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What are the best short, story driven indie games on Xbox One?

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5 Games Considered

5 Options ConsideredPriceGenreRelease Date
The Wolf Among Us
––
Life is Strange
AdventureJan 29 2015
Bastion
Action RPG–
Night in the Woods
Adventure, Narrative–
What Remains Of Edith Finch
––
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The Wolf Among Us

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Kristaps
Top Pro

A really enjoyable interactive story

•••
The Wolf Among Us is a murder mystery story that has great characters, action-packed moments, and really interesting twists. What's even better is that you can affect how the story plays out with dialogue options, investigation choices, and even actions during a fights or chase sequences. Your...
Kristaps
Top Pro

Unusual setting

•••
The story takes place in a fictional part of Manhattan called Fabletown, which is inhabited by humans and creatures from fairy tales and folklore. It's really interesting seeing how everyone makes ends meet in an unfamiliar world. From working as a janitor or a receptionist to running a shady n...
Kristaps
Top Pro

Great in-game encyclopedia to fill you in

•••
While most players will recognize fairy tale characters like Snow White or the Big Bad Wolf, there are many obscure characters such as Ichabod Crane or Bluebeard. Luckily enough, the game has an in-game encyclopedia that will update as you encounter new characters. Their encyclopedia entry will con...
Kristaps
Top Con

Quite violent and depressing

•••
Your job as the sheriff is to keep the others in line, so more than once you'll have to dirty your hands. There will be bruises, blood, broken bones, and even severed limbs. Each time you enforce order, an ugly reality will rear its head – you're just making everyone's miserable lives w...
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Life is Strange

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Kristaps
Top Pro

Great story

•••
Life is Strange expertly portrays a teenagers life during high school, capturing all the good and bad emotions, while also adding a supernatural twist. The main character and her issues are relatable, side characters are interesting, and the plot twists are very unexpected. The story as a whole is...
Kristaps
Top Pro

Choice based gameplay with a twist

•••
Your character can rewind time, so you can undo any recent choice or action, allowing you to try out different ones. This feels really awesome since in most games you'd have to reload your save or replay through entire sections just to view the other choices.
Kristaps
Top Pro

A well-polished experience

•••
Excellent voice acting, great story, smooth lighting, detailed object/level design, extensive number of people and objects to interact with, and even amazing music. Everything about the game makes it very enjoyable to play.
Kristaps
Top Con

Choices feel a little lacking

•••
While there are many choices in Life is Strange, most of them have no long term impact on the story. The only noticeable changes are the dialogue lines and what scenes you get. While this adds some nuances to your journey, the destination is ultimately the same.
Kristaps
Top Con

Some audio sync issues

•••
In addition to poorly done lip syncing, character voice lines sometimes overlap as well. You might not understand what's being said unless you turn on the subtitles. It can be really annoying at times, even with subtitles.
Specs
Genre:Adventure
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Bastion

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Kristaps
Top Pro

A unique way of storytelling

•••
While the central plot is pretty simple, Bastion has a narrator that comments on everything that you do. This includes things like falling of a ledge, obtaining a weapon, or even destroying a massive monster. Because of this, it feels as if you're playing through a story book, where your journ...
Kristaps
Top Pro

Fun varied gameplay

•••
Bastion is a game about exploring floating islands while destroying monsters along the way. The combat is simple, fast, and it's a lot of fun to destroy monsters with a variety of weapons. This includes a machete, pistols, a pike, a carabine, and even grenades. You can also equip two weapons at...
Kristaps
Top Pro

Beautiful art style

•••
Bastion uses a hand-painted art style for its characters, monsters, environments, and even backgrounds. There's so much color, detail, and variation in everything, it feels like you're skimming through a picture book. It's always exciting to see what this game will show you next.
Kristaps
Top Pro

Incredible soundtrack

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Bastion's soundtrack expertly sets the atmosphere with its soundtrack. From somber blues songs during touching story moments to exciting trip-pop mixes during combat. It's just so nice to listen to, making the experience of playing Bastion better as a whole.
Kristaps
Top Con

