Finishing Bioshock this weekend and having read this article about big-time plot twists moments put in film, I thought, hay, why don’t I reminisce about the similar shocking moments in video games. Hay, who play games for plots? I do… its the most important elements in games, and take my word for it. After all, I became a writer just to write plot twists. Here goes, in order of memorable importance (roughly), followed by spoilers (well, obviously).

1. Shadow of the Colossus — how does a game that has no narration and well plot manage to have one of the biggest plot twist moments ever? Well this game follows one of the golden rule of writing: show, and not tell. Here the biggest twist moment is at the end, when you find out, that well, you ARE the bad guy, killing off the colossus of the land and trying to use the evil god’s power to ressurrect your diseased loved one. Well, better yet, this becomes the prequel of Ico, where the curse of horny kids (ahem, I mean horned) begin.

2. Final Fantasy X — one of the most memorable moments that fill your eyes with tear, and shocking all the same. If you followed Yuna’s pilgrimage to Zanarkand, where the main character Tidus come from, you find out that, well, he’s nothing but a fragment of the memory of the land, a dream. At the end Tidus fades away while he tries to embrace Yuna. And he’s gone, just like that. Of course that traumatic experience also transforms Yuna from this conservative nun-like priestess pilgrim into a trigger-happy skimpy-dressed cowgirl rockstar. Woh, but that is to be explored, in the possibly, funner but plotless game known as X-2.

3. Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria — Sequel to my favorite-of-all-time game Lenneth, Silmeria is much more structured in its narration than Lenneth, its not a better game, but arguably it does have its suprising moments. You know the trickster Loki is going to betray Odin when the world approaches Ragnorak, so nothing in Lenneth should come in a surprise, but depends on how you played Lenneth, Silmeria becomes somewhat of a delectable experience. In Lenneth you get to meet one of the anti-hero / arch-villlian, a questionable sorceror named Lezard Valeth who is obsessed about the Valkyrie, and he is one of the heroes with an unknown agenda in Silmeria, which happens years before the events in Lenneth. The biggest surprise here is, well, Silmeria turns out to be a sequel trapped in a prequel’s body (now where have you heard that before?) . Well turns out goody Lezard did not become demented after the events of Silmeria, in fact, he time-traveled from Ragnorak back to the events in Silmeria, where he again tries to possess Lenneth’s soul inside the homoculus. Well not only is he the last villian of the game, if you spent time using him as your only magic user through out the game, well you are in for some pain. Because near the end of the game, you are short of a powerful spell caster, and you have the strongest last boss to face ever.

4. Dragon Quest III — A classic title for a change, the moment of twist comes when the “hero” is transported from earth to the land, and you find out that, well the hero IS Erdrick, and this is a prequel to the first 2 Dragon Quests. Of course the name Erdrick only means anything to you if you spent time playing the first two games and you received Erdrick’s sword and armor, he IS the legendary hero.

5. Killer 7 — A classic Fight Club like twist that shouldnt so much as suprise you, but nevertheless shock you as one of the most memorable story-telling moments of game time. The main character Harmon Smith is nothing but an old guy in a wheel chair, and the killer 7, his split personalities, the assasins that he actually killed years before. Mind bending, shall I say, well, play the damn game.

6. Legacy of Kain / Soul Reaver series — I don’t know at what point the real plot twist came in, but this series is just filled with melodramatic twists and turns, well, in a good way, possibly one of the best written stories of all time. So is Kain a good guy, or bad guy, someone who tries to cheat destiny? And Raziel, the ultimate pawn, or the savior of his own fate? At the end of the Soul Reaver, while Kain gives his bad-guy speech, well you find out that not all as is what it seems, Raziel turns out to be one of the bad guys when he was a human, and he persecuted vampires which were the winged god-like creatures of the land. The twist of course doesn’t stop there, while the elder god manipulates fate and the ancient enemy of the vampires try to invade the land, Kain and Raziel must work together, if only they can stop tearing at each other’s throat.

7. Silent Hill — Well different twists depends on how you play the game, the writers here are brilliant, of course they are the ones who crafted Silent Hill and named each street after a different author of the Horror genre. Of course the main plot of the game carries the main twist of the nature of the protagonist’s daughter and his role of returning to Silent Hill, but then if you got one of my favorite ending, the Jacob Ladder twist, you find out that Silent Hill is nothing but a dreamy flash of near-death experience of a car crash. While I liked the atmosphere of the second game better (thanks to the processing power of the PS2), the quite predictable twist of the 2nd could not top the open-ended nature of its predesessor.

8. Persona 3 — A bloody Brilliant game in every way, read my spoilerless review here. While the main plot of the game carries a major plot twist, telling the story of who you are and how you got the power, and a major character betrays you and another die off, the side story social link are the ones that shines. Play Innocent Sin the MMORPG inside the game, and get to meet Maya, the playful online persona of well, big surprise, your homeroom teacher, who has a crush on you. And meet the dying young man who wrote a dark fairy tale after he met you, foreshadowing the later events of the story, well you know what, he faded away at the end. Yes, I see dead people. This game rocks, there’s that.

9. BioShock — tempted, very tempted to put System Shock 2 in here, but I don’t quite remember exactly what happened. There IS no atlas. And there IS no plane crash, well there is, but it isn’t a coincidence.

10. Xenosaga Trilogy / Xenogears– while seperate games, its hard to write about one and not the other, in the Saga trilogy the biggest surprise comes with the Gnosis, are in fact, human souls who reject and fear each other . In Gears, well everything is a gradual culmination of surprises, Elle being the reincarnation of Sophia / Mother, Fei as contact of the wave existence, and houses ID within him. Possibly, well one will never find another more elaborate story in a video game, ever, in his life time, at least not mine.

11. Planescape Torment — Well, finding out who the Nameless one here is and who his companions are and why he lost his memories are the biggest twist of all time.

12. Baten Kaitos Origin — A hidden gem of a Gamecube title, well the twist comes here as “you” (the spirit that follows the protagonist around) are actually the evil god Malpercio, and with that the true nature of everything around you unfolds, if you saw that coming half a mile before, still it is satisfying netherless.

13. Knights of the Old Republic — You play the dark lord that lost his memory, need I say more?

14. Might and Magic: World of Xeen — combine the 4th and the 5th game, and you get one gigantic game with one gigantic twist at the end, well the struggles of Sheltem and Corak continues there, and you would not have seen that coming. Too bad the story ended there, without final resolution.

15. Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterflies — well the twist also plays on the title, the crimson butterflies are not just the faint apparitions flying everywhere, but what they signify are the red marks on your twin sister neck as you strangle her to death for sacrifice. Yes, possibly the creepiest game ever made, and if that didnt shock you, I bet the little red doll running around in the old house will.

16. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty — if this game didn’t define plot twists? What other game would? Everything came as a surprise here, even when Snake was not the main character. Major plot twists include the revelation of the hidden agenda of the god-like Patriots, and to even what Sons of Libery means, leading to the events that already happened in MGS3, another moment of gaming perfection.

17. Shadow Hearts 2: Covenant — protagonist’s potential love interest? No, turns out, its his mom.

18. Shin Megami Tensei: Noctourne — the ultimate villain at the end of the game, the entity you need to destroy, well, it is none other than God. I repeat… God. Just how cool is that?