Choosing to uphold the law or serve the public trust are important decisions in RoboCop: Rogue City. These decisions sit on opposite ends of the spectrum and determine what kind of police officer Murphy actually is. Throughout the game, you’ll find opportunities where you pick between enforcing the law to the letter or following its spirit.
In this guide, I’ll show you what happens when you choose Uphold the Law or Public Trust in RoboCop: Rogue City. It will contain spoilers.
Uphold the Law Vs Public Trust
Certain choices in the game add points between Uphold The Law and Public Trust. Depending on which one you have more points in by the end of the game, you’ll unlock a new option which lets you see a more humane side to RoboCop.
The Psychology skill is a significant player here and affects the number of points towards the Public Trust. It all but ensures that you’ll get the Public Trust ending if you choose to invest in it. With a high Psychology, you’ll see which of the consequential choices is empathic, which shows you that it’s the best choice.
You’ll mostly get the chance to pick between Uphold the Law or Public Trust in the Serve and Protect side missions. While patrolling Detroit City downtown, you’ll find several petty lawbreakers who you can decide to let off with a warning or serve a ticket.
What happens if you Uphold the Law
RoboCop will not get the option to save the Old Man. He will only be able to choose between leaving him to be crushed by the debris of the falling OCP building or killing the Old Man himself.
This reflects the cold machine of the law Alex Murphy has become. RoboCop has buried whatever humanity he has left and thus has no option to save the Old Man in this Rogue City ending. This is essentially the bad ending for the final boss fight.
What happens if you serve the Public Trust
This unlocks the option for RoboCop to save the Old Man at the end of Rogue City. If you had been picking empathic options, RoboCop retains some humanity in himself to be able to have some empathy left.
Choosing to save the Old Man is the good ending to the final boss of RoboCop Rogue City. It shows that there’s still humanity left in both RoboCop and the Old Man, despite their metal exteriors.
However, it isn’t the only factor that changes the Rogue City ending, as there’s still the mayor choice, which also decides the political ending of the game that’s separate from this one.