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.
00:31 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.
01:13 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.
01:33 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,
01:58 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,
02:07 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.
02:15 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,
02:41 only a few keen eyes can realistically catch it before the actual reveal.
02:45 Number 6 - Ciri's Death - The Witcher 3
02:48 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,
02:56 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.
03:06 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.
03:13 Here, the player can console her by saying she doesn't have to be perfect, or distract her with humour.
03:18 Though this isn't the only option that leads to her death,
03:20 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?
03:32 Well, as is wildly known and reported on now, the shot is clearly symbolic of Ciri's death.
03:38 That's because her elven name translated is literally "Swallow",
03:42 and several characters use the word as a nickname for her.
03:45 If you manage to pick up on this, you get a chance to reload and save Ciri,
03:48 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,
03:59 the plot twist that Solas, one of your companions in Inquisition,
04:03 is a feared elven god shouldn't surprise anyone.
04:06 However, when the Trespasser DLC for Inquisition first came out,
04:09 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,
04:20 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
04:30 set during a ball at the Winder Palace.
04:32 Solas will state here that he missed court intrigue,
04:35 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
04:43 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
04:52 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
05:00 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.
05:09 Number 4 - The Moon Ending - Portal 2
05:11 Portal games love their secrets and hints.
05:14 Well, the foreshadowy types of hints anyway, you're still on your own with all of those puzzles.
05:19 The greatest twist in the sequel happens during the final stage,
05:22 where the player needs to defeat Wheatley by creating a portal on the surface of the moon
05:26 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.
05:34 When Aperture Science's CEO, Cave Johnson, reveals that the white walls used in the portal gun testing
05:40 are actually made out of moon rocks.
05:42 Even better than this, there's also an even earlier reference to the moon
05:46 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.
05:55 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,
06:01 its constant appearance clearly sends a message that it's going to play an important role somewhere down the line.
06:07 Number 3 - Humanity is Gone - Nier Automata
06:10 The story of Nier Automata revolves around androids helping humanity survive
06:14 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,
06:29 and all the characters 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.
06:39 Hell, one of the most glaring details that might grab your attention early on is the eerie silence inside the base itself,
06:46 which doesn't have any humans on board.
06:49 You do later get to see some so-called humans throughout the game,
06:53 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,
07:03 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,
07:09 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,
07:16 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,
07:34 the character we've been controlling is actually a reanimated corpse created and held together
07:40 by the mold bioweapon responsible for the other creatures across the two games.
07:45 Now, in hindsight, this should have been obvious.
07:47 For one, it basically became a running joke across the games that Ethan kept losing limbs
07:53 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.
08:02 In a series this crazy, why can't the advanced health packs work to put limbs back on?
08:07 I'm sure that makes some sense along the way. At least it did to me. I thought it was very funny.
08:12 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,
08:26 you can actually spot small splodges of mold on it by zooming in.
08:30 Likewise, Lady Demitrescu calls Ethan's blood stale, because of course it would be.
08:34 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 Number one, you are Revan, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.
08:48 The reveal in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic that your amnesiac character was the legendary Darth Revan the entire time
08:54 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.
09:08 You just need to make the connection.
09:10 But the first reference actually happens within the first initial cutscenes of the game,
09:15 where your character learns how the Jedi used the Force to wipe people's memories after interrogating them.
09:21 The first time you play it, 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
09:37 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?
09:47 And are there any other cool hints I missed off here?
09:50 Let me know, and while you're down there, if you could, please give us a like, share, subscribe,
09:53 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.