The finest narrative games do an exceptional job of keeping you engaged with captivating characters, dialogue, settings, and stories that will have you coming back until the credits roll.
Whether you’re a fan of dramatic walking sims, lighthearted adventure games, captivating detective stories, romantic visual novels, or simply enjoy a fantastic comedy, there’s a game out there for you.
In this list, we’ll highlight the greatest story-driven games to play in 2025, including the top narrative games on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.
We’ll be updating this list in the future with new titles, so make sure to check back and let us know if we missed any of your beloved narrative-driven games!
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What Remains of Edith Finch
Genre: Walking SimrnrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
What Remains of Edith Finch is a walking sim about the last living member of an extraordinary family who returns to her now-deserted home to relive her childhood memories.
The narrative centers on a purported family curse, in which all but one member of every Finch generation dies under peculiar circumstances.
As things progress, you get to learn more about each relative and witness their untimely deaths first-hand while exploring different rooms and playing out their memories.
God of War
Genre: Action-adventurernrnPlatform: PS4
Exclusive to PlayStation 4, God of War serves as both a reboot and continuation to preceding entries in the Sony-owned hack and slash series.
In it, players step into the shoes of Kratos – aka the Ghost of Sparta and actual God of War, as he goes toe-to-toe with Norse mythology’s assemblage of gods.
Having rid himself of his Blades of Chaos, Kratos now wields an enchanted Leviathan Axe and gains assistance from his son Atreus, a proficient archer with other hidden talents.
Hades
Genre: Action RoguelikernrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Mac
Supergiant Games is known for producing some of the best story-driven experiences to date, including their hit roguelike dungeon crawler Hades.
In it, you play as the son of Hades on a mission to escape an ever-changing underworld prison guarded by formidable gods blocking your path to Mt. Olympus.
While the game’s roguelike design may lead you to think it doesn’t do a superb job at storytelling, Hades manages to keep things captivating by having the world and dialogue evolve as you progress.
Persona 5 Royal
Genre: JRPGrnrnPlatform: PS4
If you’re a JRPG fan, Persona 5 is worth checking out or revisiting with Persona 5 Royal edition, which introduces a new party member, story cutscenes, and more content.
The game casts you as a defiant teen attending high school in Tokyo who becomes tangled in a supernatural world brimming with wicked threats and enormous companions called Personas.
Gameplay is split between turn-based dungeon-crawling and everyday activities such as attending school, working part-time, shopping, and hanging out with friends.
Soma
Genre: Survival HorrorrnrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Linux, Mac
Created by Amnesia developer Frictional Games, Soma is about an AI clone named Simon who wakes up to find himself in a submerged scientific facility under enigmatic circumstances.
Desperate for answers, he sets out to explore PATHOS-II and uncover the truth behind the base’s origins, sinister experiments, and missing employees all while trying to slip past mechanized creatures.
From there, things spin off in some intriguing directions that you probably won’t see coming, making for one of the finest sci-fi stories in a video game.
Omori
Genre: RPGrnrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Mac
Heavily influenced by Earthbound and Mother 3, Omori presents itself as a vintage-style pixel-art RPG centered on a depressed boy and his many adventures with friends and strangers.
Omori is constantly questioning the nature of his relationships and putting himself down while struggling to recall key parts of his enigmatic past.
Over time, you come to realize things aren’t as they seem and must try to unravel all of Omori’s secrets through turn-based battling and by open-world investigation.
Observation
Genre: AdventurernrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Observation is a story-driven adventure game set aboard a seemingly abandoned space station with one sole survivor, Dr. Emma Fisher.
Unable to recall what happened to her crew who mysteriously disappeared, Fisher enlists the help of the station’s computerized assistant S.A.M. to get things operational again.
Most of the game is experienced from S.A.M.’s viewpoint, with you witnessing events unfold while trying to help Dr. Fisher access the station’s OS, cameras, and logs to find out what went wrong.
NieR: Automata
Genre: Action-RPGrnrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One
Nier: Automata takes a distinctive approach to storytelling by requiring multiple playthroughs to fully comprehend what precisely is going on.
It follows two androids entangled in a conflict created by humans pitting their kind against antiquated robots who invaded Earth in the past.
Throughout the protagonists 2B and 9S’s journey, you’ll learn more about their origins and the war itself, while also being compelled to wrestle with deep philosophical questions regarding life and humanity.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Genre: Action-RPGrnrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4
Another great story-driven Sony exclusive is Horizon Zero Dawn, which takes place in a remarkably vivid post-apocalyptic world where machines and humans live together.
You play as a hunter named Aloy as she sets out to protect her tribe from the machines in hopes of gaining their acceptance and ensuring their continued survival.
As you advance through the story, more details surrounding Aloy’s mysterious past and how the machines came to be are revealed.
