Top 10 Best Indie Video Game Stories

Brandishing the Transistor, a large, powerful, talking sword, the singer Red sets off to take back her stolen voice. Transistor is a game that uses every tool at its disposal to tell an incredible revenge story. The game’s vivid visuals and evocative soundtrack go a long way, setting the scene for Red to single-handedly take on the futuristic city of Cloudbank. But where Transistor’s story truly shines is in its interplay between the silent Red and her chatty sword — companions on a lonely voyage.

The first chapter of the Viking legend The Banner Saga sets up a rich world. In its harsh, snow-covered land, the game’s characters are more concerned with survival than conquest. This emphasis on minute-to-minute survival makes it one of the most thoughtful and mature high-fantasy video games ever made. Letting players take the reigns in strategic decision-making adds immeasurable intensity to every situation. Couple that with dense lore, memorable characters, stellar writing “and you are left with the exceptional plot of The Banner Saga.

It’s hard to take your eyes off The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. The hard-boiled detective story is set in a quaint town where a young boy has disappeared. The sometimes brutal, sometimes stunning story of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a high water mark for imaginative game narratives. The subtle ways the game blends its fiction through the environment and outright dialogue makes for a haunting tale about creativity choked by ignorance. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter’s story is heart pounding.

With Bastion, Supergiant Games tapped into a narrative technique video games scarcely takes advantage of: the narrator. Bastion’s narrator adapts to your in-game behaviour, bringing an interactive element to an already exciting plot. The result is a game whose main character becomes very much your own — making dramatic moments in the game’s narrative especially powerful. The steampunk story of The Kid, who wakes up alone as buildings crumble around him, creates a fascinating story around the disappearance of a world.

Impressed by how Pixar’s Finding Nemo tackles serious subject matter with a friendly visual style, designer Vander Caballero set about designing Papo & Yo. The game is an autobiographical account about coping with an abusive, alcoholic parent. Papo & Yo showcases how someone can love you, try to help you at every turn, and still cause you untold amounts of fear and pain. Papo & Yo’s heartfelt, personal story examines how hard it can be to cope with our feelings about the people close to us.

The Fall’s premise alone is enough to earn it a spot on our list — but it gets even better. In The Fall, artificial intelligence is prolific and it serves humanity at all costs. In the opening of the game you are knocked unconscious, causing your space suit’s onboard computer to kick in and launch A.R.I.D., a life support system charged with resuscitating its pilot. Throughout A.R.I.D.’s quest to revive her pilot, she encounters many other robots with their own unyielding parameters, making The Fall a fascinating discussion of A.I.

Gone Home captures an era like nothing else. It’s one part historical document, one part gripping fiction. It starts with you arriving on your doorstep, bag in hand, only to realize that no one is home. What follows is an exploration of 90’s American culture, a family, and the family shattering drama that unfolded while you were away. In Gone Home, every inch of the home you explore has been meticulously detailed to tell a thorough coming out story of a young teenage girl leaving behind every curtail detail for her sister to find. And for that reason it has some of the most fleshed out characters in video game history.

Just sneaking onto our list at the last minute is this old school RPG unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Undertale tells the story of a civilization of monsters whom have been banished underground by humans following a lengthy war, and at the center of it all is a human child who accidentally finds herself in the monster world. What makes Undertale’s story unique is the way its intergraded into the battle system, these monsters aren’t just enemies you can grind for experience, they’re living creatures with personality and ambitions. Every encounter makes you question the morality of your actions, so the outcome to the story will vary depending on your actions.

Thomas was Alone is a perfect example of how much plot can be born from expert game design. In it, you play as Thomas — he’s a red rectangle. Thomas desperately wants some friends, and sure enough he finds some — they’re also mostly rectangles. Using its narration, play, and puzzles, Thomas was Alone breathes life into these flat pieces of geometry, creating a truly captivating and engaging story. Perhaps most notably is the evident change these characters go through in a few short hours. Thomas was alone is a treat.


Before we name our number one, how about taking a look at some honourable mentions.

“Device 6” (2013)


“The Swapper” (2013)


“Dear Esther” (2012)


“Brothers a Tale of Two Sons” (2013)


“Kentucky Route Zero Act I” (2013)

To the Moon speaks to the brisk nature of life itself. Thanks to newfound technology, a means of neurally implanting memories called ‘wish fulfillment’ can be experienced by people on their deathbeds. The story of To the Moon unravels backwards as two scientists travel through a man’s life story in reverse to insert a false memory — that the man would eventually travel to the moon. From moments of joy, to grandiose despair, or of ecstatic passion, To the Moon is an unforgettable game with an ending that ensure no one concludes the game with dry eyes.


Do you agree with our list? Which of these stories touched you the most? For more dramatic Top 10’s Published Daily, be sure to subscribe to Watchmojo.com