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| 7 | [[quoteright:347:[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/907547c7cfbb5f0b1ec559b7230f5310.jpg]]]] |
| 8 | [[caption-width-right:347:Choices. [[note]][[http://manapsart.deviantart.com/art/Plumber-s-Dilemma-181579785 Image]] by [[http://michaelmayne.deviantart.com/ Michael Mayne]] on Website/DeviantArt]][[/note]] |
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| 12 | * In ''The Luminous Circus'' play of ''VideoGame/{{A3}}'', George is the head of a dying circus troupe. He later encounters and picks up an abandoned baby, whose presence magically restores the circus troupe. However, this also draws unwanted attention to the baby and the baby is kidnapped at one point. George can either keep the baby with him to maintain the magic and put the baby at risk, or give up on the baby along with the magic so that the baby does not have to face such risks anymore. [[spoiler:George chooses the latter, giving up the baby to the church because he belives the baby deserves a better life. The magic that restored the circus disappears as a result, and after a shabby performance, Nick and Will have enough and call it quits, leaving George alone.]] |
| 13 | * ''VideoGame/AceCombatXSkiesOfDeception'' offers you something of this in the endgame. You can either take down Alect Squadron first, which leads to the Fenrirs having annoying High Powered Microwave cannons, or you can attack the transport fleet first and deny the Fenrirs their [=HPMs=], but gain Alect Squadron's piloting expertise. And you may also need to go through an AirstrikeImpossible segment now or later. No third option here, folks. |
| 14 | * At one point in ''VideoGame/AdventRising'', you are forced to choose to save either your brother or your fiancee. [[spoiler:The one you choose to save ends up dead later in the story, and the villains [[WhatTheHellHero guilt trip you for failing to save the other one]]. Worse yet, there's a glitch that sometimes switches your choice to the other person, so it's all meaningless]]. |
| 15 | * ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'': |
| 16 | ** The game forces you to choose between the life of someone you care about, and the lives of many people you don't know. [[spoiler:And just like them, the character you care about exits the story either way (though for once, she has a chance of not exiting in a body bag.)]] Interestingly in [[spoiler:Rome]], the choice is even more difficult. While the utilitarian decesion is to save the greater number of people, saving [[spoiler:just Madison]] hurts the greater objectives of Halbeck further as she survives to campaign against them politically whereas if she dies the anti-terror laws, that were the motive of the attack, are passed. |
| 17 | ** During the Taipei missions, Thorton has to stop Omen Deng from assassinating Taiwanese President Ronald Sung [[spoiler:or at least he ''thinks'' Omen Deng is the assassin]] and at one point, he manages to recover Omen Deng's flash drive. The problem? The flash drive has protection software that ''deletes the disk when opened'', so Thorton has to choose to either save the data about the assassination, or save the data about deliberately instigated riots planned to happen in the future. If he saves the data about the assassination, President Ronald Sung's life is saved but hundreds of people get killed in the ensuing riots. If he saves the data about the riots, the president puts extra security around to stop the riots before they happen, but the assassin successfully kills Sung. |
| 18 | * The first ''VideoGame/AnotherCenturysEpisode'' game features one of these: [[spoiler:Either blow up civilian space shuttles at random trying to locate a bomb, or let that bomb get to Earth and completely wreck the environment.]] [[SarcasmMode Thanks a bunch,]], [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Char]]. |
| 19 | * A sadistic choice plays a pivotal role in the backstory of ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'': one of the dwarf clans carelessly allowed humans access to their secrets of technology, humans [[HumansAreBastards used that technology to destructive ends]], and a delegation of elves petitioned the dwarf king Loghaire Thunderstone to allow them retribution against the clan (elves, being InHarmonyWithNature, suffered most from the industrial revolution). To allow elves to interfere in the dwarven justice system would violate the clan's honor, but upsetting the elves could have led to a war which would have devastated the continent. Loghaire eventually gave in to the elves' demands, but was so ashamed of his decision that he abdicated the throne and exiled himself from his people. |
| 20 | * The end of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' forces Desmond Miles to make a choice between [[spoiler:letting the Earth burn in the hope of building a better civilization AfterTheEnd, knowing that evil will eventually return; or saving the world but handing it over to a vengeful PhysicalGod who will enslave mankind. The latter choice also comes at the cost of his life. He chooses to save the world, hoping that his friends will be able to stop Juno [[SequelHook in the next game]]]]. To highlight how sadistic this choice is, [[spoiler:Minerva actually recommends doing the opposite of what Desmond chose. In her opinion, setting Juno loose would be worse for humanity than a solar flare frying the planet.]] |
| 21 | * ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'': one of the final trials in [[spoiler:Hell]] forces you to either make your main character lose valuable skills or watch one of the party members die. |
| 22 | * In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'', warlock companion/PlayerCharacter Wyll is faced with one of these near the end of his questline. His patron, the devil Mizora, forces him to choose between [[spoiler:his freedom from his DealWithTheDevil, or doubling down and signing over his soul in order to save his father's life]]. |
| 23 | * In ''VideoGame/TheBardsTale'', you get a choice between saving the princess you've been trying to save, and killing her at her kidnapper's request (who insists she's a demon). [[spoiler:If you choose to kill her, she turns into a demon. If you choose to kill the wizard, you beat him and ''then'' she transforms into a demon, who keeps you as her right-hand man. You also have a third option, to ignore both of them, go back to the bar you started at, and just get used to the undead horde that's been rising to conquer the world. They're not that bad.]] |
| 24 | * ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'': During the second riot at Blackgate Prison, Joker and Bane have concocted a scheme that will force Batman to either sacrifice himself or kill one of his adversaries. Bane wears a heart monitor that's connected to the battery of the prison's electric chair. Each time Bane's heart beats, the chair's battery charges slightly and upon being fully charged, will electrocute the Joker (and if Batman tries to remove the heart monitor from Bane's body, it will explode). The only way for Batman to save Joker is to kill Bane. Or Batman can just let Bane kill him. Batman [[TakesAThirdOption takes a fourth option]], [[spoiler:using the shock gloves he took from Electrocutioner to stop Bane's heart -- making Joker think Bane is dead -- then restarting Bane's heart after the Joker has left the room.]] |
| 25 | -->'''Bane''': Someone is going to die: you, me or the clown. The question of which one of us it is is in your hands. |
| 26 | * ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'' has a fair amount of them: |
| 27 | ** In Episode 2: [[spoiler:Batman is forced to choose between saving Catwoman from armed criminals or saving Harvey from Penguin. Failing to save Catwoman will drive a wedge between Selina and Bruce, but failing to save Harvey will leave his face disfigured.]] |
| 28 | ** In Episode 4: [[spoiler:Harvey Dent wanted to go into Wayne Manor to defeat Bruce Wayne while Penguin was attempting to hack into the bat-computer while he is inside Wayne Enterprises. Either you must head back to Wayne Manor to stop Harvey Dent while forcing Batman to give up all of technology to prevent Penguin into hacking the bat-computer and knowing everything about Batman or you head to Wayne Enterprises to stop Penguin while leaving the fates of Alfred and Lucius unknown when Wayne Manor was burnt to the ground.]] |
| 29 | ** In Episode 5: [[spoiler:Lady Arkham holds Alfred hostage and threatens him unless Batman reveals his identity to her. If Bruce complies and removes his cowl, Lady Arkham will attack him and blast off a piece of his ear. If Batman refuses, Alfred will lose an eye.]] |
| 30 | ** Episode One of the second season: [[spoiler:Riddler manages to trap Batman in a cage along with one of the government agents he captured, while the other three are still locked in his death traps. He offers Batman a set of "riddles" (which is really just ego-stroking, like "What's the name of the man who outsmarted the Batman?"); if he answers wrong or refuses to answer, one of the trapped agents will be killed. However, every time he answers correctly Riddler hits the cage with a blast from a sonic weapon; while Batman's suit will protect him from the worst of it, the agent in the cage with him will die of internal hemorrhaging after three blasts. Tragically, the game subverts the "third option": if you answer all three questions, Batman will figure out a way to destroy the cage while putting the agent inside a broken deathtrap to shield her from the blast. While she survives, the sonic attack leaves her permanently deaf, something that makes her partner hate Batman more than he already did]]. |
| 31 | ** At the end of the second season, Alfred has had enough of Bruce's Batman life and decides to leave Bruce behind. Bruce is then given the choice to either continue to operate his Batman identity but giving up his father figure in the process or he gives up on the mantle of being Batman so that Alfred can stay. |
| 32 | * Although this is put in a rather subtle way, in ''Franchise/BlazBlue'' this occurs to [[spoiler:Litchi Faye-Ling. Hazama invites her to join the NOL because he has the cure for herself and Arakune. Her condition is worsening and if left be, she'll be at best a burden to Orient Town, at worst turn into the next Arakune and eat her former friends. If she just refused, there will be a big chance that Hazama will dispose the cure and her only lead for salvation lost. It boils down to either "Go betray those who expect you to be a good person and join TheDarkSide" or "Slowly wither and die, or if [[SarcasmMode lucky]], turn into a monster that eats everyone who looks up to you"]]. She ''did'' have [[TakeAThirdOption a third option]]: [[spoiler:give up on Arakune and get Kokonoe to help her deal with her Boundary corruption, which Arakune himself begs her to do in his true ending]]. She just refuses to take it because [[spoiler:giving up on Arakune would have made all of her efforts pointless]]. |
| 33 | * Near the end of ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'', you're asked to sacrifice one of your party members in order to get the ultimate dragon power. [[spoiler:It's a SecretTestOfCharacter -- you pass by refusing to sacrifice any of them.]] |
| 34 | * For the final mission in ''VideoGame/TheBureauXCOMDeclassified'', you get to pick a new PlayerCharacter from among [[spoiler:Faulk, Weaver, and Weir]]. After you reach your assigned objective, both of the others get in trouble and ask for your help. You can only pick one, resulting in the other one dying. You also get another choice on whether to [[spoiler:execute Carter or not]]. If you choose the second option, he will swear vengeance. |
| 35 | * ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'': |
| 36 | ** A slightly different spin on this occurs in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar'' during the Soviet campaign level ''Eviction''. After being ordered to kill wounded Germans crawling on the ground in the streets of Berlin, you and your squadmates stumble upon three unarmed German soldiers cornered in a subway entrance. Your Sergeant gives you the choice of gunning them down yourself or letting your vengeful Red Army comrades throw Molotovs at them. |
| 37 | ** Later in that same game, a more traditional SadisticChoice occurs when Sergeant Roebuck and Private Polonsky are attacked by a trio of Japanese soldiers pretending to surrender. It's impossible to save both as shooting one set of soldiers attacking one member of the duo causes the other group to succeed in their suicidal attack on the other. This causes the surviving NPC to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge when the time comes to HoldTheLine. |
| 38 | ** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'' offers another one in Farid's playable segment, which ends with the choice to either shoot Mike Harper to maintain his cover, or try to take out the BigBad Menendez right there. [[spoiler:Shoot Harper and you obviously lose him for the rest of the game, and Farid is [[HeroicBSOD visibly shaken by the experience]]. Try to shoot Menendez, though, and things are even worse -- not only does your attempt to kill him fail, but now Chloe Lynch, whose survival is necessary for the GoldenEnding, will also die in the next mission, since Farid will not be there to protect her.]] |
| 39 | * ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'': In addition to the adventurers whose survival outweighs the necessary assets you can acquire, the final battle [[spoiler:requires you to sacrifice ''half'' your party to [[OneHitKill "Come Unto Your Maker"]], unless you're lucky enough to buff one of your heroes to kill the Heart of Darkness in one shot. And in the end, the Heir has [[GoMadFromTheRevelation seen too much]] and must choose between a life of insanity and a cowardly death. [[DrivenToSuicide They choose the latter.]]]] |
| 40 | * In the last level of ''VideoGame/DeBlob 2'', the BigBad has placed bombs around his enslaved workers and only Blob can save them. He taunts you to either waste time saving a few and let him get away with brainwashing the rest of the planet, or go after him and leave those few to die. But there's enough time in the level that if you're any good at the game, you'll be able to do both. |
| 41 | * One of the early bosses in ''Demonicon'' is a cannibal who kidnapped a bunch of local refugees. Problem is, he happens to have blood-bound them all to himself, so if you kill him they die too, but if you let him go he gets to find a bunch of new victims someplace else. Unfortunately for good-aligned players, there is no third option to just let the prisoners go and turn him into a {{Sealed Evil in a Can}} or something. |
| 42 | * In the final episode of ''Series/DesperateHousewives: [[LicensedGame The Game]]'', [[spoiler:your mobster ex-boyfriend gives you a gun and orders you to shoot either your husband or your ''other'' ex-boyfriend (long story). Whether you shoot your husband, ex-boyfriend or just [[TakeAThirdOption take the very obvious third option]] and shoot the gangster, the end result is the same -- the gun wasn't loaded, he was just testing you. That's almost as sadistic as the bad writing [[IdiotBall enforced on you]] the entire game.]] |
