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10 Most Shocking Video Game Plot Twists

10 Most Shocking Video Game Plot Twists
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10 Most Shocking Video Game Plot Twists

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Twists are a massive part of any source of fiction, and video games are no exception. While some are telegraphed hours in advance, others sit with you, and make you think about the game far after it’s been completed.



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With so many games getting remakes and remasters, it feels like no stone should be left unturned.

These twists can take place at any time and in any genre of game and often reshape the entire game narrative. The masters of the twist cement their games in history regardless of the actual game quality, so it’s important that when a game goes for the twist, it nails it.

With that in mind, let’s check out some of gaming history’s most memorable and shocking twists.

Spoilers: While obvious, it still warrants mentioning. I will be spoiling and revealing major plot points in iconic video games. So, if you don’t want these ruined for you, now’s the time to go!


10 Spec Ops: The Line

The Truth Revealed

Spec Ops: The Line captured soldiers in room


Spec Ops: The Line has one of the most shocking twists in any game. On the surface, it’s your typical war game, with the main character killing thousands of enemy soldiers on a mission to liberate a foreign land. Except in Spec Ops: The Line, something is off. The soldiers you’re killing are supposedly on your side but have defected.

To make things weirder, throughout the journey, as the horrors you commit get worse and worse, your team starts to doubt if you’re the heroic leader you seem to be.

Drawn by the voice of the PTSD-ridden Col. Konrad, you are pushed further and further into the heart of the city, and when you finally confront him, he’s dead.

Not only that, but he’s been dead for a long time. The voice you were hearing was your own. You were never liberating anyone; you were the enemy.

Those soldiers you killed were not rebels; they were trying to stop you. It’s a horrifying and brilliant realization that raises an otherwise average game into something of a masterpiece.


9 Nier

The Lengths We’re Willing to Go

NieR Replicant Emil skeleton form

At the beginning of the game, Nier puts you in the shoes of Nier, a father who is trying to help his sick daughter and, in the process, gets caught up with fighting off monsters called Shades.

Then, you seemingly make it through that impossible-looking ordeal and appear in a land far different from the one you started the game in.

Throughout the game, you are confronted by the leader of the Shades, The Shadowlord and the Shades all speak in indecipherable ways when you encounter them.

NieR Replicant weapons and gameplay

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You, of course, have no choice but to fight them. The big twist comes at the end of the game when you find out that The Shadowlord is the Nier you were playing as at the beginning of the game.


It turns out he and all the other humans underwent a process of removing their souls to survive and creating copies of themselves to reunite with one day to survive the virus.

It’s a stunning realization, and subsequent playthroughs let you hear each boss talk, and you finally get to see that maybe there were no good guys or bad guys in the story after all. It’s another twist that elevates an otherwise decent game.

8 God of War

Your Son Isn’t Who You Think

God of War screenshot from Steam

God of War was a fantastic revival of an old series that brought a mature and measured feeling to an over-the-top action franchise.

The game is straightforward enough, as you and your son journey to the highest point in the land to spread your wife’s ashes, but at the end of the game, a twist hits out of complete nowhere.


You find out that your son, Atreus, has another name from the Giant’s language. It translates to Loki. The immediate scene raises chills in your body, as the boy you fought to protect all game is destined for something terrible because of that name.

Now, there are plenty of arguments that the sequel completely dropped the ball with this plot point (they did), but at the time, it was a massive twist that reshaped your entire journey and made the thought of the series’ future a very murky one indeed.

It Was Liquid All Along

metal-gear-solid sneaking around

Metal Gear Solid was a groundbreaking game in many ways, but the story is the thing that will always be remembered. The big twist in the game takes place near the end of the game. Throughout the mission, you’re periodically given advice by a team of people, one of whom being Master Miller.


He’s there to help in several instances and seems like he’s completely on your side. Then, the moment hits. He takes off his sunglasses, and lets his hair down, and it’s none other than Liquid Snake, your nemesis and main villain of the game, who is revealed to have killed Miller and has been guiding Solid Snake along a carefully prepared path just as he planned.

It’s one of the first “AHA” moments in gaming for many and though the sequels went for similar big twists, none hit quite as good as that first one.

6 Horizon Zero Dawn

The Past is Real

Horizon: Zero Dawn exploration

Horizon Zero Dawn is one of the PS4’s best games and while the gameplay is fantastic, the big twist in the story is what makes it the iconic moment in gaming history that it represents today.


You play as Aloy, a woman warrior of a tribe seemingly stuck in the past. Except, something is amiss, as robot dinosaurs are roaming the world and, from that point on, the big question is how did things get this way?

The revelation comes later in the game where you discover that the world has essentially ended due to an AI-powered military invasion and the world was remade through technology and Alloy is actually a reincarnated version of the scientist who created that technology.

It overshadows the main story of the game and is so intricate and fascinating in its execution that you just have to stand up and applaud the writers.

