9 Mediocre Video Games Made Awesome By Twists

Spec Ops was quite the surprise when it launched in 2012. Made by Yager Development, this third-person cover shooter rebooted the franchise and took a different direction than the originals, presenting a much darker narrative than we were used to.

Playing as Captain Martin Walker, we found ourselves sent to a destroyed Dubai, coming to blows with commander John Konrad and his 33rd Battalion. It puts a heavy emphasis on morality and war’s devastating effects on soldiers. One example includes Walker’s use of white phosphorus against the 33rd so his team can advance, only to later discover they’d accidentally killed civilians.

Having faced several battles, Walker finally meets with Konrad and what follows is one of gaming’s greatest twists. Upon confronting him, Walker instead discovers his corpse, revealing Konrad’s been a hallucination all this time.

Having desperately tried to rationalise the white phosphorus attack, it becomes clear Walker’s been an unreliable narrator ever since. How he chooses to handle this guilt determines the ending, leading to Walker either shooting himself or trying to shoot “Konrad” and later calling in the military.

It’s not a flawless game, having faced criticism for its lack of replayability and average gameplay but its storyline turned it into a cult classic, cemented by this unexpected twist.