20 Best Video Game Stories Ever

8. Dragon Age: Origins

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BioWare

Dragon Age: Origins has the distinction of having one of the longest development times in gaming history, definitely in the top 3 in the triple A gaming sphere, at 8 years of development time, starting at the turn of the century and releasing in 2008. Now obviously with such a long time before making it to shelves, Origins was destined to either be legendarily good, or one of the worst things ever. There is no in between.

Fortunately we live in the universe where everything worked out for the best, as Dragon Age: Origins isn't just one of the best RPGs ever made, but one of the best stories ever told in gaming.

The basic premise of Origins is taking a Tolkien-esque fantasy world and asking a few "questions" about the setup. Such as: what if being the Big Damn Hero in this world carried with it some unfortunate drawbacks? What if humans and elves not only didn't get along but REALLY didn't get along? What if the powerful wizard had their own ulterior motives for helping you? Etcetera, etcetera.

What results is a world that feels uniquely alive from other stereotypical fantasy worlds, and a story that twists and turns in ways unexpected, even to veterans of so-called "dark fantasy".

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?