10 Comics & Novels That Answer MAJOR Video Game Plot Points

Why did Saren fall to an ancient starship in Mass Effect? What's that purple stuff in Sonic 2?

Mass Effect Illusive Man
Bioware

Have you ever finished a game and felt short-changed by certain plot points? Well, thanks to the beauty of expanded media, there's a strong chance those plot points have been filled out further!

As games become more and more narrative-heavy, there's only so much story the devs can pack in to their game. This gives plenty of opportunity for the story to be expanded further outside of the game and many studios are now doing this by expanding their lore through tie-in novels and comics.

Of course, if you never read these tomes or graphical extravaganzas you'll probably still end up completely baffled by why certain characters are doing certain things with absolutely no context.

Never fear though - I'm here to wade through the complicated world of expanded video game fiction and let you know how some major plot points are resolved if you're willing to go a little further.

10. Batman: Arkham City - How And Why Was Arkham City Made?

Mass Effect Illusive Man
Warner Bros.

There's a pretty hefty time jump in between the events of Rocksteady's Batman games, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. The sequel doesn't really do a great job of explaining why a massive super-prison has been erected in the city, so along comes expanded media to fill in the gaps!

To tie-in with the sequel's release, Rocksteady and DC Comics released a comic entitled Batman: Arkham City. This was designed to fill in the blanks between the games, and was penned by legendary comics writer Paul Dini (writer of Batman the Animated Series).

At the end of Asylum, the Joker injected himself with a huge amount of Titan formula and destroyed a significant part of the Asylum itself. This, meant there was absolutely no place for Batman's dangerous supervillains to be housed.

In the confusion surrounding the evening, Quincy Sharp, warden of Arkham Asylum, takes the credit for Batman's actions and becomes mayor of Gotham.

Sharp is manipulating the people all along - Sharp uses the public anger to declare martial law and give himself complete control of the city. He then begins the process of walling off a significant portion of the city to create a new super-prison: Arkham City.

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Dan Curtis is approximately one-half videogame knowledge, and the other half inexplicable Geordie accent. He's also one quarter of the Factory Sealed Retro Gaming podcast.