| 43 | * In the ''Franchise/DeusExUniverse'': |
| 44 | ** In the ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' DLC ''The Missing Link'', Adam ends up on the butt end of one at the end. ArcVillain Burke, in an attempt to cover up his tracks and destroy evidence of his crimes, unleashes poison gas across the facility, intending to kill everyone in it. Adam reaches a control center and is forced to choose. [[SmallStepsHero Option A:]] Redirect all the gas into the laboratory, saving hundreds of innocent prisoners but killing a whistleblower who can unravel the inhumane experiments happening in the facility. [[IDidWhatIHadToDo Option B:]] Redirect all the gas into the cells, saving the whistleblower and putting an end to the experiments but sacrificing hundreds of innocent lives do do so. [[spoiler:[[TakeAThirdOption Option C:]] Find the extremely well-hidden pump for the gas and destroy it, saving everybody. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome "All of the Above", indeed.]]]] |
| 45 | ** There are several presented in ''VideoGame/DeusExMankindDivided'': |
| 46 | *** In a sidequest during your first visit to Prague, you help a forger get some innocent augmented people documents so that they don't get deported to [[FantasticGhetto Golem City]]. Unfortunately, there is only room time to get one permit verified, and whoever you don't save gets shipped off to Golem City. [[spoiler:Fortunately, you can escort them out of the city during the third visit to Prague.]] |
| 47 | *** During your second visit to Prague, you learn that the woman who built the bomb that blew up the train station at the beginning of the game is about to be murdered, and that the villains are closing their bank account full of valuable intel. You only have time to complete one objective, and unlike most sadistic choices in this series there's no way to TakeAThirdOption or mitigate the damage. |
| 48 | *** In the climax, [[spoiler:Marchenko threatens to blow up a building full of innocents if you don't come and fight him. This would prevent you from saving Nathaniel Brown and the delegates from being poisoned with Orchid. [[SubvertedTrope However, if you're quick on your feet it's possible to do both.]]]] |
| 49 | * ''VideoGame/DisgaeaD2ABrighterDarkness'' retroactively changed an event for the backstory of [[VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness it's prequel]] into one of these. [[spoiler:When Laharl was sick with his deadly illness that could only be cured by the death of a loved one, his mother was also pregnant with Sicily at the time, meaning that she had to choose between letting Laharl die and saving Sicily, or killing herself to save Laharl, which would also kill Sicily. Luckily, she managed to take a [[TakeAThirdOption bittersweet third option]].]] |
| 50 | * The ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series is way too fond of this. |
| 51 | ** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' alone: |
| 52 | *** In the City Elf origin, [[spoiler:you can kill the [[AristocratsAreEvil noble]] who's about to rape four elven women, but that would bring down the wrath of his father, who would purge the Alienage -- so it's either let him get away with raping (and possibly killing) four women to save your town, or killing him and forfeiting your township down the line]]. |
| 53 | *** The chronologically first (for most characters) major SadisticChoice in ''Origins'' takes place in Redcliffe: [[spoiler:the Arl's young son is possessed by a demon, and the only immediate options available to the party are to fight the demon in the physical world, killing the boy in the process, or perform a blood magic ritual wherein his mother gives her life to allow one of your mages to confront the demon in the SpiritWorld. You can TakeAThirdOption, instead, but it requires you either to have already saved the Circle mages, or to go save them first and come back with their help. If you do, the epilogue reveals that the boy never exactly went back to normal, and Wynne mentions that a mage cured this way will be forever changed by the experience]]. |
| 54 | *** Another, somewhat more surprising one is [[spoiler:deciding the fate of Teyrn Loghain, who was really a WellIntentionedExtremist and ultimately seems to recognize and regret his errors. If you choose to spare him and give him a chance at redemption, one of your party members abandons you and becomes a hopeless drunk for the rest of his life -- assuming the guy you just spared doesn't have him executed, which is also a possibility. Again, you can TakeAThirdOption and harden his personality beforehand, Alistair can be crowned king but will remain forever bitter and despondent over either how Loghain almost walks away scott free or how he gets to play hero.]] Interestingly, the [[CuttingOffTheBranches default option for the first game's ending]] in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' is actually the third option, as you get to meet [[spoiler:King Alistair who grimly mentions that Loghain is still alive]]. |
| 55 | *** And then there's the end game, where you have four options on how to kill the Archdemon: [[spoiler:perform a HeroicSacrifice which not only kills you but ''destroys your soul'', have your Grey Warden brother-in-arms (and possibly [[RomanceSidequest love interest]]) Alistair perform the soul-destroying HeroicSacrifice, let Teyrn Loghain do it (only available if you spared his life earlier, see above, but quite possibly the [[RedemptionEqualsDeath most ethically unproblematic decision]]), or help your SourSupporter Morrigan give birth to what may be the equivalent of the BigBad.]] If you decide to take up Morrigan's suggestion, [[spoiler:one of the male Grey Warden party members obviously has to help her conceive the baby. This isn't that big of a deal, unless your player character is in a relationship with Alistair, because if you take that route, he will end up being the only guy in the party capable of playing baby daddy... and if you don't, he will go and sacrifice his own life for you in the end, regardless of what else you have to say!]] |
| 56 | ** And then the expansion, ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]]'' ups the ante [[spoiler:by forcing you to choose between saving the city of Amaranthine (a major population center) or the Vigil's Keep (where your soldiers and half your party are stationed) from getting sacked by the Darkspawn. Thankfully, you can TakeAThirdOption again: if you have invested heavily into reinforcing the fortress and its troops, the Vigil's Keep will manage to fend for itself while you defend Amaranthine. While the Keep's losses will still be significant, none of your party members will die if you maxed out its defenses]]. |
| 57 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', however, shows no mercy in its sadistic choice, [[spoiler:when Anders destroys the Kirkwall Chantry, Hawke is forced to choose between the Templars and the Mages and with it, potentially half of the party who have their own reservations about the freedom of mages. Despite taking a side, Hawke ultimately has to fight the leaders of both the Mages and Templars. For Hawke who sided with the Mages, Orsino was partially responsible for his mother's death while if Hawke sided with the Templars, Meredith has clearly gone insane.]] |
| 58 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' also has its fair share of tough decisions. Choosing to ally with [[spoiler:the Mages or the Templars]] will result in the faction you didn't choose becoming the brainwashed minions of the BigBad. Playing through both paths makes it clear that both factions have plenty of perfectly decent people in their ranks too. |
| 59 | *** The end of one arc forces you to choose either a Grey Warden ([[spoiler:possibly Alistair or Loghain]]) or [[spoiler:Hawke to stay behind in the Fade and pull a HeroicSacrifice on the Nightmare Demon to allow the others to escape.]] |
| 60 | *** There is also the choice in Iron Bull's personal quest. [[spoiler:The Inquisitor, while working to secure an alliance with the Qunari, is forced to chose between having the Chargers withdraw to survive, or letting them die to protect a Qunari dreadnought from the Venatori. If the Chargers are saved, Iron Bull is declared Tal-Vashoth. While there is no real third option, the Inquisitor can defer to Bull; he chooses to save the Chargers.]] However, in the DLC ''Trespasser'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Qunari will attack the Inquisition regardless, meaning saving the Chargers is the better decision in the long-term]]. |
| 61 | *** In the DLC Trespasser, though it's not a decision the player has to make, we learn that [[spoiler:Solas needs to either let go of Elvhenan, his home, and be solely responsible for its destruction, or bring it back at the cost of the entire world that came out of its semi-destruction. It's not a difficult decision to him if your Inquisitor made him genuinely believe that the world is made up of semi-Tranquil, but if you had high approval, he needs to live with the fact that he's probably going to end up mass-murdering countless people including his best friend/girlfriend unless he's willing to live out the rest of his now-tiny life in a world that will never compare to his and then die as the last of his kind.]] |
| 62 | * ''VideoGame/DragonsDogma'' has this pop up twice in the campaign. |
| 63 | ** The first time, [[spoiler:the dragon gives you two choices. One is to allow him to sacrifice the life of your LoveInterest, and in return, not only would you continue to enjoy the boons of being TheAgeless, but you would reign over Gransys, as Duke Edmun had before you, while the dragon departs and leaves humanity alone for a time. The other is to fight him to save the life of your beloved and reclaim your heart in a battle that may well end in your death.]] |
| 64 | ** The second time, [[spoiler:the Seneschal gives you two choices. One is to return to a peaceful life in Gransys, but in so doing allow the world to continue being subject to the cycle of dragon attacks; and the other is to fight them. Defeat, in this case, means being forced to become the next dragon. Winning means [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt becoming the new Seneschal]], [[BeingGodIsHard ruling over the entire world at the cost of being unable to return to your loved ones]] [[WhoWantsToLiveForever forever]] (unless another Arisen reaches the point you've reached...or you use the Godsbane to kill yourself and break the cycle for good and all). Either which way you cut it, you get the short end of the stick.]] |
| 65 | * In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' backstory, the [[OurElvesAreDifferent Falmer (Snow Elves)]] were faced with one -- extinction or transformation into [[TheMorlocks Morlocks]]. At one time, the Falmer had a civilization rivaling that of the Altmer (High Elves) spanning across Skyrim and Solstheim. However, they came into conflict with the ancestors of the [[HornyVikings Nords]] who were coming over in droves from the [[GrimUpNorth freezing-over continent of Atmora]]. Ysgramor, one of the Atmoran leaders, rallied [[BadassArmy an army of 500 of Atmora's greatest warriors]] and led them on [[FinalSolution a purge]] of the Falmer. Facing extinction, the surviving Falmer turned to their [[OurDwarvesAreDifferent Dwemer]] cousins for shelter. The Dwemer accepted the Falmer, under the condition that the Falmer must consume toxic fungi that would blind them and then serve as [[EnslavedElves slaves]] to the Dwemer. |
| 66 | ** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim: Hearthfire'' piles a pretty heavy one on the player. Amongst other things, it allows the Dragonborn to adopt kids. There are four candidate orphans in the game: Lucia, the Imperial girl begging for coins in Whiterun after her parents died; Blaise, a Breton boy barely earning his keep as a stablehand at Katla's Farm; Sofie, a Nord girl selling flowers in Windhelm; and Alesan, a Redguard boy who helps the miners in Dawnstar. All of them clearly could use a hand, but (and here's where you may have seen this coming), you can only adopt two, no matter what choices you make there will be two children in Skyrim who you couldn't give a better life. And that is not getting into children with AbusiveParents and the orphans at Honourhall Orphanage (though you can make their lives better by pursuing the Dark Brotherhood quest and [[AssholeVictim taking care]] of [[ChildHater Grelod the "Kind"]]). |
| 67 | ** Also in ''Skyrim'', there's the Sadistic Choice that kicked off the plot: Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak invokes ancient Nord custom to challenge High King Torygg to a DuelToTheDeath, citing the boy king as an ineffectual puppet unfit to rule. For Torygg, he can either accept and die in a CurbStompBattle against an old war hero who everybody knows is ten times the warrior he is, or he can refuse and live, but be humiliated and prove Ulfric's point all the same. Torygg chose the first one, and paid with his life. |
| 68 | * ''VideoGame/ElohimEternalTheBabelCode'': When the party meets [[spoiler:the Kosmokraters, the latter orders the former to destroy the Transmigrator to prove their loyalty, or the infernos all over Idin will detonate. The Kosmokraters also refuse to compromise with the party at all and outright state that the Idinites will still be ordered to commit genocide on the few remaining Cainites even if the Transmigrator is destroyed. Joshwa decides to defy the Kosmokraters, since he believes it's better to have the survivors be free of the Kosmokraters rather than allow everyone to be enslaved to the Kosmokraters and used as cannon fodder in pointless wars anyways]]. |
| 69 | * ''VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyIIITheDrownedCity'': |
| 70 | ** Some time after completing the fourth stratum, [[spoiler:you must choose whether to preserve the Deep City, or to expose its existence to the rest of the world. Either choice determines which hidden class you unlock, as well as how the rest of the story plays out. You can TakeAThirdOption, but doing so is a GuideDangIt as you have to turn in one mission but not accept the one that becomes available as you do so in order to get another mission from a specific source with no indication at all.]] |
| 71 | ** By trying to help the Murotsumi Guild, [[spoiler:you indirectly decide which member dies. No way to save both. It's also possible, through non-obvious means, to ignore them altogether by not interacting with either of them, but it's never shown if this leads to both of them surviving; and due to the circumstances of their situation, it's unlikely anyway]]. This almost wouldn't qualify if it weren't for the fact that it repeats every playthrough, meaning after the first time through you know what is going to happen the moment the choice pops up. |
| 72 | * ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'': |
