branching path
Road that splits
A branching path is a route that splits into multiple directions, requiring a choice about which way to proceed.
The term appears often in video games and interactive fiction, where decisions create different storylines: The game features branching paths that lead to twelve possible endings.
More broadly, it describes any situation where alternatives diverge from a single point: Her career reached a branching path when she was offered jobs in two different cities.
- forkTined eating tool
- fork in the roadWhere a road divides
- divergeSeparate into directions
- crossroadsMeeting of routes
- choiceAct of selecting
split · trail · decision · decision point · life choices · winding · route · detour · maze · labyrinth · tree · family tree · limbs · options · alternatives · multiple endings · turning · road less traveled
- game boardsgame board, squares, spaces, tiles, hex
- game narrativestory, narrative, plot, storyline, dialogue tree
- parallel worldsparallel worlds, alternate universe, alternate reality, parallel dimension, alternate world
- Parallel Livesalternate history, multiverse, counterpart, alternate self, divergence
- visual novelsvisual novels, dating sims, routes, route, multiple endings
- junctionsjunction, intersection, crossroads, node, nexus
branching pathstraight line
Undeviated continuous path
linear path · straight path · direct route · single track · beeline
branching pathconfluence
Meeting point of streams
funnel · bottleneck · focal point · meeting point · junction
branch, branches, branched, branching, branchlet, path, paths, pathway, pathways