Over the past few decades, video games have become one of the most unique forms of storytelling available in modern media. Even though video games got their start as nothing more than games, they have evolved radically over the years, not only changing the way we play games but the way that we enjoy a story as well. Long gone are the days of simply racking up a high score or saving a damsel in distress. The stakes have been raised and now we enter worlds on par with some of the greatest stories or movie blockbusters ever told.

While story telling in video games isn’t incredibly new, it has become more prominent since the days of the original Nintendo. As storytelling in games became more intricate over the years, so did the plots and characters that went along with it. Yet with some of the best video game plots out there also come the best plot twists.

Not all plot twists are created equal, however. While some will have us with our jaw on the floor screaming “I can’t believe that just happened!” others will have us claiming that a terrible plot twist ruined a completely good game. While many plot twists have been controversial over the years, many of them have stayed with us well after the end credits while others we wish would just go away. With that said, here are some of the best and worst plot twists ever seen in video games. And the obvious warning, spoilers will be involved.

30 Worst: Scott Shelby Is The Origami Villain (Heavy Rain)

David Cage games have always been narratively driven based off of the player’s choices throughout the game impacting the story leading to some varied story structure.

Unfortunately, Heavy Rain’s plot twist should have been left outside.

In Heavy Rain, you find out that one of the playable characters, Scott Shelby, is the Origami villain that you have been searching for the whole time. Unfortunately, this revelation not only opens up a few plot holes in the game, it made a likeable player that we’ve played as through the majority of the game a complete monster.

29 Best: Samus Is A Woman (Metroid)

Plenty of video games today have strong, female protagonists and it’s weird to think that this was once uncommon. Yet back in the 80s, it was rare to see a female lead in a game unless she was simply a copycat of her male counterpart with a bow (looking at you Ms. Pac-Man).

Metroid delivered a nice twist at the end of the game revealing that the space bounty hunter you’ve been playing as the whole game was actually a girl, despite the original manual calling Samus a guy, thus making Samus Aran one of the founding video game heroines.

28 Worst: Jill Is The Masked Woman (Resident Evil 5)

In Resident Evil 5, Chris Redfield encounters a mysterious masked woman throughout the earlier chapters of the game and it’s hard to believe that Capcom wanted us to actually question who it was.

The reveal that it was Jill Valentine was obvious the first time we saw her.

If Jill had passed in a previous game, maybe this reveal would have been more shocking. But showing flashbacks of Jill’s supposed death and then creating a mysterious antagonist just made it obvious that it was Jill from the get go. Literally, any other character from Resident Evil’s past would be better.

27 Best: The Flood Is The True Enemy (Halo: Combat Evolved)

Listen, I hated fighting the Halo series’ parasitic aliens just as much as anyone else, but you have to face the truth.

The Flood’s introduction in the original game was a nice twist in this space opera.

Thinking that the Covenant is your main enemy the entire game, it was an interesting twist to find out the two factions had a similar enemy. The bigger twist came with finding out that the Halo’s purpose was to destroy the flood… but only by destroying all life along with it, cutting off their food source.

26 Worst: It Was Just A Dream (Super Mario Bros. 2)

Most people would probably agree that any story ending with saying it was just a dream is lazy storytelling. And even though Super Mario Bros. 2 wasn’t the apex of storytelling in the Mushroom Kingdom, saying that Mario’s adventures in this sequel was just a crazy dream feels forced. Then again, the Western version wasn’t originally a Mario game at all but a reskinned version of the Japanese game Doki Doki Panic so that explains why we never got to see the likes of Wart and his minions again. Hey, at least we got to keep Birdo.

25 Best: The End Of Aerith (Final Fantasy VII)

Possibly one of the most well-known plot twists in gaming (and one of the saddest) was the death of the beloved flower girl, Aeris toward the end of the first half of Final Fantasy VII. Ending off main party members in the Final Fantasy series has never been uncommon, but something about losing Aeris really pulled at the heartstrings, especially with her being part of the party from early on in the game. Too bad this plot twist was ruined by advertising of the game where many commercials featured Cloud dropping her in the lake to rest.

24 Worst: Guardian Forces Give Amnesia (Final Fantasy VIII)

Not all Final Fantasy plot twists are equal. While Final Fantasy VIII had some tough steps to follow, it mostly succeeded, even if it didn’t have the emotional pull of its predecessor.

Sadly, Final Fantasy VIII’s plot twist left many gamers just feeling disappointed.

Basically, your lead characters learned that the Guardian Forces their military academy have them fight with also cause amnesia, leading them all to forget that they… lived in an orphanage together? And coincidentally ended up at the same military academy? It’s a plot twist we wish a Guardian Force could help us forget.

23 Best: Tim Is Actually Creepy (Braid)

Braid wasn’t necessarily an indie game heavy in plot, but that’s all the more reason to appreciate it giving us the interesting plot twist at the end of the game. With the powers to reverse time, we know little about our hero Tim other than he is out to save a princess. In an exciting climax, we see Tim helping a damsel in distress escape from a bad knight… only to learn that what we played was actually the scene in reverse and that the princess was trying to escape from Tim in order to be with her actual hero.

22 Worst: Mechanical Arm Is Your Wife (Bionic Commando)

2009’s reboot of the classic Bionic Commando series was a pretty entertaining romp with Nathan Spencer’s unique abilities. Though just because a game is fun doesn’t mean the plot is all that great. In one of the most bizarre plot twists in gaming as well as the most corny, we learn that Spencer’s mechanical arm is actually his wife who passed, but in machine form... for in order for it to work properly, it must have a strong enough bond with its host. Maybe the game should just leave the storytelling on the side.

