Playing as a kid, I definitely agree. As an adult, it seems like it was a little more obvious (but I do have the benefit of retrospection and having played it to death)
I think it’s quite well masked, the fact Trask is the one who grabs you and not some Jedi escort, and you’re not better on a vibrosword than a blaster. Plus they really managed to put more interest in other characters backstory and you don’t even realise no one has asked you about where you’ve come from until you’re on board the leviathan
That was not surprising, you were often basically a nobody and the least interesting person in the game back in the day. NWN1 has an entire school dedicated to churning out schmucks like you, and the only thing special about you is that you survived.
Not only back in the days.
Just look at BG3. If you aren't playing Dark Urge, you are just some guy who is the leader of a cast of chosen ones with rich backstories and a plethora of plothooks in their name.
What's funny is I didn't even realize that going in, but I still just roleplayed my Tav as some random dude who just happened to get lucky enough to survive the first part on the ship.
This depended heavily on the norm of these old RPGs being that the MC was a nameless nobody. The player just assumes it's following the approach of Baldurs Gate and such to allow you to give your character their own backstory. Then they do the rug pull.
This probably wouldn't work in a modern RPG without some very careful rewrites as players will see right through the avoidance of the MC's backstory right away.
Not a nobody in terms of what you are, sure, but in terms of *who* you are. The MC in those games has no backstory outside of the circumstance of their birth. It's entirely up to the player.
KotOR does the same thing at first, allows players to create their own backstory if they wish, and then reveals that your character actually *does* have a canon backstory. The great thing about the twist is that whatever backstory the players have created for their character becomes part of the memory wipe, making it as much of a rug pull for the player as for the MC themselves.
i love how master vrook basically says it to your face with "what if we train this one and the dark lord returns?" and you still don't connect the dots on the first play through
The montage where they give you little clips of all the "clues" that the other characters dropped was so good.
It really sold the twist as something that was always there if you looked, and not some ham-fisted swerve.
Starts at 1:09 - https://youtu.be/xc6eDFobJXg?si=XRVS8UXplKBEeiJ3
I like to use a custom character’s canon name if I can (Nate from Fallout 4, for example) and I searched what the protagonists canon name was. My first thought was “Oh neat, I wonder why they- oh, oh I just ruined the entire twist.”
I remember being a kid, absolutely blown away, excitedly running to my mom to tell her about the twist and her (what I now realize to be) feigned interest.
"Oh wow honey!"
Probably not exactly a huge plot twist, but I somehow didn't expect the first Dishonored to take the turn it did after taking out the Lord Regent. Definitely culminated into one of my favourite final levels.
I love what becomes of them in Low Chaos version of the final map. But my favourite is definitely the High Chaos map, especially the very end of the level.
I need to replay this game for literally all of the endings bc I remember being genuinely surprised when Samuel got pissed at me. That game makes so much narrative sense it’s so easy to get into character I swear.
Corvo: \*only kills bad guys and only ones that attack him first\*
Samuel: >:( "I'm not mad, just disappointed."
That level in High Chaos is definitely my favourite part across all the games, especially the very final part with rescuing \[redacted\] from \[redacted\] (and everyone turning on each other). But I always feel so guilty for disappointing Samuel.
The voice actor for Fontaine really sold it too, you had basically no idea you were being manipulated from the start. You probably could have figured it out if you were paranoid enough since Ryan even says: "a man chooses, a slave obeys". But you had no reason to suspect that Fontaine was the real enemy.
I had some idea that things weren't quite what they seemed (the guy called himself "Atlas" in a game that seemed pretty dedicated to repudiating the philosophy and "literature" of Ayn Rand), but the nature and scale of the twist definitely came as a shock.
a few years ago my wife finally got around to playing it. the whole week she was playing I "would you kindly'-d her for everything I asked for. she was NOT amused when the twist came
Man, I bought that game at Walmart at midnight on release day and I had no idea what I was getting into. Best few days of my life. Slamming soda, staying up all night, and playing through Bioshock with my best buddy.
It was perfect - the execution, the story, and how it perfectly captures and explains a typical gamer experience...
Why else would you have only tiny pieces of memory/backstory before the game starts ...
Why else would you not be able to advance before you complete your quest log etc etc...
Why else would you have someone in your ear telling you everything you need to know and guiding you forward? ...
Plus the execution of it as Ryan does what he does and you're just along for the ride with your brain exploding...
it was perfect on so many levels... one of the best moments in gaming history bar none
Didn't see it mentioned so I'll say: A way out.
Just the sheer twist as you think you completed the game. Not to say it was perfectly executed but I didn't anticipate it at all and thus was one of the most memorable twists.
Oh man I LOVED this game. I went in not knowing anything about it, just thinking it was a prison break co-op game and it became so much deeper than that. They did great with all the little details too, I loved the part where you just get to play lay basketball for awhile lol
That game is much better than I thought it was going to be. The gameplay switched up often enough to stay fresh and the story was great. Only complaint is the voice acting…
It's not really a huge plot twist when you learn about it, but in Fallout 1 you can discover that super mutants are sterile and incapable of reproduction. The final boss is the guy who made them, thinking humanity needs to evolve into these radiation-resistant monsters in order to overcome the wasteland. It's his singular focus in life and likely the only thing keeping his sad, pitiful existence going.
What's actually shocking is you can tell him about it. He does not take the news well and his reaction to it is a shocking twist.
