We have seen truly incredible gaming spectacles within the AAA scene. Games likeThe Last of Ushave prompted Hollywood to create a live-action TV adaption built around the events of the existing games. OrRed Dead Redemption 2,a game with a narrative so gut-wrenchingly brilliant that it managed to top the brutal and harrowing ending of its predecessor. It’s not a hard and fast rule that a game needs to have a blockbuster budget and teams of hundreds of developers to provide a compelling story, though.
There are a wide variety of games out there within the indie scene that have some of the finest writing, pacing and storytelling chops in the industry. The fact that they can do all that with shoestring budgets and smaller teams only makes the feat that bit more impressive. So in an attempt to show that great things often come in small packages, here are some great indie titles with impeccable storytelling.
There are a lot of indie games that you would expect to see on this list, and quite frankly, I’m not out here trying to retread old ground. So for the most part, I’m going to be focusing on indie hidden gems with excellent story content. So you won’t findEdith Finch, Spiritfarer, Firewatch,SOMAorBrothers: A Tale of Two Sonson this list. But know, I love them as well!
10Disco Elysium
Sunrise Parabellum
Metacritic Score
I’m going to completely contradict my selection criteria immediately, but I promise it’s just this once because I can’t not mention this one; that would be absurd. Let’s kick things off with not just the indie game I believe to have the best writing of all time, but the best gaming writing, period.Disco Elysiumis a CRPG where you play as amnesiac alcoholic Harrier Dubois and your role is to solve the murder of the hanging man.
What you choose to do, or not do, and how you choose to do it, however, is purely up to you.Every choice has some rewarding lore, dialogue or consequence that further immerses you in the world of Revachol, and unlike most CRPGs, the game does this with zero combat whatsoever.
Disco Elysiumis such a complex and meticulously-written game that even after 10+ playthroughs, I still find myself uncovering new lines of dialogue I never knew existed, which is what makes roleplaying in Disco Elysium so rewarding. Well, that, and the dark yet hilarious tone and the politically-charged atmosphere that you may lean into in any direction you like. In short, it’s a masterpiece, plain and simple. So don’t hang around: slip on your Horrific Neck Tie and get going!
Remember Where You Come From
Visai Games
Not all games need to offer a 25+ hour story with set-pieces galore to deliver a thought-provoking and engaging narrative, and that’s something thatGames For Impact 2023 winner, Venba, proves. This game tells a short and bittersweet story of Indian immigrants moving to Canada to give their children a better life, and in doing so, we see how they wrestle with their culture, customs and identity as their child grows up in an Americanized environment and loses touch with their roots.
This story is punctuated byCooking Mama-esque mini-games that showcase the finest dishes within Tamil culture, and even though I know they are just pixels on a screen, my mouth was watering nonetheless.It’s a deeply-affecting story that manages to hook you and get you all emotional in record time. So if you’re here for a good time, not a long time, thenVenbais the one for you.
8In Stars and Time
Over And Over And Over Again
Insert Disc 5
JRPGs tend to follow the same tired cliché, which is that, through the power of friendship, your party takes down a god. It’s something we have always happily accepted, and indie darlingIn Stars and Timefollows this blueprint to the letterat first. to break a time loop you find yourself trapped in, you play as Siffrin and must use your looping ability to work through Dormont’s Castle and take down The King. Even if you do, however, the happily-ever-after won’t be immediately forthcoming.
After the first grand hurrah, the game loops again and becomes a meta-commentary on time-loop games and explores how the process of enduring this Groundhog Day scenario would affect the player character, and this use of gameplay to drive the narrative is nothing short of phenomenal.Heed these words: PlayIn Stars and Time. It’s a criminally underrated indie gem and thebest time loop game I have ever played.
7Saltsea Chronicles
A Nautical Adventure To Savour
Die Gute Fabrik
I’ll admit that, at first, I just couldn’t get intoSaltsea Chronicles.While the world is immediately interesting and the characters are well-written, it gets off to a slow, plodding start. But, what I would say to those who maybe dropped this one is stick with it, as all the world-building and slow, plodding sections act as pieces of a puzzle, and as the full picture begins to take shape with each piece that connects, you’ll begin to see the true value of this title.
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This game is a wonderful story showcasing that, despite creeds, cultures and the distance between us, we are all connected, and deep down, we all care.This seems like a shallow plot point, but through excellent writing, character depth and relationships, as well as a wealth of complex social and political themes that it competently juggles throughout. I’m a sucker for a nautical adventure, and in the case ofSaltsea Chronicles, they don’t make ‘em much better than this one.
A Teen-Bop Horror That’s Actually Pretty Scary
Night School Studios
Here’s a game that you can play on Netflix, of all things, as this game and its sequel were created byNight School Studios, a Netflix-owned company. As you would imagine, being a game on Netflix, this game needs to exist almost purely as a narrative-driven entity, meaning it lives and dies by its story.Well, thankfully,Oxenfreeis one of the finest indie horror games I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing, offering aStranger Thingssort of feel to proceedings as you navigate Edwards Island with your ragtag bunch of pals.
