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Essays 20 April 2023, 14:57

15 Indie Games With Best Storylines

We play games for many reasons, and one of them is the desire to learn fascinating stories. We've prepared a list of the most interesting indie games that bring the most original plots, deepest meta-critique of society and extraordinary narratives.

Table of Contents

Indie games allow developers to be more creative. It is, after all, a segment perfectly suited to more personal stories. Without astronomical investments, game makers don't have suits looking over their shoulders, which introduces a more direct approach to criticizing reality, presenting a more personal point of view and simply taking bigger risks. That's how we got storylines that would be impossible in AAA games (with a few exceptions). In this list, we've gathered the indie games that we consider to have the best story. This should be particularly interesting for you if you value story and unconventional narrative above all.

The Stanley Parable

  1. Year of release: 2013
  2. Creators: Galactic Cafe
  3. The story in a nutshell: the employee of our dreams is looking for something to do

The Stanley Parable is a game depicting a story of a seemingly ordinary man in an office, but it takes the concept far out. The eponymous Stanley is an office worker who spent his working days obediently following orders. Until the narrator stopped giving him orders. Concerned by the unusual state of affairs, Stanley sets out into the depths of the building to see what had actually happened.

The game doesn't have multi-threaded script nor a typical story. Instead, you'll be dealing with an extremely brilliant meta-commentary that seems meaningless at first. Unwittingly, you will make choices that in practice define your character and the story you create. You are faced with an enormity of possibilities in a game in which you simply cannot win. What's the main takeaway? It is entirely up to you.

Sebastian Kasparek

Sebastian Kasparek

Feels most comfortable in the editorials section at GRYOnline, and sometimes he also writes reviews. A fan of all kinds of culture, who reaches for works from both the top and the bottom shelf. He likes to immerse himself in niche games and productions that are hard to define unequivocally. Appreciates an analytical and critical approach when dealing with cultural works. Prefers unique, strange, visually crazy games that boldly tackle more interesting narrative issues. Addicted to high-octane productions, fighting games, big robots and arcade. Huge fan of Grasshopper Manufacture studio. He likes to catch up on forgotten "hidden gems" from years ago, especially from Japan. Interested in games and the people behind them. Strongly addicted to cinema. A huge fan of Mads Mikkelsen and Takeshi Kitano. He also loves Inio Asano's manga and Tsutomu Nihei's aesthetics.

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