Recommend some Good Story Driven Single Player FPS games?

You can safely add Far Cry 5 to the recommendations of 3 and 4. It has some issues, but it's still a solid game.

I'll toss in a recommendation for Destiny 2 as well. In spite of some flaws and issues, it's still a game with loads of content. Most of the complaints stem from those who prefer the original. If you aren't familiar with that game, you should give this one a shot. It's been on sale a couple times already and the 2nd DLC is due in the next month or two. I suspect once that hits you'll probably see some bundle sales.
 
There's a command line hack over at Widescreen Gaming Forum for 16:9 NOLF2...give that a try if you haven't already.

Still stuck in my NOLF playthrough. No heath regens and unlimited and unrestricted game saves... how did we ever manage?


So, I tried this hack and still no dice.

The only way I can make the game not crash at startup is if I launch the config util and set an old school 4:3 resolution, then launch the game.

I can change the resolution to my 4k native red once inside the game and play at it, but the next time I launch the game, I have to set a low 4:3 resolution again to get it to start.

Same crash happens if I use the command line tweak you linked.

So, at least I can play the game at 4k native, but some menus and text is cut off, as I don't get the wide screen fix.
 
I have a fondness for the Monolith FPSs.

No One Lives Forever (1999)
Alien vs Predator 2 (2001) - the BEST of the Alien games. (yes, even better than Alien Isolation)
No One LIves Forever 2 (2002)
Tron 2.0 (2003)

Tron is still available via Steam and GOG. NOLF and AvP2 will be hard to find.
There are optimization tweaks/hacks for both NOLF and TRON that'll make them perform better on modern OSs.

NOLF 1 and 2 were probably the best "story-driven" FPS titles ever created in my opinion. Soooo good. Even if it wasn't so funny, it would have still been among the best FPSs ever made. It's a sin this series didn't continue, especially considering the other mediocre FPS games out there that have had 10 sequels.

AvP 2 is reasonably good, but it's a different beast to Isolation altogether. If I had to choose, I'd give the nod to Isolation.
 
Going to add The Forest. It's about to hit 1.0 and its story is completely finished. Its super easy to get caught up in base building and not even finish the story but I finally finished it last night and wow... what a crazy fucking game.

It's a horror survival game that requires you to do a little building, hunting, eating, drinking, sleeping type stuff and a lot of exploration. You're on a huge foresty island with a lot of cave systems underground that are TERRIFYING. Seriously, if you want to be scared shit less check the game out.

I will say that if you go on your own and don't read any game guides it could take you quite a while to finish the story as you need to get several items that are in caves and can be notoriously hard to find since it's so easy to get turned around in them. If you get tired of the base building and just want to finish the story after exploring as much of the cave system as you can by yourself just look up where the end game items are so you can grab them easily.

Here's some pictures of the base I had just built!

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Going to add The Forest. It's about to hit 1.0 and its story is completely finished. Its super easy to get caught up in base building and not even finish the story but I finally finished it last night and wow... what a crazy fucking game.

It's a horror survival game that requires you to do a little building, hunting, eating, drinking, sleeping type stuff and a lot of exploration. You're on a huge foresty island with a lot of cave systems underground that are TERRIFYING. Seriously, if you want to be scared shit less check the game out.

I will say that if you go on your own and don't read any game guides it could take you quite a while to finish the story as you need to get several items that are in caves and can be notoriously hard to find since it's so easy to get turned around in them. If you get tired of the base building and just want to finish the story after exploring as much of the cave system as you can by yourself just look up where the end game items are so you can grab them easily.

Here's some pictures of the base I had just built!
]

Thanks for the recommendation! I will definitely check out this game!
 
Going to add The Forest. It's about to hit 1.0 and its story is completely finished. Its super easy to get caught up in base building and not even finish the story but I finally finished it last night and wow... what a crazy fucking game.

It's a horror survival game that requires you to do a little building, hunting, eating, drinking, sleeping type stuff and a lot of exploration. You're on a huge foresty island with a lot of cave systems underground that are TERRIFYING. Seriously, if you want to be scared shit less check the game out.

