Content Warning: This article contains discussions of violence and mental illness
Video games have evolved from bops and pixels into full-fledged interactive movies, with an unprecedented level of immersion and depth. Throughout the decades, many developers pushed the envelope and stretched hardware and technological restrictions to the breaking point in order to tell a great story.
Good stories benefit from clever plot twists, and some of them can craft entire franchises out of what follows. Some of these games are newer, while others date back to the 1980s. However, they all did something spectacular with the plot - they flipped a player's expectations upside down when it came to character and story progression.
Wesker Is The Villain (Resident Evil)
The first Resident Evil game broke a lot of new ground. It was one of the first to properly convey an atmospheric horror movie motif inside of a 3D video game, and that meant Capcom had a lot of flexibility with the story. Hilariously bad voice acting and dated controls aside, it largely succeeded.
It also managed to surprise players with the revelation that Albert Wesker, the top dog in the S.T.A.R.S. department, was secretly working with Umbrella the entire time. Fans got wind that the guy wasn't truly on the up and up early on, but this was a pretty significant reveal.
Subconscious Guilt (Silent Hill 2)
Silent Hill games are known for crafting nightmarish narratives based on the psychological tortures endured by the main protagonists. However, the second game took it to an extreme. It's easily the better of the first two Silent Hill titles, with much more disturbing imagery and adult content than the previous game.
A big reason is because the main character, James Sunderland, is a guy who is still trying to come to terms with the death of his wife and the circumstances surrounding the incident. What follows is a series of repressed memories based on unimaginable guilt that manifests itself in horrors untold. The true reveal is as heartbreaking as it is monstrous.
The Snake/Raiden Swap (Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty)
Metal Gear Solid hit the first PlayStation and changed 3D gaming forever. The storyline was smartly written, the characters were fascinating, and the stealth gameplay mechanics were (at the time) second only to Tenchu: Stealth Assassins in terms of immersion.
It was a huge shock when the highly anticipated second sequel swapped fan-favorite Solid Snake out of the equation at the beginning of the third act, and replaced him with Raiden. To this day, the controversial change continues to divide fans down the middle, and for good reason. Snake is just too cool a character to play second fiddle to a young pup.
The Big Samus Reveal (Metroid)
Developers were already thinking ahead (and outside of the box) when it came to crafting fascinating new heroes, and one of them was Samus Aran from the original Metroid.
If the player completed the game under a certain amount of time, it was revealed that Samus was, in fact, a woman. Though commonplace in today's gaming world, this was a massive shocker back in the day. Nevertheless, fans responded positively to the change, which just goes to show how receptive gamers actually are to a female lead.
GlaDOS Plays Ball (Portal 2)
The insufferably annoying and insulting GlaDOS AI proved to be quite the opponent in the first Portal game, thanks to her incessant jabs and personality. By the time the dust had settled, players were left with little more than a catchy tune to remember her by. GlaDOS wasn't gone, however.
She made a triumphant return in Portal 2 to harass the player yet again, but this time the story took a massive twist. A megalomaniac AI, known as Wheatley, turns on GlaDOS, forcing both it and the player to team up and work together. As expected, it doesn't go as smoothly as fans hope.
Kefka Destroys The World (Final Fantasy VI)
Final Fantasy VI represented the last of the classic JRPGs before the series transcended from the Nintendo platform to the original Sony PlayStation. That particular era went out with a bang (in more ways than one) thanks to the game's stellar, gripping storyline, and one truly repulsive and vile villain.
While the player spent the first half of the game believing that Emperor Gestahl was the main bad guy, the twist came when his subordinate, Kefka, murdered him and usurped his power. With God-like magical abilities, Kefka laid waste to the entire planet, turning it into a post-apocalyptic nightmare. This set up the second half of the game, which was a massive flip in every way.
Shaun Runs The Show (Fallout 4)
Fallout 4 had its weaknesses, but it stands tall as one of the best in the franchise. The story was light, centering around the player's obsessive need to locate their son Shaun, who was stolen prematurely out of cryofreeze. The player set out into the wasteland of the Commonwealth for any clues that might lead to him.
What a shocker it was then when the players learned that Shaun was not only alive, but an elderly man running the infamous Institute, responsible for flooding the Commonwealth with synth androids. This would set up one of the most difficult player decisions in video games, and one that would drastically affect the outcome of the story.
The Upside Down Castle (Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night)
Symphony of the Night is, in every way, a masterpiece of classic Metroidvania-style gameplay. It's a 2D title with amazing levels of depth, marrying classic Castlevania platforming mechanics to an RPG system, a much longer storyline, and non-linear gameplay. It also sports one of the most bizarre and outrageous plot twists, ever.
After making progress through the castle, Dracula's son, Alucard, goes up against Richter Belmont, who has been mind-controlled and turned into the ruler of Castlevania. Should the player have completed a few tasks beforehand, they can shatter an invisible orb controlling Richter, and freeing him from his curse. When that happens, a second castle, vertically flipped, appears in the sky directly over the original. It's an upside down recreation of the first, with much stronger monsters, more boss fights, treasures, and the complete storyline. To this day, it's one of the best twists in video games, and it isn't close.
Aerith's Murder (Final Fantasy VII)
Final Fantasy VII had its fair share of character deaths over the course of the franchise, but none struck audiences in the gut so harshly as the death of Aerith in Final Fantasy VII. Every fan who has played the game remembers it like it was yesterday, as well as their surroundings, what time of day it was, and what they were wearing.
It happened after Cloud Strife and Aerith began getting closer to each other. Fans were led to believe it might be the start of a budding romance, but the pure-hearted Aerith's life was cut short when Sephiroth descended upon her and impaled her with his sword. All the Phoenix Downs in the world couldn't bring her back, and it left a gaping wound, not just in Cloud's heart, but the player's as well. To date, it remains one of the most emotionally shocking moments in video games.
The Darth Revan Saga (Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic)
Video game fanatics fully understand why this particular Star Wars title is number one. It's impossible to name a more shocking plot twist that affects the player on such a direct level. Throughout the course of the game, players were told repeatedly of the horrors of Darth Revan, a former Jedi who went to war against the Mandalorians, fell to the dark side, and afterward, waged a campaign against the Republic.
The real truth was too much to bear. A series of events led to one shocking cinematic reveal, which showed that the player was actually Darth Revan all along, who had their mind-wiped at the hands of the Jedi Order.