Summary
- Good stories in video games can shine through with top-down views and atmospheric storytelling.
- Shooter games like RUINER demonstrate how narrative can enhance gameplay beyond reflexes.
- Top-down shooters like Synthetik: Legion Rising can deliver cold, brutal narratives through ambiance and lore snippets.
Great video game stories are often associated with close-up over-the-shoulder camera angles or gritty first-person views, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. Sometimes all it takes is a top-down view and a blood-streaked hallway.
Top-down shooters have long been known for testing reflexes and willpower with hordes of enemies, but nowadays, the genre hides more than just twitch-action. These games prove that good stories can stand on their own no matter what camera angle they’re told from; whether it’s through atmosphere, subtext, or full-blown narrative arcs.
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RUINER
Brotherhood, Brain Hacking, and Bloody Streets
Ruiner
- Released
- September 26, 2017
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Reikon Games
Taking place in the brutal cyberpunk city of Rengkok in the year 2091, RUINER mixes fast-paced twin-stick combat with a dystopian, bleak atmosphere. Players take control of a helmeted, voiceless protagonist on a mission to rescue their brother, who was kidnapped by a corporate regime.
The story is told through visuals, cryptic NPC dialogue, and a mysterious hacker who manipulates the player’s neural link. Themes of control, self-identity and rebellion against corporations make the game feel like an adrenaline-fueled lovechild of Akira and Blade Runner. RUINER’s linear, tightly-paced narrative perfectly complements the game’s relentless high-speed combat.
Hotline Miami
Who Are You, Again?
Hotline Miami
- Released
- October 23, 2012
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Strong Language, Crude Humor
- Developer(s)
- Dennaton Games
- Genre(s)
- Shooter
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, Android, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
Hitting players like a truck right from the start, Hotline Miami doesn’t bother with any sort of build-up. It drops players into a surreal, ultra-violent 1989 Miami as a nameless hitman receiving mysterious phone calls to massacre. The gameplay is brutally fast, emphasizing one-shots, trial-and-error, and mask powerups.
The game’s narrative is unassuming at first, quietly festering in the background until it boils over to the point of fourth-wall-shattering twists. The fragmented narrative structure blurs reality, making the player question their morality, purpose, and their very identity. The story of Hotline Miami is one that sinks in only after the blood dries, leaving a lasting sense of unease.
Alienation
Xenos, XPlosions, and Extinction-Level Stakes
Alienation
- Released
- April 26, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Game Experience May Change During Online Play, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Housemarque
- Genre(s)
- Shooter, Action RPG
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 4
This little-known co-op focused twin-stick shooter from the PS4 era has players playing as a member of UNX, an elite task force battling an alien invasion that has wreaked havoc on Earth. The story follows humanity’s final stand against the so-called Xenos, and the secrets hidden behind their sudden appearance.
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Although it’s light on dialogue, the campaign unravels through mission briefings, logs, and events throughout the world that hint at hidden conspiracies. Alienation lets its worldbuilding do most of the talking, driving the narrative by way of level progression, enemy variety, and environmental storytelling.
Nex Machina
The Robot Rebellion You Didn’t See Coming
Nex Machina
- Released
- June 20, 2017
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- Housemarque
- Genre(s)
- Shooter
Developed in collaboration with one of the creators of Resogun, Nex Machina is a pure arcade-style shooter with deep mechanics and explosive pacing. The story isn’t text-heavy; instead, it’s built almost entirely off of visual narrative, depicting a world where humans are being overrun by AI machines.
The game’s techno-dystopia is communicated through its neon-drenched aesthetic and thematic boss fights. There’s also everyone’s favorite mechanic of chasing and rescuing positively unintelligent human NPCs. Though it’s more subtle than other entries on the list, Nex Machina’s narrative themes sneak in between the bullets.
Dead Nation
When The Apocalypse Is The Least Of Your Problems
Dead Nation
- Released
- November 30, 2010
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Housemarque
- Genre(s)
- Shooter
Dead Nation looks like any other gritty zombie shooter on the surface, but dig a little deeper, and players will find a surprising amount of world-building hidden in its campaign. Players take control of one of two immune survivors in a zombie apocalypse, navigating city ruins, sewers and outposts.
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The story builds by way of radio transmissions, NPC monologues, and environmental clues, leading to huge revelations about government secrets and military betrayal. What starts off as a straightforward zombie romp becomes a survival tale that leaves players questioning who’s really in control with its oppressive atmosphere and slow-burn revelations.
Transcendence
Roguelike Enlightenment Across The Stars
- Platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows
- Developer: Kronosaur Productions
- Initial release date: November 28, 2003
An underrated top-down space shooter with roguelike elements, Transcendence is a sci-fi lover’s paradise. Players pilot a customizable ship across procedurally generated star systems in a universe on the brink of war and religious conflict. Despite its minimalist visuals, it’s packed to the brim with world-building.
The story emerges through interactions with different factions, artificial intelligences, and mysterious alien relics, revealing philosophical themes about humanity, divinity, and evolution. Spanning lightyears to uncover competing ideologies and ancient technologies, Transcendence is a great example of how to do storytelling through exploration, not exposition.
The Ascent
Climb The Tower, Dismantle The System
The Ascent
- Released
- July 29, 2021
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Neon Giant
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
Taking place in a corporate-run arcology after a mega-corp mysteriously collapses, The Ascent has players taking control of an indentured worker who’s forced to fight through gang wars, rogue AI, and power-hungry factions as the city’s very infrastructure collapses around them.
The gritty sci-fi world is all the more fleshed out with fully voiced dialogue, side quests and branching NPC interactions. Pair that with the verticality, neon-flushed design, and themes of economic impression, and it perfectly mirrors Judge Dredd and Neuromancer in video game form. With a campaign that explores personal and systemic collapse, The Ascent balances action with smart, subversive storytelling.
Synthetik: Legion Rising
Machines Remember What We Forget
Synthetik: Legion Rising
- Released
- March 15, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- t
- Genre(s)
- Shooter, Indie Games
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC
Being an elite android tasked with taking down the Machine-God before it erases what little is left of humankind sounds like a tall order. Fortunately, players can bring a friend along. Synthetik: Legion Rising is a futuristic top-down shooter where an AI army called the Machine Legion has turned against humanity.
It’s a hardcore top-down shooter first, even having the option of two-player co-op. The game’s narrative stands out for its cold, brutal tone that mirrors the gameplay perfectly. Though it’s not straightforward with its storytelling, the lore snippets, enemy designs and ambiance do most of the heavy lifting in giving players the feeling of fighting in a world long abandoned by humanity.
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