When video game franchises become large enough to be self-contained universes, chances are high that their stories and plotlines split into various side-stories and converge in climactic finishes. Some examples of these are stories of protecting an ancient world from threats in The Elder Scrolls, Commander Shepard stopping the colonization of the galaxy in Mass Effect, and even preventing the forces of the Burning Hells to conquer the world in Diablo.
However, some stories get so expansive that ideas devs introduced in one game get completely forgotten in the next installment. While some of these elements can be ignored as new entries tell new stories, some sequels in other game franchises completely forgot about rather big revelations they’ve spilled in preceding titles.
8 Assassin’s Creed: Who Is Eve?
Throughout the Assassin’s Creed series, players take on the role of modern-day participants of the Animus Project in a bid of further understanding their ancestors in various points of history. Throughout the first trilogy - Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations - players cross paths with an individual known as Subject 16. Also known as Clay Kaczmarek, it’s soon revealed that he was the predecessor of the game’s protagonist, Desmond Miles, and has been driven to instability through prolonged exposure in the Animus.
Even after his death, Subject 16 periodically helps Desmond overcome various challenges within the Animus. However, a vital piece of information about Subject 16 is his insistence for Desmond to find Eve the first woman. He even implies that locating her and her bloodline has some manner of importance with the larger scheme of events. Considering that Subject 16 actually met Juno of the Isu race, this warning seemed important in the early days of Assassin’s Creed. Unfortunately, this plot point was never explored again in future entries despite Subject 16’s participation as a minor character in some of them.
7 Batman - Arkham: What Happened To Black Mask Vs. Joker?
Considered by many as one of the best Batman games to ever grace gaming devices, the Batman: Arkham series shows a grittier and more high-tech Batman fighting crime in an open world version of Gotham. And as with other Batman stories, Arkham gives Batman’s Rogues Gallery slight twists to make them unique to the games. In Batman: Arkham Origins for instance, Joker actually takes over Black Mask’s gang and has its former leader hostage. While Batman reluctantly rescues the villain, Black Mask declares that the Joker is “his kill” and Batman shouldn’t touch him.
Unfortunately, the Black Mask doesn’t follow through with this threat in any part of the game, story mode or otherwise. In fact, he’s last seen in a Most Wanted mission that doesn’t have anything to do with the Joker. The last big thing the Black Mask does is within the Batman: Akrham Origins Blackgate sidescroller, where Black Mask ends up in the same prison as the Joker and the former is seen attempting to destroy the whole of Blackgate. While the reason for this is largely unknown, some fans may see this as Black Mask’s attempt to fulfill this threat - but this is never revealed.
6 Command & Conquer: Will The Scrin Ever Invade Earth?
It’s in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars where players discover the true reason behind the mysterious appearance and spread of Tiberium on Earth: the Scrin. Apparently, the alien race Scrin uses Tiberium to “infect” worlds and make it hospitable for their species, with the subsequent arrival of Tiberium on Earth in the 90s being a precursor to their eventual colonization. Unfortunately, this happened in conjunction with the Tiberium Wars, where Earth’s Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the enigmatic Brotherhood of Nod continue to fight for supremacy over the world’s Tiberium resources.
By the end of Tiberium Wars, it’s revealed that the Scrin “forces” that players fight as either faction is actually just a mining colony. Their conflict has alerted the entire Scrin fleet to arm themselves and launch a full-scale assault. Unfortunately, this plot point is utterly dismissed in Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight. Instead, this game simply has Kane aiming to use a mysterious Scrin artifact to open a portal for his “ascension” and stop his curse of being doomed to walk the Earth forever.
5 Kingdom Hearts: What Happened If Outsiders Get Involved Too Much?
Contrary to other games, Kingdom Hearts makes the unprecedented move of not just crossing over Disney and Final Fantasy worlds, but also doing so in a way that involves a war between Light and Darkness. In Kingdom Hearts, Sora of Destiny Island is given the Keyblade, a weapon that allows him to traverse across worlds, which he uses to try and save his friends Riku and Kairi. Throughout the journey, Sora teams up with Disney staples Donald and Goofy as they venture across world after world in a retelling of popular Disney and Final Fantasy stories.