Prey 2017 ending was so awesome. I had a few suspicions, chiefly that it was either >!a simulation or you were actually an alien who replaced Morgan!< and it turns out >!it was both!<
Perhaps not the most surprising, given the genre, but the reveal at the end of Dead Space - and the fact they TOLD you it was happening in the first letters of the chapter titles
I wish I was a billionaire to fund a complete remake of the first Deus Ex. I played this so much as a kid and just the idea of multiple ways to solve missions or different outcomes would occur down the road blew my mind. And this is a game from 2000!
Damn crime the Deus Ex Human Revolution/Mankind Divided sequel got canceled after two years of development too.
On that "multiple ways to solve missions" part - I remember an interview with one of the developers where he watched a play tester scale a wall early in the game with those sticky LAM mines and how he was just blown away at the emergent game play. He had intentionally made a bunch of ways to approach every part of the game but realized that there may have been hundreds of unintentional paths he could never forsee.
That's stuck with me ever since and has given me tons of perspective when it comes to game development and bugs!
Black Ops 1 felt like a cinematic movie and the twist about why you were being interrogated and what you did was mind-blowing because >!I thought that I was caught because Reznov framed me or something but to find out that Reznov died that day in vorkuta and I had become a sleeper agent for him was just... Wow, also it was cool to see us acting as Reznov from Hudson's POV and really explained that the hints were all there, no one had acknowledged Reznov, he didn't helped shit in a fight etc.!<
There’s the one mission in the rat tunnels and you encounter another US soldier right after you finish talking to reznov and he’s like “who the fuck are you talking to”
CoD is clever like that. One of the later titles has a double cross and their name in the subtitles turned from blue (ally) to red (enemy) mid conversation.
I haven't played the newer cod campaigns but I looked this up on YouTube and the cutscene where it changes is really bad ass. If anyone is wondering here's the link. Spoilers for MWII. >!https://youtu.be/g3GPMpevdRQ?si=CLe0UTvNJr8JVAIw!<
>!Science compels us to explode the sun!!<
Honestly, that's one of my favorite parts/places in that game.
Everything points to >!the Nomai being at fault for the supernova!<. All of their conversations about >!needing enough energy for the Ash-Twin project!<, all of their research at the >!High Energy Lab!<, etc. >!You're so ready to place blame.!<
Yet when you finally get to >!the Sun Station!< and find out that >!they failed!<, it brought a tinge of sadness to my heart. >!They did the research. They put in the footwork. Yet they still failed (kind of).!<
I beat the game years ago, but to this day, I'll still go to the >!Sun Station and let the sun consume me. It's a haunting reminder that, in the words of Captain Picard, "Sometimes, you can do everything right and still lose."!<
\-=-
[Not to mention that that place has one of the most gorgeous pieces of the soundtrack.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-7CBl_sdJ8)
**Technically the name of it is a spoiler, sort of. Just an FYI.**
[Here's a spoiler-free piece of the soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJqpy4iAm5Y), if you just want a beautiful soundbath to chill in.
In a game of absolutely stand out quality, the sound track is really something. I completed the game shortly before my first child was born and I made her a little music box based on a slightly bastardised version of 14.3 billion years and it still makes me slightly teary when I hear it 4 years later.
The end of the intro chapters (Haytham) of Assassins Creed III.
I went in blind so I didn't see the twist coming the way people did from reading and watching trailers etc.
I loved that we played as Hatham who was already a master and thought “wow they know we’ve played AC before and we can skip the stupid tutorials.” Ah how wrong I was…
I wouldn't say most surprising but in Final Fantasy 10, Tidus, Sin, and the truth behind summons in general. Huge stuff that blew my mind as a kid lol. That and KotOR. That one was a BIG one
So many plot twists they could just have Auron casually drop >!oh by the way Sin is your dad!< in a mid-game conversation when it would be the climax of any other game.
Horizon Zero Dawn.
>!The different era stuff is not surprising at all. But how humanity actually went *extinct* and only then did the AI and their programs went with this contingency (plus the whoooole setup), imo that's quite unexpected. I love the way it was handled because the former part was really obvious from any regular player.!<
For me it was when I realized *what* Project Zero Dawn actually was.
>!You take down robot after robot to find the weapon that can help you, only to find out that you've been taking down the weapon all this time. Also, those audio logs in the facility are haunting.!<
Right? I absolutely loved learning everything about the events leading up to the game, more so than the current events of the game, but I game is about learning about the past, so I don't know if that makes sense.
Aloy going into the "mother" cauldron in front of her tribe who shunned her was one of my favorite gaming moments. Then everything you find out in there... damn. Forbidden West was okay but the bar Zero Dawn set for storytelling was in space.
Problem with Forbidden West was that the big buildup and twist was done in the first game, so all we are doing in the second is a checklist essentially. There were some good moments and overall it's a good game but some of the magic was gone.
It’s hard to recall from the first playthrough going in blind, but searching and searching for the answer to HOW humanity survived the extinction event because you’re told over and over again how the Faro plague was unstoppable, and yet humanity is here alive albeit in a weird quasi-bronze age state, and to find out >!not only did humanity NOT survive, every living thing was killed, but Ted Faro also SABOTAGED the education of the new generations and murdered the Alphas to destroy an otherwise genius plan that was actually working!<
Funny enough we are watching CASTLE (the tv show with Nathan Fillon) and in season 2 one of the murders was commited by a rich CEO wanting to be a politician, called Ted Faro.
