If the scary trips in Road 96 caught your attention, these games with equally exciting stories will definitely do the same.
Some of the best story-based games let players go on a journey of their own choice. This couldn’t be more true of Road 96. The game takes place in Petria, a made-up country that is run by a dictatorship.
You won’t just play one character. You’ll play several. You will fight one person at a time as they try to escape the government by crossing the border or stay to try to change the outcome of the next election. Even though Road 96 is very different from other games, there are a few related games that are also worth checking out.
The Forgotten City
While Road 96 takes you to different parts of Petria with the possibility of escaping, The Forgotten City is all about being stuck in a much smaller underground city. You are also stuck in a time paradox that needs to be fixed before you can go back to your normal life.
The goal of this game, which is based on the same-named Skyrim mod, is to learn about the people who live in this ancient Roman city and find out why the city will eventually fall: because one person chose to sin, which turned everyone into gold. There are different ways to break out of the loop for people who like to try new things.
Firewatch
It’s hard not to think of Firewatch when you think of the best story-driven games of the last 10 years. Even though the story isn’t as complex as it was in Road 96, players can spend many summer days in the forest exploring an open world.
In the story, you play the part of Henry, who runs away from the troubles of real life to the woods to work as a forest ranger. During this time, he builds a connection with Delilah, a fellow firewatcher who is both his boss and someone he can talk to.
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
On Road 96, there are different ways to get to where you want to go, and different things can happen along the way. The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, a version of the original 2013 comedy game that builds on the ideas and parts that made the first game so great, is one of the best games like Road 96 about taking different paths.
Stanley works in an office. One day, he walks in and finds that no one else is there except for himself. Stanley tries to figure out what’s going on by listening to a voice tell him where to go. You can choose not to listen to the narrator, though, and the game can end in a lot of different ways if you take different tracks.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Digixart, the company that made Road 96, has always been interested in making story-based games. Soon after the people there left Ubisoft Montpellier, the studio was set up. But before they left, they worked on a game called Valiant Hearts: The Great War.
In the same way that Road 96 tells its story from different points of view, Valiant Hearts tells its story from the point of view of four people who meet during the First World War. The goal of the game is to explore 2D settings and solve puzzles with the help of a dog.
The Longing
It’s always nice to see new ways to tell stories, and Road 96 is different because you can play as a few different people who all go in different directions. The story of The Longing is also different because it takes place over 400 days in real life.
As a shade, it’s your job to be calm while you wait for your king to wake up. There are many ways to show patience, like just sitting in the cave or going for a walk. You could go against the king’s orders and leave the cave all together. Even if you turn off the game, time will still pass, so use your time wisely. It’s another thing that has many ends.
Overland
When we think of games like Road 96, we’ve talked about a lot that are more story-driven. But what if you had a choice-based road trip game where the gameplay was more important? Basically, that is what Overland is trying to give.
Overland is more of a strategy roguelike game in which you direct a group of people trying to drive across the United States to escape the end of the world. The goal is to stay alive by fighting back against monsters and getting things you need, like food and gas for your car. On the road, you will have to decide what to do next, and that will change how the story ends.
The Walking Dead
The original Telltale will always be remembered fondly for the many games it made that took well-known characters and turned them into unique choice-based stories. The Walking Dead was the studio’s best work. Based on the same-named comic, the game takes place after the zombie apocalypse has begun.
The main character of Season One is Lee Everett, who is part of a new group of characters created just for this game. He is trying to stay alive while taking care of a girl named Clementine while they look for her parents. Season One of The Walking Dead has five episodes, and what happens in these episodes sets the stage for what happens in later seasons.
The Henry Stickman Collection
The Henry Stickman Collection is a group of games that were mostly made on the old website Newgrounds before they were put together into a collection that you can buy. The last game in the collection is brand new.
The game wants you to fail, because every time you do, you get a good laugh. This also lets people who like games like Road 96 try out the different ways the story can end, because they’re all fun in their own way. There are 16 different ends and 164 failures in the Henry Stickman Collection.
Life Is Strange 2
Life Is Strange is another classic narrative adventure series that is loved by many in the industry. It’s about a person who finds out they have supernatural skills and decides how to use them. Some of the ideas in Life Is Strange 2 are like those in Road 96, which is why it might be a good game to try.
Life Is Strange 2 is an action game with episodes, like The Walking Dead. The game is about two brothers, Sean and Daniel, who are trying to get away from the police as they move down the west side of the United States. Along the way, Daniel finds out that he has telekinetic skills that he and Sean have to learn to deal with.
Mass Effect
Video games have almost always had some kind of story, but when Mass Effect came out, the way these stories are told changed. Road 96 focuses on how choices change the story. Mass Effect was one of the first games to do this in a way that felt important.
Mass Effect is about Commander Shepard and his team as they try to stop the Reapers from ending life as they know it. Even though it’s an action RPG where combat is a big part, the bonds that Shepard builds with his team are just as important.
As Dusk Falls
As Dusk Falls is another choose-your-own-adventure game with a different art style. Even though the rest of the world is moving normally, the figures look like they came from a comic book. The whole story is about two families who first met when they tried to rob each other.
Instead of staying in that time, you’ll see over 20 years of their lives and have to make choices at every turn. Drive Mad game is meant to be played over and over again. This means that the story can end in different ways and that you can see scenes you missed the first time around.
Pentiment
Pentiment is a lot of fun for people who like games like Road 96 because of how they deal with politics and history. The game, which was made by Obsidian, is about an artist named Andreas who is doing work for Kiersau Abbey. He gets caught up in a series of events that include murder and a plot.
During the game, you’ll make decisions about your character that will help you figure out what your skills are when talking to other people. You will also meet a lot of different people and see how their stories develop over three acts. If you help a character make a certain choice, it could change what happens to them in the future.
Detroit: Become Human
Both Road 96 and Detroit: Become Human come to mind when talking about games with split stories and playable characters who die for good, but the player still moves forward in the story.
People and androids who work for people make up the world. You play the parts of three androids who have each done a specific job but are about to run away from the people who own them. Most of the game is about exploring and looking at environments for hints and making choices that affect how the story goes.
Until Dawn
Most of the time, Supermassive Games’ scary games put the player in charge of how things go. Until Dawn was Supermassive’s first game in this genre, and even though they’ve made a lot of other games since then, it might still be the best one.
It’s a game like Road 96 because you decide what happens to more than one person. Eight people must make it through the dangers of Blackwood Mountain. Depending on what you choose, a certain figure may live or die. It also has a lot of well-known people in it, like Rami Malek and Hayden Panettiere.
