“Choices matter” is a common motto or a point behind modern games; From the early days of text-based CRPGs to more current narrative-focused adventures, some gamers are in love with the idea that a game’s plot can be modeled and changed with their decisions. Sure, it’s a fantastic concept, but it’s not always well implemented.
Creating a branched narrative, considering all the possible repercussions, writing dialogues, and changing the rhythms of the story to make everything work can sometimes be impossible. As a result, some games that seek to take into account the player’s decisions only offer a cheap illusion of choice.
8 BioShock
The success of the 2007 FPS BioShock offers players a great choice from the start; After defeating Dr. Steinman, the upset, players can choose to rescue or pick up a little sister. Little sisters and medically mutated girls who carry a valuable substance known as ADAM, which means the player’s decision comes down to more power at the expense of innocent lives or less power and a quiet conscience.
However, there really is no reason to harvest the Sisters, as Dr. Tenenbaum, its creator and caregiver, offers the player a wide reward for saving them. This may interest you : 10 great games with LGBTQ + romances. Also, although there are two separate endings based on how many little sisters were saved, they are so short that they don’t matter.
7 Fallout 4
The player’s choice was an integral element in previous Fallout titles, although Fallout 3’s final options rubbed many in the wrong way. Fallout 4, however, shifted NPC interactions even further, with most dialog options resulting in exactly the same results, whatever happens.
Some important options can affect things on a macro level, but most unimportant conversations and side missions will have no effect on anything. On the same subject : Games in the Metaverse: Key Ideas | ArentFox Schiff – JDSupra. Many players saw it as one of the major shortcomings of Fallout 4, and things got even worse with the release of Fallout 76, which had no NPC at the time of release.
6 Spec Ops: The Line
Released in 2012, Spec Ops: The Line was a brain-and-scary title that sparked the trend of military shooters of the era, offering a journey of real and imaginary horrors from Apocalypse Now. On the same subject : College Football 2.0: Players primed the future influence of the sport as NIL, athletes ’rights extend. It also affects the concept of “choices matter” games, forcing the player to commit terrible deeds and then scolding them for it.
Along with the infamous white phosphorus scene, there are several cases in the game during which the player is led to believe that his choices can have real consequences just so that this is later revealed as a farce.
5 Call of Cthulhu
Call of Cthulhu was a 2018 release based on the famous desktop role-playing game of the same name and of course the H. P. Lovecraft novel that inspired it. A narrative-based title that played at least a bit like a hidden approach to L.A. Noire, the player faced options at every turn, though not all of them were as consistent as they seemed.
Many of the dialogue options are rudimentary, the research mechanics often seem basic, and sometimes it all seems like a walking simulator disguised as a deeper experience. Also, there are only four endings, all quite similar.
4 Dark Souls 3
FromSoftware’s Dark Souls games are famous for their complex story and incredible details, but, in the minds of less story-focused gamers, the ambiguous endings seem a bit lacking. While Dark Souls 3 featured four separate endings, some of which required players to follow seemingly unimportant narrative threads, each of the final scenes is very similar and very open to interpretation.
While this doesn’t detract from the overall quality of the game, it may have disappointed those who have struggled to explore all the catacombs, conquer all the boss fights, and divulge all the secrets.
3 Cyberpunk 2077
Prior to the release of Cyberpunk 2077, developer CD Projekt Red presented a selection of initial scenarios, each of which supposedly allowed for very different story experiences. While the three vital paths come into play at both crucial and less consistent points in the game, in the beginning, the differences are essentially reduced to different opening missions.
Regardless of what players choose, they will become friends with Jackie Wells and start with exactly the same line of missions. The game’s branching paths expand from that point on, but it was a bit disappointing to see that, at least initially, the Cyberpunk 2077 life paths changed very little.
2 Mass Effect 3
One of the most notoriously disappointing decisions of any video game, the end of Bioware’s legendary Mass Effect trilogy saw the player choose to destroy, control, or synthesize his entire life with the Reapers. As shocking as it may sound, each of these choices sparked very similar scenes that lacked the depth, gravity, and intrigue that players had to expect.
These final decisions of the game were so well received that Bioware essentially reconnected them to later DLC expansions. While the ending of Mass Effect 3 doesn’t completely diminish the impeccable quality of the series, it’s still a mistake that even the fiercely undercooked Mass Effect Andromeda couldn’t erase from the minds of fans.
1 Telltale’s The Walking Dead
Telltale’s series of interactive stories from The Walking Dead was advertised as titles that define the genre of options. Ancestors of equally acclaimed games like Firewatch and Life is Strange, Telltale’s The Walking Dead was considered a must-have game in the early 2010s, but opinions have softened a bit since then.
While player choice still has a not inconsiderable impact on game events, some specific decisions can only have one consequence, regardless of what is chosen. These cases became more frequent in later games developed by Telltale and, although they were much more pronounced in the studio’s licensed Batman and Game of Thrones titles, they also drastically decreased the releases of The Walking Dead.
NEXT: Top 10 games to play if you liked Teltale’s The Walking Dead series
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