5 Best Choice-Based Adventure Games
Adventure games come in numerous shapes and sizes, but there are none quite like the ones that let you decide how the adventure proceeds. TellTale has a distinct 3D cinematic style, but choice based adventure games also come in numerous styles. It all comes down to deciding how the story continues with forking pathways, fluid structure, and lasting choices. These games are thought provoking, and will last in your memory long after you have completed them. There is even a chance to replay to change your decisions to see what happens.
The Walking Dead: Michonne
The Walking Dead: Michonne is an installment in the episodic adventure game series developed by Telltale Games, based on the acclaimed “The Walking Dead” comic book series created by Robert Kirkman. It centers on the “untold journey” of Michonne, an iconic character from the comic book series who’s “haunted by her past and coping with unimaginable loss and regret.” Specifically, it explores the title character’s absence from Issues No. 126 to No. 139 of the comic book series.
Typical of Telltale’s games, The Walking Dead: Michonne is a cinematic interactive adventure game of choice and consequence, where every decision the player makes influences the flow of the story. In this three-part miniseries, players will tap and swipe to kill zombies and ultimately find out what separated Michonne from and what brought her back to her trusted group.
The iPhone and iPad game is free to download with the entire game unlockable with in-app purchases.
The Wolf Among Us
If you enjoy dark and moody comic books, you’re in for a treat. Telltale has done a fantastic job bringing Bill Willingham’s popular comic book series to life. Interact with the real world versions of well known tales in a gritty world.
As Bigby the Wolf, you will dissever a brutal murder. All of your choices will have consequences
The free download provides Episode 1 to play on your iPhone or iPad. The final four are available with in-app purchases.
Her Story
Watch the interrogation footage, and try to figure out what happened in Her Story.
An interactive crime drama with an aesthetic designed around a mid-90s computer that shows archived cassette tape style footage. In Her Story, your job is to comb through all of the archived footage by typing out specific words to find matching clips. Every video clip delivers live action content that is well performed as the actress really embraces the role, and the setting.
A lot of time went into recording the over 250 videos, and the game makes it an extremely compelling way to discover them as you watch the videos based on search, and not chronological order. Her Story is a completely unique experience that is more than an interactive movie as you guide the flow of the narrative. It’s great to watch this intricate character develop one minute at a time with no particular order to the findings you come across.
The iPhone and iPad game is a $1.99 download.
Reigns
A card-based adventure in which you swipe either left or right to make various decisions that a king could come across. With every decision that you make, you need to be cognizant of the impact on the church, the people, the army, and the treasury. The goal is to constantly balance the four aspects of your kingdom, as if any of them reach the bottom or top, your reign will end. You get to play through the timeline of modern history with each strategic decision determining how long each given reign will last.
The graphics are great, the music and sound effects are fun and soothing, voiceovers are humorous, and the modern gameplay makes you think.
For the iPhone and iPad, the game is $2.99. It’s also available on Apple Arcade.
Papers, Please
You get to play as a border inspector in the communist state of Arstotzka, and your goal is to check travelers documents for any discrepancies. Papers, Please is the question you ask to each new visitor as you weed through proper immigrants, and visitors looking to find smugglers, spies, and terrorists.
There’s an ornately crafted world to experience that puts you in a retro inspired dystopian world filled with asides based on Cold War ideals. Each day gives you a new batch of potential immigrants to sort through, and you have to go through the documents with a fine tooth comb to identify potential threats. Papers, Please creates an immersive experience in a fully fleshed out environment that is a must have app.
It’s a $4.99 download for the iPhone and iPad.