Most shocking twist or ending to a game?

[Justanewguy]

Modern Warfare 2's ending is pretty shocking.

Spoiler

Shepard organized the attack on the airport with Makarov to start the war and kills most of TF141. Makarov is still on the loose, and Soap and Price are on the run and branded as traitors

No offense, but I found MW2's ending so cliched and so obvious that I've sworn off the franchise. Even worse, though I predicted it, it still made little sense to me. Perhaps I just have too high of beliefs in the USA, but I can't buy a US General causing a war that he knows will cost hundreds of thousands of lives (which, lets be honest, and invasion of Washington DC would cost at least that). I accept that I'm supposed to suspend disbelief, but when the entire rest of the game prides itself on a fairly realistic attitude toward things, I'm not as likely to give the story a free pass.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Another one was the ending to inFamous when you discover:

Spoiler

That Kessler was really you the whole time and knew exactly what you would do in the case where you had to either save a group of doctors or your girlfriend.

I might agree with you here if I actually understood that twist the first time around. Call me stupid, but the first time I saw the ending cutscene, I said out loud, "Wait... What?" I had to consult Wikipedia to find out what the hell was going on. And it still was just as puzzling the second time around.

The first time caught me completely by surprise and I was not expecting that, but the dead drops from John did dropped hints as to that since John made comments on how he knew what was going on before anyone else knew. Kessler picking only Cole to deliver the Ray Sphere was a small one, and the Sophie's Choice one was another. I will admit I was paying really close attention the second time to see if there were any hints, there were some, but they were very small.

 

[Rabish Bini]

Besides KotOR?

The 7000 in the Metal Gear Solid series.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

No offense, but I found MW2's ending so cliched and so obvious that I've sworn off the franchise. Even worse, though I predicted it, it still made little sense to me. Perhaps I just have too high of beliefs in the USA, but I can't buy a US General causing a war that he knows will cost hundreds of thousands of lives (which, lets be honest, and invasion of Washington DC would cost at least that). I accept that I'm supposed to suspend disbelief, but when the entire rest of the game prides itself on a fairly realistic attitude toward things, I'm not as likely to give the story a free pass.

*shrug* Can't account for crazy. Though I do say, I wouldn't want to go down in the history books as "That guy who got an entire army blown up by an atomic bomb". Its established pretty early on that Shepard doesn't really give a crap about being careful with human lives; "Since when does Shepard care about Danger Close?", so its not entirely implausible. Also, I don't think any of the CoD games since 3 and possibly WaW have had a realistic attitude towards things. They're pretty clearly supposed to be Tom Clancy style techno thrillers, ostensibly set in the real world but taking place in their own little world of high intrigue, politics, and war.

Also, by shocking I really meant more for the ramifications of the story, rather than the events. It puts the good guys in a very precarious position, especially considering that, otherwise, they were pretty on top of things for most of the game. Imagine if the ending of MW1 had only been the halfway point, and then you had to get out of Russia with nearly your entire squad dead and a whole army of guys chasing you. Thats sort of where we are now going into MW3. And thats not even accounting for the Americans, who at least got a "happy" ending that by all accounts isn't going to mean much if the trailers for MW3 are to be believed.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Bionic Commando! When at the end you find out that- HAHAHA! I can't finish that with a straight face. XD

No no, seriously, Silent Hill 2.

Spoiler

When you watch the video tape in the hotel and realize what really happened to Mary, the mood of the entire game changes. I felt numb from that point on in the game. I was horrified at what James had done but at the same time, the story was so well-crafted that I didn't feel any sort of disconnect with the character. If anything, the entire sequence kind of made me feel some of his guilt.

Or Black Ops:

Spoiler

In the first mission where you kill Castro it's like, "WTF?! That never happened!" and from there the story continues with an altered history so you don't know if you're playing an actual alternate timeline or reliving the delusions of an unreliable narrator suffering from PTSD.

Oh wait, that's what should have happened.

