Guide: Best PS4 Single Player Story Games

This was a great list, thanks!

Single player story driven games are my absolute favourites, with Nier Automata, Journey, Persona 5, SOTC and TLG being among the best games I have ever played.

I really want to try out Detroit and Witcher 3, but I'm currently playing Danganronpa 1/2 Reload, which is another narrative heavy game I'm adoring.

Meh. Too many walking sims on there for me. Gone Home is interminably boring, as is Rapture. IMO.

I really need to play my copy of The Last Guardian.
Also, Persona 5 should be number 1 instead of a lousy 15. Must be a trash list of Pushsquare click bait. Why do I keep clicking though?

@Jaz007 If I'd had my way, Persona 5 wouldn't have been on this list at all. (Your clicks are appreciated.)

great list!
witcher 3 being nr1 is no suprise altough i have more of a soft spot for the blood and wine story. still the base game is for sure worthy of being nr1 but not just for the story though. the side quests realy made that game as good as can be.

I still need to get Nier Automata, i've heard nothing but good things and i enjoyed playing the demo. And if Yakuza 6 has the best story of the series then I defo need that too.

So glad Yakuza 6 made the list, that game had me in bits the ending was heartbreaking.

I need to play Yakuza 6.

God of war is number 1.word up son.best game ever.word

DISCLAIMER:

I fought tooth and nail to get Persona 5 higher on this list but Dictator Barker wouldn't have it.

@get2sammyb where is the dislike button for your post 😅

Great list though, and shows how strong this gen has been!

@get2sammyb why though?

@ShogunRok Get a heart for your efforts 😊

@Rob_230 xoxoxox

@ApostateMage Having recently finished it I can say the gameplay is very cool but story (should you choose to accept all of it) is very anime.

Uncharted! Has everything!

Currently playing Persona 5, game is long. I try to make time for it as much as I can. I finally at the end of it... unless something crazy happens again.

@ShogunRok We should start a mutiny to remove evil overlord @get2sammyb 's wrong opinions.

The number of first party games here (even excluding remakes and remasters) is a testament to what Sony talks about when they say their games tell a good story.

A good selection here - The Witcher 3 is one of my all time faves (despite not having previously been a fan of 'sword & sorcery'), and Yakuza 0 is on my must buy list. Have to admit to not playing God of War yet - I have a soft spot for the early iterations with angry, murderous Kratos! Played both Rapture and Gone Home but didn't really enjoy them - I tried to like them but these kinds of games just don't appeal to me.

There's lots of great games on the list, but I'd personally change most of the ordering. Nier Automata, Horizon Zero Dawn, Persona 5 and God of War all deserve to have a much higher ranking.

I'm glad that Until Dawn made it on the list. That one was really enjoyable for me.

I'm playing now for the second time Resident Evil 7 with its story DLC and I'm loving it as much as the first time. Family Baker deserves more love!

I hope that these aren't in order! Horizon: Zero Dawn one of the BEST games this generation and probably 'best' new IP (so far) at 16th has to be a mistake.

There are of course other Single Player games that haven't made this list that are also worth mentioning - you have Wolfenstein (both and the stand alone), Fallout 4, Bloodborne, Doom, AC: Origins, Tomb Raider (both), Infamous (2nd Son and First Light), Uncharted: Lost Legacy & Nathan Drake Collection, Batman: Arkham Knight, Alien Isolation, Evil Within 1 & 2, RE7, Doom, R&C, Crash Bandicoot etc etc etc. I could go on and on but there are a LOT of great Single Player games - even if 1 or 2 do have some MP too. Its certainly not ALL online only service based games at all. Some of the games I have mentioned though also have a much higher metacritic score than some (not all) of the 20 here. Not saying that they don't deserve their place, but that there are a LOT of great single player games that others may prefer to seek out that maybe more suited to what they prefer to play.

@BAMozzy The article is about the story in the games so while Crash,Doom etc. are great single player titles they don't exactly have strong narratives.

Witcher 3 deserved it no1 spot. It became my favourite game of all time

When I saw Persona 5 wasn't Number 1, I knew this list was trash.

@BAMozzy It's best single player story games.

