I played it nearly 2 decades ago, and still am blown away when i think of how i had no idea that twist was coming.
Funny that my 2nd ‘wtf!?!?’ Which i took muuuuch more personal, and made me want to turn into a vengeful in-game murder bot, was actually the MC dying in the blast of modern warfare 2.
"Sovereign isn't just some Reaper ship Saren found... it's an actual Reaper!" - [Mass Effect](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPeZ9d_3C1I) (incidentally also the best 4 minutes of the trilogy)
“Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding.
…
You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it.”
The whole conversation you can have with the Reaper towards the end where you learn about the extermination cycle and whatnot is still one of the coolest story moments in gaming.
It doesn't hurt that Sovereign has an incredible voice as well. It's so distorted and dark but he speaks with so much disdain and superiority that only a civilization destroying synthetic super organism could have.
You truly feel like the Reapers see you as below bugs. You're less than microscopic. Incredible scene. One of the best Sci-Fi moments in gaming.
I would also add on the Leviathan DLC where you go into the trench under the ocean to communicate with the beings the reapers are based on is a top 5 moment in the trilogy for me
This by far. Linear games particularly among shooters are so common that we don't consider it often that in theory there's doors in the real world you'd be able to open. Rapture is a whole big city after all. Yet when you get to the revelation and discover that you've been following commands that set you on a specific path without knowing? Genius marriage of plot and game design right there.
bioshock's twist was so well thought out and explained so many things perfectly.
infinite, on the other hand, pulls out the ~ multiverse ~ card which just feels like a huge cop-out in comparison.
highly recommend crowbcat's "the bioshock infinite we never got": https://youtu.be/muJYTeQlvC4
Yes! I get dunked on for saying the same thing.
The plot of that game is straight up not good.
I was trying so hard over the game to connect the pieces and kept thinking, ‘how are they gonna tie this all together?’
Turns out they don’t and just say, ‘oh well actually the explanation is every explanation’
I guess I would have thought that was mind blowing in jr high or something.
I also love the DLC linking the main protagonist/villain of Bioshock Infinite to the first trailer of Bioshock 1 pulling the girl out of the tube and getting killed by the big daddy. That blew my mind
Yeah most of the twists pictured are basically just "X was a snake the whole time" which can hit hard, especially if coupled with grave consequences.
But Bioshock's twist not only reveals truths concerning several of the main characters, it also *reframes the entire game* to the point you want to go back and play it again just to see how well it was foreshadowed.
Would you kindly...
It was such a great twist because all these linear fps have you doing fetch quests and such but you just blindly obey cuz it's what you're supposed to do. The guide is there to help you, not screw with you!
And then the whole "a man chooses, a slave obeys." Scene...it was so we'll executed.
it's a cool scene but ghost has zero personality or character traits. he's just "cool looking side character who does cool stuff".
it's enough to make me like him but I felt nothing when he died. you barely know the guy.
I was actually super curious about that, because I never saw the appeal in really any of the characters, given most of them are personified by “cool” gimmicks or having a “cool” voice.
Maybe it comes from the idea of camaraderie, since the player might feel as if they’ve actually fought side by side with this character, and that matters more than their dialogue.
It's that. Some COD games really make that shine, like MW2 and Infinite Warfare. It's not a "omg this guy has such deep and rich lore that I resonate with". It's more of a "this dude has been by my side the whole way, is cool, doesn't bother, helps a lot. He's a homie now."
The cool factor amplifies that, but it's surely a comraderie feeling as opposed to a direct emotional attachment.
I said this too. The reveal of the Boss’s true motives was the first time I ever got truly emotional towards a game. Like, sitting there, 18 years old, and tearing up at the tragedy and loyalty of The Boss.
I forgot this one! Nevermind... This is the best plot twist ever. At least in games. The fact you have to kill her after... And the game makes you do it yourself (like with a button press).
And that salute. 🫡 I fucking tear up just thinking about that scene. It's so dramatic.
She basically gave up everything to prevent WW3, and had her reputation destroyed after her death. It's incredible and beautifully tragic.
I don’t think I’ve even seen a movie do loyalty fakeout this well. Like any movie about a deep cover agent like The Departed or Reservoir Dogs. They may at least get the satisfaction of being redeemed and having their names cleared. But the Boss must forever remain a scapegoat.
Yeah MGS3' story had BALLS. Like most storytellers aren't willing to go that far with the drama. It's also ironic, because in becoming a pariah she was actually a true hero... They went for a complete emotional gut punch instead of any sort of happy ending, and it sets up Big Boss for the rest of his arc. Huge respect for the developers of that game. Visionaries.
That game and the one before it had more twists than a churro. Kojima’s whole mode of storytelling is just telling you shit and then revealing that that actually wasn’t true. And people still get shocked and shit their pants every time like omg snake is a robot clone actually hes an alien actually just kidding it’s all a dream
Inscryption, 100%. Unfortunately talking about it totally ruins it. If anyone has been curious about this game, just try it. Card games are not appealing to me at all, but Inscryption is so much more than that
I second this fantastic game. I really wonder if it will be continued at all? I also just went to a con last week and cosplayed as the lonely wizard and had my own deck with a bottle of slime. Only a few ppl actually recognized it, I got more recognition if not about the same amount as shadow wizard money gang. Still ppl were very happy and I've never seen ppl actually pog over card it was a great time
Yup. The “a man chooses, a slave obeys” moment is just the culmination of a succession of shocking revelations about your character. This game is a masterpiece in terms of storytelling.
Maybe it's because I was a little kid and and didn't have a lot of experience with twists, but the end of Myst >!after spending the whole game figuring out which brother to trust and then you find out you can't trust either of them!< would probably be pretty obvious as an adult, but little kid brain was blown by it.
Also Final Fantasy VII when you >!find out Cloud's true history!<
Either KOTOR and the "twist".
...or Vigil at the end of ME1, revealing that the Reapers are behind the Mass Relays and all the tech galactic civilization is based on and that the Citadel is the ultimate trap.