21 Best: Joel Sort Of Becomes The Villain (The Last Of Us)

The Last of Us managed to do something many games don’t; question our own morality and what we would do in extreme circumstances for our own survival.

The game puts characters in many questionable scenarios, but the game’s climax was one of the best.

Upon escorting a young teenage Ellie to the Fireflies, Joel learns that the group plans on ending her in order to find a vaccine from becoming infected. In a procedure that could save millions, Joel takes out the Fireflies and saves Ellie due to the bond that formed between them, despite the fate of the world.

20 Worst: Cereza Is Bayonetta As A Child (Bayonetta)

It’s kind of difficult to take a game such as Bayonetta too seriously, and while the plot is still wildly entertaining much like the gameplay, this one just seemed obvious. Bayonetta meets a lost child name Cereza who starts following her around in belief that Bayonetta is her mother. Later, in a not so shocking twist, it is revealed that Cereza is actually Bayonetta as a child. Sorry, but when the character design almost exactly matches that of her adult version, is it really much of a surprise that that twist is coming?

19 Best: Your Rival Is The Final Boss (Pokémon Red/Blue)

Pokémon games usually aren’t best known for their story, but the original games had a couple neat twists surprisingly. While finding out Team Rocket’s leader Giovanni was the final gym leader was a surprise, the big shocker is the final battle. Thinking that the Elite Four was your final test, you find out that your rival throughout the game beat them right before you. After an already tough string of battles, you find out that you still have one final opponent before you make your way into the Pokémon Hall of Fame.

18 Worst: Raiden Is The Main Character (Metal Gear Solid 2)

I might be one of the few people that didn’t absolutely hate this twist, but the fans of the Metal Gear Solid universe have spoken.

Almost everyone was upset by finding out that Raiden was MGS2’s leading protagonist.

After the first chapter and a clever bait and switch, players are taken out of Snake’s shoes and into that of Raiden’s, making us play as him the rest of the game. While people hated it, you’ve got to give credit to Konami for keeping it under wraps so long before release, complete with pre-release advertising that didn’t even show Raiden’s existence.

17 Best: Big Boss Is Still Alive (Metal Gear Solid 4)

There’s no denying that Metal Gear Solid’s plot is pretty convoluted and while many people might think of this as a forced plot twist, it still goes that Big Boss’s appearance at the end of MGS4 was a huge surprise. After an already lengthy ending cutscene and the end credits rolling, we see Big Boss and his voice actor’s name at the end only to realize he wasn’t actually in the game. Suddenly, the game’s biggest twist comes after the credits in yet another lengthy ending showing that Big Boss was very much alive… despite all the times he’s perished.

16 Worst: Pandora's Box Contains Hope (God Of War 3)

Hidden in Zeus’s flame, Pandora’s Box has been an important aspect in the God of War series being the most coveted item by Kratos in the third entry. In hopes of finding something that would help him in his rampage against the God’s, players were very disappointed to find that nothing was inside of it except… are you ready? Hope. While players were waiting for something incredible inside, all Kratos got was this groan inducing reminder that hope existed which apparently was enough to let him finish his journey once and for all.

15 Best: The Cake Isn't A Lie (Portal)

While we won’t deny that GLaDOS was a nutjob of an artificial intelligence, we’re still kind of surprised by the end of the first Portal’s ending.

Unfortunately, Chell will never get to taste that sweet, sweet cake.

While hidden messages assured us that GLaDOS’s promise of cake at the end of testing was a lie, after the end credits, we see a very much intact cake in an unknown area of the laboratory. It’d be hard to swallow though as we can’t imagine GLaDOS wouldn’t have poisoned it.

14 Worst: Necron Is The Final Boss (Final Fantasy IX)

Kuja might just be one of my favorite antagonists in the Final Fantasy series. That is why it was so disappointing to see him get the shaft at the end of FFIX. While Final Fantasy has never been a stranger to odd final battles, the revelation that Necron is the final boss battle in IX is kind of disappointing, especially when he essentially had nothing to do with the plot beforehand. It diminished Kuja’s villainy and made you wonder why Kuja just couldn’t have one more awesome form to battle than this out of left field mess.

13 Best: The End Of Crono (Chrono Trigger)

Despite being a silent protagonist, you can’t deny the appeal that Crono had in the original Chrono Trigger as he still maintained an upbeat and benevolent demeanor.

Still, his passing in the latter half of the game was a twist no one expected.

Knocking off the lead character is kind of a rarity in video games, especially only halfway through the game. Strangely enough, the game can be beaten without him entirely… but we prefer the ending where Crono is saved and brought back to kick Lavos’ behind.

12 Worst: Melissa Bergman Is Mother Brain (Metroid: Other M)

Most people probably wouldn’t put Metroid: Other M at the list of their top games. Even though it wasn’t a terrible game by any means, it was Team Ninja’s adaptation of Metroid lore that disappointed most fans. The game’s antagonist Melissa Bergman originally seems like one of the good guys, but eventually, the game’s twist kicks in… and Samus learns that Bergman is an android created under the AI of a once destroyed Mother Brain. Maybe a neat twist to keep Mother Brain in the series, but it is still admittedly groan worthy.

11 Best: Tidus Is Just A Dream (Final Fantasy X)

Even though I said claiming everything was a dream was lazy storytelling, Final Fantasy X put a different twist on the formula. Toward the end of Tidus and Yuna’s journey, players learn that Tidus is actually just a dream of the Fayth and will be no more once Sin is destroyed. What makes the twist so satisfying is that most of the game, we believe Yuna is the one to save the world by sacrificing herself, only to learn that its Tidus instead leading to one of the most emotionally charged endings in the series.