Best Plot Twist in a Game EVER
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Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Quite liked that one.
The wraith that has been pestering you for half the game is actually you from the future wearing a destiny altering mask, and actually saved your/his own life at one point
Quite liked that one.
Hmm, I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned more often, but for me it's:
The game spends its entirety setting up a very cliched, Mario-esque "journey to save the princess" tale. Yet, by the end, you discover that the protagonist is the villain, the antagonist is the hero, and that the princess is actually attempting to escape from the player.
I know a lot of people claim "they saw it coming" (bullshit) and even more give the game, and it's creator, all kinds of flak for any number of reasons. But honestly? Braids plot-twist was one that stayed with me long after the game was done. Even more than Bioshocks. More than System Shock 2. More than Portal or Portal 2s. More than any other.
It reemphasized for me how strange even the most stereo-typical of plot setups can become with a simple alteration or reversal of roles. When I first played, I was so accepting and complacent with the basic idea of the story. That being that I was playing the hero, chasing after the princess to save her. It hadn't occurred to me that, with a simple change of context, that could make the player the villain. A very sinister, creepy villain. And that all of my efforts, my trials and tribulations, had been towards the detriment of the princess instead of her rescue.
That hit me much more profoundly than, say, learning my guide had been dead the whole time (System Shock 2) or hearing the words "Would you kindly" for the first time.
I know a lot of people claim "they saw it coming" (bullshit) and even more give the game, and it's creator, all kinds of flak for any number of reasons. But honestly? Braids plot-twist was one that stayed with me long after the game was done. Even more than Bioshocks. More than System Shock 2. More than Portal or Portal 2s. More than any other.
It reemphasized for me how strange even the most stereo-typical of plot setups can become with a simple alteration or reversal of roles. When I first played, I was so accepting and complacent with the basic idea of the story. That being that I was playing the hero, chasing after the princess to save her. It hadn't occurred to me that, with a simple change of context, that could make the player the villain. A very sinister, creepy villain. And that all of my efforts, my trials and tribulations, had been towards the detriment of the princess instead of her rescue.
That hit me much more profoundly than, say, learning my guide had been dead the whole time (System Shock 2) or hearing the words "Would you kindly" for the first time.
.DoPo said:
I loved playing Spec Ops The Line, but HOLY SHIT IS THAT SECOND ONE SOUNDS SO FUCKING AWESOME.
I can't believe I read it and now I can't enjoy the twist. NOOOOOOO.
While it's much debated, and argued about its legitimacy, mine would be in KoTOR2
When it finally clicked that Handmaiden/Brianna was Kreia's Daughter, and Kreia was in fact Arran Kae.
One of Revan's first teachers. I mean god damn. Everything comes together.
When it finally clicked that Handmaiden/Brianna was Kreia's Daughter, and Kreia was in fact Arran Kae.
One of Revan's first teachers. I mean god damn. Everything comes together.
's OK, just go and get Second Sight, anyway, because it's a truly underappreciated game. I myself found it by complete accident and I've got no idea why I hadn't head of it before or even after. I've seen it mentioned here on the Escapist maybe half a dozen times or so. not counting me mentioning it, that is. The game is on GOG. it used to be on Steam but they pulled it at some point - I had it in my wishlist to buy later but I noticed the store page is gone.TheIronRuler said:
Grand Theft Auto III
For your last mission with Salvatore, he wants you to take a car full of brains in the trunk to the dump and have it crushed to remove the evidence. You've already done at least two missions like this. Still the fact that actual brains are involved sounds really strange. But when you're about halfway there, you get a message telling you that it's a trap. The car is loaded with a bomb that will go off as soon as the motor turns over. You go off with some other people and a whole new island is unlocked, you can drive boats, there are new NPC models, new cars, new weapons, and you can get to a five-star wanted level! Plus, you get to take out Salvatore in one of the most memorable and strategizing missions in the game! Continuity! And actual storyline seems to have just started up in this game of random missions!
Banjo-Kazooie
What's the party for? Grunty got away, so get back up there and finish the job!
Plants vs. Zombies
Doctor Zomboss. 'Nuff said.
For your last mission with Salvatore, he wants you to take a car full of brains in the trunk to the dump and have it crushed to remove the evidence. You've already done at least two missions like this. Still the fact that actual brains are involved sounds really strange. But when you're about halfway there, you get a message telling you that it's a trap. The car is loaded with a bomb that will go off as soon as the motor turns over. You go off with some other people and a whole new island is unlocked, you can drive boats, there are new NPC models, new cars, new weapons, and you can get to a five-star wanted level! Plus, you get to take out Salvatore in one of the most memorable and strategizing missions in the game! Continuity! And actual storyline seems to have just started up in this game of random missions!
Banjo-Kazooie
What's the party for? Grunty got away, so get back up there and finish the job!
Plants vs. Zombies
Doctor Zomboss. 'Nuff said.
The most recent plot-twist that made me raise my eyebrowse was problaby Borderlands 2
It was quite fun to just hear Handsome Jack's side of the story as he revailed that he pretty much was the puppeteer behind basicly everything in Borderlands 1 for example, and that he actually was Angel's father. Everything tied back to Handsome Jack.
