The best Interactive Story Games, an “interactive story” is a broad term that can be used to describe a variety of games with different gameplay elements, such as a strong focus on interacting with the environment, quick-time events, branching stories, and dialogues with more than one option. Most of the time, they focus more on having a strong story than on having amazing graphics.
Every new generation of video games promises more polygons, pixels, and processing power than ever before. Developers rave about how the latest PlayStation and Xbox consoles have buzzwords like bloom lighting, particle effects, 4K, ray tracing, and normal mapping.
Best Interactive Story Games
Ace Attorney
System Requirement
| CPU | Intel® Core™ i3-4160 |
| OS | WINDOWS 7, 8.1, 10 (64bit) |
| RAM | 4 GB |
| VIDEO CARD | Intel® HD Graphics 4400 |
| PIXEL SHADER | 4.0 |
| FREE DISK SPACE | 1.8 GB |
Visual novel adventure games in the Ace Attorney series made their debut on the Game Boy Advance in 2001. Since then, the franchise has grown to include more than 10 games, an anime, and a live-action Japanese movie. The player takes control of several different defence attorneys to investigate cases, gather evidence, cross-examine witnesses, and figure out the truth.
Even though each game was first made for a handheld Nintendo device, most of them have been made available on mobile. The original Ace Attorney Trilogy HD is free on iOS and can be bought on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch. Capcom has made it possible to buy all of the other games in the series on iOS and Android. Overall, this is one of the best Interactive Story Games you can suggest you friends.
Pros
- Great Story
- Fascinating Setting
- Great Twists
- Visual Novel
- Beautiful Artwork
Cons
- Some Cases Have Pacing Issues
- Could Have More Voice Acting
Life is Strange
System Requirement
| OS | Windows 7 |
| Processor | Dual Core 3.0GHz or equivalent |
| Memory | 2 GB RAM |
| Graphics | ATI or NVidia card w/ 1024 MB RAM |
| DirectX | Version 9.0 |
| Storage | 14 GB available space |
We thought the best way to start a list of games like Life is Strange was to tell you more about True Colors, the latest game in the series. Don’t worry if you haven’t played any of the other games. It’s about a different person’s life, and it doesn’t take place in Arcadia Bay. The game is about Alex Chen, who has a supernatural ability that lets her feel and control the strong emotions of other people. Overall, this is one of the best Interactive Story Games.
It comes in handy right away when she has to find out what happened to her brother after his “accidental” death. If you go with Alex on her scary journey to find the truth, you’ll find out. If you want to try Life is Strange: True Colors, you’ll be glad to hear that it’s on PC Game Pass, a Microsoft service that lets you subscribe to games. The first month of membership only costs $1, which is a great deal considering how many well-known books are in the library.
Pros
- Beautiful art style and setting
- Exceptional soundtrack
- Empathy power is effectively engaging
Cons
- Some low-res textures in close-ups
- Certain choices don’t have quite as much impact on the direction of the story as you might expect
Choice of the Deathless
System Requirements
| Memory | 4 GB |
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA GeForce 510 |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
| File Size | Unknown |
| OS | Ubuntu 12.04 |
Choice of the Deathless is a text-based adventure game made by “Choice of Games.” It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t played it before. You start the game in a bit of a jam, and the first thing you get to do is die. Currently, this is one of the best Interactive Story Games.
As you break into a million pieces, you look back through your own eyes into the past and think about the choices you made and how your life has changed over time.Demons live in the underworld, which is also a place. Through contracts, these demons can come into “our” world, and the same is true when humans want to go into the realms of hell.
Pros
- Demanding but exhilarating combat
- Intricately designed environments that reward exploration
Cons
- Enemies can be inconsistent in the way they behave during caution and alerted phases
- A very harsh and unforgiving start
Quantic Dream
System Requirements
| OS | Windows 7-64 bits |
| Procesor | i5-2400 @ 3.4GHz or equivalent |
| System Memory | 4GB RAM |
| Graphics | nVidia GTX 660 or equivalent |
| VRAM | 2GB |
| STO | 55 GB available space |
Quantic Dream and David Cage games are the first ones that come to mind when you think of interactive story games. At first, their games were only available on consoles, but now, just like other Sony hits from the past, they are also available on PC. We even talked about some of its projects in our article about the best PlayStation games for PC. Read more on official website.
Heavy Rain, a thrilling psychological thriller, is one of their best-known books. The story is mostly about the Origami Killer, a serial killer who leaves origami figures on the bodies of his victims, which is how he got his name. In the game, you play as one of four main characters, each of whom has a different story and reason for trying to solve the mystery.
