6 Video Game Twist Endings That Will Leave You Shocked

Twist endings often seem to be credited as some later invention in the last 50 years of fiction, but such is not the case. You go back to plays in Shakespeare's day (and LONG before) and you will see that the twist ending has existed since writing and storytelling has existed. Yet, it seems to have a different impact in each of the mediums it is represented in. If you read a twist in a book, it makes you think you were reading it wrong and missed a red herring. When you see it on film, it often yields an "ohh shnap" type response. Yet, in gaming, the reaction is one of a kind. In a game, you are interacting with the story right up until the end, shifting, playing, and changing it. So, when a plot twist or a twist ending reveals itself in a game, you REALLY feel duped. Also, unlike books and movies, in some cases, you spent upwards of 10-40 hours in the game world preceding said twist. It makes you feel manipulated, but in the best way possible. So, on that note, would you kindly (sorry, I had to) take a look at the following list of some of our favorite video game twists. While a lot of these are common knowledge already, it's still fun to look back on those moments that genuinely shocked us. BioShock Series Ah, 2k Games. The true lovers of the twist ending. I know I could cite some of their earlier examples before the BioShock series, but isn't BioShock why we are here, after all? It was BioShock (and System Shock before it) that let gamers know just how much of an impact really good twist endings could have. And while I know I could talk about BioShock: Infinite here, I will only nod to that game, as I'm sure a few of you still haven't played it. Anyways, the twist in the first BioShock game was pure perfection. It will forever change plot twists and twist endings in games to come. It showed us that we, as gamers, were sheep. It was meta-commentary on how we do what we are told, not only in gaming, but in society. It was awesome, caught absolutely everyone off guard and probably won't be surpassed for a long, long time. But, I'm sure you all know how it goes by now, so we'll move on. If you'd like to relive it though before the next entry, check out the video above. Heavy Rain I know, I know. I'm going to catch some flak for this one. The motion controls in Heavy Rain sucked, and it was just a massive QTE, but the storytelling aspect, especially in regards to the ways you could alter and change how the story played out, was amazing, and it was hard not to get invested in it all. But as cool and mentally exhausting as the whole game was, the twist ending was like a punch to the jaw. Here's a quick recap for those who don't know what went down. In Heavy Rain, you play as multiple characters, and the main plot centers around a dad who is trying to find his son, who is being kept alive (barely) by a man named the Origami Killer. You also play as a detective who is also lurking around trying to find clues about who the murderer is and what his motives are. Then, in one moment near the end of the game, you figure out that the detective you have been playing as is really the killer and the one who has been putting your other player through the insane trials they had to face throughout the game. The twist is made even more compelling by the fact that you find out the backstory of why he is doing what is he is doing and it is really quite heartbreaking. It's completely shocking and finding out that you've played half the game as the villain was definitely something memorable (even though it's been done before). Metroid Ah, gotta love a game that knew the power of twist endings before the medium had really "gone there." While talking about the Samus reveal in Metroid is pointless, as everyone knows about it and has talked about it to death, this would have been an awful list had I not at least mentioned it. For the one person who doesn't know about this, it's simple. You play through the game as a badass space marauder, and because of gender norms thrust upon us by mass media and pop culture, we spend the entirety of the game thinking this character we are playing as is a man. At no point are we given ANY indication of that, but we just assume, because "80's and space warrior" meant it had to be a dude, right? So when we beat the game and found out Samus was female, it blew many collective minds. I would also like to think it helped to abolish some of the earlier mentioned "gender norms" for my generation. Oh wait, nevermind. Nintendo has gone on to sex her up big time in recent years, so scratch that. Still, it was an amazing (early example) of a plot twist nonetheless. Braid I feel myself wanting to hold back slightly on this one because there are a great many people out there who have still not played Braid. But, I think I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up what a brilliant mindf*ck the ending of this game was. The concept of Braid is sort of a Mario type thing. This dude needs to save his lady love. Or so we THINK that's the case for the entirety of the game. We come to find out when we finally reach her though that she is actually trying to get away from us. We thought we were trying to save her, but we were the bad guy all along. But wait, there's more. MUCH more. For people who delve deep enough, there is no princess. The princess is an atom bomb, which the game's "hero" created, and the game was a vision in his mind of him wishing he could take back his part in helping to create the bombs dropped in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I am not kidding. I wish I could make this stuff up. Shadow Of The Colossus This one's another oldie, so I won't go too in-depth here. The long and short of it is that you spend the entirety of your playtime during Shadow of the Colossus completely in the dark about just how devastating your actions are going to be. You are killing massive beasts under the pretense that it will bring your frozen girlfriend back to life (I am sure that is somehow slightly inaccurate, so someone please boorishly correct me in as condescending a manner as possible). Every time you kill one of these massive beasts, though, you get this feeling of sadness. Yes, you are proud of the feat you just accomplished, but even before you knew it was wrong, something in your heart told you it was It is only in the final moments that the true horror of what you just did reveals itself to you. It would probably take me over 2,000 words to tell you exactly what happens, so just watch this stunner of an ending play out for yourself: Knights Of The Old Republic I know I keep bringing this up, but the "I was the bad guy the whole time and had no idea" reveal is one of the best reveals in gaming, and KOTOR did it better than anyone else. Though many of the signs were laid out for us, players got so swept up in that world around them that the hints and clues the game kept giving us were subtle enough that most of us did not see it coming. Finding out you were Darth Revan in Knights of the Old Republic felt like a massive low blow, and if you had played the game as "good" up to that point, it was even more of a low blow. I, for one, played evil, so when I found out what was really going on, it was this sudden validation (which I did not see coming) for all the evil and unforgivable things I had done up to that point. Now that, my friends, is how you do a plot twist. Now, would you kindly "like" and share this article? If you do, I promise to never make one of these fucking stupid, overused "would you kindly" jokes again.