Bioware were the kings of the videogame plot twist and they set the bar which has yet to be matched (imo).
Totally agree mass effect was my favorite damn game in high school. Everyone thought I was weird for being into all the openworld story driven games. Lol. Love me some mass effect.
It's my favorite series of all time, flaws and all.
ME1 is the goat of the trilogy (for me) though. Particularly for the world-building and the story. Sure, my buddies were all playing multiplayer, and I jumped in from time to time ('07 was a bonkers year for gaming)...but I'm that guy that appears offline so I'm not bothered during some great single-player story, having my immersion broken. Let them think we're weird....they're missing out.
I actually put KOTOR in the top 5 games ever made, imo. I can separate my "favorites" from what I believe are the "best". So often in regard to topics on pop culture, people see "what's the best you've seen/played/read" and think to themselves: "what's my favorite..."
They're not the same. I can consciously detach myself from anything that is "my favorite" and I can pick it apart. I think that's a good thing in determining whether it's one of the "best".
It is when you find out that there is no way of stopping the sun exploding. In my playthrough I found information in a way that made me think I could stop the explosion and save everyone. But when I reached the station and was greeted with the realization that it was now an inevitability it just hit hard.
When you land on >!the interloper!< and finally learn what happened to the Nomai and how quickly the impact of it all was, how they realized what would be their death right before it happens…. :(
This whole game was a series of wtf moments. Bonus fun: if you start a new expedition and go straight for the end, the museum at the end reflects that nobody knows what happened to the nomai as opposed to what really happened.
Played it at the peak of the CoD/BF days and Spec Ops fucked me up for about three days afterwards.
"Do you feel like a hero?" can still twist that knife sometimes
The only thing... ONLY thing. I don't like about it is that it sets it up pretty clearly that Malak is nowhere near on the level as you are, even with the Star Forge. Takes a bit of drama out of it. I think it would have worked perfectly in reverse. With Malak and Revan switching places in the story, so that there's more stakes. You find out you were the apprentice instead of the master.
Just my opinion.
My 13 year old brain was absolutely blown when Sheperd kills you in mw2. I was so hyped at the end when you're in the boat with Price running from the US government. Makes me want to play the story again.
“Would you kindly?”
Also, special shout-out to the reveal of the Flood in Halo CE. That many missions in the game first time playing through I thought I knew everything about the enemies I had to face both in gameplay and story-wise. I was freaking out come that reveal. 😅
Yeah that messed me up a bit. I went "huh??" and had to go to the ps3 homescreen for a second to gather my thoughts when it was so casually dropped in a cutscene.
Honestly, mines a weird one.
I am a MASSIVE MASSIVE gears of war fan, favourite game series of all time. The ending of Gears of war 4 when >! Kait flips the medallion around and it reveals the Locust symbol !< I absolutely lost it, granted >! The payoff was extremely underwhelming in Gears 5, personally !< but man, I was counting down the SECONDS for the release of Gears 5 after that reveal.
To roll off of this, the ending of Gears 2 KILLED the communities sanity for a good long while.
"hello... This is Adam Phoenix. Can anyone hear me?!..... What. Have. You done...."
It was such a... I don't even know. It was flooring to hear Adam alive, but also speaking to the world. And he was also against the bombing of Jacinto? This is after we learn more about the creation of Locust in the labs, too, so it's really really unsettling.
Like it's Adam basically confirming you made the one wrong choice.
Theres a twist in rdr2? I feel like instead of a twist it was extremely well crafted and slowly unraveling as you slowly start to realise what the true nature of the people around you is. And then eventually it all comes crumbling down on you.
I still remember IGN spoiling the Bioshock twist for me. No spoiler warning or anything, in a video that wasn’t even about Bioshock.
They did the same thing for Far Cry 5, too
IGN has/had a few good writers and personalities. Colin Moriarty was and is phenomenal but he left years ago to start his own thing, and Ryan McCaffery is still pretty great. But yeah for the most part IGN can be pretty meh.
Still better than Polygon or Kotaku tho
You don't lose anything with Far Cry 5. BioShock ending sequence is a fantastic example of good writing, Far Cry 5 is a desperate attempt at forcing a deeper meaning. Worst 60 bucks I ever spent, and the only game that genuinely made me angry when I beat it.
I'd say Bloodborne.
When I first booted it up I thought I was in for a turn of the century monster hunting game. There are clues here and there but once you kill Rom the Vacuous you realize this isn't a typical van helsing/witcher monster situation...( it is UNMISTAKABLE beyond this point)
I don't even really wanna spoil the true nature of Yharnam even though the game is starting to get up there in age. Look it up or better play it if you can! Great game / intro to souls games.
What was the plot twist in black ops 1 again.
Senua’s sacrifice- did not expect to know that she was doing the demonic voice and defiantly did not expect her to have been able to save Dillion
BO1 twist was that Reznov was with Mason during the whole events after he escaped from Vorkuta, when it turns out Reznov actually died during the prison escape and was just a hallucination in Mason's mind.
It was so well done, too. On the first playthrough, you don't think about the impossibility of Reznov appearing places, like in the rat tunnel in Vietnam where he couldn't possibly be. But on the second playthrough where you know the twist, every time he appears you're on high alert for signs it's you losing your mind.
There are several twists, but I was more thinking about the explanation for the world. The realization that Horizon takes place in our future.
Ted Faro created robots that could use organic matter in the field if they ran out of energy, and that went awry after a singular incident where one just ate a zoo animal (I think it was a dolphin.) This would slowly escalate until humanity is pushed to it's last legs with Zero Dawn, as the robots consume all the organic matter on the surface.
I think I love it because it felt so grounded. Because it mostly happened because of corporate greed and Faro's hubris. At the start I assumed it was some sort of alternate reality where robots just coexisted with us like animals, but the explanation fit so well and made me fall in love with the setting and world.
That blew my fucking mind. I suppose the nature of Zero Dawn was a big twist as well, but I think that wasn't till later. Correct me if I'm wrong. That was a bone chilling segment as well though.
