Games with deep story lines.

[Violent By Design]

Charles Barkley Shut up and Jam: Gaiden. Awesome parody of basketball and the RPG genre.

I hear Planescape: Torment has a great plot as well. Never played it though, but on my to do list.

[Balasubbie]

The Clock Shop scene was a daydream? In what sense? I though he killed the owner to hide evidence, then pretended the Origami Killer snuck in the back, when in reality it was him. Hence convincing the person he was with that he couldn’t possibly be the killer, since he was basically pretending to frame himself. I get it that it was weird, but by saying it was a “daydream” are you saying that it never happened? If that is true, I must have seriously missed something.

'daydream' in a figurative sense, in that what it portrays isn't remotely approaching what is, which is fine sometimes, but this instance it comes off like a cheap plot trick to lazily throw off the scent of guessing who the killer is. It's one thing for a story to play with your perception of what's happening, but another to outright lie, which is what it does, as you're actually controlling Shelby at the time he was supposed to be killing the owner.

[flex wood]

In what way was Heavy Rain broken in its story telling? While it had some plot holes, it was pretty straightforward to me.

If anything, the voice acting in the US version ruined it.

JAAAAAASOOOON!

[skate323k137]

I had to stop playing Catherine because the story was giving me nightmares. Seriously good game / story line though.

[saturnfan]

The Clock Shop scene was a daydream? In what sense? I though he killed the owner to hide evidence, then pretended the Origami Killer snuck in the back, when in reality it was him. Hence convincing the person he was with that he couldn’t possibly be the killer, since he was basically pretending to frame himself. I get it that it was weird, but by saying it was a “daydream” are you saying that it never happened? If that is true, I must have seriously missed something.

'daydream' in a figurative sense, in that what it portrays isn't remotely approaching what is, which is fine sometimes, but this instance it comes off like a cheap plot trick to lazily throw off the scent of guessing who the killer is. It's one thing for a story to play with your perception of what's happening, but another to outright lie, which is what it does, as you're actually controlling Shelby at the time he was supposed to be killing the owner.

I don’t really see how the game is "misleading" you though. I only viewed it as the way you are describing it, a ploy to throw you off the scent of the killer. I also don’t see how that ties into your original point, that the game had a serious flaw in storytelling. Heavy Rain is essentially an interactive movie, but at the end of the day it is still a video game. When it comes to Shelby’s story segments, the game wants you to believe he’s a “good” character so that it can create a significant plot twist. The interactivity of his segments lulls you into a false perception, something I don’t think would have translated well in a movie but was pretty effective in a video game format.

[Fragems]

Some of my favorite stories in recent years.

Alan Wake
----Great story and the episodic layout is awesome.

Binary Domain
----This was my favorite game of 2012. Had some amazing character development and for once your choices actually have consequences which resulted in a variety of endings. Sucks that this game most likely will never get a sequel.

Sleeping Dogs
----Ending, girl friends(aka one night stands), and side activities kind of disappointed me but the main story line and setting were great.

Skyrim(pretty much a given)

Also just to throw in an oldie.

Indigo Prophecy
----While the story is crazy as hell I really enjoyed that game. Think i even preferred it over heavy rain.

[BoringSupreez]

Don't listen to the haters, Heavy Rain has a quite engaging story.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is another great one. It really fleshes out two of the characters in Pitch Black (it's a prequel to that movie) and does an extremely good job creating the atmosphere of a huge, near endless jail. I would go so far as to say it's better than any of the Riddick movies even.

And of course, the first two Knights of the Old Republic games. Once again, theses are prequels to the movies. They're both chock full of little details that enhance the Star Wars universe, and have good storylines of their own. Both are better than the prequel trilogy.

[prfsnl_gmr]

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is another great one. It really fleshes out two of the characters in Pitch Black (it's a prequel to that movie) and does an extremely good job creating the atmosphere of a huge, near endless jail. I would go so far as to say it's better than any of the Riddick movies even.

Escape From Butcher Bay really is a great game. Like Metroid Prime, it is almost more of a first-person adventure game than a first-person shooter. I really, really enjoyed it. It complements the movies well, and its story is at least as good as the the (a bit too convoluted) story in the second film.

[Balasubbie]

I don’t really see how the game is "misleading" you though. I only viewed it as the way you are describing it, a ploy to throw you off the scent of the killer. I also don’t see how that ties into your original point, that the game had a serious flaw in storytelling. Heavy Rain is essentially an interactive movie, but at the end of the day it is still a video game. When it comes to Shelby’s story segments, the game wants you to believe he’s a “good” character so that it can create a significant plot twist. The interactivity of his segments lulls you into a false perception, something I don’t think would have translated well in a movie but was pretty effective in a video game format.

Every mystery is defined by the quality of its reveal, and this one was a borked smokescreen, done with no finesse or creativity: Broken.

The plot itself is basically Cluedo stuff, but with one of the players unfairly withholding clues. It is cheap storytelling, it's no better than if it would have suddenly been revealed to be that Jayden was actually just practicing ballet all along. I mean, we were in control of him the whole time, but hey! if one cutscene can negate however many hours of gameplay and plot we've unraveled to that point, then why the fuck not? Of course there's a false sense of security in play, you're lead to believe this stuff went through QA.

It doesn't make sense, at all. The game doesn't stay within its own rules. I mean, why couldn't Shelby's murdering of the owner be part of the actual game? And, perhaps live up to very notion on what the game is marketed on, that it is, in fact, an interactive movie/game thing, instead of the very meat of the matter, i.e the point of what you thought you were playing, being relegated to a single expository cutscene that pretty mean just boils down to 'ha! got ya', even if to do so means it comes at its own expense.

It's a product marketed on the fact it's marriage of two mediums, but it fundamentally fails to understand either.

I maintain it's worth playing, for reasons good and bad, and it is engaging and capable of suspense, but if you properly invest in it as a legit story, then I feel it comes off very lacking.

[MrNash]

The first Geneforge game impressed me quite a bit with its story. There's a lot going on over on that little island, and a lot of what I did would have serious consequences for the various factions there. I've not yet played the sequels, but I'm assuming they're similar in that regard.

I also liked Avadon. It was fun working a group that was somewhere between the UN and the Gestapo. :p