To be fair, you kinda are reliving the delusions of an unreliable narrator suffering from PTSD >__>. Its just isn't alternate history (well, it is, but not in a dramatic sense.) I'm pretty sure the Russians didn't have a super zombie creating bioweapon back in the 60s, but hey, they shot a dog into space. Those guys are crazy.

 

[Justanewguy]

No offense, but I found MW2's ending so cliched and so obvious that I've sworn off the franchise. Even worse, though I predicted it, it still made little sense to me. Perhaps I just have too high of beliefs in the USA, but I can't buy a US General causing a war that he knows will cost hundreds of thousands of lives (which, lets be honest, and invasion of Washington DC would cost at least that). I accept that I'm supposed to suspend disbelief, but when the entire rest of the game prides itself on a fairly realistic attitude toward things, I'm not as likely to give the story a free pass.

*shrug* Can't account for crazy. Though I do say, I wouldn't want to go down in the history books as "That guy who got an entire army blown up by an atomic bomb". Its established pretty early on that Shepard doesn't really give a crap about being careful with human lives; "Since when does Shepard care about Danger Close?", so its not entirely implausible. Also, I don't think any of the CoD games since 3 and possibly WaW have had a realistic attitude towards things. They're pretty clearly supposed to be Tom Clancy style techno thrillers, ostensibly set in the real world but taking place in their own little world of high intrigue, politics, and war.

Also, by shocking I really meant more for the ramifications of the story, rather than the events. It puts the good guys in a very precarious position, especially considering that, otherwise, they were pretty on top of things for most of the game. Imagine if the ending of MW1 had only been the halfway point, and then you had to get out of Russia with nearly your entire squad dead and a whole army of guys chasing you. Thats sort of where we are now going into MW3. And thats not even accounting for the Americans, who at least got a "happy" ending that by all accounts isn't going to mean much if the trailers for MW3 are to be believed.

I suppose I'll give that to you, but at least much of Clancy's work is plausible, if a little improbable. I genuinely enjoyed Red Storm Rising. Even with the suspension of disbelief, though, MW2 just seemed to go crazy. I feel like they decided to try and outdo themselves from MW1, which was pretty good and had a phenomenal moment in it when the nuclear bomb is set off. I feel like Infinity Ward decided that they had to outdo the nuking of a city by nuking Washington itself, blowing up the ISS, and generally doing a number of other "out there" things.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Some of my favorites:

Spoiler: inFAMOUS

Kessler is Cole from an alternate timeline, trying to make it so that his past self can face the upcoming danger.

Spoiler: Prototype

Alex Mercer is dead, and the one you've been playing as is the virus itself. Also, the virus ends up becoming a better person than the original Mercer.

Spoiler: Tales of Symphonia

Not only did Mithos turn out to be the bad guy, but Kratos is Lloyd's father (cue Star Wars reference)[

 

[Scarim Coral]

Since KOTOR is taken I would have to go with the next best twist in the games I've played-

Spoiler: The World Ends With You

While it was hinted that Joshua was the one who killed Neku, it throw you off when you see that it was the second composer who was about to shoot him.
However it was reveal further that it was the second composer was aiming at Joshua and missed (I think? I haven't played it in a while). It reall did turn out that Joshua did killed him shooting him in the back afterward.
They did a good job at throwing you off.

 

[Politi]

Shadow of the Colossus where you find out that you were a baby the whole time

Infamous 1 and 2

Also Red Dead Redemption, that was too shocking, it rattled me.

Spoiler: RDR ending spoiler. X_X

Where John gets shot a heap, I always screw that part up, I didn't mark then and I just looked like a tool who didn't shoot.

John Marston, accidental wimp.

 

[theguitarhero6]

Ok, can one person honestly say that they went into Portal and could guess how it'd actually end? That game is the be-all end-all as far as twist endings go.

 

[Moeez]

Alice Madness Returns. Even the whole last Dollhouse chapter, where the plot twist is disturbing.