Summary
A lot of games have made great efforts to make it feel like the player’s decisions actually matter. Very few manage to pull it off, however, and more often than not, many of the decisions games force us to make end up feeling inconsequential or superficial.
Great games where your decisions truly matterand are few and far between. But there are some exceptions. Someopen-worldgames have a heavy focus on allowing the player to make complex moral decisions and then revealing the consequences of these dilemmas. All the games on this list are truly open-world (not just zoned) and have been ranked according to both overall quality and how much they focus on the player’s moral choices.
Skyrimis one of the highest-selling and most popular action RPGs ever made. Bethesda has sold millions of copies and released it on pretty much every modern platform known to man. It offers a massive open-world sandbox where the player is largely allowed to do what they want when they want, and many quests have different outcomes depending on the player’s decisions. It’s agreat open-world game that emphasizes freedom.
YetSkyrimgets bottom-ranking here for one simple reason. The player is frequently tasked with making moral decisions, but there’s less of a focus on consequences. A classic example is the Dark Brotherhood quest line. The player can either join or destroy this group of murderers and assassins, but outside the quest itself, other NPCs will barely acknowledge the player’s decisions. Likewise, joining the Thieves Guild barely registers beyond the occasional snarky comment from a guard.Skyrimallows the player to be a goody-goody hero or psychopathic serial killer, but no one in Skyrim seems to care that much outside of the guards and their bounty demands.
Stalker 2is a difficult game to rank on a list like this. On the one hand, it was one ofthe best, and hyped-up, games of 2024. It has a massive open world that honors the spirit of earlierStalkergames, and after some massive updates, is a ton of fun to play. Its world can be gruelingly hard to survive in, and the game forces the player to make tough moral decisions constantly.
ButStalker 2’sworld is a morally gray one. We’re going to avoid spoilers for such a recent game, but most ofStalker 2’sdecisions lack clear-cut “good” or “bad” options. Decisions can have far-reaching consequences that aren’t immediately clear, much like in real life. However, the game focuses more on the need for survival than morality. It’s often hard to care about the decisions we’re forced to make (and their consequences) while playing, especially since the game all too often forces us to make these decisions without making the player well-informed (especially if they never played the earlier games). This leads to the game getting a lower ranking here.
It’s been quite a while since we had a newInfamousgame, which is a pity because few other games focus on player morality to the extent theInfamousgames did. Each game allowed the player to either become a genuine superhero or an evil supervillain based not just on the decisions they made but on how they played.
Fighting recklessly, killing enemies, and causing too much collateral damage sent the player down a darker path while playing cautiously and heroically made them a hero. This tied into the progression system, which reinforced each style of play. The first two games in particular told one continuous story with multiple, world-changing endings depending on how we played. Compared to modern games, theInfamousgames are a bit too black and white and lack some nuance, leading to a lower ranking. Even so, it remains one ofthe best open-world superhero gamesever made.
Cyberpunkmight have gotten off to a rough start, but in its current state, it’s easily one ofthe best open-world FPS gamesever made.Cyberpunk 2077is yet another open-world game where almost every quest includes at least one moral dilemma. The best example of this is the Sinnerman quest, a painfully morally complex quest that can leave the player questioning their own morality in a way few other quests can.
But a bit like withStalker 2, whileCyberpunkrepeatedly confronts the player with decisions that have a moral edge, morality itself isn’t usually the focus. Like everyone else in Night City, V is fighting for survival. The main quest line has plenty of branching decisions, but few of them feel particularly “moral”. Side quests and jobs, on the other hand, will feature moral decisions, but the consequences are often limited to receiving a certain text or alternate mission reward. These moral decisions have little to no bearing on the game’s multiple endings or V’s personality.
It could be said thatVampyris more semi-open-world than it is truly open-world, limiting its ranking here, but its heavy emphasis on morality earns it a spot on this list. The game follows Dr. Jonathan E. Reid, a renowned blood specialist who is turned into a vampire after returning to London after witnessing the horrors of the First World War. Reid starts as an unwilling vampire and the game brilliantly plays on the moral dilemma caused by his need to survive on blood and his moral duty as a doctor. This inner conflict makes him one ofthe best vampire characters in gaming.