Having played most of the games on the list, I can disagree with it a lot, but I'll just go ahead and ask why the hell is The Last of Us second and Witcher 3 first?
Don't get me wrong Witcher 3 is a great game (everything-wise) and I love it, but story-wise it falls short compared to... The Last of Us!
by the way, is it just me or does The Wild Hunt always wins?

@Homo-Ludens We went with The Witcher because of the scale of it. There are side-quests in Wild Hunt that are better written than most full games.

So did Sammy single-handedly keep Persona 5 so low on this one? 😂

Great list! I agree and there are so many here I haven't played.

Come on, can’t agree at all with the positions of that list. I hope Croatia wins today just because of that.
Go Croatia!

@get2sammyb @LaNooch1978 Ok so Crash and Doom aren't exactly great narratives but a lot of the others I mentioned have good Single Player stories. Tomb Raider for example has a great story. Batman: Arkham Knight has a good story too and most peoples issue is more to do with the Batmobile combat but the story is still good.

I do agree that the Witcher 3 has a fantastic story and that many of its side quests are better written than a lot of other games and their main story. For me, I found the Last of Us quite cliched and predictable - not saying it was 'bad' as a lot of 'good' movies are predictable and have some 'cliches' too. I do agree its well written though and well voiced too which really helps.

Stories though can resonate differently with different people so its subjective. I can't comment on the story of 'Until Dawn' for example because the game-play is absolutely terrible so never got through it so Story is part of what drives me through a game but not the only reason.

@BAMozzy Are you really saying you found the story in The Last of Us predictable and clichéd but not the one in Tomb Raider? Each to their own,I guess.

@BAMozzy First you said Snake has no personality and now this bull that the Last of Us had a cliché story i cant take you serious anymore. 🤨😑😓

@Flaming_Kaiser @LaNooch1978 It is cliche - Main character who is bitter and twisted who, over the course of the story, ends up falling for the other character. OK so its not a romantic love but its still 'love' and that means they can't let them 'go'. Its 'Annie' with a bleaker back-drop and Joel is Oliver Warbucks. Quite a lot of stories have started out with two characters with one being indifferent but by the end they are much closer and Joel can't let Ellie be sacrificed - which was predictable from the start.

If you can't see that, then its not my problem but I knew that Ellie would get to Joel, soften him up so to speak and that Joel wouldn't let Ellie be sacrificed - even for the sake of humanity. Therefore it was predictable. The story, as I have already explained, has been done lots of times - Ultraviolet (2006 film with Mila Jovovich) has something similar with the boy in that the 'boy' is a 'cure' but Mila's character in this is as an 'infected'.

Even ND has said its a 'Love' story and we see Joel go from a Man of little Morals and cold hearted to 'loving' Ellie (as a daughter) through a journey together. Cliched and predictable....

@BAMozzy I respectfully disagree. You are confusing cliché with archetype which is a common mistake.

@get2sammyb I know, and I totally respect it! I'm not entirely serious... maybe acting too much as a fanboy lol

@get2sammyb May I ask you guys why Resi 7 is not on the list? Was the story too cliché in your opinion?

@LaNooch1978 Cliche is perhaps too strong as its not over-used to the point of becoming trite or irritating but it is still quite a commonly used plot line. As such I found it quite predictable but as I also said, that doesn't necessarily make it bad. You can still write a good story, still voice it really well etc to be enjoyable. Most movies do have a predictable ending or relatively common plot line but that doesn't make them bad if the script is good and the actors are too.

Played at least part of 12/20. Own another 4/20 in my backlog. And of the remaining 4 games, I plan to eventually buy 3 of the 4. Sorry, Invisible Hours... you don’t make the cut.

When you realize you have almost everygame on this list and start counting all the money you spent (worth). Never heard about The Invisible Hours but at least from this text it sounds pretty cool!

Btw guys, I'm coming home...someone else is coming? 😋

@andreoni79 I don't think the story of Resi 7 is especially good — it's the incredibly creepy characters and atmosphere that are the star of the show.

Like, you could almost take the story out of Resi 7 and it wouldn't really impact the feel or the tone of the game, if that makes sense.

It's not a bad story at all, but like you say, maybe a bit cliche and not a key strength of the game.

