“Railroaded into an unethical choice” is an interesting concept in video games. The notion of “railroading” itself is unique to video games—if you were reading Tale of Two Cities, would you feel railroaded into the ending? Well, no. What makes video games different? Perhaps video games only provide an illusion of choice, most of the time?
To be honest, I can’t think of railroading as “right” or “wrong”, but instead as a poorly understood narrative choice in games. Another example that stands out in my mind is Nier and Nier Automata, which both feature early boss fights that occur mechanically, regardless of the player’s personal morality. You, as the player, may be playing a character and this is a deeply troubling thing for people to do. That character may have desires that do not match the player’s desires.
On a more real level, the question about violence in games is more “can I talk to my children about this” and less “does this game depict violence”.
I don’t have the answer for It Takes Two.
Games can’t really force you to take ethics seriously, IMO. Few games have ever really had any serious take on ethics. If you want a serious take on ethics in games, play Undertale or something.
To be honest, I can’t think of railroading as “right” or “wrong”, but instead as a poorly understood narrative choice in games. Another example that stands out in my mind is Nier and Nier Automata, which both feature early boss fights that occur mechanically, regardless of the player’s personal morality. You, as the player, may be playing a character and this is a deeply troubling thing for people to do. That character may have desires that do not match the player’s desires.
On a more real level, the question about violence in games is more “can I talk to my children about this” and less “does this game depict violence”.
I don’t have the answer for It Takes Two.
Games can’t really force you to take ethics seriously, IMO. Few games have ever really had any serious take on ethics. If you want a serious take on ethics in games, play Undertale or something.