| 73 | ** ''VideoGame/FableII'' ends with you having to make one of three choices: [[spoiler:use the power of the Spire to resurrect everyone in your family Lucien killed -- your husband/wife, your kids, your dog, even your long-dead sister comes back for a while -- or use it to resurrect the thousands that Lucien killed to power up the Spire. Or you can choose to take 1,000,000 gold, but that's both a major dick move and outside the bounds of this trope. It's not ''quite'' a SadisticChoice, as under normal circumstances all of these people would stay dead, but still a good source of angst if you're looking for one.]] |
| 74 | ** Another sadistic choice is the one with the Shadow Court, where you have to choose to curse yourself or an innocent girl to a fate of rapid aging. While it has little effect on the game, it would be a rather difficult choice in real life (although, in real life, rapidly aging oneself when one is the only one who can save the world would be foolish). |
| 75 | ** ''VideoGame/FableIII'' gives you one in the first scene: After asking your [[JerkAss older brother]], King Logan, to spare the protesting peasants, he punishes you by [[spoiler:letting you choose whether he executes your childhood sweetheart or the leaders of the peasants]]. What's that? You want a [[TakeAThirdOption third option?]] Sure. You can choose to do nothing, and Logan kills all of them. |
| 76 | ** When you finally take Logan down, [[spoiler:you find out [[VillainHasAPoint he actually had a valid reason for being a tyrant]] -- he had to make money to fight [[GreaterScopeVillain the Darkness.]] This leads to another rather unpleasant choice, you can A) keep the promises you made to everyone (in which case many of them will be slaughtered when it comes) or B), break them, and save humanity at the cost of becoming as bad as Logan was. There is a third option, but it's difficult and requires a ''lot'' of planning, and this is to buy ''every'' piece of property you can, and delay the FinalBattle until you have enough money from rent to pay the expenses required to fight the Darkness personally.]] |
| 77 | * In ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'', the Finder of Heiresses storyline ends with one after you find out that the missing Comtessa has been turned to clay by her Clay Man lover and is only able to stare at you with frightened eyes: do you kill her on the spot to save her from a potential FateWorseThanDeath, or do you leave her as she is with the reasoning that you don't know enough about the situation to kill her? The game deliberately leaves it ambiguous if you made the right decision or not, regardless of which one you choose. |
| 78 | * ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'': |
| 79 | ** ''VideoGame/Fallout3'': Two words: Tenpenny Tower. Do you either side with the ghoul-hating Alistair Tenpenny and his mostly equally as racist inhabitants? Do you side with the discriminated, yet misanthropic and bloodthirsty Roy Phillips and his band of ghouls? [[TakeAThirdOption Brokering peace will have unintended consequences]], and there is little margin for error regarding the only way to prevent mass bloodshed, so decisions, decisions... |
| 80 | ** From the same game, DLC The Pitt. [[spoiler:You can either defeat the slavers and kidnap the leader's child. This means that the Pitt loses its standing army, the child is subjected to rough treatment and the freed slaves may not even able to discover the cure to the massively degenerative disease them as none of them seem to have scientific knowledge. On the other hand you can crush the slave rebellion, allowing an army of slavers and raiders to terrorize the region and slavery continues in the Pitt, probably even after a cure is found. Don't rely on the Karma meter to tell you which is right, those popups won't give you any comfort now. Worst of all, even after you make yourself believe you did the right thing you then remember that those subhuman creatures the disease turns them into were the only large scale food source available in the Pitt.]] |
| 81 | ** In ''Point Lookout'', regardless of whether you side with Desmond or Calvert, the latter always turns hostile at the end. |
| 82 | ** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has something even worse; when a faulty reactor threatens some sharecropping plantations, a group of farmers go and investigate, only to be trapped in an unreachable part of the vault. Your choices are to either shut off the reactor and save the crops, which would doom the trapped farmers, or reroute control of the facility to them so they can escape, which would mean destroying the crops and letting many starve in the shortage that followed. The problem is, with most choices you make in ''Fallout'', good choices improve your Karma score and bad ones lower it; this decision doesn't change it either way, and with no third option, all you can do is move on to the next task and think about whether it was right or not. |
| 83 | ** ''VideoGame/TheSomeguySeries'' of mods for ''New Vegas'' frequently run into this, forcing the player to weigh the actions of certain villains throughout multiple mods: |
| 84 | *** Completing ''The Inheritance'' unlocks a series of minor missions, with one notable instance involving Esther, a seemingly-altruistic woman who uses a sizable donation from The Courier to open an orphanage outside Freeside... until it's revealed that she's actually a ''slaver'', and both she and her associate have been kidnapping and selling kids to Caesar's Legion. Killing her once this information is revealed makes it impossible to rescue the batch of kids she just sold (due to her not having any information about it on her), and forces the player to weigh the consequences of letting her go. If you do, she reappears again as part of the OldSaveBonus given if ''Inheritance'' and ''New Vegas Bounties II'' are completed, where she forces the player to cooperate with a government agency to out an informer for the Legion and rescue a group of slaves in a camp before once again escaping justice. You ''can'' catch up to her ''New Vegas Bounties III''... where it's revealed that she's shacked up with one of the targets [[spoiler:Randall]] is pursuing... and should you choose to finally execute her for her crimes (alongside her target), the player suffers the single-biggest Karma drain in the franchise, as Esther is revealed to be pregnant. |
| 85 | *** Glanton from ''Bounties III'' also falls into this. After having escaped justice in ''Russell'', he attempts to goad the player into a choice between exacting justice on him, at the cost of having a detonator that will kill a group of child slaves outfitted with an ExplosiveLeash in the next room... that is, unless the player has a high-enough Speech[=/=]Charisma score, at which point they can convince Glanton to "die like a man" instead of hiding behind innocent civilians. |
| 86 | ** The ending of ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' is this due to copious amounts of GreyAndGrayMorality. [[spoiler:You can side with the Brotherhood of Steel, who finally bring safety and order to the Commonwealth, but through a military dictatorship, and ghouls and synths will doubtlessly suffer under it. You can side with the Institute, who offer a wealth of technological progress to the Commonwealth but even more oppression with it. You can side with the Railroad, which will mean the synths will finally be free but the Commonwealth will be thrown into chaos with no large unifying power to keep it pinned down. Or you can rebuild the Minutemen and side with them, which ''offers'' the Commonwealth both safety ''and'' liberty but leaves no certainty of it due to their shaky military power. You can, however, TakeAThirdOption by [[EnemyMine persuading the Minutemen to team up with the Brotherhood and the Railroad against the Institute]], but this just leaves the surviving three factions in an uneasy truce with no guarantee that further clashes won't take place further down the line.]] |
| 87 | *** This is made worse by the fact that no matter what choice you make, you ''will'' be drawn into conflict with one of your friends. [[spoiler:If you turn on the Railroad, you're forced to kill Deacon and you've also placed Nick and Curie's lives in very questionable hands. If you turn on the Brotherhood of Steel, Danse will leave your service and never talk to you again. If you turn on the Institute, X6 will go from calm-professional to kill on sight, and you're effectively betraying your own son by destroying his life's work and what he believes to be the last hope for mankind, and provided you didn't kill him before the final quest, he goes to his deathbed despising you for it.]] |
| 88 | * ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' contains such a scenario, the player character receives word that one of the factions in the civil war plans to wipe out a bunch of uncooperative civilians and his fellow foreign mercenary friends, and only has enough time to get to one to assist in defending. Ultimately though [[spoiler:it doesn't matter which option one chooses, the outcome is the same either way.]] |
| 89 | * ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' hits Chaldea with a vicious choice in the Lostbelt arc. [[spoiler: Either lay down and die, damning their world and all the people in it, or destroy the seven Lostbelts and condemn their citizens to oblivion. Either way, innocent people die…]] |
| 90 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has Kefka, of all people, invoking this on Edgar Figaro. He has his soldiers torch Figaro Castle and state that they'll stop torching his kingdom ''if'' he hands over Terra Branford. This backfires on Kefka when not only does Figaro escape with Locke and Terra, but he also orders his guards to have Figaro Castle tunnel underground. |
| 91 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': One of these forms a major crux of the motivations for the Warriors of Darkness, introduced in the post-''Heavensward'' storyline. The Warriors come from the First, one of thirteen alternate worlds that serve as "reflections" of the Source where the main game is set. Upon triumphing over the Ascians that threatened them, they inadvertently unleashed a force of primordial light upon the First - an equal and opposite force to the darkness which turned the Thirteenth into a hellish Void from which hail the aether-starved voidsent. The Warriors ultimately decided to join hands with the Ascians and try and bring about an Umbral Calamity on the Source; Urianger discovers that the process of an Umbral Calamity involves ''destroying one of the reflections'' - in this case, the First - and ending all life upon it. |
| 92 | -->'''Alisaie:''' Then... then if the Warriors of Darkness succeed, everyone in their world will ''die''?\ |
| 93 | '''Urianger:''' In essence, aye. The verse [of the ''[[TomeOfEldritchLore Gerun Oracles]]''] speaketh of the renunciation of the flesh, and subsequent return to TheLifestream. However, this fate may yet be preferable to the alternative, for if the First were to fall to transcendent Light in the manner the Warriors of Darkness described, it would give way unto [[FateWorseThanDeath a void wherein none may know either life or death]]. Far better to die, they reason - for in death there is life. The essence of a soul which returneth unto the Source may be born anew. Saved. Such, at least, is their belief, I surmise.\ |
| 94 | '''Alphinaud:''' If that is true, then... Gods. [[LampshadeHanging No one should ever have to make such a choice.]] |
| 95 | * In the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series: |
| 96 | ** In the DS remake of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'', in the fourth Prologue chapter the player has to choose one of their units to stay behind as a decoy, thereby losing him for the rest of the game. The proverbial third options aren't much better - either falling for the enemy's trap and killing your own archer or getting your entire retinue killed. |
| 97 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' has a rather gripping one near the end of Part 3. [[spoiler:Just as Micaiah is about to give the order to fire on the Apostle, Tibarn swoops in and hangs her BodyguardCrush Sothe over a cliff and gives her an ultimatum: cease fire and retreat or Sothe dies. Micaiah can't retreat however, since it would effectively mean everybody in Daein would die due to the bloodpact. Unable to find a third option, Michiah is helpless as she watches Sothe get thrown over the cliff. Micaiah promptly has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone, until it is revealed to have been a bluff and she calls for a retreat.]] |
| 98 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' has several. |
| 99 | *** In Chapter 9, [[spoiler:Chrom must choose between giving [[AxCrazy King Gangrel]] the Fire Emblem, or allowing him to execute Chrom's sister, Emmeryn. However, the [[TakeAThirdOption choice turns out to be irrelevant]]; either way, Emmeryn [[HeroicSuicide sacrifices herself]] via willingly throwing herself off the cliff she was supposed to be pushed from by Gangrel, allowing Chrom a chance to escape with the Fire Emblem in hand.]] |
| 100 | *** In the FinalBattle, Naga presents a choice: if Chrom strikes the final blow to Grima, the Fallen Dragon will be resealed but will eventually be waken up in a millennia. [[spoiler:If the Avatar does it, he/she and Grima will be destroyed forever because the Avatar and Grima are technically one and the same. The Avatar ''does'' ultimately survive in the end, but nobody knows that will be the case when the decision is made.]] |
| 101 | *** Lucina has one [[spoiler:''if'' she is either the Avatar's daughter or wife. To keep the Avatar from coming under Validar's control and murdering Chrom, she has to kill the Avatar first, but doing so means killing her mother or lover. In the end, she is unable to go through with it, even if it means putting her father in danger. And note it only applied in those two circumstances; if they're not related at all or if they're only in-laws or uncle and niece, she'll have no qualms about killing him/her.]] |
| 102 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'': |
| 103 | *** At the end of the prologue, the protagonist Corrin must choose between siding with their blood relatives, the royal family from the kingdom of [[{{Wutai}} Hoshido]], or the foster family that raised them from early childhood, the royal family of [[TheEmpire Nohr]]. To compound things, both sides are decent people that love the protagonist very much and '''Corrin can't choose both sides.''' No matter which side you pick, the other side will label you a traitor. There's a [[TakeAThirdOption third path]] where Corrin sides with neither [[spoiler:which ultimately is the GoldenPath that leads to the two nations joining forces to defeat Anankos, the GreaterScopeVillain]]. |
| 104 | *** The protagonist is faced with a string of Sadistic Choices throughout ''Conquest'', as Garon tasks them with committing a number of heinous actions in order to secure Nohr's victory over Hoshido under punishment of death. Near the game's climax, [[spoiler:after defeating Ryoma in combat, Garon tasks the protagonist with executing him. Ryoma saves them from certain death from refusing the order by committing a [[HeroicSuicide Heroic]] {{Seppuku}}.]] |
