History Main / JigsawPuzzlePlot

Not to be confused with the kind of plot that involves [[Franchise/{{Saw}} failing to escape deathtraps]].

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' has done this in more than a few episodes (since the format of the show is that each episode is a standalone story).

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' (but within a single episode, rather than scattered across a StoryArc.)

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' fell into this in the games from ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' to ''VideoGame/Sonic06'' (with the exception of ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' due to the game really just having an ExcusePlot). In the case of Adventure, [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 Adventure 2]] and ''especially'' 06 it was due to the AnotherSideAnotherStory nature of the plots with not all the events being directly seen from the chosen character’s point of view. As for ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'', it was due to the pick-your-path nature of the plot meaning not everything was revealed on a single run through the game.

* The [[OlderThanTheNES old]] and vast genre of [[AdventureGame adventure games]] ([[PointAndClickGame point-and-click]], [[InteractiveFiction text]], and the less antiquated first-person variety), where this trope was practically the whole point.
* Horror-themed video games seem to be fond of this. ''VideoGame/ClockTower 1'' and 2 (by JP numbering), ''Franchise/SilentHill'', and ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' all use this to varying degrees; the ''Clock Tower'' games take it to the point of MindScrew, and the comparatively more straightforward third game might actually be a response to this.

* ''VisualNovel/YuNo'' from 1996 is the TropeCodifier of the MultipleRouteMystery structure widely used in the visual novel medium.[[note]]VNDB does list [[UrExample two prior examples]] with the "multiple route mystery" tag, both from 1996 as well and fairly obscure in comparison.[[/note]] During the main game, the plot splits into several routes, all of which have an independent plot to a minor degree but [[KudzuPlot raise and only partially answer many mysteries]] in the overall scheme. After completing the main routes the player is allowed to enter the final route, which [[PlotDetour (after some meandering plot developments)]] finally answers almost all mysteries introduced earlier.

* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', the constant retelling of the main story gives you, bit by bit, clues to solve the mystery. Unlike ''Higurashi'', while the author gives just enough clues to figure out the solutions yourself, don't expect any answer to be given directly: even after the series has ended, a number of explanations remain largely {{Fanon}}. Not at all coincidentally, the main [[AnAesop aesop]] of the series is to believe in your own truth without denying those of other people. Also, the manga adaptation gives numerous additional clues or clarifications (mostly in Episode 8).
* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' has three routes focusing on different enemies, with different plans that were barely referenced in the earlier ones.
* ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' has five routes, each focused on different aspects of the story.
* ''VisualNovel/LuxPain'' to the point that IGN gave it a low rating because they didn't understand the story. The game makes sense if you play at least two to three times (and a game like this only takes at least 24 hours to beat) and read between the lines and choose different dialogue choices as well as reading the information that the game gives you at the beginning concerning character information, place location, SILENT, and the overall mission that the game doesn't bother to explain in the first five minutes. That's all in the manual. Otherwise, this story makes perfect sense.
* The ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' games love this trope, especially the 'Phoenix Arc'. Each game has its own self contained story arc, as does each case, making you figure out the entire plot as the trials progress. The Phoenix Arc comprises three games, a total of 14 cases with a recurring cast of characters, with ALL the mysteries and past problems of Phoenix, Maya and Mia as well as a healthy dose of Edgeworth's and Gumshoe's slowly being revealed, connected, explained and resolved.
* In the [[RomanceGame otome]] {{eroge}} ''VisualNovel/UnderTheMoon'', there are many aspects of the heroine's background that are unknown even to her, which can only be pieced together through accounts from other characters scattered across multiple story routes.
* ''VisualNovel/ShallWeDateWizardessHeart'' groups its multiple story routes into [[AnArc arcs]] and scatters the significant details of each arc across three separate routes. Although each individual route mostly stands on its own, the player can only get the whole story such as, for example, what motivates [[spoiler:Luca Orlem]] to be the antagonist of Elias and Yukiya's routes in the "Tower of Sorrow" arc, or why Klaus speaks so derisively of legendary magical beast tamer Serge Durandal in his own route in the "Spring of Unicorns" arc - by playing through all three routes of the arc.
* ''VisualNovel/LongLiveTheQueen'' has a fairly straightforward story on a single playthrough, but figuring out all the politics of the land of Nova that ''cause'' the events to happen can require multiple playthroughs and complex inferences from combinations of events - which goes to emphasize the overall theme, that being a princess is pretty terrifying and Elodie is ''way'' out of her depth.

