Because I teach a Story class at CCA, I have collected a deep bench of Interactive Fiction/ Games with strong narrative. I rated them because some of the students had delicate sensibilities. But it’s just my 2cents, not a “official” rating. The students did wonderful concept maps of key game ideas.
Enjoy!
Suggested games
The Room https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-room/id552039496?mt=8
Puzzle game, gorgeous graphics, Wikipedia “Through the game, a story involving the research of an unnamed person into the fifth Classical Element, “Null,” which is described in notes found through the various box puzzles.”
Drawn http://www.bigfishgames.com/games/5164/drawn-the-painted-tower/
Gorgeous art, puzzles in context. Iris is missing, but her living paintings hold the clue to her disappearance.
Botanicula http://botanicula.net/ insects go on an adventure to find a safe home from a blight. insanely cute, great music.
Broken Age http://www.brokenagegame.com/
Broken Age describes the story of two teenagers with no immediate apparent connection between the two, each “seeking to break the tradition with their lives”
Lego Harry Potter https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lego-harry-potter-years-1-4/id404086528?mt=8 It’s Harry Potter, people. If you haven’t seen the films, you might want to do both.
PG-13
Bastion https://www.supergiantgames.com/games/bastion/
A third-person shooter… maybe, with a story of a post-apocalyptic words. truly beautiful (and much copied) great music, and choices that matter.
Device 6 http://simogo.com/work/device-6/ see wikipedia for plothttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_6
80 Days http://www.inklestudios.com/80days/ try to traverse the world in 80 days as the Jules Verne character. You can shape Passpartout’s character via your choices. Steampunk!
PG-R
The Walking Dead http://www.thewalkingdead.com/games/ Zombie apocalypse. Also, your choices will shape your character.
A Dark Room http://adarkroom.doublespeakgames.com/ (also IOS) Read the new yorker articlehttp://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/a-dark-room-the-best-selling-game-that-no-one-can-explain
Blood and Laurels http://versu.com/2014/05/28/blood-laurels/
Rome with an empire change, and you know what that means. Blood, intrigue, sacrifices… Of note: you can choose to be gay, or bi.
Yearwalk http://simogo.com/work/year-walk-ios/ (warning, a bit dark) Mysteries and murders as a young man does a “walkabout”
Gone Home http://www.gonehomegame.com
Creatures Such As We (Lynnea Glasser) http://www.ifcomp.org/1123/content/CreaturesSuchasWeIFComp2014.htm (can be found on Apple App store also)
You’re a dutiful tour guide on the moon – and a fan of computer dating games. This is a computer dating game, which provides landscape for brilliant meta-commentary on popular games and the challenges of delivering emotional narratives in the commercial video game industry. While niche gaming fans are sure to appreciate the in-jokes and the nuanced look at the work of narrative game development, this is also an incredibly engrossing tale of labour, life and loneliness in the future.
No Rating bc it’s a Platform – Who knows what humans will do.
Storium https://storium.com/ Storium is a group story telling platform, so it’s hard to say what your story will be.
Fallen London http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/
Also, Check out this article for more.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/22/interactive-fiction-awards-games