Video games – as with books, film, television, and any other major media – can provide highly engaging narratives taking audiences through an expansive spectrum of experience. Sometimes, these narrative experiences can even subvert audiences’ expectations by pulling sudden and alarming “swerves” in the plot ranging from major twists about characters’ identities or motivations to even larger revelations of the story’s setting. Here are some of the most shocking moments that rocked many a gamer to the core.

10. Slide Projector (Resident Evil, 1996 / 2002)

While being more of an understated “gotcha” reveal than a full-on shocking moment (with the protagonists never actually directly reacting to or commenting on it in-universe), there’s still a key sequence in the final section of both the 1996 original and 2002 remake versions of Resident Evil where players can find and view slides on an old slide projector. Already unsettling due to the slides showing detailed pictures and data on various monsters you’ve encountered throughout the game (including one not seen…yet), but the final slide quietly provides a massive swerve to the story.

9. Master Miller, or…? (Metal Gear Solid, 1998)

Putting aside the infamously brain-melting finale of MGS2 (which would require its own article to properly discuss), a shocking moment comes earlier near the end of the previous game from 1998 when it comes to light that the character “Master Miller” who had been helping players via remote contact is an imposter: because the real Miller was just found dead at his home. Now learning the nature of the ruse, and having just been duped into activating stolen nuclear weaponry, the fake Miller drops the act and mockingly addresses players in an all-too familiar voice.

8. Dracula – MIA (Castlevania: LoS, 2010)

Serving as the first entry in a new, separate continuity from the mainline Castlevania series, those playing through 2010’s Lords of Shadow will notice a very conspicuous absence by the time they reach and defeat the final boss (who, interestingly, turns out to be the literal Devil): the franchise’s primary antagonist himself, Count Dracula. However, in a then-unexplained final cutscene revealed to be set many centuries after the climax, we at long last see this continuity’s incarnation of the Lord of Vampires…only to find that this version of Dracula was effectively right under our noses.

7. The Calamity (TLoZ: Breath of the Wild, 2017)

Following in the footsteps of the original Legend of Zelda game from 1986, the central antagonist “Calamity” Ganon is hidden and completely unseen outside of a vaguely boar-shaped “shadow” of itself drifting around Hyrule Castle. However, when players can finally master the game enough to breach the castle’s innermost chamber, they’ll be faced with a giant, monstrous “cocoon” of sorts that soon bursts open – revealing a truly horrific, near-unrecognizable version of the franchise’s main foe.

6. The Prototype (Sonic Adventure 2, 2001)

In a similar vein to the entry above, but arguably even more shocking due to it only being hinted at in a very minor bit of dialogue much later in the story, the final adversary of Sonic Adventure 2 serves as one last “nasty surprise” left by the late Gerald Robotnik. Arriving at the core of the Eclipse Cannon (an orbital weapon capable of destroying Earth), Sonic and Shadow come face-to-face with the latter’s experimental “prototype,” and it’s a surprisingly twisted and visceral sight to behold.

5. A Burdensome “Truth” (Grandia II, 2000)

After having finally retrieved the Granasaber (a holy relic that surprisingly turns out to be an oddly futuristic airship) and taking it back to the Church of Granas (more or less the setting’s Vatican that worships the benevolent god Granas) to halt the reemergence of Valmar (an evil god), the heroes arrive to find the church’s enforcers slaughtering the surrounding village. Confronting and demanding answers from Pope Zera (the church’s ruling spiritual figure), the party’s retold the parable of the ancient battle between Granas and Valmar – but from a very different perspective.

4. A Missing History (Mega Man Legends 2, 2000)

Without going into too much detail here (since it’d be spoiling a subseries-wide reveal regarding the entire setting), the bizarre final boss of the previous game refers to the humans living on a now-flooded Earth as “Carbons” and briefly alludes to nebulous “systems” being in place for them. When these details (and even more shocking ones) are finally clarified towards the end of the sequel, a character corroborates this revelation by pointing out something troubling: “human history” is concerningly short, with no records existing beyond their collection of fully formed civilizations.

3. Worlds Apart…? (Xenoblade Chronicles 2, 2017)

Having finally reached and gained an audience with the god-like “Architect” (who has an unsettling resemblance to Zanza the Divine, the previous game’s main antagonist), the party is informed of the full, true nature of the world they’re attempting to save. However, the Architect also reveals that the seemingly unrelated worlds that XC1 and XC2 take place in have an immensely deeper connection than the heroes realize – and now with little time to save theirs.

2. Unfortunate Timing (Little Nightmares, 2017)

An already shocking moment in the morbid platformer Little Nightmares is the diminutive – but also alarmingly ruthless – protagonist’s hunger becoming so intense that she violently devours one of the many strange-yet-adorable gnome-like creatures seen throughout the setting (one ironically offering her food, even). However, it’s the ending of LN‘s DLC expansion (featuring another imprisoned child) that makes this scene worse: after being transformed into one of those gnome creatures, he wanders into a familiar-looking room…and sees a familiar-looking piece of food.

1. The Videotape (Silent Hill 2, 2001 / 2024)

Having already touched on the emotional impact of both the 2001 and 2024 versions of Silent Hill 2, the horrific and depressing journey of James Sunderland to find his late wife Mary (after somehow receiving a newly written letter from her) is already well-known for featuring many unsettling and shocking moments. However, the worst comes when James eventually finds and watches an old videotape in a hotel room that Mary and he shared: the video becomes intercut with grainy footage of Mary sleeping in her sickbed – with James coming up to her while holding something in his hands.