20 Video Games That LIED (And Got Away With It)

The first instalment in Call of Duty's Black Ops series was released back in 2010 and takes place primarily during the Cold War. The game plays out through a series of flashbacks for the protagonist Alex Mason, who is initially being interrogated in an unknown location before the timeline jumps back through historical events such as the Bay of Pigs invasion and Vietnam. During one of these missions, when Mason is imprisoned in a Soviet Gulag, he meets a man called Viktor Reznov, and together they plan an elaborate escape. Reznov is then seen aiding him during future missions.

Initially, this feels like a standard Cold War espionage gig. However, it doesn't take long before you realise something's not adding up. It turns out, Mason's mind is fragmented, and his memories are heavily distorted. Reznov actually died during the prison escape, and all subsequent appearances are tricks Mason's mind is playing on him. Even worse, the Soviets have brainwashed him in order to use him as a sleeper agent, triggering him with a specific set of numbers.

While players believed Mason to be fighting the enemy, he has in fact been programmed to aid them all along, and it's even implied during the game's final interrogation segment that he was responsible for the assassination of JFK while under the control of the Soviets. It's quite the sequence of revelations, and it certainly helped to ensure that Call of Duty's Black Ops series started with a bang.