** ''VisualNovel/{{Ever17}}'' is similar to ''Virtue's Last Reward'' in this regard, except [[spoiler:you're actually an observer from another dimension with the power to control people to explore branches - and the other characters ''know this'', and deliberately stage some of the scenes you experience, to have you use this power to help them.]]

* The story of Hope's Peak Academy in ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' is... ''labyrinthine'', since among other things, it's spread out across different ''mediums''. Want to know how the first game happened? Read the light novel ''LightNovel/DanganronpaZero'', which serves as the only means of foreshadowing for a certain character who doesn't appear until late into ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair''. What happened to Makoto's family and the world outside Hope's Peak? Play the video game ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' to find out. How does it all end? Watch the animé ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'', which itself is split into two sides set at different points in time.

* ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' does this. Since the story revolves around TimeTravel and a conspiracy, it's only to be expected. A lot of stuff is thrown at you in the first episode, and nothing becomes clear until the last episode when all of the pieces are neatly placed together. ''VisualNovel/ChaosHead'' and ''VisualNovel/RoboticsNotes'' are similar in this aspect.
* Each love interest's path in ''VisualNovel/SteamPrison'' reveals different details about the setting, what's going on in the world and what's happening around Cyrus in particular, while dropping glancing references to other plot elements that go unexplained on that particular route. The only way to resolve all of the dangling plot threads - including but not limited to the mystery of who killed the heroine's parents and why, what becomes of various significant supporting characters, what's up with the mysterious medicine the HOUNDS distribute, and the bigger picture of how the setting functions and how it became the way it is in the first place - is to play through every possible path. More than once, since there are quite a few extra scenes from the perspectives of the other characters which are only unlocked on a second pass through a given branch of the story.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' heads to this during season 3, while getting DarkerAndEdgier. While some things have been explained from episode 6 of season 3 forward, a lot is still to be explained about [[spoiler: Salem's intentions and ambitions, the Seasonal Maidens' identities]] and others. Lots of fan theories have sparked since then.

* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'': A bizarre fantasy/science-fiction mixture with loads of unresolved mysteries. Fans sometimes joke that for every question a chapter answers, it brings up at least 10 more. Author Tom Sidell has a WordOfGod mail slot, but doesn't give away much (aside from his CatchPhrase of sorts, [[BlatantLies "Mystery Solved!"]]). [[TheTrickster Coyote]] even [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=499 lampshaded this]] in-story.
* ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'' has something of a Jigsaw Puzzle Plot, with various Cryptic Prophecies and two current main story arcs, with a couple of other villains floating around, all of which seem likely to come into confluence at some point.
* ''Webcomic/LastRes0rt'' not only has a Jigsaw Puzzle Plot, it actually LAMPSHADES this; the working title of the series was actually "Jigsaw's Puzzle" until the show became a bigger focus than the character.
* The story in ''Webcomic/TheLettersOfTheDevil'' appears simple at first, but it becomes progressively more complex as more and more clues surface.
* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' is either this or a straight up KudzuPlot, depending on who you ask during what arc. It has got so thick on details that Pete's started including reference links to the archives, in case readers have forgotten the plot point he's currently explaining. At least a lot of the plots, especially earlier on, ''seem'' to get resolved by the end of a story; it may be (intentionally) impossible to tell what's ''really'' going on, but it's not too confusing to figure out what happens and is revealed during a particular plot before another story comes in and reveals that wasn't all.
* ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'' requires a huge amount of attention to detail just to figure out the rules of the world, and that still leaves the mystery of what exactly the world is, and who is working behind the scenes.

* Surprisingly, ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' is showing signs of this, courtesy of King Radical, Charles Goodrich and Frans Rayner, in that order.
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' - A video game turns out to be a harbinger of the apocalypse, destroying the world while the players, including one raised by a [[RealityWarper spacetime-bending]] dog, escape to timeless alternate universes to break stalemates between anthropomorphic chess pieces while aided by strange beings from a ruined world; meanwhile, aliens from another alternate universe have recently finished playing the same game by subtly different rules while tending to multiversal {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. ''Then'' it just gets ''confusing''...

* In ''Webcomic/CreativeRelease'', figuring the actual plot out (versus the phenomena it provokes) is akin to a puzzle game. Most pages contain hints, but that's just what they are - hints. Connecting the various hints together is hardly easy.