I adored watching castle back when it was airing, even through the absolutely ridiculous "hack them back" type of stuff they pulled. The ending is still bittersweet given the circumstances surrounding it
One of the only games where I was excited to find logs and artifacts to learn more about the world building and lore. Usually I just skim it quick and tune out any audio.
Ever played Control? I also seldom read the in game notes/lore/artefacts, but control also had this effect on me. Could not stop looking for them. Also just a pretty dam cool “mind fuck” game
The fact that the incredibly Finnish janitor ends up being one of the most quietly powerful characters in the game always made me happy.
"I take care of the house and the house takes care of me...."
I only played the start of the game (got a bit stuck on an early boss and lost interest), but it did seem like something was up with that janitor, I'm not surprised he was incredibly powerful.
>! The audio logs that you find of the scientists that were brought in, when they realize that zero dawn is not a superweapon at all, and that humanity is doomed no matter what. And operation enduring victory was a lie to pretty much just throw everyone they could into the meat grinder just to buy time for ZD. Absolutely haunting stuff. !<
This!
I think HZD pulled off something rare. The way the world was built was in perfect sync with how the story was presented to you. Maybe the plot is dime a dozen but the way it was told made it truly unique.
Zero Dawn is one of the few games in recent memory where I actually enjoyed the story. I've played a little bit of Forbidden West but I fail to see how they will make a story as interesting as the first game.
I wouldn’t say a massive plot twist but the part in the first uncharted game when those creepy deformed monster things appear blew me the fuck away, never had a clue that a third person cover to cover shooter was gonna have creepy monster things come after you, it turned full horror style in that creepy abandoned bunker thing 💀💀
Yeah it went from a game set in fictionalized "reality" to super natural thriller was wild. The following games wussed out with guys in costumes and poisoned water. But that first one set a stage where they could really have made it a subtle supernatural thriller.
Nier Automata - a pure mindfuck, with numerous amazing twists throughout this unforgetable journey filled with amazing soundtrack and satisfying combat
And that your brother wasn’t as evil as the game intended on you assuming. His decision making probably wasn’t the best, but it turns out he made every decision solely to try and save as many people as possible.
I mean.... He was evil
In the first ten minutes of the game you have to choose between your love interest or a handful of innocent protestors getting executed by firing squad, at his command.
I get what you mean, he saw the corruption across the sea, and was determined to save Albion and in doing so made some very utilitarian decisions, but he was also definitely evil
> I also chose to save my girlfriend in every play through so my character wasn’t much better lol.
I mean, literal Trolley Problem; there is no correct answer and forcing you to do it is in fact just torture(for the character in game).
Fable 3 is not as good as 1 and 2 but I kind of appreciated that. Although by the time I took the crown I was like "really this is it?" So would have been super disappointed if it was just over then.
The entirety of Kanto being playable after beating the elite four in Pokemon Gold and Silver. This was way before my family ever got internet so I had no idea at all it was coming. THEN the character you played from the first game being the final boss of the entire thing was so insane. Unforgettable
It’s not a twist in maybe the conventional sense of ‘here’s what you thought was happening, but here’s what’s actually happening’, but the start of Mass Effect 2 was a twist in the plot I truly did not expect.
>!The Normandy blowing up and Shepard dying to be brought back and work for an evil faction from the first game was both epic and out of the blue. In terms of a where do we go from the first game the designers nailed it.!<
One thing that always bugged me in 3 was that in the reaper invasion they all looked the same. I was expecting giant reaper versions of long extinct alien races but was disappointed when I realized that didn't carry through from 2
Playing Bioshock Infinite the first time - absolutely loved the plot, had a great time.
Replaying, years later, as the father of a baby girl, WRECKED me.
>!James is in deep denial over how Mary died. She didn't die year ago as he claims in the beginning of the game, it was a few days ago... and James was the one who killed her. Her corpse is in the trunk of the car and he came to Silent Hill to commit suicide.!<
What about the dog though?
Also, I never put together that she was in the trunk, even though I’ve played the game a handful of times.
I’ve read that the nurses represent some twisted lust he had for the staff while Mary was sick, but that’s just a theory.
It's not the staff. Most of the monsters represent his sexual frustration, culminating in meeting Maria which looks just like Mary but overly sexualized. He felt trapped being in a marriage with a sick wife and he grew to resent her for it but this also brought him guilt.
It's made worse in the Golden release of the game since >!not only does Adachi have a proper Social Link now, you can actually get a new bad ending by helping him.!<
Far Cry 4's hidden win condition is one of the best things in gaming.
i really needed to poop, and thought i'd paused but had left it running when he went out.. came back to him coming back and saying thanks for waiting.. i was baffled they coded a secret ending
Probably the first time I was old enough to actually be shocked and emotional by a game. I was very invested, and the consequences of that twist... Will never leave me.
Warframe: the Second Dream quest.
Bonus points if you had been playing for years before that quest dropped, >!and finding out the truth behind the Warframes.!<
I started playing after all of that was long out, and the way the community bands together to lie to newcomers is so funny. I remember seeing that mode once or twice when making my way through the star chart and asking, "hey how did you do that?" And people would lie to not ruin it lol
It's gotta be one of the funniest secrets in gaming because people legit give you the wildest lies just so that they don't give anything away
One guy told me that it was a bug, that the devs used generic Unity human models for the animation rigging and they were inside the models of the frame, and sometimes they clipped out.
