This path... or that?

I’ve always had a thing for stories, or experiences in general, that refuse to take me in one straight line.

My earliest memory of that goes back more than 20 years, when I discovered the Give Yourself Goosebumps series. Unlike the usual Goosebumps books, these would suddenly stop you somewhere in the middle of the story and ask you to make a choice.

Do this? Turn to one page.
Do that? Turn to another.

And depending on what you picked, the story would continue in a completely different direction!

For little me, this was WILD.

Cause I wasn't simply reading what happened next. I had some say in it. One decision could lead me somewhere completely different... well, mostly somewhere I absolutely did not want to be! Haha.

Years later, Netflix’s Black Mirror: Bandersnatch scratched that same itch in a completely different medium. This time I wasn't flipping between pages. I was making choices on a screen and watching those decisions reshape the story in front of me. At times, the main character even cursed at me for picking the wrong choices. Literally got goosebumps experiencing it. See what I did there? :P

With branching pathways, the idea is pretty straightforward: you're presented with different paths, and the one you choose changes some or all of the journey ahead. And games can take that idea much, much further.

How?

By choosing where a story goes. Or choosing what kinda adventure you're about to face. And at times, staring at two routes and wondering which one gives you the better chance of staying alive...!

And recently, I've come across four print-and-plays that explore those possibilities in very different ways. Let's dive in!

This is probably the closest I've come in a PnP to recreating that good old Give Yourself Goosebumps feeling. If you omit the gruesome endings you get with Goosebumps, that is!

Harbor of Blight: Scenario Zero is a solo RPG by Michael Parziale that drops you into the city of Obsidian, where you have seven days to investigate a mystery surrounding a bunch of missing thrices. And much like those books, the narrative itself branches.

You travel between six areas, speak to different people, investigate whatever catches your attention, and jump between numbered sections of the book depending on the decisions you make. Some choices reveal information. Some take you somewhere else entirely. And naturally, you can't see everything on one journey.

I kept a notepad beside me while playing, tracking where I'd gone, who I'd spoken to, who I'd ignored, and who looked just a liiiiittle suspicious.

It wasn't really about finding the superior path. It was about choosing one without knowing where it would lead, and trusting your gut when something felt a little off.

Essence: The Grim Expeditions is a cooperative adventure where you lead a party of heroes through a dangerous expedition, managing their abilities and resources as you work your way toward the final encounter.

And it showed me another way branching pathways could work.

Instead of primarily branching the story, Essence branches the adventure you're about to face.

The expedition stretches across nine rounds, with several points along the way where the path splits. You might have to choose between heading into the Unknown or dealing with an Obstacle. Another path might throw Sewer Rats at you, while somewhere else there could be a Loot Chest waiting.

And these paths are not hidden from you. Unlike Goosebumps or Harbor of Blight, you are aware of what happens next.

So the pathway becomes part of the strategy. Your decisions can change the encounters you face, the resources you carry forward, and ultimately how prepared you are for that final confrontation.

So less suspense, less uncertainty about where you're headed, but more strategy. Branching pathways nonetheless!

As of writing this, Essence is still available through Late Pledges on Gamefound, and did I say it's awesome? It is!

Speaking of survival...

Bravery takes the whole thing outdoors. Into the very, very unforgiving outdoors.

Radek Ignatów's solo survival game throws you into the wilderness with scenarios to complete, vitals to manage, equipment to craft, food and water to worry about, and enough environmental problems to make staying home seem like a fantastic idea.

But the part we're interested in today is the journey itself.

As you travel through the wilderness, the Map Cards can present branching pathways, meaning your route through the scenario doesn't always have to unfold the same way.

And much like Essence, this choice doesn't exist in isolation, and neither is it hidden from you.

You're already juggling resources, equipment, temperature, food, water and whatever else the wilderness has decided to throw at you. On top of that, the game can pull you into fishing, hunting, special locations or confrontations with predators.

So when a path splits, I'm not thinking like the kid reading Goosebumps anymore. I'm thinking like someone who would quite like to NOT die in the woods, haha. A different kind of spook, perhaps?

And that brings me to the newest one on my table!

I've only just started playing this one, so unlike the other three, I'm not fully ready to tell you where all of its pathways eventually lead.

Forgotten Paths is built as a solo roll-and-write campaign. You take a Mistwalker through nine quests, developing the same character along the way with XP, permanent Talents, items and other resources that carry over between quests.

But those nine quests aren't simply one fixed chain.

The storybook presents choices during the campaign, and those decisions can determine which quest you play next. Even the Campaign Log has an A/B column beside each quest so you can record which version your particular journey took. And there are 18 maps behind the whole thing! Super exciting stuff.

Forgotten Paths is launching soon on Gamefound, so if this sounds like your kinda journey, follow the campaign and see which path you end up taking!

Maybe branching pathways entice me because they make me wonder about the version of the experience I didn't have.

The page I didn't turn to. The path I didn’t take.

And I guess it's not just about books, games or TV series. But about my life in itself...

Do you feel the same?

- Tas.

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