All of us take pleasure in an surprising twist in a narrative. Villains, specifically, can turn out to be tiring once they’re totally revealed and introduced outright from the start of the plot. That being stated, some video games attempt a bit too laborious to shock their viewers.
If a villain’s identification and position are apparent, don’t deal with the viewers as in the event that they’re idiots and don’t know. Effectively, except you’re doing it for laughs and satire, and that’s what this checklist is all about. Listed here are our picks for the high 10 online game reveals we completely by no means noticed coming.
*Warning: Spoilers (although apparent) forward!*
Venom: Spiderman 2
Everybody’s needed Venom to return to gaming in a giant means. Certain, a brick model of Venom was within the Lego video games, and Venom was featured within the Final Alliance, however followers needed one thing extra. The ending of Marvel’s Spider-Man fueled the Venom hype with the symbiote-infected Harry Osborne encased away in a lab.
Even non-fans might let you know what would occur subsequent. Marvel’s Miles Morales would go on to sprinkle in some extra Harry Osborne Symbiote scenes. After which, Spider-Man 2 was revealed in the course of the 2021 PlayStation Showcase. Peter and Miles are preventing facet by facet till a darkish alleyway slowly uncovers Venom’s chilling voice and iconic face. From then onwards, followers appeared ahead to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 that includes Venom in a giant means.
Future trailers went on to slant it as if Peter Parker was going to turn out to be Venom, however all of us knew who the first host was from the primary recreation. Contemplate us all shocked when Spider-Man 2 releases and Venom’s actual identification finally ends up being precisely what the ending of Spider-Man 1 confirmed us.
Dragon Lord: Any Dragon Quest Sport
Dragon Quest is as basic as JRPGs get. You might have a typical save-the-world plot full of tropes you’ve seen a dozen instances. Nonetheless, Dragon Quest began placing a spin on its normal hero quest with Dragon Quest IV and up. The villains weren’t firmly established on the very begin just like the Dragon Lord of the primary three video games. Now, there could be thriller and intrigue as to who’s actually pulling the strings behind all of the village burnings and monster hordes.
Effectively, as you’ll be able to in all probability guess, the reveal of the overarching villain simply finally ends up being the Dragon Lord from the primary video games once more. Dragon Quest villains remained largely absent of character depth till the eighth entry after we bought to see some moments from the villain’s perspective.
The most recent in the principle franchise, Dragon Quest XI, nonetheless retains the custom of a Dragon Lord villain archetype alive and effectively. I nonetheless laughed somewhat when Dragon Quest XI revealed the villain within the first half of the story and handled it as a shock to the characters. To Dragon Quest XI’s credit score, there are a number of villains and never simply one Dragon Lord. The way in which these cartoonishly evil villains are revealed does have some advantage, however man did it remind me of the early DQ video games and their one-dimensional villains once more, not that I’m complaining.
Shido: Persona 5
Persona 5 lacks subtlety in many alternative areas. The unabashed artwork fashion and daring colours are fantastic of their placing lack of subtlety, not like some heavy-handed components within the narrative. From the primary moments within the recreation, you’re launched to a complete scumbag of a politician: Shido. The sport hits you over the top in regards to the circumstances brought on by Shido consistently. You’ll start to see sure scenes in your real-life desires due to how usually they get repeated within the recreation. Persona 5 is a recreation that loves to make use of flashbacks, and it actually doesn’t cover that truth.
It’s completely hilarious, then, when all the occasion is shocked to study that Shido is certainly the one liable for the principle character’s predicament. What makes this explicit villain actually meme-worthy is simply how exaggerated his smugness is. The Japanese and English voice actors for Shido do an ideal job portraying that evil sleazy politician tone. There’s one sneering line specifically that will get repeated advert nauseam by Shido in flashbacks. Shido shouting, “Silly brat! I’ll sue!!!” is a meme-worthy line that we’ll always remember.
Garon: Hearth Emblem Fates
The villain of Hearth Emblem Fates is much more cartoonishly apparent than Persona 5. The king of Nohr is a central antagonist via all three variations of the sport. The three variations do, nevertheless, differ in what kingdom Corrin sides with, exhibiting a distinct perspective with every. Birthright follows the Hoshido facet of the battle, whereas Conquest follows the extra bloodthirsty Nohr. Whatever the model/route, you’ll turn out to be acquainted with Nohr’s military and shortly notice who the principle villain is lengthy earlier than it’s ever revealed. King Garon of Nohr is unabashedly darkish and sinister, and the sport doesn’t attempt to cover that truth.
It’s partially for that reason that many followers think about Conquest the extra fascinating path to take. Combating the evil empire from the within is simply a lot extra fascinating and intriguing than preventing from the standard ‘good man’ kingdom. In fact, Conquest offers an extra glimpse at King Garon and simply how stereotypical of an evil king he’s within the recreation. To reiterate, Garon isn’t even revealed because the villain till chapter three of the marketing campaign, some extent at which all of us bought the trace already.
Jason Todd: Arkham Knight
Each facet of Arkham Knight’s identification was constructed to be tremendous apparent to followers very early within the recreation. Jason Todd isn’t actually current all through the earlier video games within the collection, so the flashbacks with him and Batman tip the participant off that he’ll get ample display time sooner or later later within the recreation. On the similar time, Arkham Knight is introduced because the mysterious villain that can confront Batman later. The alarm alerts have been ringing very loud for the eventual reveal. It wasn’t simply that the reveal had quite a lot of foreshadowing and apparent buildup although, there have been additionally unintentional spoilers within the costumes.
