Best PS5, PS4 Story Game of 2023 | Push Square

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Our Game of the Year coverage continues with the Best PS5, PS4 Story Game of 2023, of which a top four has been put together by the Push Square editorial team. This category highlights the best adventures you can venture on from a narrative perspective on PS5 and PS4. With an intriguing main plot, wonderful characters, and fun distractions of the core path, they'll keep you engaged with their story no matter how long it takes to roll credits.

The story of Final Fantasy XVI comes in fits and starts, to the point where you can go from slaying one of the world's biggest bosses to picking flowers for a non-descript side character in the space of five minutes. It most certainly has its highs and lows, but boy is it high when it reaches those peaks. That's what sees the story of Clive and company make it on this list; a main character all up in his feelings that wants to rid the world of evil. The cutscenes too are consistently incredible with ludicrous production values, elevating the narrative above its usual standard.

There's the traditional way of telling a video game story with cutscenes and character dialogue, and then there's what Remedy gets up to. The Finnish developer takes those two core elements and goes to town with them, using more fascinating ways to tell an interactive narrative like FMV and musicals within Alan Wake 2. Introducing Saga Anderson as a co-lead character alongside the famous writer, the two plots can be approached independently of one another, allowing you to see what Alan's up to in the Dark Place and then switch to Saga in the «real world». It's a plot that's gripping throughout, and with its inventive ways, goes down as one of the most unique takes on how to tell a story in games.

The Yakuza /