Pros
- Excellent graphics
- Great story
Cons
- Gameplay is simply button presses most of the time
- Not as interactive as some might hope
Dreamfall Chapters
System Requirements
| OS | Windows 7 |
| Processor | Core 2 Duo 2GHz or equivalent |
| Memory | 3 GB RAM |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 4000 |
| DirectX | Version 9.0c |
| Storage | 12 GB available space |
Dreamfall Chapters takes place in a universe with cyberpunk and magical fantasy worlds that run parallel to each other. You take charge of several different characters as they explore environments, move the story forward, and solve puzzles. There are no combat or stealth elements in the game, with Dreamfall instead focusing on the player discovering secrets through exploration and making pivotal choices that will alter parts of the story.
This book is the third and last one in the series The Longest Journey. The game works best on the PC, but it has also been made available on the Xbox One and PS4. The first two games, The Longest Journey and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, are available on Steam as a bundle. For now, this is the best Interactive Story Games.
Pros
- Two distinctly unique chapters
- Enjoyable writing and dialogue
Cons
- Unity engine performance takes a hit at times
- Character motivations and histories can be missed without playing previous TLJ titles
Emily is Away
System Requirements
| CPU | Intel Pentium 4 or later |
| RAM | 512 MB RAM |
| GPU | (Any) |
| OS | Windows XP Service Pack 2+ |
| FREE DISK SPACE | 100 MB |
| VIDEO CARD | 800×600 High Color + |
Emily is Away, which you can get for free on Steam, gives you this experience by letting you chat with Emily over the course of five years in a visual novel on a Windows XP desktop. Players can choose how to talk to characters, which changes how the story goes.
Emily is Away Too builds on the first game by letting you talk with two characters at the same time. A third game called Emily is Away 3 is in the works. It will move the conversations from the game to social media. Overall, this is one of the best Interactive Story Games you can suggest you friends.
Pros
- Fun and flexible stealth/action gameplay
- Tons of paths to explore
Cons
- Forgettable main story
- Terrible performance in busy plazas and outdoor areas
Telltale games
System Requirements
| CPU | Intel CPU Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz |
| RAM | 6 GB |
| VIDEO CARD | Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 580 |
| DEDICATED VIDEO RAM | 1536 MB |
| PIXEL SHADER | 5.0 |
| OS | Windows 7 64Bit Service Pack 1 |
Well, our list of interactive story games wouldn’t be complete without some games from Telltale, which specialises in this type of game. We want to pay special attention to Tales from the Borderlands, The Wolf Among Us, and The Walking Dead, which we think are the most interesting. Currently, this is one of the best Interactive Story Games.
The Borderlands games’ Pandora is where Tales from the Borderlands takes place. Pandora is a harsh planet. It’s about two main characters, Fiona and Rhys, who have different personalities but have to work together to find a treasure vault. It has the same kind of humour as the main series, so even diehard fans won’t be let down.
Pros
- Nuanced take on Bruce Wayne
- Amazing voice acting from entire cast
- Excellent visuals
Cons
- Combat and QTEs lack impact
- Hews close to Telltale’s formula
The Dark Pictures Anthology
System Requirements
| CPU | Intel Core i5-3470 or AMD FX-8350 |
| RAM | 8 GB |
| VIDEO CARD | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7870 |
| DEDICATED VIDEO RAM | 2048 MB |
| PIXEL SHADER | 5.0 |
| OS | Windows 7 64-bit |
This one might be especially appealing to people who like scary stories, since The Dark Pictures Anthology is a collection of interactive horror games that can be played on their own. There are three books in the series so far, and the fourth, The Devil in Me, will come out in November 2022. Overall, this is one of the best Interactive Story Games you can install now.
One of the best things about this series is that any character can die. So, their survival depends mostly on the choices you make. In Man of Medan, the first book in the series, five friends go diving in the South Pacific Ocean. Sad to say, nothing goes as planned, and a normal holiday quickly goes wrong.
Pros
- The ship is visually spectacular
- A few fun jump scares and standout sequences
Cons
- Visuals and performance are inconsistent
- Janky gameplay, Bugs and performance issue, Story can get predictable
FAQs
What makes a good interactive story?
Interactive fiction is different from other types of fiction in that the author has to plan how puzzles, plot maps, and character strategies fit into the story. When the structure of a story has already been made, it’s much easier to write a story that feels real.
What are interactive story games called?
Interactive storytelling, which is also called “interactive drama,” is a type of digital entertainment where the plot is not set in stone.
Why are story games important?
Storytelling in video games helps the player feel like they are part of the game and helps them figure out what to do next. The player is a part of the story and feels everything that is going on. Video games tell stories through the actions and dialogue of the player and through videos or animations.
