10 Best Gaming Secrets Kept Before Release
Who is this guy? Where's my Solid Snake?!
Nowadays, you can barely move without spoilers for absolutely everything leaking before its out. Whether it's a game, a movie or anything else, you'll need to keep your wits about you, avoid social media like the plague and possibly live in a cave for a month to avoid your hyped thing being completely ruined.
Throughout gaming history, there's been plenty of times things have been spoiled in advance, but there's also been some truly fantastic examples of excellent storytelling and unexpected surprises that somehow slipped through the cracks.
Many of these fine examples are from a time when the internet and social media wasn't as prevalent as it is now, but even with this, some of the more modern games still managed to get by and hide their big secrets until after they released.
So which of these games managed it? Which titles managed to keep a secret so well, it hits you like a freight train when it's finally revealed (whether it's good or bad or not is entirely up to you!).
Let's find out, shall we?
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It's worth noting that there are massive spoilers for some reasonably modern games ahead, including FF7 Remake and The Last of Us Part II. There are also some spoilers for some not-so-modern games which you really should have played by now.
10. You Play As Raiden In Metal Gear Solid 2
When Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was coming out, the hype was real.
This was the sequel to one of the most well-received games in gaming history, and in the build-up to release, it looked like everything we could have wanted.
Here was our trusty protagonist, Solid Snake, rendered in a visual fidelity we'd never seen before. We marvelled as he bungee jumped off a bridge onto a ship while hiding under stealth camouflage, and absolutely everything we saw in the build-up to release showcases that A) This looked amazing and B) we'd be playing as Solid Snake throughout.
Then, after just a few meagre hours of Solid Snake gameplay, it happened. Hideo Kojima pulled a fast one on all of us, and gone was Snake, replaced by Raiden and his stupid floppy blonde hair.
It was a true, actual WTF moment.
You've got to remember this was back in a time when the internet wasn't as prevalent as it was nowadays, so for the vast majority of people playing Metal Gear Solid 2, the switch from super badass Solid Snake to rubbish Raiden was a massive shock.
While the game itself is still extremely solid, the massive backlash towards Raiden as a protagonist forced Kojima to completely redevelop his character and turn him into a cyborg ninja, which is much more impressive than the annoying guy who was nothing compared to Snake.