Players enjoy being faced with decisions and choosing from multiple options. However, in some older titles, the options were restricted – resulting in somewhat bizarre scenarios.
Games don’t have to follow a predetermined path. Sometimes you can make decisions along the way that affect the further gameplay. Especially role-playing games like Baldur’s Gate 3 are known for changing the story in this way. You can decide what you say in conversations, how you solve a quest, or even whether someone lives or dies.
Even games outside the RPG genre often include decisions. However, as some users on Reddit have pointed out, the options in the past were somewhat limited. Join us on a journey back to 2009.
Decisions yes, but what kind…
What do the users show? An Reddit user named NoLastNameForNow shared a screenshot from the game Infamous from 2009. It shows the main character being faced with a decision.
There are basically two options available, both of which are quite significant. The character can either go to a character named ‘Brandon’ and tell him that his wife is dead, or he goes to Brandon and shoots him.
What sounds quite absurd shows that the choices in earlier games were often quite limited. Another user named the_internet-rando recalls his experiences in Fable 3.
There he reached a point in the game where he was faced with the decision of what should happen to a factory: Close the factory and turn it into a school, or continue operating the factory with child laborers. Depending on what you chose, Fable 3 awarded plus or minus points in the morality system.
Players also had a similar experience with the first Bioshock. The choice to either fully or only partially exploit the little Sisters to obtain the coveted ADAM substance is morally questionable in both cases.
In the case of CoD: Modern Warfare 2 from 2009, there was a harsh decision of a different nature: In the notorious mission “No Russian”, you must traverse an airport as a soldier. In the international version, you have the option to shoot at the standing civilians – in the German version, that is not possible. If you shoot at innocents, the game ends.
However, you can also completely skip this mission and not expose yourself to it at all.
What do the users think about it? On Reddit, users agree that some decisions in earlier games were not only tough but also had somewhat bizarre consequences.
- “I always forget the era of ‘morality’ in games,” writes Orsim27.
- “Knights of the Old Republic was a prime example. I remember thinking I was cool when I made the dark side decisions, and when I returned as an adult and played, I thought: Not even the Sith lords are that cruel.”
These are just a few examples of decisions that have challenged players. Do you know any more? Feel free to write us in the comments about the funny or absurd decisions you had to make in your gaming career. You might also be interested in: New game from the creators of Mass Effect presents you with tough decisions, promising consequences for everything
