We know gameplay is what distinguishes video games as a unique medium, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the center of attention.
Many titles, deliberately or because of various limitations, feature greater narrative or audiovisual strengths than mechanical ones, which I usually find annoying except on certain occasions.
9 Best Games Where You Literally Kill God
No Gods, No Masters!
These circumstances, where games excel brilliantly in their chosen department, inevitably lead me to accept their gameplay as it is, especially given that they compensate by offering memorable experiences for different reasons than the usual ones.
I understand products without refined mechanics aren’t often everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re like me and willing to turn a blind eye in favor of experiencing something new, I present these ten games where the lore is deeper than the gameplay.
10BioShock Infinite
There’s Always a Lighthouse
BioShock Infinite
With each passing year, I realize more and more that BioShockInfiniteis a gem with rough edges that amazed me at the time more because of my naivety than because it truly did something groundbreaking.
I still think it’s an excellent title, but replaying it and seeing how anachronistic its mechanics are, turning it into a wave-based shooter that’s more reminiscent ofCall of DutythanBioShock,really does a disservice to its legacy.
The campaign isn’t entirely spared, as it has inconsistencies and deficient subplots like Vox Populi’s, but it definitely ranks higher than its gameplay due to the fantastic way it tells its story.
Especially afterBurial at Sea,BioShock Infinitegoes considerably deeper with its universe than with its gameplay. It’sa straightforward shooter with certain powers, but narratively, it has everything from time travel to reality-shaping disruptions.
Because of how much I valued it when I was younger, I still love it and will continue to. I don’t appreciate that it lost the tension, stimulation, and spontaneity of Rapture’s combat, but Columbia will never cease to be a memorable setting.
9Alan Wake
Glorious Narrative, Simple Mechanics
Alan Waketakes the shooter tradition of having a decent story and highly developed mechanics and turns it on its head, so its narrative reigns supreme.
The game’s weapons and gunplay are limited and lack any complexity, like the system of lighting up enemies to make them vulnerable, but it’s perfectly fine becausethe true protagonist is the plot.
Instead of using the events to strengthen the gameplay,Remedyputs everything at the disposal of the characters, their stories, and ideas, creating a phenomenal psychological thriller that, like me, has turned many people into fans of the genre.
You don’t really have time to sit and think about how simple the combat is or how there aren’t the usual puzzles, given you’re too enthralled by the environmental narrative and atmosphere.
There are many reasons whyAlan Wakeis a cult classic, but gameplay isn’t one of them. Its worldbuilding, level design, transitions, and cutscenes are what carry its greatness' weight.
8Asura’s Wrath
Exploring an Entire Mythology
Asura’s Wrath
No one in their right mind would speak highly ofAsura’s Wrath’s mechanics, save for the occasional boss, just as everyone would agree it’s a marvel in every aspect that isn’t the gameplay.
The game isa fairly simple beat ‘em up where button-mashing and QTEs are enough to overcome its challenges, which do attempt to present themselves as the game’s draw but fail miserably compared to its story, art, and music.
9 Popular Gaming Franchises Where The Original Is Best
Sometimes it can be hard to top the original.
More than a video game,Asura’s Wrathis an emotional journey filled with family drama, philosophical reflections, and cosmic explorations of Hindu and Buddhist divinity, wrapped in splendid art design and a soundtrack that will keep your skin crawling until the end of time.
It touches on so many deities, perspectives, and human emotions that combat becomes even more of a forgettable element, giving the lore and its interpretations room to shine.
It’s a shame the gameplay is so poor, but at this point, I think it’s part of its identity. I can’t imagineAsura’s Wrathwithout its unfortunate mechanics anymore, and I think I prefer it that way.
7Fear & Hunger
Between Gods and More Gods
Fear & Hunger
Unlike the previous two entries on this list,Fear & Hungeris a title with highly developed mechanics that are a breath of fresh air for the turn-based RPG genre, so I can’t describe its gameplay as anything other than excellent.
Despite this, this visceral and wonderful indie game appears on this list not because of its lack of interactive capabilities, but because its lore is so dense and convoluted that comprehending its mechanics feels like a day in the park.
After numerous playthroughs,I fully understand the enemy patterns, the level layout, every character’s strengths, and how all the items work, but I still haven’t fully grasped the history of Ma’habreor why a little girl can become a goddess after a ritual.
Fear & Hungeris filled with ambiguous explanations and elements left to the player’s imagination, just like its gameplay, making it a perfect case of a video game that leaves you to your own devices to see if you can survive in its harsh world.
6Undertale
An Atypical RPG
Talking aboutUndertale’s gameplay has always been difficult for me because, yes, it’s an RPG, but it’s an extremely atypical one, utilizing bullet-hell mechanics that seem to come out of nowhere despite being now iconic.
However, the player’s agency in the game world is limited. you’re able to change items and use consumables, butit all comes down to your ability to dodge projectiles and keep up with the music, with all the difficulties this entails when facing certain bosses.
On the other hand, what is considerably multidimensional is the universe surrounding us.Undertaleis brimming with important characters, historical events, fourth-wall breaks, meta-messages about the determinism of role-playing games, and more wonders that will leave you speechless.
