You sit down planning to play for an hour, then a conversation takes an unexpected turn and suddenly you need to know what happens next. The mission can wait, the clock gets ignored and, by the time you finally stop, you are already wondering when you can get back to it.
The best story games on Steam find all sorts of ways to pull you in, from the people you grow attached to in Red Dead Redemption 2 to the questions you cannot leave alone in Outer Wilds. These 10 PC games give you a few different places to begin, whether you fancy settling into a long adventure or following a mystery somewhere quieter, with the important surprises left for you to discover.
Red Dead Redemption 2 takes its time getting Arthur Morgan under your skin, introducing him through long rides, jobs that go wrong and the conversations you catch around camp. He belongs to a gang trying to survive in a country that is moving on without it, and as the pressure builds, the people who once seemed like his family start giving him reasons to question what loyalty actually means.
Spending that much time with the gang gives the bigger moments something to build on, because you have been there for the ordinary evenings as well as the dramatic escapes. The opening can feel slow while Rockstar introduces you to that life, but if you enjoy a western that lets its characters breathe, settling into Arthur's world is a large part of what makes his story worth following.
Trying to solve a murder is difficult enough when you remember who you are, which puts Disco Elysium's wreck of a detective at a fairly substantial disadvantage. As you try to piece him back together, his skills keep interrupting with advice and suspicions, until an ordinary conversation can turn into an argument between the person you are talking to and the collection of terrible ideas in your own head.
That gives you plenty of room to make a mess of things, and following an embarrassing mistake can be just as interesting as asking the right question. Before long, the investigation has drawn you into the city's politics and the lives of people you might otherwise have walked past, with the writing doing much of the work of making those encounters matter. The Final Cut gives those conversations full voice acting, though you will still want an evening where spending time with dialogue sounds appealing.
After a few missions in Mass Effect, returning to your ship starts to feel like a chance to catch up with people you are getting attached to. As Commander Shepard, you are bringing a crew together for a mission much bigger than any of them, yet their worries, loyalties and personal troubles keep giving you reasons to stay for another conversation before heading back out into the galaxy.
Legendary Edition lets those relationships develop across the original trilogy, carrying decisions from one game into the next so that something you did much earlier can still be part of the adventure you are having now. It is worth beginning with the first game even when its combat and exploration feel their age, because the introductions there give you time to care about the people who will be beside you later. By then, saving the galaxy has become a rather personal business.
Geralt is looking for Ciri, but getting anywhere in The Witcher 3 usually means becoming involved in someone else's trouble along the way. A village needs a monster dealt with, a family has something to hide or a seemingly straightforward job leads you into a feud, and suddenly the detour you took for a bit of extra money has become the story you spend the evening thinking about.
Following those threads is one of the pleasures of wandering through this world, especially when a conversation leaves you wondering whether you have understood the situation well enough to make a decision. There is plenty to distract you, so give the quests that interest you room to unfold and leave some of the map markers for later. If you find yourself wanting more once Geralt's main adventure is over, the Complete Edition also includes the substantial Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine story expansions.
Your companions in Baldur's Gate 3 have their own ideas about the adventure you are having, which makes bringing them along much more interesting than simply filling a place in the party. As you learn about their beliefs and secrets, a decision that seemed straightforward can become uncomfortable, particularly when helping one person means doing something another will remember.
That sense of possibility carries into the conversations, exploration and tactical battles, where trying an unexpected approach can send things somewhere you had never considered. There is a lot to learn if this kind of RPG is new to you, but taking your time gives both the characters and the game room to make sense. Let a few imperfect decisions stand and you can end up with an adventure that feels like yours, complete with the consequences you are still arguing about afterwards.
Outer Wilds lets you climb into a small spaceship and head towards whatever looks interesting, whether that is an abandoned structure, an odd signal or a planet you have barely explored. At first, the clues you find can seem like pieces of several different mysteries, until something you read makes you remember a detail somewhere else and suddenly you have a very good reason to go back.
As the time loop sends you out again, those connections become your way forward, with what you have learned opening possibilities that were there all along. It can take a little wandering before that starts to click, but give your curiosity time to lead you somewhere before reaching for a walkthrough. Discovering why something matters is so much of the pleasure here that even a small answer can be worth finding for yourself.
Detroit: Become Human has the pull of a television thriller you keep meaning to watch just one more episode of, following three androids whose lives become caught up in questions of freedom and obedience. You investigate scenes and choose what to say, often with enough breathing room to think things through, until a situation begins to unravel and you have to decide what to do before you feel ready.
Those timed decisions and button prompts keep you involved in the drama, while the chapter flowcharts make it tempting to go back and see what a different choice would have done. On a first run, though, carrying an uncomfortable outcome into the next chapter can give you a stronger reason to keep going than immediately trying to correct it. If you want a story you can get caught up in without first learning a complicated combat system, this is a good place to begin.
Pentiment draws you into a small town where work, faith and family ties are woven so closely together that investigating a murder means learning how the whole community lives. As the artist Andreas Maler, you spend time talking to people who have good reasons to be careful about what they tell you, and a conversation over a meal can leave you with as much to consider as something suspicious you found earlier.
Because the story unfolds across 25 years, those encounters have time to become part of a much longer relationship with the town and the people in it. The illustrated pages and distinctive lettering make it a lovely place to spend that time, even when the decisions you are making feel anything but comfortable. It suits an evening when you want to read and get lost in a mystery, particularly one where deciding whom to believe can feel harder than finding the next clue.
SOMA takes you through an isolated underwater facility where understanding what has happened can be almost as unsettling as having no idea what is waiting down the next corridor. As you explore its damaged rooms and encounter the things still moving through them, questions about identity and consciousness become part of the situation you are trying to make sense of, giving you a reason to keep going even when you would quite like to turn around.
That curiosity is worth following if you enjoy disturbing science fiction, and Safe Mode can make the journey more approachable when being hunted would otherwise put you off. It makes the monster encounters less punishing while leaving the creatures and atmosphere in place, so you still get the unease of exploring somewhere deeply wrong without the same pressure to survive every encounter. You will want to be in the mood for horror, but the story gives you something to think about beyond the next fright.
Life is Strange gives Max Caulfield the ability to rewind time, which sounds like an excellent way to deal with an awkward conversation until trying again leaves you wondering whether you have actually made anything better. Her renewed friendship with Chloe makes those decisions feel personal, and spending time in Arcadia Bay gives you reasons to care about the town as the larger mystery starts taking shape around them.
The dialogue can be earnest and occasionally awkward, but it belongs to a story so interested in the uncertainty of growing up that even the quieter moments have something to add. With five episodes giving you natural places to stop, it is easy to make returning to Max and Chloe part of a few evenings rather than committing to an enormous campaign. You can try the original game's first episode free on Steam, then pick up the remaining four if you want to follow the story through.
Which story game should you start with?
What sounds appealing tonight is a useful place to start, especially when the choice is between a thriller that keeps moving and a mystery you would rather take your time with. Detroit: Become Human suits the first kind of evening, while Disco Elysium and Pentiment give you room to linger over conversations; if you are looking for characters who will stay with you for weeks, Mass Effect Legendary Edition and Red Dead Redemption 2 make a longer adventure worth considering.
Before heading back to the store, have a look through your library for the game that makes you curious about what happens next, because it might be one you picked up a while ago and never quite found an evening for. If a few possibilities are still competing for your attention, our guide to choosing your next Steam game can help you settle on something that suits the time and mood you have now.