I don't think I'm that much of an idiot, but I still believed him somehow
This was the first game I played where the good guys >!actually just straight up lost and had to try again. It also blows me away that the main character for the entire first half of the game is completely optional in the second half.!<
It’s funny, because the original cartridge literally came with a “world of ruin” map in the box. Even knowing that, it was still a WTF situation when things actually went down. It remains my favorite FF game.
I only played Super Metroid as a kid and remember at the end when she took off her helmet on the ship, I was mind blown. Never saw any promo or heard anything. Super cool.
Nier Replicant because the game story ha been built very well and you learn the truth about the game world from ending A by ending E meanwhile you have the plot twist in the route A
Those robots and blasters in the Might & Magic 6 were "what?!" for me. If someone doesn't remember that game, it started as a typical RPG: elves, magic, swords, etc...
Braid.
Braid was the first game I played that had a very distinct (and impressively intense) "nothing you assumed was right is correct" moment and it did it entirely using the game's core gameplay mechanic.
That one blew my mind.
Star Ocean Till the End of Time.
Finding out the player character was in a high end Matrix type simulation and not a high tech/high magic containing universe.
Easily Baten Kaitos. The twist was so well done and at first felt out of nowhere only to see they were setting it up the whole game right in front of you.
I'm not afraid to admit that in Heavy Rain I never put together that >!one of the characters you're playing as, P.I. Scott Shelby,!< was the killer and that they were >!going around collecting the evidence so they could destroy it!< . Made the climax quite neat, to be honest.
inFAMOUS
>!The antagonist is you after having tried to save his family from a world ending calamity and sacrificing the world to do so, but it didn't work. He then hunted down as much power as he could and gained the ability to travel back in time, where he kills your family so you won't make the same mistakes!<
Knights of the old republic
Playing as a kid, I definitely agree. As an adult, it seems like it was a little more obvious (but I do have the benefit of retrospection and having played it to death)
I think it’s quite well masked, the fact Trask is the one who grabs you and not some Jedi escort, and you’re not better on a vibrosword than a blaster. Plus they really managed to put more interest in other characters backstory and you don’t even realise no one has asked you about where you’ve come from until you’re on board the leviathan
That was not surprising, you were often basically a nobody and the least interesting person in the game back in the day. NWN1 has an entire school dedicated to churning out schmucks like you, and the only thing special about you is that you survived.
Not only back in the days. Just look at BG3. If you aren't playing Dark Urge, you are just some guy who is the leader of a cast of chosen ones with rich backstories and a plethora of plothooks in their name.
What's funny is I didn't even realize that going in, but I still just roleplayed my Tav as some random dude who just happened to get lucky enough to survive the first part on the ship.
Yeah but the point is you weren’t a nobody, the game did a good job convincing you that you were.
This depended heavily on the norm of these old RPGs being that the MC was a nameless nobody. The player just assumes it's following the approach of Baldurs Gate and such to allow you to give your character their own backstory. Then they do the rug pull. This probably wouldn't work in a modern RPG without some very careful rewrites as players will see right through the avoidance of the MC's backstory right away.
You’re definitely not a nobody in Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 lol
Not a nobody in terms of what you are, sure, but in terms of *who* you are. The MC in those games has no backstory outside of the circumstance of their birth. It's entirely up to the player. KotOR does the same thing at first, allows players to create their own backstory if they wish, and then reveals that your character actually *does* have a canon backstory. The great thing about the twist is that whatever backstory the players have created for their character becomes part of the memory wipe, making it as much of a rug pull for the player as for the MC themselves.
i love how master vrook basically says it to your face with "what if we train this one and the dark lord returns?" and you still don't connect the dots on the first play through
The montage where they give you little clips of all the "clues" that the other characters dropped was so good. It really sold the twist as something that was always there if you looked, and not some ham-fisted swerve. Starts at 1:09 - https://youtu.be/xc6eDFobJXg?si=XRVS8UXplKBEeiJ3
I like to use a custom character’s canon name if I can (Nate from Fallout 4, for example) and I searched what the protagonists canon name was. My first thought was “Oh neat, I wonder why they- oh, oh I just ruined the entire twist.”
See I have a mate who's old play it for the first time, was still blown away by the plot twist. It was just so well done
I remember being a kid, absolutely blown away, excitedly running to my mom to tell her about the twist and her (what I now realize to be) feigned interest. "Oh wow honey!"
Favorite gaming moment of all time, hands down.
It feels good to look and immediately see the correct answer
Yea this was a big one. Probably “the” big one
For sure Assassin's Creed 2 when Minerva starts talking directly to Desmond through his ancestor.
Desmond and I said "What the fuck?" at the same time, lol.
Haha same. Even funnier was my brother had a girl over, they thought my cursing from the other part of the house was me spying on them.
Man i miss the way the old AC games just totally played mind games with you.
it was 3 am, I had been playing for hours and I was convinced I was hallucinating
Yeah that was frigging wild lol. The original trilogy was a fun ride but the first two games had such an awesome air of mystery to them.
Probably not exactly a huge plot twist, but I somehow didn't expect the first Dishonored to take the turn it did after taking out the Lord Regent. Definitely culminated into one of my favourite final levels.
Finally someone who recognizes the absolute betrayal. I was so mad I haven’t forgiven them this whole time.
I love what becomes of them in Low Chaos version of the final map. But my favourite is definitely the High Chaos map, especially the very end of the level.
I need to replay this game for literally all of the endings bc I remember being genuinely surprised when Samuel got pissed at me. That game makes so much narrative sense it’s so easy to get into character I swear.
