One of the best things about playing video games is experiencing a great plot twist for the first time. While some games save their biggest revelations for a grand surprise, others leave a trail of breadcrumbs leading to this moment.
Plot twists give these already satisfying games and mysteries more replay value, as some of these clues only become obvious or even sensible after more than one playthrough. It’s safe to say no one saw these twists coming – but that’s what makes them so great to begin with.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead.
10 Call Of Duty: Black Ops — Viktor Reznov Acted Like A Ghostly Ally For A Reason
Call Of Duty: Black Ops is structured in such a way that the missions that players go through are their character Alex Mason’s memories, which he’s being forced to relive during an interrogation. One constant in these missions is Viktor, a hardened Russian veteran, and Alex’s fire-forged friend. That being said, Viktor was dead this whole time.
Alex did meet Viktor, but he died during their prison escape. Since then, Alex hallucinated Viktor thanks to his trauma and Viktor’s brainwashing. This was foreshadowed through Alex’s squadmates never acknowledging Viktor’s presence, Viktor’s invulnerability to friendly fire, and Viktor’s impeccably perfect timing in life-or-death situations.
9 Dead Space — The Game’s Chapters Literally Spell Out Nicole Brennan’s Fate
When the USG Ishimura sent out a distress call, engineer Isaac Clarke joined the rescue effort since his girlfriend Nicole was aboard the doomed ship. Aboard the vessel, Isaac received either video calls from Nicole or saw her, but not all was as it seemed. As it turned out, Nicole was already dead, and the hellish Markers used her likeness to manipulate Isaac.
Dead Space actually spelled out Nicole’s fate, as taking the first letter of each chapter title would spell out “Nicole Is Dead.” Besides this, Nicole’s interactions with Isaac were always uncanny. One of the biggest hints was Nicole’s odd vocabulary, which was needlessly grandiose and verbose. For example, her need for Isaac to “make them whole.”
8 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain — Venom Snake Was Never Meant To Be Big Boss
When it was first announced that Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain replaced long-time Solid Snake/Big Boss voice actor David Hayter with Kiefer Sutherland, there was an intense backlash. However, this may have been intentional since the “Big Boss” who would become Venom Snake was, in actuality, his brainwashed body double.
Metal Gear Solid V only revealed this in its closing moments, but many clues led up to it. Some of the more overt bits of foreshadowing included Ishmael’s (aka an incognito Big Boss) death triggering a “Time Paradox,” and Venom Snake being referred to as Ahab: the focal character of Moby Dick, but not its protagonist (that would be Ishmael).
7 Resident Evil Village — Ethan Winter’s True Nature Was Obvious To Everyone But The Player
The big reveal of the eighth canonical Resident Evil was that Ethan died before Resident Evil 7: Biohazard began properly. When Ethan first fought Jack Baker, he was quickly killed but kept alive thanks to his undying determination to save Mia and Eveline’s mold. In short, Ethan was a Bio Organic Weapon this whole time.
Neither Ethan nor the player knew this, but everyone else they fought – particularly Mother Miranda and her cult – did. For example, Lady Dimitrescu disappointingly commented that Ethan’s (dead) blood tasted “stale.” Another hint was Ethan’s inexplicable imperviousness to fatal fights and injuries, which players dismissed as in-game logic.
6 Killer7 — The Handsome Men’s Fight Exposed The Smiths’ True Leader & Nature
The selling point of Killer7 was that players got to play The Smith Syndicate, a group of seven assassins that players could switch in and out of at any point in-game. It didn’t take long for some players to theorize that six of the seven were actually one person’s multiple identities and that the elderly Harman Smith was their host.
In truth, Garcian Smith was the core persona as the others were dead. The Smiths’ fight with The Handsome Men was the biggest hint since Garcian’s (not Harman’s) designated rival was their similarly covert leader, Handsome Pink. Additionally, Garcian dying was the only way to cue a Game Over since he was the only living Smith.
5 Silent Hill 2 — The Town Made James Sunderland’s Guilt Real
When he somehow receives a letter from his dead wife Mary, James ventured to Silent Hill to find answers. What he finds, instead, is a nightmarish living hell that seems to have been made to specifically mock and torture him. James had no one to blame but himself, since the ghostly town merely made real the regret he felt for killing Mary.
From the monsters that embodied aspects of his psyche (Pyramid Head represented James’ desire for power and punishment) to characters’ cutting observations, James’ dark secret was laid bare without his knowing. Everything in Silent Hill 2 pointed to this dark truth, and it was up to players to decide whether James accepted it or not.
4 NieR: Automata — The World’s Lack Of Life & Humanity Was Deliberate
In the distant future, mankind’s remnants have relocated to a moon base after their devastating defeat against alien invaders. To reclaim Earth from the aliens, the androids 2B and 9S are sent to the planet to fight in humanity’s stead. However, there was no war to fight: Earth was devoid of either aliens or humans and was instead populated by robots.
The truth is that the machines have taken man and alien’s place. NieR: Automata foreshadowed this through hints, like certain dialogue cues and the machines’ religious reverence for the absent humans. Additionally, the robots’ murderous remake of Romeo And Juliet also foreshadowed 2B and 9S’ romance and 2B’s attempted murder of 9S.
3 Final Fantasy VII Remake — The Remake’s Creative Changes Were More Than Just Updates
Despite what its title implied, Final Fantasy VII Remake was anything but a mere remaster or retread of the classic JRPG. Though things started on a familiar note, the story gradually deviated in drastic ways, such as introducing Sephiroth a lot earlier than his original appearance, and Barret briefly dying.
This led to the reveal that Final Fantasy VII Remake was an alternate reality version of the original game, and the spectral Whispers were in charge of making sure Remake followed the original timeline. The Whispers’ interferences only made sense to Cloud and players in hindsight – specifically after they inadvertently helped Sephiroth kill them.
2 BioShock — Atlas Used Gaming Clichés To Control Jack & The Player
As shocking as BioShock’s legendary plot twist was, it wasn’t a random surprise. The most obvious hint to Jack being Atlas’ mentally conditioned lackey was his overuse of the activation phrase “Would you kindly?” but the game left clues that would only be noticeable to those who were intimately familiar with how game stories worked.
Throughout BioShock, the player was led around Rapture under the impression that their actions would help Atlas (really a traitorous Frank Fontaine) depose the tyrannical Andrew Ryan. The player’s habit of obediently following everything an in-game voice told them to do foreshadowed that they had no free will in BioShock.
1 Portal — GLaDOS Betrayed The Player’s Trust In Puzzle Games
When Chell woke up in the pristine testing facilities of Aperture Science, GLaDOS’ reassuring voice told her to solve some puzzles with a portal gun for science’s sake and the promise of cake. As the experiments went on, though, GLaDOS’ witty sarcasm gave way to blatant lies and the testing chambers became increasingly dangerous.
These were just some of the many hints in the PC hit Portal that led to the revelation that GLaDOS was an evil artificial intelligence. Besides taking advantage of the comfort that gamers find in seemingly casual puzzle games, the Rat Man’s manic vandalisms across the testing grounds were proven to be truthful warnings of GLaDOS’ deceit.
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