Really don't understand the love for Gone Home, played through the damn thing waiting for something to happen and.....nothing. Decent list though

Love Witcher 3. It's at the top of my list for right now.
Looks like Ghost Of Tsushima is going to be the same way...

Not the order I'd put them in for sure, but most of these games are games I really like or absolutely love.

I can't stand walking simulators though. Yaayyyy... I'm pushing the analogue stick forward. Dope.

Still a good though for refference and recommendations. Well done!

@andreoni79 Don't think it comes anywhere close to the 20 we listed. Love the game, though.

@Deljo I was expecting something more too! Nothing happens basically...I still enjoyed it but sometimes it gets really really creepy and then nothing happens again

Maybe after Gravity Rush 2 I'll give The Witcher 3 a go. Never liked the name of the title, but saw the combat and thought it was fluid.

@get2sammyb Shame on you if Persona 5 wasn't on the list why don't you like it anyways

Journey? You guys will shoehorn that in anywhere.

I would stick ffx-hd remaster in the list. The story is fantastic once you fully understand what is going on. Its also the best overall complete story in the ff universe without veering into loose ends and red herrings - its all there.

Horrible order for the list but at least it has most of the great games that I like, but I cannot understand why people like What Remains of Edith Finch that's not even a game to me it really is a walking simulator sure it has a nice story but it's not a game at all and at number 10 😂

@GKO900

Agree with you, but, punctuation is your friend!

@NYJetsfan123 @GKO900 What Remains was brilliant! Few game segments have moved me the same way that fishery section did. And just the overall tale of that cursed and broken family, told through separate and innovative mini games, separated by a linking narrative while you explore a most unique and creatively constructed estate... it’s one of the best stories this generation.

@get2sammyb Correction, there is 'one' side quest in The Witcher 3. The Bloody Baron which was worth the praise, the rest of it along with the main quest as well as the game in general are incredibly over rated.

@BAMozzy Arkham Knight has all but been forgotten about, hasn't it?

@get2sammyb Where's the story in Journey, then?

@AFCC @Deljo To say I disliked Gone Home would be putting too much emotion into it... It was completely blah to me and lasts about 2 hours... Why the hell is it on this list? And Infamous SS, Elex, fallout 4 are not. How about Toren? That is 100 times the experience of Gone Home.

@JoeBlogs So has games like Alien Isolation, Evil Within, Mad Max, Thief, Evolve, Murdered: Soul Suspect, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Far Cry: Primal, Homefront: the Revolution, Sherlock Holmes games, Technomancer, Mafia 3 (although a new article may have reminded people this released), Agents of Mayhem etc...

I could go on but there are a LOT of games that have released that many people seem to have forgotten about - some maybe deservedly so - but with Spider-Man coming up, Arkham Knight has been discussed due to similarities in Combat.

Personally, I enjoyed Arkham Knights Story. I actually enjoyed the Batmobile for everything that wasn't 'specific' to needing the Batmobile. It was great fun driving through the city, launching out and gliding etc but the combat and some Riddles were quite dull. The story though and the world was excellent and was one of the top 10 selling games in the UK. It did come out though in the year of the Witcher 3, Bloodborne, MGSv, Fallout 4....

Played 12 of these, Currently playing through route C in Nier Automata. Brilliant game!

I really prefer story over gameplay. But, said that, I would add to the list the games that blend the two together un the best way. For me that would be BioShock Collection, Prey, all Dishonored games and Sleeping Dogs. I think they are my favorite games of the last decade.

@Salt_AU If you think The Bloody Baron is the only good side quest in TW3, you ain't played TW3.

@jmbenetti Good call on Sleeping Dogs. I love that game and the story is indeed brilliant. It's just a shame they didn't do a bit more with the ps4 port.

@get2sammyb I'd also question whether Journey is single player. One of my favourite memories of the game is the helpful souls who gave me a nudge in the right direction when I was a bit lost.

I'd love a proper Until Dawn sequel

@BAMozzy I enjoyed the Batmobile as well, after 3 games of not using it I was ready, I think it helps that I didn't drive it unless the game needed me to - the only way to travel round Gotham is to glide through the air

@JoeBlogs I think Journey tells a better story than most games, and it does so without the need for dialogue or narration. Without getting too pretentious, you can almost "feel" what the game's trying to tell you.

