8 Video Game Plot Twists That Were Hiding In Plain Sight

6. Roland's Death Is Literally Spelled Out At The Start - Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2
2K

Roland's death in Borderlands 2 offers a surprising emotional peak for a game that is otherwise primarily concerned with giving players ridiculous weapons of mass destruction and dropping as many knob gags into the story as possible. Handsome Jack shoots him in the back in a genuinely shocking moment towards the end of the game, but his untimely demise had actually been signposted long before that.

In fact, it's right there in giant letters the very first time you meet him.

During his introduction, Roland is sat on the bed of his cell as he talks to the player, and on the wall right behind him, in gigantic letters, are the words "YOU DIE" written in an ominous red.

At the time it's easy to ignore it as simply a bit of scene dressing to make his introduction more visually interesting; just a random, stylised addition that's on brand with everything else in the world of Borderlands. In hindsight though, this warning makes his ultimate fate extremely obvious.

Advertisement
Contributor

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.