| 105 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' has one if Byleth chooses the Black Eagles class. [[spoiler:Edelgard will betray Byleth, the Church of Seiros, and her own students at the Holy Tomb, starting a war to realize her ideals. If Byleth attended Edelgard's coronation, Byleth will be presented with a choice: Accept Rhea's orders to kill Edelgard and remain loyal to her and the church, or refuse and take Edelgard's side and defect to her and the Empire]]. No matter what the player does, there will be consequences. If Byleth [[spoiler:obeys Rhea and points their sword at Edelgard, she and Hubert will teleport back to the Empire as Rhea curses them in anger, starting the Silver Snow route (consequently, Edelgard and Hubert will no longer be available as they have returned to the Empire)]]. On the other hand, if Byleth [[spoiler:disobeys Rhea and spares Edelgard, Rhea will snap, and in fury, reveals her true form as the Immaculate One, starting the Crimson Flower route (consequently, Flayn will leave the group and remain with the Church).]] |
| 106 | * ''VideoGame/FlipDimensions'': The gods are split on whether to allow Kazuki to kill the Dark Lords or prevent him from doing so, since both choices have consequences. Artemis's camp believes [[spoiler:allowing Kazuki to kill the Dark Lords and unsealing [[BigBad Maitus]] is necessary to prevent Maitus from killing Lily when he forces the seal open. Apollo's camp believes it's better to save the Dark Lords and allow Lily to die, all for the chance of Maitus dying with her.]] |
| 107 | * ''VideoGame/GameOfThronesTelltale'' has ''dozens'' of these, but the most notable ones from each episode are: |
| 108 | ** Episode 1: [[spoiler:As Ethan, the new Lord of House Forrester, you must decide how to deal with a thieving deserter. You can send him to the Wall, where he will face a life of hard work, an early death and likely never see his family again, chop off three of his fingers, which you must either do yourself or ask your sentinel to do for you, or set him free, which angers the people demanding justice and risks making you look like a weak ruler.]] |
| 109 | ** Episode 2: [[spoiler:Lord Whitehill, the man partially responsible for the death of Rodrik's brother Ethan, is holding Rodrik's other brother Ryon captive to prevent the Forresters from acting out against him. He agrees to let Ryon attend Ethan and his father's joint funeral on one condition: Rodrik must kneel and kiss his ring. This is worse than it sounds, as Rodrik is in front of his love interest Eleana whom he is desperately trying to keep on good terms with, as well as a number of other people who will likely lose respect for him as a leader if he does so. If you agree to kiss the ring Eleana berates you for submitting, while if you refuse Rodrik's mother is upset as she won't get to see her son.]] |
| 110 | ** Episode 3: [[spoiler:Asher, along with his uncle Malcolm and best friend Beskha, is fighting a massive dragon when he is put into the position of saving one at the cost of the other. Whoever you chose not to save will, surprisingly enough, survive, albeit with a nasty burn wound courtesy of dragon fire. It still counts as a SadisticChoice as the player is led to believe that their choice will result in the death of one of the two, and the character not chosen to be saved will berate Asher for this afterwards.]] |
| 111 | ** Episode 4: [[spoiler:Beshka, a former slave, finally finds her cruel master after many years and understandably wants revenge. However, she and Asher promised Daenerys that they would not kill any of the masters as it would take justice away from the hands of the current slaves. If you allow Beshka to kill him Daenerys refuses to aid you, but if you stop Beshka she is incredibly angry at being denied her own justice.]] |
| 112 | ** Episode 5: [[spoiler:Having only just reunited after a number of years apart, Rodrik and Asher are suddenly ambushed by a massive amount of Whitehill soldiers. It is clear that they must flee, but the Whitehills have sabotaged the portcullis meaning that, unless one person is holding it open, it will stay closed. The player is then forced to decide which brother will stay behind and hold open the portcullis, and which will get to escape. The brother left behind [[LastStand puts up a good fight but is hopelessly overwhelmed by sheer numbers]], and dies [[HeroicSacrifice giving his allies time to flee.]]]] |
| 113 | ** Episode 6: [[spoiler:Mira is finally arrested for the death of the Lannister guard back in Episode 2, and is awaiting execution when the man who sent the guard to kill her and unfairly got her arrested comes into her cell. He presents Mira with a proposition: he will frame Mira's close ally Tom for the murder and get her acquitted if she will marry him, allowing him to claim right over her family name, land and all that the Forresters own. Otherwise, she will face death on the chopping block. If you accept his offer Tom's head will roll, but if you reject it, Mira's will.]] |
| 114 | * In ''VideoGame/GhostOfTsushima'', Jin happens upon a man crying over his son's corpse. He tells Jin that the invading mongols forced him to choose which of his children would die. Later Jin finds the surviving son, who says his father actually chose him to be killed, but the mongols murdered the favourite son instead. |
| 115 | * ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' has a big one in regards to Alchemy being unleashed. It is said that the world would be destroyed from Alchemy's sheer power if it was unsealed, so Isaac's party fight to prevent that from happening. [[spoiler:In the second game, Felix (who later tells Isaac) learns that the world is on the brink of destruction ''because'' Alchemy is sealed due to the world being starved of it. Isaac sums it up best when he basically says "So we either keep Alchemy sealed and let the world be destroyed or we unleash Alchemy and the world gets destroyed anyway. What a choice." The party opts to break the seal on Alchemy and while several towns do get destroyed and the landmasses shift, the world survives and is much better off than it was before.]] |
| 116 | * ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' gives you a choice of two paths at the end of the game: [[spoiler:You can either choose to participate in a mission with Dimitri, the Russian crook who screwed you over earlier in the game and who you've been trying to kill up to this point, or not participate in the mission and instead go and kill Dimitri. If you choose to kill Dimitri, the mob boss who set up the mission for the both of you will show up at Roman's wedding and kill Niko's love interest, Kate. If you choose to do the mission, Dimitri will send a hitman to the wedding who will kill Niko's cousin and best friend, Roman. Ironically, it was Kate who advised you to go kill Dimitri, while it was Roman who advised you to participate on the mission with him.]] |
| 117 | ** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' does something similar with its final mission: [[spoiler:As Franklin, you're given the choice either to kill Trevor and clear yourself with Steve Haines and the FIB, or kill Michael and clear yourself with Devin Weston, a multi-millionaire with strong ties to the private militia Merryweather.]] Unlike ''IV'', however, [[spoiler:you can also TakeAThirdOption which results in [[GoldenEnding the three protagonists killing all of the main antagonists of the game and walking away scot-free]].]] |
| 118 | * ''VideoGame/TheGranstreamSaga'' makes the player suffer through a particularly sadistic version of the classic Sadistic Choice. In order to power up your MacGuffin enough to kill the final BigBad, you have to kill one of your two love interests and let it [[DeaderThanDead consume her soul]]. And, sadly, the game [[ButThouMust doesn't let you]] TakeAThirdOption and try to fight without sacrificing either one. |
| 119 | ** It's supposed to be the one Eon feels the most for, since the weapon's power is equal to the feelings invested in it. |
| 120 | * ''VideoGame/Haven2020'': [[spoiler:The endgame forces Yu and Kay to choose between severing the Flow Bridge, marooning themselves on Source forever, in addition to setting the planet adrift from its orbit and one of the couple being disfigured by a Rust explosion, or allowing the Apiary to recapture the couple and brainwash them into accepting arranged marriages]]. |
| 121 | * ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' is fond of this, but the most prominent example is the chapter where Ethan is ordered to kill a drug dealer. At first it seems like it's going to be an easy choice, but then you chase him into [[spoiler:a children's bedroom and he shows you a photo of his two daughters, all while begging you not to shoot him.]] Suddenly, the decision gets a whole lot harder, especially when you take into account that the Origami Killer won't reveal any clues to Shaun's whereabouts unless Ethan kills the man. |
| 122 | * In the ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' ''IV'' "Glory of Days Past" campaign, Waerjak at one point must decide between rescuing his foster father Tarnum or freeing a bunch of slaves. It is actually possible to choose Tarnum, but doing so results in scenario failure. Waerjak must choose the slaves over his father to "win". The right choice is foreshadowed by the narration, which has Tarnum teaching Waerjak about TheNeedsOfTheMany. [[spoiler:Fortunately, Tarnum isn't called "The Immortal Hero" for nothing.]] |
| 123 | * In ''VideoGame/HogwartsLegacy'', while the PlayerCharacter is exploring the lair of EvilSorcerer Salazar Slytherin alongside TokenEvilTeammate Sebastian Sallow and DefectorFromDecadence Ominus Gaunt, the group ends up in a magical trap with a door that will only open if someone uses the AgonyBeam [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Cruciatus Curse]] on another person. Ominus, [[AbusiveParents having been a victim of the curse himself]], would rather die than use BlackMagic on a friend. However, since he's the one who got everyone into the mess Sebastian is chivalrous enough to give the player a choice; he can teach them the spell and they can use it on him, or [[VideoGameCaringPotential they can sacrifice themselves to save everyone]]. |
| 124 | * ''VideoGame/InFAMOUS'': [[BigBad Kessler]] pulls this on Cole. Cole is given the choice to save six doctors, or save Trish, his girlfriend. The doctors are more relevant in context, because the setting is a city under quarantine due to disease, and the quarantine has been causing basic social services to fail while gang violence escalates to the point of insanity. [[spoiler:If Cole goes for the doctors, Trish dies. But there is a twist if you go for Trish instead; the choice is rigged and Trish will be a decoy, with the real Trish hidden with the doctors Cole has chosen not to save.]] Notable for two reasons: [[spoiler:First, the hero doesn't get to TakeAThirdOption, and second, it's actually a subversion. Kessler isn't doing it because he's a sadist, he's doing it because [[INeedYouStronger his ultimate goal is to harden Cole against emotional trauma earlier in his life]] than he would be otherwise.]] |
| 125 | ** It comes up again in the sequel: [[spoiler:In the end, you have the choice to either defeat the Beast and in the process kill all Conduits, including Cole, Nix, and Kuo... or side with the Beast to save the Conduits at the expense of Humanity, including your friend Zeke. And no, there's still no [[TakeAThirdOption Third Option]] -- you either wipe out humanity to save yourself and those like you while turning your back on your human friends, or sacrifice yourself and some of your closest companions to save humanity. And yes, they ''are'' KilledOffForReal.]] |
| 126 | * ''VideoGame/IWasATeenageExocolonist'': |
| 127 | ** Cal and Tammy need to be separated for Sol to become long-term partners with either of them. They are both loving and harmonious as a couple, unlike the other pair that needs to be broken up for Sol to have a chance with either half. As it happens, players aiming to make Cal Sol's husband technically have a second option that those aiming to make Tammy their wife don't: [[spoiler:letting Tammy die a few months after the beginning of the game]], which has ethical issues of its own, but also can't be avoided during the very first playthrough and takes a single choice to repeat on subsequent ones. |
| 128 | ** If the famine happens and Sol doesn't manage to end it, they will have at least one opportunity to obtain extra food with the full knowledge that it's being taken away from someone else who needs it. However, stealing food ''deducts'' from your food supply since Sol still feels bad for it, but at least you'll get a card for it. |
| 129 | * Rare example not offered to the story's hero: Torn in ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'' has to make a [[FriendOrIdolDecision Love Interest or Underground Movement Decision]]. He chooses Ashelin over the Underground, and as a result Praxis gets his hands on the Precursor Stone. |
| 130 | * ''VideoGame/JourneyOn'': The game states that the Holy Sword is needed to defeat the Darkness. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, the boss guarding the Holy Sword can only be beaten if Shirley is in the party, but bringing her through the portals to the boss will fully corrupt her soul. This means the player has to choose between Shirley's soul and what is supposedly the only weapon that can defeat the Darkness. Fortunately, the Darkness can be [[TakeAThirdOption beaten without the sword]], albeit with much more effort.]] |
| 131 | * The ending of ''VideoGame/{{Killer7}}'' presents players with one: kill Matsuoka, and [[spoiler:the US will wipe Japan off the face of the earth]]; spare him, and [[spoiler:Japan will attack the US, starting WorldWarIII]]. |
| 132 | * In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the villain Xaldin makes Beast (from [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's]] ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'') decide whether he wants to save Belle or the Magic Rose that can change him back. [[spoiler:Beast chooses Belle, but then [[DefiedTrope Belle sucker elbows Xaldin, saving both herself and the rose]].]] |
| 133 | ** In ''358/2 Days,'' [[spoiler:Saïx tells Axel he must choose which of his friends will survive -- Roxas, or Xion.]] As one might expect, he does everything he can to TakeAThirdOption. [[spoiler:It backfires, and he ends up losing ''both'' instead. Ouch.]] |
| 134 | *** Not so much a Sadistic Choice as being realistic: [[spoiler:It turns out Xion's existence as an imperfect clone of sorts means she's leeching power from Roxas in order to survive. And the balance is unsustainable, which isn't helped by the fact that Axel has, well before this point, ''killed'' the guy who made her. Saïx is being blunt -- Axel can try to delay the inevitable, but at some point, Xion will end up draining Roxas to death if one of them doesn't get killed. Though, it ''still'' doesn't help that no one other than Axel actually cares if one of them dies.]] It's the fact that he makes an effort to bury the knowledge -- which one of them finds, and which makes the other one realize how expendable they're being treated, that [[spoiler:makes them both leave.]] |
