What game has a great story and is worth the time investment?

Outer Wilds (not Outer Worlds)

Ori and the Blind Forest

Hollow Knight

Mass effect trilogy

Soma

What remains of Edith Finch

Stanley parable

Spec ops the line

Fallout new Vegas

Detroit become human

Deus ex and deus ex human revolution

Disco Elysium

Have you done any Last of Us, yet? Both games are excellent.

I definitely recommend Control, since a lot of games you like have big epic set pieces as well as an engaging story. That game is insanely rewarding if you're willing to put the time and effort into looking for "collectibles" and piecing the game together. Very cool atmosphere and fun to play as well. You really get out of this one what you put into it.

Bioshock Infinite got shit on by both racists and leftists who completely missed the point of the game, but the ending is the best of the Bioshock series IMO and stuck with me longer than most anything else I've played. Lots of big cinematic moments, too.

Guardians of the Galaxy is slept on imo and has some amazing moments, and while the story is a retread of things the GotG comic has done, if you're not a big comic reader, you won't know, and if you are, you'll be jazzed about how things are represented.

BG3 is incredible and the hype is well-deserved. The replayability is genuinely off the charts. Ive begun 4 playthroughs and beat it once and have not played the same game twice. Main story is the same but the variability in motivation, drive, and interactions is simply incredible. It is THE CRPG, and this is coming from someone for whom BG2 is my favorite game of all time.

New Vegas is New Vegas. It's a shining example of what gaming can be for a reason. Needs no explanation (other than "don't go north at the start").

This one doesn't usually get mentioned when people talk about good story: Borderlands 2. (1 is dry, 3 is stupid)

It's light-hearted so I think people don't take it seriously, but if you look past the fart jokes, and really pay attention. You get one of the BEST villains ever, and some real emotional moments.

Outer Wilds

I highly recommend Outer Wilds if you haven't already. Just don't get it mixed up with Outer Worlds

The only problem with starting Baldur's Gate 3 now is that it's gonna be a crazy high bar for everything that comes after.

But if you want a great story that's affected by your decisions and character, it's a great place to go.

Bladur’s gate 3 is awesome but if you can wait, do so and you will have a much more seamless experience in the near future once more patches come out.

My recommendation is the following.

NieR Automata. It’s a masterpiece of a game with innovation all over the place. Trust me, it’s much more of a JRPG with some hot chicks. Go in blind and you will have an amazing experience.

On a similar note, Death Stranding. The story is less cohesive and honestly as a game it isn’t as good either but I still maintain that it is a game that everyone must try at least once. It’s not one of the best games I’ve played, by far but I am 100% happy that I played it.

Last recommendation is Hades. Flawless game with incredible amounts of polish.

P.S. all these games have AMAZING soundtracks

Undertale

Ghost trick (it's on steam now woohoo)

BioShock trilogy

The original Ace Attorney trilogy

Also +1 to outer wilds. It's been mentioned a dozen times here already. It's my game of the decade.

Shouldn't need to be mentioned but play all of these games blind because story is a huge part of them.

I was really surprised by Titanfall 2. Looks like an ordinary mech shooter (okay there is nothing ordinary about that these days), but the story was solid and the level design amazing.

God of War 2018 - such a great story and you don't need to know the previous games.

God of War - Ragnarock - it's rare a sequel to a banger is good. Even more rare when the sequel to a banger is an even bigger banger. 2018's story was good, ragnarock is so damn moving.

Red Dead Redemption 2 - never played the first one but bc 2 is chronologically before it, no matter. This game is so immersive and deep.

Horizon Zero Dawn - this one is probably hit or miss. You either lovr the lore or couldn't be fucked. For me it was a great story. Gameplay may not stand the test of time however.

Ghost of Tsushima - this game is so fucking pretty.

Hollow knight - the lore. Omg the lore and the art style and omfg the music. Hidden gem.

I can't think of more but there are a ton 🙂

Spec Ops: The Line.

A bit dated, but one of the few shooters that makes you question your actions and view warfare for what it does to civilians and to soldiers. Definitely some memorable story moments.

Red dead redemption 2 has a really good story. Gameplay is pretty immersive and lots to explore.

God of war have a really good story and gameplay is overall fun.

Ni no Kuni II I found to be an interesting story. Gameplay was fun overall.

