they’re experiencing some kind of burnout. Their method of pushing through the pain begins to fail, and they’re made to slow down with a job at a tea shop. They hate every minute of it.
In our review of Wanderstop, we praised the game’s writing as brutally honest about the impact of burnout and the sacrifices recovery sometimes asks of us. The management side is good fun, allowing you to brew teas with just about any ingredients you can find, but the tender story is the star of the show. If you find your perfectionist brain starting to creep in, we’ve put together this Wanderstop Recipes Guide, featuring all the tea recipes and how to make them. We love a happy customer.
Lost Records: Bloom and Rage
- Developer: Don’t Nod
- Release Date: February 18, 2025
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
- Genre: Narrative adventure
Lost Records: Bloom and Rage is a two-part adventure from the team behind Life is Strange. Set across the dual timelines of 1995 and 2022, the player inhabits the shoes of Swann, a young girl starting a punk band with her best friends. Using a camcorder to record your experience, and making fast-thinking choices to decide how events play out, you’ll uncover the mystery behind a dark event that no one has dared speak about until now.
Lost Records is a deeply immersive game that never shies away from being raw, messy, and honest. We noted in our review of Lost Records: Bloom and Rage that it perfectly captures the magic and melodrama of our teenage years, and the way these events get muddied over time.
1000XResist
- Developer: Sunset Visitor
- Release Date: May 9, 2024
- Platforms: PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S
- Genre: Narrative adventure
1000XResist is a groundbreaking, heartrending, sci-fi epic told across the span of a thousand years of whispers and lies. Taking on the coveted role of Watcher in an underground all-female society, you’re shown snippets of what came before – the disease that wiped out the rest of humanity, the giant humanoid aliens that drove you beneath the surface, and memories of the young woman of whose DNA you are a clone.
1000xResist doesn’t have combat, but you’ll find plenty of tense moments between cinematic turns and exploratory segments. As a recent winner of the Peabody Award for Interactive & Immersive Work and a nominee for the Nebula Award for Best Game Writing, it’s an unforgettable journey nestled inside a largely narrative-led game, offering multiple endings depending on your moral choices.
Norco
- Developer: Geography of Robots
- Release Date: March 24, 2022
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
- Genre: Point-and-click adventure
Set in the eponymous Louisiana town of Norco, this surreal Southern Gothic tale is perfectly pitched between cinematic narrative and immersive mystery. In our Norco review, we praised its “beautiful, evocative, and contemplative storytelling”, presenting a rich dystopian world that pits corporate greed against the horrifying resilience of nature.
Strange, terrible, and often funny encounters with an eclectic cast seem to link the lead character’s mother’s disappearance with the local oil refinery and a mysteriously omnipresent odd-jobs app. Tinged with grief and fear, the story knows when to ramp up the tension, and when to deliver an emotional blow. It’s a beautifully crafted piece of storytelling and one of the best point-and-click games around.
Still Wakes the Deep
- Developer: The Chinese Room
- Release Date: June 18, 2024
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
- Genre: Narrative adventure
2024’s Still Wakes the Deep is a masterfully told psychological horror set on a collapsing oil rig in the North Sea. The problems of an already fragile crew are elevated to the stuff of nightmares as a dredged up eldritch horror begins to tear their minds (and the precarious rig) apart. None of the crew have any superhuman skills, lead character Caz isn’t particularly strong or brave himself, you’ll not find any overpowered weapons here and – as we noted in our Still Wakes the Deep review – the odds feel like they’re perpetually collapsing around you. All you can really do is hide and pray.
It’s a claustrophobic fight to survive, squeezing through vents and pounding your way down flooding corridors, yet still the tender stories of those around you still break through in moments of melancholic relief. What makes Still Wakes the Deep stand out is its emphasis on the fact that you’re not alone. Having no one to rely on is scary, but perhaps having people rely on you is worse.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
- Developer: MachineGames
- Release Date: December 9, 2024
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
- Genre: Action adventure
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle not only has a great story, but tells it by giving you the starring role in a movie. Through stealth sections, puzzles, platforming, and scrappy combat, this action adventure – featuring everyone’s favourite behatted ophidiophobe – has a bit of everything. Set between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and those of The Last Crusade, The Great Circle tells a brand new story framed by familiar faces.
There’s plenty of freedom to explore, outsmart enemies, and solve environmental riddles in a number of huge open-ended levels, making this a story you can tell in your own way. In our Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review, we were especially impressed by how the game captures the look, sound, and spirit of the movies, presenting a riveting story with an unexpected focus on stealth and freeform exploration.
Harold Halibut
- Developer: Slow Bros.