Yeah, it has a multiplayer aspect, but it's so invisibly handled that I think it still fits as a "single player" game.

@Salt_AU Disagree. Bloody Baron is one of many brilliant side-quests.

@GKO900 Edith Finch uses gameplay in really clever ways to convey its story. I thought the section in the Cannery was beyond genius; it perfectly encapsulated, through gameplay, that feeling of your mind wandering away. Very clever.

You don't have to be shooting things or jumping on things to be playing a game IMO.

@RedMan33 I loved just driving around the city too and then launching out into a glide and even calling in the Batmobile from the Glide was cool. It was a lot of fun just driving around but the combat was quite poor in it - but then the combat as Batman was so good that it may have made the Batmobile combat seem much worse than it was. I tended to break up the Batmobile combat so I wasn't doing more than 1/2 vehicle combat events together. This made it more tolerable for me but I really enjoyed the story and the loved the way the Joker got to Batman and the way the world could change 1 minute and be back to 'normal' the next.

It got a bad rep because of 1 particular aspect - vehicular combat (although on PC there was a lot more to give it a bad rep) but overall it was a fantastic game and I would still highly recommend it. I completed the story to 100% (and that meant doing ALL the Riddler trophies and side quests) - didn't bother with NG+ though...

@BAMozzy I loved it like I did all the Arkham games (I sit Knight in 2nd place behind Asylum which is my favourite game of all time) went back and got the Platinum for it then restarted another run wearing The Dark Knight suit, it really is a great game

I just beat Journey, and boy is it ever overrated.

@get2sammyb I agree that Journey is something you 'feel', but that for me makes it more of an experience - almost quasi-religious if we're getting pretentious - than a story. In my opinion, it doesn't fit your description of games that are 'lengthy, deep, and rich with narrative', but, hey, it's your list lol.

Out of the games that I've played from that list, I'd say Horizon's story was the best for me. I just loved the way it was told.

What a list. When the dust has settled on the PS4 I'll look back at probably one of my favourite gaming generations ever. Still plenty here I haven't got, too.

I like everything listed apart from Witcher 3 and Gone Home.

To me 'single-player' is also synonymous with racing games, strategy games, and sports games.

The Witcher 3 was my favorite game of all time before God Of War. Not even sure it’s still not my favorite game of all time lol. This is why I love PS though. I’m not a big MP guy and PS4 has all the adventures I absolutely love!

@get2sammyb @Th3solution Well to me gameplay it's the most important thing when I'm playing a game and What Remains of Edith Finch in my opinion does offer an interesting narrative but not a great story since you know from the beginning that pretty much all of them died, they just tell how they died and that it might be a curse which I don't think it is and the ending didn't really wrapped things up and I don't know what gameplay are you talking about i didn't even play this game to be honest i just watched the whole thing in YouTube because i never saw any real gameplay and keep watching until the movie ended because it was too short on top of everything, but to each his own.
Btw Sammy I cannot believe you hate Persona 5 and prefer the visual book of What Remains of Edith

@GKO900 Fair enough. Everyone’s entitled to their wrong opinion. 😉 I’m just kidding. I respect your opinion, although, I do believe if you actually played the game rather than watched it, you’d probably find there was some decent variety to the gameplay. Yes, mostly walking sim type stuff, but when you see each of those stories unfold, there is usually interactive input taking place. I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t played it, because it deserves being played without prior knowledge, but it has imo more varied “gameplay” than even something like a straight shooter like COD or a fighter like Tekken. For example, the fishery section of WRoEF played out like nothing I have ever experienced before in many years of gaming. The ending also I found to be quite interesting in the very final scenes.
Anyway, point is, it’s fine if you don’t care for it, to each his own. But I feel the story is definitely top 20.
Interestingly, I quite liked my time with Persona 5 but honestly it started to bore me a little so I never finished it. I got about 40 hours into it before abandoning it. I plan to go back eventually, but gameplay wise it was essentially Persona 4 Golden with a facelift. I haven’t seen the end yet, so I can’t refute it’s placement on this list, but if it has a conclusion anywhere like P4G, it is very deserving of a top 10 nod.

