Video games are an incredible medium for expressing art, the human condition, and all the chaotic elements of life, including growing up. In fact, I think certain stories, like coming-of-age stories, are oftenbest told through video gamesrather than other mediums like movies or TV shows.
Coming-of-age stories in video gameshit differently. They’re immersive. Intimate.Sometimes messy.
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How are you supposed to play the rest of the game when you’re so busy drying your tears?
There are about a dozen games and characters that I personally felt so connected to because we were going through something similar together. For example, while Max Caulfield was experiencing the awkwardness of attending a new school later in life, I was just entering college and felt like I was just as mucha fish out of water as she was.
It’s those experiences that sit with a gamer for years.
Whether it’s a young warrior learning what it means to lead or a scared teen figuring out who they are, these ten games stick the landing for having the best coming-of-age stories.They might just break your heart along the way, too.
There are honestly so many amazing coming-of-age stories, so to define this list, we won’t be considering games with a Metacritic score below 80. We’ll also define coming-of-age as “the transition from an innocent age to one of self-discovery, typically childhood to adulthood.”
10Firewatch
Young Adulthood Into Mature Adulthood
Firewatchdoesn’t follow the usual coming-of-age blueprint—there are no teenagers on the brink, no grand revelations about who someone wants to be. Instead, it drops you intothe quiet ache of middle age, where growing up means learning how to sit with regret.
There’s a whole lot of regret in the character that you play, too. Henry,fresh off sending his wife to her parentsafter she develops early-onset dementia, decides that the best thing he needs is to get away from the world.
So, he signs up as a Firewatch Ranger in the middle of a huge forest.
Now, Henry’s story isn’t your typical coming-of-age story, which is why Firewatch is in last place. However, childhood to adulthood isn’t the only significant transition in life, and I daresay thateven adults have plenty of innocence to shedas they grow older.
In Henry’s case, it was the idea that, as a young adult, he was going to spend the rest of his life with his wife. Reality, coupled with middle age,quickly stole that innocence from him.
As you hike through the gorgeous forests and connect with another Ranger (played by the incredible Cissy Jones), you realize Firewatch is abouta different kind of coming-of-age story—one where the stakes are internal, and the hardest part is admitting what you’ve lost.
9To The Moon
A Story Told And Changed Through Memories
To the Moon
Speaking of regret, it tends to be a common theme in certain coming-of-age stories.To The Moonis another video game that deals with regret and hasa powerful narrative.
It’s also wholly unique. There isn’t any combat in the game, except for a hilarious joke fight at the beginningwhere you take on a squirrel.
Instead, players have to piece together Johnny’s memories and, in so doing,determine how Johnny will remember his life. For example, Johnny always wanted to go to the moon, and it’s up to the player to decide if he’s going to pass away peacefully, believing he achieved that goal or not.
In the process, players will learn a lot about Johnny’s past, both the beautiful and the ugly. It follows his childhood and early yearnings into adulthood.
The gimmick is that players can decide what Johnny’s coming-of-age story exactly is, or rather, how he’ll remember it. No matter what you decide, you’ll likely come away with the same feeling that I did.
Johnny’s story is, ultimately,a human one.
Groundhog’s Day But With Complicated Teens
After playingOxenfreeyears ago, I’m still unsure just how deep it means to be when trying to tell a coming-of-age story. Players take on the role of Alex, who is visiting a creepy island with some friends,as one does in teenhood.
While on the island, they accidentally release some mystical force, which starts to create some problems. Time loop problems, in particular.
While the group of friends struggle to put an end to the time loop, they also have to deal with their fracturing friendships. Alex has a step-brother in tow, for example, and throughout the game,players can determine the fate of their relationship. The same goes for determining whether a couple manages to have a successful relationship.
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Now, one of the cool things about Oxenfree, and the thing that makes me wonder ifthis really is as deep as I believe, is the walk-and-talk mechanic. Instead of cutscenes or pausing the action or exploration, the game has you responding to dialogue bubbles as you’re walking.
There are typically three options that players can choose, with the story changing based on which option players select. The walk-and-talk mechanic acts the way real conversations unfold—messy, interruptive, unsatisfying, which grounds the ghost storyin something deeply personal.
Whether the walk-and-talk mechanic is meantto feel so raw and realor not, it really cements the feeling that you’re actually participating in a coming-of-age story in a really intimate way.
7Persona 5
High School By Day, Saving Hearts For Homework
Persona 5wears the mask of a stylish JRPG, but underneath all the velvet rooms and explosive all-out attacks is a story about disillusionment—and what it takes to grow beyond it. As Joker, you navigate Shujin Academy’s corridors by day and descendinto the warped psyches of corrupt adults by night(or whenever you have time, really).
Each Palace you infiltrate isn’t just a dungeon; it’s a confrontation with the systems that fail young people and the internal resolve it takes to fight back. Katsura Hashino, the creator, was greatly influenced by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, and how the government failed to react fast enough.
He sawhow people came togetherinstead and wanted the game’s central theme to be about freedom and how the characters in the game attain it. You can see how he implemented that theme by telling a coming-of-age story with its social sim mechanics.
Your bonds, your time management, your choices all echo the real coming-of-age chaos: who do you trust, what do you stand for, andhow do you spend the limited days you’re given?
6What Remains Of Edith Finch
Reliving Old Memories In A Weird House Is A Classic
What Remains of Edith Finch
What Remains of Edith Finchcontinues to be one of the best coming-of-age video games I’ve ever played. On the surface, though,it seems like a pretty simplistic game.
