Welcome to our gallery of the 10 greatest plot twists in video games! It's impossible to be truly objective, but this light-hearted opinion piece celebrates our favorite plot twists. Explore the list and share your own favorite plot twists in the comments! And, if it isn't obvious from the start: spoiler warning.
After battling as the legendary Master Chief against what must have been hundreds, if not thousands, of aliens from the faction known as the Covenant, we meet the true enemy: a parasitic race of aliens known as the Flood. As if that weren't enough, we also learn what the Halo is all about. To destroy all sentient life in the galaxy in order to starve the Flood. | © Microsoft
We thought his hand on his shoulder meant he was proud. Instead, Shepherd pulls his Magnum and shoots us in the ribs. He also showers us with oil and sets us on fire. Ouch. | © Activision
We ended up killing 16 colossi because we thought it might help us get our girlfriend back. In reality, though, we transformed into a demon because it turns out the voice in the sky wasn't actually on our side. If only someone had told us… | © Team ICO
Tyr, the god of war, is a real pain throughout the game. When we finally gain the upper hand over Odin, Tyr suddenly turns into the All-Father himself, kills Brok, and we're left with one friend less. | © Sony Interactive
The mission to kill our former mentor is tough. But when The Boss tells Snake that she's actually a double agent and her vision becomes clear, there's only one option for Snake: get out of the military. | © Konami
Once we've vanquished the villain and are relaxing on the couch, the epilogue has us jumping up. Gabriel, our hero, takes his place on his throne, and we realize with horror that we are now the main antagonist, Dracula. | © MercurySteam
It's not often a shooter has such a strong plot twist. When we finally get to Lieutenant Colonel John Konrad, there's only a corpse sitting in his chair. This is proof that we've imagined a lot and gone completely mad. Oh well, that makes the rest of the game less fun. | © YAGER
After James runs through what is probably the scariest small town in video game history in search of his wife, it is revealed what James actually did to her. What he thought of as a mercy killing is simply an act of selfishness – he killed his wife to free himself of her and her deadly disease. | © Capcom
When we finally reach Ryan, the inventor and architect of Rapture, it turns out that we are actually his illegitimate son. But instead of giving us a nice welcome gift, Ryan speaks our code word, which forces us to kill him. In the end, we were just a puppet in a great power struggle. | © 2K Games
The whole time we are presented with Emperor Gestahl as the main villain, and when we stand in front of him and the clown Kefka in a dungeon, we think we are in the final dungeon. But out of nowhere, Kefka kills Gestahl and splits up the continent, and we start all over again. This means gathering the group again and off to the second round, but this time against Kefka. | © Square Enix
It's not just that some of these plot twists catch us off guard; they also challenge our assumptions about the game as a whole. And, as we're sure you're aware, there's a real risk of spoilers.