Ori, both games, has a good story to tell. Overall good platformer

Hollow knight is a fun platformer and overall story is good. Similar but not as good, death's door.

Death stranding has an interesting story but kind of strange. Gameplay is OK but can get a bit repetitive at times.

Spider-Man, overall fun. Story is unique.

Ghost of tsushima, good story and gameplay. Visually lovely.

Cyberpunk 2077 I found immersive, story wasn't bad but might not be for everyone.

Baldur's Gate story is great, yes.

Dragon Age (fantasy magick adventure) and Mass Effect (space opera) are also great.

The Outer Wilds, Fallout New Vegas and Just Cause 3

You're missing Elden Ring. Bang for buck one of the best games hands down if you have 150ish hours to spare. Absolutely beautiful game with a great story, if a bit cryptic and dystopian. It's a game that takes patience and can punish mistakes but just such a rewarding experience, wish I could start it over without knowing anything.

I've heard nothing but praises for Yakuza's story thus far. And I'm only a short way into my first game in the franchise, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and godamn does it live up to the hype. The characters, plot, world, they all are lovingly crafted and fit together so well. After this I'll be going back to do all the Kiryu games.

Disco Elysium definitely, as it's probably one of if not the best written games available right now.

If you want something with more gameplay, you should definitely take a look at Pathologic 2. New content will be released relatively soon for it too (as in a different playable character and story), so it's probably a good time to give it a shot.

borderlands 2

optimally you scour up up to three friends to play with, but even alone the game is excellent.

it has a great story with one of the best villains in gaming ever (my opinion) as good as glados.

apropos glados the portal games are also a definite must play (what with portal 2 being the highest ranked steam game ever.)

New Vegas

Since you seem to enjoy JRPGs I can't recommend Persona 5 enough! Story is at times predictable, but the characters make it worth your time.

The Last of Us. Damn I loved that game. First and only shooter that I've ever completed.

From some of the games you mentioned I think you'll appreciate some of these games. All of them are the sort of games that have very rich stories that you will want to talk to people about, remember how you wanted to get your friend to play MGS blind just so you could see him face Psycho Mantis and have his mind blown and then you had someone to talk to about it? I had the same feeling for each of these games (which means I won't tell you much about them, and you should try to avoid spoilers):

• SOMA
• Spec Ops: The Line
• Life is Strange

I also think the Stanley Parable deserves an honorary spot it's not exactly story rich but it's a neat experience that I found quite unique.

• stray
• black mesa project
• portal 2

If you enjoyed FFXVI, it's worth considering FFXIV.

It's currently free to play through its first expansion and the second expansion will be free next year. So it's a safe game to try from that perspective.

The producer of FFXIV is the same as FFXVI. His mentality has been that he's wanted players who don't want to play an MMO to be able to play through FFXIV's story as if it were a mainline FF game. I'd say 95% of story content can be soloed at this point.

The two caveats are these: This is like playing through five full length JRPGs. To finish FFXIV's story takes months. It's easily 400+ hours of playtime imo.

The initial base game story, called A Realm Reborn or ARR is mediocre. It's not bad, but the story quality spikes up in a big way at the first expansion and then never backs down. Even the end of ARR is really good, but it's only decent up until then. However, after ARR is some of the best story writing I've ever had the pleasure to play. Shadowbringers and Endwalker in particular still bring tears to my eyes when I hear certain songs or rewatch some cutscenes. Truly a beautifully told story.

BioShock. The whole series has an interesting storyline. One and two are related directly. BioShock Infinite isn't directly related to the first two but arguably has the most compelling story arc. The ending is one of the first games I remembered being just dumbstruck.

The Hex, Inscryption

Fallout New Vegas (with some mods), Vampire Bloodlines (with community patch) and Deus Ex Human Revolutions. I'd personally even put Deus Ex 1 there for the story itself, but the game is pretty old and may be jarring for modern audience even with mods....

Kingdom Come Deliverance

If you can deal with dated graphics 100% the original DeusEx.

And DeusEx Human Revolution still looks splendid and also has damn great story.

Homeworld

The first three Metal Gear Solid games have fascinating stories. They're not the most logically sound stories and they have a lot of weird elements that make them hard to follow. At the micro scale they're not the most comprehensive. On the macro scale they're not hard to get into at all. When the story hooks you it really hooks you.

