It's in the title, folks.

The only game (series) I can think of that has any kind of literary merit is Portal. The relationship between What's-her-face and GLaDOS, and GLaDOS herself, have some heft.

But that's it. My thoughts have been straying to this topic throughout the day, and I'm still struggling to come up with even a second title or series that's worthy.

Help me out here. As someone who believes that video gaming may eventually be a legit art form, I'm depressed by the dearth of existing examples.

Note: I mean Literature-with-a-capital-L. Think Philip Roth, Ayn Rand, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Haruki Murakami, China Mieville, Tolstoy ...

THE LIST SO FAR:
Portal/2
Bioshock
Final Fantasy [to varying degrees; I decided that considered all together, they're good enough to go on the list; feel free to argue otherwise, though]
Planescape
Silent Hill/2
Shadow of the Colossus
Ico

(Alternatively, just list games you thought had good stories, and tell us why you think so.)

Games already are a legitimate art form, the problem is getting the older generations to see it as such.

Bioshock definitely has merit. If you pay attention to the story, it's a very, VERY deep and complex one. If you haven't already, play it. Just do it.

Red Dead Redemption has a story to rival nearly any western book or movie. Even the old black and white movies.

Really, just about any game with a half decent story can be considered to have literary merit.

Don't know how this one slipped my mind. Yeah, it's a (pulpy, but still valid) examination of Atlas Shrugged and such. Okay, two examples! Any others?


But, see, Westerns are pulpy. I'm talking about "proper" Literature-with-a-capital-L.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare series had merit between Soap and Pierce.

Planescape would fall into this, I feel.

Alice: Madness Returns. A truly unique game, shame the gameplay wasn't able to match up the art style.

The Hobbit.

The Witcher.

All games based on actual books.

Planescape: Torment has more text (and literary depth!) than many novels.

Also, I find it curious you can only think of Portal. What about all the background lore and fleshed out worlds of The Elder Scrolls, Baldur's Gate, etc? Or a complex story like the one in Deus Ex, with very good writing and many currently-debated sociological issues?

Visual novel type games like Snatcher or Phoenix Wright have great stories, since that's the main point of those games. The Witcher games are actually based on a series of novels, so you could probably add those as well.

Louis L'Amour would like a word with you

"Proper" Literature is a very subjective term. To you, Westerns are "pulpy", but to others, it's not. Have you seen the newest make of True Grit? Hardly considered "pulpy" by many people, and if you read the book it's even better, and you'd probably take back saying Westerns are "pulpy".

Right you are! Okay, three on the list!


They don't count. An anology: imagine if Glitter (Mariah Carey's semi-autobiographical "masterpiece") had been set in Middle Earth. There'd have been all this lore, but nothing would have been done with it.


Don't think those count. There's a "literary" way to examine topics, and there's a "pulpy" way to examine topics. Bioshock manages to slip, barely, on the right side of that line. Deus Ex's story is akin to Jurassic Park. It has some good ideas and topics to play with, but doesn't do enough with them.


The Witcher books are terrible. I don't know if it's a case of mangled translation but the English books, at least, are really, really terrible writing.
The games aren't much better. They're good games, but their "literary"-ness is non-existent.


No idea who that is. I'll Wikipedia later.


Of course it is. That's why I listed examples in the OP of what is generally considered good Capital L "Literature". I even threw in some modern examples.

Half Life has a sort of 1984 feel to it.
Limbo has a Poe feel to it.
TES series has a Tolkien feel to it. (But in it's own way, of course)
Story of FFVII is pretty good in it's own right.

There are surely more, these were just off the top of my head.

I find the story of most FF games to be good.

FF10 has the whole "tradition for tradition's sake" and "choosing between the easy way and the correct way", and with a particular good service of questioning beliefs, governments and even the principle of sacrificing one to save the masses.

I really liked the story in Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. The ending was awful though.

I can't believe I forgot about these two, but Shadow of the Colossus and Ico. Actually, pretty much anything by the guys that now make up Team Ico can qualify.

If horror counts, the Penumbra games and Amnesia (particularly Amnesia). Not necessarily because of story, but because all of those games know exactly how to screw with the player's mind. Penumbra: Requiem in particular is basically one giant mind-screw that takes you through Philip's subconcious.

I know, but not everyone is going to agree with the list you gave. People are going to give you more examples of what they consider "Literature", than what you think it is, and this does seem to be more of a list for you, rather than a general opinion thread of what people consider games with good Literature. Most people probably don't consider people like Ayn Rand or Tolstoy, good Literature, and just blubbering people who got published. And really, you can't compare those two types of people's writing, to that of video game story writing, they're very different in thinking and direction, even if you're comparing Ayn Rand to Tolstoy.

I don't know about the story in general, but I find that the Mass Effect series does a very good job of building up Strong feelings and relationships with the characters.

Still got a better plot than Atlas Shrugged

Then again, the stories I wrote when I was 9 had a better plot than Atlas Shrugged...

Portal really.

Whatever, I hear the Persona games are supposed to have good writing. But I havent played them, so cant comment.

Psychonauts?

Even though it has this kid-game vibe, it explores a multitude of minds, some orderly, some bat-[censored]-insane, and is full of little details and references to make you think. It's hard to describe with how unique it is.

I'm on the fence about Final Fantasy. I think they're good, but they can feel contrived and forced. Then again, Atlas Shrugged is considered "literary" even though it's really, really terribly written, so I'll go ahead and include it.


Definitely. It's funny: the project lead for Ico was asked whether he considered video games an art form, and he replied "No." XD


I haven't played these, yet. They're supposed to be good, though. You've reminded me of others: Silent Hill/2.


Topic amended to include people who just want to list games with stories they like. Good enough?


I hate Atlas Shrugged, honestly, but it's considered a classic, so it is.


They're okay but they get mired in too much irrelevant side stuff. Most Japanese games have this problem: they have good ideas or foundations but fail to build on them toward something meaningful.


I've never played this! Wasn't this a console exclusive? I think I wanted to get my hands on it, and then found out it was console-only. What a shame.

Max Payne is a good example in my opinion. Not only is the story amazing and well told, the soundtrack is equally stunning.

How is Mass Effect "not literary?"

Literary is just a subjective judgment of artistic worth. You may not enjoy the plot or think the characters are weak, but that doesn't make it not literary.

What makes Portal literary?

You're basically asking what in-game stories people enjoy. There is no wrong answer.

That's not what I'm asking, and there are wrong answers. That's why I've amended the topic to include people who just want to post about games they thought had good stories. It's also why I deleted my reply to that specific suggestion, because this thread is no longer about me judging people's answers. Unless they submit them for judgment -- that is, inclusion in the official list.

I'm going to have to say Dragon Age: Origins. I've said this many times, but it had the best story, characters, dialogue, setting and lore of any game I have ever played. There are also two books that have been based off of this world and they are some of the best I have ever read.

It does something that is rare in video games, every single thing that is said feels vital and important. I don't mean in the sense that it's important to the plot, but that you want to hear it all without skipping.


One of my favourite stories in a game is also GTA IV, but I doubt that you would consider it literary even though this is all about perspective.