8 Surprising Video Game Villain Turns You Never Saw Coming

7. Shelby - Heavy Rain

Heavy rain
Quantic Dream

Perhaps Quantic Dream's best game, Heavy Rain is all about the search for the Origami Killer, with both the player and the characters trying to figure out the criminal's true identity. There are plenty of red flags throughout the game, with the lovable everyman Ethan being the obvious suspect, but it turns out that it's the investigator on the case, Shelby, who's actually been behind the whole thing.

Although every game has an uphill battle when it comes to creating a twist like this, a title like Heavy Rain - which is all about the story - is walking on even thinner ice, as botching it could have killed any desire for players to go back through it all again.

Consequently, the eventual reveal is surprising (partly because it raises so many plot holes in hindsight, admittedly), yet it doesn't ruin the replay value because it completely recontextualises the entire game on a second playthrough.

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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.