I will say that if you go on your own and don't read any game guides it could take you quite a while to finish the story as you need to get several items that are in caves and can be notoriously hard to find since it's so easy to get turned around in them. If you get tired of the base building and just want to finish the story after exploring as much of the cave system as you can by yourself just look up where the end game items are so you can grab them easily.

Here's some pictures of the base I had just built!

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:D
 

Dude... totally! It's crazy.

When I started playing again the other week I didnt even realize they added a chainsaw until I accidentally found it in a cave. I was like.... THANK GOD! And I wasnt even thinking about it as a weapon... just simply for cutting those damn trees down!

Also, just some tips for anyone that picks the game up...

Read your survival guide and learn what you can craft right away, but just know it doesn't show you everything or even close to it.

You can craft bags to carry extra amounts of all the different resources. IE a bag for sticks that allows you to carry 20 instead of 10, a quiver for arrows so you can carry 50 instead of 30, etc. Look up crafting guides for this stuff.

There are several items like the katana, modern axe, and flashlight that I suggest you watch a video on how to find because they make the game much more enjoyable.... if you're a purist though and want to go about the game with no guides you will eventually find the stuff on your own, it just depends what caves you stumble upon first.

To see in the dark you can wrap cloth around your axe or stick and light in on fire creating a torch.

You can pick plants like aloe and other things, which can be combined to create edible mixtures that can boost health and energy

You can collect meat from any animals you kill and cook it on a fire to eat it. Meat will spoil if you hold it in your inventory for too long. If you get sick (look at the status page in your book), you can just eat some aloe leaves that you pick to heal yourself. It helps to find the pot, which can be found at a few old camp sites. You can fill it with water at different fresh water lakes but you need to put it on a fire to boil the water before drinking it.

If you burn cannibal bodies with a fire you can collect their bones. With bones you can create the upgraded spear, bone arrows, and bone armor when you combine bones and cloth. Bone armor is extremely helpful. You can also wear lizard skin as armor which is helpful but less effective then bone armor. You just need to kill the large lizards near the beaches and skin them.

Items respawn every few days so you can go back and get certain stock piles you find in caves after a few saves.

A tree house is probably the safest base to build because the cannibals can't climb your rope.

You can find a map and a compass very easily. You just need to die once. I wont spoil more but don't be afraid to die. Just don't do it again until 2 days have passed.
 
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I played through the Fear games. I think there might actually be 3 of them.

I was also just thinking about how much I want a new Splinter Cell game... I thought Blacklist was great and would love to play another SC game on PC updated for the times with a decent story.
 
Halo, Halo 2, Far Cry 2004, Dead Space
Opinions are subjective, and this being the internet I am going to criticize them.

The story of Halo is better told through the novels. While the game has the framework there really isn't enough there to implicitly piece it together like other games that do this better.
I don't remember anything about the story of the first Far Cry, which says how much of an impact it had.
Dead Space is a third person game, so it doesn't qualify. The whole story across the triliogy is amazing, though, and I recommend playing through it start to finish. Unfortunately you need the DLC expansion in DS3 to get the full ending.
 
Opinions are subjective, and this being the internet I am going to criticize them.

The story of Halo is better told through the novels. While the game has the framework there really isn't enough there to implicitly piece it together like other games that do this better.
I don't remember anything about the story of the first Far Cry, which says how much of an impact it had.
Dead Space is a third person game, so it doesn't qualify. The whole story across the triliogy is amazing, though, and I recommend playing through it start to finish. Unfortunately you need the DLC expansion in DS3 to get the full ending.

Definitely agree here. Also the first Far Cry didn't really have much of a story aside a basic special op lone wolf/missing girl to find type thing, it was pretty arcade but still a great game back then.

Was never really a fan of the Halo series. I played coop with friends on Xbox years and years ago when they were coming out up until the 3rd or 4th game.

For a sci-fi FPS with a heavy story... Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare might actually be worth a shot if anyone hasn't played it. I don't touch CoD multiplayer and haven't for years but the campaign in Advanced Warfare was actually pretty well done and in depth. I enjoyed it and played through it on hardcore or whatever the hardest difficulty was, for a challenge.
 