| 135 | * In the FanRemake of ''VideoGame/KingsQuestII'', there is a flash-forward to the era of ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIII''. Daventry in ruins from the ravages of a three headed dragon. Graham's son was kidnapped as an infant, and Graham's daughter has given herself up to sacrifice to try and appease the dragon, knowing it's only temporary. And then the [[BigBad The Father]], the {{Chessmaster}} who set ''all'' this crap up in the first place, [[EvilGloating shows up to gloat]]. He then presents the choice: if Graham give up the crown, the Father will remove the curse he's put on the family, dismiss the dragon, and restore Daventry. He will even give Graham his children back. The full points option (it's playable) is telling him to rot in hell. |
| 136 | * Sith in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' are fond of this. One of them would torture your LoveInterest Bastila (if you play male) or Carth (if you play female) to extract vital information from you. Another one subjects you and one other guy to a sick game: if you answer some questions wrong, he Force-electrocutes you, but if you answer right, he Force-electrocutes the other guy! In the latter case, it's only this trope from point of view of a heroic PlayerCharacter, as the whole point is that a true Sith, which he thinks you're aspiring to be, would always make the sadistic-towards-someone-else choice. One of the ways out is to TakeAThirdOption and [[spoiler:team up with the other guy to kill your tormentor]]. |
| 137 | * ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'': [[spoiler:Joel finally gets Ellie to the Fireflies in Salt Lake City. Ellie's being prepped for surgery to begin creating a cure, which entails removing her brain, killing her in the process. Joel is faced with a choice: allow the girl he has come to see as his daughter to die and allow humanity to possibly be cured, or save her and damn humanity to the status quo. He chooses the latter.]] |
| 138 | * ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'': The series is based around the titular Kain's SadisticChoice, where he has to decide between sacrificing himself to save Nosgoth or not. If he accepts the sacrifice, then the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] go extinct due to him being the last vampire, and the Hylden would be released from their eternal prison. On the other hand, if he refuses the sacrifice, then Nosgoth is doomed to an eternity of corruption and decay. Kain's main motivation throughout the series is to find a [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] instead - but in a series where YouCantFightFate is in near full effect, Kain only has a handful of opportunities to change history in his favor. |
| 139 | * ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'': Near the end of the Heaven's Gate arc, Escad and Daena come to blows. You get to decide who to side with, causing the other person to initiate a battle to the death. You can't even TakeAThirdOption, as saying that [[spoiler:they're both wrong]] causes [[spoiler:the one you've been nicer to]] to flip out and try to kill you. |
| 140 | * In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', before the events of the game, Zant gives Zelda the choice of surrendering to him or killing her along with all of Hyrule. Zelda decides to surrender. |
| 141 | * ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' lives on this trope. You'll end up running into this multiple times in each of the five episodes. [[spoiler:The final decision of episode five leaves you to decide whether to save the townspeople of Arcadia Bay from an incoming tornado, or save your best friend/possible love interest.]] |
| 142 | ** There's one that only becomes sadistic on a second playthrough. In Chapter 4, [[spoiler:you're given the option of having Max warn Victoria that Nathan is targeting her. If you've got Vic to the point that she believes you, this leads to her death as she goes to the actual villain, Mr. Jefferson, for protection, and he disposes of her before he does Max. In the second playthrough, this leads to the difficult choice of sending Vic to her death, or either being a jerk to her through the earlier chapters, or having Max act on knowledge she can't have (or change to a jerk characterization at a strange time).]] |
| 143 | * ''VideoGame/{{Lisa}}: The Painful RPG'' thrives on these. The majority revolve around whether or not you're willing to risk yourself in order to save one of your allies. Choosing to act almost always leads to Brad getting disfigured and suffering a stat loss, while abandoning them leads to [[{{Permadeath}} their deaths]]. One of them is a choice between [[spoiler:the lives of three of your party members, or your surrogate daughter's nipple]]. |
| 144 | * In ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance'', the player is offered by Mephisto the choice between freeing [[ComicBook/XMen Jean Grey or Nightcrawler]] from his realm. The one chosen is saved while the other is dropped into an energy vortex, [[spoiler:and later his/her soul becomes brainwashed by Mephisto and [[DualBoss aids him]] in the boss battle following the choice. S/he pulls a HeroicSacrifice when you defeat the devil afterwards]]. Bonus points if you have the 360 DLC which includes, yes, Nightcrawler as a playable character. |
| 145 | ** There's even an easter egg in the epilogue scene, [[spoiler:if the player saves Jean over Nightcrawler. Mystique becomes overcome with grief over her son's death and lashes out by assassinating Professor Xavier]]. There's a scene where [[spoiler:the X-Men are attending Xavier's funeral, and one of them is f*** ing NIGHTCRAWLER!]] |
| 146 | ** If you save Nightcrawler over Jean Grey, then in the epilogue [[spoiler:Jean Grey comes back as The Phoenix and destroys the world. [[DownerEnding You can't win!]] [[SurvivorGuilt The only difference is that Nightcrawler hates you for choosing him over Jean.]] Jean Grey instantly forgives you, understanding that it was a difficult choice to make.]] |
| 147 | ** And heaven forbid a player thinks intelligently and try to open both of the cages at once using UA's co-op mode. You will get both bad endings. Both characters "Survived", in that they whined in the safe house. But you will get both of their epilogues together. |
| 148 | ** If one has Magneto in their party when they have to make a choice, good ol' [[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3 Maggy]] TakesAThirdOption and uses his powers to break the locks on both cages. Choice averted. Players rejoice. |
| 149 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'' |
| 150 | ** ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'': |
| 151 | *** During the attack on Virmire, [[spoiler:you are given the choice between going to reinforce positions held by two of your officers: Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams.]] As the player is on a strict time limit to the detonation of a massive nuke, there is no time to TakeAThirdOption, and the one you do not choose to help will die. Massive indecision follows, especially if [[spoiler:your character is involved in a RomanticSidequest with one of them]]. |
| 152 | *** Then, shortly before the endgame, you are asked to chose whether to [[spoiler:call the Systems Alliance ships into the battle in time to save the ''Destiny Ascension,'' the asari flagship which the Citadel Council is currently on board, or have the Alliance ships hold back and wait for the best opportunity to attack Sovereign]]. This one isn't quite as sadistic to the player, since [[spoiler:Sovereign gets defeated either way, making it a choice between sacrificing either a lot of faceless Alliance soldiers or the Council and a lot of faceless asari]]. If you become a complete Renegade, you can decide to [[spoiler:sacrifice the Council, then ''[[ManipulativeBastard explicitly state you wanted them dead specifically to get rid of them so humans could become the new Council]]. Even Captain Anderson expresses utter shock, though Ambassador Udina is just fine and dandy with it. Utterly chilling.]] |
| 153 | *** In the "Bring Down the Sky" DLC, at the end the player must choose between [[spoiler:letting the terrorist mastermind behind the attempted ColonyDrop go free to save the hostages, knowing that he will probably kill more innocents later, or letting the hostages get killed in order to stop him permanently.]] Once again, there's no [[TakeAThirdOption third option]]. [[spoiler:As it turns out, however, in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' having let Balak escape means you can recruit the remnants of the batarian military as war assets, because after the Reapers hit the batarians first in the invasion Balak ended up being [[YouAreInCommandNow the highest-ranking officer left alive]].]] |
| 154 | ** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': |
| 155 | *** [[spoiler:Letting Kasumi keep the Greybox]] in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' ''seems'' like an easy decision. After all, [[spoiler:you and her went through hell to get it back, and its all she has left of her murdered boyfriend]]. Then you learn that [[spoiler:the data the box contains would make ''the entire galaxy'' turn against humanity in less than a heartbeat if it ever got out.]] Subverted in ''Mass Effect 3'' when [[spoiler:she reconstructs the data anyways, meaning all that she lost were the last bits of Keiji within it.]] |
| 156 | *** In a sidequest in ''Mass Effect 2'', you have two missiles being launched at a city and the spaceport next to the city. You only have the codes to stop one. Do you destroy the spaceport, cutting off the city from the outside world, or do you destroy the city, killing thousands of people in order to keep a valuable asset intact? This one presents an interesting twist: Without the spaceport the colony can't be maintained at all. It's explicitly stated that if you choose to save the city, the entire colony will have to be abandoned. This actually makes it a very interesting scenario because the stakes are so different in scale i.e. certain death of hundreds or thousands of civilians (the game is inconsistent about which one it is), against the endangerment of the entire colony (populous colonies can count millions of people). |
| 157 | *** Also in [=ME2=], there are two separate instances in which Shepard must mediate an argument between a pair of squad members: Miranda and Jack in one instance, and Tali and [[spoiler:Legion]] in the other. If Shepard hasn't accumulated enough Paragon or Renegade points to talk both sides down, s/he will be forced to chose to support one at the cost of the other's loyalty... which can lead to the death of the non-loyal squad member during the Suicide Mission. |
| 158 | ** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': |
| 159 | *** There are at least two Sadistic Choices in the main mission string alone. [[spoiler:Both have [[TakeAThirdOption third options]], but they each require you to have made ''very'' specific choices in [[OldSaveBonus the past two games]] -- and there is ''no'' way for fan-favorites Wrex and Mordin to both come out alive. For players without an import, the third option is not available and the other two options are indeed sadistic.]] |
| 160 | *** The Quarian-Geth War arc has two of them. Fairly early on you have to decide whether to save Admiral Zaal'Koris or the squad of soldiers he's been separated from. He wants you to choose TheMenFirst. [[spoiler:As it turns out, however, saving Zaal'Koris is critical to getting the GoldenEnding, since the Civilian Fleet which he commands becomes more panicky without him.]] Then at the end of the arc, the quarians open fire on the geth while Legion is [[spoiler:uploading Reaper-written code to them that will allow every individual geth program to become sapient]], and Shepard must choose whether to save the geth or the quarians. [[spoiler:The GoldenEnding has Shepard convincing the quarians to cease fire, letting the geth achieve sapience and rejoining the quarians as their allies.]] |
| 161 | *** The ending of the third game also qualifies to an extent. [[spoiler:Shepard has to choose between destroying all synthetic life, taking control of the Reapers, or melding organic and synthetic life. The first involves murdering the geth [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential (assuming the player didn't already do that)]] and a popular squad mate, does more harm to galactic infrastructure than the other endings, and leaves open the possibility of future wars between organics and synthetics; on the bright side, it's the only ending in which Shepard can survive as an organic. The second results in [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Shepard giving up their humanity in order to take control of the Reapers]], essentially giving Shepard indefinite control of the galaxy. The third is advertised by the Catalyst as the "ideal" ending; it kills Shepard, and subverts the free will of the affected species in a way that bothers many players, but it at least resolves the organic-synthetic conflict in a fairly durable way. There's also the [[TakeAThirdOption Refuse ending]]: the Reapers eventually get defeated in a subsequent cycle, but [[DownerEnding the current harvest succeeds, every sentient being from the current cycle dies]].]] |
| 162 | ** ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'': |
| 163 | *** The mission to rescue the Moshae ends with one. Either take the Cardinal's offer and have the captive angara set free in exchange for leaving the building standing, or blow it up, killing thousands of innocents who can't be saved in time. Potentially subverted, however: you can use an [[PressXToNotDie interrupt]] to shoot the Cardinal dead no matter which option you pick, making freeing the captives more palatable. |
| 164 | *** A mission on Voeld has Ryder forced to choose between [[spoiler:killing an advanced AI, which is clearly unhinged and violent, and saving an angara it's trying to murder who you just saved from the kett, or let it live.]] |
| 165 | *** The mission "Contagion" ends with [[spoiler:the Roekar holding a terminally ill woman hostage, having taken her specifically because the illness she has can cross multiple species, while the angara are immune, which the Roekaar plan to use to kill the Initiative species. She begs Ryder to shoot him rather than let him escape to plan genocide, but SAM informs Ryder the sample he's carrying might be too degraded to be of use to anyone.]] |
