I tried putting it in Staem search, and half of the games were Bioware (Jade Empire, Knight of the Old Republic 2, Dragon Age Origins and every single Mass Effect)
Rest included Life is Strange, Dreamfall Chapters, Walking Dead 2/Michonne and Tales from Borderlands, Shadowrun Returns: Hong Kong, and some games I have never heard of, so let’s see what they are?
Gray Matter: After a tragic accident, neurobiologist Dr. David Styles has become a recluse, rarely leaving his home, the Dread Hill House. One day, Samantha Everett, a street magician, appears at Dr. Style’s doorstep just as he is seeking a new assistant. (point’n’click adventure) Also, it’s on 66% sale when I’m writing this.
It’s designed and written by Jane Jensen, who adventure game buffs might know from Gabriel Knight games. So that one is definitely intereting.
Cognition: FBI agent Erica Reed has an uncanny talent: she can see the past and piece together how a crime unfolded. But not even this sixth sense could save her younger brother, Scott, from a brutal serial killer. Three years later, the investigation into Scott’s murder has gone cold – but Erica’s work has only just begun. (point’n’click adventure)
Oxenfree: Oxenfree is a supernatural thriller about a group of friends who unwittingly open a ghostly rift. You are Alex, and you’ve just brought your new stepbrother Jonas to an overnight island party gone horribly wrong. (narrative-driven adventure game)
„The Lion’s Song: Episode 1 – Silence" draws the player into the life of a talented young composer, Wilma, preparing for her breakthrough concert, the defining moment of her career. Searching for inspiration she escapes from the pressure for success to the solitude of the Austrian Alps. (point’n’click adventure)
And that’s where I’d end, but holy fuck, look at this AESTHETIC!
SEPIA TONED PIXEL-ART! (that’s instant wishlist for me). Or it would be…
Except first episode seems to be free. Damn. Well, I’m already glad I decided to make this post, I know what I’m playing tonight.
Cinders is a mature take on a classic fairytale with a heavy emphasis on player choices and role playing.
Cinders is a witty young woman living with an overbearing stepmother and her two daughters, as if she was reenacting a certain well-known fairytale. But unlike its protagonist, Cinders is not afraid of taking fate into her own hands. Even if it means breaking the rules… (visual novel)
Unrest is a role playing adventure game set in a fantasy interpretation of ancient India that adapts to death, failure, and the choices you make. Play as ordinary people in a struggle for safety, freedom, and a chance at peace. Use conversation, manipulation (and rarely, violence) to achieve your goals. (RPG! yay, finally!)
That one’s… interesting.
Full descritption transcribed here.
Set in a fantasy interpretation of ancient India, Unrest is an adventure RPG focused on story and choices. Play as five ordinary people who are struggling to get by in the famine-stricken city-state of Bhimra.
Brave poverty, disease, treason, political and social upheaval. Face unique burdens and gripping dilemmas as you struggle to survive in each chapter…but choices made to help one character may well make life harder for another.
In Unrest, there are no heroes of legend, there is no mystical quest, and fate has not chosen you.
Key Features
Diverse Characters: Play as a peasant girl faced with an arranged marriage, a priest troubled by his radical temple, a slum dweller with a dangerous past, an ambassador from a militant nation, and a mercenary captain far out of his depth - all as part of the same narrative.
Reactive Storyline: Hard decisions made in one chapter have consequences in the next. A choice made as one character may well determine the fate of another.
No Right Answers: There are no fail states in Unrest - if a character dies or fails in their objectives, that becomes part of the narrative. You can play in Iron Man mode to ensure there are no second chances, or save/load if you wish (not that we recommend it).
Complex Conversations: Unrest’s dialogues are organic, branching exchanges designed to offer an unparalleled level of control and involvement to the player. You’ll always know exactly what you’re saying and how you’re saying it, and you’ll be able to see how much the person likes, fears, or respects you as a result.
Violence is Rarely the Answer: Combat in Unrest is rare and always avoidable. When faced with the possibility of death, it’s up to you to decide how much you’re willing to risk.
Lush Art & Music: Unrest’s hand-drawn sprites and environments call to mind a living canvas, while the classical Indian soundtrack perfectly echoes the narrative’s emotional core.
