Default Prime writer Chris Stewart looks at morality in some games where decisions have meaningful consequences for the player and the game world before looking at some upcoming games that look set to cloud the line between right and wrong more than ever before...
"One of the big themes of gaming recently is morality. It was squeezed into all sorts of places, but tended to force the player into a pure good or pure evil playthrough of a game, as the strict dichotomy setup between the two didn’t accommodate for the foggier choices people tend to be forced into making in real life. I find the idea an excellent one, though. A game where my decisions affect the world around me in some way inevitably draws me deeper into the narrative as I make the character my own. That is the fundamental flaw with the strict split down the middle of good and bad; if I am forced into a good or an evil playthrough, the character is not mine, but has been railroaded into a series of decisions so I could obtain the best powers, items or ending. However, it seems that 2012 is less concerned with refining the morality system and more interested in clouding the line between good and bad more than ever before…"
Replaying Skyrim after 13 years is a reminder of the progress made in western RPGs over the last decade, but also what's been lost.
RPGs are often huge, sprawling endeavours. With limited playtime, we have to choose wisely, so here's the best western RPGs available today.
"I started playing games yesterday" the List... Meh!
How about a few RPGs that deserve some love instead?
1 - Alpha Protocol - Now on GOG
2 - else Heart.Break()
3 - Shadowrun Trilogy
4 - Wasteland 2
5 - UnderRail
6 - Tyranny
7 - Torment: Tides of Numenera
And for a bonus game that flew under the radar:
8 - Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
Not only glorious jank, but the idea that the story can completely change depending on what you do, or say, or side with, makes it one of the most forward thinking games ever. The amount of story permutation is the equivalent of a Hitman level but in Story Form. And it wasn't just that the story changed, no, it was that you met completely new characters, or missed them, depending on your choices. Made Mass Effect feel static in comparison.
Alpha Protocol was absolutely glorious, indeed. And it was, and still is, more Next Gen than most anything out there these days. In this regard at least.
Pity.
A new Partner Spotlight Sale is now live on the Switch eShop, including Skyrim, lowest price ever for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and more.
