Video game twists can be hard to pull off. Because of their interactive nature, video-game storytelling has to take a different approach from films, books, or TV shows. They have to account for the player’s actions, but sometimes they have to restrict a little bit of freedom to make a specific narrative payoff.
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When executed poorly, twists in other forms of media can come off as gimmicky and desperate. However, in the realm of gaming, if interactivity or fun is sacrificed for a lame twist, the game suffers all the more for it. These are the games that were able to avoid that pitfall and utilized the medium to catch players off guard.
10 Booker Finds Out Who Comstock Is In Bioshock Infinite
Throughout Bioshock Infinite, there’s a reoccurring theme of choices and the ripple effects that they cause. Elizabeth has the ability to see those effects firsthand with her reality-bending portals. Booker comes to the conclusion that in order to fully save Elizabeth from Comstock’s clutches, he must go back in time and kill him in his infancy. It’s then that Booker discovers the origins of the man responsible for so much suffering. Burdened by the guilt of his actions at Wounded Knee, Booker decided to undergo a baptism. However, one version of him ran away while the other stayed and took on a new identity — that of Zachary Comstock.
9 Players Face The Enemy Within in Prince Of Persia
In the prince’s quest to escape the dungeon and free the princess from the clutches of the wicked vizier, he comes across a shadowy doppelganger with seemingly sinister purposes. Players first encounter him as they jump though a mirror and the double emerges from the other end. Before too long, this shadow man is hindering the prince’s quest by stealing healing elixirs and closing a gate that forces him to fall. When players are finally given the chance to confront this foe, they realize that every blow dealt to him damages the prince as well. Only by sheathing the prince’s sword and rejoining his shadow could the player continue their quest.
8 Players Cross The Eponymous Line In Spec Ops The Line
When Captain Walker and his men find themselves up against an army, one of the them notices a mortar armed with white phosphorus. Players then have two choices: use the weapon or die. Should they choose the former, Walker and his men discover that they’ve just unwittingly killed many civilians in the process. Walker casts blame on Col. Konrad who proceeds to communicate to him via radio. At the end of the game, Walker finally makes it to the Colonel’s base and realizes that Konrad’s been dead for some time. The voice Walker was hearing was merely his mind’s way of coping with what he had done.
7 The Bounty Hunter Of Metroid Surprises Players
It’s hard to believe that one simple screen could change the landscape of gaming, but the NES classic Metroid managed to do just that. Players who managed to complete the game within three hours discovered that the intergalactic bounty hunter they were controlling the whole time was actually a woman.
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It’s a twist that shaped the future of the franchise and broke the pixelated glass ceiling. Samus Aran helped pave the way for other female gaming protagonists (such as Lara Croft) and became an iconic Nintendo character in her own right.
6 Flowey Knows What Players Did In Undertale
When presented with a moral choice in something like Mass Effect, it’s not uncommon for players to make a decision they’ll regret. Sometimes, players will simply reload a save and pretend that the whole thing never happened. Should they try that in Undertale, a certain flower will remember.
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Despite Flowey’s cheerful look, he has a considerable level of omnipotence. Gamers are used to seemingly benign characters hiding a dark twist, but having that character mock them for save scrumming or watching a let’s play of a different route can completely catch them off guard.
5 Wander In Shadow of the Colossus Gives Up His Humanity
It’s a tale as old as time. An ancient being known as Dormin tells a bereaved young man named Wander that his betrothed may be brought back to life if he slays the Colossi that roam across the land. While players might be expecting rampaging monsters, what they find are somewhat docile creatures that only attack when provoked. Once players deliver the killing blow, a moment is dedicated to empathize with these poor creatures. As players progress though the game, Wander’s appearance gradually changes. By the end, he’s sacrificed his humanity in his quest to bring back the love of his life.
4 Kefka Destroys The World In Final Fantasy VI
It’s a scene that’s been in many JRPGs: The big bad has grasped the ultimate power, and the heroes are at their lowest point. Suddenly, the villain is betrayed by his second in command who proceeds to harness the power to destroy the world. All hope seems lost.
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This is usually the part where the heroes discover the hidden power within and work together to thwart the final boss and save the day. In Final Fantasy VI, however, this is the part where Kefka pretty much destroys the world. The heroes are then left to find each other in this hostile wasteland.
3 Portal’s Promises Of Confectionary May Be Dubious
A benevolent computer A.I. called GLaDOS promises players that they’ll be compensated with a tasty cake for solving the game’s many puzzles. However, should the player find their way into one of Portal‘s secret rooms, they’ll find scratches which seem to be a window into some madman’s mind. Several of them spell out “the cake is a lie.” GLaDOS eventually betrays the player and attempts to incinerate them. After defeating her, seemingly for good, players find out that she was telling the truth about at least one thing — there is indeed a cake. Oh, and, she’s also very much still alive.
2 Phantasy Star IV’s True Protagonist Is Chaz
Years before Final fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid 2, Phantasy Star IV pulled the rug from players by killing off a major character in an RPG. What made this even more shocking was how this character was presented as the protagonist of the game. Players could be forgiven for thinking that Alys was the main hero, as she was the one they had control of at the start and was responsible for the plot progressing decisions in the first part of the game. However, she becomes mortally wounded protecting her more inexperienced partner Chaz, who ends up leading the adventure from that point forward.
1 James In Silent Hill 2 Is Not What He Thinks He Is
Players go into Silent Hill 2 assuming that James Sunderland is not unlike Harry Mason from the first game — an audience surrogate who is meant to have the same reactions to the horror as the player. No matter how unhinged the inhabitants and grotesque the Freudian horrors that surround them may be, James was the one normal character that players could latch onto. Then they make it to the hotel and all of that is destroyed by a single VHS tape. Turns out that Maria met her end not by the disease, but by the very person players had been controlling.
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