Is this the worst plot twist ever?

[Drathnoxis]

To try and be spoiler friendly I'm going to describe the twist but not tell you what it's from.

So it's from kind of a mystery/puzzle game. These characters were abducted and put into a sort of torture game. One of the prevailing mysteries is who is behind the whole thing. There is a spattering of clues throughout the game so you are trying to figure out who it could be the whole time. Could it be the plucky kid with a bucket on his head? Or could it be the cold and emotionless woman wearing enough clothes for 1/3 of an outfit? NO! Surprise! It was a comatose old man in a wheelchair that was conveniently off camera the whole game and nobody ever directly mentioned! Seriously. He was with them the entire game. The only one who didn't know was the player. He was right there, and presumably they were wheeling him around the whole time! But the player never sees him because the camera never looks at him, and none of the other characters ever actually talk about him for some reason! He wasn't hiding, he wasn't in disguise, he wasn't even invisible, he was just... off screen.

Like imagine you are watching an episode of Sherlock Holmes. He and Watson are going around looking at stuff and gathering clues, and then suddenly Sherlock turns around and points at the camera and shouts "Aha! The culprit was you Moriarty!" and Moriarty is revealed to have been with them, standing behind the cameraman, for the whole episode!

You can't tell me that you've ever seen a twist worse than that!

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

You've obviously never watched the movie "Monster A Go-Go". I'll just paste the Wikipedia description here:

Spoiler

The plot concerns an American astronaut, Frank Douglas, who mysteriously disappears from his spacecraft as it parachutes to Earth. The policeman in one scene inspect the landing site of Douglas's capsule and notices a burned patch, only to dismiss it as a prank. The vanished astronaut is apparently replaced by or turned into a large, radioactive, humanoid monster. This is revealed when it comes into the scene and kills off Dr. Logan. A team of scientists and military men also attempts to capture the monster ? and at one point succeed and imprison it in the lab, only to have it escape. Neither the capture nor the escape is ever shown, and both are simply mentioned by the narrator.

At the end of the film, the scientists corner the monster in a sewer under Chicago, but the monster suddenly disappears. The scientists receive a telegram stating that Douglas is in fact alive and well, having been rescued in the North Atlantic, perhaps implying the monster was an alien impersonating Douglas. The narrator provides the film's closing dialogue:

As if a switch had been turned, as if an eye had been blinked, as if some phantom force in the universe had made a move eons beyond our comprehension, suddenly, there was no trail! There was no giant, no monster, no thing called "Douglas" to be followed. There was nothing in the tunnel but the puzzled men of courage, who suddenly found themselves alone with shadows and darkness! With the telegram, one cloud lifts, and another descends. Astronaut Frank Douglas, rescued, alive, well, and of normal size, some 8,000 miles away in a lifeboat, with no memory of where he has been, or how he was separated from his capsule! Then who, or what, has landed here? Is it here yet? Or has the cosmic switch been pulled? Case in point: The line between science fiction and science fact is microscopically thin! You have witnessed the line being shaved even thinner! But is the menace with us? Or is the monster gone?

 

[Auron225]

Yeah, that sounds like a pretty damn stupid plot twist. Not sure what else to say. I mean, I guess it's one that no-one would ever see coming, but that's not a good thing. I think the best twists are those that actually are foreshadowed, but in ways so subtle that you don't even pick up on them, and only connect the dots with after the fact.

 

[Marik2]

To try and be spoiler friendly I'm going to describe the twist but not tell you what it's from.

So it's from kind of a mystery/puzzle game. These characters were abducted and put into a sort of torture game. One of the prevailing mysteries is who is behind the whole thing. There is a spattering of clues throughout the game so you are trying to figure out who it could be the whole time. Could it be the plucky kid with a bucket on his head? Or could it be the cold and emotionless woman wearing enough clothes for 1/3 of an outfit? NO! Surprise! It was a comatose old man in a wheelchair that was conveniently off camera the whole game and nobody ever directly mentioned! Seriously. He was with them the entire game. The only one who didn't know was the player. He was right there, and presumably they were wheeling him around the whole time! But the player never sees him because the camera never looks at him, and none of the other characters ever actually talk about him for some reason! He wasn't hiding, he wasn't in disguise, he wasn't even invisible, he was just... off screen.

