Top 8 “Gotcha!” Moments in Gaming

5. Dead Space: Descent into Madness

What’s worse? That you’re stuck as a simple engineer on a craft teeming with Necromorphs? That one of your trusted allies is secretly plotting against you? That every one you meet has gone mad or slowly committing suicide? That you’re facing horrible hallucinations and unexplainable phenomenon? Or simply that your one true love, Nicole, who’s been helping you throughout is nothing but a figment of your distraught imagination, when she’s actually dead? We’d say all of those things, but top that off with the chapters in the game. If you take the beginning letter of each chapter in Dead Space, you’ll wind up with the words “Nicole is Dead”. Sleep easy now.

4. Amnesia: What’s That Coming Over the Hill?

If you haven’t played Amnesia (or you’ve ventured into the recent Slender), you’ll know what we mean. Not that knowing will save you, but it helps…somehow. Anyway, Amnesia presents itself a simple first person adventure game and mystery. Then you slowly realise you’re being hunted by something only known as The Shadow. This creature is fast, powerful and can appear just about anywhere. Perhaps the most chilling incident occurred when it discovered me once, across the hall, and became a blur, racing down the corridor to kill. I retreated into the pantry and slammed the door, foolishly thinking that’d halt the beast, but it began breaking the door down. Retreating into a dark corner, I waited and watched as it entered, shuffled around, and proceeded to leave. Then, if for only a split-second, it’s eyes met mine. It knew I was there. But it left peacefully, because it knew what I knew: Hiding may be an option but there was no where to run.

3. Metroid: Samus’s Identity

Samus is a girl. This revelation came about at a time when video game protagonists were predominantly male. It was just expected that we’d be playing a guy. So even some one was carrying a huge suit of sci-fi armour, we automatically went to well of “Him” in our designations. Heck, even the game manual for Metroid referred to Samus as a “Him”. That one moment when Samus removed her helmet at the end, to reveal her true identity stands as a testament to gamers’ expectations being blown out of the water.