History Main / PromptlessBranchingPoint

* At the end of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'''s extended cut, you can shoot the Star Child rather than talk to him, which triggers the Refuse ending.

** While exploring the Labyrinth, you see Professor Booster fall into a pit. If you jump down after him (or try to jump over the pit and fail, since it's not an easy jump), then you get stuck in that pit until you talk to Booster. This results in him giving you his jet pack and then dying, and locks you out of the best ending. But if you successfully jump over the pit, then Booster survives, you don't get the jet pack until much later.

* Twice in ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'', when playing as A2, you can spare the lives of certain machines by simply walking away from them, and the game recognizes your decision in later plot events. Once, when [[spoiler:given the choice of killing or memory-wiping Pascal after the loss of his entire village (walking away is actually the ''cruelest'' choice in this situation, as it forces him to [[ICannotSelfTerminate live with his failure]])]], and later on, when [[spoiler:tiny Friedrich-type machines beg A2 to spare their "older brother" Auguste, a mini boss she has just defeated]].

* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' has many moments like this, such as when Anna takes charge of the surrendering NSF leader Juan Lebedev, but the player knows that she has orders to kill him as soon as Denton is out of earshot. The player, as Denton, can either exit the room (leaving Lebedev to die) or kill Anna, his ostensible ally, to save him, and the game's later plot seamlessly adapts to however the player resolves the situation.

* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' has many moments like this, such as when Anna detains Denton's brother, but the player knows that she has orders to kill him as soon as Denton is out of earshot. The player, as Denton, can either exit the room (leaving his brother to die) or kill Anna, his ostensible ally, to save him, and the game's later plot seamlessly adapts to however the player resolves the situation.

* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' has a moment where Anna detains Denton's brother, but the player knows that she has orders to kill him as soon as Denton is out of earshot. The player, as Denton, can either exit the room (leaving his brother to die) or kill Anna, his ostensible ally, to save him, and the game's later plot seamlessly adapts to however the player resolves the situation.

* The High Chaos run of ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' forks at the very end into two very different finales, depending on whether you can rescue Emily from [[spoiler:Admiral Havelock]] before he leaps off the lighthouse with her. There is a multitude of possible solutions, with Emily's survival resting on quickly killing or otherwise dispatching her captor before he runs out of monologue and before he can react to whatever Corvo does.
* ''VideoGame/Dishonored2'' has a major branching point during the mission to the Stilton Manor that is not indicated to you in any but the most cryptic way: [[spoiler:when giving you the power to jump back and forth in time, the Outsider warns you that altering the past will affect the present, but for the bulk of the mission, this seems to only concern minor things, like clearing out a bloodfly hive in the present by disposing of an infested body in the past. But when you reach Aramis Stilton, the master of the manor and an all-around NiceGuy, in the past, you have the option to knock him out, so his past self cannot witness the events that [[GoMadFromTheRevelation drove him mad]], and his present self remains sane and retroactively allies himself with you. This changes not just the state of his manor, but of large chunk of the city around it in the present, essentially banishing the entire mission hitherto into a BadFuture that never came to pass]].

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'' has the Sacae vs Illia route split. Which route you take depends on whether the combined level of your Nomads is higher than the combined level of your Pegasus Knights (Sacae) or vice versa (Illia).
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' used the same level method as its predecessor. A later pair of maps in the game determine which one you'll visit by how high your Lords' levels are: if they add up to a certain number, it's one route, if not, the other. Within one of those maps, the number of doors opened determines whether Harken or Karel will show up. Even later, Bartre's level combined with simply being on Hector's route determines whether Karla will appear or not.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' has one on the Birthright path. Should you [[spoiler: not have an A Support with Kaze]], triggered by battling together and having conversations, [[spoiler: he'll die and his daughter Midori will never join you]].

* ''VideoGame/Dishonored2'' has a major branching point during the mission to the Stilton Manor that is not indicated to you in any but the most cryptic way: [[spoiler:when giving you the power to jump back in forth in time, the Outsider warns you that altering the past will affect the present, but for the bulk of the mission, this seems to only concern minor things, like clearing out a bloodfly hive in the present by disposing of an infested body in the past. But when you reach Aramis Stilton, the master of the manor and an all-around NiceGuy, in the past, you have the option to knock him out, so his past self cannot witness the events that [[GoMadFromTheRevelation drove him mad]], and his present self remains sane and retroactively allies himself with you. This changes not just the state of his manor, but of large chunk of the city around it in the present, essentially banishing the entire mission hitherto into a BadFuture that never came to pass]].

