Sometimes studios make their next game bigger, flashier, with more moves and whatnot. They increase the world size, add more weapons, but bigger isn’t always better. While these things matter, storytelling is at the heart of it all. In some instances, it’s to the extent that narratives alone can carry whole games to critical acclaim.
Interactive storytelling games have branching narratives. They feature unique settings for each segment of the story. They put the fate of the characters in your hands and let your decisions guide them through. When mindless shooting or barebones gameplay doesn’t cut it anymore, then interactive games are where you need to direct yourself. So, if you admire smart drama and love unforgettable stories, these are the best interactive storytelling games for you.
Detroit: Become Human
Quantic Dream is a studio fully devoted to making narrative storytelling games. As such, their games are the best in the genre, and Detroit: Become Human is their magnum opus. In Detroit’s fictionalized world, androids serve humans in all capacities. In every household, police department, and marketplace, there is an android. But a recent virus has given sentience to the androids, and they have started acting up. Reports of androids committing murders or disobeying human orders are rampant.
The world enters a turmoil state and this is where you come in. As the player, you control three android protagonists and decide the fate of the androids. There are hundreds of unique branching pathways. Depending upon your decisions, there are hundreds of cutscenes you may or may not see, and characters that may or may not die.
Visually, Detroit: Become Human is a masterpiece. And mechanically, it’s the most innovative interactive storytelling game ever made. Its storyline is oozing with mystery. There are intense action sequences, and each choice is pivotal in deciding the overall ending of the game.
Disco Elysium
As an amnesiac detective, you navigate an open world in hopes of unraveling a murder mystery. Gameplay is super dialog-focused. The protagonist has various stats like Intellect, Psyche, and Physique. As you improve each of them, more and more dialog options open up. For example, with high Drama, you’ll be able to lie to NPCs more easily as well as know when you’re being lied to. But every stat also has a chance to apply a debuff like paranoia. It’s up to you to manage the two dozen different skills, utilizing them where necessary to uncover the truth.
Disco Elysium is a game with many faces. There will be hours where you’ll just listen to dialogue and think it’s a visual novel. After that, you’ll interact with the environment endlessly searching for clues. That will make you think Disco Elysium is an interactive storytelling game. Other times, you’ll think it’s a role-playing game with dialog-heavy mechanics.
The short answer is that Disco Elysium is an amalgamation of all three. It takes the best of all worlds and blends them to make something unique. There isn’t any other game you can compare Disco Elysium to. It’s in a league of its own, and for that reason, you’ll have to experience it first-hand to understand.
Heavy Rain
Quantic Dream’s Detroit: Become Human is indeed the most mechanically advanced game on this list. However, androids aren’t for everyone. If you value a grounded narrative more, then Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain might be for you instead. In Heavy Rain, you control a cast of characters, all with one goal in mind: to find the Origami Killer before his next victim dies.
Heavy Rain is very atmospheric. The aesthetic is gloomy and perfectly complements the unsettling cat and mouse story. Despite being released over 15 years ago, Heavy Rain holds up exceptionally today. Its story does a great job of misdirecting you.
Your judgment is often messed up by the influx of new information about the case. Heavy Rain is an amazing interactive storytelling experience from start to finish. And regardless of what year you’re reading this in, Heavy Rain is a must-play.
Until Dawn
Midnight, a spooky cabin, a serial killer on the loose, and maybe something more sinister. Until Dawn has the perfect horror setting. A group of friends is stranded on a mountain, and someone’s out gunning for them. There’s no help nearby, so everyone’s lives are in your hands.
Like with all the other games on this list, your choices influence what each character does. Keeping the group together against the threat is essential, but Until Dawn has a way of tricking you. Most of the choices you think are positive always end up having a negative impact.
This constantly puts you at unease, not sure of what to do since every choice can lead to a character’s demise. If you have played interactive storytelling games before, try out Until Dawn next. The choices it presents aren’t straightforward, and that will always keep you on your toes.
The Wolf Among Us
The Wolf Among Us is set in a world where characters from fables exist. Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, characters from all these folklores, and many more are present in the game. But they aren’t like anything from the stories we’ve heard. The Wolf Among Us portrays them differently.
All these characters are coexisting. Snow White is the deputy mayor, while Beauty manages a hotel with her husband Beast. Bigby Wolf, the wolf from Red Riding Hood, is the town sheriff and protagonist. The story starts off simple with Bigby working a case concerning a string of murders. But it quickly becomes complex as more details are revealed. Compared to other games on this list, choices in The Wolf Among Us don’t drastically alter the endings.
You can have different fights and watch hidden cutscenes, but most things are predetermined. It’s actually a refreshing change of pace to play an interactive storytelling game with a canonical plotline only. But where The Wolf Among Us shines the most is with its stunning art style. The textures are cartoony and cell-shaded, while the color palette is grim noir-like. Both the story and art style work together in harmony, and the result: a brilliant interactive storytelling game that has stood the test of time.
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