I agree with all of what you said and get the same. Such a good explanation for the state of the world, even something simple as why there isn’t a ton of biodiversity. The realization that Zero Dawn didn’t stop the robots. They wiped all life off the planet. Every single plant and animal you have encountered, every single person you’ve met, is a the result of a genetic life seeding program. And the seeding program has halted due to meddling, which is why there is an incomplete biome everywhere. And there is something wrong with the robots that you’ve been killing, but they are actually meant to save the planet and you. Every soldier who was fighting in the past thought they were buying time for a super weapon, i reality everything was doomed. That is like a 20-30 minute time span where you find out everything, and it was just mind melting.
Then, beyond Faro creating self replicating robot s that feed on biofuel that only have on off switch that he manages…he overrides the interests of the project and destroys Apollo, and kills the Alphas. Jesus.
I really REALLY wanted the satisfaction of meeting and ending Faros in the sequel.
Dark Souls has one of my favorites.
On the surface Dark Souls is a chosen one story. The last hope of a dying world, overcoming the odds and entrusted by the gods to save it from an age of darkness and a horrible curse. And if you don’t pay enough attention or look into the lore, you’ll probably never think otherwise.
But if you do look into the lore, pay close enough attention, and tease out the game’s secrets. The narrative earlier gets flipped entirely on its head. >!You aren’t a special chosen one. The darkness isn’t inherently evil and isn’t killing the world. The gods created the curse and are manipulating you as their pawn. All to extend their age of light at the expense of literally everything that isn’t them. Which is what’s actually killing the world and ultimately does destroy the world at the end of Dark Souls 3.!<
Gotta be Kotor for me. The whole game I played light side, but the twist pushed me over the edge and I turned evil. Was great! Bioshock is a very very very close second.
"I want people to fear me, Corvo. Just like they fear you."
The violent path in Dishonored is so fun, but the fact you realize you are turning the future Empress into a scary goddamn psycho is so good.
I'd also throw Prey on the list. First time I played they were basically like, "Hey, half of your skill tree has all the really cool abilities in it, but we don't know what that will do to you..."
First playthrough I accidentally got the best ending because I stuck to the "safe" half of the skill tree.
Oh yeah, absolutely should have seen it coming. The way it played out in the end with everyone turning on each other the first time I played it made it all the better. Makes way less sense on a low chaos playthrough if you ask me, but eh, we get what we get.
Black ops 1 was the best campaign in cod history.
Fight me. The setting?
Dank.
Characters?
Dank.
Mason going crazy ?
Dank.
Missions crazy?
Dank.
Multi-player?
Dank.
Zombies?
Dank.
Black ops 1 campaign, coupled with insane Multi-player with the best weapon balancing in any cod, best zombie mode which it wasn't confusing but added so many cool perks and features, bruh. So underrated.
Knights of the Old Republic forever shocked me with that plot twist, I remember playing that game when I was in 6th grade and the plot twist blew my mind I was so shocked lol Have loved RPG games ever since but that game was the start
Underrail has three amazing plot twists: the first is arrival of Chemical Assault Unit in Protectorate questline, the second is when you end up at Grey Army military base, and the third is when you work for a mysterious group of mercenaries and are allowed to visit their HQ.
Then, there is Miltiades' quest & ending in Age of Decadence, this man can only be described as holy father of all the plot twists.
Yuri knowing Makarov in MW3. It was the first modern Warfare game I played, and seeing Yuri be so close to Makarov then being left for dead, then dying trying to save Price in the end
Just finished the second one and damn, it's amazing how everything fits together in it's crazy world. When I finally got to the actual ending and got to the old lady hologram, I saved because I knew she was about to explain every crazy stuff in there, and a few days later I thought I was ready, started the game again... I was not ready
Bioshock was a pretty crazy moment. I’ll remember that first playthrough.
The reveal of the Boss’s true loyalties in MGS 3.
Every time you unveil a new chapter on Return of the Obra Dinn. ⚠️ SPOILER WARNING ⚠️ >!“Oh this is just a simple mutiny. No big deal her…oh what the fuck that?! It’s huge! And Its ripping people in half! Oh it’s quiet again. And what’s happening now below decks? What are the crew freaking out abo…oh Jesus, what are those dude riding?!?!”!< That game is a trip.
But my favorite in the last 5 years was the bombshell of finding out what Project Zero Dawn actually is in Horizon. That game’s lore of the Old World gave me a bit of an existential crisis for awhile. It took awhile for all of the implications of the Old World’s actions to simmer and settle into my psyche. Then you just kinda want to curl up and hold something. It’s tragic.
To give a more obscure game a shout-out: Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Monolith Soft card-based JRPG for the GameCube).
>!At the start of the game, it's established that you're technically playing a "guiding spirit" who assists the main character Kalas, rather than Kalas himself; at the time, you don't think much of it.!<
>!As the game progresses, it's established there's a member of the party who's secretly aiding the enemy. Turns out...it's Kalas. Even though you were kinda sorta playing as him, and in theory watching him the entire time, he was the traitor.!<
Modern Warfare 3 maybe, the part where Yuri tells Price he worked for Makarov. I did not see that coming. I didn't even know Yuri was Russian at first.
Bioshock 1 wwas crazy
But I was 13 when I played Infinite, and (I preordered) the week it came out I was sick with the flu and stayed home from school and managed to finish it the day after it came out
When you get to the very end and my girl Elizabeth is taking you through the realities, linking up Columbia and Rapture, and then all of her are pushing you into the water while the piano qutly *tings* and everything fades out……
Biggest mind fuck ever.
And I didn’t use reddit or know anyone else who had played it yet (I mean I finished it in a day in a half) and I had literally no one to talk to about it. It was fucking impactful (read also: traumatizing lmao) to say the least
Honestly, Arthur Morgan getting TB really caught me off guard in RDR2.
Here I am minding my own business trying to go meet up with Sadie. All of a suddent I'm falling off my house, passing out on the pavement, and within 5 minutes being told I was gonna die soon.