Like imagine you are watching an episode of Sherlock Holmes. He and Watson are going around looking at stuff and gathering clues, and then suddenly Sherlock turns around and points at the camera and shouts "Aha! The culprit was you Moriarty!" and Moriarty is revealed to have been with them, standing behind the cameraman, for the whole episode!

You can't tell me that you've ever seen a twist worse than that!

Spoiler

Danganronpa 3? Cuz I keep hearing about how the twist sucks.

 

[Ogoid]

That's pretty bad, but I'd say the ending to 2001 Planet of the Apes (which, to Tim Burton's somewhat dubious credit, he lifted right out of Pierre Boulle's novel) would give it a run for its money. I mean, there's poor writing, and then there's simply absurd non-sequitur that directly contradicts the plot.

That had me honest-to-God getting up in the movie theater and yelling "what the fuck was that?"

 

[Dalisclock]

A man being possessed by the arm of a dead man(which he had surgically attached) is pretty dumb. Maybe not the dumbest twist, but it's up there.

BRRRRRROOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR!

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

A man being possessed by the arm of a dead man(which he had surgically attached) is pretty dumb. Maybe not the dumbest twist, but it's up there.

BRRRRRROOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Which turned out to be the man just pretending he was possessed by the arm of a dead man as part of a really convoluted plan to destroy the Illuminati ... I mean Patriots, and free the world from their control (which would unfortunately also cause widespread societal collapse, since the world had become dependent on it, but you know what they say about omelets).

Also, something about nano-machines.

We probably shouldn't go any deeper into the stupidity of Metal Gear plot. We'd never stop.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Yeah, that sounds like a pretty damn stupid plot twist. Not sure what else to say. I mean, I guess it's one that no-one would ever see coming, but that's not a good thing. I think the best twists are those that actually are foreshadowed, but in ways so subtle that you don't even pick up on them, and only connect the dots with after the fact.

Pretty much this. Good examples of this in games would be Bioshock and the Knights of the Old Republic. The only problem with both of those games is once the twist is revealed they spell out the clues for you because they assume the audience are morons and can't do it themselves.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

NO! Surprise! It was a comatose old man in a wheelchair that was conveniently off camera the whole game and nobody ever directly mentioned! Seriously. He was with them the entire game. The only one who didn't know was the player. He was right there, and presumably they were wheeling him around the whole time! But the player never sees him because the camera never looks at him, and none of the other characters ever actually talk about him for some reason! He wasn't hiding, he wasn't in disguise, he wasn't even invisible, he was just... off screen.

...Please don't tell me that's from

Spoiler

Zero Time Dilemma. Because if so, it sounds like I'm never going to finish the 999 trilogy.

That twist sounds like the dumbest twist of all time. As a writer, I almost feel personally attacked by how shit and outright LAZY it is. XD

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I dunno, I can think of a pretty dumb one...

Spoiler

"Your missing wife was your mechanical arm this whole time" anyone? Seriously, how doe that even work?

 

[balladbird]

Oh! That game! I loved it, but I do agree that that twist was kinda lame. Especially since we?d basically been building up to this revelation for three games, and the old man basically failed to be a hype enough reveal to justify it.

Still a great series, though. Death game meets suspense mystery

 

[Aerosteam]

Thing is they wrote themselves into a corner the moment they decided to have that twist, like, if they showed the character like that earlier it would've been obvious they were the mastermind talking to them so he sorta had to be offscreen till late in the story.

Yeah, that sounds like a pretty damn stupid plot twist. Not sure what else to say. I mean, I guess it's one that no-one would ever see coming, but that's not a good thing. I think the best twists are those that actually are foreshadowed, but in ways so subtle that you don't even pick up on them, and only connect the dots with after the fact.

