Top 7... Games that force you to make disturbingly amoral decisions

You can do anything you like, as long as it makes you feel awful

Words: Tom Goulter on October 26, 2012

Back to Article

59 comments

View as:
Newest first
Oldest first

winner2 - October 22, 2012 2:24 p.m.

Witcher 2. Deciding between triss or de-trancing the dragon was a tough decision for me. I went for Triss but I still wonder.
- Reply
- Report
Blaze38 - October 22, 2012 5:33 p.m.

I totally agree with you. In The Witcher 2 every choice felt like a grey area to me. Like choosing between getting Loredo for the info he has on the kingslayer or saving the elven women in the burning buliding.
- Reply
- Report
obviouslyadouche - October 22, 2012 2:05 p.m.

Minecraft, it asks the question what will you do to survive. The game makes you destroy the landscape around you so you can build shelter. You could simply grow wheat and slowly gain food or you could murder many animals and feast on them. I remember at one point i was far from home and dying and there was a single pig and I asked if my life was worth me then his, did I deserve to take this pigs life? Sure it would probably despawn as soon as I died, but thats not the point.
- Reply
- Report
someonetgsn - October 22, 2012 1:59 p.m.

What about GTA 4, where I have to choose between going drinking with Roman, and playing GTA 4. After all, If I do not hang out with him, or anyone else, they won't like me =( Also there was that little choice at the game's climax, but after all those gut wrenching choices that came before, I am sure it was not so bad. :D (totally not sarcasm... maybe)
- Reply
- Report
lazer59882 - October 22, 2012 1:56 p.m.

jesus guys, could you PLEASE correct the title? there should be an 's' at the end of decision. it's incredibly amateur of you guys that this article's been up here so long with such a blatant mistake right in the title.
- Reply
- Report
FOZ - October 22, 2012 1:44 p.m.

Just do the major sidequests and pick the blue option for Mass Effect 3 and everything will be fine. Unless you got Wrex killed.
- Reply
- Report
FOZ - October 22, 2012 1:50 p.m.

Mass Effect 3's morality system is its own undoing because there's always a right answer. I would definitely replace Fallout 3 with New Vegas. Really easy to be impossibly benevolent in 3, but there's no way to make everything just right in New Vegas. The NCR are organized, but not everyone wants to live under them. Mr. House has the best resources for rebuilding, but is incredibly arrogant and thinks nothing of asking you to massacre people just for believing differently than him. And The Witcher will probably get community choice because there isn't really a right way for any of the choices. The story just plays out differently, not necessarily worse or better either way.
- Reply
- Report
Bloodstorm - October 22, 2012 1:09 p.m.

"Midway through the game, you're locked in a VR machine and asked to massacre a bunch of AIs... incurring a substantial penalty to your Karma back in the Capital Wasteland. Just a game, indeed." They weren't AI you know? They were other vault dwellers occupying the same VR program.
- Reply
- Report
FierceVoltage - October 22, 2012 1:16 p.m.

That's why he is being sarcastic...
- Reply
- Report
Pwnz0r3d - October 22, 2012 12:44 p.m.

I really love the decisions Walking Dead throws at you. The worst one was when I ignored Duck's hi-five, then he, his mom, and Carley all died less than an hour later. I felt like such a dick, even though I hated the kid. It had no weight in the story, no real consequence other than a sad face, it literally meant nothing story-wise. But the fact that it was a technically minuscule and insignificant choice that actually made me feel awful is very amazing.
- Reply
- Report
talleyXIV - October 22, 2012 12:33 p.m.

X-COM made me feel racist. Hmm, Nigeria is at panic level 3 and will give me $200, but France is at panic level 2 and will give me $205... France.
- Reply
- Report
sweetchiliheat - October 22, 2012 12:21 p.m.

I remember the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2. Personally, only Jack died (which was more than fine). However, my little brother, who didn't like upgrading anything (weapons, armor or ship) was devastated when he landed on the Collector ship with have of his crew remaining. He had even less members when he didn't think about who would be the best specialist. Eventually he had to sacrifice the Normandy crew to have 2 party members for the boss fight. Now watching him do that was devastating. Aaaaand he was really pissed I never told him how to avoid those deaths...
- Reply
- Report
JohnDagger - October 22, 2012 11:53 a.m.

You know what, I am going to get butthurt. Witcher 2 had large decisions, where none of the choices were the clear right one. Example: You have 5 seconds to choose whether you free a known bandit and murderer that wants to raise the oppressed races above humans through violence, or do you help the murdering Gestapo nonhuman hunters that busted you out of prison? No one is the good guy in that game and everyone has their own agenda (including you friends). Every decision feels like the wrong one and the happiest things can end is the entire world being plunged into a global war.
- Reply
- Report
db1331 - October 22, 2012 12:30 p.m.

I was actually going to say the first Witcher. I think it did an even better job of what you were describing. The first big choice in the game is whether or not you allow a band of elves to steal a supply of weapons. I let them have the weapons my first time through, only to find out a few hours later that some of the arrows were found stuck in dead civilians, meaning I aided terrorism. My second time through the game I thought, "Fuck those assholes" and killed them. A few hours later, I was pleased to see that no civilians were shot. Then, later still, I found out the Elf camp I visited in my first game was gone. Everyone, including the women and children were killed. Since I didn't let those elves steal the weapon cache, they had nothing to defend themselves with. I felt like a jackass. Probably the only time I've done something in a game that left me truly uncomfortable was in KoTOR. I set out for a "Good" playthrough, but somewhere along the line, the temptation of the Dark Side just became too great. Shit got real when I decided to not only kill Mission, but to use my Jedi mind tricks on her best friend, and have HIM kill her, just to be as fiendishly evil as possible. That stuck with me for a while. I liked Mission, but I liked Dark Side points even more.
- Reply
- Report
Redeater - October 22, 2012 1:05 p.m.

I'm going to ignore this post after I read the first couple sentences. I'm planning on playing The Witcher 1 on my widescreen TV with maximum settings right after I finish Trine 2. I can't wait!
- Reply
- Report
db1331 - October 22, 2012 1:29 p.m.

You are in for a treat. It's easily my favorite game I've played in the last few years. You should look into the texture mod to make it a little easier on the eyes. There is also a combat overhaul mod that supposedly makes the combat closer to that of TW2, but I haven't checked that out yet.
- Reply
- Report
spartan6431 - October 22, 2012 11:53 a.m.

How do I copy editing?
- Reply
- Report
JohnDagger - October 22, 2012 11:43 a.m.

I honestly can't think of a better number 1 besides the Walking Dead and I don't feel like getting butthurt over Skyrim having bigger decisions than Fallout 3. i might have put Witcher 2 on the list over Skyrim since the choices you make can change where the second act of the game takes place in. Also Alpha Protocol. For all of its flaws, it nailed having to make quick conversation decisions that would cause the story to change organically around them.
- Reply
- Report
kyle94 - October 22, 2012 1:28 p.m.

Alpha Protocol was absolutely amazing when it came to choices. I still love how, at the end of the set of missions at a location, you got a big choice about what to do. And, no matter what, the bad guys win, especially with Taiwan. Either the president of Taiwan is killed with China implicated and tensions between them increase, or people get hurt and die during a riot with the Chinese implicated and tensions between them increase. I just like how there is no right decision, it's entirely up to the player to do what they feel is the right thing to do. So, while it was flawed, it's also one of my favorite RPGs of recent history, and one of the few games I've played where I wished there was more to it and that I could keep playing.
- Reply
- Report