this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2025
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I just want more games with good writing, or games that have genuinely educational value on the level of a Ken Loach directed movie. I like silly fun shoot em up games as much as anyone else but I could probably count less than ten or twenty games I've ever played that gave me genuine emotional movement. And I have over 1200 games in my steam account.
And I don't think I'm being pompous when I say that, because I do like and respect games and think they often are masterpieces on the level of an important novel or movie or something. I think maybe a limiting factor with games is that unlike a novel or movie or painting, they don't have to say much of anything, or mean anything, and they still function as interactive little escapes (sometimes).
Maybe one of y'all can recommend something for me? For reference here's some examples of games I've played that I've felt have had genuine artistic/emotional merit:
I agree with your points but I think the problem is even with games that have good writing (and music and art direction and all the other bits and bobs that make up a video game) they often fall flat because the interactivity is not woven into them. RDR2 is just genuinely a well written western which is even more impressive considering it has to rank up there as one of the longest western storys ever told if you exclude something like a dime store novel named "Cowboy Kidd" that has been issued weekly since 1962. RDR2 would work just as well as a book, or a TV series or a movie or three. All the interactable parts are fun, but they're also mostly separate from the writing and everything else barring some minor set dressing and the video game obligatory 2 endings depending on your ratio of puppy kicked vs. money donated
Disco Elysium for example doesn't work outside of its medium. I mean there's enough in there you could make a TV series out of it, or a book or pretty much anything and it'd still hold up but it'd lose a really core part of the experience because the interactivity is woven into the fabric. Your choices matter and the world reacts to it.
So here's my suggestions as per videogames that would not work half as good if made into another medium. I'll attach spoilers to it, but I'd recommend not clicking on them because it probably ruins a lot of what makes them good
spoiler
Metro 2033 has a mostly hidden morality system in there that determines if you get a certain, important choice at the ending. I think the beauty of it and why it only works in a videogame is that it does not present you "Kick the puppy vs. save the puppy" choices, you get morality points for listening, being aware, perceiving the Metro and not killing people. None of which is really signposted at all and was a major criticism of the game because "How was I supposed to know I should perceive the world and try to understand it instead of killing everything I see"CONTROL
spoiler
The Main story is whatever, but there's a lot of good writing in the lore and the setting. Also the games alludes to you, the actual, real life person, as being an unknown entity to the people within the game which is cool and doesn't really work outside of interactive mediumsHeavens vault is amazing, especially since as you go through ng+ you begin to realise the antagonist might actually have a point. It's also maybe the only game where I've actually felt like a real archeologist/historian. Indiana/tomb raider/broken sword don't come close
I strongly endorse both Psychonauts games. They both go on sale regularly too, and have GOG releases. Psychonauts 1 is a ps2-era game that has aged pretty well overall, and Psychonauts 2 is in my personal top 3 favorite games of all time, and one of the closest I've played to a "perfect" game.