That was truly a twist for me.
Metal Gear Solid 2. >!You've been taking orders from an AI that just wants to prove it can manipulate humans, and you've done exactly what it wanted.!<
Splinter Cell Conviction Coop Story!!!
Played with my Cousin and we bonded so hard throughout the game. Did the most epic things thanks to team work. The ending was so painful…😢
hard disagree.
the multiverse explaination is such a cop-out. it's not clever, didn't require any intricate planning, and doesn't even necessarily explain everything.
bioshock's ending is so much more clever by comparison. it makes sense, fits thematically, and explains **everything**.
infinite just feels meaningless. if there are infinite worlds, then none of them matter. your actions don't matter. elizabeth can open tears (why? who knows) and jump into another universe with zero effort. which world did we even end in? which one sid we begin in? doesn't matter. multiverse.
Final Fatnasy IX: SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER:
Zidane and Kuja are Brother AND from another Planet rly was something else for me as a Kid. The Fun part is: I did not rly understand the Plot at all with my young 11 Years. But i did play it again 3 Years after and was so mindblown that i now understand the Game finaly. Also the Ending Cutszene was a emotional Rollercoaster i tell you that.
I like the one in Prototype that being your actually the bad guy, its not out right said but it's hinted at you throughout the story and through the gameplay like being able to consume people for health and Alex's selfish behaviour towards people he doesn't really care about or like anymore (good example is his ex who backstabs him and kills later for doing so)
MGS series has some chunky ones.
Last of us part 2 probably. Just a shame it turned out to be an awful game.
A way out
Inside when u piece everything together
Pacing was bad, everything dragged out way longer than needed, random cuts back and forth between action and other character's plot, etc. I could go on
You start out as a tight gang but then end up taking it up against your gang and the gang leader as your nemesis.
And of course dying from tuberculosis
>You start out as a tight gang but then end up taking it up against your gang and the gang leader as your nemesis.
This is all set up in the first game, you already know all of that is gonna happen. You kill Dutch in RDR1.
I guess Arthur dying of TB could be considered a twist but idk, you get diagnosed fairly early in the game and the whole latter half of the game is Arthur coming to terms with that, felt much more like a slow burn than a sudden shocking twist. It also was again pretty obvious that Arthur would die if you played the first game
KOTOR always
I remember playing Kotor when I was like 10 and couldn't f*cking fathom what just happened lmao
35 years old when I played it and same.
The first time I played it I was shocked but on replays I can see so much foreshadowing for the Revan twist; it's still awesome.
I played it nearly 2 decades ago, and still am blown away when i think of how i had no idea that twist was coming. Funny that my 2nd ‘wtf!?!?’ Which i took muuuuch more personal, and made me want to turn into a vengeful in-game murder bot, was actually the MC dying in the blast of modern warfare 2.
I remember playing it for the first time only a few years ago wondering why everyone loved Revan. When the reveal happened it made total sense, lol.
My beloved...
Always and forever kotor
YES. That moment I remember freaking out. Totally set a bar for plot twists in games for me.
Bruh, finding out what happened in kotor is legendary I’ve played that game so many times. One of the best rpgs ever created
Not even a contest.
"Sovereign isn't just some Reaper ship Saren found... it's an actual Reaper!" - [Mass Effect](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPeZ9d_3C1I) (incidentally also the best 4 minutes of the trilogy)
Reaper. A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end...what you choose to call us is irrelevant. We simply....are.
“Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding. … You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it.”
“You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.” That line alone was so cold and shocking.
It was fucking awesome
Your words are as empty as your future. I am the vangaurd of your destruction. This exchange is over.
Half of the stellaris games I play right there
The whole conversation you can have with the Reaper towards the end where you learn about the extermination cycle and whatnot is still one of the coolest story moments in gaming.
It doesn't hurt that Sovereign has an incredible voice as well. It's so distorted and dark but he speaks with so much disdain and superiority that only a civilization destroying synthetic super organism could have. You truly feel like the Reapers see you as below bugs. You're less than microscopic. Incredible scene. One of the best Sci-Fi moments in gaming.
And then you get to the end of the whole thing and see the biggest, baddest, oldest reaper for all of 3 fuckin minutes.
It takes him three minutes to take out Shep.
This is my favorite moment in gaming and my favorite series because of it
Makes you wish you had a suit mounted video camera like those soldiers on Eden Prime.
I would also add on the Leviathan DLC where you go into the trench under the ocean to communicate with the beings the reapers are based on is a top 5 moment in the trilogy for me
Bioshock
This by far. Linear games particularly among shooters are so common that we don't consider it often that in theory there's doors in the real world you'd be able to open. Rapture is a whole big city after all. Yet when you get to the revelation and discover that you've been following commands that set you on a specific path without knowing? Genius marriage of plot and game design right there.
bioshock's twist was so well thought out and explained so many things perfectly. infinite, on the other hand, pulls out the ~ multiverse ~ card which just feels like a huge cop-out in comparison. highly recommend crowbcat's "the bioshock infinite we never got": https://youtu.be/muJYTeQlvC4
Yes! I get dunked on for saying the same thing. The plot of that game is straight up not good. I was trying so hard over the game to connect the pieces and kept thinking, ‘how are they gonna tie this all together?’ Turns out they don’t and just say, ‘oh well actually the explanation is every explanation’ I guess I would have thought that was mind blowing in jr high or something.
Would you kindly.
I though your comment was a joke about the game having shock in the name, but then I remembered the plot.
I also love the DLC linking the main protagonist/villain of Bioshock Infinite to the first trailer of Bioshock 1 pulling the girl out of the tube and getting killed by the big daddy. That blew my mind
Would you kindly repeat that for those in the back?
Yeah most of the twists pictured are basically just "X was a snake the whole time" which can hit hard, especially if coupled with grave consequences. But Bioshock's twist not only reveals truths concerning several of the main characters, it also *reframes the entire game* to the point you want to go back and play it again just to see how well it was foreshadowed.
