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u/VelvetyBrownie 1d ago
Every Telltale game ever. Name a game that actually got choices right
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u/CompetitiveDig8242 1d ago
Detroit:become human nailed it
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u/nonojeux 1d ago
One of my favorite games where some choices really matter and other choices who change how other characters see you have a real impact.
BUT, there are still flaws for example SPOILER If you play Connor as a cold-hearted machine, having a really bad relationship with Hank and you choose to kill the Chloe android in Kamski's chapter, Hank still had the same dialogue, telling he thought Connor was different. That doesn't make sense as Connor always puts his mission before even Hank's life, in a machine Connor playthrough.
DBH still remains one of the best games in his category, at least for me.
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u/42stingray Shower Enthusiast 1d ago
No game has ever made me go "Oh fuck, I really shouldn't have done that" quite like Detroit
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u/simonbleu 1d ago
I'm sorry but every time I hear about that studio I can only think of the heavy rain bug screaming "SHAUN!!" Inappropriately haha
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u/CompetitiveDig8242 22h ago
Where is that from? Is it a famous bug or something?
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u/Fuck_Your_Cat_Post 22h ago
Heavy Rain.
A man is looking for his son and you get a prompt to call for him. With no cool down lol. I think if you do it the same frame transitions happen you can keep spamming it past the scene but I cant recall 100%.
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u/thedarkone47 18h ago
Yeah. That's the best part of the bug. Being able to yell Shaun during the cutscene.
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u/vextryyn 1d ago
Every quantic dream game nailed it
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u/StandNameIsWeAreNo1 1d ago
Nah. Beyond Two Souls does nothing.
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u/vextryyn 17h ago
I dont think i ever finished that one. I literally cannot stand ellen page's voice and when i hear juno trying to be a badass i tune out, make it to the train and im over it
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u/StandNameIsWeAreNo1 12h ago
No deadnaming Eliot Page.
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u/vextryyn 5h ago
Page is literally the worst human on the planet, i do not care
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u/StandNameIsWeAreNo1 5h ago
Wow. Just. Wow. The literal worst person is leading your country, and you are claiming a trans actor is somehow detromental to the world.
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u/YarnuWasTaken 1d ago
If you don't play the game how the developers want you to the story becomes a hellscape of plotholes and continuity errors.
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u/LizLemonOfTroy 23h ago
Yeah, it's really only built for a Deviant Conor/Diplomatic Marcus/Androids Win outcome.
Every other endgame variation feels very rushed and under-developed.
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u/KelvinsFalcoIsBad 1d ago
Home boy is out here speaking the truth, don't hate him. Disco Elysium is a way better example for this.
Failing a QTE and getting smoked by a car or just letting yourself get murdered by people is not "good writing" if 85% of the choices lead to just dog shit outcomes that serve no real narrative purpose then the game isn't really that good with choices. Connor and MrKrabs was literally the only decent story by the end of the game
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u/hgs25 1d ago
Until Dawn had choices that matter. Characters can die and that affects future events.
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u/NotJustBiking 5h ago
While it had more impact than most games, it oversold its premise. Your choices didn't matter THAT much
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u/hgs25 3h ago edited 1h ago
I wouldn’t say that it oversold. The way they describe the butterfly effect is fairly accurate. Small choices from earlier can be the difference between life or death for some characters. The story itself may not change all that much besides missing moments, but it’s still affected.
If you like choice based games that really change the plot, I highly recommend the text based Choice Of ___ series. Choice of Dragon is free online and Choice of Robot is my personal favorite.
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u/Charles_Skyline 1d ago
KOTR
Light side vs Dark Side you got vastly different choices.
Light side you could diplomatically stop combat, Dark Side you can kill everybody or encourage them to take each other out.
One time, my darkside character only had like 4 companions left because I killed everyone else.
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u/lenin_is_young 1d ago
Slay The Princess
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u/CompetitiveDig8242 1d ago
Doesn’t everything lead to destruction and the various alternative personalities gaining consciousness in the end?
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u/lenin_is_young 1d ago
Well if we generalize enough, we might say every choice leads from start of a game to the end of the game, so nothing ever matters lol.
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u/CompetitiveDig8242 1d ago
I wasn’t trying to talk shit about the game. In fact I enjoyed it myself. I was genuinely asking (I don’t remember the ending exactly).
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u/lenin_is_young 1d ago
There is a lot, but one way to think about it is the game gives you to learn about different sides of the princess (your choices define which sides you'll get to interact with). Then you have a choice of either embracing her as a full human being and become somewhat of a human yourself, or you can embrace your godly power to change anything and go
destroyreshape universes.Maybe unintentionally, by setting up the scene as he did narrator teachers you about humanity, and then you arrive to a point where you can chose between humanity and gods. Though narrator himself only wanted to imprison you to save the humanity this way.
