Story rich game recommendations

Some people play for the challenge; this list is for those who play for the story. These are the games with the most praised narratives in the catalog — characters that stay with you, scripts that surprise and endings worth weeks of debate.

The 25 best story-rich games

1. 1

   Half-Life (1998)

   PC

   96
2. 2

   Half-Life 2 (2004)

   PC

   96
3. 3

   Portal 2 (2011)

   PlayStation · PC — PS Store ↗

   95
4. 4

   Red Dead Redemption (2010)

   PlayStation · Nintendo · PC — PS Store ↗ · Steam ↗

   95
5. 5

   God of War I (2005)

   PlayStation — PS Store ↗

   94
6. 6

   BioShock Infinite (2013)

   PlayStation · Nintendo · PC — PS Store ↗ · Nintendo ↗

   94
7. 7

   Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition (2015)

   PlayStation · PC — PS Store ↗

   94
8. 8

   Grand Theft Auto III (2001)

   PlayStation · PC — PS Store ↗

   93
9. 9

   Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)

   PlayStation · PC — PS Store ↗

   93
10. 10

    Half-Life: Alyx (2020)

    PC — Steam ↗

    93
11. 11

    ATRI -My Dear Moments (2020)

    PC — Steam ↗

    93
12. 12

    Grimm's Hollow (2019)

    PC — Steam ↗

    93
13. 13

    Smushi Come Home (2023)

    PC

    93
14. 14

    South Scrimshaw, Part One (2023)

    PC

    93
15. 15

    Paper Lily - Chapter 1 (2023)

    PC

    93
16. 16

    Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)

    PlayStation · PC — PS Store ↗ · Nintendo ↗

    92
17. 17

    OKAMI HD (2017)

    PlayStation · Nintendo · PC — PS Store ↗ · Nintendo ↗

    92
18. 18

    Bloodborne (2015)

    PlayStation — PS Store ↗

    92
19. 19

    Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (2005)

    PlayStation · Nintendo · PC — PS Store ↗ · Nintendo ↗

    92
20. 20

    Braid (2008)

    PlayStation · PC — PS Store ↗

    92
21. 21

    Journey (2012)

    PlayStation · PC — PS Store ↗ · Steam ↗

    92
22. 22

    Thief Gold (1999)

    PC

    92
23. 23

    Split Fiction (2025)

    PlayStation · PC — PS Store ↗ · Steam ↗

    92
24. 24

    Lost in Play (2022)

    PlayStation · Nintendo · PC — Steam ↗

    92
25. 25

    Before Your Eyes (2021)

    PC — Steam ↗

    92

How this list was built: we start from a catalog of 20,827 PlayStation, Nintendo and PC games, then filter and sort by score — the critic score (Metacritic or IGDB) where it exists, the player score in the exceptions (hover a score to see its source). It is updated along with the catalog.