I first came toUndertalefor its songs and its difficult battles, but I stayed for the story. This is one of the most beautiful and endearing trips I can remember, especially because it took me years to truly understand everything it hides.
5Dark Souls
An Anthology-Worthy Lore
Dark Souls
Fextralife Wiki
Dark Soulsis my favorite video game of all time, and while I think it has perfect gameplay, I think it has received far more credit than it actually deserves.
Mechanically, it’s not a particularly complexARPG, and given what FromSoftware has done with its successors in terms of weapon variety, boss patterns, systems, and so on, it’s a very accessible title despite the patience it requires.
10 Best Grimdark Games You Need to Play
When edgy and gloomy meet fascinating.
What isn’t at all easy to understand is its lore, asit boasts one of the most extensive literatures in the video game industry.Lordran is merely a speck within the game’s immeasurable narrative context, which spans an indeterminate amount of time, events, and characters.
Even without counting its successors,Dark Soulsis in itself a cosmos of content whose story considerably surpasses its mechanics in terms of length. I believe it’s obvious that rolling and hitting is less profound than understanding the gods’ conflict or the undead curse’s nature.
If you add in the myriad of entities or guilds mentioned that don’t appear in-game, all the item descriptions, the meaning of certain enemy placements, and everything else that’s alluded to in environmental storytelling,Dark Soulsis a must-have for this list.
4Death Stranding
More Story Than Gameplay
Death Stranding
I’m going to start this entry by sayingDeath Stranding’s gameplay is stupidly underrated, as it is entertaining, satisfying, varied, and thematically relevant.
That said, if there’s one thingHideo Kojimadoes better than creating mechanical systems with ludonarrative coherence, it’sshaping profound universes that would require entire dissertations to fully grasp their meanings.
Of my entire adventure with Sam Porter Bridges, I can easily say I spent a quarter of it reading emails, thinking up explanations for the physical and metaphysical phenomena of his universe, trying to connect with his characters, and understanding the work’s message.
Overall,Death Strandingis a deeply human work with numerous subplots and even more reflections on the communal nature of our civilization, the consequences of the disintegration of interpersonal ties, and the need for connection to survive—that’s anything but easy to digest.
Considering the long cinematics and the scientific connotations of its laws,Death Strandingwarrants so much attention from the player that you requiremore than one playthroughto understand everything.
3Dragon Age: Origins
Carried by Worldbuilding
Dragon Age
As much of aDragon Agefan as I am, I can comfortably admit that the only reason I could finishDragon Age: Originswas its lore, as it’s clumsy and limited in terms of gameplay.
Of course, it’s a game of its time, and it’s difficult to judge it through today’s lenses, but at launch, I vividly remember it felt like a game driven largely by its masterful universe.
As a great role-playing experience, our ability to delve into the lives of countless characters, change the course of numerous plots, and immerse ourselves in its titanic mythological framework truly makes it one of the genre’s finest products.
The contextual foundationDragon Age: Originsprovides for the IP is sometimes neglected, as I feel the community rarely appreciates how, from thecharactersto thehistorical events, this title provides a magnificent structure with endless ramifications to explore.
To date,the game has received three sequels, but there could easily be dozensprecisely becauseOriginspresents a world as deep as it is captivating.
2The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Sum of Decades of History
The Elder Scrollsseries has spent decades building the vastest lore possible, and it all reached a point of indescribable magnitude inThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
The number of gods, geopolitical conflicts, countries, races, events, subplots, civilizations, ideologies, dimensions, sources of magic, and more is so immense that, despite having hundreds of hours of experience, I feel like I only know the barest of details.
I’ve read hundreds of in-game books, completed every side quest, conversed with each NPC, settled all Daedric conflicts, wandered through countless Reddit threads, and still, I can’t grasp the unfathomable theoretical conglomeration underpinning this franchise.
That alone is enough to guaranteeSkyrima spot on this list, but it’s worth adding that,mechanically, it’s quite linear, which contrasts with the sheer scale of its universe.
I don’t know of any video game world larger thanThe Elder Scrolls, but from what I’ve seen in my hours in its realm, I find it tough to believe there’s a single-player game thicker thanSkyrim.
1NieR Replicant
Unexpected Ramifications
NieR Replicant: ver.1.22474487139…
Like everythingYoko Tarohas ever done,Nier Replicantis an extremelystrange game, but it’s that way in the word’s best sense.
The title emerges as a side effect of the fifth ending of the third installment ofa series that bears another name, which in itself should give you a glimpse of how complex things get.
And indeed, when you delve into its world, you realize not only does it have numerous endings, but it also insists on deceiving you for most of your adventure, making the lore so opaque that you’re forced to reach the end to understand everything.
Regardless, grasping the full extent of its circumstances is too much for a simple playthrough. If you don’t reflect for days, watch several YouTube videos, and try to understand the intricacies of Taro’s mind as if your life depended on it, you’ll hardly see the whole picture.
The worst part is that the world ofNier Replicantis glorious and exciting to explore, but its main obstacle is tedious, outdated, and overly repetitive gameplay, light years away from the quality and depth of its narrative counterpart.
However,it’s absolutely worth enduring the ordeal of playing it to see how far its lore goes, though only those willing to ignore the idea that games should be fun will discover why this experience is a niche classic.
