With how heavily advertised and marketed most AAA video games are today, players usually know exactly what's in store for them before their new game has even finished downloading. While this helps players ensure that they don't spend money on a game that they don't like, it also takes away from some of the mystique and intrigue of firing up a new adventure.
Thankfully, some excellent games have been released over the years that have managed to hide shocking twists and turns or even significant portions of their core gameplay. The following games have shocked players in ways that have either excited them, made them laugh out loud, or utterly terrified them.
6 Doki Doki Literature Club!
Doki Doki Literature Club! was first released on PC in September 2017 before arriving on a multitude of other systems in June 2021 with the Plus! edition. When players first came across the game on PC stores in 2017, they understandably thought that the game was just some sort of anime dating simulator, as that's exactly how the game initially presents itself.
However, as players progressed through the game, it gradually became clear that all was not as it seemed. The game then dives into the depths of horror, with jump scares and disturbing visuals that will catch most players completely off guard. Doki Doki Literature Club! doesn't stop there, though, as it continues to subvert players' expectations by messing with them in ways they'd never expect, such as altering their PC files.
5 Subnautica
Like Doki Doki Literature Club! Unknown Worlds Entertainment's Subnautica is a horror game that doesn't tell players it's a horror game. While this approach is a risk - as some players will be put off by the game as soon as they realize it's scary - it's an effective form of horror as it catches players with their guard down and leaves them feeling vulnerable.
Subnautica wastes little time getting started, as it kicks off with players crash landing into the ocean of an alien planet. Players will then emerge from their life pod to see that their ship is on fire, and they're seemingly surrounded by nothing but water, leaving them no choice but to dive into the unknown. Initially, this may not worry some players, as the game's cover art - along with the first few underwater biomes - suggests that there are no great threats lurking under the water.
However, this couldn't be further from the truth, as when players begin diving deeper or traveling further from their life pod, they will come across terrifying creatures that make Subnautica one of the scariest games of the last decade.
4 The Witness
The Witness had a huge weight of expectations on its shoulders before its release, as the game was the first to be designed by Jonathan Blow since the hugely influential indie game Braid. Like Subnautica, The Witness wastes very little time getting started, as the game begins with players standing in a corridor without any idea where they are or what they're supposed to do. Players will then complete line puzzles in a small, enclosed area before opening a gate that will set them free in a gorgeous open world that they can explore in any direction.
Believe it or not, players can complete The Witness without ever discovering about half of its content. It turns out that the puzzles in The Witness aren't only confined to square grids, as there are hundreds of environmental puzzles that can be found all over the game's open world. Sooner or later, players looking for these puzzles will find that there's one almost everywhere players look, which is an incredible achievement in world design and will make players utter the phrase commonly associated with the game "it's all puzzles."
3 Spec Ops: The Line
Spec Ops: The Line was released in June 2012, a time when first-person shooters were dominating gaming's sales charts, with the Call of Duty and Battlefield franchises leading the way. The success of the franchises led to a plethora of copycats, many of which were of poor quality, as they were just trying to cash in on the hype.
Spec Ops: The Line initially appeared to be just another generic shooter, especially because its FPS gameplay was fairly run-of-the-mill. However, the game's story took players completely by surprise, as it shows the horrors of war in truly disturbing and unexpected ways.
2 The Stanley Parable
The Stanley Parable may seem like an odd choice for this list today, as the game’s twists and turns are so well known that it’s easy to forget how surprising and unpredictable the game was when it was first released.
The Stanley Parable became a huge hit with YouTubers at the time because of this, as many people tuned in to see their favorite influencer's reaction to some of the game's shocking and hilarious endings that can occur as players go against the narrator's directions.
1 Portal
Portal was first released in October 2007 and impressed fans and critics with its innovative puzzle mechanics that utilized the game's now-iconic portal gun.
The game puts players to the test in a series of chambers led by GLaDOS. However, as players reach the end of the tests, they are guided toward a flaming pit of death. Players can get away using their portal gun, though, leading to an unexpected final act where they must run and hide for their lives outside the chambers.
Portal does an excellent job of foreshadowing its twist for observant players, as there are a handful of hidden areas in the chambers with foreboding messages.