The Witcher 3 deserves to be top here, miles ahead of the competition.

@Splints completely agree was a waste of 2 hours but it's highly regarded for some reason. Good call on infamous getting in there 😎

@DASchenk yeah it is : )

@Th3solution Don't get me wrong I love story driven games but WRoEF needed true gameplay one good example is Life Is Strange that game has the time travel mechanic giving you choices and has little bit of puzzles enough to make it a game in WRoEF you only have limited movements like the frog in the bathtub an the tiny maze as for Persona 5 you know what they say if the gameplay is not broken why fix it and they did actually improve a lot of stuff as for story I won't spoil anything but I recommend you to give it another try to finish it

Thinking about it, Bloodborne should be on this list. It's not a traditional story, but you can't deny it's fantastic.

@themcnoisy What about FFX2 though?

I'd have God of War and Yakuza 0 at 1 and 2. And Horizon: Zero Dawn and NieR: Automata deserve to be somewhere in the top 10 at least.

GOW's storytelling is really too american for my stomach- the gameplay is good, though!

SOTC is poetry!

"No pressure, Cyberpunk 2077"

Sorry but Gravity Rush 2 not being here is an absolute travesty! 😒

@3MonthBeef GR2 should've been on this list! 😔

@Splints hey yo...Fallout 4 is terrible but yeah it has more gaming content than Gone Home but since this is am article about the story...Fallout 4 is bland and a step back for the series honestly!
But I agree I would put some games above Gone Home! But at the same time I get why it is on the list!

Persona 5 is still the best narrative-heavy game I've played on PS4. Absolutely stellar experience.

Good stuff. Thanks.

Edith Finch and Inside are two of the best games ever made IMHO.

And The Witcher 3 is still the Game of this Generation (big shout to God of War).

SOMA is also a great single player story game!

why did TLOU and W3 get swapped around? comments from july 2018 say W3 was first and TLOU 2nd?

I see this has been republished while I was on holiday...

Needless to say Sammy and Stephen should be ashamed and I'll be demanding a rewrite as soon as I'm back.

P.S. Please hire new editors

Not sure I can take this list seriously without Bloodborne and Second Son on it...

@ShogunRok im glad it was. It gave me a chance to dislike Sammy's comment about not wanting to include persona 5 now that you have added a dislike button!

I cannot believe Horizon and Detroit are on this list. Personally, I would have Nier Automata and Dragon Quest XI higher up.

No one’s mentioned GTA5. The single player mode was an absolute blast.

Can't believe there's not a mention to Batman: Arkham Night. Rocksteady deserve a big shout for their work with the whole series.

An enthralling experience.

@ApostateMage Agreed. Beautiful game, with nigh on perfect combat mechanics. Should have been top 5 for me, but hey, all good fun 😊

The vanishing of ethan carter should be on this list imo. Or maybe I missed it in all the pages? Near perfect graphics, a deep non lineair story, a game that "doesn't hold your hand". Storywise much better than some games mentioned.

Updated

Hi again. I'm sticking to my guns in saying that Horizon Zero Dawn would be my number one very closely followed by Red Dead Redemption 2. Both of the stories told in those games were leaps and bounds ahead of the rest, in my opinion.

Ta-ra.

Days Gone should be in there, and pretty high up.

Journey is a massively over-rated title in my personal opinion, but even discounting that, it shouldn't be in the list because it has no story; as the article says, you basically make up your own mind... to say it has a great story is like giving someone a sheet of A4 with the alphabet written on it and telling them it's best novel you've ever read.

The witcher 3 wins everytime

RDR2 number 3? Maybe if you like a story told over many many hours at the pace of a snail. It's such a boring game. I know that many people adore it but for me, way to slow and for a single player story, I did not connect with any of the cast (Played up to chapter 3, got bored, quit)

Good list, but I really can't join you on Uncharted 4. I loved every game in the series, but the fourth just drags on too long, with story cliche after story cliche, repetition after repetition. Sure, the series has amazing acting, but that doesn't mean the story itself is great.