It’s a genius twist and the rest of the game supports every piece of the lore. The sequel was great too, but it didn’t hit this same high and that’s due to the incredible twist.


5 Final Fantasy VII

Cloud Isn’t Who You Think He Is

Final Fantasy VII combat from Steam

Final Fantasy VII has its fair share of twists, but the biggest one comes with the discovery of Cloud’s true identity. He is propped up to be this elite warrior the whole game, a former part of SOLDIER, First Class.

You believe it too, and Cloud’s badass persona sells it well. In the latter half of the game, though, you make the discovery. Cloud is a lie.

He is not a former member of SOLDIER, First Class. He was a lowly peon, and the actual person he was portraying was Zack Fair.

It was his sword, his clothes, his everything that Cloud, who was brainwashed with Mako at the time, convinced himself he was.

Zack died and Cloud assumed his identity. From that moment on, the facade falls, Cloud changes as a character and discovers who he really is before the final showdown to end the game.


Back in 1997, this was a huge revelation and still stands as one of the best twists in JRPG history, and we can’t wait to see what they do with this in the next part of the Final Fantasy VII Remake series.

4 The Last of Us 2

Say It Ain’t Joel

the last of us 2 exploration

It’s 2020. The real world is experiencing its own plague and The Last of Us 2 has just been released, marking nearly 7 years since the original came out. You start the game as Joel, as expected, and then, not even an hour or so into the game, it happens.

Joel, after helping a seemingly innocent girl in Abby, is brutally murdered in front of Ellie with a golf club. It happens that fast.


That nonchalant and the discovery that it was her father who you killed (or didn’t kill depending on the player) in the original Last of Us and she and her people were out for revenge on Joel, destroying humanity’s last hope for survival.

Even if the ends justify the means, it’s just….woah. The main character was killed in an instant. It’s a whirlwind for the player and Ellie’s brutal screams watching it happen are just heartbreaking. Polarizing? Yes. But as shocking of a twist as you can have in a game.

3 Dragon Age: Inquisition

Solas…No

Solas Dragon Age Inquisition

We’re throwing this in here because, in a few weeks, we’re going to get our resolution on this prop thread. In Dragon Age Inquisition: Trespasser DLC, we get the massive revelation that Solas, in fact, is the Dreadwolf, an old Elven god who is responsible for destroying the temple at the very beginning of the game.


Solas is pretty much the best friend of the Inquisitor for most players and is easily the most compelling character in the game.

For him to turn out to be the true villain all along was beyond shocking, as the breadcrumbs were so well hidden that you’d need countless YouTube videos to see them all.

It’s a great twist, as the game lacked a true villain with Corypheus being pretty much a non-factor when it came to an intimidating presence.

Solas has that and then some though, and from what we’ve seen in early gameplay footage of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, it looks like we finally get to unveil his true intentions and see if he really is the enemy after all.

2 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

The Dark Lord is Revealed

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic KotOR Combat


Star Wars is a series known for its various twists, but there might be none better than the twist that takes place in the first hit Star Wars video game.

Throughout Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic you are pursuing Darth Malak, a Sith Lord, who was the apprentice of the mysterious Darth Revan.

With this mystery of who Revan is looming throughout the game, you hear more and more about the atrocities he committed and how he is the ultimate evil, until the final moments of the game strike.

You confront Darth Malak and find out Darth Revan is you and that Malak tried to usurp you before the game started.

Revan was injured during a battle, and rescued and then had his brain wiped by the Jedi council to be repurposed as a Jedi weapon.

For many, it surpasses the “I am your father” twist from the movies. It’s as shocking and as impactful on every level, and it comes at the very end of the game so that shock doesn’t fade. It sits with you long after the credits roll.


They pulled the ultimate twist off, made it make perfect sense, and made it serve the story perfectly in the process.

1 Bioshock

Would You Kindly?

Bioshock combat big daddy

The most brilliant twists in gaming are ones that reframe the entire experience. There are many on this list. However, there is one that can never be topped.

In Bioshock, you are a survivor of a plane crash who has no choice but to travel downward and explore the underwater dystopia that is Rapture.

Along the way, you are contacted by a man named Atlas, who is a friendly British fellow who helps you out every step of the way.

He has a habit of saying “Would you kindly?” before every request. You think nothing of it though, and follow through on your tasks like a good little gamer should.


It isn’t until the end of the game that the truth is revealed. “Would you kindly” is a code word, and you’ve been manipulated the entire time, by Atlas who, in actuality, is Frank Fontaine, the man trying to bring down Rapture’s founder Andrew Ryan and ultimately, the main villain of the game.

This simple but brilliant twist reframes the entire game in the player’s mind. What were you really doing? Were you just a puppet all along with no free will?

And it’s not just the gamer asking the character that, but they themselves. It’s a genius breakdown of following directions in games and stands today as the most shocking and well-delivered twist in gaming history.

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