Solas you rascal.
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00:00Generally speaking, video games aren't really known for being subtle about their big plot twists or anything really.
00:06However, just because most games tend to go for the blatantly obvious approach to storytelling,
00:11that doesn't mean there aren't games out there that do do it in a much more subtle and sophisticated way.
00:17And with that in mind, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com,
00:19and these are 8 Video Game Plot Twists That Were Obvious If You Really Looked.
00:23Number 8, Arthur's Tuberculosis Red Dead Redemption 2.
00:26Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game full of amazing little details.
00:31From NPCs actually eating their food, to certain, ahem, body parts of your horse shrinking in cold weather,
00:37the developers clearly put a lot of thought into designing the game.
00:41This, of course, extends to the main story as well,
00:43and how much the game foreshadows Arthur getting diagnosed with tuberculosis.
00:48Although the revelation came as a surprise to many during their first playthrough,
00:52there are actually a few subtle and some not-so-subtle hints that the game leaves to let you know of Arthur's sickness beforehand.
01:00The first and most direct one is Arthur getting coughed on by Thomas Downes when you try to collect money from him in the opening.
01:06As you can see, the sick man coughing up his spit and blood right into Arthur's face, pretty much sealing his fate.
01:13This is not the only hint, of course.
01:14The game also lets you know there's something wrong with Arthur by making it more difficult for him to gain weight.
01:20He has a cough that only gets more regular as the game goes on, and his eyes slowly get a yellowy tint.
01:26This kind of attention to detail is why Red Dead 2 is still considered a gaming marvel after all these years.
01:31God, I love it so much.
01:35Let's talk about a classic for a second that's since become more relevant thanks to 2023's excellent Dead Space remake.
01:42In this game, Nicole Brennan is one of the major driving forces behind the storyline.
01:47She's main character Isaac's girlfriend, who helps him navigate through the necromorph-infested Ishimura ship.
01:53She also serves as his motivation for delving deeper into the spaceship to rescue her,
01:58instead of just high-tailing it out of there like any sane person probably would.
02:02The big plot twist here is that despite your frequent interactions with Nicole throughout the story,
02:07which are even more pronounced in the recent remake,
02:09the character has actually been dead the entire time, long before Isaac even arrived on the ship.
02:15It is shocking in the moment, but if you were paying attention to what was going on in the background,
02:19well, it's literally spelled out for you.
02:22That's because combining the first letters of each chapter title in the game forms the sentence,
02:27Nicole is dead.
02:29Yeah, there's not much ambiguity going on there, is there?
02:32It is a pretty straightforward message for the player,
02:35but since most people don't spend their time looking for hidden messages in the naming conventions of chapters,
02:41only a few keen eyes can realistically catch it before the actual reveal.
02:48Pretty much all Witcher 3 fans agree that the worst ending in the game is the one that has Ciri dying.
02:54That's partly because it's your fault,
02:56as this happens when you act overly protective of Ciri in a few key moments during the story,
03:01moments that don't seem substantial enough initially to completely derail the plot.
03:06However, during the mission Blood on the Battlefield, there is an interaction between Geralt and Ciri.
03:10After she gets wound up by her training.
03:13Here, the player can console her by saying she doesn't have to be perfect, or distract her with humour.
03:18Though this isn't the only option that leads to her death,
03:20if the player chooses the first route, then it pushes Ciri down that road.
03:24And sneakily, the game indicates this with the shot of a cat carrying a dead swallow in its mouth.
03:30Now, why is this important?
03:32Well, as is wildly known and reported on now, the shot is clearly symbolic of Ciri's death.
03:38That's because her elven name translated is literally swallow,
03:42and several characters use the word as a nickname for her.
03:45If you manage to pick up on this, you get a chance to reload and save Ciri,
03:48but if you don't, your obliviousness has just cost you your favourite protégé.
03:53Number 5, Solas is the Dread Wolf, Dragon Age Inquisition.
03:56With the upcoming release of Dragon Age Dread Wolf,
03:59the plot twist that Solas, one of your companions in Inquisition, is a feared elven god shouldn't surprise anyone.
04:06However, when the Trespasser DLC for Inquisition first came out, it was a pretty unexpected revelation.
04:11Even though the game's writers were very generous about leaving hints.
04:16That's because it turns out that by just having friendly conversations with this character,
04:20you can cause him to occasionally slip up and almost reveal his true identity.
04:25The most notable example of this is when you speak with him after attending the excellent mission
04:30set during a ball at the Winder Palace.
04:32Solas will state here that he missed court intrigue,
04:35secretly referring to his feuds with one of the other ancient gods.
04:39However, because Solas, the companion, is supposed to be a homeless mage with little to no possessions,
04:45his statement seems a little bit off.
04:47And if you confront him about this, he'll act all flustered and then come up with a half-hearted excuse
04:52about spirits and the Fade and that's what he meant apparently.
