5. RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2

What will you do when the world around you changes so fast that you find it hard to keep up? When something you have held near to your heart is about to end, how will you react? Red Dead Redemption 2 shows us how the Van der Linde gang, a group of bandits still trying to hold onto their wild-west mentality in the year 1899, deals with the coming of a whole new century. Their leader, Dutch, is a dreamer who hopes that he can let his gang escape a rapidly modernizing America so they may find avoid change. Each gang member's ambitions, ideas, and morals blend together to pull our main character Arthur all over the place. The nature of dealing with the ending of things drives this plot, and its solid characters and worldbuilding stretches that central idea to an absolute epic of a western tale.

4. DISCO ELYSIUM

You wake up one day, stripped of all that makes you, you. Remnants of your past are scattered all across your surroundings, giving you a fragmented image of who you once were. What if all the pieces you've collected so far are telling you one thing and one thing only? That you were once... a monster? Disco Elysium tells a deeply psychological story about acceptance, not that it's necessarily a good thing. You can accept your past and work to right your wrongs, or you can accept your past and continue to be what you were. Overall, this game has a lot to offer in its narrative, meaning that many people can get something out of this story.

3. SPEC-OPS: THE LINE

This game showcases the brutality of war unlike any game I've ever seen. It reveals that since the dawn of time, the battlefield had never been the place for morals or judgement. The only thing that matters is the survival of you and your kindred, and in an environment like that, misunderstanding are bound to happen. Misunderstandings that may return to haunt you in times of peace. One should not be judged for their actions, but only their intentions. Their actions may be punished, but those punishments must be administered out of a desire to see them change for the better. Allow me to say right now, this game will not be kind to you. It will judge you, it will sneer at you, and it will make you hate, much like the world. It is completely up to you to forgive yourself, but once you do, all the hatred will suddenly fade away.

2. METAL GEAR SOLID SERIES

How does one find their purpose? Through a strong worldview. A worldview that is unshakable by all but the most contradictory of facts. Not much in life can train one in the art of developing worldviews, which is an issue that had only just started to rear its head in our modern society. In first-world countries, increasing numbers of young adults find themselves purposeless. Personal glory is the only purpose left to us after secularism and individualism have carved away the other common purposes of days past. Our world is no longer our tribe or family business. Our world has become what it was always meant to become: THE world. So vast, so complex, yet so lonely. What does Metal Gear have to do with any of this? Simple. It, along with all other forms of abstract art, trains us to develop worldviews. Metal Gear is a story that is so convoluted, with so many mysteries and complex characters that ten similar people playing through all 6 Metal Gear Solid games in chronological order will likely all arrive at different conclusions as to what this entire story meant. This is how a worldview is born. Through the blending of gathered facts, personal ideals, and educated guesses to fill in the blanks. And sure enough, these are the exact three things one needs to draw a moral from this absolute messy behemoth of a saga.

1. BLOODBORNE

How far will you go to attain the truth? And what if the truth is unteachable? What if to reach the truth, you must shed your humanity to the point where you seem no different than a common madman? Is it perhaps more productive to keep your beastly idiocy than to ascend into an incomprehensible form with knowledge that cannot be communicated? Bloodborne asked me questions that intrigued me a lot more than any other game has. I value a game's ability to ask the player open-ended questions. If there are endings in a game that can clearly be perceived as "good" or "bad", then the biggest questions it can ask you are not going to be terribly open ended. Bloodborne however, is a shining example. Though some people may disagree, no ending in Bloodborne is good and no ending is bad. They all communicate nothing but questions. Combine this fact with some of the greatest depictions of Lovecraftian horror in all of fiction and you have a game that oozes intrigue, atmosphere, and of course, blood.

Lisa the Painful: Excellent characters. Memorable and visceral events.
Alan Wake: A Stephen King novel in video game form. Interesting plot. Good ending.
Dark Souls 3: Inspirational, yet melancholy themes. Excellent gloomy, visceral atmosphere.
Metal Gear Rising: Discusses important and relevant topics. Excellent protagonist.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon: Inspirational protagonist. Emotionally varied story.
Elden Ring: Interesting characters. Massive story with something for everyone.
Not For Broadcast: Admirable depiction of modern media. Impactful choices for the plot.
Mad Father: "The Shining" of video games. Scary with enough plot twists to keep people guessing.
Cyberpunk 2077: Extremely intriguing setting. Excellent depiction of corporate greed.
Omori: Everything about this story is worthy of the top 5 list... except the message.