NOLF 1 and 2 were probably the best "story-driven" FPS titles ever created in my opinion. Soooo good. Even if it wasn't so funny, it would have still been among the best FPSs ever made. It's a sin this series didn't continue, especially considering the other mediocre FPS games out there that have had 10 sequels.

I finished NOLF2 the other night. Very good games. I'm not sure I'd rank them in my top, but still good.

After playing through NOLF and NOLF2, I tried my hand at Contract Jack, and I have to say, i just don't like it.

It's like they threw a skeleton crew at the NOLF2 engine with instructions to milk it without putting in much effort. Most of the interesting parts of NOLF are gone and replaced with a tunnel-shooter run and gun experience. It's a shame.
 
I haven't gone through the thread but I can say Dying Light is worth your time.

It's got a decent enough main story line that moves you through the game and has many side quests along the way.

You can get the game on sale with all DLC's for fairly cheap these days, and Techland is still actively updating the game.

For the $23 w/ all DLC's I paid for it I believe it's a solid title for the money. It's also still modern enough that the graphics are still pretty good.
 
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Singularity is very Bioshock like, but VERY good..

Been also continuing my game of Singularity which is a decent FPS game.

Singularity is definitely an under-appreciated gem

Thanks for the recommendation of singularity. Loving the story thus far. The game had many console port quirks (checkpoints, no saves, actions combined into he same buttons) but the story makes up for them.

Right now I am stuck though (minor spoiler alert), due to a stupid game bug. Been knocked off a platform, hanging on to a railing, and the GUI gives you the hint to use impulse on the guy before he pushes you off. I've retried it like 20 times now, mashing on the impulse button, and it does nothing.

So I am conpletely stuck.

Real shame, because I've been enjoying it thoroughly.
 
Thanks for the recommendation of singularity. Loving the story thus far. The game had many console port quirks (checkpoints, no saves, actions combined into he same buttons) but the story makes up for them.

Right now I am stuck though (minor spoiler alert), due to a stupid game bug. Been knocked off a platform, hanging on to a railing, and the GUI gives you the hint to use impulse on the guy before he pushes you off. I've retried it like 20 times now, mashing on the impulse button, and it does nothing.

So I am conpletely stuck.

Real shame, because I've been enjoying it thoroughly.


Odd.

I changed my assigned key for impulse back to the defaults for the game, and it worked again. So then I returned it to what I have been using and it still works...

Odd bug, but at least I am past it.
 
Interestingly enough, the DOOM game has story if you look for it, but it is by no means heavy on characters. I really enjoyed the backstory of the Argent D'nur knights, the environmental storytelling, and the fact that the Doomguy has more character than many others without saying a single word.
 
I really like Spec Ops The Line, average shooter but very good story. My opinion, one of the most underrated game in 2012.
 
I really like Spec Ops The Line, average shooter but very good story. My opinion, one of the most underrated game in 2012.
I wouldn't call it underrated, if anything it's overrated. There is a point where no matter how good a story is it won't be a decent game, and I think this falls into that category. But I have to admit I only tried it on PS3, maybe on pc it's slightly better.
 
I liked Spec Ops The Line as well. It was pretty solid gameplay wise and great story. Much more thoughtful than your typical COD/BF fare.
 
Thanks for the recommendation of singularity. Loving the story thus far. The game had many console port quirks (checkpoints, no saves, actions combined into he same buttons) but the story makes up for them.

So, I just finished the game. Very good story. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Looked like they were setting it up for a sequel, but that never seems to have materialized.

Thew console port annoyances above were real, and particularly annoying on this one underground level where I got stuck for about 2 hours replaying the same sequence over and over again, and couldn't save closer to the part where I got killed, so I had to repeat unnecessary tasks.

Another down side was that the game was very short. On the "hard" difficulty setting it only took me about 13 hours to play through the entire thing, and this includes spending extra time wherever possible looking for extra goodies, and exploring areas not strictly required to complete the main story line (though there were limits to how far you could stray, as it was very much of a FPS guided down a predetermined path.)

