i mostly play multiplayer pvp type games so it's a fun exercise to think back on my favorite story-driven titles thru the years!

1. '88-'98: Super Mario RPG. i had to go with this, it feels like kind of an accident of history that it's so good. square and nintendo were both in top form and their collaboration on this one really shows it. memorable characters, fun and (at the time) innovative combat, state-of-the-art graphics, and some of the best BGM of any SNES title.

2. '99-'08: Jet Set Radio. still my favorite video game soundtrack of all time, a great novel concept and fantastic execution. maybe some minor gripes about camera behavior but that was really common in third person games of the era.

3. '09-'13: FTL was my favorite single player game of this era and i still come back to it regularly. it hits that nice balance betweeen difficulty and replayability that i think a lot of roguelikes struggle to get right. it feels like the great star trek game we always deserved but never got.

4. '14-'16: Papers Please was really good and i feel like it has only gotten more relevant lately. i normally can't go in for games with multiple endings because i don't have the patience to replay the entire game nor the organization to keep all my save points straight so i know when to branch. i loved the way they handled branching story paths in that game and was actually excited to find different endings.

5. 2017: it's probably premature to say that Night In The Woods is my favorite story game of all time but i have replayed it like 5-6 times since it came out and it's still in my head on a regular basis with no signs of stopping. i love everything about it.

6. Into The Breach is a worthy successor to FTL and just as addictive. i kind of wish there was more storytelling and lore in the game but it's really well-designed strategy and very replayable