Unforgettable characters, plot twists and endings that linger long afterwards: some games tell stories worthy of the greatest novels. This Top 100 gathers the retro games with the most memorable storylines, based on RomWize's reassessed scores. For each one: its current score, its versions, their rarity and their collector value.
"Sent to retrieve a young woman in a flying city given over to fanaticism, a fallen detective is caught in a vertigo of parallel worlds. The tale takes on racism, redemption and determinism with striking conceptual boldness. Its overturning finale and unforgettable duo made it an object of passionate debate."
"Forced by the government to hunt his former accomplices, a repentant outlaw tries to win back his family at the twilight of the Wild West. A Western of rare melancholy, the tale meditates on redemption, advancing civilisation and the weight of the past. Its devastating ending made it a peak of the narrative game."
"Torn from his childhood to cross seven years in an instant, a young boy becomes the hero of a founding legend. A rite-of-passage journey, friendship and the struggle against darkness unfold with an almost mythic self-evidence. A model of timeless adventure, this tale shaped the imagination of an entire generation."
"Few games turn a player's expectations inside out like this. Every monster you meet has a voice and a reason, and the simple choice to spare or strike rewrites the whole journey. Tender, funny and suddenly devastating, it folds its very mechanics into an unforgettable moral."
"Forced by the government to hunt his former accomplices, a repentant outlaw tries to win back his family at the twilight of the Wild West. A Western of rare melancholy, the tale meditates on redemption, advancing civilisation and the weight of the past. Its devastating ending made it a peak of the narrative game."
"Few games offer such narrative freedom: every origin and conversation opens paths you assumed were sealed. Companions carry their own divine tragedies, and the world answers your improvisation with the wit of a gifted tabletop dungeon master."
"Alternating between the Cold War and the near future, this entry introduces choices that genuinely bend the fate of its characters. Carried by a charismatic antagonist and unexpected dilemmas, the tale gains in depth and consequence. This narrative boldness stands clearly apart from the routine of the warfare blockbuster."
"A deliberate return to medieval-fantasy roots, the adventure of a big-hearted thief hides a bittersweet meditation on mortality and the meaning of existence. Warm characters and baroque pageantry serve an emotion of rare sincerity. Long underrated, this tender tale is now reclaimed as a high point."
"Hunting for a lost child across a war-scarred world becomes a frame for hundreds of human stories, with no clean heroes or villains. Geralt moves through it as a weary mercenary forced into grey choices, where a side quest can weigh as much as the main road."
"The first entry to leave the Second World War behind, this military thriller plunges into a modern conflict where bold strikes and betrayals follow one another. Its nervy staging and a shocking twist that became famous upended the codes of the FPS. More than a shooter, it brought genuine narrative tension to the genre."
"Beneath its warm colors, this odyssey revives the golden age of the J-RPG: a chosen hero, a cursed bloodline and companions you grow to truly love. Humor walks beside tragedy, and the tale dares a finale of a scope few modern games still attempt."
"Emerging from a vault to find his vanished father, a young man discovers the irradiated ruins of old America. Between retrofuturist nostalgia and stark moral choices, the tale turns exploration into a succession of striking human stories. Its freedom and disenchanted tone revived a cult saga."
"Back among the undead of space, an engineer eaten away by dementia faces his hallucinations as much as the monsters. The tale blends science-fiction horror, madness and a fanatical cult with oppressive intensity. Its hero, at last given a voice and a broken psyche, lends the nightmare a genuine depth."
"A gallery of broken heroes, a deranged tyrant and an opera that became legend: the adventure dares a choral tale of rare scope, to the end of the world and beyond. The writing fuses despair and hope with a maturity striking for its time. Often cited among the genre's finest stories, it has not aged."
"Famed for its river-deep writing, the Trails saga opens here with a patient coming-of-age tale: every town, every side figure is sketched with a care that makes the world believable. The slow build toward a resounding finale rewards attention, laying the foundations of a sprawling epic."
"Become a Grey Warden on the eve of a monstrous invasion, a hero must rally a divided kingdom against an ancestral scourge. A dark fantasy of weighty choices, the tale weaves political betrayals, memorable companions and moral dilemmas. This dark, adult fresco revived the ambition of the Western RPG."
"As humanity teeters on the brink of extinction, a handful of soldiers wage the final battle for its survival. The conclusion of a macho trilogy, the tale this time embraces losses, mourning and sacrifices with assured gravity. Its poignant farewells deliver an ending worthy of its weather-beaten heroes."
"Descending into an undersea city built on absolute selfishness means facing a dystopia where every audio log narrates a downfall. Objectivist philosophy turns into tangible horror, and a famous twist forever questions the player's own free will."
"An elite agent thrown into a geopolitical crisis on the brink of war, Sam Fisher foils a digital conflict with global ramifications. An espionage thriller in the Tom Clancy mould, the tale wins you over with its taut realism and its hushed dilemmas. Its cold, credible tension makes it a peak of narrative stealth."
"Three endless days, a looming moon and a doomed world: seldom has an adventure been so anxious and melancholy. Behind each mask one senses a grief, a regret, a life on borrowed time. Strangely adult for its era, this parable of time and loss keeps haunting those who explore it."