* ''Webcomic/RubyNation'' forms its story with scenes and textual ephemera from various points in the timeline, often revealing information out-of-sequence (such as with Elise's brainwashing).

* ''Webcomic/DecryptingRita'' has four {{alternate universe}}s with semi-overlapping stories told in parallel, some of which are in partial AnachronicOrder, but at least each world is [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience color coded]].
* ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'' starts with a simple enough premise: a mother trying to find her sick son in an otherworldy hospital, but as the series goes on, it is clear that something larger is afoot, but the audience at most is only given glimpses of the larger encompassing universe at a time. Still, as the arcs go on, the setting starts to make more sense, to the point that even the TechnoBabble the characters often use start to become comprehensible.
* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' is a comic portraying the ''Franchise/StarWars'' saga as a role-playing game campaign. Once in a while, the players will mention, discuss, or even complain about other campaigns they'd played "off-screen" in between the Star Wars campaigns. These off-screen campaigns are also based from pop-culture stories and movies, but ''Darths and Droids'' never explicitly tells us what the reference is - instead the players will drop highly obscure clues about those off-screen campaigns, leaving it up to the readers and fans to piece it together and figure it out. These mentions are often peppered throughout a whole year of comics.

* ''WebVideo/KateModern'' is a mild example, successfully building up and maintaining various mysteries.

* The Mechakara saga on ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall''. Lewis has stated that every appearance of Mechakara contains some kind of clue to his identity or his ultimate goal against him.
* ''Webvideo/MarbleHornets'', to the point of MindScrew.

* There's a sci-fi game called Vanished where we're supposedly getting contacted from the future. The world has supposedly undergone a huge environmental disaster and everybody's trying to figure out what's going on. Oh, and we've got about a few thousand ''teenagers'' helping and... we've got a lot of the puzzle pieces figured out.

* ''WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID'' has literal jigsaw pieces scattered across the internet.

* Similar to ''The Venture Brothers'', ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' is fairly straightforward for the most part. However at the same time there are many subtle storylines and hints of backstory hidden beneath the surface that can be found if you look hard enough. Reading into WordOfGod from the creators and rewatching old episodes after major plot twists will reveal all sorts of things for you to put together. If the reveal that Ooo is set AfterTheEnd or Ice King's origin [[spoiler: and [[ConnectedAllAlong his connection to Marceline]]]] surprise you, look back at some old episodes to see how facts like this have been dangled in front of you since the first season.
* The ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' MythArc about discovering the identity of the author certainly can be considered this, as its just only halfway on the second season the audience who it is.

* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'''s plot about the Dark Duelist (who for some reason looks just like [[TheProtagonist Yuya]]) Yuto and his home, and how he connects to Yuzu. In-between [[TheHero Yuya]]-centered episodes, we'll get episodes dedicated to Yuzu's interactions with him. Each interaction unveils something to the layer of complexity, and goes more into explaining Yuto's story: he comes from a now-destroyed world [[Anime/YuGiOhZexal that may be Heartland City]], has an enemy in form of [[Anime/YuGiOh5Ds a Synchro-using D-Wheeler]] named Yugo, a mysterious GreaterScopeVillain in the form of [[Anime/YuGiOhGX Academia]], and [[spoiler: a possible counterpart of Yuzu]] named Ruri. What's stopping us (and Yuzu, much to her annoyance) from getting everything right away is that Yuto is forcibly teleported away by Yuzu's bracelet whenever Yuya shows up. [[spoiler:We finally get answers about Yuto when he personally meets Yuya. And reveals everything about himself. We are thrown more into a loop when the secrets of Yuya, Yuto, and Yuzu just get more confusing with the reveal that there's one counterpart for Yuya and Yuzu in all four of the dimensions. All the counterparts appear to have magical powers, Yuya and his counterparts appear to have a magical BerserkMode that's somehow connected to their dragon-based monsters, and Yuzu and her counterparts are being hunted down by the BigBad.]]
** The second arc becomes even more complex, with the protagonists traveling to another world [[spoiler: that turns out to be an AlternateUniverse version of Anime/YuGiOh5Ds]] and suddenly the story starts focusing on the class war and brutal dystopia of this world, while at the same time keeping the previous plot about inter-dimensional wars still relevant. Unfortunately, there are two separate factions in this worlds government who have different as of yet unknown agendas for the protagonists, neither of which can be trusted, one outright antagonistic towards them and possibly working with Academia, plus a potential rebellion rising up amongst the lower class due to economic and societal issues apparently unrelated to the war. ''And'' we still don't know what [[TheChessmaster Reiji's]] full plan is.
** In the end, some seemingly separate mysteries were answered together, so as to unite every smaller mystery into the overall plot. (Ex, the mystery of why Yusho vanished three years ago also explains [[spoiler: what secrets Reiji Akaba was keeping and what his main goal is.]])

* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' may just be the TropeCodifier among anime. ''Anime/StarDriver'', from the same writer, also fits ''very'' well.
* ''Anime/{{Noir}}'' fits this pattern admirably, despite its (relatively) short run. Early episodes will frequently contain multiple flashbacks ''with no apparent relevance to the event which triggers them''. Most of these connections are eventually revealed, however.
* If you ever decide to bypass the MindScrew of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' and try to decipher the plot (possibly via [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]]), you can see how it was going for this category. TakeOurWordForIt, there ''are'' a whole mess of things going on here.
** Due to artistic reasons or whatnot, it's almost impossible to piece together some of the puzzles in the Series on its own, therefore REQUIRING third party material to be explained. Annoyingly enough, the Third Party Material itself often adds MORE questions which are not resolved.
*** A specific example [[InUniverse within the series]] neatly and unexpectedly shows during [[UnresolvedSexualTension Shinji and Asuka's first and]] ''[[UnresolvedSexualTension only]]'' [[UnresolvedSexualTension kiss]] near the end of Episode 15. The scene is strange and memorable. After it, Shinji and Asuka handle each other far more coldly. The series does not explain this repulsion until Episode 22, during a visual breakdown of Asuka's intents and personality.
* ''Anime/{{Texhnolyze}}'' can be a very tricky story to piece together, especially considering all that's going on between the Raffia, the Organo, the Class, and the shared history that ties them all together. It's very tight-lipped about its secrets.
* ''Anime/{{Gasaraki}}'' is quite similar, except instead of giving you a new puzzle, it pours gasoline on the old puzzle, then drops a lit match on it, then doses you with either very good or very bad hallucinogens, depending on how drunk you are at the time.
* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' it seems straightforward up until the revelation about the clones and time travel.
* ''Anime/RedGarden'' might be the all-time king of this and still make sense in the end. The viewer is given information at the same pace as the protagonists, which means one has no idea why ANYTHING is going on up until three-fourth of the way through the story, when the protagonists are finally trusted enough to be told exactly why they are fighting for their lives. You can, of course, figure it out a bit earlier then that, but up until then, you're only seeing a small portion of the puzzle.

* ''Anime/RahXephon'' The anime TV series version of it was pre-planned as a jigsaw plot, with hints that become obvious on a second viewing. And the final puzzle piece comes ''[[TheStinger after]]'' the closing credits of the ''last'' episode (so make sure to watch ''all the way through them'', if you haven't finished the series!), thus practically necessitating a rewatch with the new info in mind.
* Much like ''Anime/RahXephon'', ''Anime/WolfsRain'' has a tendency to keep many of its secrets well-hidden in the background beneath several subtle hints and layers of symbolism. You really have to be paying attention to figure out what the nobles actually are.

* ''Anime/{{FLCL}}''. Given this was made by the [[Creator/StudioGainax same people]] who made ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' AND was written by the same man who wrote ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' and ''Anime/StarDriver'', this isn't much of a surprise, but still... Note that this show is only 6 episodes long and ''very'' fast-paced, meaning it's not hard to lose track of most of your pieces if you aren't paying attention.
* ''Manga/GetBackers'' loves this trope, explicitly citing the "puzzle" simile every chance they get. There's a twist, though: while it starts out as a straightforward piece of advice- "don't do anything stupid until you figure out exactly what's going on"- it turns out that many superficially unconnected plot threads are in fact pieces of a much larger puzzle.

* ''Manga/ZeroSevenGhost'':The mysteries present themselves throughout the story and are resolved but even those resolutions have many layers and nothing is what it seems.Both with the characters and the 7 Ghosts. The basic storyline itself hides so many twists and turns, especially when you look back to earlier interactions and events.

