10 Video Game Features Every Title Should Have Stolen

9. Importing Your Save State & Choices - Mass Effect

I only put one series up in the subheading there but I want to quickly say that The Witcher and Quest for Glory both do an excellent job of this.

Games that carry a protagonist forward through multiple instalments in a series is nothing new but it’s a tricky thing for developers to navigate when you end the previous game with a massively powerful hero. That becomes even more complicated when you enable the player to make big choices within their experience. So, what do you do as a game creator? Do you introduce a new, weaker protagonist, take the characters to a new part of the world so their choices have less impact, or do you double down and create totally different narrative paths that cater to the choices that were made.

That’s what the aforementioned games did and while it must be a tonne of extra work, it creates an incredible connection to your protagonist and ongoing journey.

Aside from that, it’s excellent when games like Mass Effect let you take your class and build to the next game in the series. In Quest for Glory you could keep your stats and money and become more powerful with each passing game, making carrying your hero all the way through far more satisfying.

The potential for other games to reward your time in the series by letting you carry choices, money, maybe even skills or certain weapons across games would be incredible.