You only get to spend time in your favorite video game world for ‘X’ number of hours, and sometimes it’s not enough, especially if it’s a really short game playable in under ten hours. Other times, games are so massive that you can put hundreds of hours into them and still never be bored. It all depends on the replayability factor and the extra content devs offer to keep you coming back.
However, some games have stories that are just too good, and you never want to part with them. This is most indicative of anything bySony Interactive Entertainment, as well as a few titles from Ubisoft, Remedy, Activision, and Square Enix. Below are the games that left me empty and begging for more when they ended.
One of my favorite genres is Gothic horror, especially anything related to werewolves, and The Order: 1886 gives you that while also infusing Arthurian legend and setting its backdrop againstan alternate history of Victorian London. The game was criticized for being too short and lacking replay value, but I crave more of this world and the characters. The graphics were also like the Death Stranding 2 of its generation and still hold up.
In The Order: 1886, you are Sir Galahad, who, along with his companions Lady Igraine and Marquis de Lafayette, must hunt down Lycans around London in service of the Order of Knights. The game is like a very cinematic Assassin’s Creed, even encountering Nikola Tesla as your weapons supplier. It hassome of the best voice acting performancesever achieved, and the story writing and combat are superb.
When I first played Black Ops Cold War, its campaign blew me away, but that effect was short-lived because it wasone of the shortest Call of Duty campaignsever made. It’s genuinely the best campaign of the Black Ops series, even incorporating the RPG elements of a character sheet. The story is a sequel to the first Black Ops game from 2011, with Frank Woods returning in next-gen fashion.
Where Black Ops 6 made me want to stop and not complete the story due to how lackluster and all over the place it was with mechanics and level design, Black Ops Cold War kept me engaged the whole way through and set up one of the best twists the series has seen. I really would’ve liked some extra missions to spend a lot more time with the story and characters. Zombies and multiplayer couldn’t cut it.
As a huge Guardians of the Galaxy fan, I’ve seenall the James Gunn films, and played this masterpiece of a game from Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix, and I genuinely wish the developer could’ve given us a sequel or future DLC. If only more people played this game, as many wrote it off as another Marvel’s Avengers.
This game easily matches up to the heart, action, and laughs in any of the Guardians movies. The voice cast did a phenomenal job at capturing the personalities, and the music-filled combat system is the most fun and satisfying of any modern superhero game. Thankfully, the ending sequence delivers its own mid-credits section where you fight a gigantic being in one last boss battle hurrah.
Out of the new rebooted series of Tomb Raider games, Rise of the Tomb Raider was my favorite one to play. Lara became a more seasoned and experienced adventurer than her start in 2013’s Tomb Raider, and the new settings and storyline were some of the best in the series. The storytelling, pacing, and character development truly peaked here.
In Rise of the Tomb Raider, the main mystery surrounds the lost city of Kitzeh, which leads Lara and Jonah to the freezing and hellish environment of Siberia. As always, things turn supernatural, and you’re evading mythological foes as well as the mercenaries sent by Trinity. Rise had the most even balance of combat, story, exploration, and skill upgrades, with environments I didn’t want to part with.
Say what you will about Unity, but I think it’s totally underserving of the hate it gets. It’s personallyone of the top five Assassin’s Creed games of all time, next to AC2, AC3, AC Odyssey, and AC4. I personally enjoyed this one a lot more than Black Flag. The atmospheric setting of the French Revolution was superb, an incredible recreation of the world, with the magnificent 3D models of the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Bastille.
Arno and Élise’s story was the most emotional and beautiful to see play out, and there’s a tragic twist that ties Unity directly to Rogue. The graphics were a major step up for the series and can still go toe-to-toe with 2025’s AC Shadows, and the parkour, stealth, and assassination systems, along with gadgets like the Phantom Blade, made it very enjoyable. The downside to it is that it’s a pretty short experience, nowhere near AC Shadows or AC Valhalla’s length.
Santa Monica Studiodelivered a masterpiece of a God of War game with the 2018 continuation of Kratos' story. Moving from Greek to Norse mythology was a bold and refreshing move, and switching to more cinematic gameplay and having RPG-like elements was a fantastic new direction. The story was also the series' most grounded and emotional yet, with a poignant twist ending that still gets me.
Kratos now has a son named Atreus, who together must venture off to Jotunheim to spread the ashes of Atreus’s mother. Along the way, they encounter the sons of Thor, the World Serpent, and gain a new talking head companion, Mimir. The gameplay is fairly linear compared to the sequel and doesn’t have as many enemies or side activities, but this story is the one I prefer, and I wanted just a little more of it. At least Ragnarok would get some DLC.
Naughty Dog’sUncharted 4: A Thief’s End remains my favorite game by the studio, and I say this as a huge horror fan who loves The Last of Us series. It’s a feat in storytelling, action-adventure gameplay, puzzles, environment design, and graphics. A Thief’s End also introduces the new character of Nate’s brother, Sam, with you getting to play through their flashbacks as well.
The main enemy is Rafe Adler and his mercenary group Shoreline, led by Nadine Ross, who are searching for the fabled pirate colony Libertalia founded by Henry Avery, along with the treasure aboard Avery’s ship. It’s a globe-trotting adventure that also has a lot of rope-swinging incorporated into the traversal and combat. Although it was followed up by The Lost Legacy and offered multiplayer, they couldn’t measure up to this adventure.
I’ll be honest. The first Alan Wake game had an intriguing premise and some original combat mechanics not seen in any other horror game, but it wasn’t the best display, and ruined the experience, to where I couldn’t finish the game. But after seeing all the acclaim and learning Alan Wake 2 is now connected to Control and the greater Remedy Universe andeven more heavily influenced by David Lynch, I gave it a go.
Alan Wake 2 is now an all-time favorite gaming experience as much as BioShock, Uncharted 4, and Red Dead Redemption 2 are. Remedy fully nailed the mind-bending story writing, supernatural horror atmosphere, and sound design. All the issues I had with the combat were gone. I’ve played through the story three times, along with completing The Final Draft NG+ and both DLCs, and I’d keep playing it forever.
Another horror game that is an absolute masterpiece, in my opinion, is Silent Hill 2, specifically the remake by Bloober Team. Bloober can really do no wrong in the horror genre, and I’m glad to see thatKonami is giving Bloober the reins to remake Silent Hill 1. How they expanded on the original and fine-tuned the combat, sound design, atmosphere, and creature designs was brilliant.
Silent Hill 2 tells the tragic narrative of James Sunderland, who goes in search of his wife, Mary, after receiving a mysterious letter from her stating that she’s in Silent Hill. Meanwhile, he encounters other inhabitants as well as demonic creatures who threaten his life. Wanting to stay longer in this world might be a little too sadistic, but I wanted a more expansive map, and James deserves the torment.
Even if havingunlocked all the different endings, Bloober could’ve incorporated more side activities. And where is the Born from a Wish DLC already?
Red Dead Redemption 2 is the longest game out of all of these, but I didn’t want the experience to ever end. This game is one of the most immersive games I’ve ever played in my life. Riding your horse through the beautiful Montana landscapes as Arthur Morgan is a pure cinematic delight. The plains, rivers, forests, and rocky hills aresome of the most gorgeous in an adventure game ever, especially since it launched in 2018.
The character of Arthur Morgan is also one you wouldn’t want to part with, despite the inevitable. The story tells a prequel tale of the Van Der Linde gang and its ultimate downfall. It’s filled with a variety of riveting main missions, and there aretons of things to do after beating the game, like hunting and migrating to Red Dead Online, but once the story is over, there’s a void you can’t quite fill.
