The Top 10 Greatest Video Game Stories (Ever)
06. The Last of Us
Here is a sticky one. The Last of Us certainly belongs on this list -- even if it did not make our Top 10 Games of 2013 list. You might be thinking, wait, it scores a place on the best stories list but NOT the Top 10? How does that work?!
It is simple really -- the Top 10 were judged by their entertainment value -- and a game can be very entertaining and still have little or no story to it. Whereas a game cannot make THIS list unless it has an absolutely bang-on excellent story that draws the player in and keeps them focused and entertained, and The Last of Us does that in spades.
Now you might be thinking, haven't we seen enough zombie games? And the answer would be, well, No. Because until the day comes when we, as gamers, reject that premise for a game, we will keep happily gobbling them up. When that genre comes with so neatly packaged a story and game play experience -- like this one does -- it is very easy to understand why it is on this list.
Then again this is not really a Zombie story so much as it is a cautionary tale of things that can happen due to the imperfect understanding that we have of biology. Speculation that the disaster was man-made aside, in TLoU the premise is simple: a fungus-based infection takes over the brains of humans and turns them into monsters.
That fungus is called Cordyceps, and this is not the first time that it has factored in a video game. You may be fascinated to learn that it is the fungus that grows on the backs of the Pokemons Paras and Parasect, and Minecraft has an infected mob in it, called Mooshroom (an infected cow), just to name a few.
The infection vector requires just a single bite, which means one mistake is too many if you are not infected. We get a first glimpse of that infection process early in the game, and then we have to endure some emotionally-devastating events.
Twenty years on we find ourselves embedded in what may very well be the best survival horror adventure we have seen in video games so far -- the plot and story (and action) certainly maintains that level of immersion. So yeah, well done you fungus!
Not having KOTOR on this list is a sin.
Skyrim's story is pathetic, makes no sense and is full of typical fantasy tropes. Dragons really? Also it has the sad Chosen one plot which only really makes sense if you're a Nord, because due to the lore only Nords have ever been of Dragon blood and blah, blah, blah.
Morrowind has a MUCH better story, which I don't want to spoil. The world is original and unique. However I am shocked Planescape Torment isn't on here.
Was the 360 your first console?
what about Eternal darkness, the way the chapters were woven together was very good
Skyrim Is Cool Game...
How about The Longest Journey or Grim Fandango?
Skyrim's story did suck. That shouldn't even be on this list.
Skyrim has a lot going for it, but it's story is terrible. There is NO character development at any point in the game for any character. That said, the LORE(completely different than the story) is fantastic as always, the game world is nice, and the immersion is there.
Planescape: Torment?......Go kill yourself.
Where is Morrowind ?
10-Dark Sector
9-Halo:Reach
8-Mass Effect
7-Uncharted
6-Red Dead Redemption
5-Fallout 3
4-Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
3-Heavy Rain
2-Grand Theft Auto V
1-The Last of Us
My name is John I., and this is my list. Any one agree?
Agreed!
Skyrim's main story line is one of the shittiest story of all "big" games... Most of side-quests have better story than main plot. I quit playing main story line in 2/3 (after first defeat of "evil dragon") because it bored me as hell.
Played 300 hours of Skyrim, wait it had a story? o.O
Starcraft one should definitely be in anyone's top ten story lines.
Last of Us has passed Skyrim for most awards for a single title, I feel it deserves the title of best story ever.
Skyrim --' wtf????
Puts Skyrim but not Morrowind or Oblivion. Honestly, it took me 2 to 3 years to actually start the main quest past the Thalmor Embassy.
Everyone forgot one game...Indigo Prophesy..aka..Fahrenheit!
Stupidity at it's finest. R u seriously gonna tell me that Halo is not on the list? U r seriously out of ure mind
Red dead redemption, is the greatest story by far.
No Red Dead Redemption... hmm think I pressed the wronk link
gta 5 is not worth the best story... but most of this games sucks story sucks if you compare it to the real great games. LA Noir WTF? Grom fandango has the best story of all games. batman arkham asylum has also a very good story, witcher 2 should also be top 10
whre tf is gta 5??????
That seems like an odd thing to say about skyrim. I didn't notice any considerable depth to Skyrim's story over the previous 3 games. I was really confused by the dragon business by the end of the game, actually.
Legacy of Kain beats all of those games' storylines.
Last of us after LoK.
[b][/b]
I totally agree. It is awesome that someone else appreciated that series as much as I did. I was hoping it would be on this list.
Where indeed is Planescape Torment?
I found that shining diamond over ten years after it was published and even though it looks quite ugly by todays standards, the story and the dark, twisted, gruesome and utterly marvelous fantasy world is just gripping. Forget Nirn, forget Arda, this is a world that actually has a soul and spirit. And it's not just a world, but so much more. That game will stay with you forever.
Oh how I would love to get lost in the Planes again in a completely new story..
WOT? You didn't even include Planescape:Torment?
It has the best story any RPG game ever had, Period.
This list in insulting. Kingdom hearts (the first one), ff6-10, loz oot, sonic adventure 2. Mario has a better story than skyrim and it's recycled every year lololol
FO Vegas is the worst Fallout storyline so far...... wtf.
Metal Gear Solid??!!!