Thing is, the game at some point warns Sora that they’re not allowed to interfere with the businesses of other worlds. Not only that, but Sora’s continued interference apparently has grave consequences down the line. Unfortunately, this warning is forgotten entirely, with the rest of the main games further “encouraging” the process. While Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep tries to establish that interfering with another world’s affairs is fine as long as the existence of other worlds aren’t revealed, this subject isn’t entirely explored in dialogue anyways.
4 Marvel Ultimate Alliance: Did Galactus Ever Attack?
Heroes of Marvel Comics unite in Marvel Ultimate Alliance as Doctor Doom launches a full-blown invasion against Earth, systematically disabling the world’s most powerful heroes while accumulating enough power to be unstoppable. In a last-ditch effort to defeat Doom, the world’s heroes acquire various mystical items of unimaginable power, one of which was the Ultimate Nullifier capable of destroying anything in existence. Unfortunately for the heroes, they had to face Galactus the World-Eater in order to acquire it from him.
While the heroes eventually defeat Doom, the post-credits scene of the game imply Galactus wanted revenge and was preparing an assault against Earth. Unfortunately, this plot point was only mentioned en passing during Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 in favor of loosely following the story of Marvel’s Civil War storyline.
3 Mega Man X: Who Was Sigma’s Partner?
After the grim events of the Repliforce War in Mega Man X4, it’s Mega Man X5 that was supposed to be the climactic finish of the Mega Man X series. In here, new Maverick Hunters leader Signas tasks X and Zero to assemble the Enigma Cannon, a powerful device that can destroy Eurasia before the terrorist who took over of the colony causes a catastrophic collision with Earth. However, it doesn’t help that Sigma’s final stand involves scattering the Sigma Virus all over the world, forcing X and Zero to work on two (2) tasks at once.
During the confrontation against Sigma, the villain reveals a whole new body as well as a short monologue detailing its creation by a reliable “partner.” He hints that this “old man” was a partner of X’s who now hates the Maverick Hunter, as well as someone with enough knowledge about Zero that it’s hinted that it may be his father. While Sigma once again returns for X6 until X8, the identity of this mysterious partner was never revealed. This turned out to be quite a bummer, especially since Sigma seemed to be setting up this partner to be another powerful villain to fear.
2 Tom Clancy: What Was Megiddo?
Fans of Tom Clancy games know its game worlds to be both realistic and consistent - qualities that boosted its appeal to fans of military fiction. This is why it’s not much of a surprise when the terrorist activities thwarted by the Rainbow team in Rainbow Six Vegas and the attempt of Russian ultranationalists to take over Russia in HAWX 2 was implied to have been masterminded by the same organization. This is further explored in Splinter Cell: Conviction, when Sam Fisher discovers a secret society known only as Megiddo that was controlling the activities of nations behind the scenes.
However, Ubisoft seemed to abandon this overarching villain route entirely. During the events of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, which took place during the same war as the one in HAWX 2, it’s revealed that an arms dealing organization known as Raven’s Rock was the one responsible for instigating the future conflict. Not only that, but Conviction’s sequel Splinter Cell: Blacklist and subsequent Tom Clancy games never mentioned this organization again.
1 Yakuza: Was Kiryu And Kaoru Going To Be A Thing?
Kaoru Sayama was a breath of fresh air players of the Yakuza franchise needed as protagonist Kazuma Kiryu expanded his worldviews during Yakuza 2, Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza 3. While only a minor character in the third game, Kaoru was an instrumental character in the second game as she’s tasked to put Kiryu in protective custody as she investigates the Tojo Clan.
This temporary alliance soon developed into a peculiar friendship, and one where Kaoru would eventually start to have feelings for the protagonist. However, the eventual games slowly demonstrated that the series didn’t want Kiryu to be solely tied to a single leading lady, with Kaoru eventually disappearing altogether after the events of the third game.