Trivia / Choices: Stories You Play

• Acclaimed Flop: Despite being a major Ensemble Dark Horse in the fandom, Most Wanted is stated to be the least financially successful out of the three initial books. In 2021, it was revealed that this was also true of Hero, Nightbound, the It Lives series, and The Elementalists, which were praised by critics and fans, but apparently not financially successful.
• Development Hell: Book 2 of Most Wanted and Hero have both been a long time coming, causing most fans to wonder if they'll ever return. Pixelberry has promised that they will be made eventually, but they don't seem to be coming any time soon. However, after previously stating that Hero, vol 2 would be coming out in 2020, Pixelberry released a blog post in which they stated that the book went into indefinite hiatus due to financial problems related to its unique art style. As of 2021, both of them have been outright cancelled.
• Follow the Leader: While none of the stories are outright ripoffs, several are clearly inspired by existing franchises (in some cases, Pixelberry themselves confirmed that they took inspiration from these franchises).
  • The Crown & the Flame: A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones
  • Endless Summer: Lost
  • #LoveHacks: Single-people-in-the-city sitcoms, particularly Friends
  • The Haunting of Braidwood Manor: The Haunting of Hill House
  • The Royal Romance: The Selection series
  • Hero: Superhero media, especially Superman and Batman
  • High School Story: Degrassi: The Next Generation
  • It Lives In The Woods: It
  • Perfect Match: Westworld
  • Bloodbound: Vampire-themed media, particularly True Blood
  • America's Most Eligible: Big Brother and The Bachelor
  • Desire & Decorum: The works of Jane Austen, particularly Pride and Prejudice
  • Across the Void: Mass Effect (which Word of God confirmed)
  • The Elementalists: Harry Potter and Naruto
  • A Courtesan of Rome: Spartacus
  • The Heist: Monaco: The Ocean's series (which Word of God confirmed)
  • Ride or Die: A Bad Boy Romance: The Fast and the Furious series (which Word of God confirmed)
  • Open Heart: Grey's Anatomy
  • Wishful Thinking: What Women Want
  • Nightbound: Supernatural
  • Platinum: A Star Is Born (2018)
  • Bachelorette Party: The Hangover
  • Mother of the Year: Gilmore Girls
  • Blades of Light & Shadow: Fantasy role-playing games such as Dragon Age
  • Witness: A Bodyguard Romance: The Bodyguard
  • Distant Shores: Pirates of the Caribbean
  • Queen B: Mean Girls and Gossip Girl
  • Hot Couture: The Devil Wears Prada
  • With Every Heartbeat: The Fault in Our Stars
  • Laws of Attraction: Law & Order and Suits
  • The Unexpected Heiress: Downton Abbey
  • Slow Burn: Kitchen Nightmares
  • Wake the Dead: The Walking Dead and Mad Max
  • Surrender: Fifty Shades of Grey (which Word of God confirmed)
  • The Princess Swap: The Prince and the Pauper
  • The Cursed Heart: A Court of Thorns and Roses
  • Immortal Desires: The Vampire Diaries
  • Murder at Homecoming: Nancy Drew and Veronica Mars (which Word of God confirmed)
  • The Phantom Agent: James Bond and Captain America: The Winter Soldier
  • Kiss of Death: The Godfather and Romeo and Juliet (which Word of God confirmed)
  • Getaway Girls: Living Single and Coming 2 America (which Word of God confirmed)
  • Kindred: Charmed (which Word of God confirmed)
  • Dirty Little Secrets: Pretty Little Liars and Desperate Housewives (which Word of God confirmed)
  • Ship Of Dreams: Titanic (1997) (which Word of God confirmed)
  • Guarded: The Bodyguard
  • For the app itself, there are several apps with similar mechanisms, so whether they're knockoffs is up for debate. One notable example is Chapters: Interactive Stories, which features every complaint readers have about Choices and takes them up to eleven: only having female protagonists for almost all stories, short and inconsequential Premium choices, little to no Gay Option, frequent use of Cliché Storm, and overly dramatic writing. Some fans, however, do enjoy the stories in a So Bad, It's Good way.
