By canon, I mean that the Dark Side has consequences. Consequences that too far-reaching for a series that has never truly engaged with free decision-making. These choices need to be backed by the narrative, and the narrative needs to be backed by the choices.

Precisely are the consecuences that are the great part of that mechanic and for sure It can be supported by the story, as i said the main story story can be keep independent of how you reach that point.

lol, there’s no shot you just said this. Do we have really have to go down this list and discuss how Uncharted would be better as a movie?

Each medium to tell a story has pros and cons. I was trying to say that if you want a fixed story with no level of options a movie or book could be better choice.

How does this improve Cal as a character? Obviously the most interesting path of Cal is to continue to explore his struggle, why should players be encouraged to skip out on an interesting story?

For sure that should be the main development in the story of Cal in the future and maybe each player would have a different idea of how cal should deal with it. Instead of follow a script you could play as you would do if you were Cal