[Gartar]

Greetings, I was wondering if anyone knew of any games outside of the RPG genre with great stories and worlds to explore? I haven't really played any new(or old, but new to me ) games outside of the RPG genre since like the early 2000's, I mostly play video games for the stories in them and a chance to explore a new world, I don't really care all that much about gameplay, I would welcome any suggestion.

[swcarter]

How do you feel about adventures? The Longest Journey, Syberia, and Beyond Good & Evil are all story-driven adventures that I enjoyed.

SWC

[Darth Gavinius]

Outside of the RPG genre, I would say the options are more limited, you get Sandbox games that award exploration and lateral thinking or you get games with a tight story.

For the former I would recommend GTA: San Andreas and I am not a massive GTA fan. I don't care for mindless violence (I get bored with ARPG's very quickly) and don't tend to play driving games; but the story, the characters and the exploration are the reason I absolutely love this game.

The Saboteur is a rather fun diversion set in Paris during WWII.

LA Noire - is a difficult game to fully endorse, as it falls short in so many ways - but the world created is stunning and (some of) the cases can be interesting.

Mount and Blade: Warband (Floris Mod) you might never play another game again. Once you get the hang of combat it is a very enjoyable game, the Floris Mod is an overhaul that makes the game world more immersive - it gives you exploration and you decide on the story yourself. There are many other mods/maps available that introduce more concrete storylines such as Lord of the Rings, Song of Ice and Fire and Prophesy of Pendor.

There are some Adventure games that might also be what you are looking for, such as The Longest Journey and Dreamfall. If you want to go back further then you might find Grim Fandango and The Dig be very rewarding. Daedalic have produced some nice adventure games in recent years and although it was rather short I enjoyed Chains of Satinav, which is set in The Dark Eye universe.

Hope some of these suggestions help.

[T0kR4M]

I might suggest you Batman: Arkham Asylum. The story is not anything new (but how many RPGs can brag about it?), it's linear and you don't have any choices in how it progresses, but the characters are terrific (at least if you appreciate the Batman universe) as well as the atmosphere. If you're a Batman fan you have to play it.

I too recommend GTA San Andreas. I am a GTA fan (I've not yet played the V) and I think San Andreas has all the elements you're looking for.

Mafia is a masterpiece in story and atmosphere. It' like a GTA game (more like the III and Vice City) but more linear and storydriven.

Assassin's Creed is kind of interesting. Is an action game but you'll pass more time trying to be stealthy and blending in the crowd of medieval cities than in a killing spree...You need to learn fast how to combo, parry and neutralize opponents though. Some battle are reaaaally tough. The story is a mess, but maybe there's the atmospere you're looking for. I recommend you for that, the joy of jumping between rooftops and the assassins quests. Overall he's a good game.

In the adventure genre I suggest the TellTale games, such as Tales of Monkey Island, Back to the Future and Sam & Max.

I too play videogames for the stories, the characters and the atmosphere in them. I stick to the RPG genre because pretty much every game have all these factors. Action RPG (Diablo-like) and FPS annoy me within an hour. The aforementioned games took me through the end with passion.

[Gartar]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I have never played an adventure game(no idea why, just need gotten around to trying one), I played a couple of the GTA(San Andreas and 3) games but never found the stories in them particularly enjoyable. Mount and Blade is one of those ''make your own adventure'' type games right? I quite like those, but not really in that kinda of mood at the moment, just looking for a more structured story experience, but I will probably pick it up during the upcoming summer sales.

For now I'm just about to start playing Bioshock, I heard from a lot of people that Bioshock Infinite is one of the best stories in gaming in a long time, so I figured I should play the first to understand the universe better before I get in to Infinite. Afterwards I will defiantly look in to adventure games, I see you both suggest The Longest Journey and it is quite cheap on gog, so I will defiantly try it after I finish Bioshock.

Thanks again for the suggestions, I will keep this topic bookmarked for when the summer sales begin

[Gartar]

Oh T0kR4M your post wasn't up when I posted, ye I read good things about the Batman Arkham games, but sadly they are region blocked so I cannot play them I hadn't considered Assassin's Creed, I bought it years ago but completely forgot about it, I love stealth games(Deus Ex and Dishonored are some of my favorite games), so I will look in to Assassins Creed aswell, from what I hear the story gets a lot better and more interesting in the later titles?

Pretty nice, have a lot of games to look forward to playing now, haven't had anything to play in months, because the rpg market in kinda ''meh'' at the moment, but lucky it is looking very bright in the future!

[Darth Gavinius]

Not sure you really need to play Bioshock to play Bioshock Infinite (I think Infinite is set before the events of Bioshock) - but you should definitely play Bioshock anyway. I had to give up as it made me feel too claustrophobic.

If you have not played it you should probably try System Shock 2, now that it has been re-released.

[DesR85]

I can recommend the Hitman games, 3rd person shooter, as they are story-driven. Do note that the first game's control scheme is rather awkward as they map the walk and run keys separately and there is no key to hold or toggle between running and walking. Later games adopt the conventional layout found in almost any shooter (well, most PC games in general).

Another game, which is a predecessor to the Assassin's Creed games is the Prince of Persia series from the Sands of Times onwards. While a lot more linear than the former, not to mention linear levels, it has a good story and plenty of platforming action. There are sections with a lot of traps, though, and if you can stomach it, then you'll like them.

[Kipi]

You could also check out Metro 2033 and Dead Space. Both are FPS games with rather interesting setting and story, unlike most of the "pure" FPS games. I haven't Finished Dead Space 2 yet, though I do own it, and haven't tested out Metro 2034 yet. What I have heard is that Metro 2034 has even better story than the first game.

Pretty nice, have a lot of games to look forward to playing now, haven't had anything to play in months, because the rpg market in kinda ''meh'' at the moment, but lucky it is looking very bright in the future!

Yeah, the AAA RPG market has been rather average lately, that's why I have been concentrating on indie games lately, with the help of Steam which has surprisingly big selection of good indie games. For example, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing has surprisingly good and solid story and very interesting setting for a Diablo-clone produced by almost unknown indie company.