- Release Date: April 16, 2024
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
- Genre: Narrative adventure
Harold Halibut’s entire premise is the strength of the story and characters within. Playing it is akin to sitting down with a box-set series and watching it all in one go on a rainy Saturday afternoon. It’s mostly a walking simulator, taking you through a beautiful story set on a crashed spaceship far out in the cosmos, where everyone is just trying to figure out a way back home.
Harold Halibut invites us to connect with people and their perspectives with an open heart. Each character is richly realised, with hopes and dreams and fears all of their own, while – as we pointed out in our Harold Halibut review – the hand-made aesthetics of the game make each location feel alive and lived-in. As Buddy the in-game mailman would have it, “each person aboard this ship is a world of their own.”
Old Skies
- Developer: Wadjet Eye Games
- Release Date: April 23, 2025
- Platforms: PC, Switch
- Genre: Point-and-click adventure
Old Skies is one of the best games to come out in 2025, a tale of love and loss with plenty of mystery holding it together. Wadjet Eye Games continue their long run of exceptionally good point-and-click adventures, with the gorgeous art, complex puzzles, and immersive voice acting we’ve come to expect.
As a professional time traveler, Fia Quinn is tasked with zipping between various eras of New York City at the whim of her wealthy clients, toeing the thin line between tiny historical tweaks and upsetting the balance of the entire future. In our review of Old Skies, we especially liked how the story surprises with its exploration into the negatives of not influencing the flow of time, of being someone that no one remembers, regardless of what you accomplish.
Deltarune
- Developer: Toby Fox
- Release Date: June 4, 2025
- Platforms: PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch
- Genre: RPG
It might sound like a rogue choice to suggest a game that isn’t quite finished, but the completed Chapters 1-4 of Deltarune are already enough to get excited about. Deltarune is funny, irreverent, and occasionally tragic, as well as being beautifully accommodating to both Undertale fans who can’t get enough of Toby Fox’s twisting, subversive narratives, and new players who want to see what all the fuss is about.
Deltarune’s Chapter 2 made GameSpot’s Best of 2021 despite being half the size it is now, and we know the wait for Deltarune’s next chapter won’t be very long in comparison. The release of four chapters in one go has given fans plenty to dig into, whether it’s the main story’s themes of friendship and mercy, or the countless hidden easter eggs and secrets peppered throughout the varied worlds of each chapter.
Pentiment
- Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
- Release Date: November 15, 2022
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Nintendo Switch
- Genre: Point-and-click adventure
One of the games recently brought to PlayStation as part of a wider Xbox strategy, Pentiment is a visually stunning point-and-click adventure with a twist. The character of Andreas Maler not only solves puzzles and problems as a tumultuous time of political unrest threatens a 16th century Alpine town, but also makes decisions that will come to affect the lives of those around him in unexpected ways.
Filled with gorgeous artwork based on illustrated manuscripts and ancient religious works, the game uses fonts as an unconventional way to signify class and accents between characters. Minor details show such care and attention, and the overarching plot is both fascinating and emotionally wrought. The story of Pentiment is one you won’t forget.
The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow
- Developer: Cloak and Dagger Games
- Release Date: September 28, 2022
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch
- Genre: Point-and-click adventure
The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow is a point-and-click adventure absolutely drenched in creepy folklore and dark magic. Arriving in the quaint English town of Bewlay to conduct some excavations, Thomasina Bateman soon finds herself thrown into a horrifying conspiracy that goes back centuries, tying her family and the townsfolk to an unimaginable evil.
Alongside the story’s folk horror themes are meditations on loss, family, and the fragility of memory. Lost in Cult have recently kicked off their new line of physical games with The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow, featuring original artwork and an essay booklet, a testament to the game’s poignant story and its impact on those who have played it.
Metaphor: ReFantazio
- Developer: Studio Zero
- Release Date: October 11, 2024
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
- Genre: Turn-based RPG
Metaphor: ReFantazio took the gaming world by storm when it first came out, but it’s not too late to get stuck in. One of very few games in the history of Gamespot to earn a 10/10 review, and undoubtedly one of the best PC games to play in 2025, if you’re looking for a game that ticks every box – gameplay, story, combat, art – you’ll want to jump on this one.
Metaphor: ReFantazio follows a young boy whose initial mission to deliver a letter evolves into a sprawling journey packed with giant monstrosities to battle and a world at war with itself. The game reaches deep into topics of politics, religion, and community, inviting the player to have frank conversations about the impact of each of these things on our wider world. Metaphor: ReFantazio really is a modern masterpiece.
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
- Developer: Jump Over the Age
- Release Date: May 5, 2022
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Nintendo Switch
- Genre: RPG
Despite its indie status, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is one of the biggest game releases of January 2025. Building on the success of 2022’s Citizen Sleeper, the sequel is packed with character-rich storylines, beautifully-written dialogue, and moral challenges. The story starts in much the same way as the original, you awake as a sleeper (a sentient android housing a human mind) and have to find a way to stop your robot body malfunctioning and hide from the mercenaries coming after you.