The game revolves around dimensional tears and a doomed brand of ghosts known as The Sunken, and through exploring the island, you’ll not only begin to piece together the mysteries tied to the suspect radiowaves, you keep picking up on your walkie-talkie. But you’ll also get to know each party member intimately, and make key choices that may affect their fate. It’s one of those games akin to the likes ofUntil Dawn, The Dark Picture AnthologyandThe Quarry. Only, in my opinion, this one trumps them all.
5Laika: Aged Through Blood
Motorbike Bullet Time Mayhem
Brainwash Gang
A lot of the games on this list muscle their way on here purely down to their narrative excellence, as in some cases, the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired.Laika: Aged Through Blood, however, is a rare example of a story-driven game where the gameplay is equally as innovative and awe-inspiring. The gameplay has the player exploring a gritty Metroidvania world where they enjoy a healthy blend ofTrials Fusion-esque motorbike platforming paired withMax Payne-inspired bullet time mechanics. It sounds ludicrous, but it’s so mad that it somehow works.
But on top of excellent game design, the game features a gritty post-apocalyptic setting that plays host to a gory and mature narrative where you and your tribe fight to survive in a world dominated by a bird species that would rather you were irradicated completely.
This leads to plenty of gory encounters, and acts of vengeance, all in a bid to keep your people safe and grant your child just a bit longer to enjoy their childish innocence before the burdens of the world are thrust upon them. It’s a staggeringly good story, steeped in bloodlust, and one that’s well worth revving up and gunning towards full throttle.
4Citizen Sleeper
Wake Up Sleeper!
Jump Over The Age
I’ve always been a little standoffish with cyberpunk narratives and games set in outer space. Perhaps it’s the sheer scale of the universe that takes me out of it, but there are some exceptions, andCitizen Sleeperis one of them.This title sees you awake aboard The Eye, a huge space station which will be the place where, through hard graft and some lucky dice rolls, you’ll try and forge a new life.As you are a rogue android who is in servitude to the Essen Arp corporation, however, the clock is always ticking, and you’ll always be looking over your shoulder, waiting for a bullet in the head.
The strength of world-building, RPG systems and storytelling is clear to see from the outset and throughout. You’ll meet a string of nuanced characters and be forced into moral quandaries where you’ll be forced to make tough decisions. And as the game draws to a close, you’ll find out if freedom was ever possible or if you were doomed to your fate from the start. It’s a sci-fi epic I would recommend to anyone and a game you should play ahead ofCitizen Sleeper 2’simminent release.
3To The Moon
I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying!
Freebird Games
I’ve enjoyed some emotional moments in games and I’m not afraid to say I’ve shed a tear more than once. But, nothing I had witnessed leading up to when I playedTo The Mooncould have prepared me for the emotionally gut-wrenching experience that it had waiting for me.This game sees you play as Johnny Wyles, a dying man who has been granted the ability to alter his memories and insert anything that he likes, and he will believe it as fact. He decides he wants to go to the moon.
This seems like a pretty childish and silly request, but as you dive into the backstory of Johnny and break down his life by sifting through his existing memories, you learn about his relationship with his River, the unfortunate events of his childhood that led to a huge chunk of childhood memories being lost, and the endless hope of his wife jostling those memories from his sub-conscience in any way she could.From the platypus to the paper bunnies and the rocket scene,To The Moonis packed with loads of heartbreaking moments, so grab some tissues and I’ll meet you there. And if you get lost, we’ll regroup on the moon!
You’ll Need To Be In The RightHeadspaceFor This One
Just so you know, these last entries are going to be very RPG Maker-heavy, but you’ll thank me for it if you play any of these staggeringly brilliant games. Next, we haveOMORI, a game where you play as Sunny, a young boy with a wild imagination called Headspace, a place that the player will explore with Sunny’s friends, Hero, Aubrey, Basil, Kel and Mari. But when Mari goes missing, it becomes your goal to find out what has happened to her.
This story, however, will be punctuated by trips to the reality of the ‘white space’ and the dreaded ‘black space’ as you try to make sense of what is real and what is fantasy. Which all leads to a dark and twisted crescendo that reveals what Headspace is and how it came to be.It’s a tale that deals with heavy themes of childhood trauma, suicide and so much more in a compelling, grounded and gritty way that may be a lot for some, but no one can deny it’s incredibly delivered.So, if you don’t mind heavy subject matter,OMORIis a brilliant one to check out.
Meta Puzzles, Philosophical Struggles
Future Cat
Then to wrap up this story-driven indie list, we haveONESHOT, a game that is primarily billed as a puzzle game. I would argue, however, that the game slowly builds from a gimmicky puzzle game to a phenomenal story-driven epic that pits two philosophical views against each other. Many will likely knowONESHOTfor its meta puzzles that mess around with your computer’s documents, not to mention the staggeringly good soundtrack, but I believe thatONESHOTearns its plaudits because of the narrative.
This might seem odd to anyone who missed the Solstice ending and rightly so.But when you unearth this portion of the game, the game suddenly doubles in length and the story blossoms into a truly affecting one. It’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you try and it’ll make you think.And when you think about it, that’s all we can really ask of a video game story. So, if you haven’t played this indie gem yet, now is the time.
