Summary
- Many games that have integrated choice systems are more likely to be political as well.
- Curiously, Eastern Europe seems to most often produce this type of video game.
- In these games, the right thing isn't always a difficult moral question. Sometimes, it's something that's really hard to do when the player is losing.
Video games and ethical dilemmas are no strangers to each other. Entire studios, like Telltale Games, have built their brand on orcing the player to make difficult decisions. Questions like who to save in a moment of crisis are often the most iconic of these choices.
However, these choices between A and B are often telegraphed. This list seeks to celebrate the more subtle forms of moral choices; those that are baked into the game's DNA and force the player to make tough choices via the game's mechanics and its unrelenting difficulty. Much like real life, these types of games force their players into disadvantageous positions, where there are good and evil choices, but making the right decision can often be hard, unrewarding, and costly.
8 Suzerain
Politics Made... Fun?
Suzerain
- Released
- December 4, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- t
- Genre(s)
- Strategy, RPG, Adventure, Indie Games
Potentially the most political game on this list, in Suzerain, players assume the role of Anton Rayne, who's tasked with running the fictional Republic of Sordland. It's the President's job to lead the country out of a recession after a civil war signals the end of the previous authoritarian regime.
Half RPG, half strategy game, every decision players make matters in Suzerain. Much like real-life politics, there are many invested parties telling the player what to do—and there's no pleasing everyone. The game's difficult systems will often encourage the player to slip into corruption, or forgo the moral choice in favor of a better trade deal. With at least nine endings, it's important to make the right decisions.
7 Papers, Please
Glory To Arstotzka
Papers, Please
- Released
- August 8, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Violence, Blood, Sexual Themes, Nudity, Drug Reference, Strong Language
- Genre(s)
- Simulation
Moving forward, politics is going to be a recurring theme in these games, as moral choices embedded within a game's systems are coincidentally the most qualified to explore systemic issues within society. Papers, Please has players take the role of a simple immigration officer in a fictitious country inspired by Eastern Europe.
Papers, Please: How to Get All Endings
Papers, Please has many obscure endings for committed players to find. This guide will help players unlock all of them.
In the game, people often challenge the immigration officer's morality, coming to them with sob stories that require them to be on the other side of the border at any cost. The problem is, most of these people do not have sufficient paperwork to cross into Arstotzka, something that grows more and more complex as the powers that be expand the country's entry requirements nearly every day. Although players can bend the rules to help people in need, they will be harshly penalized for doing so, and the player has a family to feed.
6 Arco
The Past Comes Back To Haunt You
Arco
- Released
- August 16, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- RPG
Defining Arco is difficult. Its gameplay is a mix of real-time and turn-based combat, and its polyphonic narrative lacks a singular focus on one character. Thematically, the game is about invaders, revenge, and being burdened with guilt.
Guilt is a literal game mechanic. There are choices the player can make that may benefit the party in the short term, but that same party will be haunted by guilt. Guilt manifests as ghosts that turn up to hurt the player during combat, and the more guilt the player carries, the more ghosts will spawn. This eventually culminates in an ending that determines if players have acquired small, medium, or high guilt, and Arco will judge them accordingly.
5 This War Of Mine
Not Even The Least Depressing Slavic Game
This War of Mine
- Released
- November 14, 2014
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Mild Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Survival
Most war stories are about the army, but Polish developer 11 Bit Studios decided to prioritize the stories of the civilians during the siege of a city in This War of Mine. The resulting game is a horror story about desperation during the bleakest periods of humanity. Players are tasked with taking care of the survivors. Their characters' needs will constantly run down as the player scavenges through ever-diminishing sources of supplies as the war rages on.
As people grow hungrier and more desperate, the player will be encouraged to take shortcuts or do depraved things in order to keep surviving. One of the most infamous sequences involves pillaging from the elderly whilst they beg the player not to steal anything more from them. Hopefully, this trend of cruel, depressing Eastern European games has reached its zenith.
4 Pathologic
From Russia With Plague
Pathologic
- Released
- June 9, 2005
WHERE TO PLAY
Russian developer Ice-Pick Lodge's Pathologic is about a group of healers being powerless to stop a plague sweeping through a fictitious Russian town. Players race against time to do everything they can to stop the plague, and time is not on their side; they simply won't be able to do everything they need to.
On top of this, players compete with draining resources like hunger, thirst, and reputation whilst defending themselves from penniless muggers. They also have to handle their money, which is much simpler because they usually have none. Players will have to make split-second decisions about who they want to give medicine to, and who they are content with losing, including main NPCs. Even still, luck plays a big part in this game, and fate may have other plans. Both Pathologic 1 and 2 are modern classics, and Pathologic 3 has recently been announced.
3 Darkest Dungeon
Gather Your Party, Then Dispose Of Them
Darkest Dungeon
- Released
- January 19, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen due to Alcohol Reference, Blood and Gore, Mild Language, Partial Nudity, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Genre(s)
- RPG
Darkest Dungeon is a turn-based horror roguelike game that encourages players to think like an executive. The core of the game is about managing a group of heroes exploring ever-shifting dungeons, and dealing with the insanity inflicted upon them by the Lovecraftian horrors within.
In this case, the insanity they experience is quantified by a stress meter. The more stress an adventurer endures, the less effective they will be. While the player could invest in fixing these issues, it would be much cheaper (and more efficient) to dispose of the traumatized adventurer and replace them with a fresh one who has no idea about the horrors they're going to face. Then again, that suffering adventurer may also be the most capable fighter in the party. Decisions, decisions...
2 Frostpunk
Survival At Any Cost
Frostpunk
- Released
- April 24, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Mild Sexual Themes, Mild Violence, Strong Language
- Genre(s)
- City Builder, Survival
11 Bit Studios returns to this list with another merciless game. In this instance, Frostpunk is a city builder about surviving the apocalypse. Eternal winter has set in, and it's the player's job to keep New London—the last city on Earth—afloat, lest humanity go extinct.
I Never Played Frostpunk - What Should I Know As A Beginner?
I've been interested in Frostpunk for a long time but never really got a chance to play it for myself, and with Frostpunk 2 winning Best Simulation/Strategy Game at The Game Awards 2024, I'm more interested than ever. I'm really drawn to its overwhelmingly oppressive atmosphere, and the setting seems unlike anything I've ever seen in a strategy game. But I don't really know much about the mechanics aside from it being a kind of city-builder and survival hybrid, both genres I've had fun with in other games.
During the player's desperation, they may be tempted by a few questionable policies; things such as child labor or the reuse of corpses for sustenance suddenly become best-case options. They're not exactly the most moral of policies, but they're potentially necessary, depending on how players build their cities.
1 Fear & Hunger
Flip A Coin And Pray
Fear & Hunger
- Released
- December 11, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
Before Fear & Hunger became popular, it was an obscure game with a dedicated fandom exclusively in Russia. Given this list's trends, it's easy to tell where this is going. Fear & Hunger is a game that hates the player. In return, the player has to become a hateful person to even stand a chance of surviving.
Perhaps the game's most infamous mechanic is its coin flip. At almost every opportunity, there's a 50% chance the player could make the wrong call, followed by something horrific happening. This game integrates immersive sim elements into the RPG to push players to desperation, handing them the tools to do some truly heinous things for a slight advantage in the game. Child sacrifice isn't necessary, but it is recommended.
7 Best Game Worlds That Realistically React To Evil Decisions
From Red Dead Redemption 2's honor system to the crushing guilt of murder in Undertale, these games pull no punches in punishing immoral actions.