Many of our favorite video games have beautifully written stories, and, of course, crazy plot twists. Some of these twists work and add real emotional and symbolical depth to the games. Others… not so much. Whether they’re overdone, too predictable, or understandably infuriating, they leave players frustrated.
In some situations, the twist doesn’t fit with the game’s atmosphere. Sometimes, a game will have twists that seem to be there just for the shock factor (looking at you, David Cage). They don’t add anything interesting to the game, and fans are left wishing the story had been more straightforward. In other cases, some games are so full of plot twists, it becomes hard to follow the story. You keep playing in a state of constant confusion, unable to shake the feeling that the plot is simply all over the place.
Other times, as a player, you’re confronted to plot holes. Bits and pieces of a story simply don’t fit together, or the game omits some crucial information or breaks the rules of its own world. Interestingly enough, these are sometimes direct consequences of a plot twist that didn’t quite work.
Of course, while the games listed here contain odd plot twist and confusing plot holes, this doesn’t make them any less amazing. In fact, some of the games below are some of my personal favorites. It’s also worth mentioning that, obviously, this list is full of spoilers—you’ve been officially warned. If you haven’t played games like BioShock or Silent Hill yet (and somehow still haven’t gotten the plot spoiled), go play them first! Major spoilers ahead!
30 Plot Twist: John’s Passing In Red Dead Redemption
Fans of Red Dead Redemption watched in horror as main character John Marston perished at the end of the game. After everything he had been through, it felt crushing to see John fall the hands of his enemies. He’d finally managed to track down his ex-gang members, granting his wife and son their freedom, and should have been able to enjoy some peace and quiet. But his relief was short-lived. While for some, this is a powerful moment, it’s undeniable that many were angered by this ending.
29 Plot Hole: Why Didn’t They Use A Phoenix Down In FFVII?
The Final Fantasy series is full of crazy plot twists. In fact, one of them made it further down into this list. For many fans, however, one of the most crazy things about Final Fantasy VII is not a plot twist, but rather a plot hole.
The final part of the game begins with a surprising revelation; as players, we watched in horror as beloved character Aerith (or Aeris) perished.
Aerith’s passing was unexpected, sudden, and absolutely horrible. It became even worse as we realized something: couldn’t she have been saved? With, for instance, a Phoenix Down?
28 Plot Twist: The Villain’s True Identity In Heavy Rain
David Cage’s Heavy Rain has both its fans and its detractors. The former love its realism and immersive quality. The latter criticize the game’s portrayal of female characters, and, among other things, the final plot twist. It’s revealed that a character you’ve been playing the entire time was the villain, and this is problematic for several reasons. Because the villain’s identity had to be hidden from the player, this twist brings on quite a few plot holes. The whole thing feels poorly executed, with way too many red herrings peppered throughout the game.
27 Plot Hole: Why Can’t Rebecca Fight Zombies In Resident Evil?
Resident Evil’s characters all become zombie-ending experts at some point, but there’s something that the games leave unexplained. In Resident Evil 0, we get to discover Rebecca’s storyline. Over the course of the game, it’s shown that Rebecca becomes quite effective at ending infected. This seems very inconsistent with other Resident Evil games, as Rebecca later reacts to zombies with the same shock as the other characters. Her reaction makes very little sense, as she technically has seen them (and dispatched them) before…
26 Plot Twist: The Loyalists’ Betrayal In Dishonored
Poor Corvo from the Dishonored games has a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. At the beginning of the game, he sees his beloved Empress ended. Despite having saved her daughter Emily, he is accused of having committed the crime himself. When he toasts his allies after a successful “final” mission, you think: Finally. Emily is saved. When I played through the scene for the first time, I remember thinking that this could absolutely be a poisoning scene. And in a twist, Corvo got betrayed by his Loyalist allies.
25 Plot Twist: A Brainwashed Sith Lord In KOTOR
To some, the reveal that the character you’ve been playing in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was really a brainwashed Darth Revan all along was an incredible twist. In a way, it was, but at the same time, this was very predictable, as though we hear about Revan a lot, we are never actually confronted with him. Not to mention, there’s something strikingly frustrating about realizing the character you’ve been playing was brainwashed and manipulated the entire time.
24 Plot Hole: Prototype 2 Doesn’t Seem Consistent With Prototype 1
To be entirely fair to Prototype, what makes the game amazing is less the storyline and more the crazy powers that you get to learn and master. As a super-powered mutant virus, Alex Mercer is really fun to play. However, in Prototype 2, players noticed lots of inconsistencies and plot holes that just didn’t make sense. A good example is Pariah, Elizabeth Greene’s son, who is virtually absent from the second installment of the series. In fact, there are so many inconsistencies between the two games, fans complained they barely felt connected.
23 Plot Twist: Alice Is An Android In Detroit: Become Human
In many ways, Detroit is a beautiful game, but many of its plot twists, plot holes, and inconsistencies angered players. To take one of the most obvious examples, Alice, a little girl whom the android Kara escapes with, is revealed to also be an android.
It was kind of obvious to everyone except Kara.
By the time we get to the final “reveal”, not only had we already pretty much guessed she was an android, but the “twist” also feels devoid of meaning, because Alice being a “real” human being wouldn’t have changed much.
22 Plot Hole: Springtrap’s Storyline Makes No Sense In FNAF
In the popular series Five Nights At Freddy’s, confusion is sometimes detrimental to the plot. For instance, wearing the Springtrap suit was supposed to be incredibly dangerous, as the suit/animatronic could quite easily end the person inside. Even by Five Nights at Freddy’s standards, this function seems way too dangerous to be real. This breaks the player’s immersion, much like clichés in horror movies break the spectator’s immersion. Nothing about this really makes sense.