You arrive at the Finch family home, where generations of Finches lived and died,often under unusual circumstances. Edith, the narrator, takes you from room to room, explaining the room’s occupant and how they mysteriously disappeared or died.
The game uses manydifferent methods to tell each family member’s story, with my favorite being the comic-book vignette turned Halloween horror story. In that particular story, players learn about Barbara Finch, a child star growing up, but she eventually faded from fame after she could no longer do her iconic scream.
Eventually, players discover that she was murdered, although the exact culprit for her murder is a bit ambiguous. The story the Finches tell is that a group of hoodlums came and killed her,then cannibalized her, but the reality is more likely that her boyfriend, Rick, did the deed after they fought.
It’s like the old family stories passed on for generations, that no one really knows how much is true and how much is embellished. In What Remains of Edith Finch, players experience what it’s like to come back home to a family filled with tragedy, and then decideif they’re going to be defined by that or make their own way.
5Undertale
A Coming-Of-Age Story About Morality And Empathy
Monsters are often a quintessential part of a coming-of-age story, especially in fantasy genres. InUndertale,the script is flipped.
Instead of fighting monsters to achieve adulthood, Undertale suggests growing upwith empathy in your heart instead. The game’s story, which follows the player as they navigate through a region called the Underground, has the player constantly coming up against monsters.
Some of these monsters are pretty aggressive, too, requiring you to survive a literal bullet-hell-style combat against them. Yet, there’s always a choice to run or attempt to befriend the monster.
Whatever the player ends up choosing, the plot changes. There are several endings, with the good endingstypically tied to players who chose non-violent actions.
Too often, a lot of stories concerning children and growing up are about violently defeating some great, perceived evil, and becoming stronger and seen as an adult as a result. Undertale argues that a child can become just as strong, if not stronger,by leading with their heart instead.
Perhaps we need more coming-of-age stories that follow the same theme.
Overcoming Anxiety And Depression And A Whole Big Mountain Too
Celestecovers topics that a lot of teens and young adults suffer from daily–anxiety and depression. Yet, the game approaches those topics in a fun and healthy way.
In Celeste, players take on the role of Madeline, who decides to climb a mountain called Celeste to conquer her own anxiety and depression. Along the way, however, her self-doubt manifests into a being that Celeste-lovers have come to callBadeline.
Throughout the game, Badeline tries to get Madeline to stop climbing. She relies on pragmatism, fear, and doubt to make Madeline think that she can’t reach the top of the mountain.
This game is honestly so relatable for anyone who has felt like conquering their anxiety feels like taking on a mountain. What I love most about its story, though, is that Madeline learns to connect and reconcile with her bad mental healthinstead of just trying to ignore it.
It’s a healthy depiction of mental health wrapped up in a story about challenging yourself and discovering your strengths.
3Night In The Woods
To Move Forward Sometimes You Need To Move Back
Night In The Woods
A classic coming-of-age story is when someone returns home after being away for a while. InNight in the Woods, you play as Mae, who returns home after taking a break from college.
Pretty quickly, you discover that Mae hassome serious mental health problems. Not only does she suffer from anxiety and depression, but she also experiences periods of dissociation, sometimes to the physical harm of others.
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Mae quickly discovers that her old hometown has changed quite a bit. Her friends have gotten older, her reputation with the town isn’t the best, andone of her friends even went missing.
While there’s a mystery for players to unravel, the real coming-of-age story here is in Mae’s realization thatshe may need people more than she’d like to admit, or even realize. There are also big and scary problems out there, but sometimes, it’s okay to just kick back and have a little brand practice with your old friends.
Coming home can be tough, especially after going off somewhere like college, where you’re supposed to learn about yourself and grow. But sometimes, going home is exactly what you need.
2Life Is Strange
What’s A Coming-Of-Age Story Without Some Trauma
Life is Strange
When I first playedLife Is Strange, I was initially pulled in by the idea of being able to turn back time. By the end of the first episode (I was among those who had to suffer waiting for each episode to release back in the day),I was hooked on Max’s storyand the mystery that was quickly developing at Blackwell Academy.
Life Is Strange is a classic coming-of-age story that follows Max as she returns to her childhood home to attend Blackwell Academy, a prestigious school for gifted students.
Besides dealing with the usual high school experiences like bullying, trying to get the attention of an idolized teacher, and dealing with first-time crushes, Max also discovers thatshe has the ability to rewind time.
Naturally, it comes in handy in the classroom, but after her best friend Chloe Price dies, Max also uses it to save her life.Everything that follows is a whole big mess.
I don’t want to spoil the whole story because it really is an experience you need to have for yourself, but Max eventually has to make one of the hardest decisions that should really only be reserved for adults. In that pivotal andheart-breaking moment, Max loses all her innocence and has no choice but to grow up and face the world as an adult.
Watch Clementine Grow From Kid To Leader
The Walking Dead
A coming-of-age story inThe Walking Deaduniverse isn’t going to be a happy one, but it also makes for some powerful storytelling. The reasonTelltale’s The Walking Deadseries hits the number one spot for the best coming-of-age video game is thatit allows players to see Clementine’s growth.
Players are first introduced to Clementine when she’s a young, delicate, kid who needs a lot of protecting. Over the course of the episodes and seasons, however, she grows and matures, taught by the various men and women who share her journey along the way.
Players get to shape her journey, too, and who Clementine becomes is ultimately a product players make. With key choices in the story of who Clementine saves, who she kills, and who she leaves behind, you’re able to bet that each decision she makes impacts her in some way.
It isn’t just about how she survives, but who she becomes in the surviving of it all. There’s no shortage ofshocking and heartbreaking momentsin the series, either, which makesClementine’s coming-of-age story one for the books.
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