I’ve been thinking about this lately and wanted to get everyone’s thoughts. It feels like story-based games used to be everywhere a few years back. You know, the ones where the plot was the main focus and you really cared about the characters and what happened next. Now when I browse through new releases, most games seem to focus on multiplayer competitions, battle royales, or endless grinding mechanics. Don’t get me wrong, those can be fun too, but I really miss getting invested in a good storyline. Am I just not looking in the right places, or have developers really moved away from creating games with strong narratives? What are your experiences with finding quality story-focused games recently?
It’s easy to overlook some great narrative-driven games while wading through all the flashy titles. Sure, big studios lean towards multiplayer and service models for profits, but there are indie gems out there doing storytelling right. Games like Disco Elysium, Outer Wilds, and What Remains of Edith Finch have really pulled me into their worlds. They might not get as much marketing, but they offer unique stories that stick with you. It’s worth searching them out if you’re craving a captivating narrative.
I think the issue is that narrative games got pushed into weird categories now. Like RPGs are expected to be 100+ hour epics, walking sims get dismissed as not real games, and anything story-focused that isn’t AAA gets buried under all the live service noise.
But honestly some of the best storytelling I’ve experienced has been in smaller games lately. The indie scene is carrying hard right now while big studios chase that multiplayer money.
Maybe it’s because story games don’t make as much long term money compared to games that keep you paying for months. I still find good ones but they’re usually from smaller studios now.
Story-driven games are definitely not gone. They just seem to blend in with all the multiplayer hype these days. Titles like Baldur’s Gate 3 remind us there’s still a demand for solid narratives. It’s all about finding those hidden gems in the mix.
They’re still around but you gotta dig deeper now since the big marketing budgets go to multiplayer stuff.