Now, I only paid $7.50 for it, so it wasn't a huge deal, but had I paid full price, I would have been pretty pissed that it was over after only 13 hours.

Maybe I've been spoiled by the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series, Fallout 3 and on, where 40 - 80 hours have been the norm for single player mode, and multiplayer games where I have spent thousands of hours, but 13 hours just seems to be very very short. It's reminiscent of the HL2 episodes that everyone ridiculed for their shortness.
 
Prey 2017
/endthread


Thanks for this recommendation. I was a little apprehensive, because at $39.99 it hadn't dropped in price enough to where I usually buy single player story mode games, but I bit the bullet, and its been very good thus far.
 
Possibly a unpopular opinion here, but I am one of the few left who only buys Call of Duty games and Battlefield games for the campaign. That being said these Call of Duties had great campaigns and I am ranking them from my favorites to least favorites:

  1. Infinite Warfare (Big whoop wanna fight about it? In all seriousness, this campaign was fucking awesome)
  2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
  3. Modern Warfare 2
  4. Modern Warfare 3
  5. Black Ops 3
  6. Black Ops 2
  7. Black Ops
  8. Advanced Warfare
  9. Call of Duty
  10. Call of Duty 2
  11. Call of Duty 3
Battlefield games:

  1. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
  2. Battlefield 3
  3. Battlefield 4
  4. Battlefield 1
  5. Battlefield: Hardline

I have to agree. The single player campaigns are usually a decent amount of fun for at least a single playthrough. Infinite Warfare being just about the best out of CoD. For Battlefield I liked 3, 4, and hardline. BC2 I don't remember well enough to judge. I know I played it but it doesn't stand out in my mind. I haven't played Battlefield 1, Advanced Warfare or BLOPS3.

Some people are starting to throw in 3rd person shooter titles on their recommended list evidently not understanding what FPS is. That said, the recommendations aren't all bad and although I prefer FPS in general, some of the 3rd person games mentioned are well worth a look.
 
I have to agree. The single player campaigns are usually a decent amount of fun for at least a single playthrough. Infinite Warfare being just about the best out of CoD. For Battlefield I liked 3, 4, and hardline. BC2 I don't remember well enough to judge. I know I played it but it doesn't stand out in my mind. I haven't played Battlefield 1, Advanced Warfare or BLOPS3.

Some people are starting to throw in 3rd person shooter titles on their recommended list evidently not understanding what FPS is. That said, the recommendations aren't all bad and although I prefer FPS in general, some of the 3rd person games mentioned are well worth a look.

Definitely play Bad Company 2. The weapon sounds, explosions, and the environmental destruction are soooo satisfying.

Battlefield 1 had a fun campaign. If you can find it for around $20 or less then it's worth it. Black Ops 3's campaign was really fun as well. Advanced Warfare was kinda meh... and it's weird looking at Kevin Spacey now. I've been thinking of replaying BLOPS 3 lately.
 
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Definitely play Bad Company 2. The weapon sounds, explosions, and the environmental destruction are soooo satisfying.

Battlefield 1 had a fun campaign. If you can find it for around $20 or less then it's worth it. Black Ops 3's campaign was really fun as well. Advanced Warfare was kinda meh... and it's weird looking at Kevin Spacey now. I've been thinking of replaying BLOPS 3 lately.

I remember those things about the multiplayer, which I played a lot of back in the day. I also remember how inaccurate gun animation and models were.
 
I finished The Darkness II not too long ago. It's an ineteresting story, and it was free
 
A true gaming tragedy we have never seen a third one.

Is that sarcasm, because we got a third one, but it was switched to a male lead and was a pile of shit. If sarcasm, I get it, i deny it's relevance as well.

For the OP, I'll give my list, quite a few repeats from the thread, but just consider them as a +1 for being good stuff. Sticking to FPS gameplay for the most part with story being fornt and center. Pretty much everything on your list is on my list of favorites except STALKER.

Max Payne 3. (I couldn't get into the original too much, but picked this up on sale and it was awesome. decent plot, decent characters, great action and control IMO).