Disco Elysium
Genre: RPGrnrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Mac
Disco Elysium is a story-driven RPG that sees you playing as a detective sent to investigate the murder of a man found hanging from a tree.
Set in the remnants of a failed communist insurrection, the game offers a commentary on the enduring effects of political turmoil while serving as a backdrop for the mystery you’re trying to solve.
Hunting down clues and potential leads involve a lot of dialogue, giving you plenty of chances to probe and prod around NPCs’ personal beliefs and biases while dealing with your doubts.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Genre: Action-adventurernrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One
Rockstar’s Western-themed open-world game Red Dead Redemption 2 is overflowing with sights to see and things to do, so much so it can be easy to overlook just how skillfully-crafted its narrative is.
In it, you step into the shoes of Arthur Morgan, a member of the notorious Van der Linde gang along with the protagonist from the original Red Dead, John Marston.
Over the course of the game, you’ll be forced to make challenging decisions for Arthur that often put him in the crosshairs of rival gangs, law enforcement, and his own moral judgment.
Detroit: Become Human
Genre: AdventurernrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4
Developer Quantic Dream is known for creating intricate, narrative-driven interactive experiences such as Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls.
The studio’s most recent title, Detroit: Become Human tells a futuristic tale revolving around three androids that become aware following separate unfortunate incidents.
Based on your choices, each protagonist’s story can branch out in several ways, including demise; if a character does end up passing away, the plot moves forward without their involvement.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Genre: Action-RPGrnrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
The Witcher 3 is the third entry in the renowned fantasy series spanning books, games, and television, and is without a doubt one of the finest story-driven RPGs of the last ten years.
You take on the role of Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter known as a Witcher who sets off on a quest to find his adopted daughter as she’s pursued by a malevolent cult known as the Wild Hunt.
Along the way, you get to explore diverse storylines tied to different characters in the form of quests, boss fights, and open-ended exploration.
Yakuza 0
Genre: Action-adventurernrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One
The Yakuza games may feature an assortment of diverse gameplay activities ranging from karaoke to back-alley brawling to helping an elderly woman find her cat, but they also feature one of the best ongoing stories in video games.
If you’re new to the series, we recommend starting with Yakuza 0, a prequel that chronicles Yakuza member Kazuma Kiryu’s journey from low-ranking enforcer to crime boss during the late 1980s.
The story alternates between exceedingly serious Kiryu and his humorous relief cohort Goro Majima, with each assigned a unique fighting style and personality that causes them to react to situations differently.
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Visual NovelrnrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS
Trigger Happy Havoc is one of the finest entries in the Dangonronpa detective-style visual novel series and follows a group of students forced to participate in a malevolent game created by an evil pink bear.
One by one, the kids start getting killed off, prompting the player character to search for evidence, interview key witnesses, and interrogate potential suspects before arriving at a conclusion.
Should you accuse the incorrect person, everyone dies, and the actual culprit walks free; however, if you guess correctly, only the murderer gets punished, and everyone else gets to ‘graduate.’
The Wolf Among Us
Genre: AdventurernrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Mac, iOS, Android
A standout title in Telltale’s episodic game catalog is The Wolf Among Us, a somber and gritty detective thriller based on the award-winning Fables DC comic book series.
The story takes place in an alternate world where fairytale characters have adapted to modern civilization, and has you controlling Bigby Wolf, aka the big bad wolf.
After a mysterious woman ends up slain, Bigby sets out to investigate the crime only to find himself plunging deeper and deeper into a pool of conspiracies taking place right in Fabletown.
BioShock Infinite
Genre: FPSrnrnPlatforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Linux, Mac
BioShock Infinite is an outstanding entry point to the sci-fi shooter series since its plot is fundamentally separate from the first two BioShock games.
It takes place in a floating steampunk city called Columbia whose citizens cling to intolerant religious and bigoted beliefs that end up putting the main characters Elizabeth and Booker in perilous way.
This is one of those games that cover a lot of terrain in terms of narrative by exploring the above themes along with sci-fi topics like time travel and quantum theory.
Portal 2
Genre: Puzzle-platformerrnrnPlatforms: Windows, Linux, Mac
Valve’s widely-acclaimed puzzle-platformer Portal 2 sees you traversing a sci-fi madhouse in the form of Aperture Science Labs soon after your old AI adversary GLaDOS has regained control.
The game’s superb puzzle designs and mind-bending portal mechanics are further complemented by a brilliantly written story oozing with dry humor and witty dialogue at every turn.
By listening to Aperture founder Cave Johnson’s recorded speeches where he goes off on captivating tangents, Portal 2 succeeds in fascinating you from beginning to end by revealing the truth about the creation of GLaDOS.