* ''Manga/{{Kekkaishi}}'' and all the stuff relating to Karasumori and the Urakai.
* ''Anime/EdenOfTheEast''. We get to see a lot of slice of life, romance and occasional comedy all while knowing that the story has a much more complex and mysterious plot, setting and back story. We'll only get to see that piece by piece.
%%* Both ''Anime/LastExile'' and ''Anime/LastExileFamTheSilverWing''
* Anything by Creator/NaokiUrasawa. ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'' alternates between present day and the childhood of the central characters, revealing major plot points, [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's guns]] and backstories along the way. ''Manga/{{Monster}}'' regarding Johan and his plans, ''Manga/{{Pluto}}'' trying to figure out the reasoning behind the murders, and ''Manga/BillyBat'' regarding the… [[MindScrew it's not quite clear]].
* ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' tends to generally {{Infodump}} on viewers, especially during the one-of [[{{Filler}} Stand Alone]] episodes. During the [[MythArc Complex]] episodes, the layered intricacy of the plotting is paid off in spades.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'', especially between story arcs where we receive glimpses of the bigger world outside of the Straw Hats adventures. Slowly but surely the details of the overall myth arc concerning the One Piece and the Lost One Hundred Years have been coming together and still have some way to go.
* ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'' due to the first four of its seven parts being in AnachronicOrder. Those unfamiliar with ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' (which ''Kara No Kyoukai'' was a prototype of) would have absolutely no idea what's going on until the end of the third movie.
* ''Anime/PrincessTutu''. Stuff that isn't revealed until much later (some up to near the end!) are hinted at in the first few episodes, but it takes a while for everything to fit together. Also, ''every'' episode has at least one small thing revealed that's important to the plot, even if it seems like filler. Mytho himself could be seen as a representation of this, since we only learn his personality one "piece" at a time.

* ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' seems to attempt to do this.
** The manga version is somewhat like what would happen if you're given a few small pieces to a puzzle at a time, only for the person giving you the puzzle realizing they're low on time and dumping the whole box of pieces out at you at the last minute. Thanks to some of the exposition being rushed, some things that are only barely hinted at seem to come out of nowhere (like [[spoiler:the demons being aliens]]) and some things are touched on so quickly it's easy to miss them (like [[spoiler:Satella and Fiore]] being half-demon or [[spoiler:Joshua and Azmaria being married in the epilogue]]).
** The anime version reveals things a little more smoothly, but thanks to its GeckoEnding a lot of the foreshadowing to things earlier in the manga isn't touched on again in the anime. Basically, in this version you're given half of one puzzle, and then pieces of another puzzle that only fit together if you force them, with some leftovers on the side. This leads to some things appearing in the series that don't make much sense, like the demons' advanced technology.
* ''Anime/TheBigO'' is like one of those advanced jigsaws where every piece is the same color. By design, some of the pieces never do fit (the rumors that this is because of ExecutiveMeddling are false; the "original" ending to the second and last season was only slightly more coherent).
* ''Manga/{{Amatsuki}}'', particularly concerning the backstory and the real world timeline.

* ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'''s only excuse for a MrExposition is a SnarkKnight UnreliableExpositor, and the protagonists' only other way of figuring out the rules by which their world operates is trial and error. As for ''why'' they're brought back from the dead, given all kinds of high-tech weaponry, and sent out to fight what are apparently aliens that [[TheMasquerade no one else can see]]? The hints are portioned out very slowly over [[LongRunner dozens of manga volumes]], and any or all of them may be {{Red Herring}}s. {{Lampshaded}} when an IntrepidReporter is taken on a tour of a factory that apparently manufactures the Gantz balls and weaponry by a friendly German gentleman who spins a tale of an IdiotSavant child under extraterrestrial influence inventing the tech... and then turns into an alien, mocks him for believing any of it, and disappears.
* ''Manga/SaintSeiyaEpisodeGA'': The story is actually at what will be the seventh published volume, yet there is still no clear plot.

* ''ComicBook/{{Elephantmen}}'' tells it story from multiple character perspectives and sometimes out of sequence.

* Jonathan Hickman's run on ComicBook/{{Avengers}} and ComicBook/NewAvengers.

