Where It All Began

Master every choice, unlock all scenes, and navigate the branching narrative

Where It All Began is a choice-driven narrative experience that puts player decisions at the center of the story. Every choice you make—from dialogue selections to relationship decisions—shapes the outcome of your playthrough and determines which scenes and endings you’ll experience. This guide walks you through the game’s branching narrative structure, helping you understand how choices cascade into consequences and how to unlock all available content. Whether you’re aiming for specific character routes or trying to see everything the game has to offer, understanding the choice system is essential to maximizing your experience.

Understanding the Choice System and Branching Narrative

Ever feel like you’re talking about a completely different game than your friends, even though you both played Where It All Began? 🤔 That’s the magic and the madness of its incredible branching narrative game guide. This isn’t a story on rails; it’s a living, breathing world that morphs around your decisions. Every click, every dialogue option, and every silent moment you choose to observe sends ripples through the entire experience.

Mastering Where It All Began isn’t about finding one “right” path. It’s about understanding the invisible machinery under the hood—the relationship variables tracking, the hidden flags, and the consequence chains. This chapter is your blueprint. We’re going to demystify how your Where It All Began choices truly work, how to track their long-term effects, and finally, how to peel back every layer of this story to unlock all scenes you’ve been missing. Let’s dive in.

How Choices Shape Your Story Path

I remember my first playthrough of Where It All Began. I played it like I would any other story, picking options that felt true to me in the moment. I was kind to one character, stood up to another, and tried to play the peacekeeper. Imagine my shock when, several chapters later, a character I barely remembered confronted me, furious over a slight I had completely forgotten about! 💥 That’s when it clicked: this game has a memory like an elephant.

The branching narrative in Where It All Began is less like a “choose your own adventure” book with obvious forks and more like a dense, interconnected web. Early decisions in Chapter 1 don’t just open or close a single door later on; they adjust the entire landscape of your relationships. A supportive comment to Lily in the first act might increase a hidden “Lily_Trust” variable, making a crucial, tender scene available with her in Chapter 4. Conversely, a flippant remark to Jake might not cause an immediate argument, but it could lower a “Jake_Respect” flag, locking you out of his help during a critical confrontation down the line.

Think of it as building a character’s opinion of you, point by point, across dozens of interactions. The game is constantly tallying these points behind the scenes. There’s rarely a single “make or break” choice. Instead, it’s the cumulative weight of your actions that determines which narrative branches become accessible. This makes your playthrough feel uniquely personal and wonderfully replayable. You’re not just picking a route; you’re sculpting the protagonist’s personality and legacy through every single one of your Where It All Began choices.

To give you a concrete idea of how this works from the very start, here’s a look at how some foundational decisions can echo through your entire game.

Tracking Variables and Consequences

So, the game is keeping score. How do you keep track? 🧐 This is the core skill for any choice consequences visual novel enthusiast. While Where It All Began doesn’t show you a numerical scoreboard (which would ruin the immersion), it gives you subtle, brilliant feedback.

Pro Tip: Pay extreme attention to character reactions after the obvious dialogue ends. A slight change in their expression, a hesitation before they speak next, or even the music cue that plays can be your first clue that you’ve just shifted a relationship variable.

The most direct feedback is through altered dialogue. A character you’ve been consistently kind to will start using warmer language, sharing personal details, or seeking you out. One you’ve antagonized will be shorter, colder, or absent from optional scenes altogether. This is relationship variables tracking in its purest, narrative form. Your goal is to become a detective of these social cues.

For players who want to unlock all scenes, you need to think in terms of “variable states.” Major story branches—like focusing on a specific character route guide—are gated behind reaching a certain threshold with that character. But it’s more nuanced than just “get 100 points with Lily.” Often, you need a specific combination of variables. For example, to unlock a secret ending with a character, you might need:
* High Trust with that character.
* Medium or higher Rebellion in your main character’s personality.
* A specific story flag triggered from an earlier chapter (e.g., “Found_Old_Photo”).

This creates an incredible mesh of possibilities. It also means you can’t just savescum one decision. You often need to build a consistent personality across a whole playthrough. My advice? For your first run, play blind and live with the consequences—it’s the most powerful experience. Then, for subsequent runs, use a notepad or a fan-made tracker to document key decisions and the reactions they provoked. You’ll start to see the patterns and learn which levers to pull for your desired outcome.