| 166 | *** "Hunting the Archon": [[spoiler:Either rescue the krogan prisoners, or the salarians and their Pathfinder, who is badly wounded and needs assistance. Making the decision harder is that you've just seen what an exalted krogan looks like, and not saving them means you'll meet ''more'' later on. Also, Nakmor Drack and Kesh will rip you a new one for not helping, whereas if you leave the salarians to die they're far more accepting of what's happened -- they acknowledge it sucks for them, but you don't have to fight any exalted salarians.]] |
| 167 | * In ''VideoGame/LostMagic'', Diva of the Twilight [[spoiler:holds her own sister Trista hostage for Issac's wand, which is one of the {{MacGuffin}}s. And no, you don't get a third option]]. Due to the game's morals, [[spoiler:Issac will [[FaceHeelTurn turn evil]] and become Diva's subordinate if you decide to hold onto the wand.]] |
| 168 | ** Further spoilers ahoy: [[spoiler:You still have the wand yourself. But on the evil path, you [[ButThouMust have to kill off the other sages]].]] When you [[spoiler:defeat the last one, if you choose to finish off said sage, you get the BadEnding where Diva kills Issac. Even if you don't, you still will get a DownerEnding.]] |
| 169 | * ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'' presents the player with a more gameplay-oriented one in the form of Quick Man's stage, which is full of OneHitKill lasers and requires near-perfect platforming to get through. While the lasers can be halted with the Time Stopper, at the end of ThatOneLevel is ThatOneBoss -- Quick Man himself, who's also weak to Time Stopper. You also can't turn off Time Stopper once you've activated it, meaning once you turn it on it'll run continuously until it's out of ammo, leaving the player to choose between using it to get through the stage or using it to weaken Quick Man. Even [[TakeAThirdOption Taking A Third Option]] and grinding for weapon energy just before the boss room is made incredibly tedious by the only available enemies being tanky Sniper Armors. |
| 170 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGear'': |
| 171 | ** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'', Hot Coldman managed to leak Peace Walker's false data to NORAD with the intention of forcing the military to choose between launching nukes, namely with the belief that humans don't possess the will to launch nukes, although he also hints that he truly doesn't care if they did launch in either case. |
| 172 | ** A variation occurs in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid.'' When Snake is captured, Ocelot gives him two choices; endure torture, or submit and accept defeat. A few hints are dropped in the dialogue beforehand, but the repercussions aren't explicitly clear until you reach the end of the game. Submitting results in [[spoiler:Meryl's death,]] while enduring the torture [[spoiler:saves her.]] This wouldn't be much of a sadistic choice if not for the fact that ButtonMashing to survive the electrocution is frustratingly difficult, whilst submitting is the easier, albeit less moral decision. Canonically, [[spoiler:Snake chooses to endure the torture; Meryl appears in the fourth game]]. |
| 173 | * ''VideoGame/MinecraftStoryMode'': |
| 174 | ** At one point in the first episode, Aiden floods your Endercon booth with lava, which sets Reuben (your pet pig) on fire, but also puts your machine at risk of heat damage. Will you have your friends help you find Reuben, or have them stay and save the machine? Unlike most sadistic choices, this one has a correct answer, non-obvious though it may be, which is [[spoiler:to have your friends stay behind. They don't actually help at all in the search for Reuben, but they do save the machine. If the machine survives, it wins the Endercon building competition, but if your friends aren't around to save it, the Ocelots win instead.]] |
| 175 | ** [[spoiler:At one point within the story, you're given the option of saving either Gabriel or Petra from the Wither Storm. You can't choose both.]] |
| 176 | ** In Episode 3, there's an unusual example that ''at the time'' is just presented as a regular choice, with the "sadistic" implications not occurring until later: [[spoiler:you need to take either Magnus's or Ellegaard's armor to proceed, but the person whose armor you take will be killed later after taking a lethal blow without armor to protect them. So you have a sadistic choice of saving either Magnus or Ellegaard; you can't save both.]] |
| 177 | * The gameplay of ''VideoGame/NoOneHasToDie'' involves you making these to decide who lives and who dies in a fire, due to a [[NoOSHACompliance ridiculously terrible security system]] that makes it impossible to get everyone out alive. Your goal is go through all the possible paths in order to find the way to the true ending, [[spoiler: in which you ''can'' save everyone.]] |
| 178 | * In ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerChampionsOfTheContinent'', Auguste puts his lover Francesca through one of these -- both he and their son, Mikhail, have been poisoned, with Francesca carrying an antidote that's only enough to save one of them. [[spoiler:She chooses Auguste, who then reveals he had a ''second'' dose of the antidote (which Schwarz uses to save Mikhail). This is enough for Francesca to [[LoveMakesYouCrazy snap]], blaming the entire situation on her son.]] |
| 179 | * ''VideoGame/OneShot'': [[spoiler:At the end of the game, you have to choose between SavingTheWorld (or possibly just [[ItIsBeyondSaving prolonging its doom]]) while leaving Niko alone on a tower forever, or sending Niko home and dooming the world.]] |
| 180 | * Being a SpiritualSuccessor to ''VideoGame/BaldursGate''-model [=CRPGs=], ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'' contains a lot of these. |
| 181 | ** What will you choose: send the militia to protect your helpless citizens or secure the merchants' trade routes? The former are innocents civilians and contribute hard to your community. The latter are the backbone of your economy and it will collapse if you don't help them. Of course, you can always delegate someone else to make the decision. |
| 182 | ** Happens in the third part, where you have to choose to either [[spoiler: assist Kesten in storming the Womb of Lamashtu and abandon the capital to be sieged by the monsters, or save the Capital but leave Kesten to die]]. [[spoiler: Being Lawful allows you to TakeAThirdOption, ordering Kesten to protect the capital while you storm the Womb alone.]] A possible bit of LoopholeAbuse involves [[spoiler: saving one or the other but ''not talking to them'' prior to saving the other as well. Doing so will also spare both men]]. |
| 183 | ** Prior to this, dealing with the cult behind it has [[spoiler: you decide whether or not Olika, the widow [[ChekhovsGun of a merchant whose body you'd found during Troll Trouble]], should be allowed to receive Lamashtu's "blessing" to save the life of her unborn child, knowing full well what a blessing from [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Mother of Monsters]] could entail. If you let her, the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue states she was killed by an angry mob.]] |
| 184 | ** The end of Jaethal's companion quest line, especially for non-Evil players -- [[spoiler: either pull a GrandTheftMe on her daughter, or kill her and raise her up as an Undead.]] While she ''can'' TakeAThirdOption depending on prior choices, [[spoiler: this option kills ''Jaethal'', as she effectively tells Urgathoa to go pound salt -- and Urgathoa responds with a BoltOfDivineRetribution that makes Jaethal KilledOffForReal]]. |
| 185 | * ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'': |
| 186 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona3'' features such a choice near the end of the game,: [[spoiler:it turns out your new friend, Ryoji Mochizuki, is an unwilling harbinger for Nyx, a Shadow of immeasurable power who would soon come and wipe out humanity. Ryoji assures you that you have no chance of winning and offers you a choice that you must make on New Year's Eve. If you choose to kill Ryoji, you and your friends' memories of Shadows, the Dark Hour, Nyx, and humanity's impending demise will disappear, and you can live out the rest of your days in blissful ignorance and, when Nyx finally comes, die peacefully. On the other hand, if you decide not to kill Ryoji, you will have a month to prepare for Nyx's arrival. You will fight Nyx, but according to Ryoji, you will be fighting a losing battle and will know naught but despair.]] |
| 187 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona5'' has one near the end of the game: [[spoiler:it turns out Igor is not actually the ''real'' Igor, but a wicked god, Yaldabaoth who manipulated the events of the game from behind the scenes and who essentially wrote you and your comrades out of existence at this point in the game. He offers you two choices. Option A is to join with Yaldabaoth and let him return the world to its previous state, continuing your lives as Phantom Thieves while he observes your actions, but in so doing robbing humanity of their ability to think for themselves. Option B is to continue to oppose Yaldabaoth, futile though it is to fight against the God of Control. The former choice leads to the bad ending, while the latter leads to the final boss battle and the good ending thereafter.]] |
| 188 | * In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky]]'', the hero has to choose between joining their partner on the [[TheDarkSide dark side]] or leaving them at the mercy of the BigBad, who wouldn't want just ''one'' of them... [[spoiler:or not. It's [[AllJustADream all just a nightmare]].]] |
| 189 | * While exploring Talos I's bridge in ''VideoGame/Prey2017'', you find out that a shuttle carrying five people is on its way to Earth and is going to land in Seattle in a few minutes. Unfortunately, there's no way to contact them and no way to tell if they're carrying mimics or not. Do you let them land on the off chance that it won't doom humanity? Or do you remotely detonate the shuttle's scuttling charges and kill everyone on board, since you can't risk the danger of even ''one'' Typhon organism making it to Earth? [[spoiler: The worst part about this is that your choice ''doesn't even matter.'' Whether you choose to blow up the shuttle or not, there is no impact on the game's plot at all. It doesn't void out the achievement for finishing the game without killing anyone or even affect the ending. [[YouBastard It's just to make you feel bad.]]]] |
| 190 | * ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2008'' ends with a pretty hefty one for the Prince: [[spoiler:Elika, the Prince's LoveInterest, has just died to [[SealedEvilInACan re-seal]] [[BigBad Ahriman]], so the Prince has the choice of either letting her stay dead, or using the power of Ahriman's prison temple to resurrect her, thereby releasing Ahriman and resetting everything he's done.]] It really tells you something about his character when [[spoiler:he brings Elika back. She's not happy about it.]] |
| 191 | ** A justification in the Epilogue: The Prince (rightly) states that [[spoiler:all that had been accomplished was putting the SealedEvilInACan ''back'' in its can rather than actually destroying it, meaning that at some point in the future, this whole process would start all over again... except this time without the one thing that could stop it from winning: Elika. So reviving Elika (although an emotionally-driven decision) actually ''does'' have some logic to it. Let the world live on for another few hundred years before almost certainly being taken over by darkness and evil [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and people who kick puppies]], or take this ''one freak chance'' that has arisen due to circumstances that will likely ''never happen again'' to destroy the SealedEvilInACan forever?]] In the long run, the Prince's decision is the smarter one. You know, if what you're going for is keeping the world safe from this particular evil for the rest of time. |
| 192 | * In ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryV'', the hero will venture into Hades at one point. [[spoiler:At the end of the level, he'll be given the choice to resurrect someone implied to be closest to his heart: Katrina, the vampire who died for him, or Erana, whom he forged a spiritual bond with. Both women are in love with him and he can only bring one of them back to life]]. |
| 193 | ** [[spoiler:You can choose to save neither, but that doesn't really count, does it?]] |
| 194 | * In ''VideoGame/RadiataStories'' the major branching off point is whether or not the human hero joins the girl and the forces of non-humanity, or stays with humans. This results in two MultipleEndings, one where humanity survives but the girl dies; or humanity is replaced by elves and other creatures but the guy gets to be with the girl. |
| 195 | * In ''VideoGame/RuneScape'', in the quest "The Void Stares Back", you (as the hero) must choose between two of your allies who the BigBad has captured -- the one you choose will live,and the other one will die. Naturally, both encourage you to save the other. Although, you don't see the one you choose to save after the quest. |
| 196 | * ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'': In the penultimate story mission, [[spoiler:the player is forced to choose between going to Magarac Island to save some friends that STAG had kidnapped and strapped explosives to, but in doing so allow Killbane to escape; or go after Killbane and kill him, but in doing so allow your homies to die.]] |
| 197 | * Mocked in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' in the first mission, where you must choose one of two world-changing bills as a short button pressing event -- a bill to support a cure for cancer ("Fuck Cancer") or a bill to end world hunger ("Let Them Eat Cake"). In a later mission, [[BigBad Zinyak]] offers you a choice to either continue your quest to rescue Matt Miller/oppose the Zin Empire (and face further opposition from the Zin) or give yourself up and ensure the safety of what's left of the human race (and [[spoiler:get a NonstandardGameOver where you're bluntly told [[ILied "ZINYAK LIED"]]]]). |
| 198 | ** Subverted in Shaundi's LoyaltyMission: in the end, two digital clones of DJ Veteran Child take Shaundi and "Fun Shaundi" (Shaundi's LiteralSplitPersonality, based on how she was in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'') hostage and try to force you to choose who lives and who dies. Both Shaundis collectively decide "Fuck that!" and kill the clones themselves -- especially poignant is that they each kill the clone threatening the ''other'' Shaundi, demonstrating their newfound readiness to accept each other. |
| 199 | * ''VideoGame/{{Seedship}}'': These frequently happen throughout the game. Events will pop up where you are often faced with options having to decide between saving colonists on your ship, or risking damage to ship components. |
| 200 | * ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'': "Your mother has been possessed by a demon and pleads with you to end her suffering. Do you kill her?"]] |
