Many games, especially RPGs, give you a greater degree of choice and control over the narrative than a typical linear plot. This usually results in multiple endings or scenarios where you may force the narrative onto a drastically different path.
10 Best Games Where Choices Matter
These hoice-driven story games let you explore multiple perspectives of a story while delivering a unique experience with each playthrough.
In just about every conceivable path, at least one individual or faction stands to gain something. The good guys get their freedom, the bad guys rule the world, so on and so forth.
However, there are some in-game events,brought about exclusively by your decisions, that don’t serve to benefit anyone, or the benefits are so miniscule that they aren’t even worth it. It’s not just a bad ending, it’s a “why did you even choose this” ending.
This article primarily covers endings, and contains spoilers for the games mentioned.
9Katherine’s Not Interested
The ending you ultimately get inCatherineis determined by two big factors: your alignment between order and chaos on the mysterious meter, and the specific choices you make during the game’s last stretch. If you make choices that contradict your meter alignment, Vincent will end up in the worst possible situation with either Katherine or Catherine.
In the former case, after defeating Mutton, Vincent has him bring Katherine to Stray Sheep under false pretenses. Vincent tries to convince her that he never actually cheated on her and to give him another chance, but Katherine, justifiably, isn’t having it.
Katherine walks out of Vincent’s life for good, leaving him a blubbering mess. Vincent lost the love of his life, Mutton had his nightmare tower scrapped, and Katherine got her heart broken.
The only really positive interpretation here is that Katherine at least isn’t shackled to Vincent’s dumb butt anymore.
8Destroy The Yamato Reactor
Shin Megami Tensei 4
Shin Megami Tensei IV
Late in the story ofShin Megami Tensei 4, after you first activate the Yamato Perpetual Reactor, you make contact with a handful of mysterious individuals known only as “the White.”
These monochrome jerks are severe nihilists, wanting nothing more than to erase existence as we know it in order to “liberate” it from the endless wars between order and chaos.
The White dump you into a couple of parallel realities in an effort to show you that, no matter who you ultimately side with, humanity is doomed. With that in mind, they offer you another choice: destroy the Yamato Reactor entirely.
If you agree with them and destroy the Reactor, an infinite black hole will spring forth, instantly swallowing the entirety of Tokyo, Mikado, and everything, everywhere else. Reality is erased in the blink of an eye, the White included. Maybe it’s a win for them, but it sure ain’t much of one.
7The Easy Way Out
Cyberpunk 2077
In the final stretch ofCyberpunk 2077, V is on their last legs and needs a solution to the datachip overwrite pronto. There area few avenues they can take, most of which involve storming Mihoshi alone or with the help of one of the potential allied factions. You can even choose to side with Arasaka and Hanako, if you’re into that Corpo life.
However, there is one other path, one that absolutely nobody wants you to do. Rather than storming Mihoshi or siding with any particular faction,you may just have V throw their meds away and put a gun to their head. Johnny’s not a fan of the idea, but he’s not really in a position to tell V what they can and can’t do anymore.
During the credits, V will receive calls from all their friends either grieving for their decision or, in Panam’s case, hoping to meet them in the afterlife so she can beat the stuffing out of them.
6Lord Of The Frenzied Flame
Elden Ring
There are a handful of different endings inElden Ring, differentiated by the Mending Rune you use to restore the Elden Ring. Some are better than others, but there’s one ending that completely shirks the Elden Ring and opts instead to just burn everything down.
If you make contact with the Three Fingers and receive the Frenzied Flame, you can ignore the Throne of the Elden Lord and instead ascend as the Lord of Frenzied Flame.After you sacrifice your body in the Forge of the Giants, a pillar of flames is unleashed that sets reality itself ablaze.
The entire Lands Between, and probably the rest of the world beyond it, is set on the path to chaotic, all-consuming destruction. If she’s still alive, Melina will vow to see you destroyed for this.
Technically, this is a win for the Three Fingers, though all that faction really wants is to destroy everything that the Greater Will ever made. Ergo, it’s less of a “win,” and more of a “destroying your sibling’s LEGOs” kind of scenario.
5Dipped In The FEV Vat
In the climax of the originalFallout’s main story, you confront The Master in the bowels of the Cathedral as he spearheads super mutant attacks across the wasteland. In the ideal scenario, you’re able to either fight The Master directly or speech check him into surrendering and nuking the Cathedral from below.
