29 games where your choices have real consequences (2023)

It's hard to make choices in the game. Many have tried and failed, with decisions leading to slightly different outcomes or really having no effect at all.

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However, there are some titles that don't just pretend your choices matter. Instead, they take into account how you choose to play your characters and adjust the game accordingly. As a result, every major decision is extremely important, as you can irrevocably alter the game's universe or alter the main narrative at any time. This is a collection of such titles.

Updated May 22, 2023 by Ben Jessey:Many games require player choice. However, in many cases, the decisions you're forced to make don't have a significant impact on the overall experience.

This doesn't always break the title, but it's much better when you're playing a game where your choices matter. There are many titles that fit this description. We have included some of the most notable ones in this list. And now we've updated the article by adding a few more.

29 The walking dead

TellTale's The Walking Dead is more of a collection of games than a single. That's because there are four seasons of this narrative adventure experience, as well as several spin-offs. The main seasons focus on a young Clementine who finds herself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

His main goal is simply to survive. To achieve this, you have to make a series of difficult decisions that affect her and those around her. Not all of them have a significant impact, but the older ones usually do.

28 Divinity: original sin 2

Divinity: Original Sin 2 is an isometric turn-based RPG set in the fantasy world of Rivellon. It's a beautiful world, but it's currently under attack by creatures known as Voidwoken. Your customizable hero is the only hope to save this place. That's the main premise of the story, but there's a lot more going on in this dense universe.

During your adventures, you make many choices that affect the overall experience. Not every decision is a binary decision that you are asked to make. It's just that the actions you choose to take while exploring affect your adventure.

27 Chronograph trigger

An early example of a game that contains a significant amount of player choice is Chrono Trigger. This 2D RPG from 1995 tells the story of a group of adventurers who discover that a global catastrophe is about to happen.

So they plan to use their time travel ability to visit different eras and come up with a plan to stop the world from destruction. There are many different ways to tell a story. Which one you get depends on the actions you take throughout the story.

26 Grand Car Thief 5

In Grand Theft Auto 5 you control three heroes who have different personalities. However, they have one thing in common: the desire to participate in criminal activities, especially those that bring them significant amounts of money. Therefore, they commit many robberies throughout the story.

Not only are you involved in the heists themselves, but you're also involved in the planning, which means you have to make some important decisions. What method do you use? Who do you want in your crew? These choices affect the course of the heist and its success.

25 When dusk falls

When dusk fallsit's a matter of choice. After all, the most important thing you do in the game is to make decisions that have a big impact on the course of each scene. Even choices that seem small sometimes turn out to be really important. So you have a lot of influence on the main story.

The story revolves around two families who meet on a faithful day in 1998. The first half of the adventure shows what happened on that day. The second half takes place many years later and shows how the events affected those involved.

24 Nier: Automata

The story of Nier: Automata involves a serious conflict between alien-created machines and human-created androids. It sounds simple enough, but it actually turns out to be one of the most complex narratives in recent gaming history. And you have to go through many playthroughs to see and understand everything.

During these runs you can getlitany of different endings. They are activated depending on the actions you choose to perform during the game. For example, if you decide to remove the chip that enables your Android character to function, it's game over immediately. So be careful what you choose in this action RPG.

23 Red Dead Redemption 2

This open-world western game is not a game that people often confuse when talking about choice-based games. After all, it's not like you're bombarded with binary decisions every two minutes. The honor system is much more organic as it tracks all your actions. So if you want great honor, don't shoot a lot of innocents.

Whether you are honest or not, the whole story is about the adventures of the Van Der Linde gang and their struggle to survive in a changing world. You play as Arthur Morgan and your honor level affects how the world sees and talks about this man. In addition, it also affects the ending.

22 Prey (2017)

Prey takes place entirely on a space station that has been taken over by a dangerous alien force called Typhon. Your goal is to get rid of them all by any means necessary. However, you are not the only living person on the station. As you go through the story, you meet many different people.

Most of the choices in the game revolve around these people, as you are constantly tasked with deciding if you should help them and how much help you should provide. Your actions in these situations affect the course of the story.

21 Life is strange: true colors

The Life Is Strange franchise is known for its choice-based gameplay, and True Colors is no exception. In it you control Alex Chen who reunites with his brother in a small mining town called Haven. It is worth noting that Alex is not an ordinary person. He has the supernatural ability to recognize and feel the emotions of others.

He uses this to try to uncover all the secrets of this seemingly happy town. Along the way, you have to make some important decisions. They affect the lives of various other characters and your relationship with them. You see what everyone thinks of you at the end of the game.