Mass Effect 1 &2 are good.

Tomb Raider (2013, also got this on sale kept on putting it off, enjoyed it a lot. Story is solid even if it could use to be edited down a bit)

System Shock 2 (no idea if you can play it on modern systems, but an awesome FPS horror RPG).

Dark Messiah of might & magic. (story is decent, very cinematic)

Most of the F.E.A.R series, definitely 1 & 2.

NOLF 1 &2 (1 especially, great game play and funny, sneak, and listen to the conversations when you do).

Republic commando

Tron 2.0

AVP2. (for story, AVP nails the atmosphere, especially in the dark and with headphones, but AVP2 is better story wise. However al;ien control is kind of fubar compared to AVP).

Maybes:

Shogo mobile armor divison (if you cna find it, probably unplayable on modern PCs, I may be remembering the awesomeness of the mecha weapons than the awesomeness of the story, but it did have more plot than most by a lot, in engine cut scenes, and the drunken missiles were frikin awesome).

State of Decay. (3rd person, a bit sand boxy, but I enjoyed it and it is missionrific if not as RPG-ish and narrative laden as the fallout games).

Dead space (AWESOME sound design, headphones and the dark, decent 3rd person game play, and lots of story. You might not like the story, but I did).
 
Is that sarcasm, because we got a third one, but it was switched to a male lead and was a pile of shit. If sarcasm, I get it, i deny it's relevance as well.

Yeah, after playing through the first two NOLF games, I tried Contract Jack. I gave up on it. It was garbage.
 
Is that sarcasm, because we got a third one, but it was switched to a male lead and was a pile of shit. If sarcasm, I get it, i deny it's relevance as well.

For the OP, I'll give my list, quite a few repeats from the thread, but just consider them as a +1 for being good stuff. Sticking to FPS gameplay for the most part with story being fornt and center. Pretty much everything on your list is on my list of favorites except STALKER.

Max Payne 3. (I couldn't get into the original too much, but picked this up on sale and it was awesome. decent plot, decent characters, great action and control IMO).

Mass Effect 1 &2 are good.

Tomb Raider (2013, also got this on sale kept on putting it off, enjoyed it a lot. Story is solid even if it could use to be edited down a bit)

System Shock 2 (no idea if you can play it on modern systems, but an awesome FPS horror RPG).

Dark Messiah of might & magic. (story is decent, very cinematic)

Most of the F.E.A.R series, definitely 1 & 2.

NOLF 1 &2 (1 especially, great game play and funny, sneak, and listen to the conversations when you do).

Republic commando

Tron 2.0

AVP2. (for story, AVP nails the atmosphere, especially in the dark and with headphones, but AVP2 is better story wise. However al;ien control is kind of fubar compared to AVP).

Maybes:

Shogo mobile armor divison (if you cna find it, probably unplayable on modern PCs, I may be remembering the awesomeness of the mecha weapons than the awesomeness of the story, but it did have more plot than most by a lot, in engine cut scenes, and the drunken missiles were frikin awesome).

State of Decay. (3rd person, a bit sand boxy, but I enjoyed it and it is missionrific if not as RPG-ish and narrative laden as the fallout games).

Dead space (AWESOME sound design, headphones and the dark, decent 3rd person game play, and lots of story. You might not like the story, but I did).
Is that sarcasm? Because I don't see many FPS in your list.
 
Here you go.....

http://nolfrevival.tk/

All patched up to run on current OS's.

I was going to link to this too.

*thumbs up*

I still have my physical copy of NOLF 2, but I can't seem to find my NOLF 1. So, this helped me a few months ago when I discovered the intent of this "revivial," which, is hilarious. Basically, the whole point is to force a finding of the copyright.

I haven't sat down to fiddle with these versions too much. I did run NOLF 2 before and it had a sizing issue with the UI.
 
Been playing Shadow of Mordor lately myself, along with the 1rst Mass Effect. One i have also been playing, (It isn't a FPS though) is Ghostmaster. Old game but still fun. Been getting nostalgic for older games...
 
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