%%* ''Film/CitizenKane''

%%* ''VantagePoint''
%%* ''Film/{{Pandorum}}''
* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** Was a downplayed version of this as all of the movies tried to avoid inter-franchise ContinuityLockout as much as possible, but it's still there. A few examples would be the alien invasion in New York (its beginning spawned from ''Film/{{Thor}}'', reached its climax in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' and the aftermath is dealt with / kick starts the plot in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' (which in turn kick start the [[spoiler:complete dismantle of S.H.I.E.L.D.]] plot in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD''), ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' (whose plot is also kickstarted by both ''The Avengers'' and ''Winter Soldier'') and ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'') and the Black Widow Ops Program (hinted from ''The Avengers'' and ''Winter Soldier'', got more details in ''Series/AgentCarter'' and ''Age Of Ultron'').
** Became a straight version after ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and its sequel that were advertised as a culmination of a series of interconnected films. In order to understand the story behind the Infinity Stones, one must watch ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger,'' ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' and ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' (for the Space Stone), ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' and ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' (for the Mind Stone), ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' (for the Reality Stone), ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' (for the Power Stone) and ''Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}}'' (for the Time Stone). And that is not counting various subplots that would be unclear without all the other previous movies.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. It's surprising how much one can learn about the backstory and the MythArc from reading between the lines and putting together minor details... or by going to Wiki/TheOtherWiki and having it explained to you.
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime''. To understand the plot isn't difficult, despite the number of main characters. The confusing part is truly understanding ''everyone's'' reactions. It requires a great deal of knowledge about both the plot and most characters' personalities and roles.

* Creator/WilliamFaulkner's short story ''Literature/ARoseForEmily'' comprises five parts which are mostly out of order. For those who don't pick apart and reassemble the events, whether Emily killed her beau, and why, is a perplexing matter. The fact that the narrator (implied to be the townspeople) has a severely limited understanding of Emily's personal life and occasionally relies on conjecture to guess at her actions doesn't help much either.
%%* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials''
* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' could be said to be the second variety.

* The Newbery award-winning novel ''The Westing Game'''s title puzzle/scavenger game is just one MindScrew after another.

%%* ''Literature/ChronicleOfADeathForetold''
* ''Literature/{{Holes}}'' just barely qualifies, as it has two subplots which are not connected to the main plot until towards the end of the book.
%% * Sometimes in ''Literature/TheScorchTrials''. Jorge and Brenda's early characterization is more or less jettisoned with the explanation that WICKED forced them to play certain parts to test the protagonists.
* Creator/BrandonSanderson loves this trope and is shown in both ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' and in ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy''. Reading the ''Mistborn'' books twice will reveal just how much of the more left-field twists of ''Mistborn: The Hero of Ages'' (the final book in the trilogy) were foreshadowed with the puzzle-pieces hidden in plain sight.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' mostly averts this practice, as every book is stand-alone, and even in the case where it isn't -- like ''Literature/LordsAndLadies'' -- most of the stuff you need to know is mentioned a second time. However some pieces of character development can only be understood correctly if you read every book where the character in question turns up, and find a lot of things were already mentioned. A major contender for this is Death, who shows up in every book but two, but if you only read the books where he or his granddaughter Susan star in you will never grasp the full depth of his character. It works the same with Sam Vimes, as the "beast" that is inside of him is elaborated on in every book for brief amounts of time, only to be given a starring role of sorts in ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'' (and even then this subplot is continued afterwards). Another major character is Carrot, who on the surface is a NiceGuy who genuinely wants all people to live in peace and harmony, but in truth there is a massive complexity behind his simpleness which a reader may only begin to understand by reading all of the watch books and the short story "Theater of Cruelty".
* Shea and Wilson's ''Literature/{{Illuminatus}}'' trilogy is essentially a jigsaw puzzle with ten thousand widely scattered pieces in at least three different boxes. And even then you can't be sure you've got all the pieces, or if you break it all up and start over again, you're going to get an entirely different picture. And the person next to you who is also reading the book will assemble an entirely different picture. And you're both equally right.
* Each chapter of ''Literature/InConquestBorn'' is a vignette about a different aspect of the ForeverWar that forms the basis of its story, sometimes with little indication of how it ties into the overarching plot. Only after all the pieces are laid out does the whole picture start to emerge.
* The short novel ''Literature/EmpireStar'' by Creator/SamuelRDelany is a deliberately crafted jigsaw, designed so the reader isn't even aware they're seeing pieces of a puzzle, until the end, when Delany offers a few last missing key pieces, and then suggests that the reader can now assemble the whole story in their mind. Learning that you're dealing with AnachronicOrder and time travel changes everything.
* The ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' has three major RotatingArcs, a larger number of subplots, no clear individual protagonist among its LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters even for most individual ''books'', and much less the whole ten-book series, and takes place across several continents. The complexity is only increased by the fact that it starts ''[[LostInMediasRes in media res]]'' and doles out actual exposition sparingly, leaving the reader to figure most things out by context. It ''does'', however, eventually converge into a single central MythArc about the Crippled God.
* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'' is full of mysteries, only some of which are resolved (the third book is forthcoming). Right off the bat, the series's framing device raises many questions about how the narrator came to be in his current situation after the events of the main plot. Fan theories abound: for instance, there's a hypothesis about the hidden identity of one character based on some wordplay in a song.

