Representations of morality in video games have been a major factor in today’s industry, especially thanks to the more narrative focus that most projects have acquired during the current century.
However, the use of good and evil as a creative resource has been more prominent in games withkarma systems: a mechanic that transforms the gameplay, the story, and even the audiovisual elementsaccording to your actions in-game.
From deciding who gets to rule the world to being a bad teammate with your alien companion, no other title makes you feel the weight of your decisions like the10 best games with great karma systems.
10Disco Elysium
The Denial Of Morality
Disco Elysium
Disco Elysiumis a role-playing game that’s known for not shying away from political themes, instead facing them with both materialist and philosophical approaches to represent the complexity of our world.
Disco Elysium: 10 Best Moments, Ranked
Disco Elysium offers one of the best narrative experiences in gaming and, within it, some of the best moments in fiction.
As such, the game doesn’t feature the traditional karma system of good and bad actions, as it denies those categories in an attempt to recreate the relativity of modern-day conditions and to transcend the often insufficient dichotomy.
Because of that, you don’t have much agency during Disco Elysium’s campaign, given it ends almost the same for everyone, regardless of what you do. Yet,its portrayal of morals and ethics is the deepest a video game has ever gone, so it deserves special recognition.
9Metro: Last Light
Post-apocalyptic Morals
Metro: Last Light
Due to being set in a post-apocalyptic context,Metro: Last Lightdebates over what it means to be human when the concepts of morality practically get lost in the destruction of society.
During Artyom’s journey, you will encounter many gray situations in which you will have to take a stand from a gameplay perspective. With no dialogue options and little cinematics, every single controller input you make will determine the fate of the Metro.
It’s an unclear system, and you usually won’t know if something affects the outcome of the story, butthat roughness fits the world of Metro: Last Light, where you’re able to’t clearly distinguish what is right or wrong.
8The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Political Fantasy
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Unlike the previous entry,The Witcher 3: Wild Hunthas a more traditional karma system with dialogue options and scenarios where you choose clear sides, but it maintains the moral complexity for each choice.
Even though it lacks the usual meter that shows your ethical status within the world,it naturally develops the positive and negative consequences of your decisions, shaping your relationship with other characters and the story itself.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt isn’t one ofthe most awarded games of all timeby chance, and the immersion it achieves through its engaging narrative and worldbuilding explains several of the reasons behind its reception.
Arthur’s Identity Struggle
Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2, thanks to having one of thebest video game anti-heroes, offers a magnificent representation of morality, allowing us to see Arthur Morgan’s good and bad deeds in intricate times.
The gamepunishes you for choosing evil, but it still lets you decide whether to confront the narrative as an ungrateful outlaw or a righteous soul in search of redemption, with both lines being equally interesting to follow.
By having explicit paths, sides, and actions, as well as an honor meter, the karma system of Red Dead Redemption 2 is loud and clear, althoughit does not yield in any case and always offers a great story.
Classic Karma
When it comes to karma systems, theFableseries is regarded as one of the pioneers, withFable 2being the most recognizable one in terms of quality and relevance.
10 Games To Play If You Love The Fable Series
If you love the Fable series and need some games to play while you wait for Playground’s next entry, this list can give you some ideas!
Its Alignments mechanic, which defines your avatar appearance and NPCs interactions by marking you as good, evil, pure, or corrupt, is a simple yet iconic design that made everyone fall in love back in 2008.
It may not be the most complex or profound system, butFable 2 is praised among RPG fans partly due to its refreshing karma approach, which expanded upon everything like it at the time.
The Difficulties Of Correctness
Sunderedis a metroidvania that, despite not having the glory it deserves, holdsone of the most fascinating takes on karma systems by tying it to the difficulty of the game.
While this is a genuinely challenging title, you have the option to resist or embrace ancient eldritch powers. The former allows you to remain pure but considerably less powerful, and the latter gives you the best abilities at the expense of your humanity.
It’s an amazing approach to the morality of power, going beyond just storytelling. Will you exchange your beliefs to actually finish the game?Or will you struggle almost endlessly to overcome its hardships without losing yourself?That’s the magic of Sundered.
Moral Conundrum
Following the line of Sundered, albeit with a style that resembles BioWare’s works,Vampyris another great example ofa karma system being influential in both narrative and gameplay.
In this case, the story follows Dr. Jonathan Reid as a newly-turned vampire who struggles with his supernatural need to feed on people and his human desire to abide by the Hippocratic Oath in a flu-ravaged city.
Likewise, succumbing to one side or another will impact the mechanics, giving you a set of abilities accordingly. Nevertheless,it will also affect your relationship with other characters and the development of the campaign, thus making it an omnipresent system.
3Undertale
To Be Good Is To Struggle
Undertaleis an indie masterpiece for a huge number of reasons, and among them is its diversity of playthroughs, which depends on how you decide to interact and understand its world.
Its karma system divides the game into two approaches (one violent, one non-violent), changing everything from dialogues, battles, music, and tone to the point of feelingtwo completely opposite experiences in every single sense.
As a result, Undertale is an in-depth analysis of players' relationship with violence in gaming, exploring how far you can go to be good and bad. It’s an unparalleled work of art anda brutal representation of morals inside and outside video games.
2Mass Effect 2
Paragon vs. Renegade
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2is one of the greatest video games of all time, and its Paragon vs. Renegade dichotomy, representing idealism against cynicism, is a cornerstone of that excellence.
Thereputation systemin Commander Shepard’s second adventure enables a memorable campaign, presenting so many moral conundrums, ethical struggles, and philosophical puzzles that every decision is a world in itself.
Mass Effect Trilogy: 10 Best Paragon Choices
From curing the Genophage to saving Sidonis, the original Mass Effect trilogy gives players lots of very consequential Paragon choices to make.
Functionality-wise, it’s direct and even plain, but it’s so profoundly written and creates so many remarkable moments that it’s hard to not see it as every Mass Effect 2 player sees it: a divine gift for role-playing fans.
1Dishonored
Morals In Action
Dishonored
Dishonored, as a game thatdeserved the GOTY Award but lost, is the highest representation of a karma system executed perfectly, treating you as a conscious actor within its pixels.
Dunwall’s emaciated walls and residents are marked by your actions, though always from a gameplay perspective. To kill somebody, to avoid being seen, to lie, or to try to redeem your enemiesshapes everything about the game narratively,mechanically,visually, andsonically.
With a protagonist who, like the player, can’t speak with his voice but with his sword,Dishonored is interaction in its purest form,with no other language involved but the interactive one. One of the most immersive experiences of all time.