21 Plot Twist: Josh Wasn’t Trying To End You In Until Dawn
Until Dawn is another great example of a horror game that played with the confusion factor so much, it’s hard to take seriously. It already seems weird that Josh invites all his friends to the same mountain cabin his sisters perished in on the anniversary of their passing. We are initially led to believe he’s trying to finish off the other characters until it’s revealed he was playing a prank on them. And that there are other, real monsters roaming the mountain. And that Josh becomes one of them. It all seems a little much.
20 Plot Twist: You Ended A Nome In Little Nightmares
In the indie game Little Nightmares, you play as Six, a perpetually hungry little girl in a rain jacket locked up in a terrible place called The Maw. Six is in mortal danger. She’s aided on her journey by little creatures called Nomes. In the DLC, Little Nightmares: Secrets of The Maw, the main character is eventually turned into a Nome.
He is then eaten by Six.
Six’s hunger got the best of her. When you remember how the Nomes helped her and how she would hug them, this particular plot twist is a bit much.
19 Plot Twist: Hope? Really? In God Of War 3
In God of War 3, Kratos opens Pandora ’s Box. In the first installment of the series, Kratos opened the box and released wickedness that infected the gods (wrath, greed, etc.). Here, he finds hope in the box; it’s meant to be the true power that will help him defeat the gods (since he had the power in him all along). This is, of course, inspired from Pandora’s story and makes sense in that context, but, in a game where you get to wield weapons like the Blades of Chaos and end gods, we can’t help but wish the box had contained something a little cooler.
18 Plot Twist: The Little Girl Was Bayonetta
In Bayonetta, you encounter a little girl who bears some similarities to the title character. Strange? Not really since as it turns out, she is Bayonetta. The little girl, called Cereza, thinks Bayonetta is her mother, but is later revealed to be a younger version of her who traveled in time. The thing is, no one was surprised by this plot twist, as Cereza not only looks like Bayonetta but also dresses like her. Furthermore, this reveal (and Cereza’s role in the game) don’t really add much to the storyline. Overall, the fans were not impressed.
17 Plot Twist: Join The Ghost Army In Spooky’s Mansion
Spooky’s Mansion is a wonderfully satirical horror game that plays with the conventions of the genre, first with its antagonist, Spooky, then with its “cute” initial enemies, and finally with monsters and levels that reference many well-known horror games, movies, and stories. The game seems almost endless, but when you do reach the exit, Spooky decides to end you so you can join her ghost army. After making your way through literally 1000 rooms, this is a little anticlimactic and made many players just wish they’d played in Endless Mode.
16 Plot Twist: Doki Doki Literature Club Is No Ordinary Dating Sim
You might have heard of Doki Doki Literature Club already. This game seems like any other dating simulator at first glance. Your character interacts with different people and attempts to woo one of them.
In Doki Doki Literature Club, however, things don’t quite work like that.
As the game progresses, things go downhill fast. Characters start doing increasingly horrible things. The game turns weird, which is saying a lot for a dating sim. After all, the genre includes a game where you can date a virtual horse/man.
15 Plot Hole: In Bionic Commando, Your Wife Is… In Your Arm?
In Bionic Commando, your character has a bionic arm, which allows him to accomplish incredible things. Impossible strength, durability, swinging, better aim… you name it, Nathan “Rad” Spencer can do it. It’s revealed that this amazing bionic arm came at a cost, though, as Nathan’s wife left him after he got into the bionic program. In an extremely confusing twist, we learn that his wife is actually the arm’s “brain.” How this happened and what it entails, however, is not explained very well, meaning that the already far-fetched ending makes very little sense.
14 Plot Twist: Responsible For Your Wife’s Passing In Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill is an iconic horror franchise, and its characters are known and loved by horror gamers. With several games and movies, there’s no denying its popularity. Like many of the horror games on this list, the Silent Hill games feature incredible twists; and the twist at the end of Silent Hill 2 is perhaps one of the worst, or at least the most strange. Indeed, you find out that your wife, whom you’ve been looking for during the entire game, perished by your own hand…
13 Plot Twist: Alan’s Sacrifice In Alan Wake 2
Ah, again with the overly confusing stories. While the amazing game Alan Wake is more action-survival than horror, it draws inspiration from the genre as a whole.
Unfortunately, another thing Alan Wake has in common with horror games is its confusing ending.
Alan sacrifices himself to the darkness to save his wife, and this left many players scratching their heads. At least other parts of the game, like the beautiful music and the unforgettable rock concert battle, make up for this!
12 Plot Hole: Should Desmond Really Have Been Able To Get Lucy?
Players who finished Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood remember the agonizing moment when Desmond is possessed by the goddess Juno and forced to hurt Lucy all too well. You saw the events unfold in slow motion, and the game even prompted you to press a button and stab her. The problem? Desmond is a trained attacker, and they are supposed to be immune to godly possession. While this point is disputed by some, it really seems like a strange plot hole! This turn of events does add a pretty cool twist, though.
11 Plot Twist: Mandus Sacrificed His Children In Amnesia
The main character in the second Amnesia game, Mandus, glimpsed his two sons’ future and decided to spare them a terrible fate during the First World War by offering them on the steps of an Aztec temple. During the game, you play as Mandus and struggle to activate the Machine for Pigs and help your children. The reveal that Mandus not only ended his children, but also built the machine is, of course, crushing, but also seems sadly predictable, which takes away from an otherwise incredible game.
