Best video game plot twists (spoilers!!!)

darth.pixie

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I don't know why people still say KotOR. The foreshadowing wasn't really subtle and if you played Baldur's Gate, you knew that Bioware tended to make you the best character in the game, ever (unless there's Elminster about). Then again, Jade Empire didn't shock me either so I'm just... Genre Savvy?

Could the whole plot to Planescape count?
 

Sixcess

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Halo.

It's the reason I'll defend Combat Evolved to the death if I see it derided as a mindless shooter. That level is the most perfectly executed reveal I've ever seen in a video game.
 

Lazy Kitty

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In Magicka.
Where it gets revealed that...
Vlad IS a vampire.
 

Guffe

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Shanicus said:
hmm, when I was about 8, the greatest twist I had ever experienced was from Pokemon: Red/blue - Giovanni was the 8th Gym leader. Totally did not see that coming, and was excited to fight the proper villain once more.
That's so true my friend!!

One of my was Mario Sunshine when it appeared that there existed A
MINI BOWSER
 

Guffe

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Toriberryx6 said:
Anyone play Tales of Symphonia? I got through the first half of the game thinking that there was a pretty straightforward plot, but about 10 hours in-

BAM. Good guys are actually bad, and the bad guys are actually just pawns for the even badder guys!
and when you kill the bad guy you get sucked into a new dimension with a new world and the game length just trippled and then suddenly the bad guys are good again... WWRRROOOOAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!
Such great twists xD
 

K84

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Feb 15, 2010
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Phoo.....most of the ones i come up with are already said,
but i'd like to mention that recent Castlevania.
I liked that little/very dark twist at the end.

So.....Gabriel became Dracula??, wonder where they are going with this....
 

A-D.

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Kotor was the best in that Regard, yes all the hints were pretty obvious but did you really think of that the first time you played? Remember that line "What if we train him and the Dark Lord returns?". When i first saw this, i saw this as a nod towards that a Jedi could fall to the Dark Side, essentially you become the next Revan. Was a pretty nice twist when it was finally revealed that you were Revan all along, every other mention just suddenly made perfect Sense in that Context, it wasnt subtle hints or anything, it was really your Character (well you as the Player) knowing something was up, that they knew something you didnt.

Jade Empire was also pretty good in that regard, you always have that sense that something is off, that there is something you havent realized yet but you cant put your Finger on it. You just go ahead thinking that it will be revealed to you when you meet Master Li, and damn did it get revealed. I doubt many saw it coming that he would kill you at that moment, though it was evident that he wasnt really on your side 100% and had his own agenda, but no one probably saw it coming that he'd use you as a tool and then discard you right away.

The good Twists are the ones you see coming, but you never expect them to happen as they do. If you dont get that constant Feeling of "They arent telling me something" then the Game is doing something wrong.
 

skywolfblue

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Bioshock 1: The defining moment of pretty much the whole game. Shame the game's story took a downward turn after that.

Bioshock 2 Minerva's Den: I was impressed with this one, for a DLC they did an outstanding job.
WARNING - DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT MASSIVE SPOILERS

...SERIOUSLY I MEAN IT!





The person who's guiding you over the radio (Porter) turns out to be you! Porter records a bunch of Audio diaries before he's turned into a big daddy and has his memory erased. Combined with a rather potent montage of memories of his dead wife, it's a very moving moment. I've rarely seen the "amnesiac hero" done in such a personal style. Usually they go on to become superheros or gods, so rarely are they common ordinary folk who are just trying to make one small difference.

Starcraft 1/BW: The Betrayal and Resurrection of Kerrigan in SC1, and the moment Kerrigan reveals her true colors in Brood War. Both very well done moments, I was shocked when she killed Fenix, raged for a few moments then realized I loved the game so very much.

Warcraft 3: Arthas' Betrayal cinematic. Not completely unexpected perhaps, but definitely one of the defining turning moments of the game, and the whole series. It's a great example of the "turned evil" trope done proper in a way that doesn't feel cheesy.
 

dimensional

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Daggedawg said:
dimensional said:
Persona 4 although the final plot twist of who is really behind the killings is fairly obvious I honestly didnt see much else coming in that game and even better you can actually finish the game without finding the true ending out if you dont figure out whats going on and choose the wrong responses (or use a guide).
I trust you are referring to
Adachi being the real culprit
And not
Izanami being the mastermind behind everything

Because that last twist really came out of nowhere and was pretty lame in my opinion. (Not to mention how disappointing the final battle was)
Other than that, I really enjoyed the story.
No I meant the second spoiler the reason being they start talking about it halfway through the game for no reason (giving you the background story behind it etc) which is why I saw it coming, as for the first spoiler I didnt figure that out until much later on.
 

