Games started with concepts as stories and not branching narratives that took hours to complete. For example, the goal in Super Mario Bros. was to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser, although those names weren’t official quite yet. Following the NES, stories started to become more complex in positive ways, and even the best ones can be hard to figure out alone.
They may have complex themes or take place in other parts of the world where certain cultural aspects aren’t normal for everyone. It can also just be fun to call a friend or go on a message board to discuss the following games because they go wild at the end.
Warning
There will be spoilers.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Nothing Is Real
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s story focuses on the titular Expedition 33, which travels across the sea to face a magical being known as The Paintress, who has been erasing people from existence based on age for years.
Once players destroy the boss, the victory will be fleeting as people start to disappear, leading to a big illumination about the very nature of the world and the people in it. One of the party members, Maelle, is actually from the real world, Paris to be exact, unbeknownst to her, and this entire world that players tried to save was all fake, and that’s just a basic summary.
Silent Hill f
Must Replay
Silent Hill f begins with Hinako leaving her family to meet her friends in town when the whole place starts to get eaten by a flowery menace, including one friend, Sakuko, who dies. While Hinako manages to meet up with other friends, Shu and Rinko, a few times, they disappear eventually, and there’s also the matter of the other world with the fox spirit.
Almost nothing is explained the first time around, but players can piece things together from notes left behind and continue their save file, since it’s actually impossible to finish the story the first time through, as there are multiple endings and branching paths. That said, it can still be confusing after replaying it.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
What’s With The Wisps?
Final Fantasy 7 Remake takes place entirely in Midgar, which is only a small fraction of the original game, and while most of the core story remains intact, the new content is where fans may start to add speculative theories. New to the story are the ghost-like wisps that interfere with Cloud and the others from changing anything from the original story.
Also, the final boss features Sephiroth in many forms, way ahead and when he is supposed to meet the party. Even fans who have absorbed every piece of Final Fantasy 7 content out there may find the finale hard to analyze on how this game fits into the overall series, as it technically isn’t a remake at all.
Kingdom Hearts 3
Hearts Into Darkness
Kingdom Hearts 3 has a lot of baggage attached to it, specifically, eight Kingdom Hearts games filled with lore that this sequel tries to address in some form or another. Even though it’s a daunting task, the story manages to give little moments of clarity to the plots of past games, like rectifying what happened to Aqua and her crew at the end of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.
The game even manages to incorporate the mobile game, Kingdom Hearts Union X, into the penultimate battle. It’s a great fan letter and an end to a saga, but as good a job as Square Enix did, the story isn’t perfect, and there are many loose ends that even the DLC doesn’t answer, like who Xigbar really is and where Sora is currently.
BioShock Infinite
Your Owen Villain
BioShock Infinite seems like a simple story of a private detective, Booker, hired to save a girl, Elizabeth, in a floating city, Columbia, but it gets so much more complex once rifts and time travel are involved. The overarching villain of the game is the ruler of Columbia, Comstock, who players later find out is just another version of Booker, and Elizabeth is actually another version of his daughter, Anna.
The world has been off balance ever since Booker was baptized to become a new man, Comstock, so in order to right the wrongs of history, this current Booker essentially has to let a multiverse of Elizabeths and Annas drown him to stop the cycle, and that is really only the tip of things.
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This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.
