Anytime you have to choose between two different things, it can metaphorically be a trolley problem. The moral quandary of letting a runaway trolley either run over one thing, or another, is compelling because it is something we have to deal with every day. Do we eat the cookie, or be good and eat the apple instead? Do we leave the spider hanging by a thread in the doorway alone, or kill it knowing it is not really doing any harm?
Granted, most of the metaphorical trolley problems we deal with are not a huge deal in the grand scale of things, but they do help determine who we are as people. The most interesting trolley problems then are the ones that bring this in sharp focus and make us realize where our priorities really lie. Uncomfortable truths can be revealed, and maybe make you see yourself in a new light.
If you are then making a video game, and the climax of your video game is making the player choose between two things, the key to making this into a good trolley problem is making the player realize something about themselves. Make the player face who they are as a person as the climax of your game.
Last chance here, I am going to spoil the entirety of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and OFF, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, this is the time to get off the trolley, so to speak.
You still there? I hope so! To discuss the trolley problems both games give you at the end of their narratives, let’s look at the narratives.
Clair Obscur, when boiled down, is about the man who built the gun, and then the man who wants to shoot that gun to destroy the world. Gustav realizes how to use magical devices called Pictos to enhance their battle capabilities, and allows their expedition to prevail against the obstacles that had slain previous parties. Verso then witnesses Gustav’s death, and takes advantage of the situation by planning to lead the party to their total annihilation. Verso, having lived for over 100 years, wants to end his existence and this world, and will do anything to cause this to happen. By the end of the game, he is doing this not just for himself, but for his sister Alicia, which destroying the world will also save her.
OFF, on the other hand, has the player as the wielder of the gun, and the main character you control, The Batter, is that world destroying gun. The game asks for your real name and pronouns directly through The Judge, a cheshire cat like character that helps you throughout the game. The Batter’s role as destroyer of the world is not quite revealed until the end of the game, though clues are there if you look for them. The biggest clue is that after The Batter purifies an area of ghosts and its guardian, going back to that area will reveal that nothing is left. Only empty buildings and horrifying enemies called Secretaries remain. Even the music is gone, replaced by whispers that you can’t quite make out what they are saying. The reason The Batter is even doing this is up to interpretation, but it is what he was created for. The Batter never wavers, and can not be reasoned with.
The choice given at the end of both these games is whether you allow Verso, or The Batter, destroy the world they reside in. Do you as the player allow them to finish their mission, or will you side with their opposition?
For Verso, the opposition is Alicia, or more specifically Maelle, which is the version of Alicia that grew up in the world Verso wants to destroy, and wants to save the friends she has grown to love. For The Batter, the opposition is The Judge, who has witnessed The Batter “purify” their world and now needs to stop him before even the memory of their very existence is erased.
In both cases, destroying the world will also destroy them, so it isn’t necessarily only a selfish act. For Verso, the painted world he resides in is a monument of a life he never lived, a person he wears the skin and talks with the voice of, but could never be. The painted world is a creation of the real Verso before he died in a fire, and now he exists as a version of Verso that his family in the real world can visit. It is important to note that, despite the painted world being a fake world, the people that reside in it are as real as you and me. So, if Verso has his way, he will be destroying countless lives, but he would be saving the life of his sister Alicia, whose lifeforce is needed to keep the painting alive, and will die if she continues.
For The Batter, since he has nothing else other than purification, there is no real convincing him that what he is doing is wrong. You get the impression in Clair Obscur that maybe there was a version of Verso that could allow the painted world to keep going, but there is no version of The Batter in OFF that would allow his world to keep existing. The world of OFF is initially shown as being haunted by ghosts, but the more you learn, the more it becomes clear that the ghosts are merely a symptom of a world diseased at its core. Most residents feel like empty shells, and the cruelty enacted on them to keep the world going is untenable.
Both OFF and Clair Obscur offer worlds that are broken, maybe beyond repair, so the question becomes do you save them, or let them be destroyed?
The choice in OFF is obvious when it is given to you. As the handler of The Batter, do you allow the runaway trolley to destroy the world, or pull the lever and instead choose The Judge and kill The Batter? If you choose The Judge, the fight against The Batter reveals that his mundane image of just a baseball player is a facade, and you see him as The Judge now sees him: a complete monster. The choice to see the world through someone else's eyes instead of your own reveals the truth that was always there in the background. The ending with choosing The Judge is a melancholy one, but there is something about it that feels fulfilling. You didn’t really save much in the end, but you get to choose how you feel about it. If you instead choose The Batter, you kill The Judge, The Batter flips the switch ending the world of OFF, and only the enveloping darkness of the credits with the song "If You Want the Rainbow" playing in the background to accompany you as the game ends. Whether you are the type of person to resign yourself to the momentum of annihilation, or lash out to save what little is left, is up to you.
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| The Batter, as perceived by The Judge |
This is where Clair Obscur falters a bit. You have the choice of choosing either to go through with Verso’s plan to end the world, or side with Maelle/Alicia and preserve the world. If you choose the Maelle ending, you don’t get to see the ending from their eyes. The ending is still from Verso’s point of view. Because of this, siding with Maelle/Alicia gives you an ending cut like a horror movie ending stinger. Everyone is happy, but for Verso who is seemingly having a panic attack while the impending death of his sister becomes more and more apparent. Pulling the lever to divert Verso’s plan feels like a false choice because we never get to experience it outside of his head. You only get to see his increasing dread, not the joy Alicia would feel seeing her dead friends living again. If you choose Verso’s ending, and allow him to destroy the world, we get to see a family reunited, and a son finally grieved for.
By trapping both endings with Verso’s point of view, you aren’t really asked a question at all. It feels like less of a trolley problem, and more like a multiple choice question you weren’t prepared for. The Clair Obscur does give you some hints here and there, like with how Monaco tries to revive his friend Noco and is met with a different being in a late game side quest, but it doesn’t feel like a genuine choice. It is more like a “good ending” and a “bad ending” that feels less interesting since it is just whether it was good or bad for Verso, instead of the cast of characters you grew closer to. The game allows the player to choose, but instead we choose what happens to Verso, rather than learn anything about ourselves. It would have been a more honest ending if you made the choice, and then Verso instead took that choice from you, not unlike how Verso is taking agency away from Alicia.
In the end, OFF is a game that I will carry with me and will help me be a better person, while Clair Obscur was a good game with great music, good graphics, and a story with great acting.
Maybe that isn’t fair, but if there was a runaway trolley, and I had to choose to save Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 or OFF, I would choose OFF every time.
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