History MacGuffin / VideoGames

* ''Videogame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf'' has the Blitz Engines, secret devices that [[spoiler: produce ''unlimited'' quantities of electric energy]]. Some are already in the hands of the antagonists, like the one [[spoiler: that Murakumo has in his stage]] or the smaller ones used to [[spoiler: create Blitztank and the Elektrosoldats]], but the most important and sought after one is [[spoiler:carried by the protagonist, [[LivingMacGuffin Akatsuki]].]]

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'': The unfinished mask that Odin is studying. It's clearly magical and somehow connected to a rift in reality, but exactly what it does is left undefined except for pointing towards its other pieces [[spoiler:and Garm. who gives a false positive because he can open portals himself]]. Odin thinks it's the key to the answers he seeks, Mimir thinks it's a red herring, [[spoiler: and nobody ever finds out because when Atreus gets the opportunity to use it, he's had enough of Odin's bullshit and smashes it instead.]]

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' Act II has a straightforward [=MacGuffin=]; the Qunari "artifact". But the overarching [=MacGuffin=] is obscured, it's never an objective for the main characters, yet it impacts the plot more significantly: the lyrium idol.
** If you're curious. [[spoiler:The artifact is a holy book.]]

* The Amulet of Kings in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion''. The entire main quest line revolves around getting the Amulet and the Emperor's son to the same place. Once you do, you get to see the ending sequence but not to participate in it.

* The GECK in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}''. It is established as a technological marvel that will solve all your village's problems, but the item itself serves no purpose other than getting you out of the starting area and setting the plot in motion. In fact it is no longer relevant by the time you do find it, and finding it at all is optional. There's also a minor WorthlessTreasureTwist; the GECK turns out to be nowhere near as powerful as it actually is, and is mostly just a collection of seeds and fertilizers that would be helpful for building a plot of farmland for a small community.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' has its Fire Emblem in a bit of a StealthPun. Much of a big deal is made of the early discovery that the player avatar's Crest (an in-universe power system passed down by bloodlines, to make a very long and complicated story) is the very rare Crest of Flames, last observed over a thousand years before the story. A crest of flames, one could also call an emblem of fire. [[spoiler:Edelgard has one too, a second crest apparently surgically forced upon her, making her much more powerful but most definitely shortening her lifespan and giving her a hell of a bone to pick with the entire crest system, among other things.]]

* ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndHisDesktopAdventures'': More often than not, the player's quest is to find some random ancient artifact, supposedly to protect it from Nazis, thieves, etc.

* ''[[VideoGame/KaneAndLynch Kane & Lynch: Dead Men]]'' features a pair of briefcases early on that Kane and Lynch must try to capture within three weeks to save Kane's family. After finding that one of the cases is missing from its vault, they try and fail to find the last case, and after [[spoiler:they're betrayed by The7]], they cause a mass jailbreak to get a crew together and continue all the way to Japan to capture the second briefcase. We never discover what's in the briefcases.

* In ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Pandora Tomorrow'', the player character's first mission is to infiltrate an embassy being raided by guerrillas. It's stressed that your objective is to destroy a computer containing sensitive information. Even the hostages being held are of secondary importance. When you contact the man that knows where this information is, he gives you an email he stole from one of his captors and your next objective is to decrypt it. The initial computer you were sent to smash -- the one that was so critical it was worth risking the lives of dozens of hostages -- is never mentioned again.

* ''[[VideoGame/Doom3 Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil]]'' has the Artifact, while ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' has the Crucible.

** [[VideoGame/FireEmblemArchanea Archanea series]]: The Emblem is known as [[http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Shield_of_Seals the Shield of Seals]]; forged from one of [[BigGood Naga's]] fangs, it's the treasure of House Archanea and the counterpart of the Falchion sword. Princess Nyna entrusted Marth with it in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragon Shadow Dragon]]'', [[spoiler: which unadvertedly flared up Prince Hardin's jealousy, and is implied to be one of the reasons why he went BrainwashedAndCrazy in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem Mystery of the Emblem]]''.]] As a plus, the Emblem itself is said to have a curse named ''Curse of Artemis'', dooming many of its wielders to [[LoveHurts lead tragic lives]]... [[spoiler: and holy shit [[BreakTheCutie it broke]] [[BrokenBird poor Nyna]], though Marth and Caeda [[EarnYourHappyEnding managed to mostly dodge it]].]]
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheholyWar Jugdral]]'' ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 series]]'': In an exception to the rule, it is mentioned in one conversation in the ending [[http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Fire_Emblem_(crest) as the sigil of the House of Velthomer]]. [[spoiler: Makes sense, the Jugdral games take place centuries ''before'' the Fire Emblem/Shield of Seals itself was created.]]
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Elibe]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade Games]]'': It's the Imperial Seal of the Kingdom of Bern and one of the bigget proofs of the King/Queen of Bern's authority. In ''Blazing Blade'' it's needed for [[spoiler: Prince Zephiel]]'s coming of age ceremony, and in ''Binding Blade'' [[spoiler: King Zephiel's sister Guinevere steals it in a desperate attempt to stop him and the war he's sponsoring.]]
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'': In the Magvel game, the Fire Emblem is [[spoiler: one of the Sacred Stones themselves, stored in the Grado Empire. When Prince Lyon shatters it, opne half becomes the Dark Stone.]]
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Tellius]]'' ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn series]]'': It's an alternate name for [[spoiler: the infamous ''Lehran's Medallion'', which keeps the goddess Yune sealed. Only [[IncorruptiblePurePureness completely pure people]] can hold it [[BrainwashedAndCrazy without going insane]]; two of these persons are Ike's MissingMom Elena and later his little sister Mist.]]

** Finally, Shinnok's Amulet was the [=MacGuffin=] for at least three games in the VideoGame/MortalKombat series, even though the most we ever learn about it is that it can only be created once (proven false by Quan Chi making a fake one), and that it's used to fuse the Kamidogu (yet ''another'' [=MacGuffin=] in Deception) and, thus, all of reality together.

* ''Series/FinalFantasy'' has featured the Crystals, PlotCoupon macguffins almost always numbering four or a multiple of four, that show up constantly. The details are highly truncated here; the [[https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Crystal_(term) wiki for the series]] shows just how frequently this motif is used in the series. In most of the series, crystals or some crystalline macguffin drives the plot but doesn't actually do anything.