All of us take pleasure in an sudden twist in a narrative. Villains, specifically, can develop into tiring after they’re absolutely revealed and introduced outright from the start of the plot. That being stated, some video games strive a bit too exhausting to shock their viewers.
If a villain’s id and function are apparent, don’t deal with the viewers as in the event that they’re idiots and do not know. Nicely, until 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
![Can I play as Venom?](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Can-you-play-as-Venom-in-Spider-Man-2-1.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Everybody’s needed Venom to return to gaming in an enormous approach. Positive, 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 may inform you 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 combating facet by facet till a darkish alleyway slowly uncovers Venom’s chilling voice and iconic face. From then onwards, followers regarded ahead to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 that includes Venom in an enormous approach.
Future trailers went on to slant it as if Peter Parker was going to develop into Venom, however all of us knew who the first host was from the primary sport. Think about us all shocked when Spider-Man 2 releases and Venom’s actual id finally ends up being precisely what the ending of Spider-Man 1 confirmed us.
Dragon Lord: Any Dragon Quest Recreation
![mordegon bass battle dragon quest](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ScreenHunter-191.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Dragon Quest is as basic as JRPGs get. You could have a typical save-the-world plot crammed with tropes you’ve seen a dozen occasions. 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 can be thriller and intrigue as to who’s actually pulling the strings behind all of the village burnings and monster hordes.
Nicely, as you possibly can most likely 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 principally absent of character depth till the eighth entry after we obtained to see some moments from the villain’s perspective.
The newest in the primary franchise, Dragon Quest XI, nonetheless retains the custom of a Dragon Lord villain archetype alive and effectively. I nonetheless laughed a little bit 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 best way 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
![portrait of masoyoshi shido](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ScreenHunter-190-1.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Persona 5 lacks subtlety in many various areas. The unabashed artwork type and daring colours are fantastic of their putting lack of subtlety, in contrast to some heavy-handed elements within the narrative. From the primary moments within the sport, you’re launched to a complete scumbag of a politician: Shido. The sport hits you over the pinnacle in regards to the circumstances attributable to Shido consistently. You’ll start to see sure scenes in your real-life goals due to how typically they get repeated within the sport. Persona 5 is a sport that loves to make use of flashbacks, and it actually doesn’t disguise that reality.
It’s completely hilarious, then, when your complete social gathering is shocked to study that Shido is certainly the one accountable for the primary character’s predicament. What makes this specific 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: Fireplace Emblem Fates
![garon portrait](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ScreenHunter-189.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
The villain of Fireplace 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 unique perspective with every. Birthright follows the Hoshido facet of the battle, whereas Conquest follows the extra bloodthirsty Nohr. Whatever the model/route, you’ll develop into acquainted with Nohr’s military and shortly notice who the primary 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 disguise that reality.
It’s partially because of this that many followers contemplate Conquest the extra fascinating path to take. Combating the evil empire from the within is simply a lot extra fascinating and intriguing than combating from the standard ‘good man’ kingdom. After all, Conquest provides an extra glimpse at King Garon and simply how stereotypical of an evil king he’s within the sport. To reiterate, Garon isn’t even revealed because the villain till chapter three of the marketing campaign, some extent at which all of us obtained the trace already.
Jason Todd: Arkham Knight
![arkham knight portrait](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ScreenHunter-188.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Each side of Arkham Knight’s id was constructed to be tremendous apparent to followers very early within the sport. Jason Todd isn’t actually current all through the earlier video games within the sequence, so the flashbacks with him and Batman tip the participant off that he’ll get ample display screen time sooner or later later within the sport. On the similar time, Arkham Knight is introduced because the mysterious villain that can confront Batman later. The alarm indicators had been ringing very loud for the eventual reveal. It wasn’t simply that the reveal had a whole lot of foreshadowing and apparent buildup although, there have been additionally unintentional spoilers within the costumes.
Many gamers discovered the id of Arkham Knight from the costume display screen. You might be firstly of the sport innocently looking the completely 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: Last Fantasy X
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Has there ever been a extra apparent musical cue for a villain in all of fiction than Seymour in Last Fantasy X? It’s actually exhausting to beat the blatantly sinister “Dun, DUN, DUUUUNNNN!” music enjoying because the menacing Seymour Guado walks towards the social gathering. Seymour’s Theme is pure villainy in musical type, so listening to it for the primary time hooked up 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 thing about Seymour screams, “Take a look at me, I’m tremendous evil.”
But, Last 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 primary protagonists and has a quiet and reserved persona. 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 persona made us all of the extra suspicious of his true nature.
Lysandre: Pokemon X/Y
![lysandre portrait with his pokemon](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/pcom-spotlight-lysandre-169.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Pokemon X/Y’s Staff Flare is what you get if you mix the cartoony tone of Staff Rocket with the sobering philosophizing of a madman. The chief of Staff 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 in consequence.
We’re purported to take him severely, however he’s introduced so cartoonishly it’s unimaginable to. However what places him on this checklist isn’t his tropey presentation, it’s how the protagonists react to him. The social gathering is definitely shocked when it’s revealed that Lysandre is the evil chief of Staff 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
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The primary Resident Evil pulls off the traitor trope effectively, even whether it is manifestly 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 crew as much as search the humongous mansion.
You go many hours and not using 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 nervous 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 identify can 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 goal his gun at her, Jill is shocked to study the reality. We will’t blame Jill for being surprised in such a worrying scenario, 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
![dr light questioning dr cossack](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ScreenHunter-185-01.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
A basic amongst classics. Mega Man 4 was the primary sport within the sequence to introduce a primary villain that wasn’t Dr. Wily … till the very finish of the sport. Wily was thought to have been useless because the occasions of Mega Man 3. Mega Man and Dr. Mild now must cope with a brand new evil Robotic Grasp, however this time he’s Russian. The most important indication that Cossack was a purple herring of a villain was how he popped out of nowhere. Even the illustrious Dr. Mild wasn’t aware of Dr. Cossack when he obtained the message from this self-appointed genius.
Mega Man 4 is probably 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 primary villain aside from, “Belief me, bro. I’m the massive dangerous … and someway 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 shocking within the least.
Kain: Last Fantasy IV
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We finish this checklist with one other true basic: Last Fantasy IV. This was the primary FF sport 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 together with your finest bud named, you guessed it, Kain. The identify itself is a useless giveaway of how traitorous this buddy would develop into. However biblical allegories apart, the truth that you begin out burning villages ought to be sufficient of a touch that the Dragoon Captain Kain can be hassle down the road.
Last Fantasy IV can’t actually be blamed for being spinoff and trope-infested; in any case, it established what story-driven RPGs regarded like in gaming. However it will possibly’t be neglected that the social gathering someway 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 buddy 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 meant to mock the video games herein however somewhat to have fun and honor the custom of surprises and twists in video video games. After all, many of those examples had been lower than delicate in the best way they dealt with the shock reveals, however some had been deliberately apparent and enjoyable. For those who’re curious, we’ve obtained extra options and enjoyable high 10s right here on Twinfinite, equivalent to our checklist of most ugly Mortal Kombat fatalities.