| 201 | ** Returns with a vengeance in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV''. Issachar, already dying from wounds ''you'' inflicted on him, begs you to hurry and [[MercyKill kill]] [[ICannotSelfTerminate him]]. Much later, in the Chaos Ending's PlayableEpilogue, [[spoiler:a Mikado woman is surrounded by a flock of Halphas, and is offered to either remain a human and be devoured, or just take a Red and become a demon]]. |
| 202 | * ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' has a sadistic choice that the WordOfGod has admitted to have been purposely worded that way to make the player uncomfortable. A woman of the Order confesses to Heather and begs for forgiveness. Remaining silent makes you feel like you did something wrong, but forgiving the woman gives you a tremendous number of Dark Points (and is what most people do in order to gain the Bad ending). The reason makes sense in hindsight: [[spoiler:forgiving the woman means taking on the role of a god, which is exactly what the villains want you to do]]. |
| 203 | ** ''VideoGame/SilentHillHomecoming'' offers a different variation of the sadistic choice; at one point in time, you are given the option of [[spoiler:watching your mother die by being torn apart on a torture device, or shooting her yourself so she won't have to suffer]]. Neither choice is particularly pleasant. |
| 204 | * ''VideoGame/TheSims Life Stories'' has Vincent face one at the end of his storyline. His new girlfriend, Naomi, is suddenly crushed by a falling satellite, leading to TheGrimReaper making a visit. Vincent proceeds to plea with the Reaper, who instead of [[ChessWithDeath playing his “which hand is the soul in?” game]], decides to offer one of these to Vincent. Grim will let Naomi live, but only should Vincent give up his mansion and other earthly possessions. The player must decide how Vincent answers this dilemma, which will determine the state he’s in once free play starts. |
| 205 | * ''VideoGame/{{SOMA}}'' is particularly fond of these. To elaborate: |
| 206 | ** Choose between [[spoiler:painfully torturing a very sentient yet a bit confused robot until he's catatonic so you can reroute the power, or turn off the power entirely so he'll die quickly, but doing so will let the monster downstairs in.]] |
| 207 | ** Choose between [[spoiler:killing a woman who is forever stuck to machinery, unable to move, phisically suffering and turned into a twisted, organic cyborg-like being, or leave her alive, alone forever, horribly aware of her painful situation.]] |
| 208 | ** Either [[spoiler:kill a mad yet innocent robot with two human mind-scans compressed in its cortex-chip who's blissfully unaware of his condition, or the little robot with an intelligence comparable to a dog that you've befriended along the way and that helped you. If you choose to kill the former, your friend becomes scared of you and will run away from you, never to be seen again.]] |
| 209 | ** [[spoiler:Kill yet another innocent delusional robot who's unaware of her situation, thinking she's in a much better place, or spare her while leaving her alone until she potentially realizes she's alone and forever lost -- if you choose the former, she'll tearfully protest and beg you not to kill her.]] |
| 210 | ** [[spoiler:[[MercyKill Mercy-kill]] what literally used to be you up until a few minutes ago, or leave him alive to wake up alone and scared yet again, forever trapped in a relatively small room with no company and no way to die.]] |
| 211 | ** [[spoiler:Choose to either kill the literal last human on Earth, or leave her alive with the knowledge she's the last of her species. If you choose to put her out of her misery, she [[StayWithMeUntilIDie asks you to stay with her until she's gone.]]]] [[WhatTheHellPlayer You can ignore that request.]] |
| 212 | ** Finally, [[spoiler:choose to either kill the WAU, destroying what is most likely humanity's best hope despite its shortcomings, and causing you to lose your arm, or leave it alive and risk it creating more abominations and keeping all those horribly tortured people "alive."]] |
| 213 | ** After all of these, the game [[spoiler:ends with your main character [[KickTheDog effectively being forever trapped]] [[PlayerPunch at the bottom of the sea,]] [[AllForNothing alone.]]]] |
| 214 | * ''VideoGame/SomaUnion'': The ending is determined by a choice at the end of the game, but both outcomes are [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]]. [[spoiler:The party can either use Absolution's power to restore Soma but risk Absolution coming back to destroy them, or they can destroy Absolution permanently but lose their chance to restore Soma.]] |
| 215 | * Invoked by Eggman during ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2.'' Sonic has the last chaos emerald needed to power the ARK's laser cannon, and in order to coerce Sonic into cooperating, Eggman holds Amy hostage, threatening to shoot her unless Sonic hands over the emerald. [[spoiler:Naturally Sonic chooses to save Amy, but Eggman was well aware that the emerald was fake, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard using Sonic's own ploy against him.]]]] |
| 216 | * ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole'': While escaping from Dr. Mephesto's lab near the end of the game, [[spoiler: you find both of your kidnapped parents in a locked room. The only way out is sealed with a DNA scanner awaiting a sample from one of them. Your dad is strapped to an operating table, naked and terrified, and your mom is heavily wounded with her legs broken by the mutated sixth graders who are rampaging through the lab. If that weren't bad enough, they've been at each other's throats and arguing nonstop the entire game and are now both urging you to ''kill the other''. There's no way to save them both and no other way out of the room; ''[[ButThouMust you have to kill one of your parents to leave]]'', either [[OffWithHisHead cutting your dad's head off with a laser]] or [[AnArmAndALeg ripping your mom's arm off, leaving her to pass out from shock and bleed to death.]] Your choice ultimately doesn't matter in the end, since you travel through time and eventually stop Cartman from taking over South Park, which also prevents the death of one of your parents.]] |
| 217 | * ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'': At one point [[spoiler:Col. Konrad forces Capt. Walker to shoot either a civilian convicted of stealing water or an American soldier who overzealously massacred the same civilian's family for the crime]], in the process letting the other person free. Walker can however TakeAThirdOption and [[spoiler:[[ShootTheRope shoot the prisoners' ropes]] or the snipers waiting for Walker's choice.]] It's later revealed that this choice [[spoiler:took place entirely in Walker's head; both prisoners were already dead by the time Delta reached them. This results in making the scene come across more as a parody of binary "moral choice" moments in video games than anything else (which is fitting, given that Walker is trying to convince himself that Konrad is an archetypal video game villain).]] |
| 218 | * In ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'', our favorite web-headed hero is left with one of these at the end: [[spoiler:Peter has retrieved the antiserum to the Devil's Breath bioweapon. However, in order to make an antidote out of it, they need to use the whole thing. However, one of the first victims, Aunt May, is on the brink of dying. In a moment of desperation, Peter is prepared to use the whole thing on Aunt May, but stops himself at the last minute and ends up grieving as Aunt May dies and allows the antidote to be used to save others.]] |
| 219 | * In ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' mission "All That Glitters...", Vaadwaur leader Gaul has decided to [[spoiler:slaughter the Talaxians remaining in their asteroid base]] as a major "Fuck You" to the player for trying to be the good guy. At one point, you're asked to choose between two doors and even if you're playing with multiple people, you ''cannot'' open both. Even the EMH Mk. I expresses displeasure at this choice. |
| 220 | * ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic''? Well, it's Creator/BioWare again, so they're going to load it on you. |
| 221 | ** Imperial Agent: Do you stop the terrorist from killing thousands while letting the one who is ''behind'' said terrorist go free? Do you stop the guy behind the terrorist and let those thousands die? There is the third option of ''joining'' the guy. [[spoiler:and a way to subvert this and TakeAThirdOption, but only if you play your cards ''exactly'' right]]. |
| 222 | ** Republic Trooper: You have 300 Republic prisoners of war in one area of a damaged space station and your ally (and, for male Troopers, minor love interest) Sgt. Jaxo in another. Saving the prisoners will mean [[ThrownOutTheAirlock venting the area Jaxo is located in to space]]. Worse, is she's begging you over the com to spare her life. |
| 223 | ** ''Knights of the Eternal Throne'': AxCrazy bitch Vaylin is headed for your party, but said party is split. [[MagnificentBastard Valkorion]] says you can choose which one of your party you rescue [[spoiler:(either Vette or Torian, both fan favorites)]], and the other ''is'' going to be KilledOffForReal. |
| 224 | * In the prologue comic series for ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6'', JP forces Ken into such a choice: Ken's son, Mel, is being held hostage, tied to a chair with a drone rigged to explode underneath. JP hands Ken a phone that is connected to other drone bombs scattered throughout Nayshall and gives him three minutes to make a choice: disable the bomb endangering Mel, but allow another drone in Nayshall to detonate and possibly kill someone; or let the timer run out, preventing the bombs in Nayshall from going off, but let Mel die in so doing. |
| 225 | * In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' (and possibly the ''Alpha'' series as well?), Elzam's backstory centers around one of these. He can either let a space colony be exposed to nerve gas while he chases the villain, or blast open a hole and launch both the canister and his wife into space. His wife was already exposed to the gas anyway, he just couldn't pull the trigger himself until she begged him to. |
| 226 | * In the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series: |
| 227 | ** A minor variant in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', where Petey Piranha kidnaps both Princesses [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Peach]] and [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]]. Franchise/{{Kirby}} (or rather, the player) can only save one princess; the other gets nabbed by [[VideoGame/WarioWare Wario]]. This subverts [[TakeAThirdOption heroic attempts to break them both out]] in that, while it is theoretically possible to deplete both cages' life bars by attacking Petey Piranha's head, the game picks a princess for you if this is the case. [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Nice try, hero]]. [[spoiler:Both end up fine near the end anyway.]] |
| 228 | ** Spoofed in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMvgKqMWAlg Corrin's reveal trailer]] in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'' where he's forced to choose whether to side with his biological or adoptive family, or go rogue... Then suddenly a ''fourth option'' appears and Corrin chooses that. The choice? To take part in ''Super Smash Bros'' of course! Both royal families are baffled and confused at first, but this gives way to amazement as he ([[PurelyAestheticGender and she]]) display their battling prowess in the Smash Bros. ring. |
| 229 | * In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': |
| 230 | ** You can invoke this on any inexperienced Engineer. When you sap his sentry you have to force him to either fix it, resulting in you being able to get away and possibly sapping again, or try and kill you and risk losing his sentry. Most inexperienced Engies do not realise that the spy can instantaneously place a second Sapper as soon as the first one is removed, and those that do are often not nimble enough to catch experienced Spies, who often lure them away long enough so that the sapper destroys the sentry. In this, [[TakeAThirdOption the third option]] for the Engineer would be to alert their teammates that a [[MemeticMutation "SPAH'S SAPPIN' MAH SENTRY!"]] and let them do the gunning down while the Engy fixes his sentry. |
| 231 | ** Any person who plays Medic will at some point come across a situation where two or more people run up to them while burning or bleeding to death with neither dispenser nor health kit in sight. Your healing beam can only focus on one patient at a time. Occasionally, the victims will have enough health that a particularly fast and skilled Medic will be able to bounce just enough healing to each patient for all of them to survive, but this is rarely the case. |
| 232 | * ''VideoGame/TriangleStrategy'' has several important decisions that are left to a vote on the Scales of Conviction. While not all of them are sadistic choices, there are several that very much ''are'', such as: |
| 233 | ** Chapter VII: After Aesfrost invades, you have to decide either to protect Roland even if it means taking on the full force of the Aesfrosti army, or surrender him to spare House Wolffort from their wrath, earning the ire of one of your allies. |
| 234 | ** Chapter IX: [[spoiler:When [[SinisterMinister Sorsley]] twists Serenoa's arm into smuggling illegal salt for him, you must either agree to it and open yourself up to more demands from Hyzante's Saintly Seven, or betray Sorsley and try to expose his illicit dealings.]] |
| 235 | ** Chapter XI: [[spoiler:The Saintly Seven now demand that Serenoa expel the Roselle from their village and subject them to hard labor at the Source to prove his loyalty to them. Serenoa has to either accept at the cost of his relationship with Frederica (a Rosellan herself) taking a huge blow, or deny their demands and have to face off against Silvio and Rufus to protect them.]] |
| 236 | ** Chapter XIII: [[spoiler:The recapture of Glenbrook's capital is the subject of the game's first three-way vote, and none of the choices are ideal. Benedict advocates for destroying the dam and letting the resulting flood deal with Aesfrost's forces at the cost of it also affecting all the innocent citizens living there, Roland advocates for infiltrating the capital city for a surprise attack, and Frederica advocates for destroying the bridge to the castle, trapping the army, and trying to negotiate terms of surrender.]] |
| 237 | ** Chapter XVII: [[spoiler:With tensions between the three nations reaching a boiling point, Serenoa must decide on which of his three TrueCompanions he will side with, at the cost of alienating one of the remaining two to the point where they leave the party. Siding with Frederica to free the Roselle and lead a pilgrimage out of Norzelia means Benedict, angry that Serenoa would turn his back on Glenbrook and the late Lord Symon, will leave. Siding with Roland in order to ally with Hyzante and unite Norzelia under the Goddess' teachings means Frederica, disgusted with how Serenoa would betray her and her people, will leave. Conversely, siding with Benedict to ally with Aesfrost and crush Hyzante causes Roland to leave, feeling the fight to avenge his father and brother would be AllForNothing if he were to side with their killers.]] Alternately, [[spoiler:if the conditions for the GoldenEnding are met, Serenoa can split his forces three ways to not only take on both Aesfrost and Hyzante, but ''also'' free the Roselle from their suffering.]] |
