Twists in Video Games: Alfred Hitchcock or M. Night Shyamalan? ***WARNING: SPOILERS***

[GodEater]

Who here has played about 70-80% of a game, thinking that you had the plot figured out when you get hit with a twist that changes everything? I got to thinking when I considered game stories compared to other mediums and I came with three games, one that was good, one that was great and one that failed completely. The two that work are, no surprise, Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite. With a gameplay style that puts most FPS games to shame and stories that prove that games are an art form, their twists are what most people remember. In Bioshock after fighting through hoards of enemies to get to Ryan, you find that Atlus, actually Fontaine, put a sub-conscious command into your mind causing you to do whatever he says any time he says "Would you kindly...". Basically, you thought you were in control the whole time when in reality you had no say in what you did and no control over your actions. In Bioshock: Infinite, after the Songbird is killed and Elizabeth gains her full powers back, you learn that Booker is already from an alternate universe. At the very end (literally, you find this out like 2-3 seconds before you are killed) you learn that you, Booker, and Comstock are the same person, just different universes. Now what I found to be one of the biggest WTF twists was from the 2009 game Bionic Commando. Playing as Nathan Spencer, you spend most of the game searching for your wife. After going through hell and back, it is reveled that... your bionic arm IS your wife. Yeah, no. Not buying that as a twist to an already average game that doesn't really deserve that kind of story twist. Anyway, those are some examples I thought of. Anyone else got a game twist that's interesting, good or bad?

P.S. Sorry for the long post, my brain does weird things when I stay up till around 6 a.m.

 

[purf]

Bioshock having a "twist" must be the biggest falla... nvm. Not going there. In general, I'd really wish developers would stop with this crap. At least, BE gaming's Hitchcock or Shyamalan. What we get is like LOST's Lindelof. *sigh*

 

[josemlopes]

Fucking Second Sight, watch this trailer:

It seems like another game where the main character wakes up with amnesia inside a hospital with some weird abilities and with the help of flashbacks and acquaintances he will be able to piece together his past, right?

Spoiler

Your flashbacks are actually the present and what you think is the present is a premonition of the most possible future, you can still save your friends and yourself from terrible events that happen in that horrible future.

 

[PainInTheAssInternet]

I don't think I've come across too many Hitchcock-like twists. They always come in the quality of Shyamalan, which makes sense because he was always trying to be Hitchcock anyways in the same way video game writing wants to imitate more refined stories.

The ending to Borderlands was crap. OH NO! The vault actually contained a monstrosity and we were just being used to kill it! Delivery sucked and the gameplay was even worse for the ending.

Far Cry 3's ending was supposed to be the cap in making fun of current generation gaming (which I'd like to point out Ubisoft is one of the spearheads of), but the meaning is lost because the angle of insanity was so heavily played instead of manipulation. Perhaps that was supposed to be a meta-joke, but it just fell flat. It falls even harder with the ending of leaving the island because Citra's character then comes off as inconsistent.

I'll likely edit this post as I think of more.

 

[King Billi]

I personally really liked the "surprise" in Call of Duty: Black Ops, in spite of the fact it could be seen coming a mile away. Alot of people like to deride Call of Duty for its childish attempts at maturity(often rightly so). This game however seemed to have a pretty clear self awareness that was backed up when I saw this particular "twist" seemingly pulled straight out of some melodramatic action/thriller...

 

[DementedSheep]

Well I played Memoria recently and I didn't see the twist with

Spoiler

Sadja living a complete lie coming. She is not a deposed princess or related to Malakkar. She is from the slums and she isn't educated so can't read. Of course this dose make her joining an expedition into a tomb because they thought she could read an ancient language and translate possibly vital information very selfish of her. I also didn't expect such a depressing ending.

But I can't really think of any huge game changers (that aren't just stupid) coming aside from the usual bio-shock one (the first game, not BS:I).

 

[gargantual]

Fox Die in MGS. Talk about getting pawned off. The only reason it didnt rate higher as a twist is because after all the other twists you the player and Snake were too exasperated to react anymore. Its like " yeah no rescue and sabotage, we just needed a virus carrier. Sorry. Have a good short life."

MGS 3. Yeah that 'dress up as Raikov' plan. Not apparently as foolproof as it initially seemed eh?

MGS 3. Ordered to kill the boss. *kicks dust* "damnit!"

Half-life, either be recruited or die at the hand of a xen alien horde.

Thats all I got so far.

 

[Happiness Assassin]

KotOR was my first WTF moment in gaming... and I loved it. Basically you go on your standard heroes journey through the Star Wars universe; helping out, becoming a jedi, and trying to stop the bad guys from using their factory of doom, all the while hearing about not only is the big bad is a tough son of a *****, but how even more badass his previous boss was. Two-thirds of the way through the game, you come to find out THAT EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS A LIE. You were actually the big bad until the jedi mind-wiped you and programmed an identity that was loyal to them (how effective said programming is is up to you). Basically the good guys were using you for their own ends and your party member (and canon love interest) was in on it from the beginning. There are some really funny moments involving this twist is you haven'g done the section of the game where you enter into an enemy academy. At multiple points you can just straight up say, "I am the former Lord of the Sith." But everyone just thinks you are a joker or a weirdo.

 

[The Madman]

The Longest Journey had a good one:

Spoiler

April Ryan isn't the 'chosen one' after all, but only discovers that after she'd already given up her entire life under the perception that she was. Talk about a downer ending!

And I'm also quite fond of Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn's 'twist':

Spoiler

The villain thoroughly kicks your ass and now that you're back under his control, continues his grim work as seen in the games introduction.

Maybe not the most original twist nor the most unexpected, but it was well done and it added an interesting new take on the story. Meanwhile my favourite 'cinematic' twist has got to be this oldie from Thief: The Dark Project. It just oozes sooo much style and is so damned creepy, I love it!


As for bad plot twists? Everything in Diablo 3. Seriously that game story couldn't have been any more needlessly cluttered and ill-handled if it had been written by a ten year old. The twists that weren't eye-roll worthy were downright insulting and it was all just such a huge step down from Diablo 1 and 2, which while hardly works of art themselves at least had a cool style and ambiance to them.