OC Looking for narrative driven games

Hi, as it’s in my title. I’m looking for narrative driven games with good story, something I can play on my steam deck. Not something open open world but more of a on rails experience.
Things I’ve played that that should give rough idea what I have in mind:

  • The last of us
  • until dawn/the dark pictures anthology series
  • the quarry
  • new/remakes of resident evil games
  • Road 96
  • Alan Wake remake

I obviously have a horror/mystery preferences and I want the story to be told to me, I don’t like the dark souls approach of “guess or read all of the in game books or w/e to have a chance at glimpsing a hint of a story”

stopthatgirl7,
stopthatgirl7 avatar

If you haven’t played it yet, the Mass Effect trilogy. The Legendary Edition runs well on Steam Deck ( one of my coworkers is playing it now on his), and the story is really good.

Since you liked Alan Wake, also look at Control - it’s even set in the same universe as Alan Wake is, too.

If you like horror, there’s also Doki Doki Literature Club.

TimesEcho,
TimesEcho avatar

Heaven's Vault was fantastic and can be played multiple times to get different versions of the story. It's also on sale right now. What I thought was especially well done is how they tied the narrative to replaying aspect.

spite,

Looks promising, thank you

isiloron,
isiloron avatar

One of my favorite games!

hellerphant,
hellerphant avatar

A lot of great games already mentioned here. If you want to try something a little different. Yakuza 0 has a bonkers story that is weird and wonderful, but very Japanese.

Tacoma and Gone Home are great stories and well worth a look.

I also rate the Max Payne series for some pulpy fun story with lots of shooty in between.

spite,

Point and click are not really my thing but thank you. Although, the dark anthology series is kind of point and click so I might need to reevaluate that.

I have a beef with Yakuza so no thanks :)

hellerphant,
hellerphant avatar

Tacoma and Gone Home are more walking g simulators, but I get it!

The Forgotten City was a pretty mind bending game. Also a lot of folks like The Witcher 3 from a narrative stance. Not really my jam though.

OminousHum,
  • Bioshock Infinite
  • Return of the Obra Dinn (You’ll have to work to figure out the story, but that’s the whole point of the game.)
  • Undertale (I know it doesn’t look so good on the surface, but it’s brilliant once you get into it.)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (Dumb fun popcorn game with a decent story.)
  • Hi-Fi Rush (A little bit lighter in the story department, but an absolute freakin’ blast to play.)

How do you feel about classic adventure or walking sim type games? If you’re willing to trade in shooting for talking and puzzles, there’s some fantastic stories there.

  • LucasArts’ adventure games: (Older, more comedic, but some of the greats, and many have remakes available.)
    • Grim Fandango
    • Full Throttle
    • Monkey Island
    • The Dig
    • Fate of Atlantis
  • Wadjet Eye adventure games: (Newer, but emulating older styles. Darker than LucasArts.)
    • Unavowed
    • Technobabylon
    • The Excavation of Hobbs Barrow
  • Other excellent adventure games:
    • The Longest Journey
    • Life is Strange series
    • Broken Sword 1-5
  • Walking sims: (All story and exploration, very little challenge.)
    • What Remains of Edith Finch
    • Firewatch
ampersandrew,
ampersandrew avatar

The nice thing about Hi-Fi Rush is that, while the story won't blow your mind, the characters are all lovable, and it's nice to have a Saturday morning cartoon sort of vibe where everything isn't super grimdark.

-spam-,
-spam- avatar

They nailed the characters. Loved Korsica.

HidingCat,

I loved a lot of Wadjet Eye games. Technobabylon is a favourite of mine.

The now-defunct Daedelic had some decent games, my favour is Memoria. I don't know why, but something about it stuck with me. It's the right mix of darker fantasy with more low fantasy moments that I like.

Die4Ever,
@Die4Ever@programming.dev avatar

Have you tried the Telltale games?

jballs,
@jballs@sh.itjust.works avatar

Have you played any of the games by Telltale Games? They’re all story driven style games and I love almost all of them. The Wolf Among Us is a good starting point to see if you like the style.

_haha_oh_wow_,
@_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works avatar

Stanley Parable

RatsAmassing,
RatsAmassing avatar

Disco Elysium, Weird West and Trails in The Sky FC are great narrative driven games. They deal with a lot of different topics in mature ways, hoping you get some good recs out of the thread

CorInABox,
CorInABox avatar

Surprised no one mentioned Enderal yet. It's a total conversion mod for Skyrim (special edition) and it really fits the bill of mystery/horror. It's my favorite game from a narrative point of view; the soundtrack and voice acting is also excellent, and I have re-listened it long after finishing the game. The only issue would be that you mentioned you would prefer a more linear experience, rather than an open world. The main quest is fairly linear, but you can still go off the rails and explore - but the pull of the story will always set you back on track.

One of my favorite tracks, which summarizes quite well the atmosphere of the game - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKLkOnvFG5w
Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DHkmHBPs2Q

ProtonDB lists it as playable on SteamDeck; the game itself is free, although you will need Skyrim Special edition (which is around 10$ on Steam right now).

Semmelstulle,
Semmelstulle avatar

Tears of the Kingdom on Ryujinx but you nainly focus on the Underground part?

CrashEchoes,

Metro Exodus!

spite,

Played it but thank you

Yewb,

Any of the shadowrun games on steam are great.
Disco elysium is also great.

spite,

Played through disco Elysium, it was fun. I’ve been contemplating shadow run games for years. Might finally get to them

c2c2, (edited )
c2c2 avatar

I love some horror games

Amnesia series
Layers of Fear series
Blair Witch
Observer
Observation
The Medium
Stories Untold
Killer Frequency
Alien: Isolation
Daymare: 1998
Deadspace series
Detention
The Evil Within series
Infliction
Outlast series
Visage
Soma

ninbreaker,

Prey 2017, Alpha Protocol, Deus Ex HR, Vampires the Masquerade Bloodlines, Mass Effect, Disco Elysium, FF7 Remake, Guardians of the Galaxy, Rage 1, Spec ops: the line, the witcher 1/2, all the Yakuza games

KingSlareXIV,

Wow, a fellow Alpha Protocol fan! A very underrated game.

I’d add Citizen Sleeper

any of the dontnod Life is Strange type games

Paradise Killer is FANTASTIC murder mystery

Wasteland 2 and 3

I am probably forgetting a lot of others at the moment.

Skray,
Skray avatar

You might enjoy Control.

It's by the same devs as Alan Wake and has an Alan Wake tie in DLC since they take place in the same universe. It's fairly linear with some optional side missions. The setting is similar to SCP if you're familiar with that. You're in an office building dedicated to an organization that contains extra-dimensional threats and there's been a breach that has to be contained.
Story is pretty straight forward but there are some humorous notes and videos you can find that help explain the primary story and some of the objects that are being contained in the bureau.

spite,

I’ve finished control some time ago, thanks. Although I’m sure if I did the dlc. Might have to check

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