Unlocking Hidden Scenes and Alternate Routes

This is where the fun really begins. 😎 You’ve finished the story once, but you know there’s more—rumors of a heartbreaking scene with Jake, a hilarious hidden party, or a tranquil moment that changes everything. How to unlock all scenes in Where It All Began is a puzzle of personality and persistence.

First, embrace the fact that you must play multiple times. Each playthrough should have a specific goal: “This time, I’m maxing out my relationship with Mia,” or “This run, I’m going to be the biggest troublemaker in school.” This focused approach lets you push specific variables to their extremes, opening paths that were invisible before.

Alternate routes are the big, chunky branches—like following a dedicated character route guide for Liam, Chloe, or someone else. These are typically unlocked by consistently choosing that character’s favored responses and prioritizing them in key “choice points.” The game will often signal a route lock-in with a special scene or a clear shift in the narrative focus.

Hidden scenes, however, are the precious collectibles. They often require very precise conditions. Here are some actionable strategies:
* Experiment with Failure: Some of the best, most poignant scenes are only seen if you fail a relationship check or make a “bad” decision. Don’t reload immediately!
* The Solitude Path: As shown in the table, choosing to be alone at key moments often triggers unique, introspective scenes and finds hidden items that can enable other scenes later.
* Revisit with Knowledge: In a new game+, use your foreknowledge to solve early puzzles or give specific advice you couldn’t have known the first time, triggering new acknowledgments.

Now, let’s talk about a unique and important feature: the NTR toggle settings. This is a powerful content customization tool found in the game’s menu before you start. In essence, it allows you to define boundaries for certain character-driven storylines. Adjusting the NTR toggle settings doesn’t “remove” content in a crude way; it intelligently re-routes narrative paths and character interactions to stay within the narrative comfort zone you set. It’s a fantastic way to tailor the branching narrative to your personal preferences, ensuring your exploration of the story’s many choice consequences remains enjoyable. Think of it as setting the guardrails on your emotional journey through the game.

Personal Insight: On my third playthrough, I turned the NTR toggle to its most restrictive setting just to see the difference. I was amazed at how the game seamlessly wove alternative conflicts and character motivations to fill the narrative space. It felt like a genuinely different variation on the story, proving how deep and flexible this branching narrative game guide truly is.

FAQ: Your Choice Mechanics Questions, Answered

Q: I made a choice I regret three chapters ago. Do I have to restart the whole game to fix it?
A: Not necessarily! While your cumulative variables are set, many major branches are decided at specific “inflection points” later on. You might be able to course-correct by making opposing choices from now on. However, for achieving a specific, pure ending, a restart is often the cleanest solution.

Q: How can I tell which choices are “major” and which are just flavor?
A: Major choices often have a brief pause or a distinct musical sting after you make them. The dialogue following a major choice will usually have a more significant shift in tone or topic. Flavor choices add depth but rarely alter the core scene’s outcome.

Q: Does the game have a “true” ending?
A: Where It All Began champions the idea that your journey is the truth. There are more definitive or “complete” endings that wrap up more threads, but they are not presented as canon. Each ending is a valid conclusion to the variables you cultivated.

Q: I’m overwhelmed trying to track everything for a 100% completion. Any tips?
A: Focus on one variable or one character at a time. Do a “Lily Run,” a “Rebel Run,” etc. Use multiple save slots at the start of each chapter. Most importantly, use community resources! Fan-made checklists and forums are invaluable for this kind of choice consequences visual novel.

Q: How does the NTR toggle actually change the game?
A: It changes narrative context and character motivations within certain relationship subplots. Scenes might be replaced with different, tonally similar scenes that focus on other sources of conflict (like personal insecurity or external pressure). It’s less about deletion and more about narrative substitution.

Ultimately, mastering the world of Where It All Began is a journey of experimentation. Each playthrough peels back another layer, revealing how deeply interconnected every smile, argument, and silent moment truly is. Your Where It All Began choices are the keys to this vast narrative labyrinth. So save often, choose bravely, and don’t be afraid to see where the other paths lead. The entire story is waiting for you.

Where It All Began rewards players who understand its choice system and embrace the branching narrative structure. By recognizing how variables track your decisions and how early choices ripple through the story, you can strategically navigate toward your desired outcomes. Whether you’re pursuing specific character relationships, exploring different narrative branches, or aiming to unlock every scene, the key is understanding that every decision matters. Take time to experiment with different choice combinations across multiple playthroughs, pay attention to how relationship values shift, and don’t hesitate to reference guides when you want to optimize your path toward specific content. The game’s depth comes from its willingness to let your choices define the experience, making each playthrough feel personal and consequential.