I know game recommendation posts here are pretty cliche but I have some specific tastes and haven’t been able to find any games recently that fit my criteria. I really love story based/ cinematic games but have been extremely uninterested in a lot of the most highly recommended ones. Specifically Mass Effect and Witcher 3. I don’t think they’re bad, just far too “video gamey” for my taste. Commander Shepard is definitely intentionally bland as a character so you can roleplay as him/her, but it really flattens the rest of the game for me. I far prefer something like Last of Us 1 & 2 which both have extremely interesting and compelling protagonists. I just find it hard to get into games that are more skewed toward gamery wish fulfillment than an actual story. Same with turn based games. Good dialogue and acting are something also pretty rare in games so I’d love some recommendations where those things shine. So although it may be a counterintuitive request, can anyone recommend me some non “video gamey” games?

Some story games that I’ve loved:

- Last of us part 1 & 2

- Night in the woods

- Abzu

- Red Dead Redemption 2

- Journey

- Papers Please

- Return of the Obra Dinn

- Spider-Man Remastered