It was quite fun to just hear Handsome Jack's side of the story as he revailed that he pretty much was the puppeteer behind basicly everything in Borderlands 1 for example, and that he actually was Angel's father. Everything tied back to Handsome Jack.
YES! The absolute reigning king of plot twists.DoPo said:
What REALLY gets me about it is how easy the twist is to guess - but somehow, NO ONE DOES!
This was the only game from the old consoles to give me nightmares.DioWallachia said:
OT: I got pretty furious when the twist from Arkham City hit, and I have no idea how I didn't see it coming, but...
I figured Protocol Ten was some sort of "Kill Batman" ultrameasure.
Nope. It's "Kill Everyone".
What, what, WHAT???? It has been years since I played KOTOR 2 but I played it religiously. Oh sweet lord of the sith I never picked up on that.dancinginfernal said:
I knew the second thing, sort of, but that first thing? Oh dear how could I miss that?
It's strength lies in the fact that, as a gamer, you assume you are in complete control of your character. Games typically operate by creating the illusion of control, even whilst pushing the player down a fairly linear path; A voice in your ear tells you where to go, arrows point you to your next objective, and the level is crafted to guide you onwards towards the next plot point. Bioshock is perhaps the first game to exploit our unquestioning acceptance of those conventions, and subvert the player's delusion of control.RubyT said:
Half way through, the game reveals that you were never in control. The whole time, you're character has been doing exactly what he was told and so have you. Thus you get an uncanny sensation that you are in the same predicament as your character. With the exception of The Stanley Parable, no other game has created a story around the concept of a game controlling the player, despite control being the essence of a video game.
For some reason, at the time, that made me the maddest I have been at a twist, these days looking back on it now, I realize that it was well done.Mydnyght said:
I put my reply in the spoiler tag, just in case someone can read too much into it somehow.Tank207 said:
When you get to the carnival, that's when it occurred to me, just a shame it had to end on a cliffhanger, but man it was awesome.
I'm going to have to go for Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
When you find out that you actually armed Metal Gears nuke, when you thought you were disarming it, and the whole Master Miller thing, they were pretty mind blowing at the time. A few others in the game, but those come to mind right away.
I was about to respsond to that post saying what you did, but far less intelligently (I'm not the best word smith around.) so thanks for that. Also, just thought I would say, you are usually an interesting read.maninahat said:
Probably already done, but like this:IronMit said:
[ spoiler=Text you want your spoiler tag to have ]OMG MASSIVE SPOILERS[/ spoiler ]
without the spaces.
No. Just no.maninahat said:
"Player's delusion of control"?
The first thing somebody asks if you put them in front of a game is "what am I supposed to do?"
Bioshock is one of those too common nanny-games that unceremoniously tell you where to go and what to do All The Time.
So the great thing is that the guy played Simon Says? Which doesn't even make sense in a videogame, since my avatar wasn't in control, *I* was. And *I* had not been brainwashed for "would you kindly". The mind-blower is that I do what a game tell's me to do? No shit.
This is like Cube all over again...
I would believe that more if, in the "would you kindly" situations, you were given several choices, but the game subtly forced you into one of them.maninahat said:
When I found out that my character was brainwashed, I didn't go back and question all the instances where it came up, because the game is quite linear. If it pretended to give me choices, but then reviled that I made those choices due to brainwashing, then it would be better. But for me, I didn't make those choices because I was told to, I did because they were the only thing to do.
In the end I didn't find that plot twist to be all that great because I had a hunch Fontaine was evil, and the game felt to linear to say I made those choices due to brainwashing when there weren't many choices to be made.
(Disclaimer: I never completed Bioshock. I made it a fair way past the main plot twist, but then my PS3 fried and I couldn't be bothered replay what I thought was a "meh" game just to figure out how it ended.)
Yeah, I had to give Gearbox some props with that one. There is nothing to suggest that she is his daughter, but if you listen to the character audio logs a father daughter relationship is sort of reflected in them. I honestly think borderlands 2 is a parody of traditional RPG elements, and Angel's betrayal is one of the best example of thatNameIsRobertPaulson said:
Best example from Zero audio logs
Jack-"So what is he?"
Angel-"I dunno."
Jack-"Don't give me that I don't know crap you are one of the most powerful beings in the universe, whats the problem?"
Angel-"I dunno..."
For me a bad twist is just shocking, a good/okay twist makes a second playthrough interesting and a great twist changes the theme of the game is such a way that the experience is possibly even greater playing the game twist spoiled so for me:
The problem is Braid is just one level, if the books in the game were designed to make some kind of sense then maybe the twist would reinterpret the way you experienced the majority of the game, but at the end it's revealed that the flavour twist is not part of a singular sensical story (untwist!). However, I will say this for it, it's shocking enough that it elevated for a lot of people, what is a pretty cool but unexciting puzzle platformer to a fantastic game. (I did see it coming though which might make me a little bitter)
Now
However I'll delve into spoiler to explain why it's not a great twist
And a great twist is
I'd like to put in another vote for Bastion though, but a different twist.