04:55And it's actually kind of really funny because drilling him about his past is the only moment in the game
05:00when he disapproves of you asking questions instead of endorsing it.
05:04So yeah, he might like his inquisitors curious, but not too curious it seems.
05:09Number 4, The Moon Ending, Portal 2.
05:12Portal games love their secrets and hints.
05:14Well, the foreshadowy types of hints anyway, you're still on your own with all of those puzzles.
05:19The greatest twist in the sequel happens during the final stage, where the player needs to defeat Wheatley
05:24by creating a portal on the surface of the moon that sucks the maniacal core right into the empty void of space.
05:30However, the moon's role in the final battle is foreshadowed earlier in the game.
05:34When Aperture Science's CEO, Cave Johnson, reveals that the white walls used in the portal gun testing
05:40are actually made out of moon rocks.
05:42Even better than this, there's also an even earlier reference to the moon
05:46that only the most observant players can find.
05:48Inside the dens of Portal's mysterious ratman, there are several drawings of the moon during its different stages.
05:55The full moon in particular is always highlighted in some way.
05:58And although you could just write this off as the scribblings of a madman,
06:01it's constant appearance clearly sends a message that it's going to play an important role somewhere down the line.
06:10The story of Nier Automata revolves around androids helping humanity survive
06:14after a mysterious alien invasion destroys Earth and forces all humans to escape to a secret base on the moon.
06:21Or so we think, as the mid-game twist reveals that in reality, all of humanity is already long dead and gone.
06:29And all the characters that you play as don't really serve any purpose.
06:33However, this plot twist is actually really obvious if you take notice of some of the stuff happening in the background.
06:39Hell, one of the most glaring details that might grab your attention early on
06:43is the eerie silence inside the base itself, which doesn't have any humans on board.
06:49You do later get to see some so-called humans throughout the game,
06:53but if you look into it closely enough, you also realize they're similarly just androids.
06:58They might be convincing androids, they might even seem to bleed real blood,
07:03but even that has a lot of explanation as it's explained that the older models of androids
07:07were actually made to appear more human, including the ability to bleed.
07:11It's one of those twists where we opt to believe what we're told rather than what we're shown,
07:16and that's just kind of amazing, especially as we are literally playing programmed androids.
07:21Number two, Ethan is a bioweapon, Resident Evil Village.
07:25The big reveal of Resident Evil Village is that the real Ethan Winters has been dead since Resident Evil 7.
07:31Ever since he got ambushed by Jack Baker right at the start of that game,
07:34the character we've been controlling is actually a reanimated corpse created and held together
07:40by the mold bioweapon responsible for the other creatures across the two games.
07:45Now, in hindsight, this should have been obvious.
07:47For one, it basically became a running joke across the games that Ethan kept losing limbs
07:53and didn't seem all that bothered by it, being able to reattach them via a healing item.
07:58And as fans of this bonkers series, most of us just went with this.
08:02In a series this crazy, why can't the advanced health packs work to put limbs back on?
08:07I'm sure that makes some sense along the way, at least it did to me, I thought it was very funny.
08:12But the real reason why this can happen is that Ethan's body isn't human.
08:16The hints go deeper than this in Village though,
08:19as there are subtle references to Ethan's condition.
08:21Again, Ethan gets his hand chopped off, and if you examine it before you get the chance
08:25to reattach it, you can actually spot small splodges of mold on it by zooming in.
08:29Likewise, Lady Demitrescu calls Ethan's blood stale, because of course it would be.
08:34It's not pumping, and it's full of mold. That cannot be tasty.
08:38As to why Ethan himself never questioned what was going on with his body,
08:42well, that's the true mystery isn't it?
08:441. You Are Revan
08:46Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
08:47The reveal in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic that your amnesiac character was
08:51the legendary Darth Revan the entire time is probably one of the greatest plot twists in
08:56video game history. Partially because it's actually really well set up, as long as you're
09:01able to notice certain things hidden within the dialogue. In fact, the game makes plenty
09:05of references to your character's forgotten identity, you just need to make the connection.
09:10But the first reference actually happens within the first initial cutscenes of the game,
09:15where your character learns how the Jedi used the force to wipe people's memories
09:19after interrogating them. The first time you play it sounds like nothing more than a cool
09:23little bit of lore or trivia. But given your own character's amnesia, well, it really makes the
09:28twist at the end quite obvious doesn't it? There are far too many similar moments in the game to
09:33list them all here, however just this one instance should give the idea of how genuinely well crafted
09:38the foreshadowing of Knights of the Old Republic is. So that's our list, I want to know what you
09:42guys think down in the comments below. What did you think of this foreshadowing across these games,
09:47and are there any other cool hints I missed off here? Let me know and while you're down there if
09:51you could please give us a like, share, subscribe and head over to whatculture.com for more lists
09:54and news like this every single day. Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thanks so much for
09:58watching and I'll see you soon.