* In ''VideoGame/HeroinesQuest'', you need to obtain two artifacts called the Eyes of Thiassi from their respective guardians, by either talking to those guardians and performing tasks for them. [[spoiler:You can instead sneak into their houses and outright steal the artifacts. You aren't informed that this is an option, but one of the character classes is the thief...]]

* ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' has many moments like this, usually centered around the shooting mechanic. For example, in one scene, you are asked to execute one of two criminals: a water thief or a murderer. This seems like a regular PlayerPersonalityQuiz, but the game also correctly recognizes your message if you instead shoot the soldiers presenting you with the choice. Later on, you are surrounded by an angry mob of civilians who just murdered your friend and have to scare them away with gunfire. The game does not tell you how to do that but gives you different [[VideoGameAchievements Achievements]] depending on whether you shoot into the crowd, or into the air or the sand. For more discussion of this, see [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJZIhcCA2lk this]] ''WebVideo/ExtraCredits'' episode.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' used this one interestingly. A later pair of maps in the game determine which one you'll visit by how high your Lords' levels are: if they add up to a certain number, it's one route, if not, the other. Within one of those maps, the number of doors opened determines whether Harken or Karel will show up. Even later, Bartre's level combined with simply being on Hector's route determines whether Karla will appear or not.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' used this one interestingly. A later pair of maps in the game determine which one you'll visit by how high your Lords' levels are: if they add up to a certain number, it's one route, if not, the other.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemBlazingBlade'' used this one interestingly. A later pair of maps in the game determine which one you'll visit by how high your Lords' levels are: if they add up to a certain number, it's one route, if not, the other.

Two sub-categories can be recognized: plot choices that don't even appear as plot choices at first (i.e. the player doesn't know that they're at a branching point), and plot choices that are presented as such but have hidden [[TakeAThirdOption third options]], which the game recognizes as valid branches but does not semaphore to you in advance. The danger of both approaches lies in their GuideDangIt potential, as the devs must convey [[FridgeBrilliance just the right amount of context for each branching point]]: given too much, the players won't feel rewarded for their [[ViewersAreGeniuses cleverness and engagement with the game]], but with too little context, and they will likely dismiss the game's writing as arbitrary and inconsistent and won't engage with it at all.

** At the end of ''Dead Money'', Dean Domino may betray the Courier (forcing you to kill him) depending on your previous dialogue choices with him. [[spoiler:Saying pretty much anything Dean could consider [[DisproportionateRetribution disrespectful]] or as [[TallPoppySyndrome showing him up]] will make him hostile.]] [[{{Narcissist}} Dean is that kind of guy.]]

** At the end of ''Dead Money'', Dean Domino may betray the Courier (forcing you to kill him) depending on your previous dialogue choices with him. [[spoiler:Saying pretty much anything Dean could consider [[DisproportionateRetribution disrespectful]] or as [[TallPoppySyndrome showing him]] up will make him hostile.]] [[{{Narcissist}} Dean is that kind of guy.]]

** You normally have to complete the main questline of ''Honest Hearts'' to be given the Zion Canyon map, which lets you make your way back to the game's main area. However, if you kill any of the four major friendly [=NPCs=], you trigger "Chaos in Zion", letting you just take the map.

This trope is a staple in the ImmersiveSim genre, which commonly eschews {{Dialogue Tree}}s in favor of interpreting and reacting to player's actions. It is not to be confused with "'Cumulative Story Choices", where the branching occurs based on the cumulative effect of multiple plot or gameplay choices throughout the game (cf. FractionalWinningCondition): the most obvious example would be a game picking from among its AlignmentBasedEndings based on the player's final KarmaMeter score.

* '''Item interaction''' mechanics, such as looting treasure or activating a checkpoint, can be used to trigger entire branches, especially when paired with an option to leave the location (and the items within it).