History Main / PhilosophicalChoiceEndings

** ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'': "Is the struggle to succeed truly worth foregoing the simple (and self-sacrificing) option?" Gale's goddess reveals he has the opportunity to prematurely destroy the Final Boss at the cost of his own life. The thing is, he is also a world-ending threat, having the equivalent of a magical nuclear reactor growing unstable in his chest. If he stabs himself while next to the Final Boss, then even they won't be capable of overcoming the sheer nuclear blast, ending the threat of a monster or tyrant ruling the world or the bomb going off and killing them all. Unfortunately, this also has the side effect of causing some kind of magical-psychic cataclysm from the conflicting forces, eradicating Baldur's Gate and throwing the world into a chaotic dark age that barely survived. Whoops - what did you say you were the goddess of, again?

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal'': "Will you take the essence of the murder god Bhaal for yourself or become a normal mortal?" The PC is a Bhaalspawn, one of the offspring of Bhaal, who was made mortal during an event when all the gods were forced to walk the earth. Bhaal attempted to cheat death by putting pieces of his essence in many children and then [[ArchnemesisDad encouraging them to murder each other.]] However, one flaw in the plan is that each Bhaalspawn [[spoiler: and Bhaal's high priestess]] could potentially usurp Bhaal's place if they gathered all the essence together, and at the end, that's what the PC stops the FinalBoss from doing. The option to give up the Bhaalspawn status and become a normal mortal is more or less the same (including a future with a romantic partner if the PC had one), but if the PC chooses to ascend as a god, their alignment depends on how they answered a series of questions from a guardian spirit. Even though good-aligned party members encourage you to remain mortal and evil party members will do the opposite, the choice isn't as clear-cut as it sounds. Even though Bhaal and his essence were evil, the PC can just as easily ascend as a good or neutral god, though it's an open question of whether they'll stay that way.

* ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'': "Is survival worth risking becoming a violent monster?" In the ending, you have to decide over Lee's fate, but in a way that is also your last lesson for Clementine. Do you want to a) have her shoot Lee and teach her to survive at any cost, even if through violence, or do you b) teach her to abstain from violence whenever possible to prevent her from possibly turning into a ruthless monster? With the game often giving you the opportunity to use violence or not, this perfectly fits the game's general theme pretty well.

* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'': "Should human augmentation research continue, despite the dangers it presents to humanity?" The game is all about the information war surrounding the nascent human cybernetic augmentation technology. The ending has the villains sabotage cybernetics on a global scale, and Adam (who has been turned into a cyborg involuntarily and thus has a personal stake in this) has to decide how to present this event to the world: blame it on the cybernetics themselves (fueling the anti-augmentation attitudes), on a random fault in the technology (giving more power over technology to the PowersThatBe through subsequent regulations), or on the anti-aug extremists (allowing augmentation research to continue unfettered). Finally, Adam can choose to let humanity make up their own minds about the disaster, by killing everyone who knows the truth about it (including himself). Unfortunately, since the game is a prequel, no matter what Adam chooses, the events will play out in such a way as to create the [[VideoGame/DeusEx original game]]'s setting.
** In the original ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' you have to choose between [[TheWorldIsNotReady working in the shadows]], [[LibertyOverProsperity plunging the world into anarchy and letting it run itself]], or becoming a [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill benevolent dictator]].

Choosing to save yourself and Nebulous Noob results in Nebulous mourning his brother’s death, questioning why you save him instead of King Noob. Years later, he’s now in jail. But now he has a personal vendetta against you, for killing his brother for real this time.

* It's sequel, VideoGame/{{The Day The Noobs Took Over Roblox 3}}, makes the decision much more complex. As the castle crumbles around you, you have to pick to save Nebulous Noob, King Noob, or yourself. You can only save two.

[[folder:Puzzle Game]]
* ''VideoGame/TheTuringTest'': You have a LastSecondEndingChoice whether to shoot Ava and Sarah, or allow them to disconnect TOM. The ending asks whether you think TOM has achieved full sentience and, if so, whether its existence is less valuable than human lives, as well as whether TheNeedsOfTheMany (potential extinction of humanity) outweigh the indefinite suffering of a few (as the scientists now cannot age, they are basically marooned on Europa forever)--and whether you think that human creativity and lateral thinking eventually ''will'' find a way to TakeAThirdOption, despite TOM's inability to conceptualize it.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' has one of these as the ending to the Shadow War DLC quest involving Ra's al-Ghul. Does Batman's ThouShaltNotKill rule allow him to end the unnaturally long life of a horribly evil man by destroying the means of prolonging his life, or does it compel him to preserve Ra's' life by any means necessary even if it will only result in him continuing to hurt and kill people?

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' has one of these as the ending to the Shadow War DLC quest involving Ra's al-Ghul. Is it a violation of Batman's ThouShaltNotKill rule to end the unnaturally long life of a horribly evil man by destroying the means of prolonging his life, or does the rule compel Batman to preserve Ra's' life by any means necessary even if it will only result in him continuing to hurt and kill people?

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' has one of these as the ending to the Shadow War DLC quest involving Ra's al-Ghul. Is it a violation of Batman's ThouShaltNotKill rule to end the unnaturally long life of a grotesquely evil man by destroying his means of prolonging his life, or does the rule compel Batman to preserve Ra's' life by any means necessary even if it will only result in him continuing to hurt and kill people?

* ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'': "Is there [[MoralEventHorizon a moral line beyond which a person is beyond redemption]]?" Throughout the game, the PlayerCharacter Capt. Walker commits worse and worse atrocities in the name of the greater good, hiding from his conscience behind delusions of justice and revenge, until the final revelation breaks it down to him how much he (and, by extension, the player) [[NiceJobBreakingItHero has screwed up]]. It is left to the player to decide whether Walker can still be redeemed (in which ending he surrenders to the authorities) or not, and in the latter case, whether he commits suicide ([[ChoosingDeath directly]] or [[SuicideByCop indirectly]]) or embraces his monstrous nature and [[HeWhoFightsMonsters becomes exactly what he purported to fight against all along]].

* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'': "What can change the nature of a Man?" is a driving question of the story and is directly related to The Nameless One, who dies repeatedly and has changed his personality multiple times upon resurrecting, but the question of whether his ''nature'' has ever changed, or if any of his Incarnations have without dying, remains unanswered. The game allows The Nameless One to actually answer the central question with a WorldOfCardboardSpeech during the final conversation, but actually doing so locks you out of the "suicide" ending and guides the dialogue tree to a point where you can only kill or merge with the Trandescendent One.

* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'': The game's CentralTheme regards transhumanism and the future of humanity, and to which degrees we allow power structures we cannot see or influence (like modern technology, conspiracies or AI) to control our lives even (or especially) if they benefit us. The game gives the player the option to answer this in the last part of the most definitively final dungeon by deciding what to do with the Aquinas Hub (a global chokepoint on communication). JC can choose to side with Helios (merging with an immortal AI to become a DeusEstMachina and control humanity's development forever as a benevolent dictator programmed to make mankind safe and prosperous), the Illuminati (an AncientConspiracy, but ultimately one made up of humans, that has guided the world to its present stage, and would re-establish their control with JC as one of their ruling council) or Tracer Tong (who will destroy the Aquinas Hub and Helios along with it, temporarily shutting down the internet and returning humanity to a less centralized state that will create a new global communications network free of influences like Helios or the Illuminati).

* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'': "What can change the nature of a Man?" is a driving question of the story and is directly related to The Nameless One, who dies repeatedly and has changed his personality multiple times upon resurrecting, but the question of whether his ''nature'' has ever changed, or if any of his Incarnations have without dying, remains unanswered. The game allows The Nameless One to actually answer the central question during the final conversation, but actually doing so locks you out of the "suicide" ending and guides the dialogue tree to a point where you can only kill or merge with the Trandescendent One.

* ''TormentTidesOfNumenera'' plays it straighter with its question "what does one life matter?". Ultimately, your final confrontation with The Sorrow allows you to answer that by using your EleventhHourSuperpower to destroy The Sorrow (freeing yourself at the cost of everyone who would be harmed by its death), becoming the new Changing God (keeping their existence alive at the cost of your own identity), killing all the Castoffs, merging them all together in order to provide one of your companions who have been victimized by The Changing God's actions (the First, Makina or Miika) a chance at a new life, or simply keeping the Status Quo (which ultimately saves no-one but leaves the choice out of your hands).

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' has one of these as the ending to the Shadow War DLC quest involving Ra's al-Ghul. Is it a violation of Batman's ThouShaltNotKill rule to end the unnaturally long life of a grotesquely evil man by destroying his means of prolonging his life, or does the rule compel Batman to preserve Ra's' life even if it will only result in him continuing to hurt and kill people?

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' has one of these as the ending to the Shadow War DLC quest involving Ra's al-Ghul. Is it a violation of Batman's ThouShaltNotKill rule to end the unnaturally long life of a grotesquely evil man by destroying said means of prolonging his life, or does the rule mean Batman must preserve Ra's' life even if it will only result in him continuing to hurt and kill people?

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' has one of these as the ending to the Shadow War DLC quest involving Ra's al-Ghul. Is it a violation of Batman's ThouShaltNotKill to end the life of an evil man who has prolonged his life by centuries using thoroughly unnatural means by destroying said means, or does it force Batman to preserve Ra's' means of resurrection even if it will allow him to do more harm?

* ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternityIIDeadfire'': "What should be the relationship between gods and mortals now that the cycle of reincarnation is broken?" This game further reveals that an ancient civilization is responsible for the machinery of [[TheLifestream the Wheel]], which was a refinement of a natural reincarnation cycle and is also the source of the gods' power. The god Eothas, who was thought to be dead in the first game, is revealed to be very much alive, and his goal is to go to Ukaizo to smash the Wheel so that mortals are no longer bound to serve the gods. In the end, you can't fight him, and trying earns you a NonStandardGameOver. But, true to every story ever told about him, [[AntiVillain Eothas is willing to listen to you and consider your input]]. You can convince him to use the last of his power to create an afterlife, inspire mortals to come up with an alternate solution to the Wheel so that life can continue, or empower one of the gods to be TopGod to keep the others in line. The player can also simply ask questions and bear witness to Eothas's actions, or alternatively [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum plant a seed of doubt in Eothas so that all life ends entirely.]]