There are a lot of indie games with stories that are hard to forget. Here are some of the best examples of this type of writing.
The creativity and originality of indie developers are essential to the success of the video game business. Established companies are great and all, but these game behemoths don’t always have the ability to add a more personal touch. Indie games connect with audiences in ways that AAA companies cannot, thanks to their smaller teams, more focused scope, and unwavering passion for the project.
The stories of indie games are often very good. Without an engaging story to move the player forward, the game’s mechanics and design don’t matter. Since many indie games start out as one big idea in the mind of the writer, their stories have been carefully thought out and worked on for years. The good news is that there are a lot of indie games with stories that can’t be beat.
Spiritfarer
Spiritfarer is a nice management simulation game that takes place in a beautiful world. The main character, Stella, is controlled by the player. Stella’s job is to be the Spiritfarer, a magical ferry master whose job is to help people get to the afterlife.
Spiritfarer is set in a world full of unique people with whom Stella will become close. Players will also gradually learn the truth about Stella’s past and how she became a guide for lost souls. The game deals with the difficult subject of death in a sensitive and beautiful way.
Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons came out in 2013, making it a little older than many of the other movies on this list. But this indie game is often used as a prime example of a game with a great story. In boys: A Tale of Two Sons, players control Naiee and Naia, two boys who are on a quest to find a cure for their sick father.
Because each brother is good at something different, they have to work together to get through their trip and the many problems they face. During the game, players will also meet other characters who will help them with their own problems. Without giving away the ending, the game ends with an intense gut punch that will be hard to forget.
SOMA
SOMA is a scary story-driven game set in a complicated post-apocalyptic world. It was made by the horror game experts at Frictional Games. Players take control of Simon, the main character, who wakes up in a broken-down research center under the sea with no idea how he got there.
Even though the game play is interesting, if a little repetitive, it is the story that makes SOMA such a famous and interesting game. As players discover more of this scary underwater world, they will meet characters who will make them wonder what it means to really be human.
Oxenfree
Oxenfree is a supernatural horror game that is based on coming-of-age stories. It takes place on an empty and strange island. Players take on the part of Alex, a young teenager who is spending the weekend with her friends camping on the island. Alex accidentally starts a rift between worlds while she is exploring caves nearby with her radio.
The people in the group wake up in different places on the island and start to experience strange things. Even though there are many exciting things that happen in the game, the focus is on relationships and natural conversation, which helps to tell the story.
Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is a strange RPG that looks like an oil painting and has a lot of complicated ideas at its core. The main question of the game is, “What kind of cop are you?” Players are free to shape their main character in any way they want.
In Disco Elysium, players take control of the main character, who wakes up in a messy hotel room and turns out to be a detective who has lost his memory because of drugs.Putting together his past will show how complicated the human experience is, with all its funny, sad, and odd moments.
Night In The Woods
Night in the Woods is a single-player action game that is mostly about the story. Players will follow the main character, Mae, on her trip as she goes back to her hometown after dropping out of college because of her mental health.
Mae and her childhood friends start to figure out what’s going on in their town, where people are going missing and there’s a strange group in the woods. Night in the Woods is a great story with themes about mental illness, financial stagnation, and the death of small towns.
Gone Home
Gone Home, which came out in 2013 from The Fullbright Company, is another adventure game with a great main story. Players take charge of Katie, a young woman who comes home from a trip abroad to see her family but finds that they have moved out.
The game is interesting because it doesn’t have much action or specific events. Instead, you find out what’s going on by interacting with different things around the house. In this more artistic version of game, players will slowly figure out what happened to Katie’s family.
Inside
Sometimes the best stories are the ones that are hard to understand, and Inside is one of those stories. The main character of this popular puzzle platformer is an unnamed child who goes through a strange and dystopian world. No one knows where he is going or what his goal is, so they just have to keep moving forward.
As more of this strange world is shown, players will have to decide for themselves what it all means.Many people think Inside is one of the best video games ever made because the story can be interpreted in many different ways.
Life Is Strange
Life is Strange is an action game with graphics that takes place over a number of episodes. Max, a young girl, is the main character of the story. When she sees her childhood friend get shot, she gains the power to go back in time.
The story plays with the idea of the butterfly effect, which says that every choice Max makes can change reality. Players will have to figure out puzzles, make hard choices, and then watch as their choices have unintended effects.
What Remains Of Edith Finch
Even though it is a “walking simulator” game, which are often attacked, What Remains of Edith Finch is an award-winning game that is mostly about telling a story. As Edith Finch, the last member of her family still alive, players explore the strange Finch house and the area around it.
As players find out more about Edith’s family home, they will learn about a strange curse that killed her relatives too soon. Edith tells her own thoughts about each of these untimely deaths in a number of short stories. Drive Mad will make players wonder if what they are being told is true and will show them a compellingly dark story.
Firewatch
Firewatch is a 2016 indie adventure game that combines the woods and video games in a neat package. Henry is the main character of the game. He works as a fire watcher in Shoshone National Forest. Even though Henry’s day-to-day tasks may seem boring, he soon finds himself in a strange situation.
Henry sees a shadowy person watching him from a distance, and when he goes back to his watchtower, it has been broken into. Two teens go missing, and later Henry finds some strange things, like transcripts of his talks with another lookout. As players move through the game, they have to figure out what’s going on and get out of the bush, which makes them feel very alone.
Undertale
With almost all of its development done by one person, Toby Fox, Undertale is as indie as they come. This RPG is a fan favorite. It tells the story of a young human who has fallen into the Underground, a world full of monsters. Players have to find their way through this strange world and its people to get back home.
Undertale’s story is very different from most other video game stories, and it tries to break many of the usual rules. Depending on what the player does, they can get different ends. These are called neutral, pacifist, or genocide runs. Each finish has its own overall story and is well worth the work it takes to get there.