RPGs are a game genre that can allow for some of the darkest choices ever conceived to players. This is not an isolated feature only seen in a few games, but the very idea of role-playing has always permeated the notion of ‘world is your oyster.’
In the list below, we will be going over some of the darkest decisions one can take in some of the RPGs throughout history.
RPGs That Force You To Make Very Dark Choices
Fallout 3
Bethesda’s Fallout franchise is pretty popular among fans of action RPGs, and nowadays it has gone far beyond the gaming space with live-action media adaptations. These games are known for their cruel open world, throwing players into a world that has just gone through nuclear destruction.
Fallout 3 is especially important among all of them for our list, because players are able to make some evil decisions without many consequences. Players can choose to drop a bomb on the innocent town of Megaton for absolutely no reason.
This is truly one of the darkest choices one can make because the town of Megaton is one of the largest settlements in the game, and its inhabitants are not hostile at all.
Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is as RPG as any modern-day game in the genre can get. It has the qualities of an old point-and-click adventure game, as well as actual tabletop game elements with dice rolls, making almost all of the decisions for the player.
Naturally, the game has enough room to allow for an experience that is very dark. But completely different from the rest of the games on this list, Disco Elysium’s dark choices are levied solely on the players themselves.
Throughout the game, the players can choose to make some of the worst dialogue choices, as well as pick and choose the exact wrong qualities to have in an individual. Alcoholism, misogyny, racism, you name it, and you will be able to push your character towards that direction.
Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic
Knights of the Old Republic is also abbreviated as KOTOR lovingly by the community, besides the fact that it’s a massive title. This game is one of the most popular RPGs in all of Star Wars media. It was originally developed by BioWare and was published by LucasArts when they still owned the IP.
Being an RPG, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic gives players the freedom to make choices throughout the game, and some of them can get really dark. One of the most notable of these is making Zaalbar the Wookie murder his best friend.
Mass Effect 3
We are not done with BioWare games until we have talked about one of their biggest franchises, which is the Mass Effect series. The original trilogy gave fans of video games one of the most memorable sci-fi RPGs in existence.
But as usual, the game being an RPG can allow the players to make whatever choices they can and in this case, the worst thing that players can do is not make any decision in Mass Effect 3. This will end in the natural enemies, aka the Reapers, succeeding in ending every lifeform across galaxies.
Dragon’s Dogma 2
Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma 2, as a game, was a long time coming since the first one and even though it was met with critical appreciation during launch. It is an RPG that more people need to check out.
Similar to Mass Effect 3, Dragon’s Dogma 2 presents in front of players with a situation where they can choose not to make a choice. This is towards the end of the game when the Arisen is meant to fulfil their destiny of slaying the Dragon.
They can choose to stand down and not make any decision, thus resulting in the game defaulting to the darkest choice, which is, dooming the world.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
The Assassin’s Creed games in the modern era have evolved into something that is completely different from what it initially set out to do. In the present day, the games have gone beyond the scope of a particular location and era, bringing in supernatural elements and full-on RPG mechanics.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is one such game, set in the era of the Peloponnesian War with references to other Greek mythologies. The most important fact about this game is that players are constantly presented with some of the darkest choices.
At the very beginning of the game, the player character gets to choose if they want to slaughter a helpless family or leave the land to the mercy of a dangerous plague. Neither of the options is morally favourable, and this is exactly why it deserves a spot on this list.
Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse
It’s not just the western RPGs but also Japanese RPGs that provide players with situations pertaining to some of the darkest choices in gaming. Especially in Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei games, where players get to choose what becomes of the world after it has gone through a post-apocalyptic event.
The crown for the darkest choice that players can make in the whole franchise has to be given to Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse. Where players can choose to kill all their friends and enslave the whole world under them towards to game’s finale.
Undertale
Undertale is probably the only game in existence where almost everyone playing it blindly will always go for an experience where they are making the most evil decisions. This involves getting involved in actual combat encounters and ending them by defeating the opponent.
This triggers what has officially come to be called the genocide run, and it defaults to the darkest ending. Thus allowing the player character to realistically kill and destroy every living being in the game.
It is only after this first run and learning more about the game that players are able to revert back on their decisions and start a proper pacifist run.
Dark Souls
Arguably, the most popular game franchise that comes to anyone’s mind when talking about the RPG genre. Dark Souls shaped the action-adventure genre with its own brand of patient combat style and insane world-building.
But that is not the point of what we are discussing today. If you are someone who has played through the whole of Dark Souls, then you know very well how it harbours one of the darkest choices you can ever make in an RPG.
Basically rendering the whole point of the game evil. At the end of the game, when players defeat Gwyn and are presented with the idea of linking the fire, they can choose to completely overturn the world and bring in the age of the dark lord.
Divinity Original Sin 2
Larian Studios is well known in the gaming sphere for its work behind Baldur’s Gate 3. But even before all of that, they were very well known for the Divinity RPG series. Especially Divinity Original Sin 2, which is finally getting a new entry that was recently teased.
Players are allowed some insanely sinister choices in Larian’s games, but the darkest of them all has to be the decision to destroy and release deathfog into Arx during the third act of Divinity Original Sin 2.
These decisions essentially end with killing off almost every important NPC around, thus locking down several necessary quests needed for completionists.
