Fans of FromSoftware titles such as the Dark Souls series admire the devs for their take on challenging titles. After all, the Souls popularize the gaming adage of “git gud,” and its fans always felt challenged to dominate every FromSoftware release since. However, some fans also admire the Souls series for its captivating lore. Outside the stressful and technical battles, players can relish in discovering the true nature of Souls in the story.
Interestingly, the Souls series proves that challenging gameplay doesn’t necessarily hinder lore. Moreover, some players might argue that some games share the same perspective. However, just which games share the same deep lore and unique gameplay as the Souls series?
10 Ghost Of Tsushima
Despite its alternate history, Ghost of Tsushima presents an interesting take on self-contained lore. Essentially, Tsushima takes place during an alternate take of the Mongol Invasion on the same island. However, Tsushima‘s lore shines not through making fictitious tales and events. Rather, Tsushima weaves a strong meta-culture of the island and its inhabitants through background details, dialogues, quests, and even other game modes.
Essentially, Tsushima constantly challenges players through increasingly-difficult gameplay and a technical take on battles. However, players can appreciate the game’s setting more given how technical matters fit into the lore.
For instance, Jin Sakai’s samurai stances remain ever-present even in enemies. These similar techniques and styles indicate they may have similar training. Additionally, various fictional factions and their leaders add a lot of personality to the game, no matter how small these groups may be. Moreover, Legends mode introduces the more mystical aspects of the lore, introducing beings of legend such as oni that definitely enhance Tsushima‘s lore.
9 EYE: Divine Cybermancy
Albeit more of a niche title, EYE: Divine Cybermancy boasts one of gaming’s most interesting settings. In this sci-fi fantasy shooter, interplanetary travel has become possible – but humanity had inadvertently opened a door to Hell in the process. With this premise in mind, players take on the role of a member of the EYE, a group of cybernetic psionic warrior-monks tasked to kill demons. Unfortunately, the protagonist’s recurring dreams will have a rippling effect of consequences to the people around him.
However, perhaps more interesting about Divine Cybermancy lies in the Neo-Gothic-esque world surrounding the entire game. Spires and buildings of slick metal lined with neon signs scream cyberpunk. Players can hack almost anything – including people. They also have to fight monsters, face demons, all the while unraveling the secrets of their player’s dreams.
8 Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
Despite being a middling title for critics, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines earned fame as a niche title amongst horror fans. Interestingly, despite the lack of scares, Bloodlines’ grittier and bloodier Santa Monica provided a new take on the vampire mythos. Essentially, Bloodlines takes place in the World of Darkness – where vampires and werewolves are real, and conspiracies hide in plain sight.
In the game, players begin as a newly-sired vampire, doing missions for various NPCs. However, these interactions will eventually snowball into the player’s involvement with larger issues. Eventually, players will hold the fate of Santa Monica in their hands – and the rest of the world will never know about it.
7 Hitman
Stealth fans might find themselves sympathetic to Agent 47’s plights in Hitman. After all, this master assassin turns out to be a clone engineered from the DNA of five different individuals. Interestingly, the tiny background details in each mission also weaved interesting minor narratives for players to explore.
For instance, Agent 47’s various missions throughout the games cemented The Agency’s penchant for self-interest. After all, most of Agent 47’s assignments began with usual “hits” that slowly progressed into missions critical to The Agency’s functions. In turn, Agent 47’s missions became obviously more personal by the time he put matters into his own hands.
6 Half-Life
Sadly, there might not ever be a Half-Life 3 – but the Half-Life legacy will always remain, particularly thanks to its lore. At its core, players experience the actual story of Half-Life from the eyes of Dr. Gordon Freeman and his interactions in the Black Mesa facility. However, Valve left a ton of clues in the background for players to piece together what happened to the rest of the world.
In turn, throwaway dialogue, graffiti, press cuttings, and bulletin boards slowly state just how grim things have gotten outside. To some players, knowing they need to save the world can be motivating. For others, facing a threat to humanity on a literal and meta-scientific level might be a bit daunting.
5 Left 4 Dead
Zombie fans will fondly remember Valve’s Left 4 Dead and the series signature cinema-themed aesthetic – complete with posters for loading screens, and a credits scene whenever a chapter ends. Moreover, while players can play whichever level they like, they can experience a more “narrative” approach if they tackle each chapter sequentially. This differs quite a bit from other popular zombie titles such as Resident Evil, which itself has its crazy take on zombies.
That way, players can use context clues around them to unravel the nature of the zombie outbreak they’re in. For instance, notes on walls left by other survivors hint towards the zombie virus starting as flu that got out of control. Moreover, other more cryptic messages hint that there might not even be a happy ending.
4 Assassin’s Creed
Despite its different settings, Assassin’s Creed maintains an overarching narrative. Essentially, its games take place during “simulations” of the lives of the protagonist’s ancestors. Interestingly, each game’s story starts out with a major objective that expands into the lore surrounding the mysterious Assassin Brotherhood and Templar Orders. Essentially, it appears the two factions have been fighting a secret war that determined the fate of the universe.
Eventually, Assassin’s Creed stories will introduce the idea of secret civilizations and advanced technologies. In the game, players not only need to unravel the secrets of these artifacts in these simulations. Rather, they need to survive other dangers in their counterpart of the real world. Moreover, the fact that Assassin’s Creed games try to be as historically accurate as possible adds to its excellence of creating a captivating alternate world.
3 BioShock
Fans of the BioShock series will fondly remember its games not just for its unique approach to gameplay. Rather, BioShock fans became attached not just to its compelling story, but the captivating setting that came with it.
Essentially, the underwater city of Rapture served as the perfect gateway to introducing the crazily-terrifying alternate history of Rapture. Moreover, its claustrophobic and intensely vivid aesthetic makes Jack’s journey to rediscover his identity in a foreign land all the more realistic.
2 Resident Evil
Since its 1998 release, the Resident Evil games have gone from survival horror, towards action horror, and now making their way back to their survival horror roots for the past decade or so. However, Resident Evil‘s over-the-top zombie plots weave together an interesting narrative. In turn, some gamers might consider Resident Evil biopunk – a subgenre of media dedicated to sharing stories on the darker effects of biological components.
Moreover, Resident Evil slowly diverged away from the core STARS members by allowing them to experience firsthand the effects of the rising bioweapons market in their timeline. Essentially, the series crafted a world invested in biological advancements, and its darker underground half invested in biological warfare.
1 Silent Hill
When it comes to video game lore, fans always come back to Silent Hill. Essentially, Silent Hill‘s key strength lies not just with its horrifying gameplay, but its downright macabre atmosphere that borders the uncanny valley. Interestingly, unlike other horror games that rely on gore and scares for shock value, Silent Hill uses it to reinforce a more personal experience.
Across all Silent Hill games, the eponymous town always had a role in helping protagonists reflect on their inner turmoils. In turn, Silent Hill becomes a representation of their inner nightmares. Moreover, players slowly piece together elements of Silent Hill’s past through both the background and the overarching narrative – slowly realizing that a mysterious cult, a powerful psychic, and tragic events have all contributed to the dark energies surrounding the lonely town.
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