The devil's in the detours
Fun fact: the first Halo novel was published in 2001, and now you feel old. Supplementary material for games has been around for decades, but these days the medium is inundated with it. Now you can expect annualized novel releases to go along with every Assassin's Creed, and it's a surprise that Call of Duty DLC maps dont get their own comic books. Still, for the benefit of those uninterested in reading stuff, most of these tie-ins are fairly easy to ignore. In the end, anything they say can be easily picked up from the games they're based on.
Haytham became a Templar after his father's murder (Assassin's Creed: Forsaken)
Haytham is the black sheep of the Kenway family. A Templar caught between Edward and Connor, his Assassin father and son, he is undoubtedly the biggest killjoy at Assassin Christmas parties. This raises the question of how and why Haytham jumped ship, which is never answered in either Assassins Creed III or IV. That seems like a glaring oversight... until you read Assassin's Creed: Forsaken, where you find out that Haytham became a Templar following his father's brutal murder.
The events of Halo happen because Cortana and Master Chief met (Halo: The Fall of Reach)
The combination of a virtually fathomless brain paired with indestructible brawn, Cortana and Master Chiefs partnership is critical to the Halo series from the start. The galaxy, not to mention the universe, owes a lot to those two, as it would have been obliterated more than a few times by now if they'd never paired up. In fact, according to the tie-in novel Halo: The Fall of Reach, the events of the Halo series (and the resulting non-destruction of the universe) only happen because these two met.
Portal wouldn't have happened without Doug Rattmann (Portal: LAB RAT)
In case you ever wondered who you can thank and/or blame for "The cake is a lie!" look no further than Dr. Doug Rattmann. Not that you'd know who that is if you only played Portal, the game from which he originates, as it simply shows the creepy dens where his graffiti is scribbled. You only learn his true identity from the Portal comic book, LAB RAT, where you find out he's the only reason Chell gets to go toe-to-terabyte with GLaDOS at all.
Final Fantasy VII's Advent Children is coherent (Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile)
Well here's an interesting one: tie-in material for the tie-in material! That's the most apt way to describe Final Fantasy VII's On the Way to a Smile. A short-story collection, it details the events that take place immediately prior to Advent Children, and does its best to plug the movie's many gushing plot holes.
Orc Warchief Thrall is a rags-to-riches story (Warcraft Legends)
Warcraft doesn't sneak info into its tie-in material--it crams in as much as will fit and struggles to get the zipper closed. Much of the Crafts lore is covered exclusively in its 21 novels, six manga series, 11 comic books, and plethora of other side projects, only to be introduced into the games with little explanation. One of the best examples is Thrall, Warchief of the Orcs, who the games don't tell you started life as an orphan in a human internment camp.
Shepard is alive because of Liara (Mass Effect: Redemption)
It's safe to say that the beginning of Mass Effect 2 is a bit... vague. Following an attack that wrecks the Normandy and blasts Shepard into the vacuum of space, s/he wakes up two years later in the middle of a lockdown with zero clue how s/he survived. There's a vague explanation involving Cerberus and the Lazarus Project, and a nod in Liara's direction, but not much besides. It's only through the Mass Effect: Redemption comic that it becomes clear how deeply Liara was involved.
Ridley eats people to regenerate (Metroid manga)
There's enemies who won't die, there's enemies that just won't ****ing die goddamJFDL;AFDS, and then there's Ridley. Samus' forever foe, he has a nasty habit of coming back from violently explosive deaths. Plus, no amount of destruction can seem to get rid of him. While sometimes his immortality is helped along by robotic enhancements or cloning, neither of those is the true secret to his regeneration. That only comes up in the 2002 Metroid manga series, which establishes that his secret to youthful perfection is eating people.
Team Fortress 2 has an extensive storyline and character development (All Team Fortress side material)
At first glance, you might think Team Fortress 2 is about shooting things and wearing hats. However, nothing could be further from the truth. It's about a grudge between brothers, nefarious organizations, robot armies, and shooting things and wearing hats. And if you want to learn about any of that (except the shooting and the hats--have we covered that part?), you'll have to look to the game's side material.
If you were a REAL fan, you'd know
While we can pinpoint critical tie-in exclusives 'til the Last Guardian novelization comes out, these are some of the biggest ones out there to help get you started. Planning on picking any of these up? Seen any yourself and up to assessing their quality? Or are you in the camp that says all tie-in-exclusive info should die in an all-inclusive blaze? Tell us in the comments below.