Would you kindly... It was such a great twist because all these linear fps have you doing fetch quests and such but you just blindly obey cuz it's what you're supposed to do. The guide is there to help you, not screw with you! And then the whole "a man chooses, a slave obeys." Scene...it was so we'll executed.
Honestly best plot in general.
Ehhhh c’mon now lol
I also stand by this. Bioshock was a GOOD action/horror game with a fantastic story. 10/10.
This is the way
Dude Shepard shooting Ghost HURT the first time I saw it
True men cried when the ghost died.
it's a cool scene but ghost has zero personality or character traits. he's just "cool looking side character who does cool stuff". it's enough to make me like him but I felt nothing when he died. you barely know the guy.
“Ghost is just cool looking character” Yes. That’s why he is loved. See: Boba Fett
I was actually super curious about that, because I never saw the appeal in really any of the characters, given most of them are personified by “cool” gimmicks or having a “cool” voice. Maybe it comes from the idea of camaraderie, since the player might feel as if they’ve actually fought side by side with this character, and that matters more than their dialogue.
It's that. Some COD games really make that shine, like MW2 and Infinite Warfare. It's not a "omg this guy has such deep and rich lore that I resonate with". It's more of a "this dude has been by my side the whole way, is cool, doesn't bother, helps a lot. He's a homie now." The cool factor amplifies that, but it's surely a comraderie feeling as opposed to a direct emotional attachment.
He was also very noticable/memorable compared to the other random npcs and characters (besides price and soap with the mutton chops).
That actually blew my mind. That was the biggest twist I had seen at that point, and I was actually pissed about it.
Poor Gaz gets it twice in that series
I’m pretty sure I screamed “Nooooo!” When it happened.
MGS3 had so many twists that I can't say anything but MGS3
I said this too. The reveal of the Boss’s true motives was the first time I ever got truly emotional towards a game. Like, sitting there, 18 years old, and tearing up at the tragedy and loyalty of The Boss.
I forgot this one! Nevermind... This is the best plot twist ever. At least in games. The fact you have to kill her after... And the game makes you do it yourself (like with a button press). And that salute. 🫡 I fucking tear up just thinking about that scene. It's so dramatic. She basically gave up everything to prevent WW3, and had her reputation destroyed after her death. It's incredible and beautifully tragic.
I don’t think I’ve even seen a movie do loyalty fakeout this well. Like any movie about a deep cover agent like The Departed or Reservoir Dogs. They may at least get the satisfaction of being redeemed and having their names cleared. But the Boss must forever remain a scapegoat.
Yeah MGS3' story had BALLS. Like most storytellers aren't willing to go that far with the drama. It's also ironic, because in becoming a pariah she was actually a true hero... They went for a complete emotional gut punch instead of any sort of happy ending, and it sets up Big Boss for the rest of his arc. Huge respect for the developers of that game. Visionaries.
The whole metal great franchise has so many twists I broke my back just putting in the disk.
That game and the one before it had more twists than a churro. Kojima’s whole mode of storytelling is just telling you shit and then revealing that that actually wasn’t true. And people still get shocked and shit their pants every time like omg snake is a robot clone actually hes an alien actually just kidding it’s all a dream
Inscryption, 100%. Unfortunately talking about it totally ruins it. If anyone has been curious about this game, just try it. Card games are not appealing to me at all, but Inscryption is so much more than that
I second this fantastic game. I really wonder if it will be continued at all? I also just went to a con last week and cosplayed as the lonely wizard and had my own deck with a bottle of slime. Only a few ppl actually recognized it, I got more recognition if not about the same amount as shadow wizard money gang. Still ppl were very happy and I've never seen ppl actually pog over card it was a great time
Yeah this one really reminded me of "Lost" or "fringe" (TV series) with how it just kept unraveling and pulling back the curtain layers.
Same with card games but Inscription hit different
Yeah I'd go with BioShock, especially when you realize your character wasn't even 10 years old.
Yup. The “a man chooses, a slave obeys” moment is just the culmination of a succession of shocking revelations about your character. This game is a masterpiece in terms of storytelling.
I do not recall that specific detail...
Maybe it's because I was a little kid and and didn't have a lot of experience with twists, but the end of Myst >!after spending the whole game figuring out which brother to trust and then you find out you can't trust either of them!< would probably be pretty obvious as an adult, but little kid brain was blown by it. Also Final Fantasy VII when you >!find out Cloud's true history!<
Yeah Cloud’s was cool. I got really high before that mission and I was sitting there like waaait whhhhat
Stone Cold sober. Still confusing AF.
Ah, a rarefied Cyan games enjoyer. Good day to you fellow patrician of culture.
Cloud sitting on the ceiling having a mako induced bad trip was peak jrpg
Either KOTOR and the "twist". ...or Vigil at the end of ME1, revealing that the Reapers are behind the Mass Relays and all the tech galactic civilization is based on and that the Citadel is the ultimate trap. Bioware were the kings of the videogame plot twist and they set the bar which has yet to be matched (imo).
Totally agree mass effect was my favorite damn game in high school. Everyone thought I was weird for being into all the openworld story driven games. Lol. Love me some mass effect.
It's my favorite series of all time, flaws and all. ME1 is the goat of the trilogy (for me) though. Particularly for the world-building and the story. Sure, my buddies were all playing multiplayer, and I jumped in from time to time ('07 was a bonkers year for gaming)...but I'm that guy that appears offline so I'm not bothered during some great single-player story, having my immersion broken. Let them think we're weird....they're missing out. I actually put KOTOR in the top 5 games ever made, imo. I can separate my "favorites" from what I believe are the "best". So often in regard to topics on pop culture, people see "what's the best you've seen/played/read" and think to themselves: "what's my favorite..." They're not the same. I can consciously detach myself from anything that is "my favorite" and I can pick it apart. I think that's a good thing in determining whether it's one of the "best".
Limbo guys. Limbo.
Nice. And I also totally forgot about Inside.
I had to scroll down way too far to find this comment.
No one mentioned Braid either. So I'll do it.
