JHaas

Many complain that "choose your own adventure games" like "Heavy Rain", "Mass Effect", and TellTale’s "The Walking Dead" are superficial and give the player little to no control over the game’s unfolding events. The player is given the illusion of choice, but the web of decisions will eventually lead all gamers to the same point.

Does the gamer really have free will in these games or is it all a ploy? Or perhaps more interestingly, does it even matter? If these games are about uncovering our deepest fears, and eliciting our innermost psyche, then should it really matter that all these decisions lead to one unified place for all players? Are these games more about the players, rather than the story?