When we’re engrossed in a video game, we get lost in their magnificent stories. We feel as though we get the chance to experience the tale firsthand. However, we sadly don’t have a say in nearly everything that drives the story forward in a video game. Or do we?
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There are masterful games out there that rely on us to make some of the most significant decisions in the entire game. You can completely alter the course of events thatinfluence your endingof the game. Not to mention how these choices can also change how characters perceive you. In short, these kinds of games can make you view the story in a new personal light that encourages you to replay and discover different yet exciting routes.
10Until Dawn
Metacritic: 79
Until Dawn
What Players Will Love
This interactive terrifying tale took the horror video game community by storm when it came out, especially with the Let’s Play Youtubers. Utilizing the PS4’s latest Dualshock touchpad mechanic at the time,Until Dawnwas incredibly thrilling. However, the immersive gameplay wasn’t the only unique aspect of the game.
Surrounding us with a group of teenagers traveling to a ski lodge for a weekend for the anniversary of their friend’s disappearance, the group experiences horrors beyond their comprehension. With Wendigos and an unexpected murderer attempting to kill everyone, the decisions you make decide whether these characters live or die in the end.
9The Quarry
The Quarry
Making choices inThe Quarryfeels like you’re directing a beautifully cinematic horror movie. Set in the woods, we take control of nine teenage counselors who must survive their last night at the camp. In a lot of ways, the game is reminiscent of classic slashers like Friday The 13th and Sleepaway Camp.
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Created by the same creative minds behind Until Dawn, this game has its own unique sense of horror. Constantly prompting us with life-or-death decisions left and right, we’re put in unpredictable situations that keep us on our toes. All-in-all, The Quarry is a fantastic love letter to horror movies and the entertaining chills they send down our spines.
Metacritic: 80
When the supernatural and classic 80s teen movies collide, it creates the wondrous work of art that isOxenfree. Putting us in a story centered around a group of friends who mistakenly open a ghostly rift, you play as the rebellious and brave Alex, a teenager whose every action relies entirely on you.
Although it isn’t a horror game, having the opportunity to decide every little thing in this supernatural world is frightening. From how you explore the island to dealing with the strange monsters lurking around, you’re sure to have a provoking yet unsettling experience that sticks with you.
7Life Is Strange
Metacritic: 85
Life is Strange
The text “This action will have consequences” popping up with melancholic music playing behind it is just one of the few reasonsLife is Strangeis such a memorable experience where your choices matter. It’s an emotional story that easily warms our hearts and then rips it out in one fell swoop.
Following the story of Max Caulfield, she discovers that she can rewind time. When making a critical decision, she discovers that she could reverse that moment and change the course of events. While this is an impactful superpower of sorts, she soon discovers that not everything can go in a positive direction by her hand.
6Dragon Age: Origins
Metacritic: 86
Dragon Age: Origins
Your choices don’t just matter inDragon Age: Origins, but rather they impact your entire playthrough of the trilogy. With the Dragon Age Keep, we get the opportunity to weave our decisions from Origins and incorporate them into the future of the series' overarching tale.
Considered by many fans to be the greatest game in the series, Dragon Age: Origins gives us the chance to shape a unique timeline. you’re able to go on a route full of heroism and hope or dive into the trenches of destruction and set up a devastating timeline. No matter your decisions in Origins, by the time you get toDragon Age: Inquisition, you’ll feel even more involved with the story than before.
5Heavy Rain
Metacritic: 87
Heavy Rain
Quantic Dream is known to have not only some of the best stories but some of the most fascinating consequences. Heavy Rain is one of the developers' masterpieces, offering a story that’s beyond captivating and lays out choices that make us endlessly hesitate.
We go through Heavy Rain in the shoes of various characters. From playing a depressed father to a deceptive detective, every character goes on an adventure centered around the missing person’s case of Shaun Mars. How you decide their fate is up to you, leading you to have to face difficult psychological decisions that you could easily regret.
4The Stanley Parable
Metacritic: 88
The Stanley Parable
The Stanley Parableis a game that’s all about choices. Although you have a nagging voice in your ear telling you what your every little move should be, how you go about traversing through the eerie atmosphere is in your control.
In this first-person exploration, you play as a run-of-the-mill man named Stanley, or do we? The seeming illusion of choice and what we perceive to be the truth is one of The Stanley Parable’s strongest elements. In its own way, the game is an art piece rather than justanother walking simulator. The narrative storytelling is one-of-a-kind and deconstructs our perception of how we view decisions in video games.
3The Walking Dead
Metacritic: 89
The Walking Dead The Game
Telltale Games are adored for how they incorporate thrilling decisions within a compelling story. Their seemingly magnum opus,The Walking Dead, is a charming example of how much they tie interactive gameplay with crucial choices.
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Featuring the classic “…will remember that” almost every time you make a decision during the dialogue, the video game version of The Walking Dead is an iconic work of art. It not only showed that video game adaptions could be masterful, but that they could become their own fascinating story. Overall, The Walking Dead is a gut-wrenching story that is impossible to forget.
2Disco Elysium
Metacritic: 91
Disco Elysium
Among its dialogue-heavy content,Disco Elysiumfeatures a myriad of choices that could alter the course of your game. However, at the same time, these decisions don’t seem to matter in the first place. You’re encouraged to pick the choice that calls to you at that moment, and seeing whether it truly impacts the story or not is entertainingly gripping.
Disco Elysium offers the illusion of choice in a way. At first, whatever you choose doesn’t seem to affect anything around you. But, later down the line, they could come back to bite you. In short, the game shifts its storytelling devices by the end, showcasing that our decisions had an underlying influence.
1Mass Effect 3
Metacritic: 93
Mass Effect 3
Set in the Milky Way in the distant future,Mass Effect 3is a beautiful finale to Commander Shepard’s story. Similar toDragon Age, your choices fromMass Effect 2can influence your playthrough of Mass Effect 3, which, in turn, makes the impact of both the game’s beginning and ending feel all the more emotional.
Taking place six months after the events of Mass Effect 2, Commander Shepard finds themself having to go back to the galactic battlefield once again. With the fear of the Reapers' invasion, Shepard must find a way to stop this highly advanced race. The ending of Mass Effect 3 is controversial, giving us a huge decision that felt almost impossible to make.