Many gamers discovered the identification of Arkham Knight from the costume display. You could possibly be at the start of the sport innocently searching the totally different costumes for Batman if you come throughout an alternate costume for Pink Hood as Arkham Knight. Whoops! Speak about a ruined reveal second.
Seymour: Remaining Fantasy X
Has there ever been a extra apparent musical cue for a villain in all of fiction than Seymour in Remaining Fantasy X? It’s actually laborious to beat the blatantly sinister “Dun, DUN, DUUUUNNNN!” music enjoying because the menacing Seymour Guado walks towards the occasion. Seymour’s Theme is pure villainy in musical type, so listening to it for the primary time connected to this new ominous character raises the alarm bells. Plus, Seymour’s hair resembles satan horns and his Anima summon stays one of many creepiest designs in video video games. Every little thing about Seymour screams, “Have a look at me, I’m tremendous evil.”
But, Remaining Fantasy X tries to maintain Seymour’s true motive mysterious till the reveal. To the sport’s credit score, Seymour isn’t immediately hostile to the principle protagonists and has a quiet and reserved character. He’s fairly cordial and well mannered early on, however the presentation of music and character design screams villain a mile away. Truly, I take that again, his quiet demure character made us all of the extra suspicious of his true nature.
Lysandre: Pokemon X/Y
Pokemon X/Y’s Group Flare is what you get if you mix the cartoony tone of Group Rocket with the sobering philosophizing of a madman. The chief of Group Flare, Lysandre, goes on cartoonishly evil monologues however isn’t cartoonishly evil in his intent. No, he’s straight-up evil, with plans to wipe out the inhabitants and commit mass genocide. This dichotomy locations Lysandre as somebody who doesn’t slot in both class, inherently weakening the character consequently.
We’re presupposed to take him severely, however he’s introduced so cartoonishly it’s not possible to. However what places him on this checklist isn’t his tropey presentation, it’s how the protagonists react to him. The occasion is definitely shocked when it’s revealed that Lysandre is the evil chief of Group Flare. Um, duh? I do know Pokemon is written with a younger viewers in thoughts, however no less than be extra inventive with the reveal, y’know?
Wesker: Resident Evil
The primary Resident Evil pulls off the traitor trope effectively, even whether it is obviously apparent from the beginning. Resident Evil 1 begins off with three surviving S.T.A.R.S. members investigating a haunted mansion. The chief of the group, Wesker, goes off alone whereas Jill and Barry workforce as much as search the humongous mansion.
You go many hours with out a hint of Wesker’s whereabouts. However then, issues begin getting suspicious as Jill overhears Barry speaking a few plot to overthrow S.T.A.R.S. …and one thing about his household being threatened. Jill runs into Wesker in a while and he doesn’t appear phased within the slightest, nor does he appear all that frightened for his teammates.
These are all good indications that there’s a betrayal among the many characters, however there’s extra. Jill comes throughout a photograph of Umbrella scientists with Wesker clearly within the shot. Wesker’s title can also be talked about in an Umbrella report additional implicating him within the heinous group’s crimes. When the reveal lastly comes and Wesker makes Barry intention his gun at her, Jill is shocked to study the reality. We are able to’t blame Jill for being surprised in such a tense state of affairs, however the stilted voicework and graphics nonetheless make it appear painfully ham-fisted and anvilicious. In a great way, in fact.
Dr. Wily: Mega Man 4
A basic amongst classics. Mega Man 4 was the primary recreation within the collection to introduce a important villain that wasn’t Dr. Wily … till the very finish of the sport. Wily was thought to have been useless for the reason that occasions of Mega Man 3. Mega Man and Dr. Mild now should cope with a brand new evil Robotic Grasp, however this time he’s Russian. The largest indication that Cossack was a crimson herring of a villain was how he popped out of nowhere. Even the illustrious Dr. Mild wasn’t accustomed to Dr. Cossack when he bought the message from this self-appointed genius.
Mega Man 4 is maybe the very first instance of a pretend villain trope in gaming. It’s only a disgrace that Cossack didn’t have any lead-up or characterization to determine himself as a important villain aside from, “Belief me, bro. I’m the large unhealthy … and one way or the other a genius that the scientific neighborhood has by no means heard of.” Nonetheless, Wily utilizing a puppet proxy is a fairly cool idea, even when the reveal isn’t stunning within the least.
Kain: Remaining Fantasy IV
We finish this checklist with one other true basic: Remaining Fantasy IV. This was the primary FF recreation to go for a extra cinematic and plot-rich narrative. You begin out as a soldier of an evil empire and your first mission is principally razing a village along with your finest bud named, you guessed it, Kain. The title itself is a useless giveaway of how traitorous this pal would turn out to be. However biblical allegories apart, the truth that you begin out burning villages ought to be sufficient of a touch that the Dragoon Captain Kain could be bother down the road.
Remaining Fantasy IV can’t actually be blamed for being by-product and trope-infested; in spite of everything, it established what story-driven RPGs appeared like in gaming. However it might’t be missed that the occasion one way or the other is shocked to study that Kain betrays them and joins with the enemy (once more). With evil-looking dragon armor and a reputation synonymous with traitor, Kain’s behavior of betraying his pal Cecil ought to come to no person’s shock.
That’s a wrap on the 10 online game reveals we by no means noticed coming. This satirical compilation isn’t supposed to mock the video games herein however fairly to have fun and honor the custom of surprises and twists in video video games. In fact, many of those examples have been lower than refined in the way in which they dealt with the shock reveals, however some have been deliberately apparent and enjoyable. Should you’re curious, we’ve bought extra options and enjoyable high 10s right here on Twinfinite, similar to our checklist of most grotesque Mortal Kombat fatalities.