Hollow Knight.

The visual storytelling, the way the world pulls you in, makes you want to know more and find out just what's really going on - you're told enough to piece together the basics, but it's the environment combined with that that gives you the whole picture. There's a bit of a need to have the patience for backtracking and the like but for me, it was worth it.

 

Final Fight. Mayor's daughter gets kidnapped, Mayor and his buddies kick everyone's asses throughout the city, beats up the local gang lord. Sometimes straight to the point is enough.

 

I loved the story of Final Fantasy IV, but Final Fantasy VI (III on SNES) was the first game I ever played that really had a fourth, never mind third, act.
The story in Last of Us was so good I finished the game despite my other misgivings about the game. (I'm right here next to the door. Do I really need to backtrack and senselessly kill that one guy in the back of that building over there just to get a prompt to open a door?)
The entire Uncharted series.

 

Final Fantasy X, specifically the cast standing up to the corrupt status quo of false hope and deciding to fight despair their own way.

 

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Near the end, when you have to figure out how to swim.

If you've played the game you know what I'm talking about.

Never has so much emotional attachment been given to a "puzzle" like that that ONLY a video game can do.

 

Devil May Cry 5
It switches perspectives of the 3 main characters as all the stories coverge and emotionally climaxes.

 

The ending to Megaman 2.

 

There is so much great storytelling in games these days. Off the top of my head ones that come to mind are:
Last of Us
What Remains of Edith Finch
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Firewatch
A Way Out
Detroit Become Human
Knights and Bikes

 

There has been a lot of good storytelling in games over the years, but there is one moment that stands out to me. Be forewarned this is going to be a big spoiler.

In Final Fantasy 6

Spoiler

After Kefka defeats your party and takes godlike control over the world. Your party desperately tries to flee the scene, but doesn't quite make it. The next scene simply shows one person from your large party, Celes. You find out that she, and her father figure Cid, washed ashore on the tiny island you now find yourself on. The environment is ruined and survival is difficult. Cid was injured in the escape and his condition is slowly deteriorating. Celes does her best to help, but she's a fighter, not a doctor. As a player the only things you can do is wander the small island ( it doesn't even take up the whole screen ) and fight some weak fish enemies. After defeating those enemies you can bring back some as food for Cid. Sometimes when you do this it advances the story, but sometimes it doesn't. You start trying to do everything you can think of to get out of this situation, to advance the plot, but it doesn't seem to help. You quickly exhaust every option. Leaving you to mindlessly continue the same routine, helpless to help either Cid the character or yourself the player. Eventually Cid succumbs to his wounds. Celes is left alone in a world she couldn't save, with the only person she felt close to dead, and no hope for the future. She goes to a cliff overlooking the ocean and jumps. An emotional scene to be sure, but what makes it exceptional is that you as a player personally feel some small amount of her frustration, despair, and hopelessness. The island traps you, the gameplay strips you of agency.

Very few games take the risk of antagonizing the player to drive home an emotional state, and to be fair this is a very difficult line to walk without failing and outright pissing off the player. When it works however, it really works.

 

Wow, I was feeling a little nostalgic about that moment I talked about so I decided to look up how other people felt about it. Found out something I really wasn't expecting. This is still a big spoiler for Final Fantasy 6.

Spoiler

The scenario is actually a mini-game, and it's possible to save Cid. I did remember it slightly wrong. You don't battle the fish, you just catch them by the beach. There are meaninglessly easy monsters to fight on the island but they're superfluous. There are different kinds of fish to catch, some helping Cid and some making him worse. Cid starts with 120 health and it depletes by 1 every second. The fish have the following effects: Fish -16, A Rotten Fish -4, Just a Fish +16, A Yummy Fish +32. Cid's dialog changes when he gets to a different health level. If Cid reaches 255 health he lives. Thinking about how this must have played out for me, I figured I would have discarded the rotten fish ( that obviously wouldn't help Cid ) but kept the others. The Yummy fish is the hardest to catch, so I probably knew that was the one to try to get. Somehow the fish I brought to Cid kept him in limbo for a very long time. Eventually I started to spend more time doing random stuff than doing the fish catching, and Cid started to fade away.

So to me it felt like I couldn't do anything to help Cid. Most of the time when I talked to him his dialog didn't change, and I couldn't see any connections to the fish and his health. Since I kept him in a limbo state for so long it felt like the game was intentionally trying to frustrate me. When in reality most people would have had Cid die fairly quickly.

I'm definitely a little disappointed that one of the most emotionally powerful moments in gaming for me probably only happened to a small amount of players. Although maybe it does point to the power of emergent elements in gaming being as powerful as the scripted ones. I'll always remember the frustration and hopelessness I felt with Celes on that island. Whether it was intentional or not.

 

I’m not sure we need spoiler tags for a 25+ year old game, but I’ll play along  

Spoiler

I played through FFVI many times and I was honestly never able to save Cid. But back then, I didn’t know the mechanics behind how to save him.

What kind of ruined that part for me was the way the US translation had to cover up Celes’ suicide attempt. What was supposed to be an emotional moment was just confusing to me when the text mentions how throwing yourself off a cliff “perked ‘em right up”. I know now that it was the result of censorship, but I never got the emotional impact that moment was supposed to have and that bugs me.

 

I knew about Cid and the different kinds of fish, thanks to a players guide. Or maybe it was a gaming magazine.

It also taught me that the character, Shadow can permanently live, or die, depending on what you do. Also if you have Shadow stay at an Inn, you will experience dreams/flashbacks.

I also remember an old fan theory that Gogo was secretly Setzer's friend, Darill.

 

I think that one of the biggest plot elements that really got to me was X's fate as of Megaman Zero. Just the simple notion that the once idealistic hero could become so tired and jaded by the endless cycle of violence that he just gave up is just depressing and heartbreaking as hell.

 

I'm going to be THAT guy.... Undertale and how it takes the "save/load" mechanic and implements it to the story.

 

I can't speak for Undertale, but just to supplement, other games that make a clever spin of game mechanics and turn them into a major plot point include Xenogears, Chrono Cross, (save points) and Rogue Legacy (castle entrance fee), off the top of my head.

 

I think that the need for spoiler tags starts going back up after 20 years, at least for games that are remembered as all time classics. That's enough time for an entirely new generation to grow up and start looking back at them. I am a big "no spoilers" guy though, so maybe I'm a little on the cautious side.

Thankfully for me, the moment landed perfectly. I think there was enough power in the imagery and set up to get the point across even with questionable localization choices, or maybe it was because I was really empathizing with her situation leading up to that point. Either way, I'm glad it happened the way it did. In this instance, getting the good outcome wouldn't have been as effecting.

 

I remember that theory too. I have no idea how people got that idea. I’d also heard he was the Emperor repentant, which also has problems.

It wasn’t till DECADES later I learned the truth. Gogo is just Gogo. He also shows up in FFV (a game never released here) and is likely an inter dimensional traveler like Gilgamesh.

Shadow and his relationship to another character is really well done story telling too. They never come out and establish the relationship but all the clues are there. The dreams from the inn, the way Interceptor protects only two party members...

 

I was thinking after my post and wow, FFVI is really great. There are so many Easter egg moments that would be big theatrical moments for other games. Like Edgar and Sabin’s coin flip. Or Gau and the old man on the plains reconciling. Shadow’s story. Realm’s Dad. All that stuff is totally optional to find. It isn’t even part of a major story quest.