The game’s progression system is tied to Reid’s bloodlust. Reid can feed on and kill major NPCs, and the more of a relationship he builds up with them by doing quests, the more valuable their blood. Indulge in this bloodlust, feed on everyone, and Reid becomes incredibly powerful. Be a good boy and refuse to drink, and Reid’s abilities and progression are severely hampered. The game’s quests also come with similar moral dilemmas that can change the fate of London entirely. Lots of games have tough moral decisions, but very few actively hamper character progression by making them choose between their morals and power trip fantasy.
LikeStalker 2,Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2is still pretty fresh, so we’ll be avoiding story spoilers. It’s also worth saying that, from this point onward, the games on this list are fairly interchangeable when it comes to the quality of their moral decisions. What makesKingdom Come: Deliverance 2stand out is its brilliant Crime and Punishment system.
We’ve all been chased down by low-IQ town guards in open-world RPGs before, but this game is different. Guards have long memories and won’t just forgive Henry the second he disappears around the corner. Minor crimes might come with a fine or a spell spent in the town stocks. Major crimes can lead to being branded, or even executed. Being branded will affect how NPCs react to Henry and some will refuse to interact with him at all. Henry’s moral reputation affects dialogue choices and can end some quests before they even begin. On top of this, most quests also include the kind of morally gray dilemmas we’ve come to expect from a game like this. Seemingly small decisions can have major consequences, like the destruction of entire villages and the deaths of major NPCs.
BothFallout 3andNew Vegasfeatured similar morality systems (something controversially cut fromFallout 4) butNew Vegasadded to this system with its added focus on faction reputation. Staying in one faction’s favor often comes at the cost of being friendly with others, with some factions being morally gray and others being obviously good or evil.
This means the player is constantly forced to make tough decisions, balancing their morality with their standing with multiple factions. It’s hard to be a good guy when working with the slave-owning Caesar’s Legion, for example. This is a morally gray game, something reflected in the game’s multiple endings. What one person perceives as a “bad” ending, might just as well be a good ending to someone else. The game is also particularly good at making the player care about the consequences of their actions, whether they be selling a loyal ally into slavery or framing someone for murder. No wonder it’s often considered to bethe bestFalloutgameamong franchise fans.
TheFablefranchise has a long and messy history but has a reboot coming out soon. The last “proper” game in the franchise fans received wasFable 3back in 2010. Like the first two games in the series, it came with a heavy emphasis on player morality in both the decisions they made and how they played. What makesFable 3’smorality system interesting, though, is its focus on balancing moral decision-making with the greater good.
The player has a kingdom to rule over and doing the “right” thing, like building a school and outlawing child labor, usually comes at a heavy cost. Make too many morally good decisions, and you could run your kingdom into the ground. At the same time, rule like a tax-grubbing tyrant, and you’re able to expect your population to rebel. These decisions impact not only the overall story but also the appearance of both the protagonist and their kingdom. Playing strategically and amassing personal wealth can negate some of the practical consequences of playing morally, but not all of them.Fable 3is a flawed game, but its interesting system earns it a high ranking.
Red Dead Redemption2 is a ridiculously detailed game, and that carries over to its morality system and how it deals with consequences. Rather than encouraging the player to make significant decisions, or having a branching storyline,Red Dead Redemption 2is constantly judging Arthur’s actions via its honor system.
Doing good-natured things like helping strangers in need, disarming opponents in duels, and donating money to the poor/ the camp all increase Arthur’s honor. Even being friendly and greeting passersby can have an effect. On the other hand, being a jerk, ignoring those in need, and robbing the innocent all lowers his honor. Arthur’s honor level can change how he behaves in cut scenes, affects how NPCs interact with him and can lead to discounts in shops and missed side missions. Most importantly, it completely changes the game’s ending, making sure the player always gets the ending they deserve. It’s a more nuanced system that adds to the game’s already impressive level of immersion.
Readers probably saw this one coming.The Witcher 3has long been the gold standard when it comes to handling moral decisions and their consequences while also telling a compelling branching story. Branching stories that stick the landing are hard to pull off. Just look at what happened withMass Effect 3.
The Witcher 3is full of moral decisions that have far-reaching implications, both big and small. Major quest lines like the Bloody Baron have multiple endings that hinge on the decisions the players make. These endings in turn impact both other side quests and the main game’s ending. Often these decisions are morally gray and the best the player can hope for is choosing between two equally bad outcomes. However, few other games handle moral consequences well. Geralt’s actions affect not just his and Ciri’s fate but the game’s political landscape, world state, and the fates of countless beloved characters. It’s a game that demands repeated playthroughs and has a moral complexity that few others have managed.
