Back in the early days of gaming, narrative-driven adventure games like The Last of Us and God of War were little more than just a pipe dream. The most that players could really hope for was a few simple cut-scenes between stages and a bit of text-based dialogue here and there. That all changed around the turn of the century, though, with improved visuals, voice acting, and high-capacity storage allowing developers to focus more of their time on their games' stories.
Fast forward twenty years and storytelling is the central pillar of most modern video games, which has in turn led to a massive rise in the number of titles that allow players to influence the narrative through the choices that they make while playing. Some of these decisions are fairly meaningless and have very little bearing on the overall course of the story. Others, however, can be incredibly difficult for players; forcing them to make life-or-death decisions concerning characters who they have come to know and love.
5 Kill or Spare Lord Shimura (Ghost of Tsushima)
The story of Ghost of Tsushima is full of impossible choices. However, unlike in many other modern video games, which bombard players with difficult decisions left, right, and center, it is the game's protagonist Jin who must carry the weight of his actions rather than the players. This ultimately leads to Jin sacrificing his honor, his freedom, and his relationship with the person who matters most to him; all for the good of his people.
Watching Jin grapple with the beliefs and ideals instilled within him by Lord Shimura makes for an incredibly compelling story, albeit one with a bitter-sweet ending. The story's climax sees players finally given some agency too, but it arguably comes at the worst possible time. It is they who must decide whether or not to kill Lord Shimura, who blames himself for Jin having broken the samurai code. Granted, he wants Jin to kill him, but it just doesn't seem fair that he should be the one to pay the price for Jin's actions.
4 Rewrite or Destroy the Geth Heretics (Mass Effect 2)
The Mass Effect series is renowned for its tough choices, but some are a lot harder to make than others. Case in point, at the end of Legion's loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2, players must decide whether to destroy a significant portion of a synthetic alien race known as the Geth or rewrite their code so that they no longer worship the series' main antagonists, the Reapers.
The rationale for reprogramming the Geth heretics is that it allows Shepard to neutralize them as a threat without having to destroy them. At a glance, this seems like the more humane of the two choices, though by taking away the heretics' free will, it could be argued that a swift death would be the kinder option. After all, many people are defined by their beliefs and would happily die to defend them if push ever came to shove.
3 Sacrifice Chloe or Arcadia Bay (Life is Strange)
Deciding whether or not to sacrifice Chloe in order to keep the people of Arcadia Bay safe in Life is Strange is a little reminiscent of a choice that players are faced with at the end of Fable 2. Both games effectively force players to choose between the lives of their loved ones and those of a much larger group of equally innocent people.
However, the choice in Life is Strange is arguably a much more difficult one to make, as although fewer lives are lost in the event that the town is destroyed by the storm, many of its inhabitants are people with whom players have spent time interacting throughout the course of the game. What's more, players are also being asked to decide who lives and who dies in this instance, rather than who should be brought back to life.
2 Support Sabal or Amita (Far Cry 4)
The Far Cry series features some of the best villains in video game history and Far Cry 4 is a great example of this. The series' fourth installment introduces players to Pagan Min, a brutal dictator with little to no regard for human life and a very short fuse. The main questline sees players fight for the freedom of Kyrat, forcing them to work together with one of two rebel fighters in order to bring an end to Pagan's reign of tyranny once and for all.
Unfortunately, though, the two people with whom players can align themselves are arguably no better than Pagan himself. Sabal wants to turn Kyrat into a theocracy where heretics are executed for treason, while Amita dreams of a totalitarian regime in which children are conscripted to guard endless fields of drugs. Neither sounds like it would be all that great for the people of Kyrat, making this a somewhat impossible choice for players.
1 Kill Lee or Let Him Turn (The Walking Dead)
Given that many of the toughest video game choices can determine the fate of large groups of people, choosing whether or not to kill a single man may at first seem like small potatoes by comparison, especially as the man in question is going to die anyway fairly soon. However, deciding whether to kill Lee or let him turn at the end of The Walking Dead still proved to be a heartbreaking and impossible decision for the majority of players.
The choice is made all the more difficult by the fact that players aren't actually the ones who have to do the killing in the event that they choose to put Lee out of his misery. Instead, they are deciding whether or not eight-year-old Clementine will need to pull the trigger, which is particularly cruel given that Lee serves as both a father figure and a guardian to Clementine throughout the events of the Telltale game.