10 Video Game Side Missions That MASSIVELY Change The Main Story

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl left quite a mark back in 2007. Set within an alternate timelime where a second nuclear disaster occurred in Chernobyl, you played an amnesiac man known as the Marked One, trying to kill the mysterious Strelok.

Discovering that you’re actually Strelok later on, it becomes clear there’s a wider conspiracy as you become aware of an artifact within the zone called the Wish Granter. Shadow of Chernobyl featured two “True” endings but in order to obtain these, you must have followed a quest to disable a Psi-Emitter within Lab X-16.

Then providing coordinates to a stash within Pripyat, this stash contains a decoder which can access a particular Sacrophagus door and upon entry, takes you to the Monolith Control Centre. From there you’ll get two choices, join with the C-Consciousness or refuse, and sequel entry Call of Pripyat confirms refusal as the canonical ending.

Its easy to miss in the larger plot but doing this mission changes the entire ending. Failing to obtain the Decoder instead leads to a variety of false endings, dependent on how you played. It’s a classic Monkey’s Paw however, as the Wish Granter corrupts any wish Strelok makes, leaving him to his fate.