| 238 | * Subverted in ''[[VideoGame/TwistedMetal Twisted Metal: Black]]''. Dollface, the driver of Darkside, wishes to take off [[ClingyCostume the unremovable mask that her former boss fastened to her face]] as punishment, and Calypso grants her the wish in what seems like his traditional JackassGenie fashion, attaching the key to her mask to a {{Rube Goldberg|HatesYourGuts}}-style DeathTrap that will kill her former boss if she takes it. The thing is, given what this man did to Dollface, she sees the prospect of killing him as less a moral quandary than a ''bonus''. The kicker? She throws the key away afterwards and decides that she actually likes her mask after all, since it won't grow old and ugly like her human face. |
| 239 | * ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'' is all about this. At the beginning, it seems mostly like the choices are about morals (like telling Matt that his girlfriend hugged her ex), but it at some points becomes quite sadistic like when [[spoiler:deciding whether Ashley or Josh should die by a gigantic saw]], when having to decide on [[spoiler:Matt saving himself or trying to save Emily]] or [[spoiler:shoot Ashley, shoot Chris or letting both die]]. While some of these interestingly don't really end in the characters certain death, they can impact later decisions or [[GuideDangIt lead to the ironic death of the one you saved]]. |
| 240 | * At least OnceAnEpisode in ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadTelltale''. |
| 241 | ** Episode 1: You have to choose whether to save either [[spoiler:Carley or Doug.]] |
| 242 | ** Episode 2: [[spoiler:First, you have to choose between cutting off the teacher's leg or leaving him in the bear trap for the walkers. Second, when trapped in the meat locker, Larry has a heart attack and stops breathing. Since anyone who dies with an intact brain stem becomes a walker, you have the choice of holding back Lilly from trying to revive him so Kenny can crush Larry's head with a salt lick, or trying (unsuccessfully) to revive him. Another one comes just after that, when you have to choose whether or not to spare the St. John brothers.]] |
| 243 | *** Worse is that [[spoiler:Larry's revival is not unsuccessful]] because you can't get his heart going again; in fact, if the player does CPR fast enough he takes a very deep breath...[[spoiler:Before Kenny drops a salt lick on his head anyway.]] |
| 244 | ** Episode 3: [[spoiler:Duck gets infected. You either kill him yourself or make Kenny, his father, do it.]] Later, you have to choose whether to help Omid or Christa onto the train first, but it's subverted since whoever you don't help catches up anyways. |
| 245 | ** Episode 4: [[spoiler:Ben, who's been TheLoad for almost the entire season, falls off the balcony in Crawford's belltower. You have to either let him go, fulfilling his DeathSeeker mentalities, or save him.]] |
| 246 | ** Episode 5: [[spoiler:When Lee gets infected, you have to choose whether or not to cut off his arm to slow the infection. At the end of the episode, you either let Clementine shoot you when you're about to succumb to the infection/blood loss, or just tell her to leave you for dead.]] |
| 247 | ** The trend continues into Season 2. [[spoiler:The final choice of Episode 1 involves risking saving either Pete or his nephew Nick. In a mild subversion, Nick will survive even if you pick Pete, and Pete is killed no matter your choice.]] |
| 248 | ** The ending of the fifth and final episode is determined by a very dark SadisticChoice: [[spoiler:you're forced into a position where you have to kill either Kenny or Jane. You're either stuck with a man who very obviously has completely lost his grip on his sanity, and just brutally murdered someone in front of you, or a woman who would endanger a baby's life just to prove that said man was going crazy. Or you can kill one and leave the other, which results in perhaps one of the cruelest cases of NoEnding in any video game ever. '''There are no other options'''.]] |
| 249 | ** In Vince's chapter of the ''400 Days'' DLC, [[spoiler:you're chained up to a [[TheSpock rational]] and [[IRegretNothing unapologetic]] [[WhiteCollarCrime white-collar]] ConMan, and a [[NobleDemon humanistic]] and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone remorseful]] rapist. Walkers surround the bus and a shotgun lands in your lap. You can escape with one of them, but it means blowing the foot off the other guy and leaving him to his fate. The question is, which one do you escape with and which one do you sacrifice?]] |
| 250 | ** An especially cruel example happens near the end of Season 3. [[spoiler:The final choice of Episode 4 has you begging the BigBad, [[BitchInSheepsClothing Joan]], to spare one of your friends. You're forced to choose between Tripp, a friend who's been with you since the start that you may or may not have recently fallen out with, or Ava, a new ally who's been nothing but helpful to you and Clementine. What the player probably doesn't know is that [[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo whoever you pick dies]], and the other isn't too happy that you'd be willing to sacrifice them.]] |
| 251 | * The main plot of ''VideoGame/WildArms1'' is kicked off by one of these. The heroes have to either give the demons the [[MacGuffin Tear Drop]], or allow the demons to destroy Adelhyde. They're forced to do the former. |
| 252 | * Many, many instances in ''VideoGame/TheWitcher''. An early example has Geralt having to decide whether or not he should give a crate of supplies he just defended to a desperate band of travelers. [[spoiler:If he gives them the supplies, he later discovers that the "travelers" were actually terrorists, and the "supplies" were weapons they used to murder a man somewhat related with main quest in the next chapter. If, on the other hand, Geralt sees through the terrorists' lie and kills them, he later finds out that his actions caused the arrest of an innocent man.]] Either way, ''someone'' gets screwed over. |
| 253 | ** The sequel is likewise full of this. A major example is the climax of chapter 1, where Geralt must choose between [[spoiler:helping Iorveth save a group of elves about to be executed by [[TheCaligula Loredo]], or help Rosch go straight after Loredo and kill him. You ''cannot'' do both. Choosing to help Iorveth causes Loredo to escape, spark a mass race riot in Flotsam, and [[KarmaHoudini completely get away with it]]. Choosing to help Rosch kill Loredo results in the elven hostages dying, but the riot, and thus more bloodshed, is prevented.]] |
| 254 | ** ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'' has one quest where Geralt is tasked to destroy the malicious spirit [[spoiler:of a murdered druidess]] who has been killing innocent people left and right, only for it to barter with its life by promising to save a group of blameless orphans set for sacrifice. There is no good choice. [[spoiler:It's heavily implied in an in-game book that the murdered druidess is the individual that created [[WickedWitch the Crones of Crookback Bog]].]] |
| 255 | ** Also in the third game, the resolution of the war between Nilfgaard and the North. Radovid [[spoiler:is assassinated and Roche celebrates with Thaler and Ves by revealing that they have made a separate peace deal with Nilfgaard which will see Temeria become a vassal state. But Dijkstra reveals that he has no intention of surrendering the North, and intends to become Chancellor of Redania and fight on which will result in a unified North under Redania's control. Geralt can either save his friends, turn on Dijkstra and condemn the North to Nilfgaardian rule, or he can [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere leave them all to sort it out themselves]], which he is fully aware will mean that Dijkstra wins. The third outcome, worse than both the aforementioned, is to simply not take the quest at all and leave the North in the hands of a [[TheCaligula completely insane tyrant]] who openly intends to burn and impale every magical and non-human individual he can get his fingers on.]] |
| 256 | ** Actually, quite often [[AvertedTrope averted]], or [[SubvertedTrope subverted]]. Plenty of choices that are set up allow you to TakeAThirdOption, especially in ''The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt''. They may not necessarily be better, though. Remember: [[GrayAndGreyMorality there is no good or bad]] in ''The Witcher'', just actions and consequences. |
| 257 | * Near the end of the prologue in ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'', Deathshead has Blazkowicz and his surviving squad mates captured, and forces Blazkowicz to choose either Fergus or Wyatt to be taken away and "put to the scalpel". Doing so changes the story in a number of ways, both subtle (hotwiring/lock-picking minigame) and not-so-subtle (different characters join LaResistance depending on who you save). And there's no [[TakeaThirdOption third option]] either -- take too long to choose, and you ALL die. You ''have'' to choose either Fergus or Wyatt. And just to rub it in, at a certain point in the plot whomever you saved will [[WhatTheHellHero ream Blazkowicz out]] in an outburst of SurvivorGuilt and say that he made the wrong choice -- Fergus says you should have saved the younger man, while Wyatt says you should have saved the more experienced soldier. [[spoiler:Making matters worse, whoever you sacrifice ends up becoming the penultimate boss, their brain used to power a prototype Nazi warmech.]] |
| 258 | * ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': |
| 259 | ** Sylvanas takes [[RebelLeader Darius Crowley's]] [[ActionGirl daughter]] hostage and offers him the following options: Surrender and retreat, giving up his homeland and abandoning the battle, or have his daughter [[YouWillBeAssimilated killed and then reanimated as one of the forsaken]]. Crowley, for context, deliberately got the worgen curse so that he wouldn't be able to become undead. That's how much he hates the undead. |
| 260 | ** The members of Garrosh's Horde who don't like his actions have this. Either go along with him and risk their people in what they see as a self-destructive and immoral war with the Alliance, or turn on him and suffer his wrath. |
| 261 | ** At the end of ''Legion's'' Val'sharah storyline, Xavius tries to force one of these on Tyrande Whisperwind. Pursue him to rescue her husband Malfurion, or return to the Temple of Elune, the goddess Tyrande is priestess of, to protect it from the corrupted dragon he has unleashed on it. Tyrande, however, immediately chooses to rush to the temple to protect it, knowing that Malfurion is strong enough to deal with Xavius for at least a little while. Which is absolutely true. When the player comes to rescue him, he's fine. |
| 262 | ** The entirety of ''Dragonflight's'' mega-dungeon, Dawn of the Infinites, can be considered this. The Primal Incarnate of Earth, Iridikron, has allied himself with the Infinite Dragonflight to turn the Bronze Aspect, Nozdormu, into Murozond. Chromie and the heroes venture through the timeways back to the moment when Galakrond was just defeated, having his essence absorbed by Iridikron through an artifact. The heroes defeat the Incarnate and destroy his artifact, but Murozond rises. There's the choice: Iridikron can stay defeated, but Murozond rises, or they can save Nozdormu, but allow Iridikron to escape with his artifact. [[spoiler:They choose the latter.]] |
| 263 | * ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' hits you with this when the aliens conduct abduction missions attacking civilian centers. They'll attack three different countries simultaneously, each of which will offer different incentives to try and get XCOM to intervene, but you can only respond to one, and panic will increase in the countries you ignore, which can potentially lead them to drop out of the XCOM project and leave you one step closer to a game over. So, do you prioritize stopping the abductions in the country with the highest panic, or the mission reward you badly need? |
| 264 | * ''VideoGame/XCOM2'' has a Dark Events mechanic that is even worse than the old abduction missions. Each month, [[VichyEarth ADVENT]] will get dealt a hand of actions it can take to screw you over - a penalty to your monthly supply income, extra enemies on missions, additional enemy equipment and abilities, etc. You'll eventually be given the choice between three different Guerilla Ops, each countering a specific Dark Event and offering different mission types and rewards. So what will it be: the Op whose mission is a Medium-difficulty scenario that even your C-list soldiers can clear, leaving your A-team available to run that tough story-advancing mission you can't put off for much longer; the Op that counters the least dangerous Dark Event, but offers an Engineer you desperately need to man the Resistance Comms facility so you can make more contacts on the campaign map; or the Op with the Very Hard mission that might cost you a valuable soldier, but counters the Dark Event that would cripple your activity for the next month? |
| 265 | * ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': The game's opening itself tells the player the game is one of tough choices: |
| 266 | ** The basic mechanics of the petitioner help system involves choosing who gets help, and sometimes what help they get. |
| 267 | ** Any money spent on upgrades ranging from giving Lorsulia a better wedding to giving the castle a chance during a coming siege is money that can't be used to help petitioners. |
| 268 | ** Grego, one of the potential allies, will require one of the castle's painting to give Eryk his men and will offer good money for three others after that. A good way to get a little extra cash, except [[spoiler:that he's acquiring them to burn them]]. And one of the things that can be sold to him is a tapestry made by Aurelea, Eryk's wife. |
| 269 | ** The sets of MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers. Support the FantasticDrug trade for extra cash or help ban it and [[spoiler:choose between letting your new ally trade with the enemy or financially supporting him]]? Ally with a [[spoiler:phony hero]] who's otherwise a decent person or a [[spoiler:real veteran]] who is a DomesticAbuser? |
| 270 | * ''Yume Miru Kusuri'' presents you with three girls, you can only save one from their painful problems. Once selected, your character watches the other two their slow inevitable and painful descent to despair from their problems while you are merely buying extra time for your selected girl. She too can join the others in a bad ending if you made the wrong choices |
| 271 |
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