The big moral choice was a selling point in narrative games for a long time. They were seen as so essential they were shoehorned into BioShock even though Ken Levine didn't want them, just because they made a good back-of-the-box feature. Lately, though, they've been rarer. RPGs like Disco Elysium and The Outer Worlds have given us some tough decisions, but they feel like exceptions. BioWare haven't made one of these games for a while, Telltale aren't around any more, and few other developers have stepped up to the plate.When's the last time a game gave you a tough moral choice? Here are our answers, plus a few from our forum.
THE PCG Q&A Find all previous editions of the PCG Q&A here. Some highlights: – Have you tried to make your own game or mod? – What’s something about games you didn’t mind as a kid but can’t stand now? – What was the best game on your school computers? The big moral choice was a selling point in narrative games for a long time. They were seen as so essential they were shoehorned into BioShock even though Ken Levine didn’t want them, just because they made a good back-of-the-box feature. Lately, though, they’ve been rarer. RPGs like Disco Elysium and The Outer Worlds have given us some tough decisions, but they feel like exceptions. BioWare haven’t made one of these games for a while, Telltale aren’t around any more, and few other developers have stepped up to the plate. When’s the last time a game gave you a tough moral choice? Here are our answers, plus a few from our forum. (Image credit: Bethesda) Emma Matthews: I played through Fallout: New Vegas last year to get in the mood for The Outer Worlds, and it’s filled with moral choices. I was determined to take out Mr. House for the latter portion of the game, and didn’t hesitate when I finally arrived at his little pod. New Vegas’ abrupt ending and quick summary reminded me that it didn’t have to end that way, though. It didn’t feel like a tough decision at the time, but after reading a few threads that explored the other options, where they led, and why people picked them, it forced me to think about my hasty decision. James Davenport: On brand yet again: I dig the ending of Dark Souls. Any Dark Souls game, really. You’re given the opportunity to link the fire or put that shit out, and in this scenario, the fire represents Mankind. Putting it out eliminates all people, everywhere, until the eternal dragons and whatever else get bored or accidentally fuck something up that leads to the creation of humanity again. The problem here is choosing between perpetuating the thieving, insatiable thirst for power that man kinda just puts out into the world or saying hell no, let these stones rest, violence isn’t the answer, neither is life or death or anything in between. It kinda boils down most big moral questions in videogames. Awareness or nothing? Make the big moral choice, you all-knowing gamer, you. Andy Chalk: I finally got around to playing Soma a few months ago, and if you’ve played it you probably already know which moment I’m talking about. (And if you haven’t, major spoiler ahead, and believe me, you don’t want to spoil this if you have any intention of playing it someday.) Around the midpoint of the game, the lead character’s consciousness is transferred into a new body—except it’s not a transfer, it’s a copy, leaving the « original » unconscious but alive. At that point you’re given a choice: Leave him (that is, the former and technically still you) behind, trapped forever in a hellish underwater nightmare with no hope of escape, or switch off the life support, euthanizing him, to save him from the horror. The decision has no real impact on the game, there’s no morality system tracking your progress and nothing to be gained or lost from going either way.