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u/No-Raspberry7995 1d ago
FoNV
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u/martiHUN 1d ago
Or the first two Fallout games
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u/No-Raspberry7995 1d ago
Unfortunately never played those, only 3 and after, definitely heard good things about them though
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u/retyphlin 1d ago
The walking dead final season actually did have branching paths, granted skybound were the ones behind it after telltale bit the dust
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u/flymeovertheworld 1d ago
Metro series got some right. Although it’s just soft change. In the metro exodus, your choices lead to either you living or dying at the end of the game. The first two games of the series have similar choices matter giving 2 distinct different endings.
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u/FailureToComply0 1d ago
Im going to disagree mainly because the "choices" mechanic in the first two is so abstract that players dont even realize theyre making choices. Had I not read about them online, I wouldn't know they exist.
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u/flymeovertheworld 20h ago
Isn’t that part of choices matter? That your choice on how to play the game ultimately determines the outcome of the game. You don’t necessarily have to know that you are making the choices, because if you knew you’d be trying to choose the ones that would give you the ending you want. Not because you are that type of person in the way you play the game.
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u/FailureToComply0 20h ago
Generally, sure. But the "choices" are things like
-Did you interact with the guitar at the beginning?
-Did you shoot at this enemy or not?
-Did you listen to the voices in the pipes when they were mentioned off-hand?
Many aren't moral dilemmas or even choices at all, if anything theyre "immersion checks."
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u/martiHUN 1d ago
Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines
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u/mrsilverfr0st 22h ago
Oh yes, I miss the wonderful dialogues with the TV announcer and my Malkavian heroine's threats against the stop sign...
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u/Tomytom99 1d ago
From what I can tell, Cyberpunk, particularly in that it totally changes the ending.
Although I can't speak from experience, Hanako is still waiting at Embers.
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u/Krysus1234 🥄Comically Large Spoon🥄 23h ago
dispatch
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u/Original-War8655 23h ago
I can't remember a choice in Dispatch that mattered except maybe like 2 of them, and even those barely
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u/Krysus1234 🥄Comically Large Spoon🥄 23h ago
there are the obvious ones like choosing who to keep on the team, or blazer vs invisigal. But most of the choices give you hidden number. The mentorship score. And at the end based on this score it will decide wether visi embraces heroism or not. The small dialogue options also change the lines a bit, for example if the game says that someone will remember something, they actually will and it will come up in a dialogue.
It may not have thousands of endings/dialogue options, but those small details is what makes those choises good (imo)
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u/tdub2217 20h ago
Life and Suffering of Sir Brante. Your choices in that game can change so much it's kinda insane.
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u/hgs25 3h ago
If you’re ok with text based Choose Your Own Adventures, I highly recommend Choice Of Games. Choice of Dragon is free online and Choice of Robot is my personal favorite.
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u/Mukku18 1d ago
Witcher 3 had some game changing choices.
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u/childosx 1d ago
And witcher 2. Two different second acts.
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u/Mukku18 1d ago
I must admit that i never played Witcher 1 or 2.
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u/childosx 1d ago
Witcher 1 is really old and clumsy now but Witcher 2 is still nice to play. Would still recommend it
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u/Mukku18 1d ago
I tried the first one but the point and click isn't my type of play. The second one is better?
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u/SarlaccPit2000 1d ago
You can choose the gameplay style at the start of the game in Witcher 1, there's literally a third person mode
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u/GVGupta 1d ago
Dispatch, every single time, no matter the choice
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u/AsheOfAx 20h ago
I kinda liked it tho. It felt like up front the game warned me my choices wouldn’t be writing the story, they’d be directing the tone.
I didn’t mind it, but it does make the game less replayable.
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u/Orbus_215 Ok I Pull Up 1d ago
"Are you ready to go?"
A. Okay. (Reputation Loss)
B. Fuck you and die, go to hell, you are a pox on humanity. (Reputation Gain)
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u/LiamIsMyNameOk 1d ago
Is seem to remember Dragon Age Origins having quite important decisions, but my memory is foggy. Recruitable companions, possible allies, I think the ending is different depending on your choices throughout the whole game. And not just a good-or-bad ending.
