Best Video Game Twists From 2010s

A story doesn’t have to have a surprising twist to be well-written. While twists can sometimes enhance a story or make a game more unforgettable, they aren’t essential. For example, the games Final Fantasy 7 and Super Metroid both feature memorable twists, but revealing them would ruin the experience.

During the 2010s, game developers started competing to create memorable twists and endings to set their games apart. While many of these twists are well-remembered, not all of them were successful – some were surprisingly dark or unsatisfying for players. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest surprises and whether or not they actually worked.

There will be full spoilers ahead.

Heavy Rain

A Solid Attempt At A Twist

Heavy Rain is a thrilling game where you try to stop the Origami Killer, who is both a murderer and a kidnapper. You’ll play as four different characters – Ethan, Madison, Norman, and Scott – but secretly, Scott is the killer you’re hunting.

Reaching the final showdown, where Ethan confronts Scott holding his son hostage, is a truly shocking moment in the game. While the plot doesn’t entirely hold up under scrutiny, and that impacts its overall ranking, the initial reveal is incredibly exciting and memorable.

Final Fantasy 15

The Most Depressing Entry Yet

The story in Final Fantasy 15 is a little confusing. For most of the game, it’s fairly lighthearted, but then it takes a very dark turn with a lot of death and sadness. The ending involves the main character, Noctis, traveling to a future where he’s older and the world is overrun by monsters.

He joins forces with his three friends, and together they confront the ultimate enemy. Though they are defeated, their sacrifice ultimately saves the world. It’s considered one of the most somber conclusions in the entire Final Fantasy series.

Spec Ops: The Line

Head Games

Something feels off in the game Spec Ops: The Line. The player character, Captain Walker, keeps experiencing strange episodes. At first, these could seem like the result of battle fatigue and the intense heat, but it’s eventually revealed that the person they’ve been pursuing has actually been dead the entire time.

He was simply a creation of Walker’s mind, a way for him to deal with the terrible things he’d done before the game began. The story is best enjoyed when played a second time, offering a fresh perspective.

NieR: Automata

All A Lie

Okay, so in NieR: Automata, you basically play through three different storylines. First, you’re 2B, then you switch to playing as 9S, and finally, you get to control A2. The whole setup is that robots took over Earth a long time ago after a war, forcing humanity to escape into space.

Humanity’s final refuge is a space station, where they built combat androids like 2B and 9S to slowly reclaim Earth through a series of missions. As players complete these missions, they uncover the truth: humanity was actually wiped out long ago. The people living on the space station aren’t human themselves; they’re driven by a core purpose – to ensure humanity’s legacy continues, no matter the cost.

The Last Of Us

What Would A Father Do?

The Last of Us follows Joel and Ellie as they travel across the United States, from Boston to Seattle. Their goal is to reach the Fireflies, a group who believe Ellie may hold the key to a cure for a devastating plague that has turned people into zombie-like creatures.

The journey is difficult, and when Joel and Ellie finally reach their destination, he discovers that creating a cure requires Ellie’s death – with no certainty of success. Refusing to accept this, Joel kills everyone involved and saves Ellie, later telling a lie that Ellie wasn’t suitable for a cure. Though a drastic act, Joel believed he was doing what any father would do to protect her.

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy

Fairy Troubles

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy felt like a classic Final Fantasy game, even though it wasn’t officially part of the series. The story follows four heroes on a quest to restore the power of elemental crystals, and they do this by fighting monsters and changing between different character classes, called Jobs.

Just when the group thinks they’ve completed their quest and reached the final step, they realize they’re stuck in a time loop, repeating everything all over again. To make matters worse, they discover that Airy, their seemingly kind and helpful fairy friend, was actually the one responsible for the loop all along. It was a completely unexpected betrayal.

BioShock Infinite

Salvation Through Drowning

I absolutely loved BioShock Infinite! The game is set in Columbia, this incredible city floating in the sky, and you play as Booker, a detective sent to rescue a girl named Elizabeth from the man who rules it all, Comstock. But things get really mind-bending when you realize the whole story is a time loop, and Booker and Comstock are actually the same person! It’s a crazy twist that totally blew me away.

After tragically losing his daughter, Booker undergoes a baptism and reinvents himself as Comstock, which ultimately results in the creation of a fanatical cult and the floating city of Columbia. To stop this repeating cycle of tragedy, Elizabeth and all her alternate selves collectively drown Booker, a sacrifice he willingly accepts. Calling the outcome bleak doesn’t begin to cover how devastating it is.

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Face/Off

The story starts with Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes, which ends with Big Boss seemingly killed in a helicopter crash. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain then begins with Big Boss waking up in a hospital, having lost an arm. He’s eventually rescued and brought to a new base, called Mother Base, with the help of Master Miller and Revolver Ocelot.

To deceive his enemies, Big Boss secretly had a soldier undergo extensive plastic surgery and memory implantation to act as him. While this decoy, known as Venom Snake, carried out missions, the real Big Boss was operating in the shadows, collecting intelligence. Essentially, the character players control in the game isn’t the original Big Boss.

Red Dead Redemption

A Change In Heroes

I absolutely love Red Dead Redemption! It follows John Marston, this former outlaw who’s trying to live a peaceful life with his family. But his past comes back to haunt him when members of his old gang start causing trouble. Basically, the government forces him to hunt them down, and it’s a really gripping story of revenge and trying to make amends.

So, things take a really dark turn – John gets betrayed and killed right in his own house. It was sad, honestly, a bittersweet ending for such an iconic cowboy. But the story doesn’t end there! You then get to play as Jack, John’s son, years later, and you’re on a mission for revenge against the guys who killed his dad. When you finally get your chance, taking them down is seriously one of the most satisfying moments I’ve ever experienced in a game.

Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow

Reinventing The Franchise

The biggest surprise in gaming during the 2010s arguably came from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. This is because the reveal carried a lot of weight, given the series’ long history. Castlevania first launched in Japan in 1986, and most games center around a member of the Belmont family battling Dracula or his forces across different time periods.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow reimagines the series’ origins. The game follows Gabriel Belmont as he fights a powerful group called the Lords of Shadow. Ultimately, a curse transforms him into Dracula, creating a unique twist where the Belmont family inadvertently causes the creation of their own ancient enemy. This offered a fresh perspective on the established Castlevania story.

2025-12-28 14:38