Best Plot Twist in a Game EVER

[maninahat]

What's so great about the BioShock twist? Did I miss something?

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.

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.

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

I don't know, you are never actually told to do what Atlas says, but when he asked you to look for wrench, you instinctively did just that, didn't you? Admittedly, it is impossible to progress without the wrench, but you probably wouldn't need to know that to still look for one. That's how used we have got to this sort of thing. We have played games for so long now, we just know to do whatever the voices in our ear tells us to do - Bioshock has fun with that concept, stopping the player and asking "did you decide to do that, or were you just compelled?"

Obviously, it's the former and we still decide whether to play along with the game the whole time, but it made me stop and think for a second. I guess I find that more impressive than some other folk.

 

[bigfatcarp93]

Wow, I'm sure glad I set that "Spoiler Tags" mandate. Talk about dodging a bullet. 0_o

 

[woodaba]

Lotta love for KotOR 1 here, but I'm gonna go ahead and give as shout to two of the sequel's best plot twists.

Spoiler

You're not a Jedi: not really. After cutting yourself off from the force at Malachor V, you became some kind of Force Reaver, a being who siphons the strength, free will, and abilities off of others. That's why you gain EXP when you kill people, and that's why the influence mechanic changes your party's alignment: you're eroding their free will. That's why Atton starts off as a jerkass, and eventually becomes your most trusted party member: you've spent the most time with him, so he has the least free will. And your eventual fate, if you follow the Dark Side, is to become a Planet Devouring abomination like Nihilus. Mind. Freaking. Blown.

Another one is merely kinda implied in the original release, but outright stated in the Restored Content.

Spoiler

Kreia never wanted to kill the force. All she wanted was to erase the arrogance of the old order, and rebuild it in the Exile's image, an order based around the self, rather than the force. Around people, rather than a metaphysical concept. And, of course, around Revan.

 

[Above]

Dishonoured (Probably)

Spoiler

You are betrayed by the people who helped you kill the people who originally betrayed you (I know right.) and try to kill you with poison.

 

[Atmos Duality]

"Would you kindly..."

Hands down.

Oh I'd say...

Spoiler: They weren't that subtle

I had Atlas pegged as the villain the instant his "family" was killed, due to their curious lack of presence or direct establishment in a game that establishes everything else.

Everyone and their crazy brother can find me and my radio EXCEPT these people I am supposed to save. Of course, this later ruined part of System Shock 2 for me (which I played after Bioshock), seeing how they pulled the same "Villain is leading the player around from the start" gig there too.

Call me jaded, but I wasn't stunned by the "Would You Kindly" bit. Found it clever and cute, but not shocking.
And no, I actually didn't have it spoiled for me.

Thematically, I'd have to say my favorite twist is...

Spoiler: Chrono Trigger Spoilers

That Lavos influenced mankind's direction, and that most of the party (all sans Ayla) exist and have the powers they do because of Lavos mucking with their evolutionary path.

It's a twist that everyone and their brother ignored, (and I can't blame them, given how obsessed Japanese games and anime were with evolution and God in the 90s), but I found kind of interesting.

(Granted, it was also sort of tacked on to the very end of the game and only given a couple of rooms with some throw-away lines. So perhaps this is just sloppy writing and I'm looking into it far more than I should.)

It throws into question some of Lavos' motives. The nature of children rebelling against their parents; things a bit beyond the typical "Sins of the Father/Cain".

Was humanity specially-engineered as cattle? Queen Zeal and the Mammon Machine suggest it could have gone either way, given how Zeal herself was controlled by Lavos, rather than consumed.
On the other hand, there are the earthbound humans who can't use Magic (provided by Lavos, naturally). So perhaps Lavos only wanted the superior subjects. Zeal's daughter, Schala turns out to be pivotal in Chrono Cross (for extremely contrived reasons).

Did Lavos cause the Reptites' extinction as a preventative measure or was it (initially) incidental? I can see him being selective for the purposes of manipulating humanity, but apparently he was having nothing to do with the Reptites.

Then you consider the possibility that Azala called Lavos to the planet as a means of mutually-assured-destruction (her last words confirm this was her intention; she knows the reptites will all die even when offered mercy. She probably did not know humanity would survive), and this possibility creates a sort of time loop because she's responding to the threat Crono's Crew posed with their time-traveling meddling.

(If history initially started with the Reptites beating Ayla and the humans before Lavos arrived, humanity would have already been extinct. Further complicating this is the fact that Ayla and Marle are directly related. Obviously, Lavos and Humanity survived at the start of the game, so this is a sort of "Chicken and Egg" paradox that has multiple ambiguous solutions depending on what you think is the original timeline.

Chrono Cross throws the alternate "Originally intended" timeline where the Reptites survived in lieu of humanity, and evolved into the Dragonians. Suggesting that there was indeed a timeline where Lavos did not reach the planet; presumably because Azala didn't call to it)

Lots to consider, including the possibility that it's just broken writing.
But fun and interesting all the same.

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

Just Cause 2
When it turns out the Sloth Demon is in fact Sam Fisher

Diablo 2
Mephisto is actually Diablo's brother

 

[StashAugustine]

Whelp, ninja'd on Bioshock, Spec Ops (which is amazing, play it now), Bastion, and Alpha Protocol.

Spoiler

I totally missed every plot twist the first time- Scarlett is the killer (although I knew it wasn't Deng), Madison is Parker's daughter, etc.

There was "Shock and Awe" from CoD4, but I was spoiled on that.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution:

Spoiler

Megan was stealing genetic samples from you, defected to the badguys, is implied to be sleeping with Namir, and eventually creates the Grey Death/JC Denton.