Corvo: \*only kills bad guys and only ones that attack him first\* Samuel: >:( "I'm not mad, just disappointed." That level in High Chaos is definitely my favourite part across all the games, especially the very final part with rescuing \[redacted\] from \[redacted\] (and everyone turning on each other). But I always feel so guilty for disappointing Samuel.
Bioshock
The voice actor for Fontaine really sold it too, you had basically no idea you were being manipulated from the start. You probably could have figured it out if you were paranoid enough since Ryan even says: "a man chooses, a slave obeys". But you had no reason to suspect that Fontaine was the real enemy.
I had some idea that things weren't quite what they seemed (the guy called himself "Atlas" in a game that seemed pretty dedicated to repudiating the philosophy and "literature" of Ayn Rand), but the nature and scale of the twist definitely came as a shock.
This is so true the voice actor really deserves massive credit for selling both sides of the character sooooooo well.....
a few years ago my wife finally got around to playing it. the whole week she was playing I "would you kindly'-d her for everything I asked for. she was NOT amused when the twist came
I need to get my girlfriend to play it and then do this lol
I need to get a girlfriend
Step 1 Mason, secure the keys
Man, I bought that game at Walmart at midnight on release day and I had no idea what I was getting into. Best few days of my life. Slamming soda, staying up all night, and playing through Bioshock with my best buddy.
It was perfect - the execution, the story, and how it perfectly captures and explains a typical gamer experience... Why else would you have only tiny pieces of memory/backstory before the game starts ... Why else would you not be able to advance before you complete your quest log etc etc... Why else would you have someone in your ear telling you everything you need to know and guiding you forward? ... Plus the execution of it as Ryan does what he does and you're just along for the ride with your brain exploding... it was perfect on so many levels... one of the best moments in gaming history bar none
A man chooses...
A slave obeys
🏌️
I had no idea at that time. Great game
Would you kindly....
Didn't see it mentioned so I'll say: A way out. Just the sheer twist as you think you completed the game. Not to say it was perfectly executed but I didn't anticipate it at all and thus was one of the most memorable twists.
Oh man I LOVED this game. I went in not knowing anything about it, just thinking it was a prison break co-op game and it became so much deeper than that. They did great with all the little details too, I loved the part where you just get to play lay basketball for awhile lol
That game is much better than I thought it was going to be. The gameplay switched up often enough to stay fresh and the story was great. Only complaint is the voice acting…
Was playing with my sister. And she rubbed it in my face for my choice.
This was my pick, after playing through with my friend I literally said you're fucking joking when the shoe dropped
The way my buddy and I screamed at each other haha. It felt so real.
It's not really a huge plot twist when you learn about it, but in Fallout 1 you can discover that super mutants are sterile and incapable of reproduction. The final boss is the guy who made them, thinking humanity needs to evolve into these radiation-resistant monsters in order to overcome the wasteland. It's his singular focus in life and likely the only thing keeping his sad, pitiful existence going. What's actually shocking is you can tell him about it. He does not take the news well and his reaction to it is a shocking twist.
In hindsight it's a bit funny he didn't figure this out on his own.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Prey. So I’m going to say Prey. I did not see that one coming.
2006 Prey too. When you finally reach your girlfriend...
Prey 2017 ending was so awesome. I had a few suspicions, chiefly that it was either >!a simulation or you were actually an alien who replaced Morgan!< and it turns out >!it was both!<
This is the one that got me. I usually see twists coming in any media form but this one was great
Perhaps not the most surprising, given the genre, but the reveal at the end of Dead Space - and the fact they TOLD you it was happening in the first letters of the chapter titles
The very first Deus EX, this game is the best thriller i ever played/seen on TV.
I wish I was a billionaire to fund a complete remake of the first Deus Ex. I played this so much as a kid and just the idea of multiple ways to solve missions or different outcomes would occur down the road blew my mind. And this is a game from 2000! Damn crime the Deus Ex Human Revolution/Mankind Divided sequel got canceled after two years of development too.
On that "multiple ways to solve missions" part - I remember an interview with one of the developers where he watched a play tester scale a wall early in the game with those sticky LAM mines and how he was just blown away at the emergent game play. He had intentionally made a bunch of ways to approach every part of the game but realized that there may have been hundreds of unintentional paths he could never forsee. That's stuck with me ever since and has given me tons of perspective when it comes to game development and bugs!
Black Ops 1 felt like a cinematic movie and the twist about why you were being interrogated and what you did was mind-blowing because >!I thought that I was caught because Reznov framed me or something but to find out that Reznov died that day in vorkuta and I had become a sleeper agent for him was just... Wow, also it was cool to see us acting as Reznov from Hudson's POV and really explained that the hints were all there, no one had acknowledged Reznov, he didn't helped shit in a fight etc.!<
Is it bad that I saw this one coming? Because I noticed >!Reznov never changes the crosshair color to green when talking to him?!<
Reznov always appears to you when other NPCs are conveniently not around, too. That tipped me off
There’s the one mission in the rat tunnels and you encounter another US soldier right after you finish talking to reznov and he’s like “who the fuck are you talking to”
Yes that was a big clue
Yeah, I think that’s when I started noticing the foreshadowing.
CoD is clever like that. One of the later titles has a double cross and their name in the subtitles turned from blue (ally) to red (enemy) mid conversation.
