10 Characters Who KNEW They Were In Video Games
9. Max Payne - Max Payne
From over the top to an on-the-nose nod to gaming itself, written well and disguised as an overdose episode. Max Payne isn’t someone you’d usually recognise as being a meta character, rarely referencing video games or, really, having any grasp on his own reality. Generally, he’s drugged up and lubricated with plenty of whiskey, but in this particular sequence he’s been overdosed and left to his own torment.
Inside a burning building, hearing the cries of the people he couldn’t save, Max comes across pages of a graphic novel based around his life. It starts off quite blunt, literally telling him, “You’re in a computer game, Max.”
Max then goes on to ramble about weapon statistics hanging in the air out
the corner of his eye; endless repetition
of the act of shooting and time
slowing down to show off his moves.
At this point, in his nightmare-like state, Max knows he’s in a computer game and recognises the heads-up display and bullet time to boot. It’s hard to tell if this video game specific paranoia ever continues. What we do know is that Max always feared losing control.