I know the game OP's talking about, it is foreshadowed. His glasses show him what's going around the facility with cameras, and every scene in the game ends with a fade to a static, like CCTV. So you can look at the game like it was entirely within his perspective.

Plus, in previous games in the series, the word "nonary" is used a lot, as in 9 characters are participating, but this time it was "decision" which can mean 10.

Finally, the 9 main characters are split into three groups of 3, two groups are called C Team and D Team because that's the first letters of the names of the team leaders, but in Q Team there isn't anyone with a name like that of the 3 so it is hinted the team name is referring to a fourth person.

Not saying the twist was bad or good, but it was foreshadowed multiple times, and I didn't notice them while playing.

 

[Cycloptomese]

Well, it can't be any worse than if so & so wakes up and it was all just a dream.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Reminds me of the plot twist for Heavy Rain. And that was after the heavy editing of further ridiculousness. It's the writer literally making it up at the last minute in a desperate attempt to surprise.

 

[gigastar]

Reminds me of getting to the true ending of Persona 4 you have to go and badger the gas station attendant you only ever talked to at the very beginning of the game.

 

[darkrage6]

I dunno, I can think of a pretty dumb one...

Spoiler

"Your missing wife was your mechanical arm this whole time" anyone? Seriously, how doe that even work?

People like to bag on that twist, but I honestly thought it was pretty clever.

For me the worst plot twist ever was in Army of Two: Devil's Cartel

Spoiler

The whole "Salem turning evil" thing was just total bullshit, it made no fucking sense whatsoever and pissed all over a character I had grown to like

 

[Dalisclock]

A man being possessed by the arm of a dead man(which he had surgically attached) is pretty dumb. Maybe not the dumbest twist, but it's up there.

BRRRRRROOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Which turned out to be the man just pretending he was possessed by the arm of a dead man as part of a really convoluted plan to destroy the Illuminati ... I mean Patriots, and free the world from their control (which would unfortunately also cause widespread societal collapse, since the world had become dependent on it, but you know what they say about omelets).

Also, something about nano-machines.

We probably shouldn't go any deeper into the stupidity of Metal Gear plot. We'd never stop.

I don't know if him faking it the entire time makes it better or worse, honestly. I'm honestly kinda baffled how nobody seems to find the whole thing particulary strange. Everyone is really stangely accepting of a man claiming to be possessed by a severed arm, instead of "Maybe Ocelot is just gone round the bend?" or even "He's just really desperate for attention ever since people got tired of his Russian roulette routine"

True. The fact that the next game usually retcons the plot of at least one of the previous games makes it even wierder. I could(and have) go on for a while on that particular issue.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Speaking of terrible plot twists in Metal Gear. Considering 'Shining Lights, Even In Death' was a great mission with a nice bit of emotional impact, the following finale was... wow. A bodyblow to the series compared to the rest of the retcons Kojima made to the series, but in the most disappointing way possible.

Spoiler: Phantom Pain Spoilers

I wasn't pissed off that I wasn't playing as the real Big Boss, I totally dug that. It was the lack of impact and payoff for Venom Snake being the Big Boss of MG1

I don't know if him faking it the entire time makes it better or worse, honestly. I'm honestly kinda baffled how nobody seems to find the whole thing particulary strange. Everyone is really stangely accepting of a man claiming to be possessed by a severed arm, instead of "Maybe Ocelot is just gone round the bend?" or even "He's just really desperate for attention ever since people got tired of his Russian roulette routine"

True. The fact that the next game usually retcons the plot of at least one of the previous games makes it even wierder. I could(and have) go on for a while on that particular issue.

I don't remember the fandom's initial response to Ocelot's Liquid Arm in Sons of Liberty, as I still wasn't all up on the internet at that time. But I feel like after the reveal of Ocelot's parentage in Snake Eater and The Sorrow's ghostly abilities, people were more inclined to be like: "Yeah no Kojima, that makes total sense!".