Twists can make or break a movie, like finding out who the killer is in a detective movie or revealing something that changes the whole perspective. In two to three hours, viewers will be engulfed by these stories and either be shocked or overwhelmed by the outcome, but either way, they have no pull on the story. That’s where video games differ as a medium and why twists can often be more impactful in them.
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These twists from the 2010s of gaming were unexpected, a little upsetting, and just plain weird.
The more active elements, from shooting a gun to making a dialogue choice, give players a say in how stories play out. This adds to the guilt, perhaps, that bad decisions can have in relation to twists. So, let’s go through some of the biggest video game twists of all time and see how they affect players. These are just quick recaps, as these stories are all complex, but they will be summarized to a tolerable degree.
There will also be spoilers.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
Far Into The Future
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is set up to be a time-traveling game centering mostly on a group of teens win different eras. From these different periods, players will grow to know and love these characters through the writing and the voice cast who bring these characters to life.
There are some tactical RPG elements too, but this is more of an adventure game than anything else, and one with a bleak future because the time travel element is a ruse. In actuality, all of these characters exist in a simulation aboard a space station, and the periods are just different parts of the ship.
BioShock
Would You Kindly?
BioShock seems like it’s all an accident as the protagonist, Jack, finds himself in the ocean after his plane crashes. He swims to a beacon in the ocean, finding it has an elevator that travels down to a lost utopia undersea, Rapture, which is now plagued by zonked out mutated citizens.
The entire time, it seems like Jack is there as a survivor, but in actuality, he is being controlled by a phrase, “Would You Kindly?”, which caused Jack to take down the plane and swim to Rapture, all in the hope of accessing areas only the founder, Andrew Ryan, could. Also, Jack was sent there to kill Ryan, who is his father, for a man named Fontaine, who wanted to take over Rapture.
Braid
Backwards Man
Braid was one of the first big indie hits of the first HD generation, which started with the Xbox 360. As a suit-wearing hero, Tim, players must go through challenging 2D levels, solving puzzles along the way with time manipulation powers, all in the hope of rescuing a princess.
The twist becomes obvious in the final level, which flows in reverse. Tim isn’t trying to rescue the princess because he is the villain who is trying to hide her from the real hero, which becomes clear in this final reversed stage. For such a simple platformer, this revelation came as quite a surprise.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
What Have We Been Fighting For?
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has plot twist after plot twist, beginning early with the protagonist, Gustave, who dies after about ten hours of game time. Rewinding a bit, the whole goal of the game is to kill a giant enchantress called The Paintress, who kills off entire age groups every year. The last remnants of Expedition 33 make it to The Paintress, defeat her, and it all seems great until the world starts to fade.
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Turns out, the world players were fighting for was fake, as Maelle, one of the party members, returns to the real city of Paris. That’s not where things end, but this is definitely the top twist of the game, with the rest of the adventure finding Maelle trying to correct this erasure mishap.
Final Fantasy 7
Two Spiked-Up Heroes
Final Fantasy 7 centers on Cloud, who used to be an elite fighter within Shinra’s SOLDIER program. He claims he left because he disagreed with their methods, and as the plot unravels, including the introduction of the big baddie Sephiroth, it seems like Cloud has a case of amnesia.
Essentially, one of the party members, Tifa, goes inside Cloud’s consciousness in the latter half to understand his true memories. While Cloud’s SOLDIER memories belong to Zack, his friend, Cloud wasn’t completely lying about taking down Sephiroth and saving Tifa years ago. He was there, just as a lowly guard, and this is just scratching the surface of how messed up Cloud’s life is.
The Last Of Us
No Other Choice
Players could probably predict that a bleak game like The Last of Us was not going to have a happy ending. The plot revolved around an odd-job sort of character, Joel, taking a young girl, Ellie, across the zombie-infested United States from Boston to Seattle. In Seattle, doctors were going to operate on Ellie, extract something from her body, and hopefully find a cure for the plague.
The thing is, the doctors do believe they can do this, but what Joel and the players, in turn, find out once they make it to Seattle is that Ellie has to die. Players then have to gun down the entire hospital and free Ellie, making them villains in return, or perhaps the father of the year. Joel’s decision in the game is debatable.
The Messenger
A Graphical Level Up
The Messenger was a cool indie throwback to the height of ninja games on the NES, like Ninja Gaiden and Shadow of the Ninja. It’s a challenging action platformer, but one that is never dull thanks to expressive pixels, tight controls, and amazing music. In the final fight, players are thrown into a zone that then warps them into the future, which changes the graphical quality slightly, along with the music.
It’s wild when the game continues with a new gameplay and art style, and it seems unlikely to see a movie ever do this sort of jump. Space Jam: A New Legacy, going between reality and 2D animated segments, is perhaps the closest analogy to The Messenger.
The Memes Of Raiden
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty pulled a bait and switch, advertised heavily as another game starring Solid Snake, which was both true and untrue. The first section, taking place on a boat, did indeed feature the franchise’s main hero, but Snake’s presence is short. In the main section of the game, players take on the role of a rookie named Raiden, who is overconfident in his skills.
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Because he went through VR missions, he thinks he’s just as good as Snake, which is sort of a meta commentary on players who enjoy video games thinking they have military experience. Beyond that, the mission itself turns out to be sort of fake as those in command were manipulating Raiden to try and become the next best soldier on top of other shenanigans that are too confusing for one wrap-up, including the President being the one behind it all.
Red Dead Redemption
Don’t Worry, Father
Red Dead Redemption is a Western starring a former gang member, John, who is recruited by the law to hunt down and finish off the remainder of his former comrades. Most of the game plays things straight as far as Westerns and Rockstar games go, which is not a bad thing.
However, in the climax, when it seems like all is right, John is betrayed by the law and gunned down. The game does not end there, as time skips ahead to John’s son, Jack, who is now in control, allowing players to seek revenge for John, which is quite cathartic.
Silent Hill 2 (2024)
A Guilty Conscience
The original Silent Hill 2 is a brilliant horror game, but the 2024 remake gives some extra context to the narrative. The game finds a seemingly ordinary man, James, who goes back to Silent Hill to find his wife, Mary, who he knows is dead, but he somehow got a letter. Along the way, he meets other characters just as confused as he is, and nothing seems to make sense.
There are various endings in how this revelation plays out, but no matter what, players discover James was brought to Silent Hill due to guilt over his wife, whom he had a hand in killing. In some endings, it’s through neglect, and in others, it’s through force. Either way, until James forgives himself, he is stuck in Silent Hill in a time loop.
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If these games weren’t facing major competition at launch, perhaps they would be remembered more fondly, and they might even be considered classics.