I was a child when I completed the first two MHS games. I never finished MGS3 because the disk got smashed to pieces. I do remember liking it a lot though. MGS2 is my favorite of the bunch. It was a good mix of old characters and new that carried the story in a satisfying way.

The absolute best story in video games(IMO) is the Mass Effect trilogy. For the longest time those games set the bar for video game story telling to me. Every character was so easy to get invested in. I cared for all of them and deciding who completed the journey or not was a series of deeply personal tough choices that carried across three games. Did the ending suck? Absolutely. Do not let that last 0.1% mar what is easily %99.9 one of the best space scifi stories in any medium.

Currently playing a second Fallout 4 play through so that will color my view but honestly, all the fallout games.

Not the main story necessarily but all the smaller stories you find absolutely everywhere in those games are magical, piecing together what happens with a family who’s been dead for 200 years through terminals and notes or going through a vault slowly realizing what horrors have taken place keeps me pushing to exploring!

Hotel Dusk and Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney if you want something with a slower pace.

Torment: Tides of Numenera, Disco Elysium, Age of Decadence, Shadowrun: Dragonfall, Shadowrun: Hong Kong, Tyranny, Fallout: New Vegas, Planescape: Torment

Oh thanks for this list, I wish there were more that weren't scary. I'm a total coward.

Subnautica
Oxenfree

I definitely get your concern with BG3 as Lariat had a pretty lousy story in both DoS and DoS2. In both games they tried to be serious and funny without doing a good job at either.

Metro series. It is not a horror game but have a nice story. Also, Astroneer is good. I didn't give any change to these two games in the past, but now I regret my decision.

I'll throw my hat in the ring and say - the newer Wolfenstein series.

Incredible story, Incredible gameplay with choices that matter, and a lot of content to occupy your time across the like 3-4 games.

Quantic Dream makes pretty good story-driven games. People have recommended Detroit, but earlier games are also worth checking out, like Beyond: Two Souls

Sure, I could get started on Baldurs Gate 3, I’ve heard great things. But is the story great? Will I be able to say “oh that chapter/fight/act is awesome!” To other people looking for game experiences?

I can only speak for the first 1,5 acts (I think I'm getting closer to finishing act 2). The main story is good so far, but perhaps not the best. There are loads of great side quests, fights and even choices though. And you can complete most tasks in a myriad of different ways.

Inscryption.

I don't dare say anything at all about it. Go in completely blind.

Conversation that could go a few different ways. Are you looking for games with massive lore and world building? Dark Souls, Destiny, Nier, FFXIV.
Are you looking for something short and sweet that keeps you engaged with story the entire time? Bioshock, Horizon, Last of Us

I would recommend trying FFXIV if you liked XVI. Same team (Creative Business Unit III) worked on both games. They have done a lot of work so that even tho it is an online game, mass majority of the story elements can be finished solo. And then there's the joke about the free trial....which expands this October to not only include the base game + The full first expansion Heavensward...they are also adding in the second expansion Stormblood for absolutely free.

Also, if you want a mecha sci-fi game, play 13 sentinels. It is an fantastic unique storytelling experience.

Spider-man is something that isnt mentioned here yet. It has amazing setpieces and a good story.

I haven't seen anyone mention BioShock. BioShock 1 and 2. I've heard mixed reviews about the third and haven't played it so I'll make no comment on it.

Prey is in the same vein as BioShock.

Dead space has some horror but is also good.

I'm late to the party, but just wanted to say that your list of purchases and recommended to purchase are just monumental lists of games. So many amazing choices.

I want to add two more if you have room.

Psychonauts and Psychonauts 2. They won't get you as much in the way of epic set pieces, but they are dripping with charm and very well crafted games with some of the most interesting levels I've seen.

Cruelty Squad.

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

God of War 2018 & God of War: Ragnarök. I would recommend this first on PS5.

Next I would say is 100% worth the time investment: Final Fantasy XIV. It’s an MMO, but the story is amazing. You can play 99% of the story with NPCs easily. They made it so easy to pay older dungeons with the new NPC system to keep players going. It starts off very slow and just bleh (war story with light fantasy), but it gets better and better. I’ve played the 3rd expansion twice and plan on playing the 4th expansion again soon. I’ve cried so much. Even the side stories have great stories as the writers get their footing after the first bit. You’ll recognize several of the fantasy elements from FF16. I’ve only every played 15 before 14, so it’s not like I’ve spent a a lot of time in the series.