20 Heavy rain

Heavy Rain is an interactive narrative adventure that revolves around a serial killer named Origami Killer. They are known to murder their victims by drowning them in rainwater and leaving a piece of origami at the crime scene.

You play as several different heroes who want to identify the killer and put an end to his crimes. Their level of success depends on you. Your choices and button-mashing skills affect the course of each character's story. As a result, there are many different endings you can get.

19 mass effect 3

In the third Mass Effect game, Commander Shepard proved to be the most important person in the fight against the Reapers. As sentient machines actively attack ME3, the importance of the hero increases even more.

So throughout the action RPG, you make a series of choices that directly affect how ready you are for war, which dictates which endings are available. In addition, you have to decide the fate of several tribes during the game. You can even effectively drive many species to extinction by making certain choices.

18 Stanley's Parable

In The Stanley Parable, you control a silent hero whose actions are narrated by actor Kevan Brighting. The narrator is trying to lead you down a certain path, but you don't have to listen.

So you constantly choose whether or not to follow his instructions. And those decisions change the ending you get. Not that you stick to that conclusion because every time you reach the end of the track the game resets. So the game is about discovering different endings by making different choices.

17 The outer worlds

Not every decision you makeThe outer worldsis important. However, the bigger ones have a big impact on the game world, especially when it comes to the ending.

Almost every location you visit and faction you encounter depends on the actions you take throughout the game. And on a smaller scale, your choices also affect what everyone thinks of you on a personal level. So you should be careful with your decisions in The Outer Worlds.

16 Man from Medan

After the prologue of Man Of Medan, things seem calm as a group of young adults go on a diving trip together. Things don't last long though, as the main characters quickly get into trouble.

Most of their problems come when they jump on a creepy old warship. It's up to you to keep them safe despite the horrors they face. In fact, the lives of all the main characters are in your hands. Which of them survives has an immediate impactwhat's up with you.

15 Contaminated

Few games manage options like this Arkane Studios title. The world of Dishonored is created by you, not your words, it's based on your actions.

For example, if you choose to kill a lot of people during the story, you'll start to find a lot more rats and nasty creatures roaming around. Alternatively, the roads will be fairly clear while being hidden. Your chaos level also affects guard patrols, people's opinions of you, and the endgame.

14 Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077deals with personal choices that affect not only the main quest but also the side quests. For example, you will have the opportunity to save your neighbor who has serious personal problems, but as V, will you make the right choices to do so?

Cyberpunk also has different endings, and the journey you take V and Johnny Silverhand on up to that point will determine which one you see. So what you do throughout the story really matters. though don't worry too much about choosing a life path, because it's not like that.

13 Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

The Assassin's Creed series hasn't always been known for giving you control over what happens in a given game. But things have changed a bit in recent installments like this Vikings adventure.

ApplicationEivor and Sigured's adventure is directly determined by a set of decisionsyou have to do during the story. Additionally, you have a lot of small choices that affect things like who lives? Who controls what? And who is allied with whom?

12 Killer 3

While Hitman 3 isn't particularly considered a choice-based game, it is entirely dictated by how you choose to play it. In each level, there are several ways to defeat the objectives, and some of them are very different from each other. For example, in the Dartmoor mission, you can do the entire murder investigation, including talking to suspects and finding clues, all completely optional.

In addition, you have to make a big choice at the end of the game. Will you kill the character or choose a better fate for them? This is a great tip to keep in mind when it comes to conclusions. There's even a "secret" ending to unlock, bringing the total to three.

11 A wolf among us

TheSpeech countGames are often pretty confusing when it comes to narrative and choice-driven storytelling, but few do it as well as The Wolf Among Us. This title is a much tighter crime thriller than most other adventures, following your detective to catch a killer in a strange, fairy-tale version of New York.

What makes these choices important is the lack of time to make them, as most important decisions in the game have timers that prevent you from thinking too much about certain matters. You can make your own impulsive decisions, and while some may lead to more recent plot details, there's a lot you can miss if you don't rethink your actions.

10 Fallout: New Vegas

Most of the newer onesAbovethe games can be a bit on the rails with their stories. The main overarching plot usually doesn't change based on your decisions, and Fallout 3's simplistic choices of good or bad style left many fans disappointed. Fallout: New Vegas, however, is the exact opposite.

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Almost every decision has a huge gray area around its ethics and how it will help you. You can get close to some characters, befriend many factions that lead to conflict with others, and you can kill almost every NPC you meet to create even more different stories and that's it. It's endless options and a lot of decisions about the builds and attachments you choose, and it ends up being an amazingly personal experience with every game.