10 Video Games That Open On MAJOR Plot Twists

9. The Animus - Assassin's Creed

Mass Effect 2 Shepard
Ubisoft

The marketing for Assassin's Creed did a masterful job of hiding a plot twist which was revealed in the game's first few minutes, and one which drastically altered player perception of the series.

Though the trailers suggested that Assassin's Creed was simply an action-adventure game set in 1191 AD, in reality this wasn't true at all.

After a trippy opening tutorial sequence, it's revealed that the actions of "protagonist" Altaïr are actually a series of genetic memories being experienced by his descendant, a bartender named Desmond Miles, who is partaking in an experiment in 2012.

At the behest of a shadowy organisation called Abstergo Industries, a machine called the Animus is able to translate these genetic memories into a simulated reality for Desmond to participate in.

Needless to say, fans were stunned at both the twist and how impressively the leak-prone Ubisoft had kept their big secret under wraps.

Though the modern-day storyline has divisively been de-emphasised in more recent Assassin's Creed games, it's still one of the medium's all-time game-changing reveals.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.