Top 10 best stories in video games you need to play right now

From very humble beginnings, games have evolved substantially in every regard over the past few decades. With better graphics, bigger worlds and more ambitious designs, developers have made some pretty stunning creations.

With these new possibilities, something else was realised. Through gaming, a story can be told which could rival, and even surpass cinema - and in so many cases we've had some unforgettable tales which simply couldn't translate to any other medium - and we're going to be counting down our Top 10 stories now. Buckle in.

10. Firewatch

Kicking things off we've an indie gem from recent times, and if you haven't had a chance to play Firewatch - do yourself a favour and pick it up.

What comes across as a lethargic, hiking simulator through a gorgeous national park quickly takes an unexpected turn - but we're not here to spoil any surprises. What we have to note is the superb way this story is told. You interact almost solely through your supervisor 'Delilah' through your walkie-talkie. It makes everything come together in fragmented parts, and allows the player to piece together the gravity of the situation through subtle conversation.

9. Her Story

Ever felt like solving a crime? (Picture: Sam Barlow)

If the idea of a fragmented story is something that floats your boat, lets look at something that gives you the entire story from the start, and expects you to piece things together bit by bit.

'Her Story' is a unique game to say the least. Charged with investigating a murder, you're tasked with looking at police interview responses without knowing the questions asked.

Things will undoubtedly get dicey as you try and piece together the truth by picking up keywords to search in the database.

For any budding detectives - this will be a sure winner and you'll need all your ingenuity and wits to fully work out what happened in this excellent piece of crime fiction.

8. Mass Effect

The SciFi genre has given us countless great stories over the years, but at times it's easy for writers to get bogged down in world building and forget about the fundamentals of a good story - human experience. Thankfully, the aficionados at Bioware covered both bases with their 'Mass Effect' trilogy.

From the moment you adopt the mantle of commander Shepard, you're transported to a galaxy teeming with life, with mystery, intrigue, secrets, and a backstory to rival any of the heavy hitters in the genre.

That's all well and good of course, but it's the story that plays out which makes the games truly special - and not just through the events themselves, but the effect of they on the characters.

Bioware have always been the experts on writing interesting and endearing characters, and watching the subplots develop as your characters debate the choices you've taken transforms the story to not just a feed of information, but a constantly altering discourse.

7. The Last Of Us

If the sheer number of 'Game of the Year' awards is any indication, you should know then when you load up 'The Last of Us' that you're in for a roller-coaster of a ride.

At first glance, this is your usual 'Zombie Apocalypse' survival game with all the stealth, hardships and brutal realities that come with it. Accompanying all of that is one of the most heavy hitting stories we've ever known in gaming.

Ultimately, it's a tale of hardship and growth as you protect your companion Ellie, and watch her grow to be a self sufficient survivor as she aids you in your quest to find a cure for the fungus.

There's a lot of difficult choices, and a twist that will require you to weigh up morality versus experience to shed light on countless deeper issues that the game throws at you.

We're not spoiling the ending in any means, but we're just going to say that we cannot wait to see the next chapter unfolds in the games upcoming sequel, and how the lives of Ellie and Joel have changed following the games complex ending.

6. Portal 2

One of the most subtle story-telling ever (Picture: Valve Corporation)

We've got some more indirect storytelling here reminiscent of Firewatch, and we're going to go out on a limb here and say Delilah's commentary via a walkie-talkie was designed in part to be reminiscent of the way objectives are fed to you in Portal 2.

It would seem quite lonely to be trapped in the Aperture Science labs with no other humans in sight, but through the nattering of Wheatley at your side, and the every cynical and heartwarmingly villainous nature of GLaDOS later on, it certainly doesn't feel that way.

It's impressive to make robotic entities a clear replacement for human interaction - but that's exactly what Valve achieved.

Whilst there is the obvious story that unfolds before you - which is fantastic of course, the true accomplishment is through the parallel stories you discover along your way.

From secret rooms to scrawling on the walls, in no time at all you'll be piecing together your own interpretation of who you really are, and what exactly had happened before you were set forth on your mission.

5. Silent Hill 2

Throughout gaming history we've seen some titles that have done things a little bit differently, and caused other developers to turn around and play copycat. Silent Hill 2's influence didn't just spread to other games, but the entire horror genre with its unprecedented brand of psychological horror.

This isn't a matter of 'good guy running away from bad guy'. In fact - there are no true protagonists and antagonists. Just manifestations of your own subconscious.

The town of Silent Hill will twist and change for each of its inhabitants leading to an entirely unique experience.

All those horrors you'll encounter along your way, that gruesome menagerie of oddities and discomforts? They're all born of your character, resulting in a game filled with twists, realisations, and a complete subversion of the genre.