Mod Support: Create and share your own worlds and adventures.
Well, that’s a wishlist, for sure.
Solstice is a dystopian mystery thriller about small personal disasters that turn into great catastrophes. A magnificent city in the middle of a frozen wasteland, cut off from the world by raging blizzards. Inhabited only by a small group of misfits, who either can’t or don’t want to leave for the dead winter season.
When the local madman goes missing, an ambitious doctor on a contract and a mysterious young woman, who arrived with the last dog sled caravan, start questioning the true nature of the city’s splendor… (visual novel)
Knee Deep: When a washed-up actor hangs himself on location, a spotlight is cast on the backwater Florida town of Cypress Knee. Your screen becomes a stage on which you investigate this mysterious death as three distinct characters. (narrative-driven adventure game)
Clandestine is a 2-player or singleplayer stealth/hacking game set in 1996. Asymmetrical co-op allows one player to take the role of the spy while a friend provides overwatch and assistance as the hacker, and unravel a post-Cold War espionage conspiracy. (action/stealth/hacking? what the hell? That’s pretty darn cool! though story-rich and choices matter weren’t in the top tags, they were in extended list of popular tags)
Always Sometimes Monsters - Set out on a cross-country journey to win back the love of your life and endure the hardship of making story-defining choices that affect your life and the lives of those around you.Â
Out of money and out of luck you find yourself heart broken and on the verge of collapse. Your landlord’s taken the key back, you can’t finish your manuscript, and your beloved is marrying someone else. With no choice but to handle whatever life throws at you, you set out on the open road on a mission to win back the love of your life. The story from there is up to you. Can your life be salvaged, or are we always sometimes monsters? (RPG)
Seduce Me the Otome - A romantic comedy visual novel centered around a girl named Mika Anderson, who gets entangled in the affairs of incubi. (visual novel. Obviously. Also, ew, hetero. It’s free though, so do as you wish.)
Magnetic: Cage Closed is a first person puzzle game where the player manipulates magnetic forces to accomplish their goals. The mechanics are focused around a single tool: The Magnet Gun which allows you to create electromagnetic fields with either positive or negative charges. (first person puzzle platformer. So, Portal clone, except apparently nonlinear.)
Starlight Vega - Play as Aria and romance the two sultry demon girls, Lyria and Scherza, or your best friend Melody in this yuri (girl x girl) visual novel where your choices will ultimately decide the fate of this spellbound girl. (visual novel, also Steam gave warning that it might be inappropriate for kids.)
the town of light - 12 March 1938. Renée, 16 years old, is ripped out of her world, locked up and deprived of everything.
Her only fault was that she didn’t know what her place in the world was.
“A danger to herself and others and a cause of public scandal” wrote the police headquarters.
The only horror you will find in this game is the truth: a blow to the solar plexus, much more intense than any supernatural presence. (psychological horror, exploration-driven adventure game, also apparently not for kids;) trigger warnings for mental illness/institutionalization just judging by the screenshots; since it’s an edgy psychological horror about forced institutionalization starring a teenage girl, I can bet there’s probably also some edgy shit with misogyny/sexual assault, I can fucking bet.
Did it find it in this search just because devs attested there is NOTHING supernatural in it? (steam doesn’t support crossreferencing tags, so you just paste all relevant tags in the search box and hope for the best). Huh. Anyway, moving on.
And that’s all I found in this particular search! Honestly, I’m glad I did this, because some fo these games definitely look interesting.
Personally I’d also recommend Blackwell series, which while is not amazingly big on meaningful choices (I mean, there are SOME choices that affect the story), said games fit the OP description pretty well, being a series about a writer finding out about family curse, that forces her to be a medium destined to help lost souls find peace in the afterlife.
Getting Blackwell Bundle during some seasonal sale is a great way to start (note, Blackwell Bundle doesn’t include last game, Blackwell Epiphany, so take note of that.)
Playing order: Blackwell Legacy; then Blackwell Convergence or Blackwell Unbound, in any order (Convergence is supposedly supposed to come second, but I played it third and I can’t say it felt particularly weird), then Deception and Epiphany.
