Above: Altaïr doing his thing
The Situation: Welcome to the 12th century Holy Land! It’s a fun place where all major cities are within 15 minutes walking distance of each other. Main protagonist Altaïr has been tasked with the assassination of nine different individuals by his master – Al Mualim – in an effort to end the holy war brought on by the Crusades and to restore Altaïr’s lost honor among the assassins (he’s somewhat of a cod piece at the beginning of the game). Our emotionally vacant assassin soon discovers that these nine men are actually members of the Knight Templar and are seeking to force peace upon mankind through some unnatural means. Al Mualim seems to hold all the details…
The Twist: Al Mualim had been working with the Templar and used Altaïr to betray both them AND the assassins’ guild, grabbing a powerful ancient artifact for himself.
Above: What a kind face
Why You Saw it Coming: While it would be easy to think that Al Mualim is getting all his info from the Templar’s MySpace page, the scrupulous gamer will not be so naïve. Pretty much every assassination follows a rigid formula in which Altaïr must kill some corrupt politician/arms dealer/slaver/whatever only to find upon the actual killing that the target manages the local cancer clinic and spends his free time nursing sick puppies back to health. Every time Altaïr brings this to Al Mualim’s attention, the sneaky bastard placates Altaïr with something shiny so that he’ll shut up. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Silent Hill: Homecoming
Above: Alex Shepherd chilling in Silent Hill
The Situation: Alex Shepherd has returned to his hometown of Shepherd’s Glen to visit his family after being recently discharged from the military; however, not all is well at the homestead. Aside from having to deal with some pretty messed up nightmares, Alex finds both his younger brother and father are missing while his mother maintains all the cognitive functions of a cucumber. With the majority of Shepherd’s Glen seemingly abandoned, Alex investigates to find that his hometown has ties to the infamous Silent Hill and that the founding residents of Shepherd’s Glen have been using their children as ritual sacrifices to keep the monsters of Silent Hill at bay. Alex needs to find his brother Josh before it’s too late…
The Twist: Alex never was a soldier, but was the originally intended sacrifice. His father institutionalized him after he accidently killed his brother Josh and ruined the ritual of Shepherd’s Glen.
Why You Saw it Coming: Being the sixth iteration of the Silent Hill Franchise, any SH veteran can tell you that the background information of the main character for any of these games is almost always entirely false, so that immediately casts a shadow of doubt around Alex. Likewise, in every single flashback sequence, Alex is depicted as the black sheep while his brother Josh is coddled; thus, the moment you hear the words “ritual sacrifice,” you know exactly whom the Shepherd family nominated. If one of your kids is likely to be a doctor when he grows up and the other seems headed for juvie hall, which would you give up? Finally, Alex’s initial dream, in which he is strapped to a gurney in a hospital filled with screaming patients, is not-so-subtle evidence of his true origins, as well as the fact that he may have a few screws loose.
Have any of your own game plot twists that you totally called? Post them up!
Dec 2, 2010
The Top 7... Games that need prequels
We've heard their origins and back stories. Now we want to play them
A celebration of the games that turned good guys into unwitting villains
When cursing and confusion are your only reward