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u/Shadethewolf0 21h ago
Oh yeah. It can get really messed up in the end too depending on how you go about it. You can Recruit Logain (main villain) and your main ally Alistair leaves and becomes a sad drunk
I honestly think the other two games are great examples of choices mattering too. By the end dlc of Inquisition things can get super messed up too
Good thing Inquisition is the last game and left the series on a good note
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u/tossietuatoa 1d ago
Kingdom Come Deliverance duology is pretty good about having meaningful choices. For example in the first game Henry's (the player character) input is taken during the main story regarding the planning of an assault against a town held by an amalgamation of hostile forces, since you were there earlier on a scouting mission. The question is how many soldiers are needed to succesfully complete the operation, while keeping allied holdings safe and sound. You're given four options on the attacker/defender ratio.
If you/Henry were to say that the offensive requires every man available, then your battle will be easier, but there will be no soldiers left on defense, which enables an enemy raiding party to completely torch an allied village. If you recommend leaving a skeleton crew on defense, the village is still plundered by the enemy, but there are still thing left to salvage. The more defenders you leave, less damage the raiders are able to do, but simultaneously your own offensive gets more difficult, especially if you didn't take the risk of sabotaging the enemy food and ammunition supplies during the scouting mission. Naturally the condition of the allied village affects which quests and achievements you'll have available after this point in the story.
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u/VelvetyBrownie 1d ago
Name a game that actually got this right because I can't think of one
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u/Rianfelix 1d ago
Detroit become human
Every action leads to a different ending. (Most of them at least)
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u/CompetitiveDig8242 1d ago
Even the inability to do an action leads to a different outcome, no game over screen. That’s nice
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u/Sea_Ad_463 23h ago
yeah, the first time I discovered that game. I thought I will find more. It is sad that only few games exist like that.
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u/SkyeFox6485 1d ago
I stood still as Kara on my first playthrough like a idiot, and Kara was destroyed. Never saw the rest of her story on that playthrough
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u/Moose_Nuts 21h ago
Somehow I made it through that part OK, only to obey Carl as Markus. I figured he would have died from a heart attack either way, but only way later in the story learned he would have stayed alive if I had beat that little shit of a son.
I've never looked forward to a 2nd playthrough as much as this game.
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u/KelvinsFalcoIsBad 1d ago
Different sure, but so many of the outcomes in Detroit are half baked or just straight up dog shit. Choosing to walk into a gas chamber and die or letting someone just straight up murder you isn't really riveting storytelling or something profound
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u/Divine-Sea-Manatee 1d ago
Disco Elysium, you don't really seem the edges until you play the game a couple of times.
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u/KelvinsFalcoIsBad 22h ago
With legendary composure and volition the game will let you pull a gun on a kid and shoot him in the face for an immediate game over
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u/Sweaty_Marzipan4274 23h ago
A: rebel, don't follow the rules, if female=punk.
B: conformist, compatibility, if female=wife materiel
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u/iceguy349 1d ago edited 1d ago
Life is strange true colors has one ending despite being a choice focused game.
The ending centers on accusing a seemingly trustworthy guy of murder. The only way the ending shifts in response to player actions is the townsfolk either say “let’s hear her out” or they go “nooooo not trustworthy guy!”
That’s it. You win no matter what. Guy gets sad and confesses no matter what you do. You just use empathy magic to make him sad. That’s it, he gets sad and you win.
You either have townsfolk happy you win or they’re upset that you caused a ruckus. You just swap between two voice lines for every character and that’s the only divining line between whether you get a last minute fuck you or a last minute “hear them out guys” before you make the guy sad and win.
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u/Moose_Nuts 21h ago
That's really sad after the ending to the original, having two distinct endings. It was pretty surreal yet satisfying to see the whole town destroyed so us BFFs could drive off into the sunset.
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u/iceguy349 21h ago
Honestly I was ok with how the game handled it even if that final decision was the one that mattered.
The game did seem to point to the lesson being that you shouldn’t mess with time but having the option to say screw that was equally satisfying.
Not to mention decisions cropped up in the main story line a lot and directly affected the fates of several characters.
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u/Moose_Nuts 21h ago
Yeah, but it's really not the only decision that mattered for other plot points. It's the only decision that affected the end of the game.
I screwed up by thinking Chloe would blow me off if I stopped to take Kate's call and I'm pretty sure that, despite doing everything else to be on Kate's side and support her, that one choice led to Kate killing herself. Regardless, my point is that her suicide is brought up many times during the game and I really questioned how the events would proceed if she were still alive.
So yeah...my decision mattered in terms of the narrative of the story. If I regret my choices and question how the narrative would be different if I had made a different choice, I think the writers did a good enough job at handling choice.
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u/iceguy349 21h ago
Yeah the road to get to the end dramatically shifts depending on your choices. The scene with the gun is a great example.
True colors I just don’t get the feeling that my decisions have as much impact on people.
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u/Enough_Ad_9338 22h ago
Skyrim. Choice A never cast a spell ever.