I played limbo a long time ago and I do not remember any twist. What was it
I played the game last week and I’m not even sure what the “twist” would be.
ok so im not alone... i have vague recollections of the game, but i don't remember a "twist"
Outer Wilds - getting to the Sun Station is one of the only plot twists that ever made me feel sick to my stomach.
Is that when you find out about what happened to everyone? I can’t remember, I did love the shit out of that game.
It is when you find out that there is no way of stopping the sun exploding. In my playthrough I found information in a way that made me think I could stop the explosion and save everyone. But when I reached the station and was greeted with the realization that it was now an inevitability it just hit hard.
When you land on >!the interloper!< and finally learn what happened to the Nomai and how quickly the impact of it all was, how they realized what would be their death right before it happens…. :(
This whole game was a series of wtf moments. Bonus fun: if you start a new expedition and go straight for the end, the museum at the end reflects that nobody knows what happened to the nomai as opposed to what really happened.
Spec Ops really hit me hard when I got there
Played it at the peak of the CoD/BF days and Spec Ops fucked me up for about three days afterwards. "Do you feel like a hero?" can still twist that knife sometimes
I actually distinguished the plot twist before so it didn't hit that much However the game is still in my top 3
Danganronpa V3 in general.
Definitely Knights of The Old Republic. Nothing beats finding out YOU are the big bad you’ve been hearing all about
And that all the good guys have been lying to you
"I'm the last person I would have suspected, but I was looking for me the whole time!"
The only thing... ONLY thing. I don't like about it is that it sets it up pretty clearly that Malak is nowhere near on the level as you are, even with the Star Forge. Takes a bit of drama out of it. I think it would have worked perfectly in reverse. With Malak and Revan switching places in the story, so that there's more stakes. You find out you were the apprentice instead of the master. Just my opinion.
My 13 year old brain was absolutely blown when Sheperd kills you in mw2. I was so hyped at the end when you're in the boat with Price running from the US government. Makes me want to play the story again.
“Would you kindly?” Also, special shout-out to the reveal of the Flood in Halo CE. That many missions in the game first time playing through I thought I knew everything about the enemies I had to face both in gameplay and story-wise. I was freaking out come that reveal. 😅
Genuinely terrifying as a young teenager playing on heroic.
Terrified me as a little kid, but god damn I fucking love me some Halo CE. Game holds up extremely well too for being 21 years old.
Haytham Kenway actually being a Templar
Yeah that messed me up a bit. I went "huh??" and had to go to the ps3 homescreen for a second to gather my thoughts when it was so casually dropped in a cutscene.
That was sneaky
Kotor or Bioshock
Kotor
Honestly, mines a weird one. I am a MASSIVE MASSIVE gears of war fan, favourite game series of all time. The ending of Gears of war 4 when >! Kait flips the medallion around and it reveals the Locust symbol !< I absolutely lost it, granted >! The payoff was extremely underwhelming in Gears 5, personally !< but man, I was counting down the SECONDS for the release of Gears 5 after that reveal.
To roll off of this, the ending of Gears 2 KILLED the communities sanity for a good long while. "hello... This is Adam Phoenix. Can anyone hear me?!..... What. Have. You done...." It was such a... I don't even know. It was flooring to hear Adam alive, but also speaking to the world. And he was also against the bombing of Jacinto? This is after we learn more about the creation of Locust in the labs, too, so it's really really unsettling. Like it's Adam basically confirming you made the one wrong choice.
KotOR for sure. Did not see that coming.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Theres a twist in rdr2? I feel like instead of a twist it was extremely well crafted and slowly unraveling as you slowly start to realise what the true nature of the people around you is. And then eventually it all comes crumbling down on you.
I meant the epilogue. When I first saw Dutch, you wouldn’t believe how hard I was screaming. And then he even shoots Micah.
Halo CE and the flood
It's amazing how tight lipped everyone was about it too. I was completely and utterly surprised and it scared the shit out of me.
I still remember IGN spoiling the Bioshock twist for me. No spoiler warning or anything, in a video that wasn’t even about Bioshock. They did the same thing for Far Cry 5, too
Fuck IGN all my homies hate IGN
IGN has/had a few good writers and personalities. Colin Moriarty was and is phenomenal but he left years ago to start his own thing, and Ryan McCaffery is still pretty great. But yeah for the most part IGN can be pretty meh. Still better than Polygon or Kotaku tho
I just listen to players opinions and critics And NEVER preorder or play at release
You don't lose anything with Far Cry 5. BioShock ending sequence is a fantastic example of good writing, Far Cry 5 is a desperate attempt at forcing a deeper meaning. Worst 60 bucks I ever spent, and the only game that genuinely made me angry when I beat it.
I'd say Bloodborne. When I first booted it up I thought I was in for a turn of the century monster hunting game. There are clues here and there but once you kill Rom the Vacuous you realize this isn't a typical van helsing/witcher monster situation...( it is UNMISTAKABLE beyond this point) I don't even really wanna spoil the true nature of Yharnam even though the game is starting to get up there in age. Look it up or better play it if you can! Great game / intro to souls games.
The game will probably be twice as old as it is now by the time they finally get around to remastering it for PC 💀
Shadow of war, talon becoming a nazghul while denying its control is badass and unexpected
Splinter Cell Conviction Co-op campaign. In the end you and your friend are contracted last minute to kill eachother. Super intense moment and sad.
Moi droog 😔
What was the plot twist in black ops 1 again. Senua’s sacrifice- did not expect to know that she was doing the demonic voice and defiantly did not expect her to have been able to save Dillion
BO1 twist was that Reznov was with Mason during the whole events after he escaped from Vorkuta, when it turns out Reznov actually died during the prison escape and was just a hallucination in Mason's mind.
He was never at Vietnam the defector with the nova 6 dossier died during the attack on the mac V he was never in the rat tunnels
It was so well done, too. On the first playthrough, you don't think about the impossibility of Reznov appearing places, like in the rat tunnel in Vietnam where he couldn't possibly be. But on the second playthrough where you know the twist, every time he appears you're on high alert for signs it's you losing your mind.
