10 Video Game Fan Theories Better Than The Story We Got

7. The Conversations With The Cop In Max Payne 3 Are All In Max's Head

Max payne 3 ghost anders detling easter egg
Rockstar

Throughout Max Payne 3 you can stumble across an unlucky ex-cop, Anders Delting, who repeatedly finds himself caught up in the crossfire of your murderous rescue mission. Disregarding the gunfire heading in your direction, you can take the time to catch up with Anders whenever he pops up, as he discusses his idyllic family life that seems far-removed from the tense situations he's prone to finding himself in.

But Anders' strange placement throughout the game has actually been explained as the character being nothing more than a figment of Max's imagination. Specifically, Anders is what Max thinks he would have become if he wasn't consumed by his own boozing, self-loathing and lust for revenge. A beat cop with a white picket fence life and retirement around the corner? It sounds like everything Max was headed towards, before that fateful day in the first game.

Brilliantly, it elevates these strange moments to be more than just quick doses of comic relief, and adds another element of tragedy to Max's character by showing how fractured his psyche still is after all these years.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.