8 Obvious Moral Choices In Video Games You Couldn't Make
5. Dragon Age: Origins – When You’re Damned If You Do And Damned If You Don’t
The set-up: Origins is well known for its grim origin stories, but the City Elf origin is the darkest by far. When the son of the local Arl kidnaps a number of elven women for a...‘party,’ the player character fights back, slaughtering his guards and confronting him face-to-face. Take 40 gold and he’ll forget all about you. Kill him, and severe retribution against your fellow elves will follow.
The obvious choice: With the slaughter as good as guaranteeing a purge of your people, and with a friend still in a dire plight, making the evil pig pay for his crime is the only just conclusion to the whole sordid affair.
The reality: Whatever you choose, your fellow elves are going to suffer. But, killing the son is to personally wound the arl, while killing a few guardsmen is not. The degree of difference may be small but it is there, and if taking the money will spare your people even a sliver less suffering, is it not worth walking away it for their sake?
It’s a scenario guaranteed to leave you gutted, and with a painful understanding of what choosing between the lesser of two evils truly means.