10 Earth-Shattering Video Game Plot Twists You Didn't See Coming

If the game you’re playing casually drops the name of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche then two things are guaranteed: it is going to mess with your mind, and it is going to get dark.

NieR: Automata tells the story of a group of androids fighting to reclaim Earth from a race of machines on behalf of humans who are believed to be sheltering on the Moon. But the fight is not going well, forcing the androids to make sacrifice after heart-breaking sacrifice.

However, the humans are long dead, knowledge deliberately concealed from the androids lest they loose their will to fight. It gets worse. We find out that the war between androids and machines is locked in an endless cycle: should the Androids ever gain the upper hand the system resets, restarting the conflict.

Worst of all it is revealed that 2B, the likeable android who is the game’s emotional core, is actually an ‘E,’ model an executioner whose purpose is to ruthlessly kill her fellow android 9S if he comes close to learning the truth about the humans. He remembers none of this, but she does, and it is slowly breaking her mind.

Mercifully the game can end on an optimistic note, but the toll of one hammer blow of a twist after another will leave you questioning the point of existence, just as the developers intended.