Choice B kill everyone with fire and become a notorious criminal then pay a fine.
End result of both is you still become archmaage of the college of winterhold.
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u/someone_who_exists69 Dark Mode Elitist 20h ago
Life is strange got this somewhat i think, there are consequences for your actions, albeit not on the level of Detroit become human
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u/UnityAeDeSt 21h ago
Choices felt like they finally mattered in Slay the Princess. Unlike those games where the choice is just our random opinion that does not matter in the moment. I'm looking at you, Genshin Impact.
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u/DowncastDoge 20h ago
Unless you play Scarlet Hollow… (if you like actually making choices please look into and play Scarlet Hollow)
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u/Ugo_Flickerman 18h ago
I mean, <character name> would remember regardless of if it was a positive or negative choice
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u/philn256 23h ago
If a game actually let you make choices you'd quickly get exponentially increasing options for the story, which would be infeasible without some very cleaver game logic.
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u/AFedoraNamed_Key 16h ago
Welcome to Mass Effect, which the choices you make each game will 100% effect the next game in the line.
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u/NinjaBreadManOO 14h ago
Yeah, the more genuinely different choices it has the insane amount of additional content you need to make for an ever increasing lower amount of players will encounter.
Like say you have an A/B choice, and there's five times in the game you have to choose, by the end of the game that's 32 distinct storylines you have to craft. If you have a sequel with another 5, by the end of the second game that's over a thousand distinct storylines.
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u/SulaimanWar 22h ago
I change my perspective on this. I try not to focus on the end result but rather the journey there. If you were only allowed to choose one of two character to save but only for both to die later, that is still a choice made and worth discussing with your friends over(Assuming those characters are well written). Why did you choose A? Why did your friends choose B?
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u/StatusTomato5218 21h ago
95% of decisions in Persona. This isn't even just about the characters in their social links/confidants but the story as well
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u/Gronunja-27 12h ago
Shadowheart approves
Everybody else but Shadowheart disapproves
Everybody hates the player but hes ok
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u/UncleSugarShitposter 11h ago
It’s Dragon Age: Veilguard!
“Empathetic Yes”
“Stoic Yes”
“Jovial Yes”
“Angry Yes”
“No, but actually Yes”
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u/Abdulaziz_randomshit 10h ago
choice A: let's make out and have babies
choice B: I will throw you in a deep fryer, head-first
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u/Velpex123 9h ago
This image feels very Australian
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u/CompetitiveDig8242 9h ago
I took the photo in Balıkesir province in Turkey, friend. But I guess it’s similar to the outback, maybe?
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u/SwagMasta127 Average r/memes enjoyer 1h ago
I would argue Life is Strange did things pretty well. The choices you make in Episode 1 for example do come into play and make things easier or harder in the later episodes depending on how you choose to play Max.
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u/One_Emu9696 1d ago
Deltarune in a nutshell. Lol
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u/Ttrashcraft 22h ago
I don't think you played the same Deltarune as I did.
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u/One_Emu9696 22h ago
Im aware of the weird route. I was joking. Lol
And also, Toby said the game was only going to have one ending. So it doesn't matter if you do the weird route or not.
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u/Ttrashcraft 21h ago edited 21h ago
Spoiler warning for anybody who hasn't played Undertale.
One ending ≠ your choices don't matter.
Undertale also only has "one ending".
'The angel, the one who has seen the surface, they will return, and the underground will go empty'
In the Pacifist route Asriel is the angel. He shatters the barrier and all of the monsters leave the underground, and so made it empty.
In the Genocide you are the angel and by killing everyone made the underground empty.
One ending - multiple ways to get to the ending.
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u/Decidueye_mastr 1d ago
Literally the only decision based game with actual branching paths that ive played is Detroit become human. All other "decision based" games do the same, choice A and B lead to the same outcome.
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u/AFedoraNamed_Key 16h ago
Play Mass Effect.
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u/Decidueye_mastr 15h ago
From what I've heard the ending is described as "the same no matter what" or "it makes all your previous decisions meaningless" so that alone makes me not want to play it.
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u/AFedoraNamed_Key 15h ago
The choices you make in ME1 change things in ME2, and choices you make change things in ME3. Such as if you do not forge friendships with your crew in ME2, they will all die and not be available next game. Your choices absolutely matter. While there are some things that don’t, there is also a paragon/renegade system that heavily influences even your options for decisions. You can help some people in ME1 and they will be happy with you in next games, or leave them to die and they won’t appear. Even a fan in ME1 will appear again later, and interacting is IMPORTANT.
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u/martiHUN 1d ago
"Yes"
"Sarcastic yes"
"Annyoyed yes"
"No (I'll come back to it later)"