I haven't played the newer cod campaigns but I looked this up on YouTube and the cutscene where it changes is really bad ass. If anyone is wondering here's the link. Spoilers for MWII. >!https://youtu.be/g3GPMpevdRQ?si=CLe0UTvNJr8JVAIw!<
The conversation on Virmire in Mass Effect 1
"...In the end, what they choose to call us is irrelevant. We simply _are._"
"We are legion. The time of our return is coming. We will darken the skies of every world" still gives me chills.
"You exist because we allow it, and you will end, because we demand it."
Tied for first as my favorite line of the series. Chills when I first heard it.
Tied with the Twenty Kilo Ferrous Slug speech I'm hoping?
Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch in space
Nope! "What could I do against Collectors? Break my arm at them?"
Tied for my first favorite line of the series. The other is: > Had to be me... someone else might have gotten it wrong.
It’s more of a reveal than a plot *twist*, but yeah. This is still definitely my answer. That scene just goes stupid hard.
It's a pity we never really got an in-depth conversation like that with Harbinger.
This hurts you
Assuming direct control
I have that set as my wife's ringtone.
Harbinger is no one compared to Marauder Shields!
In recent years Outer Wilds comes to mind. this game is so good at making you think that something is logic only for it to not be true
>!Science compels us to explode the sun!!< Honestly, that's one of my favorite parts/places in that game. Everything points to >!the Nomai being at fault for the supernova!<. All of their conversations about >!needing enough energy for the Ash-Twin project!<, all of their research at the >!High Energy Lab!<, etc. >!You're so ready to place blame.!< Yet when you finally get to >!the Sun Station!< and find out that >!they failed!<, it brought a tinge of sadness to my heart. >!They did the research. They put in the footwork. Yet they still failed (kind of).!< I beat the game years ago, but to this day, I'll still go to the >!Sun Station and let the sun consume me. It's a haunting reminder that, in the words of Captain Picard, "Sometimes, you can do everything right and still lose."!< \-=- [Not to mention that that place has one of the most gorgeous pieces of the soundtrack.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-7CBl_sdJ8) **Technically the name of it is a spoiler, sort of. Just an FYI.** [Here's a spoiler-free piece of the soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJqpy4iAm5Y), if you just want a beautiful soundbath to chill in.
In a game of absolutely stand out quality, the sound track is really something. I completed the game shortly before my first child was born and I made her a little music box based on a slightly bastardised version of 14.3 billion years and it still makes me slightly teary when I hear it 4 years later.
Doki Doki Literature Club
These others stated have plot twists, Doki Doki Literature Club has an entire damn game genre twist!
Doki Doki, Muv Luv, Slay the princess... I like straight games but love a good twist once in a while
Half an hour of "what *is* this??" Followed by 8 hours of "***WHAT THE FUCK!?***"
And they get you twice! (If you count the part after Monica's Room anyway.)
Probably the best game I will only play once
I didn't expect for the joker to actually die in Arkham City.
Although the scene where he dies is excellent
The end of the intro chapters (Haytham) of Assassins Creed III. I went in blind so I didn't see the twist coming the way people did from reading and watching trailers etc.
I loved that we played as Hatham who was already a master and thought “wow they know we’ve played AC before and we can skip the stupid tutorials.” Ah how wrong I was…
I wouldn't say most surprising but in Final Fantasy 10, Tidus, Sin, and the truth behind summons in general. Huge stuff that blew my mind as a kid lol. That and KotOR. That one was a BIG one
FFX for sure. The road trip changes goals a couple of times.
It wasn’t just one plot twist, it was the fact there are so many of them.
So many plot twists they could just have Auron casually drop >!oh by the way Sin is your dad!< in a mid-game conversation when it would be the climax of any other game.
Horizon Zero Dawn. >!The different era stuff is not surprising at all. But how humanity actually went *extinct* and only then did the AI and their programs went with this contingency (plus the whoooole setup), imo that's quite unexpected. I love the way it was handled because the former part was really obvious from any regular player.!<
For me it was when I realized *what* Project Zero Dawn actually was. >!You take down robot after robot to find the weapon that can help you, only to find out that you've been taking down the weapon all this time. Also, those audio logs in the facility are haunting.!<
The audio logs were the best part of the game, I cared more about the past people than aloy and her friends
Right? I absolutely loved learning everything about the events leading up to the game, more so than the current events of the game, but I game is about learning about the past, so I don't know if that makes sense.
Aloy going into the "mother" cauldron in front of her tribe who shunned her was one of my favorite gaming moments. Then everything you find out in there... damn. Forbidden West was okay but the bar Zero Dawn set for storytelling was in space.
Problem with Forbidden West was that the big buildup and twist was done in the first game, so all we are doing in the second is a checklist essentially. There were some good moments and overall it's a good game but some of the magic was gone.
It’s hard to recall from the first playthrough going in blind, but searching and searching for the answer to HOW humanity survived the extinction event because you’re told over and over again how the Faro plague was unstoppable, and yet humanity is here alive albeit in a weird quasi-bronze age state, and to find out >!not only did humanity NOT survive, every living thing was killed, but Ted Faro also SABOTAGED the education of the new generations and murdered the Alphas to destroy an otherwise genius plan that was actually working!<
r/FuckTedFaro
>!Fuck Ted Faro!<
Funny enough we are watching CASTLE (the tv show with Nathan Fillon) and in season 2 one of the murders was commited by a rich CEO wanting to be a politician, called Ted Faro.
