Default Prime writer Chris Stewart looks at morality in some games where decisions have meaningful consequences for the player and the game world before looking at some upcoming games that look set to cloud the line between right and wrong more than ever before...

One of the big themes of gaming recently is morality. It was squeezed into all sorts of places, but tended to force the player into a pure good or pure evil playthrough of a game, as the strict dichotomy setup between the two didn’t accommodate for the foggier choices people tend to be forced into making in real life. I find the idea an excellent one, though. A game where my decisions affect the world around me in some way inevitably draws me deeper into the narrative as I make the character my own. That is the fundamental flaw with the strict split down the middle of good and bad; if I am forced into a good or an evil playthrough, the character is not mine, but has been railroaded into a series of decisions so I could obtain the best powers, items or ending. However, it seems that 2012 is less concerned with refining the morality system and more interested in clouding the line between good and bad more than ever before…

MrChrisNo1 via defaultprime.com »