4. Witcher 3

Toss a coin to the CD Projekt Red (Picture: CD Projekt Red)

Ah, Geralt of Rivia. The Butcher of Baviklan, the White Wolf himself. How many epic adventures and unbelievable stories must you have under your belt at this point. None so powerful and unforgettable as your Odyssey across the Northern Realms in Wild Hunt.

You'll hear a lot of people saying that the game is one of the greatest of all time, and you may be thinking that nothing could ever live up to that hype - but we'll tell you now; it certainly does. If you haven't played it, you're missing out on something which has yet to be re-achieved in gaming.

From simple starts of trying to find your ex-lover sorceress in a war-torn nation, you'll set out to search each and every nook and cranny of the realm in search of your surrogate daughter - who happens to be pursued by the otherworldly Wild Hunt - who are just straight up bad guys in every sense of the word.

You'll learn the stories of innumerable colourful characters, you'll learn the true sense of turmoil in a continent on the brink of revolt, and you'll learn that even a mutant can have a big heart as you go through every trial imaginable to try and reunite with Ciri.

3. Tales From The Walking Dead

We've been saying it for years now - the potential for storytelling in video games can absolutely overcome film and TV - and finally we have the perfect example to back it up. The Telltales series of 'The Walking Dead'.

Whilst we're not here to slate the TV series in any way - it is just nowhere near the calibre of its gaming counterpart. Fundamentally, as you'd expect, it's a game about zombies.

Yet, in a setting where the primary population wants to turn you into human gumbo, the main threat is your sense of humanity itself.

With a pretty awful death around every corner, you'll have to make a number of tough choices to have any hopes of survival - but the Walking Dead really makes those choices hit home, and they're downright troubling.

To make all that even more heavy hitting - the primary drive of your character is to protect a young girl you've found. There's a childlike ignorance as she tries to piece together the abhorrent things you have to do to ensure your survival, resulting in a tale of sacrifice, betrayal and tenacity in every form.

And due to its episodic nature, there's absolutely no reason you shouldn't be picking up the first episode and seeing all this for yourself - trust us. You won't regret it.

2. BioShock

We've seen some pretty lofty ambitions thus far, and storytellers attempting to break away from all conventions. There's a lot that other mediums could learn from video games, and a style, setting and depth we've yet to see attempted elsewhere is evident in the Bioshock series.

The first game tied consequential philosophy about man, society and morality into an unforgettable experience.

During your journey's through the eerie underwater city of Rapture you'll discover to the complete extent that power can corrupt, and what society descends into once ethical judgement is shunned.

Bioshock is another robust example of indirect storytelling, with your main interaction coming from an unknown ally 'Atlas'. Little by little conceptions are distorted resulting in one of our favourite twists in any game - but we won't spoil anything.

The ambitious story telling continues throughout the series, and reaches it's climax in Bioshock infinite which dissects the running themes - and brings in time travel, alternate universes, and even undertones of absurdist philosophies.

It's going to be a head scratchier, and sure - it might make your brain hurt to try and connect all the dots - but it's an unbelievably complex and satisfying story which set a new benchmark in gaming.

1. Red Dead Redemption

Since the world was taken with the wonders of Cinema, the genre of the Western was cemented as one of the most prolific settings for an action packed story. However, it's not all rootin' and tootin' and running and gunning, and Red Dead Redemption showed us that there's a whole lot bubbling under the surface of these steely eyed gunslingers.

With the first game we see how a no-nonsense gunslinger with a sordid past by the name of John Marston was manipulated into hunting down his former gang in the hopes of securing freedom for his family.

In any medium - there is no better story about the death of the Wild West, and it's a poignant and powerful story about how lawlessness just does not resonate with a developing western world.

With it's sequel, everything was taken to the next level, and Red Dead Redemption 2 was stunning on every scale. And whilst it's easy to get shoehorned into appreciating life on the prairie, or spend a few days fishing and hunting, you cannot escape from the gravity and power of the story.

From it's predecessor we know exactly where the Van Der Linde gang are going, but seeing how that story unfolded, how Arthur Morgan, former terror on the civilised world noticed how their place in the west is dwindling is a remarkable message. It's an utterly unforgettable story - we laughed, we cried, we pulled a few heists and then contemplated our every action.

For those of you that enjoy a story that will stick in your mind for years to come, we urge you to get in your cowboy frame of mind and settle in to play Red Dead Redemption.

This story could only work in video games (Picture: Rockstar Games, Steam)

The stories we've seen in these games just wouldn't work anywhere else. Sure you can make a film about a game, but you just wouldn't capture the depth and the immersion that you do by buckling in and playing. Sure enough, it's why the world has never seen a good movie based off a film - go ahead and try and think of one, it just doesn't exist.

As more storytellers harness this limitless vessel, we're excited to see which incredible worlds and gripping stories we'll experience in the future.