15 Video Game Plot Twists That We Definitely Didn't See Coming

BioShock has an absolutely mind-numbing twist that could only be pulled off by a video game. The player controls the mysterious Jack, a plane crash survivor who must venture through a terrifying underwater city overrun with lunatics. The city's leader is Andrew Ryan, who is fighting a bloody civil war against the enigmatic Atlas. Atlas directs Jack through many perilous situations, with the ultimate goal of taking Ryan down for good.

Whenever Atlas requests something of Jack, he begins his sentence with the phrase "would you kindly." While at first, this pattern can easily go unnoticed, it is eventually revealed in a shocking twist that Jack has been brainwashed before the start of the game to comply with any instruction that begins with those words.

Knights of the Old Republic is regarded by many as the greatest Star Wars story ever told, and for good reason. Throughout the adventure, the player hears stories of Darth Revan, the Jedi hero who traveled beyond known space, only to return with a mighty Sith invasion force, as well as Malak, his apprentice.

Much of the story involves retracing Revan and Malak's steps in order to figure out why the Jedi turned to the dark side. What the player ultimately discovers is horrifying: you've been controlling Revan all along. His memory has been wiped by the Jedi, who are using him to reveal the secret behind the Sith's power. 

Silent Hill 2 is a horrifying trip through guilt, regret, pain, and suffering. At the center of the story is James Sunderland, who arrives in Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his dead wife saying that she's waiting in their "special place." What begins as a nightmarish mission to rescue his wife soon becomes a masochistic tale of redemption, as it's revealed late in the game that James killed his wife, and that the letter is actually a blank piece of paper.

James has been driven mad by his guilt, and everything he experiences in Silent Hill is a physical manifestation of his repressed emotions. The whole thing makes you think a little differently about the hyper-sexualized monsters you've been killing...

Red Dead Redemption features one of the most tragic twists in video game history. After plenty of trials and tribulations, former outlaw John Marston manages to take down every member of his old gang in order to save his wife and son from a corrupt Bureau of Investigation.

Once the shooting and killing is done, Marston retires to his ranch to live a simpler life. Little does he know that the Bureau of Investigation plans to kill him once he's completed his mission. The player is forced to take on a line of heavily armed agents, a standoff that Marston has zero chance of surviving. 

In an epilogue chapter, Marston's son Jack hunts down and kills the crooked agent that orchestrated the murder of his dad.

The biggest shock in Final Fantasy VII comes around halfway through the game when Aerith, one of the main characters in the story, is killed by Sephiroth. One of the most heroic characters in the game, Aerith may hold the secret to saving her planet, but she's cut down by the villain before she can get the job done. Although she's teased as a potential love interest for protagonist Cloud Strife, their relationship never comes to fruition due to Aerith's sudden death. 

The first twist in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty comes about a third of the way into the game, when the story jumps in time and introduces a new protagonist named Raiden. Players who thought that they'd be playing as the iconic Solid Snake were taken for a ride, as Raiden infiltrates an enemy base in order to save the President of the United States. 

To make things even crazier, it is revealed that Raiden's entire mission is a simulation orchestrated by shadowy forces, meant to recreate Solid Snake's mission in the first Metal Gear Solid.