* ''Series/TwinPeaks'' uses this method to disguise the fact that it [[TheChrisCarterEffect had no idea where it was going]]. Given that it was created by Creator/DavidLynch, plot cohesiveness wasn't exactly the highest priority. Because it was canceled after the second season, most of the plot was left unresolved and unexplained. TheMovie, ''Film/TwinPeaksFireWalkWithMe'', provided as much of an explanation and resolution as was possible.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'' didn't start out this way, but Creator/GillianAnderson's pregnancy early in the series forced the writing staff to get very inventive, and the show's near-legendary MythArc was the result. However in the later seasons it began to infamously fall victim to TheChrisCarterEffect and KudzuPlot. The later seasons are often considered a good example of when this trope is done wrong, as the puzzle pieces didn't fit together and every answer gave several dozen more puzzle pieces to work with.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}''. For the first half of the show, the writers had the task of constructing a character-driven narrative within a [[MythArc dense mythological framework]] without knowing how long the series would last. Many story threads were introduced right off the bat, but there was no way of knowing whether each phase of the story would have to last ten episodes or several seasons. Trying to avoid dragging plots beyond their natural shelf-life and putting the next piece of the puzzle into play is a difficult balancing act for a television network's cash cow. This along with certain other events caused many {{Aborted Arc}}s to occur.
* The same writing team gives us ''Series/OnceUponATime'', which takes the multi-threaded arcs of ''Series/{{Lost}}'', and applies them to fairy tales. Taking full advantage of Creator/{{Disney}}'s ownership, they throw in enough references to Disney's animated ''and live-action'' canon (the spin-off has even made a couple passing references to ''Franchise/StarWars'') to give ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' a run for its money, and absolutely ''no'' character is entirely what they seem. One specific example is the flashback segments in all the episodes of Season 1. When all put together in chronological order, they form the full story of the events that lead to the curse that drives the present-day story coming into existence.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' put together an expertly crafted Jigsaw Puzzle Plot in Season 1, with almost all the loose threads neatly tied up. [[SeasonalRot Subsequent seasons]] devolved into {{Random Events Plot}}s.
* This is what ''Series/TwentyFour'' is all about. Things tend to get properly put together halfway through, though.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' (but within a single episode, rather than scattered across a StoryArc.)
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' traditionally prefers standalone stories (even ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' only planned so far ahead); however, the third season of ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' was a full-scale Jigsaw Puzzle Plot.
* While each episode had its own self-contained story, the overreaching arc in ''Series/ThePretender'', with its questions of Jarod's family and who was in charge at The Centre, was a ''Series/TwinPeaks'' style Jigsaw Puzzle Plot.
* The backstory of ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce.'' You always get bits and pieces, some of which don't seem to fit with the rest, and it doesn't all fall into place until 2/3 of the way through. This is one of the major differences between it and its Japanese counterpart ''Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger,'' whose only secret is [[spoiler: Wolzard's true identity. We learn the answer to that and trade it for one more mystery: "your mom's still alive; ask the ''next set of bad guys'' how that can be and where she is now."]]
** This is unusual for both ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' and ''Franchise/SuperSentai,'' but their DarkerAndEdgier sister series ''Franchise/KamenRider'' has long been this way. At the beginning of a series, the hero gets his powers and monsters are attacking and... that's about all we know. The monsters' methodology (and in ''Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight'', the number of rival Riders) make filling an episode easy even with a lot of what is going on unrevealed. The events that set it in motion and the final plan of the enemy are filled in piece by piece. Even the more lighthearted ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'' doesn't introduce the BigBad until the series is 2/3 of the way through. Until then, all we knew is that the Imagin did what they did because ''someone or something'' was whispering in their minds' ear. Mind you, this goes strictly for the 2000s {{Revival}} and after.
* By Season Two, ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' got pretty good at this. You usually had an episode furthering the FBI Arc ("Nightshifter"), then a MonsterOfTheWeek episode ("Houses Of The Holy"), then something to do with Sam's destiny ("Born Under A Bad Sign"), then a BreatherEpisode ("Tall Tales"), all the while dropping hints about the boys' usually-damaged mental states.

