The Role of Choice and Consequence in Narrative Gaming

16 August 2025

So, you just decided to save the puppy instead of chasing the villain? Nice. Now the villain ran off with the nuclear codes and the puppy just peed on your boots. Welcome to narrative gaming – where your decisions matter, and your regrets come in high definition.

Let’s take a wild ride through the wonderful (and sometimes ridiculously unpredictable) world of choice and consequence in narrative games. Spoiler alert: Yes, your “I’ll come back for you later” choice will probably lead to someone dying. Cry about it.

Table of Contents

- What Even Is Narrative Gaming?
- Choice and Consequence: Not Just Buzzwords
- The Philosophical Stuff: Morality, Ethics, and Regret (Lots of Regret)
- How Choice Impacts Replayability (Or How We Trick Ourselves Into 100 Hours of Gaming)
- Games That Do It Right (And a Few That Think They Do)
- Why Gamers Are Gluttons for Emotional Punishment
- When Choices Don’t Matter: Let’s Talk About Illusion of Choice
- The Future of Consequences in Gaming
- Final Thoughts (Yes, You Have a Choice to Read It