Some video games let you define your own journey, whilst others thrust you into a world where the narrative is barely interactive but branches out. The latter feels like a cop-out when players are merely looking for well-written stories that remind them of the old “Choose Your Own Adventure” books they used to read.
Compared to old books, video games have a lot more variety to offer. From text-based RPGs to randomizing hellscapes with custom characters and a barrage of choices to progress further, some titles really know how to immerse you into the in-universe lore and make you commit to the stories.
10 Choice Of Robots
Build your own robot contraption and decide what it’s supposed to look like, then chart your own course by making crucial decisions that will change how the game works.
Navigate through the incoming robot uprising and take up a stance you think would be appropriate considering the circumstances presented to you. Regardless of how chaotic everything is around you, don’t let that change who you really want to be. This game lets you become anything you want and dishes out dialogue that’s sure to tug on your heartstrings.
9 Buriedbornes
As brutal as this video game is, it’s pretty aesthetic and features some well-drawn yet intimidating sprites for you to tango with within the depths of a dungeon or on some sprawling field. Unlike most text-based RPGs, Buriedbornes delivers an interactive experience albeit with some caveats.
Create your own character and choose your class. You can even choose where to start the game. The UI has some elements that need to be translated, and it isn’t very friendly to newcomers, but the overwhelming work put into this indie title makes it a must-play.
8 Creatures Such As We
Forge your own destiny as you traverse through empty space and make decisions that carve out a path for you. Navigate through complex situations that are thrust on you the moment you start the game.
This text-based RPG is surprisingly very lore-heavy and overwhelming when it comes to presenting you with a narrative that seems hopeless. You might find everything confusing at first, but you’ll eventually understand all of it since the writing is so engaging and witty at times.
7 Life In Adventure
Travel across the lands and enter villages or towns ravaged by mysterious beasts or consumed by hypnotizing priests. Lift up your weapons and try to curb the evil or be on your merry way, this game lets you do it all.
With all sorts of endings to look forward to and tons of beasts to discover on your journeys, Life in Adventure has everything for every casual roleplaying game fan. You start off as some randomized no-name and end your game as either a genocidal tyrant or a legendary hero.
6 Achaea, Dreams Of Divine Lands
Get ready to be greeted by an overwhelming wall of words and stats as soon as you start this text-based MMORPG, learn the commands, and interact with a devoted community of global players who are dedicated to messing around with your story.
Achaea may be an old game with expensive microtransactions, but it’s still charming and unique enough to keep its fanbase engaged. Similar to what AI Dungeon does, a simple prompt can generate a long descriptive response from the system, and you can even use your coding skills to mess around with the system.
5 Planescape: Torment
As complicated as this game can get with its moral philosophy, it’s essentially an experience that relies heavily on your choices. Whether you decide to interact with NPCs or choose to ignore them, even something this trivial can alter the course of your gameplay.
This top-view sidescroller point-and-click RPG is hard to get into at first, but you’ll be hooked as soon as you invest an hour into it. The interactive dialogue and meticulously designed characters will have you clamoring for more.
4 Arcanum: Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura
With unique game mechanics and near-full autonomy for you to play around with, Arcanum will have you hooked for hours with its robust yet modest UI and melancholic soundtrack. You get to make the hard choices and decide what you do with your time despite an overarching storyline or main quest for you to finish.
Take your time stealing from the locals and crafting your own mechanoid arachnids, stroll around and save people or raise them from the dead, you get to choose what you do. Despite being dated, it’s still a very engaging game with tons of content to play through.
3 Rimworld
Creatures from the depths of space and intergalactic colonies are a staple of any sci-fi adventure, and this RPG thrusts you into the boots of the marooned upper management who find and are responsible for subjugating other humans to labor away for the colony.
Rimworld throws all sorts of uncanny situations and confrontations at you that are meant to keep you on your toes. The NPCs don’t always comply and RNG can end up influencing your game in a huge way.
2 Dwarf Fortress
As complicated as it is random, Dwarf Fortress is a wild ride that takes you through all sorts of RNG-heavy sequences. Your decisions shape the way your citizens thrive, and something as simple as digging into a cursed graveyard could more or less endanger the entire kingdom.
The game throws all sorts of calamities at you and eventually, you’re going to face another army too. The maps are tough to read at first but once you get used to it, you’ll find it a breeze to work with.
1 Path Of Exile
Depending on what your class is, you’re going to be sentenced for a crime and will be sent off to another planet to rot away. However, you can’t just sit back and let other people define what you can do with the rest of your life as an “Exile.”
Take command of your avatar and influence their growth, select from a multitude of skill tree upgrades, and watch your character get stronger with each encounter they have with other players in this online-only action RPG.