Immersion is an important factor when designing video games, and developers have thought up myriad ways to keep players invested in their creations. Allowing players to make choices is a common tactic in video games, giving players the impression that their input actually matters. Moral dilemmas are frequently employed, and even naming a character or having a character creation system gives players a sense of agency.

RELATED: 5 Ways Persona & Shin Megami Tensei Series Are Similar (& 5 They Are Different)

But more often than not, choices in video games don't actually have any lasting consequences since most games are designed with at least one specific ending in mind. Some games may allow branching, alternate endings, but no matter what choices players make, the outcome of all endings remains as the creators intended.

10 Most Decisions In Life Is Strange Don't Have Impact

pompidou from life is strange

Life is Strange models itself as a game where choices are instrumental to the ending of the story, but the truth is that most of them aren't that significant. The game only has two endings: one where Max sacrifices Chloe to save Arcadia and one where she does the opposite. Most choices made up to that point will affect the world and the people in it a little, but it won't change the ultimate outcome of the game. There isn't an ending, for example, where Max can end up dating Warren, who's clearly interested in her.

9 Doki Doki Literature Club Tricks Players Into Thinking Choices Matter

Just Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club

This game completely upended the expectations of a dating simulation game, which is the idea that your choices will land you with a specific romance option. Doki Doki Literature Club isn't strictly a deconstruction of the dating simulation genre, but there are some elements of deconstruction involved. Having Monika as a non-dateable option who ruthlessly breaks the fourth wall to get closer to the player is something that sets it apart from other dating sims. No matter what girl you go for, Monika will always force her way into the player's heart... unless you delete her data, of course.

8 Steins;Gate & Steins;Gate 0's Choices Only Matter At Certain Parts

daru from steins;gate and rintaro okabes cell phone

While presenting themselves as kinetic novels, Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0 hide their choices in the games' most important mechanic: checking Rintaro Okabe's cell phone. Whether or not Okabe responds to texts or phone calls can change minor things in-game and lead to one of their multiple endings. But to get the true endings of the games, players need to respond appropriately at the correct storyline flags. Moreover, they must respond to them in order. If one flag is missed early on, that ending is unattainable without a restart, and some choices won't lead to flags one way or the other.

7 Deltarune Deliberately Sets Itself Apart From Undertale

deltarune

While Deltarune seems like a sequel to Undertale, the truth is that the two aren't that related. In fact, Deltarune is effectively the reverse of Undertale. In Undertale, player choice is king. Players can choose to kill everyone they come across, deal with everyone peacefully, or take a middle road between the two.

RELATED: Skyrim: 10 Essential Mods For Fantasy Lovers

Deltarune intentionally sets itself apart in that nearly all the important choices of the game don't matter. The very beginning of the game, for example, allows players to go through a character creation process only to be told that "no one can choose who they are" in Deltarune's world, giving the game a foreboding sense of helplessness.

6 Skyrim Tricked Players At The Very Beginning

Skyrim

Standing as one of the best open-world games of the 2010s, players have nigh-unlimited access to interact with Skyrim's landscapes and cultures. NPCs can be killed with dire consequences and players can choose which faction they'd like to support in Skyrim's political struggle. Ultimately, however, the Dragonborn can accomplish anything in-game regardless of what choices they make. The first meaningless choice starts right at the beginning of the game when players can choose whether to follow the Imperial soldier or one of the Stormcloak rebels. No matter who players follow, they're led to the same place.

5 The Walking Dead's Meaningless Choices Emphasize Hopelessness

the walking dead telltale games

Survivors of the zombie apocalypse have a lot of priorities, the most important of which being the option to stay alive. There's strength in numbers, so coming across another survivor naturally prompts consideration of whether they should cooperate with each other. The Walking Dead offers many opportunities where Lee Everett can save another survivor only for that survivor to die in a later scene anyway. The main plot for the game largely stays the same and player choice only affects how certain events will play out instead of preventing them altogether.

4 Chrono Trigger's Trial Scene Is A Classic Example Of Meaningless Choices

cronos trial in chrono trigger

No matter how well-behaved Crono is, he'll still find himself accused of kidnapping King Guardia's daughter. And even if players manage to convince the jury to deliver a "not guilty" verdict, Crono will still get sentenced to solitary confinement.

RELATED: 10 Retro Games You Never Played (But Should)

Crono's trial is a classic moment in video game history that gave players the illusion that choice matters. But the truth is that, like most games, Chrono Trigger already has a plot that it needs to follow. Choices made along the way are fun ways to experience the story, but they won't change the ultimate outcome.

3 Fallout 4 Starts Off The Game With Pointless Choices

wife creation screen in fallout 4

Like Bethesda's other open-world games, Fallout 4 gives players the illusion of choice. Although players can choose to side with one in-game faction over the other, for example, they can also just as easily side with all three at once. Fallout 4 starts with players designing their character and even their character's spouse, giving the impression that they'll be able to interact with her throughout the game. But the joke's on the player since their in-game wife is killed shortly after creation. Players can also choose to romance several characters in-game with no consequences of choosing one over the other.

2 Batman Arkham City's Catwoman Scenario Ends The Same Regardless Of Choice

catwoman at the end of arkham city

After defeating the TYGER guards and collecting her loot from Hugo Strange's Confiscated Goods Vault, Catwoman is faced with a moral dilemma. Batman is lying unconscious under some rubble after his fight with the Joker, and Catwoman has the option to save him or run off with her plunder, presumably leaving Batman to die. If players choose to run off with the goods, the game's credits will roll, making it seem as if the game is over. But after the credits finish, the game rewinds back to the initial moral conundrum and has her save Batman anyway.

1 Final Fantasy XIV Is Brimming With Meaningless Choices

character creation in final fantasy 14

As an MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV is focused on allowing players to choose how they want to play the game, and that's made obvious from the start during character creation. Besides choosing a race, clan, and physical appearance (which can be changed in-game with a Phantasia item), players also choose their starting class, guardian deity, and even their nameday (their birthday). But none of these options really matter since there's nothing in-game that reacts to a character's chosen deity or nameday. They can even choose to play every class and job available in the game, so character creation hardly matters.

NEXT: Final Fantasy: 5 Ways XIV Is The Best Online Installment (& 5 Why It's XI)