One of the greatest delights, and equally one of the most difficult challenges which video games can provide is giving players an opportunity to make lasting changes upon their worlds. One surefire way to elicit a strong emotional response from an audience is to let them make those difficult choices, and then reap the consequences.
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It can be truly heartbreaking being forced to determine the fate of characters which you have grown attached to through hours of gameplay. The best titles find a way to truly test the player mentally or morally, then deliver a compelling outcome no matter the choice. This list features a few of the toughest, most affecting decisions which players may ever have to make when gaming.
10To Save A Life (Pathologic)
Pathologicis a title full of oppressive themes, featuring a particularly punishing gameplay environment which really doesn’t mess about. The town is in dire peril, with many citizens falling ill to a deadly plague. You take on the role of one of three possible protagonists, who all have their own various motives for visiting this town during the outbreak.
This plague doesn’t just affect NPCs, in Pathologic you are not special just because you are the player. You can very well die to this deadly pathogen, just as those around you frequently are. You can only cure yourself and others from the plague by the use of an exceedingly rare item, the Panacea. You see, sometimes an important trader or quest character will fall deathly ill, and you must choose between potentially saving your own life or those most essential of characters.
9Stealing The Waterchip (Fallout 1)
The first half ofFallout’s main quest tasks you with one primary goal – find a water purification chip, so your vault can survive. This prodigal classic does an excellent job of naturally leading the player through separate avenues through which to find said chip, and depending on your style of gameplay you may come across it in a completely different manner than another player, which is a very good reason for Fallout 1’s place as one of thebest Fallout games ever made.
One of the easiest ways in the game to acquire the water chip is to simply steal it from a relatively early game settlement of Ghouls. The main issues with this method of retrieval is that it leaves those Ghouls without water, and despite their ghastly outer appearance, they are actually quite wonderful people. They are hospitable to you, offering supplies and being one of the few friendly beacons of light in this deadly wasteland, but your people are dying…
8Lee’s Arm (Telltale’s Walking Dead)
When the main protagonist of Telltale’sWalking DeadSeason 1 gets bitten by a walker on his wrist, a multi-layered and incredibly complex conflict arises, which tests even the strongest of players. It asks many different questions of you, none of which necessarily have correct answers.
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Firstly, do you tell your companions of the road about this wound? Surely this would mean your immediate death, or at least some sort of minor panic. If you do decide to tell them, you must then make the difficult choice of cutting the arm off to potentially prevent infection, or just leaving it and ensuring death.
7Wyatt Or Fergus (Wolfenstein: The New Order)
It is interesting just how affecting this choice can be on a first play-through, considering how early into the game it is placed. It just goes to show how well writtenWolfenstein: The New Orderis, that both characters will have endeared themselves to you even after such a short runtime.
Fergus is your companion from the start of the game, you two are as close as can be, he’s got your back through thick and thin. Wyatt is a scared young kid, just drafted into the war and terrified of the surrounding confict. Both have their heads on the chopping block, and you are forced by the villainous Deathshead to chose one to die, or else both will perish.
6Spare Or Kill (Ghost Of Tsushima)
Family drama can often times come to the most emotional of resolutions, especially in video games, but none have been quite so dramatically satisfying as the ending toGhost of Tsushima. Following Jin’s Journey to save his uncle Shimura, nearing the end you manage to do just so, killing Khotun Khan in the process, a sadistic warlord who has up to now played as the main antagonist
This was, ultimately, a mistake, as it made you a target in the eyes of the Shogun, who send your own Uncle to kill you. After winning the reluctant duel, you must choose between giving your uncle an honorable death following the samurai code, or to spare him, either way becoming a permanant enemy of the Shogun and losing contact with your family.
5Deathwish (GTA V)
None of the three main protagonists inGrand Theft Auto Vare good people, in fact in the hands of players, they are without a doubt some of the most heinous protagonists in gaming. Through hours of gameplay with them though, it can be natural to start to love these guys, in an awful sort of way.
To be forced in the final mission to choose between one of the three hits hard, and can lead to some genuine changes in the post story game world, such as permanently locking players out of completing that character’s quests.
4Imperial Or Stormcloak (Skyrim)
This is one decision which gamers have debated over constantly sinceThe Elder Scrolls: Skyrim’s release in 2011, with very few of these debates ever coming to a peaceful resolution. This is because Bethesda’s civil war is incredibly well crafted so as to challenge the player’s morality, and no one side is depicted as being more inherently wrong than the other.
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Whether you chose to side with the Imperials or you chose to follow the icy Stormcloaks, you could be considered correct from an abstract point of view, and this decision is truly one of the greatest aspects of the entire game.
3Continuing The Journey (The Last Of Us: Part 2)
The Last Of Us Part 2is an interesting entry, in the sense of it doesn’t directly offer the player a choice in the proceedings, but it certainly does challenge them morally to continue. When Tommy asks Ellie to return on her journey of vengeance, and Dina says flat-out that she will not support that decision, it is very difficult as a viewer to see Ellie just go with Tommy anyway.
Of course, it is understandable in a manner of ways, seeing as the target killed Ellie’s pseudo father figure, but to simply throw away her entire life on a revenge trip which had already been, in a way, settled… it is easy to see why this moment is the turning point on many fans' love for Ellie, and the monster she becomes is slowly coming to light.
2Vault 34 (Fallout: New Vegas)
Fallout: New Vegasis in many regards the best fallout game to ever be released, being helmed by Obsidian Studios and multiple developers of the original two entries in the series. Their roots in the franchise and love for it are clear to see, and New Vegas holds up as one of thegreatest open world RPGsof all time.
One quest line which exemplifies this title’s aptitude for player choice with lasting consequences is Hard Luck Blues, which takes players through Vault 34, where a nuclear reactor is leeching radiation into the earth and affecting the NCR crops which feed most of the wasteland. Vault 34 was thought to be uninhabited, but it turns out there are a good amount of vault dwellers trapped in an unreachable area of the vault, who are relying on that reactor to run their generator, which provides food and water. This leaves you with the impossibly tough decision to either disable the reactor, saving the NCR crops, or reroute the power, permanantly damaging them while saving the dwellers.
1Spec Ops: The Line
Spec Ops: The Lineconsistently challenges players with questionable decisions throughout their time in the zone, and your morals are sure to be tested multiple times in a playthrough. It is difficult to pin down just one moment as being the best in the title, as each tug at your heartstrings in vastly different, yet still effective ways.
In a market where shooters see you regularly mowing down other people with no consequence, Spec Ops: The Line took a moment to dwell on what that truly means, and your player character is regularly haunted by the decisions you make. It can be quite harrowing, and this is one title which surely stands as one of the most intriguing shooters of all time, and will genuinely test your moral compass.
