10 Legendary Video Game Plot Twists - Ranked From Dumb To Genius
3. BioShock - Would You Kindly?
Arguably the most famous twist in gaming, BioShock begins with your silent protagonist Jack being guided through Rapture by Atlas’ voice on the radio. This voice details life in Rapture, the powers of Frank Fontaine and Andrew Ryan, instructing you where to go and what to do, all with the cheery phrase ‘would you kindly’.
It turns out though that this is a hypnotic trigger phrase designed to control Jack, and that Atlas is in fact Frank Fontaine himself. As for Jack, he’s Andrew Ryan’s son, kidnapped by Fontaine.
It’s a deeply thematic twist, one which feeds into the idea of you playing a video game. You’re in control, except you’re not: like any game, there’s certain things you can’t do.
More than that though, while someone is pulling the puppet strings of Jack, it’s not you, but a different person entirely.
In fact, all three BioShock games could be here in one way or another. Having you play as a Big Daddy in 2 is kind of a twist, while the always a lighthouse, always a man, always a city reveal of Infinite was deeply divisive.
When it comes to legendary twists though, Would You Kindly is clearly the BioShock king.