Best video game openings

[fOx]

I've been thinking about narrative video games lately. Specifically, games that have strong, story based openings that really drag you into the world. That intrigue you, and make you want to learn more.

One of my favorites is the opening to Lisa: The Painful RPG

It grips you from the very first moment, and sucks you into it's strange, disturbing world. From there, it never lets up.

What are some examples of strong narrative video game openings you can think of?

 

[Hawki]

Nominating one per franchise:

-BioShock (this is including the bathysphere ride - sets up the bare bones, leaves you intrigue, and all while the player is in control)

-Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (delicious cheese - maybe 3, but 2 did it first)

-Diablo II ("why did I follow him? Why do things happen as they do in dreams? All I can say is that when he beckoned, I followed. Always...into the East")

-Doom 2016 (as in, everything up to the elevator ride I count as being the intro - in the first few minutes, sells character, premise, and tone excellently)

-Fallout 4 (TBH, I've only played a bit of Fallout 3, but having watched all the intros, I think FO4 actually does the best intro)

-Golden Sun: The Lost Age (it's a simple summary of the previous game, but damn, that music...)

-Halo 2 (in the scope of a few minutes, recaps Halo 1, recontextualizes Halo 1, sets up excellent atmosphere, sets up the direction of the plot, and ends with a nice one liner)

-Killzone 2 (damn, Visari needs to give his speech writer a raise)

-The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (I don't think this is the best intro per se, but since I'm judging this on narrative, it does a good job of summarizing OoT, summing up what happened afterwards, leaving you with a big mystery, and good music to boot)

-Mass Effect ("they called it the greatest discovery in human history. The rest of the galaxy calls it...MASS EFFECT")

-Overwatch (yes, I'm serious. In the scope of a few minutes, the intro cinematic sums up the premise, the gameplay, the characters, and the tone, and even if you only want to watch the cinematic by itself, it's a fun watch)

-Resident Evil REmake (manages to sell the premise, and strike a balance between the cheese of the original, and the more serious nature of the remake)

-StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void (while the best SC intro is for Brood War, if we're judging this based on selling plot, then LotV wins. Also helps that the intro cinematic is actually kickass)

-Star Fox 64 (delicious cheese with a side of plot)

-World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (while pretty much any Warcraft game from 2 onwards could count, confining this to 1 per franchise, I'm giving the win to WotLK, per its use of music, visual storytelling, and what little dialogue there is is highly effective)

 

[Catfood220]

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, this was the first Uncharted game I played and it starts with you in a train carriage which is hanging off a cliff and you have been shot. You then have to climb out of and around this wrecked carriage as it starts to fall off the cliff with the sequence ending with you taking a running leap out of the carriage and barely making it onto the cliff as the carriage crashes onto the rocks below. What a introduction to the series.

 

[Silvanus]

I know it's an obvious choice, but Bioshock 1 is one of the greatest. Sets up the game thematically and atmospherically so effectively.

Best for me would probably be Arkham City, though: the whole starting section, with Bruce Wayne incarcerated and led into the compound, passing Black Mask getting beaten by the guards, and finally Penguin stamping on your head... its just brutal. Sets the tone incredibly.

 

[CriticalGaming]

That intro cargo ship level of the first modern warfare was mind blowing back in the day.

The first reactor mission in final fantasy 7.

The assault on Fisk tower in Spiderman.

 

[Worgen]

Hollowknight: grabbed me really quick and made me want to find out everything I could about it.

Golden Treasure: The Great Green: This one also grabbed me really quickly with a very intriguing story and mechanics that I had never seen combined before, its not a VN, but its not a traditional rpg or survival game, its an interesting and I think great combination of all of the above.

Crosscode: You start off on a ship explaining the world a bit and easing you into the gameplay and the mystery of the world. I was hooked before the intro ship was over.

SpiritFarer: Ugh, thinking back to this game is still an emotional gut punch in the best way so I'm not going to go further into describing things.

Alan Wake: Just that start with you on the ferry and going to the mountain town then getting to wander around a bit. It felt so much like you were in a real living place. The whole game is great at that, being linier but feeling like you could wander off the beaten path and end up the next town over.

 

[Bedinsis]

I like the opening to Black and White. You are going to play as a god, and the game starts with the birth of said god. And sets it on a really cosmic scale.

 

[Thaluikhain]

What else do you need?

Ok, even then, and especially nowdays you might want a reason to actually want to rescue the president (Snake Plisken saying "get another President" in Escape From New York never seemed that impressive to me), but even so.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

God of War II set up the standard for the Epic Prologue you want in your action game.

 

[BrawlMan]

Spoiler: Best Game Openings

Other great opening:

• Bayonetta 2​
• Far Cry Instincts​
• God of War 4​
• Resident Evil 2 (Remake too), 3, & 4​
• Vanquish​
• Mad World​
• No More Heroes 1 & 2​

 

[BrawlMan]

Ok, even then, and especially nowdays you might want a reason to actually want to rescue the president (Snake Plisken saying "get another President" in Escape From New York never seemed that impressive to me), but even so.

You ever play Two Crude Dudes? AKA Crude Buster? It's basically Escape from New York: The Game.

 

[Dalisclock]

Metal Gear Solid 3.

Pretty much everything up through the end of the Virtuous mission intro, but that intro cutscene of Snake getting ready to jump into Russia and then the jump itself that is pretty epic.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Still the high watermark for the series -



GoW: Ragnarok, the ball’s in your court.

 

[Hawki]

I'll add Battlefield 1 to the list, and under reconsideration, the intro to RE 3: Nemesis (the original) rather than the ReMake intro. Yeah, arguably the ReMake sells more of the plot, but RE3 sells the premise excellently.

 

[dreng3]

Mass Effect 2. The attack on the Normandy and the reconstruction of Shepard is amazing.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

While it's kind of the routine now, the opening of Super Mario RPG was just fantastic. You go through a short segment of Mario saving Peach from Bowser like usual only for right at the moment you win for the castle to start shaking and then you get a scene of a giant sword rotating down from the heavens, surrounded by stars as dramatic music plays until finally it skewers into Bowser's castle with a loud *CHING* sound and then the title comes on screen.

Utterly fantastic opening. I still get chills seeing it.