8 Video Game Plot Twists That Were Obvious (If You Really Looked)
Solas you rascal.
Transcript
00:00 Generally speaking, video games aren't really known for being subtle about their big plot twists or anything really.
00:06 However, just because most games tend to go for the blatantly obvious approach to storytelling,
00:11 that doesn't mean there aren't games out there that do do it in a much more subtle and sophisticated way.
00:17 And with that in mind, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com,
00:19 and these are 8 Video Game Plot Twists That Were Obvious If You Really Looked.
00:23 Number 8 - Arthur's Tuberculosis - Red Dead Redemption 2
00:26 Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game full of amazing little details.
00:30 From NPCs actually eating their food, to certain, ahem, body parts of your horse shrinking in cold weather,
00:37 the developers clearly put a lot of thought into designing the game.
00:41 This, of course, extends to the main story as well,
00:43 and how much the game foreshadows Arthur getting diagnosed with tuberculosis.
00:48 Although the revelation came as a surprise to many during their first playthrough,
00:52 there are actually a few subtle, and some not-so-subtle hints that the game leaves to let you know of Arthur's sickness beforehand.
01:00 The first and most direct one is Arthur getting coughed on by Thomas Downes when you try to collect money from him in the opening.
01:06 As you can see, the sick man coughing up his spit and blood right into Arthur's face, pretty much sealing his fate.
01:12 This is not the only hint, of course.
01:14 The game also lets you know there's something wrong with Arthur by making it more difficult for him to gain weight.
01:20 He has a cough that only gets more regular as the game goes on, and his eyes slowly get a yellowy tint.
01:26 This kind of attention to detail is why Red Dead 2 is still considered a gaming marvel after all these years.
01:31 God, I love it so much.
01:32 Number 7 - Nicole is Dead - Dead Space
01:35 Let's talk about a classic for a second that's since become more relevant thanks to 2023's excellent Dead Space remake.
01:42 In this game, Nicole Brennan is one of the major driving forces behind the storyline.
01:47 She's main character Isaac's girlfriend, who helps him navigate through the necromorph-infested Ishimura ship.
01:53 She also serves as his motivation for delving deeper into the spaceship to rescue her,
01:57 instead of just high-tailing it out of there like any sane person probably would.
02:02 The big plot twist here is that despite your frequent interactions with Nicole throughout the story,
02:06 which are even more pronounced in the recent remake,
02:09 the character has actually been dead the entire time, long before Isaac even arrived on the ship.
02:14 It is shocking in the moment, but if you were paying attention to what was going on in the background,
02:19 well, it's literally spelled out for you.
02:22 That's because combining the first letters of each chapter title in the game forms the sentence,
02:27 "Nicole is dead."
02:29 Yeah, there's not much ambiguity going on there, is there?
02:32 It is a pretty straightforward message for the player,
02:35 but since most people don't spend their time looking for hidden messages in the naming conventions of chapters,
02:40 only a few keen eyes can realistically catch it before the actual reveal.
02:45 Number 6 - Ciri's Death - The Witcher 3
02:47 Pretty much all Witcher 3 fans agree that the worst ending in the game is the one that has Ciri dying.
02:53 That's partly because it's your fault, as this happens when you act overly protective of Ciri in a few key moments during the story,
03:01 moments that don't seem substantial enough initially to completely derail the plot.
03:05 However, during the mission "Blood on the Battlefield", there is an interaction between Geralt and Ciri.
03:10 After she gets wound up by her training, here the player can console her by saying she doesn't have to be perfect,
03:16 or distract her with humour.
03:18 Though this isn't the only option that leads to her death, if the player chooses the first route, then it pushes Ciri down that road.
03:24 And sneakily, the game indicates this with the shot of a cat carrying a dead swallow in its mouth.
03:30 Now, why is this important?
03:31 Well, as is wildly known and reported on now, the shot is clearly symbolic of Ciri's death.
03:37 That's because her elven name translated is literally "swallow", and several characters use the word as a nickname for her.
03:44 If you manage to pick up on this, you get a chance to reload and save Ciri, but if you don't, your obliviousness has just cost you your favourite protégé.
03:53 Number 5 - Solas is the Dread Wolf - Dragon Age Inquisition
03:56 With the upcoming release of Dragon Age Dread Wolf, the plot twist that Solas, one of your companions in Inquisition, is a feared elven god shouldn't surprise anyone.
04:06 However, when the Trespasser DLC for Inquisition first came out, it was a pretty unexpected revelation.
04:11 Even though the game's writers were very generous about leaving hints.
04:16 That's because it turns out that by just having friendly conversations with this character, you can cause him to occasionally slip up and almost reveal his true identity.
04:25 The most notable example of this is when you speak with him after attending the excellent mission set during a ball at the Winder Palace.
04:32 Solas will state here that he missed court intrigue, secretly referring to his feuds with one of the other ancient gods.
04:39 However, because Solas, the companion, is supposed to be a homeless mage with little to no possessions, his statement seems a little bit off.