Combat can feel repetitive

•••
Like most hack and slash titles, Bastion's combat is very simple, having you mash buttons in every monster encounter. This probably won't bother you as much during short play sessions, but the longer you play in one sitting, the more tiresome it becomes, especially if you already have all t...
Specs
Genre:Action RPG
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Night in the Woods

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Yoshiyuki
Top Pro

The simplistic gameplay is surprisingly fun

•••
Running around the side-scrolling town as Mae day in and day out is more enjoyable than it sounds at first. It's mundane, but there's a lot of meaning to find around the town if you're willing to look for it. You go wherever you want, finding out stories about the townspeople and the t...
Yoshiyuki
Top Pro

Great coming-of-age story

•••
The coming-of-age story in Night in the Woods is unconventional for a video game, making it more unique and intriguing. After dropping out of college, the main character, Mae, struggles with her own disillusionment in life and refusal to grow up, all the while her old friends find success and move...
Yoshiyuki
Top Pro

Tragic, realistic setting and NPCs

•••
Night in the Woods is set in Possum Springs, once a booming mine town but now a forgotten speck on the map, rife with poverty and decay. Its history is based on several real Adirondack towns, and its portrayal of rural decline is painfully accurate. The townspeople you talk to lament about having...
Yoshiyuki
Top Pro

Well-written side characters

•••
Every character feels like they have a history and realistic personal motivations, even when they're left unexplained. Mae's friends are all different yet interesting in their own ways, like Gregg who's always happy to see her and helps Mae feel like someone truly cares, and Bea with...
Yoshiyuki
Top Con

Some pacing issues with the story

•••
The story slogs through the premise of Mae's anxieties and disillusionment for a long time until it suddenly switches somewhere in the middle. There are a few hints here and there about how and why the plot becomes a murder mystery, but these things seem inconsequential and not as important as...
Yoshiyuki
Top Con

The main character is insufferable at first

•••
It's hard to like Mae from the start for a few reasons. She's extremely self-centered, she likes to steal for the thrills, and she has no interest whatsoever in fixing her shortcomings. Her life seems to be one awkward moment after another where you can't help but cringe in embarrassmen...
Specs
Steam Rating:Very Positive
Genre:Adventure, Narrative
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What Remains Of Edith Finch

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Kristaps
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Mysterious story

•••
This award-winning story takes us step-by-step through the tragic and mysterious history of the Finch family. We learn of all the family members, the stories of their lives, and how they met an unfortunate and untimely end. By it's thrilling conclusion, the player has been led on a strange jour...
Kristaps
Top Pro

Amazing attention to detail

•••
Every room in the Finch house is unique in decor and style, and plays its part in telling the story. No two rooms in the game are alike and each is filled with it's own charm and personality. While exploring the hallways and rooms of the sprawling home, the player will find various notes, photo...
Kristaps
Top Pro

Expert pacing

•••
The game sets an excellent pace by never giving players a chance to become bored. While detailed and varied, each room only has a handful of objects that can be interacted with. This limited interaction ensures the player will never linger in a single room too long and acts as a gentle nudge to ke...
Kristaps
Top Pro

Instills a sense of wonder

•••
From the opening scene to its final moments, What Remains of Edith Finch, seeks to instill a sense of wonder through it's detailed game world. The house itself is a mix of various unconventional architectural styles and flavors. From it's towering bedroom spires to it's dark, claustroph...
Kristaps
Top Pro

Every story features a new gameplay mechanic

•••
As Edith travels throughout the house and surrounding areas, she will encounter objects that tell the history of the various family members and how they met their demise. Upon inspecting the objects, an interactive story will be triggered and the player will take on the role of the family member po...
Kristaps
Top Con

No interactive puzzles

•••
There are no puzzles to solve in this game, which can be a dull experience for some. The narrative is told as the player goes room by room without any puzzles or roadblocks for the player to overcome.
Kristaps
Top Con

Short playtime

•••
The game doesn't take very long to complete and can be comfortably completed within a few hours. This may be a turn off for some players who are hoping for a longer experience.
Specs
Steam Rating:Very Positive
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6 Community Recommendations

Kristaps
Monika
Yoshiyuki
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