However, if you’re really enthused by the idea of serving a tank of snot, you can instead opt to surrender yourself and join the Unity, getting dipped into an FEV vat andturned into a super mutantfor your troubles. Following this, you’ll lead a raid on Vault 13, kill the Overseer, and secure more human subjects for mutation.
Why The Original Fallout Didn’t Get A Happy Ending According To Game Creator Tim Cain
The creator of Fallout, Tim Cain, initially proposed a much happier ending, which was scrapped for the more depressing one we ultimately got.
At a glance, this feels like an obvious win for The Master. However, as we know from the aforementioned speech check scenario,super mutants are sterile and won’t last more than one generation. There is literally no winning scenario for the Unity; joining it just ensures there won’t be a victory for anyone else either.
4A Painting’s Demise
As is the case with manyRPG Maker games, Ib has a few different endings. The one you get depends on a couple of factors, particularly making a few critical choices and sufficiently raising Ib’s bond with Garry and/or Mary.
If you don’t bother to foster a bond between Ib and Mary, then Garry will be guaranteed to lose his mind when trying to escape the Doll Room. When this occurs, Ib will basically give up hope, sitting down next to Garry and becoming unresponsive. Mary tries to get Ib to leave with her, but eventually gives up as well as leaves on her own.
You control Mary for a little while until she successfully manages to escape from the Fabricated World, finding herself back in the art gallery. Unfortunately,a painting can’t just leave its world for free, and Mary is ultimately consumed by darkness, terrified and alone.
3Armageddon
Live A Live
In the final chapter ofLive A Live, you get to choose which of the seven heroes from across history that you want to have represent your team. However, you can also choose to take control of Oersted, now fully immersed in his role as Odio, Lord of Dark.
As Oersted, you project your consciousness throughout time to controlthe Odio incarnationsin every other time period in a boss rush.
Should the heroes whittle your health down low enough, the Flee command will be replaced with an Armageddon command. Use this, andOersted will immediately atomize all of his incarnations, completely wiping out the entirety of human history. If he can’t win, no one else will.
Of course, even if you successfully defeat all the heroes as each Odio incarnation, the only result is Oersted being left as King Nothing of a completely dead world, cackling madly to himself and demanding to no one that he be seen as the hero he thinks he should be. It’s a pyrrhic victory, at best.
2All For The Board
The Outer Worlds
InThe Outer Worlds(not to be confused with Outer Wilds), there are two primary endings to the game’s story: one where you wake up the colonists aboard the Hope and work to improve the Halcyon colonies, and one where you side with the Board.
In the latter scenario, all the Hope’s colonists are jettisoned into space, while all the rank and file citizens of the colony are marched into Stasis in their place. This leaves the entire colony’s resources to the city of Byzantium for the exclusive enjoyment of the Board and the upper crust.
You might think this is a victory for the Board, but as they’ve proven throughout the game, the Board only knows how to pursue short-term gains. The stockpile of resources is sizable, and Byzantium will be fine for a while, but they will run out sooner or later.
Even if workers were woken up from cold sleep, without the Hope’s scientists, all the colony’s facilities would have long fallen into disrepair. There won’t be any way to get more food.
1You Broke Spacetime
Outer Wilds
InOuter Wilds(not to be confused with The Outer Worlds), you’re not really in a traditional “win-lose” situation. Even if you eventuallybreak out of the loopand see the Eye of the Universe, everything is still going to end. However, a new universe will be born in its place, which is still pretty beautiful in its own way.
If you’d rather nobody gets anything, though, there is a way to facilitate that. All you need to do is break the fabric of reality. This can be done in a couple of ways, but the simplest is to visit the High Energy Lab on Ember Twin, launch your Scout into a black hole, and pull the core out right after it exits the corresponding white hole.
With two duplicate Scouts existing next to each other,a catastrophic paradox occurs, and the entirety of spacetime immediately shatters like a pane of glass. No more of this universe, and no new universe to follow. Just nothing. Great job.
Baldur’s Gate 3: All Important Main Story Choices, Explained
BG3’s main story offers many choices, each with a unique outcome. Here’s a breakdown of them all.
