Atmospheric/Story-driven games?

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Do you have a decent PC for gaming? If so, might check out this bundle on Amazon.

Bioshock, Bioshock 2, and Spec Ops: The Line for 9.99

Bioshock definitely is one of the best atmospheric shooters out there, with a good story, I have yet to play the second one. I've heard Spec Ops: The Line is actually really good in the story department as well, unlike most modern-military based shooters Its not supposed to be quite so black and white as 'USA good, Terrorist bad, shoot them all!' as all the others seem to be. Its a third-person cover based shooter, set in Dubai in which during the games timeline had been evacuated years prior due to one hell of a sandstorm but many died and not everyone made it out.

Another story driven game is Papo and Yo on PSN. I'm thinking of giving this a try next month for the story alone.

Damn! Someone beat me to Bioshock!
Final Fantasy IV and the Playstation trilogy (VII; VIII; IX) are rich in narrative drive.

Walking Dead by telltale games

Not sure if these have been mentioned or what consoles or handhelds you have, but these games have had some of the better stories I've experienced:

Killer7
NieR
Okami
Trace Memory
Hotel Dusk: Room 215
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy 3/6
Zelda: Majora's Mask
Zelda: The Wind Waker
Zelda: Skyward Sword
Portal 2(the first Portal is kind of essential to understanding everything but does not have as much depth)

I'm going to recommend "Journey" on the PSN.

It's the "hero's journey" stripped down to it's most basic elements.

I'll give another vote for Journey.


Great atmosphere/story, good gameplay, and it even has good multi-player!

Best $10 I've spent on games all year!

System Shock 2 - This is the most atmospheric game I have ever played. As far as I'm aware, this game is the father of RPSs (Role Playing Shooters). It has a great story, AAA voice acting, an atmosphere so creepy and disturbing that I struggle to play for long periods of time, fantastic in game music and superbly implemented ambient sound, and a deep and rich RPG system that was so far ahead of its time. It's over a decade old but there are mods that make it a little easier on the eyes.

Deus Ex - This was made from half the team that made SS2 when Looking Glass Studios went under. Probably the most engrossing story I have ever encountered in a game. It has phenomenally composed cyberpunk music, a rich world to explore, another rich RPG system (not too dissimilar to SS2's), more hidden areas and alternate roots than I've ever seen in a SP game and a 'not too distant future' conspiracy that pulls you in and keeps you hooked until you have completed multiple play-through's.

I'd have to add The Witcher 2 and Dark Souls to this list. The former has some of the best writing and dialogue I have seen in a game, and the latter has an incredibly thick atmosphere of intense dread that the player needs to deal with in order to clear the game.

The best atmospheric game I've ever played is the Myst series. The one thing about playing Myst is that you don't battle with opponents. You seek clues and solve puzzles in your environment and use the journals and books you find in you explorations to help you. It's all highly intuitive. But sort of lonely and eerie.

The first in the series, Myst, is best played in the realMyst version and it has a bonus area to explore that ties it into Riven, the second in the series. I got it for 5 bucks on steam.

They do have Myst Online now so you can solve puzzles with other people but it gets glitchy from time to time.

In any case, the music in all of them is awesome and sometimes spooky, especially Riven.

Myst Online

In retrospect I also recommend "Indigo Prophecy", and "Heavy Rain". Both of them play the same way and requires little actual tactical skill (they're both interactive dramas).