CrazyGirl17

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Guffe said:
Toriberryx6 said:
Anyone play Tales of Symphonia? I got through the first half of the game thinking that there was a pretty straightforward plot, but about 10 hours in-

BAM. Good guys are actually bad, and the bad guys are actually just pawns for the even badder guys!
and when you kill the bad guy you get sucked into a new dimension with a new world and the game length just trippled and then suddenly the bad guys are good again... WWRRROOOOAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!
Such great twists xD
Hence why this game is among my favorites.

OT:

The Alex Mercer you've been playing as through the game so far isn't the real Mercer, instead, you're the virus itself. Oh, and the real Mercer was behind the outbreak on New York City.

Kessler is an alternate universe Cole trying to prepare him for when the real danger arises...

Harry Mason, the guy you've been playing as, isn't real, just a part of the memories of his daughter Cheryl, who, depending on how you play the game, either accepts, rejects, or keeps believing her father is still alive. (And as an admitted "Daddy's Girl", this one really hit home for me...)
 

Chester Rabbit

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Unfortunately for me ,pretty much all of the plot twists that
most of you have mentioned were spoiled for me before I ever got the chance to experience them.
So the ones that I have experienced are almost murmurs compared to Bioshock.
The twists in which I am referring to are the ones from the Mass Effect series.
Like I said these are more likely to be considered mummers compared to the ones others have mentioned but I found the twist in Mass Effect one to be a pretty good jaw dropper. And the Collector twist in Mass Effect 2 was quite a hard slap in the face.
 

Thedutchjelle

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Bioshock ranks high.

Deus Ex (the first one) when you learn what's behind level 4 in UNATCO also is high on my list.
 

ShadowHand25

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Kirby Return to Dreamland

I was shocked to find that the guy you've been helping is actually the ultimate antagonist of the entire game. Kudos to HAL Labs and Nintendo.
 

XMark

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The revelation of the true villain of System Shock 2 is the ultimate "shit just got real" moment.
 

loudestmute

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This might be brought on entirely by reading back issues of Extra Punctuation, and also attention span issues keeping me from playing many games through to the end until many moons after the fact, but Second Sight had one of the best twists in the previous console generation.

Okay, the amnesiac protagonist hook at the start was a bit overused, but things did get more interesting. The more psychic abilities you gained in the game, the more you questioned your grip on reality. A plot point is said to your face, you experience a flashback contradicting said plot point, and when you come back to the normal timeline everyone acts like the contradiction is old news, why get surprised now we've got more things to shoot. Turns out, your most impressive psychic ability is the power to predict the future, which gives your previous actions significant weight in an instant, without having to add any "betrayal" bullshit on top of that.

And in slightly less twist-esque, but still interesting plot motion news: Fallout 1.
On your way to meet the Master, the pile of congealed flesh that's behind the Super Mutants, FEV, etc, everything the game throws at you bills this as a boss fight. Even the conversation the Master starts with you as you enter his chambers seem to imply an inevitability to the conflict. But as he's going off on his pitch for the success of his program, an interesting dialog option popped up on my GUI: "Your plan is flawed, good sir, and I have documentation to prove it. Here, please read it over."

Rather than blindly deny the evidence I've collected from the Brotherhood of Steel, or even opening fire as villains are want to do at this point, the Master chose a different approach. Cursing under his breath, thanking me for pointing out where he went wrong, and setting his grand scheme to go up in a nuclear fireball. Even more curious, he'd rather I didn't die, but instead prevent anyone else from attempting his supersoldier project. "Leave now...while you still have hope," he tells me before initiating his underground lair's self-destruct sequence.

I think the part that really surprised me about that exchange is how it added some very human emotions to what was previously a one-dimensional adversary. Maybe I'm just a sucker for admitting faults, but seeing an overlord of a mutant empire wondering aloud why he didn't fully test his procedure before enforcing it on all biological life, that proved infinitely more interesting compared to your average JRPG tropes of the day.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who enjoyed this scene, as it was pretty blatantly copied for Fallout 2. The problem: Rather than having the leader of the opposing forces admit fault, you merely get one of his underlings to apologize before sending you on your way to the boss fight. Taking away all the impact of that choice nullified what made it unique, and it left a bad taste in my mouth as I entered the sandbox version of the wasteland.

And in other news, the site redesign has eaten this rant several times over, so I really hope it sticks this time.