04:47 And if you confront him about this, he'll act all flustered and then come up with a half-hearted excuse about spirits and the Fade, and that's what he meant apparently.
04:55 And it's actually kind of really funny because drilling him about his past is the only moment in the game when he disapproves of you asking questions instead of endorsing it.
05:04 So yeah, he might like his Inquisitors curious, but not too curious it seems.
05:08 Number 4 - The Moon Ending - Portal 2
05:11 Portal games love their secrets and hints. Well, the foreshadowy types of hints anyway. You're still on your own with all of those puzzles.
05:18 The greatest twist in the sequel happens during the final stage, where the player needs to defeat Wheatley by creating a portal on the surface of the moon that sucks the maniacal core right into the empty void of space.
05:30 However, the moon's role in the final battle is foreshadowed earlier in the game, when Aperture Science's CEO Cave Johnson reveals that the white walls used in the portal gun testing are actually made out of moon rocks.
05:42 Even better than this, there's also an even earlier reference to the moon that only the most observant players can find.
05:48 Inside the dens of Portal's mysterious ratman, there are several drawings of the moon during its different stages.
05:54 The full moon in particular is always highlighted in some way.
05:58 And although you could just write this off as the scribblings of a madman, its constant appearance clearly sends a message that it's going to play an important role somewhere down the line.
06:06 Number 3 - Humanity Is Gone - Nier Automata
06:10 The story of Nier Automata revolves around androids helping humanity survive after a mysterious alien invasion destroys Earth and forces all humans to escape to a secret base on the moon.
06:21 Or so we think, as the mid-game twist reveals that in reality, all of humanity is already long dead and gone, and all the characters that you play as don't really serve any purpose.
06:33 However, this plot twist is actually really obvious if you take notice of some of the stuff happening in the background.
06:38 Hell, one of the most glaring details that might grab your attention early on is the eerie silence inside the base itself, which doesn't have any humans on board.
06:48 You do later get to see some so-called humans throughout the game, but if you look into it closely enough, you also realise they're similarly just androids.
06:58 They might be convincing androids, they might even seem to bleed real blood, but even that has a lot of explanation as it's explained that the older models of androids were actually made to appear more human, including the ability to bleed.
07:11 It's one of those twists where we opt to believe what we're told rather than what we're shown, and that's just kind of amazing, especially as we are literally playing programmed androids.
07:21 Number 2 - Ethan Is A Bioweapon - Resident Evil Village
07:25 The big reveal of Resident Evil Village is that the real Ethan Winters has been dead since Resident Evil 7.
07:31 Ever since he got ambushed by Jack Baker right at the start of that game, the character we've been controlling is actually a reanimated corpse created and held together by the mold bioweapon responsible for the other creatures across the two games.
07:45 Now, in hindsight, this should have been obvious. For one, it basically became a running joke across the games that Ethan kept losing limbs and didn't seem all that bothered by it, being able to reattach them via a healing item.
07:58 And as fans of this bonkers series, most of us just went with this. In a series this crazy, why can't the advanced health packs work to put limbs back on? I'm sure that makes some sense along the way, at least it did to me, I thought it was very funny.
08:11 But the real reason why this can happen is that Ethan's body isn't human.
08:16 The hints go deeper than this in Village though, as there are subtle references to Ethan's condition.
08:21 Again, Ethan gets his hand chopped off, and if you examine it before you get the chance to reattach it, you can actually spot small splodges of mold on it by zooming in.
08:29 Likewise, Lady Demitrescu calls Ethan's blood stale, because of course it would be. It's not pumping, and it's full of mold. That cannot be tasty.
08:38 As to why Ethan himself never questioned what was going on with his body, well, that's the true mystery isn't it?
08:44 1. You Are Revan - Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
08:47 The reveal in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic that your amnesiac character was the legendary Darth Revan the entire time is probably one of the greatest plot twists in video game history.
08:57 Partially because it's actually really well set up, as long as you're able to notice certain things hidden within the dialogue.
09:04 In fact, the game makes plenty of references to your character's forgotten identity, you just need to make the connection.
09:10 But the first reference actually happens within the first initial cutscenes of the game, where your character learns how the Jedi used the Force to wipe people's memories after interrogating them.
09:20 The first time you play it sounds like nothing more than a cool little bit of lore or trivia.
09:25 But given your own character's amnesia, well, it really makes the twist at the end quite obvious doesn't it?
09:31 There are far too many similar moments in the game to list them all here, however just this one instance should give the idea of how genuinely well crafted the foreshadowing of Knights of the Old Republic is.
09:41 So that's our list, I want to know what you guys think down in the comments below.
09:44 What did you think of this foreshadowing across these games? And are there any other cool hints I missed off here?
09:49 Let me know and while you're down there, if you could please give us a like, share, subscribe and head over to whatculture.com for more lists and news like this every single day.
09:56 Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thanks so much for watching and I'll see you soon.