My top 3 in storytelling:
3. The Unfinished Swan
2. What Remains of Edith Finch
1. Inside

@Bartig Edith Finch is an incredible experience

Gone Home?! Really? At the expense of something like GTA V? I can't take that seriously at all.

Can't disagree with last of us at no1, fantastic story

Brothers: a Tale of two Sons
Kingdom Come Deliverance

I'd dump Gone Home, and the abysmal Everybody's Gone To The Rapture.

I'll wait until I finish it, but from what I've played so far Judgment is quickly moving up my list. Easily on par with Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 2, which are, imo, RGG Studio's best games.

@Quintumply @Get2sammyb @ShogunRok Maybe it's me but the way these articles have links to Amazon and such I feel that the reason these articles get posted every few months is because you guys are asking for money. I know that's not the case but with the links it sure seems that way. Perhaps removing the links so it doesn't feel that way.

@Tasuki They’re actually the most viewed articles on the site by a country mile, hence why we try to keep them up to date.

It’s a slow period for news so we’re trying to get all of these refreshed over the summer, but I hear you — can get a bit fatiguing when it’s all you see on the homepage!

@get2sammyb So basically it equates to slow news day 😂😂😂
J/K but I hear ya. The articles are good it's just the links thats all.

Journey’s inclusion is pretentious and it’s over rated.

Some of those titles being in and games like GTA missing out is crazy. Purposefully seem like you tried to force exclusives in over multi-platforms...

That being said Days Gone should be in.

Arkham Knight.
GTA
Mad Max
Sleeping Dogs
Tomb Raider

Great to see Edith Finch & Inside there, 2 awesome games that punch way above their weight.

I'm a big Witcher 3 fan I must say, my personal game of this generation (so far!)

Why's Spiderman so far down the list? Could move into the top 10 for me

Personally I found that read dead 2 outstayed it's welcome. It was really well done, but I can't stand it when a game doesn't value the limited time a gamer has. Also due to the GTA structure every storyline starts with a peculiar character giving our scruffy protagonist a questionable proposition which he initially strongly rejects, but in the end he just goes with it anyways... wtf?
At it's best the game serves as a study on the illusion of free will.

@tameshiyaku
"he initially strongly rejects, but in the end he just goes with it anyways"

Like Kratos you mean, talks about how he's way above side quests but goes on to do them anyway.

@TheArt similar, but you had kratos's son who appealed to his humanity and become more inclusive of others. In that way the writing served the character, while in rd2 it often feels like it just serves as an excuse why to kill loads of people, making the main protagonist just a pawn to gameplay.

Updated.

not a single FINAL FANTASY on the list, some of which are the best selling and most loved single player games of all time but you include Journey that doesn't really have a story per say as it's all about the Journey not the destination hence the name

or how about games like Batman Arkham City, Shadow of Mordor or Knack (OK that last one was a joke)

but looking through the list it just looks like an excuse to bring notice to a load of indy titles

@get2sammyb Keep collecting those American football games.

Great list. So many games - So little time. I must try witcher again, i lost interest after a few hours.

I agree with a lot of the games on this list, bit disagree with their positions (Persona and Dragon Quest too low) but the biggest issue of all is that there is no Fractured But Whole.

Nice to see Death Stranding break the top 5. Cannot wait to get home from work and fire it up!

Quite surprised The Outer Worlds isn't on this list! Playing it at the moment and there's so much story!! So much excellently spoken dialogue - oh and some shooting too....

I'm sorry but The Last of Us wouldn't even make the top 10 in my book, I'm not saying it's bad but it's been surpassed this generation many times over. How Horizon Zero Dawn and Spiderman are so low is borderline criminal as well, the former is easy top 5 material and Spiderman wouldn't be a million miles away either

@carlos82 Well the TLOU being #1 doesn't bother me but they keep disrespecting HZD. But at least now they agree RDR2'S story is better than GOW.

Good list, wrong order but a good list. 😉

Loving that Mutazione is in this list. Lovely narrative game.

I'm just here to say thank you Sony for sticking with single player experiences! 😊 Also, thank you Push Square for making this list. Already have a few of those games and I've put the rest on my wishlist, being a huge fan of good single player games.