It's an interesting twist because it happens right at the start of the game, yet you'll only realise the impact on New Game+. I'm not sure where I would rank it, all of the depth of Bastions themes stem from this and its an interesting play on putting together a broken world, so it has a bit more to say than KotoR, but it's also quieter than KotoR and has less affect on the story. Bastion is a lot about the experience and the music and the world which the twist ultimately doesn't impact on. It's definitely not Bioshock good, but then the game doesn't revolve around it and it adds a lot of depth. In the end I'll put it on level with KotoR because whilst it's smaller the idea of a twist that only appears on your second playthrough is absolute genius and very original
EDIT: Actually I want to rant some more about the KotoR twist. This isn't intellectual and is entirely personal but how quickly I guessed the KotoR twist actually really annoys me. It's weird, normally if you guess a twist you feel a bit smug and good about yourself for being clever. But I'm really annoyed that I guessed the KotoR twist. Because the thing is, I guessed it before we were out of the tutorial. I'm replaying it right now and I passed the scene where I guessed it and I still grimance for that.
is pretty bad twist. The story is just not cohesive enough that it gives it any value on a second playthrough. Maybe a second playthrough of one level, but that's just it, a single level is short and you should be able to remember it both ways without needing to replay it.Vigormortis said:
The problem is Braid is just one level, if the books in the game were designed to make some kind of sense then maybe the twist would reinterpret the way you experienced the majority of the game, but at the end it's revealed that the flavour twist is not part of a singular sensical story (untwist!). However, I will say this for it, it's shocking enough that it elevated for a lot of people, what is a pretty cool but unexciting puzzle platformer to a fantastic game. (I did see it coming though which might make me a little bitter)
Now
Is a good twist. On a second playthrough a lot of new things click into place and it's enjoyable to see the trick (I'd played KotoR2 first which doesn't reveal this twist, but provided me enough knowledge to guess the KotoR twist within the first 5 minutes of the game which downplayed the impact for me though)Kiefer13 said:
However I'll delve into spoiler to explain why it's not a great twist
In the end it doesn't change anything thematically about the game. And actually is quite petty in the long run. The Jedi Council were motivated solely by attempting to find the Star Map locations and so, what could and should have raised great questions about what makes a person a person (and why Planescape: Torment sweeps the floor with KotoR) into a slightly convoluted fetch quest. Equally Revan's actions and changes of heart aren't explored or what this new life means for them. So ultimately KotoR is a twist plot, it takes most of it's emotional impact directly from the twist rather than using the twist to drive greater events (films like Sixth Sense and Fight Club are more than twist plots because there's still a lot of drive without them). You can play KotoR twice and get equal enjoyment out of it, but the game doesn't offer anything new from runs after that apart from being a really fun game in general (well I tell a lie, you have the third run where you name your character 'Darth Revan' and do a dark side run. Bonus points if you download a mod which gives you Revans Robes and mask)
Even Malak doesn't really react to Revan particularly organically based on his identity, there are some lines of dialogue there, but he doesn't treat Revan particularly differently than he treated Bastila or any other powerful threat
Even Malak doesn't really react to Revan particularly organically based on his identity, there are some lines of dialogue there, but he doesn't treat Revan particularly differently than he treated Bastila or any other powerful threat
And a great twist is
Not only is the second playthrough enjoyable, picking up all the hints, but the twist ties deeply into the themes of Objectivism and Determinism and when you look at the games events through the prism of the twist they are greatly enhanced. It's also pretty unique as a bonus, 'he betrays you' etc are pretty standard twists. Bioshocks for me at least is fresh enough that I wouldn't even think of guessing it.roushutsu said:
I'd like to put in another vote for Bastion though, but a different twist.
The world has been stuck in a cycle of you creating a time machine to go back and stop the Calamity and then changing nothing
EDIT: Actually I want to rant some more about the KotoR twist. This isn't intellectual and is entirely personal but how quickly I guessed the KotoR twist actually really annoys me. It's weird, normally if you guess a twist you feel a bit smug and good about yourself for being clever. But I'm really annoyed that I guessed the KotoR twist. Because the thing is, I guessed it before we were out of the tutorial. I'm replaying it right now and I passed the scene where I guessed it and I still grimance for that.
So you're on a ship, you get informed about Bastilia and her great work. You get told about Malak and the downfall of Revan (really clumsily, the exposition right at the beginning of KotoR is pretty bad). You get off the ship and then... you have a vision of Revans facemask? Well what else is it going to be. My first thought was. Oh I guess you're Revan then. And I hadn't even explored anything about the game. I think it's actually relying on you not knowing how important Revan is at that moment (something which I did know because of KotoR) because if you do, there's nothing else that vision can mean.
Just narratively. Someone dreaming close shots of someones masked face only ever means two things. Either that mask is going to be revealed to be your mentor/lover/friend (in which case they would have established the person first). Or it's yourself. Otherwise how are you having a vision just of their concealed face and why is it important?
Just narratively. Someone dreaming close shots of someones masked face only ever means two things. Either that mask is going to be revealed to be your mentor/lover/friend (in which case they would have established the person first). Or it's yourself. Otherwise how are you having a vision just of their concealed face and why is it important?