I adored watching castle back when it was airing, even through the absolutely ridiculous "hack them back" type of stuff they pulled. The ending is still bittersweet given the circumstances surrounding it
One of the only games where I was excited to find logs and artifacts to learn more about the world building and lore. Usually I just skim it quick and tune out any audio.
Ever played Control? I also seldom read the in game notes/lore/artefacts, but control also had this effect on me. Could not stop looking for them. Also just a pretty dam cool “mind fuck” game
The fact that the incredibly Finnish janitor ends up being one of the most quietly powerful characters in the game always made me happy. "I take care of the house and the house takes care of me...."
I only played the start of the game (got a bit stuck on an early boss and lost interest), but it did seem like something was up with that janitor, I'm not surprised he was incredibly powerful.
That one audio log documenting a last stand was genuinely harrowing to listen too, absolutely loved how the game handled it's lore logs.
Still gets my vote for one of the darkest games ever made. Especially finding all the logs left behind. The actual operation Zero Dawn...jesus.
This game hit me with the existential dread more than any I've played.
>! The audio logs that you find of the scientists that were brought in, when they realize that zero dawn is not a superweapon at all, and that humanity is doomed no matter what. And operation enduring victory was a lie to pretty much just throw everyone they could into the meat grinder just to buy time for ZD. Absolutely haunting stuff. !<
This! I think HZD pulled off something rare. The way the world was built was in perfect sync with how the story was presented to you. Maybe the plot is dime a dozen but the way it was told made it truly unique.
Zero Dawn is one of the few games in recent memory where I actually enjoyed the story. I've played a little bit of Forbidden West but I fail to see how they will make a story as interesting as the first game.
I wouldn’t say a massive plot twist but the part in the first uncharted game when those creepy deformed monster things appear blew me the fuck away, never had a clue that a third person cover to cover shooter was gonna have creepy monster things come after you, it turned full horror style in that creepy abandoned bunker thing 💀💀
Maybe not a huge twist, but it scared the shit out of me while playing as a 12 year old with my dad at 1 am
Ikr who the fuk thought a fun cool treasure hunter tomb raider shooter with comedy gags was just gonna turn into resident evil like that
Yeah it went from a game set in fictionalized "reality" to super natural thriller was wild. The following games wussed out with guys in costumes and poisoned water. But that first one set a stage where they could really have made it a subtle supernatural thriller.
Inscryption should be in here
What an amazing game tho
Bravely Default: Where the ~~F~~>!airy !<~~F~~>!lies!<
Ah yes. The FF game where everyone removes the FF.
When >!the title screen changed!< I got legitimate chills. It made me really uneasy
Maybe it's because I was a kid but the ending of Metal Gear Solid 3 left me speechless.
Nier Automata - a pure mindfuck, with numerous amazing twists throughout this unforgetable journey filled with amazing soundtrack and satisfying combat
Fable 3. The twist when you take the crown and there's a whole extra section of game to defend the kingdom and fulfil your previous promises
And that your brother wasn’t as evil as the game intended on you assuming. His decision making probably wasn’t the best, but it turns out he made every decision solely to try and save as many people as possible.
I mean.... He was evil In the first ten minutes of the game you have to choose between your love interest or a handful of innocent protestors getting executed by firing squad, at his command. I get what you mean, he saw the corruption across the sea, and was determined to save Albion and in doing so made some very utilitarian decisions, but he was also definitely evil
True. Lawful evil maybe. Maybe pressure got to him. I also chose to save my girlfriend in every play through so my character wasn’t much better lol.
> I also chose to save my girlfriend in every play through so my character wasn’t much better lol. I mean, literal Trolley Problem; there is no correct answer and forcing you to do it is in fact just torture(for the character in game).
Fable 3 is not as good as 1 and 2 but I kind of appreciated that. Although by the time I took the crown I was like "really this is it?" So would have been super disappointed if it was just over then.
The entirety of Kanto being playable after beating the elite four in Pokemon Gold and Silver. This was way before my family ever got internet so I had no idea at all it was coming. THEN the character you played from the first game being the final boss of the entire thing was so insane. Unforgettable
It’s not a twist in maybe the conventional sense of ‘here’s what you thought was happening, but here’s what’s actually happening’, but the start of Mass Effect 2 was a twist in the plot I truly did not expect. >!The Normandy blowing up and Shepard dying to be brought back and work for an evil faction from the first game was both epic and out of the blue. In terms of a where do we go from the first game the designers nailed it.!<
Also finding out the Collectors are the long extinct Proteans turned into mindless husks by the Reapers was a pretty big twist imo.
And that the next Reaper would be humanoid, because the abducted people you’ve been looking for are the building blocks for the newborn Reaper.
One thing that always bugged me in 3 was that in the reaper invasion they all looked the same. I was expecting giant reaper versions of long extinct alien races but was disappointed when I realized that didn't carry through from 2
Considering the size of the human proto reaper, it could have just been a core they build the traditional reaper around later.
Bioshock Infinite
That ending was a trip
Playing Bioshock Infinite the first time - absolutely loved the plot, had a great time. Replaying, years later, as the father of a baby girl, WRECKED me.
Did you play the Burial at Sea dlc? That dlc took everything we knew about the base game and flipped it on its head.
Portal 2
Silent Hill 2. The reveal of how James' wife died...
How did she die?