  • Choices itself is is inspired by Episode: Choose Your Story (released in 2014 according to That Other Wiki), including the freemium "pay diamonds to do the obviously better option" element and odd advertisement style that became memetic on Tumblr.
• Meaningful Release Date: Some of the Choices books have been released (or are set to release) during months that fit the theme of the books:
  • Both books in the It Lives series were released in October, fitting that the darkest series in the franchise was released in the month of Halloween. The first one coming to Choices shortly after It was released in theaters..
  • All three books in the Open Heart series were released in February, the month of Valentine's Day. Aptly, hearts are associated with said holiday, and the word "Heart" is in the title.
  • Sunkissed was released in the summer, and the plot involved a summer vacation to the main character's old beach town, where she finds summer love.
  • Witness: A Bodyguard Romance, a book heavy with Irish themes, was released in the same week as St. Patrick's Day, 2020, Ireland's most famous holiday.
  • The second book of Queen B was released in September 2021; September is usually the month students return to school or college after summer, much like the protagonist.
  • The VIP release of Wake the Dead was near the end of October 2021, fitting the same theme as It Lives. The general release of Wolf Bride was also in the same month.
  • The general release of Surrender, a story centered on BDSM, was on February 2022. This fits with the theatrical release of Fifty Shades of Grey, the work that inspired the story, at around Valentine's Day, which falls on February.
  • Both the VIP release of Roommates With Benefits and the general release of Kiss of Death are set for February 2023, the month of Valentine's Day, and both books have (or are heavily implied to have) romantic themes.
  • The general release of Getaway Girls was in March 2023 and involves the main character and friends going on a tropical vacation, around the time Spring Break happens in real life.
  • The Early Access release of Alpha (a werewolf-themed book) is scheduled for October 2023 (the month of Halloween).
  • The VIP release of Hot Shot is slated for January 2024, fitting for a story about a winter sport such as ice hockey.
• Promoted Fanboy: Multiple fans of older games have become writers for choices according to Pixelberry’s Q&A.
• Recycled Set: Plenty of backgrounds that are introduced in one book get used across others either modified or not.
• Release Date Change: While this sometimes happens, the announcement in Choices Insiders on August 25, 2023 did this en masse:
  • The early access release of Ship of Dreams was brought forward from November 2023 to October 2023. Additionally, the general release was announced as December 2023 (when it would have most likely released in early 2024 if the early access release hadn't been moved up).
  • Book 2 of The Cursed Heart was brought forward from the first part of 2024 to November and December 2023 (early access and general release, respectively).
  • The early access release of Guarded was brought forward from early 2024 to December 2023.
  • The general release of The Billionaire's Baby was brought forward from October 2023 to September 2023.
  • The general release of Dirty Little Secrets was brought forward from November 2023 to October 2023.
  • The general release of Alpha was brought forward from December 2023 to November 2023.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The "full VIP era"^note the point where all newly-released books (including sequels) go through VIP early access a couple of months prior to being released for everyone was originally supposed to start with either Unbridled in December 2023 or The Cursed Heart, Book 2 in early 2024 (depending on whether you consider a spinoff to be in the same boat as a direct sequel). However, on August 25, 2023, it was confirmed that The Cursed Heart, Book 2 would be releasing on VIP early access in November 2023, thereby starting the era at least a month early.
  • There was originally going to be a book called A Taste for Royalty, announced in October 2023 and planned for release in Spring 2024, but it was cancelled, technically as early as December 2023 (when it stopped appearing in Choices Insiders), although not officially confirmed as cancelled until March 16, 2024 in a message to a fan. It marks the first time when a book that isn't a sequel has been cancelled.
• You Look Familiar: Character portraits frequently get recycled across multiple books, sometimes modified, sometimes not.

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