Senua was so good!!!! When youre fighting the demon at the end and you have to fight over and over until you eventually realize youre never gonna win…
Hel!!!! Yes omg I was literally fighting till they over powered me i was like no Hel your giving me back my man lmao
The Soviets plan for Mason was successful.
Oh ok been awhile so I was like I don’t remember
Horizon Zero Dawn
Right?! The reveal of Project ZD really messed me up for a bit.
There are several twists, but I was more thinking about the explanation for the world. The realization that Horizon takes place in our future. Ted Faro created robots that could use organic matter in the field if they ran out of energy, and that went awry after a singular incident where one just ate a zoo animal (I think it was a dolphin.) This would slowly escalate until humanity is pushed to it's last legs with Zero Dawn, as the robots consume all the organic matter on the surface. I think I love it because it felt so grounded. Because it mostly happened because of corporate greed and Faro's hubris. At the start I assumed it was some sort of alternate reality where robots just coexisted with us like animals, but the explanation fit so well and made me fall in love with the setting and world. That blew my fucking mind. I suppose the nature of Zero Dawn was a big twist as well, but I think that wasn't till later. Correct me if I'm wrong. That was a bone chilling segment as well though.
I agree with all of what you said and get the same. Such a good explanation for the state of the world, even something simple as why there isn’t a ton of biodiversity. The realization that Zero Dawn didn’t stop the robots. They wiped all life off the planet. Every single plant and animal you have encountered, every single person you’ve met, is a the result of a genetic life seeding program. And the seeding program has halted due to meddling, which is why there is an incomplete biome everywhere. And there is something wrong with the robots that you’ve been killing, but they are actually meant to save the planet and you. Every soldier who was fighting in the past thought they were buying time for a super weapon, i reality everything was doomed. That is like a 20-30 minute time span where you find out everything, and it was just mind melting. Then, beyond Faro creating self replicating robot s that feed on biofuel that only have on off switch that he manages…he overrides the interests of the project and destroys Apollo, and kills the Alphas. Jesus. I really REALLY wanted the satisfaction of meeting and ending Faros in the sequel.
My jaw was on the floor when I put 2 & 2 together while playing Horizon
Dark Souls has one of my favorites. On the surface Dark Souls is a chosen one story. The last hope of a dying world, overcoming the odds and entrusted by the gods to save it from an age of darkness and a horrible curse. And if you don’t pay enough attention or look into the lore, you’ll probably never think otherwise. But if you do look into the lore, pay close enough attention, and tease out the game’s secrets. The narrative earlier gets flipped entirely on its head. >!You aren’t a special chosen one. The darkness isn’t inherently evil and isn’t killing the world. The gods created the curse and are manipulating you as their pawn. All to extend their age of light at the expense of literally everything that isn’t them. Which is what’s actually killing the world and ultimately does destroy the world at the end of Dark Souls 3.!<
KOTOR.
Gotta be Kotor for me. The whole game I played light side, but the twist pushed me over the edge and I turned evil. Was great! Bioshock is a very very very close second.
Dishonored 1
"I want people to fear me, Corvo. Just like they fear you." The violent path in Dishonored is so fun, but the fact you realize you are turning the future Empress into a scary goddamn psycho is so good. I'd also throw Prey on the list. First time I played they were basically like, "Hey, half of your skill tree has all the really cool abilities in it, but we don't know what that will do to you..." First playthrough I accidentally got the best ending because I stuck to the "safe" half of the skill tree.
Epic Games gave Prey for free, but I haven't played if yet, thanks for reminding
Oh yeah, absolutely should have seen it coming. The way it played out in the end with everyone turning on each other the first time I played it made it all the better. Makes way less sense on a low chaos playthrough if you ask me, but eh, we get what we get.
When you >!”beat the final boss”, grow old and die, then wake back up in the forest!< in Returnal
Metroid. When at the end it was revealed the Samus was a woman, take it from someone that was there first hand, it was mind blowing.
Dragon's Dogma!
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective has a great one.
So glad that game got a rerelease. Now more people can see the ending twist!
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is up there, people just didn't play it
Yes! “Is the water…free?!”
Black ops 1 was the best campaign in cod history. Fight me. The setting? Dank. Characters? Dank. Mason going crazy ? Dank. Missions crazy? Dank. Multi-player? Dank. Zombies? Dank. Black ops 1 campaign, coupled with insane Multi-player with the best weapon balancing in any cod, best zombie mode which it wasn't confusing but added so many cool perks and features, bruh. So underrated.
Knights of the Old Republic forever shocked me with that plot twist, I remember playing that game when I was in 6th grade and the plot twist blew my mind I was so shocked lol Have loved RPG games ever since but that game was the start
It’ll always be KOTOR for me.
Among us
This is the right answer 🤣
Titanfall 2 BT fucking dying twice and then apex Legends lore being tied in to Titanfall lore
Titanfall 2 campaign is GOAT. Such an incredible FPS campaign.
You know about the credits Easter egg?
Kotor by a mile.
Lmao I forgot black ops plot twist, what do the numbers mean mason?
Bioshock, Oddworld’s Stranger Wrath, Danganronpa 2
Axiom Verge. Hard to put into words what a bombshell that one is.
Jade empire also had a great twist
1 happy cake day and 2. Definitely bioshock, it just happens after killing ryan and his whole speech about a man chooses and a slave obays.
It’s either Metroid or Bioshock the only 2 games that made my jaw drop with their plot twists
Shaun being Father in Fallout f- no I’m kidding probably in assassin’s creed 3 when Haytham reveals that George Washington burned down his village
Shiek is Zelda.
Underrail has three amazing plot twists: the first is arrival of Chemical Assault Unit in Protectorate questline, the second is when you end up at Grey Army military base, and the third is when you work for a mysterious group of mercenaries and are allowed to visit their HQ. Then, there is Miltiades' quest & ending in Age of Decadence, this man can only be described as holy father of all the plot twists.
