Some players come to video games to be moved, or intrigued, by a story, the same way they would go to the cinema to have their mind blown by a movie. There are plenty of examples of video game stories that have quality writing, like Baldur’s Gate 3, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and The Last of Us.
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Then there are games with wildly imaginative stories that are hard to follow or that make no sense, but they are fun to play through anyway. They may require additional materials to help players understand them, from articles to video essays, but that doesn’t detract from their overall entertainment value.
Spoilers Ahead
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
Who’s The Boss?
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
- Released
- September 1, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Kojima Productions
- Genre(s)
- Action, Open-World
Most of the Metal Gear games come across as a bit unhinged or nonsensical simply because they are both grounded and supernatural at the same time. The final entry, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, is perhaps the best example. The story begins in Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes, a sort of prologue game where Big Boss is sent into a base to recover allies. On the way out, their helicopter explodes, leading to the beginning of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, where Big Boss must escape a hospital being overrun by enemy soldiers, a flaming paranormal entity, and the sighting of a whale in the sky.
It is beyond bizarre, but eventually, Big Bobb will recover, be brought to Mother Base, and be renamed Venom Snake, which is when the real game begins. In the finale, it is revealed to players that they were not Big Boss the whole time. Instead, they were a random soldier who received plastic surgery to take on the guise of Big Boss to fool their enemies, while the real Big Boss was out doing other missions. It’s an elaborate twist that goes through such leaps in logic that it almost feels like a twist just to be a twist. This isn’t even considering the other wild things in the plot, from the aforementioned flaming man to a plant woman.
Kingdom Hearts 3
The Culmination Of Darkness
Kingdom Hearts 3
- Released
- January 25, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ due to Alcohol Reference, Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
Kingdom Hearts 3 is the culmination of eight other major games in the series that took seventeen years to come together, all working to tell the story of Sora, who had a simple dream: to explore other worlds. The first game was relatively simple as Sora was whisked away from his home world and led into others through inter-dimensional doorways. With a magic sword called a Keyblade, he fights monsters called Heartless and seals these doorways to prevent corruption. The sequel is when things started to get hairy narrative-wise with new entities called Nobodies and the prominence of Organization 13 on full display.
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Kingdom Hearts 3 had to deal with answering a lot of questions from every game in the series, which became convoluted with every single new entry serving to seemingly prolong this simple narrative of a boy going on Disney adventures. There are body doubles, digital doubles, how and where powers come from, and so on. Even players who played through every game had trouble figuring things out, and Kingdom Hearts 3 was effectively the end of the first saga, all surrounding the actions of a single villain, Xehanort, and his conquest to become a god. As hard as it is to follow, the Kingdom Hearts franchise is beloved for its gameplay, characters, and upward positivity, and the first two games are considered some of the best JRPGs of all time.
Final Fantasy 15
The Quest For A Budget
Final Fantasy 15
- Released
- November 9, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Language, Mild Blood, Partial Nudity, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
Final Fantasy 15 had a troubled development cycle, to say the least. First announced in 2006 as a spinoff to Final Fantasy 13 called Versus Final Fantasy 13, before getting rebranded and launching in 2016. In those ten years, the story changed several times, which could be one reason why it feels like it falls apart halfway through. The first half is solid enough, involving a runaway prince, Noctis, traveling the world with his three best bros. The goal is to gather as much power as possible from lost tombs to help fight back against an empire that is taking control. The gameplay is action-based, and the world is open, giving players plenty to do.
However, in the second half, it becomes more linear, and party members disappear for long periods or altogether, which is later explained in DLC episodes. The DLC was made in an effort to clarify things, which it does, but it doesn’t help the fact that the endgame is still rushed. The last act of the game skips ahead ten years, during which time Noctis goes to sleep to harness his power. While he sleeps, the empire's strength grows, and monsters are everywhere. Once Noctis wakes up, it’s a race to the finish line, where nothing really gets explained as to what happened while he was asleep. Also, the main villain, Ardyn, doesn’t get much screen time, so why he is the villain is not really clear, even with his DLC episode. From time jumps to developmental problems, Final Fantasy 15's story asks a lot of players.
Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille Zur Macht
Angels In Space
Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
- Released
- February 25, 2003
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood and Gore, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Monolith Soft
- Genre(s)
- JRPG
Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht is the first game in what became a trilogy on the PS2. Like Kingdom Hearts 3, it may be better to nominate the final game in the trilogy since it, too, has a lot of narrative questions it must answer. That said, this original game starts at an eleven and only gets more complex, so it is the better choice overall. The game begins with archeologists on Earth uncovering an artifact called the Zohar before jumping ahead about 4,000 years. Humans are at war with aliens called the Gnosis, which can damage humans and technology, but they are invisible to mankind without an energy source present to make them solid. That’s where Shion and her research team come in, who are developing a robot, KOS-MOS, that can fight these aliens more effectively.
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That’s a basic enough start, but then the Zohar is added to the mix, and an evil cult that wants to use it to control the power of god appears. There are cyborgs, angels, doppelgängers, clones, mechs, and so much more. The game tries to blend science fiction with religious architecture, which makes it interesting for an RPG, but players really need to pay attention to the lengthy cutscenes and codexes to make sense of any of it. By the end of the trilogy, Jesus essentially gets involved, and the road to get there starts with the densely packed Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht. It’s a confusing but enjoyable ride, as are many Xeno projects out there.
Heavy Rain
The Missing Link
Heavy Rain
- Released
- February 23, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Quantic Dream
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
Heavy Rain is the type of thrilling adventure game that players will play through once and think it is an amazing story with a brilliant twist. Then, after thinking about it, the narrative starts to fall apart completely. Actions and choices made by all four playable characters will affect how the story plays out, which can include every character dying at some point. The game starts with Ethan, who loses his son, Jason, in a mall. This ends with Jason getting hit by a car and thus ruining Ethan’s life. From there, players also get to play as Madison, a reporter, Scott, a private investigator, and Norman, an FBI agent, all of whom are looking into murders revolving around the Origami Killer. As for Ethan, he is the next victim chosen; to be more precise, his other son, Shaun, is kidnapped.
Ethan must then go through a series of trials orchestrated by the Origami Killer, like driving against traffic and crawling through glass. The idea is that by proving himself worthy, Ethan can find Shaun, who will then be released. There are red herrings scattered throughout the game to make players think Ethan is actually the killer, as he blacks out frequently and even wakes up with origami animals in his possession. Why this happens isn’t explained, and Scott is actually the Origami Killer. His chapters have plot holes since the player’s actions contradict what Scott is trying to do in the story. These are only a few examples, but even though there are a lot of confusing dead ends to justify the twist at the end, Heavy Rain is still worth one playthrough just to see how wild things get.
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