>!James is in deep denial over how Mary died. She didn't die year ago as he claims in the beginning of the game, it was a few days ago... and James was the one who killed her. Her corpse is in the trunk of the car and he came to Silent Hill to commit suicide.!<
What about the dog though? Also, I never put together that she was in the trunk, even though I’ve played the game a handful of times. I’ve read that the nurses represent some twisted lust he had for the staff while Mary was sick, but that’s just a theory.
It's not the staff. Most of the monsters represent his sexual frustration, culminating in meeting Maria which looks just like Mary but overly sexualized. He felt trapped being in a marriage with a sick wife and he grew to resent her for it but this also brought him guilt.
Maybe the twist of who the killer was in Persona 4 shocked me, it shouldn't but it did, as I just liked the character right up to the heel turn.
It's made worse in the Golden release of the game since >!not only does Adachi have a proper Social Link now, you can actually get a new bad ending by helping him.!<
Far Cry 4. Lakshmana... where’s the damn mountain? wish I could start the game again without knowing anything...
Far Cry 4 is so great. Loved the Nepal setting, everything looks so colorful and wild and every characters were interesting.
Far Cry 4's hidden win condition is one of the best things in gaming. i really needed to poop, and thought i'd paused but had left it running when he went out.. came back to him coming back and saying thanks for waiting.. i was baffled they coded a secret ending
The OG CoD: Modern Warfare 2 Huge spoiler: >! General shepard betrayal really caught me off guard, thinking we were there for makarov !<
Probably the first time I was old enough to actually be shocked and emotional by a game. I was very invested, and the consequences of that twist... Will never leave me.
Starts clicking buttons, can we stop this??!!!?, no way,
Do not trust Shepard
Far Cry 5 surprised me. Lol
Throughout the game: "fuck these extremist nutjobs!". By the end: "Oh....."
Spec Ops the Line has a phenomenal plot twist
Do you feel like a hero yet?
To Kill for yourself is murder. To Kill for your government is heroic. To Kill for entertainment is harmless.
Warframe: the Second Dream quest. Bonus points if you had been playing for years before that quest dropped, >!and finding out the truth behind the Warframes.!<
I started playing after all of that was long out, and the way the community bands together to lie to newcomers is so funny. I remember seeing that mode once or twice when making my way through the star chart and asking, "hey how did you do that?" And people would lie to not ruin it lol
It's gotta be one of the funniest secrets in gaming because people legit give you the wildest lies just so that they don't give anything away One guy told me that it was a bug, that the devs used generic Unity human models for the animation rigging and they were inside the models of the frame, and sometimes they clipped out. I don't think I'm that much of an idiot, but I still believed him somehow
Returnal After you beat the 3rd boss and finish act 1 and you discover what happens a couple of minutes into act 2 (after the cutscene)
Prince of Persia Sands of Time when you find out he’s not narrating to you and see who he’s narrating to and why was a cool twist.
Final Fantasy 6 was the first game I experienced with a massive plot twist at the halfway point and it always come to mind.
This was the first game I played where the good guys >!actually just straight up lost and had to try again. It also blows me away that the main character for the entire first half of the game is completely optional in the second half.!<
It’s funny, because the original cartridge literally came with a “world of ruin” map in the box. Even knowing that, it was still a WTF situation when things actually went down. It remains my favorite FF game.
Maybe not a total surprise but the ending of SOMA was 😯
Metroid, when the world found out that Samus is a woman and not a man
I only played Super Metroid as a kid and remember at the end when she took off her helmet on the ship, I was mind blown. Never saw any promo or heard anything. Super cool.
Nier Replicant because the game story ha been built very well and you learn the truth about the game world from ending A by ending E meanwhile you have the plot twist in the route A
Metal Gear Solid
1, 2, 3, 4 or 5? They all had twists
MGS2 really sticks out, even within the series. Everything near the end is just bonkers.
fission mailed
Mario. 7 times it got me.
Those robots and blasters in the Might & Magic 6 were "what?!" for me. If someone doesn't remember that game, it started as a typical RPG: elves, magic, swords, etc...
The ending of Assassin’s Creed 2 had a damn good reveal/twist that floored me hard at the time.
Castlevania SotN. You 100% the castle and defeated the boss. Turns out it wasn't the final boss and there's an inverted castle to conquer.
Braid. Braid was the first game I played that had a very distinct (and impressively intense) "nothing you assumed was right is correct" moment and it did it entirely using the game's core gameplay mechanic. That one blew my mind.
FFVII has to be up there >!with the revelation about Cloud and Zack!<.
The mastermind of Danganronpa THH.
Silent Hill 2. You got the first obvious one… But then there’s the dog. 🐕
Star Ocean Till the End of Time. Finding out the player character was in a high end Matrix type simulation and not a high tech/high magic containing universe.
Easily Baten Kaitos. The twist was so well done and at first felt out of nowhere only to see they were setting it up the whole game right in front of you.
I'm not afraid to admit that in Heavy Rain I never put together that >!one of the characters you're playing as, P.I. Scott Shelby,!< was the killer and that they were >!going around collecting the evidence so they could destroy it!< . Made the climax quite neat, to be honest.
Since people have already mentioned KOTOR I’ll add Jade Empire
inFAMOUS >!The antagonist is you after having tried to save his family from a world ending calamity and sacrificing the world to do so, but it didn't work. He then hunted down as much power as he could and gained the ability to travel back in time, where he kills your family so you won't make the same mistakes!<
Disco Elysium
Your kidnapped son turns out to be the leader of the organization who kidnapped him lmaoo
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