9 Great Video Games You Didn't Understand First Time

1. Dark Souls & Bloodborne

The games that popularised the idea of storytelling by way of item descriptions, 99% of the characters in Dark Souls or Bloodborne are more likely to cackle at you whilst selling a few items, than describe what's actually going on.

It got so bad in terms of only the most diehard fans unravelling this stuff, that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was the first FromSoftware game this generation to feature a voiced protagonist, cutscenes and actual straightforward exposition.

Still, that descended into a man emerging from another man's shoulder for the final fight, but you can't have everything.

Back to Souls and Bloodborne, and obviously this approach paid dividends. Besides the rush of overcoming insanely challenging odds, there's a sense of inbuilt value to working your way through the lore as well.

Entire silk-voiced Youtube careers have been made from discussing just how detailed and emotional Soulsian lore truly is, but you'll have to collect items, read text and seek out every last nook and cranny to make the pieces fit yourself.

Dark Souls is forever the embodiment of Zelda's "It's not safe to go alone" opening statement, and that applies to the storytelling, too.