10 Great Video Games (With Terrible Storylines)

Crysis, a sci-fi military FPS released in 2007 and set in the far-off year of 2020, was famous for its insanely demanding specs on PC back in the day. While Crytek’s breakout title could run on just about anything today, the phrase “but can it run Crysis” is still a huge meme in certain circles.

While everyone remembers this game for its stunning visuals and inventive gameplay mechanics, few claim to ever have understood or cared all that much about the story. Crysis’ narrative elements were by far its weakest feature, and the game felt more like a glitzy tech demo than anything else.

The story revolves around the North Korean invasion of an island not far from the Philippines on which a U.S. research team seems to have made some impactful discoveries. A part of a covert team sent in to extract these scientists, things quickly spiral out of control as… well, alien stuff happens.

The introduction of the Ceph—an alien race bent on the destruction of humanity—is pretty jarring in the original Crysis. The game goes from fairly-standard stealth/action experience to War of the Worlds wannabe at the drop of a hat, and it’s weird.