It’s a wonderfully-realised story that allows us to learn from our missteps as much as our triumphs, emphasising that the choices we make matter – especially when the odds are stacked against us.
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy
- Developer: Too Kyo Games, Media Vision
- Release Date: April 24, 2025
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch
- Genre: Visual novel / Turn-based strategy
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is the brain child of directors Kazutaka Kodaka and Kotaro Uchikoshi, best known for the Danganronpa and Zero Escape series, respectively. Their team-up has resulted in a game that bears some resemblance to both those series, but blown up massively. The branching story of The Hundred Line – which follows a group of teenagers who find themselves locked into the titular academy for 100 days, told that it’s their job to protect it from an invading alien force that’s trying to wipe out humanity – features over 100 distinct endings. Unlocking all of them will take well over 100 hours.
But this is a list of the games with the best stories, not the most stories, and thankfully The Hundred Line’s enormous script is thoroughly entertaining. Getting to know all the different characters across multiple scenarios and temporalities is a real treat, and many of the revelations you’ll uncover while unlocking and exploring different story paths are hugely surprising. The turn-based strategy battles peppered throughout The Hundred Line are good fun too, but it’s the twisty, strange storytelling that will keep you hooked.
Silent Hill f
- Developer: NeoBards Entertainment
- Release Date: September 25, 2025
- Platforms: PS5, PC, Xbox Series X/S
- Genre: Horror
Silent Hill f is simultaneously both a departure from the usual Silent Hill formula, and yet deeply familiar. The game trades the series’ usual American settings for 1960s Japan, where teenage girl Shimizu Hinako finds herself beset by a coterie of monsters shambling out of the series’ familiar fog. Despite a new close-combat system and a very different environment, Silent Hill f carries the same eeriness and creeping tension as its predecessors.
Silent Hill f is written by Ryukishi07, a Japanese writer best known for the When They Cry visual novel series. The story digs deep into some dark themes, including familial abuse and sexism; as you might expect from the Silent Hill series, there’s a lot going on under the surface. There are five endings, and to get the whole story you’ll have to finish the game multiple times, but persistence is rewarded with some of the best, smartest storytelling in any game released in 2025.
Promise Mascot Agency
- Developer: Kaizen Game Works
- Release Date: April 10, 2025
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Nintendo Switch
- Genre: Management sim
Management sims aren’t known for their storylines, but Promise Mascot Agency has one of the best stories you could hope for if your jam is irreverent, chaotic, surreal Japanese mysteries. The game – from the makers of Paradise Killer – made our list of the best Steam Deck games to play in 2025, and for good reason.
Taking on the role of an exiled Yakuza sent to a cursed town to make back the money he lost, you’ll have to recruit sentient mascots to prop up your new business front. In amongst the everyday business management, there are individual stories of self-fulfillment to explore, the overarching murder mystery at the heart of your exile, and a range of activities to bring a once-prosperous town back into the limelight.
Dispatch
- Developer: AdHoc Studio
- Release Date: October 22, 2025 (January 28, 2026 for Switch/Switch 2)
- Platforms: PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch
- Genre: Narrative adventure
DIspatch is the return of the episodic, choice-based narrative adventure games that developer Telltale Games popularized in the early 2010s. The whole series is available now, but players who jumped on the game at launch were able to experience a weekly drop of episodes, each one following the journey of former superhero Robert Robertson III in his new role as a superhero dispatcher.
Dispatch deepens its world and characters across its eight episodes, mixing the worlds of superpowered beings and office politics well. As you choose how Robert will respond to different situations, the story changes and adapts based on who you get close to, when you speak honestly, and how effectively you run your team. The sharp humor, clever twists on superhero storytelling, and fantastic animation make Dispatch feel like an excellent playable television show. The game has been successful enough that a second season is likely, and it’s coming to Switch and Switch 2 soon, as well.
Hades 2
Developer: Supergiant Games
Release Date: September 25, 2025
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch
Genre: Action roguelike
Supergiant Games’ second go around with the Greek pantheon yielded a rare GameSpot 10/10, and a large part of that is the game’s incredible storytelling. In Hades 2 you play as Melinoe, sister of Hades protagonist Zagreus, who must face off against the titan Chronos after the time master seizes the throne from her father. The central tale of Melinoe’s struggle is compelling, but what really elevates this game’s storytelling is all the incidental conversations you’ll encounter.
The gods bicker, fuss, and gossip with you, as do all the other characters you’ll encounter, whose backstories slowly spill out over many meetings. The writing is witty and sharp, and the voice acting, across the board, is excellent, imbuing each character with depth (if not always a lot of nuance). It will take a long, long playtime with Hades 2 to run out of new unique interactions.