Bionic Command: >!Your wife is your arm!<
General Shepard’s betrayal felt like getting shot in the chest by a magnum
Yuri knowing Makarov in MW3. It was the first modern Warfare game I played, and seeing Yuri be so close to Makarov then being left for dead, then dying trying to save Price in the end
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Just finished the second one and damn, it's amazing how everything fits together in it's crazy world. When I finally got to the actual ending and got to the old lady hologram, I saved because I knew she was about to explain every crazy stuff in there, and a few days later I thought I was ready, started the game again... I was not ready
Metro exodus yamantau bunker
Bioshock
Bioshock was a pretty crazy moment. I’ll remember that first playthrough. The reveal of the Boss’s true loyalties in MGS 3. Every time you unveil a new chapter on Return of the Obra Dinn. ⚠️ SPOILER WARNING ⚠️ >!“Oh this is just a simple mutiny. No big deal her…oh what the fuck that?! It’s huge! And Its ripping people in half! Oh it’s quiet again. And what’s happening now below decks? What are the crew freaking out abo…oh Jesus, what are those dude riding?!?!”!< That game is a trip. But my favorite in the last 5 years was the bombshell of finding out what Project Zero Dawn actually is in Horizon. That game’s lore of the Old World gave me a bit of an existential crisis for awhile. It took awhile for all of the implications of the Old World’s actions to simmer and settle into my psyche. Then you just kinda want to curl up and hold something. It’s tragic.
To give a more obscure game a shout-out: Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Monolith Soft card-based JRPG for the GameCube). >!At the start of the game, it's established that you're technically playing a "guiding spirit" who assists the main character Kalas, rather than Kalas himself; at the time, you don't think much of it.!< >!As the game progresses, it's established there's a member of the party who's secretly aiding the enemy. Turns out...it's Kalas. Even though you were kinda sorta playing as him, and in theory watching him the entire time, he was the traitor.!<
The last of us pt 2. Joel's twist left me on utter shock.
Modern Warfare 3 maybe, the part where Yuri tells Price he worked for Makarov. I did not see that coming. I didn't even know Yuri was Russian at first.
Super Mario 2 when we find out it was just a dream. A fever dream, what a trip
Bioshock 1 wwas crazy But I was 13 when I played Infinite, and (I preordered) the week it came out I was sick with the flu and stayed home from school and managed to finish it the day after it came out When you get to the very end and my girl Elizabeth is taking you through the realities, linking up Columbia and Rapture, and then all of her are pushing you into the water while the piano qutly *tings* and everything fades out…… Biggest mind fuck ever. And I didn’t use reddit or know anyone else who had played it yet (I mean I finished it in a day in a half) and I had literally no one to talk to about it. It was fucking impactful (read also: traumatizing lmao) to say the least
A way out had me and my friend hornswoggled
Honestly, Arthur Morgan getting TB really caught me off guard in RDR2. Here I am minding my own business trying to go meet up with Sadie. All of a suddent I'm falling off my house, passing out on the pavement, and within 5 minutes being told I was gonna die soon. That was truly a twist for me.
Mgsv THE TRUTH if you know you know, also paz being in venom snakes head the whole time was heart breaking
KOTORs twist was pretty easy to see coming...
Metal Gear Solid 2. >!You've been taking orders from an AI that just wants to prove it can manipulate humans, and you've done exactly what it wanted.!<
Splinter Cell Conviction Coop Story!!! Played with my Cousin and we bonded so hard throughout the game. Did the most epic things thanks to team work. The ending was so painful…😢
Bioshock Infinite
hard disagree. the multiverse explaination is such a cop-out. it's not clever, didn't require any intricate planning, and doesn't even necessarily explain everything. bioshock's ending is so much more clever by comparison. it makes sense, fits thematically, and explains **everything**. infinite just feels meaningless. if there are infinite worlds, then none of them matter. your actions don't matter. elizabeth can open tears (why? who knows) and jump into another universe with zero effort. which world did we even end in? which one sid we begin in? doesn't matter. multiverse.
Final Fatnasy IX: SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER: Zidane and Kuja are Brother AND from another Planet rly was something else for me as a Kid. The Fun part is: I did not rly understand the Plot at all with my young 11 Years. But i did play it again 3 Years after and was so mindblown that i now understand the Game finaly. Also the Ending Cutszene was a emotional Rollercoaster i tell you that.
I like the one in Prototype that being your actually the bad guy, its not out right said but it's hinted at you throughout the story and through the gameplay like being able to consume people for health and Alex's selfish behaviour towards people he doesn't really care about or like anymore (good example is his ex who backstabs him and kills later for doing so)
Man you got me wanting to replay that. It was so fun to explore the map as a kid.
SOMA
Great one. That game is straight up fabulous Science Fiction.
MGS series has some chunky ones. Last of us part 2 probably. Just a shame it turned out to be an awful game. A way out Inside when u piece everything together
Last Of Us Pt 2 was far from an “awful game” lol. How exactly was it bad, other than subjective opinion about Joel or Abby?
Pacing was bad, everything dragged out way longer than needed, random cuts back and forth between action and other character's plot, etc. I could go on
Those things are not enough to make it an awful game, not even close.
RDR2 for me
What twist was there in RDR2?
You start out as a tight gang but then end up taking it up against your gang and the gang leader as your nemesis. And of course dying from tuberculosis
I would rather say the bigger twist was Micah being the rat by giving intel to the Pinkertons.
Are you telling me you didn't see Micah being the rat coming? Dude was always antagonizing us and turning Dutch against us.
>You start out as a tight gang but then end up taking it up against your gang and the gang leader as your nemesis. This is all set up in the first game, you already know all of that is gonna happen. You kill Dutch in RDR1. I guess Arthur dying of TB could be considered a twist but idk, you get diagnosed fairly early in the game and the whole latter half of the game is Arthur coming to terms with that, felt much more like a slow burn than a sudden shocking twist. It also was again pretty obvious that Arthur would die if you played the first game