* Up to eleven with the fourth season of ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' which exploits the fact that all 15 episodes were released at once with each episode being ADayInTheLimelight for one character catching us up on what happened with them in the years after season 3 which leads to many overlapping storylines and setups to jokes that sometimes are not paid off for as long as 10 episodes.
%%*''Series/TheEvent''
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' goes into a strenuously long arc with the Eleventh Doctor regarding cracks in time, the Silence, an impossible girl, and the end of his life. Each one of these issues acts as its own separate arc, but all of them have a lingering through line- fighting fate- that suggests huge events are coming. [[spoiler:The whole of it gets wrapped up nicely in [[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor "The Time of the Doctor"]]]].
** Continued in the Twelfth Doctor era, perhaps not surprisingly. Creator/StevenMoffat is still resolving plot threads he began as many as ''ten years ago'' in some cases. Series 9 contains two direct sequels to [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor the 50th anniversary special]], one to its B-plot and one to its A-plot.
* ''Series/NightAndDay'', while ostensibly a soap opera, puts the mystery of the disappearance of schoolgirl Jane Harper centre-stage throughout - and stretched excruciatingly over 80 weeks for maximum immersion, at that.
* ''Series/Sense8'' has a jigsaw-puzzle plot for the entirety of Season 1, and parts of Season 2 as well.

* Both seasons of ''Series/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' feature a lot of bizarre and seemingly unrelated events that all turn out to be connected in the end.

%%* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' are examples of this with GambitRoulette thrown in for good measure.
%%** ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}''.
%%* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''. Three {{Mr Exposition}}s show up at the end to connect the dots.
* Creator/SquareEnix's RPG ''VideoGame/ChaosRings'' is built on this trope. Each playthrough features one of four different parties, whose stories are all interrelated. Only once you've played through each of their paths does the overarching plot come together.

* The ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series is notorious for this. The plot of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' basically consists of putting all the puzzle pieces together, as the chronologically last game in the series aside from the spin-off sequel ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''.
* Horror-themed video games seem to be fond of this. ''VideoGame/ClockTower 1'' and 2 (by JP numbering), ''Franchise/SilentHill'', and ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' all use this to varying degrees; the ''Clock Tower'' games take it to the point of MindScrew, and the comparatively more straightforward third game might actually be a response to this.
* The ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series, with [[GambitPileup plan upon plan]], a whole cast of [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]], of varying levels of ability and success, and a(n un)healthy dose of time travel....it becomes quite a headache to keep it all in mind.

* ''VideoGame/OracleOfTao'': Many things are revealed in this game, spaced out all over the place. There is at the very opening, a WorldSundering, of the New Earth and the Void [[spoiler: which was the old Earth]]. Then Ambrosia gets a series of religious truths foisted on her, along which the revelation that she might not be real, and the realization that she has a LiteralSplitPersonality causing chaos around her. This is to say nothing of [[RashomonStyle the often conflicting (as viewed by histories, versus personal accounts, versus the demon's own account)]] versions of people getting raptured by a demon's coming, various personal plots scattered about the world, Ambrosia's [[QuestForIdentity quest to find her memories of her parents]], and various secrets revealed at the end about her identity, the world, and everything in it. And it's not even truly over, so there is a second game to tie up loose ends, with an additional secret or two [[spoiler: the Oracle's role is actually a replacement to extend the lifespan of God, since without someone to renew the cycle, God and everything else in existence is doomed to return to the Void they came from]].
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' to some extent. However, it actually lets you unlock special messages to clear up some parts after the main story is over.

* ''VideoGame/OdinSphere''. The story prior to [[spoiler:Armageddon]] is spread throughout five books telling different parts of the story from the perspectives of five different characters. Trying to keep track of everything - such as who does what, what goes where, and when what happens - can be extremely frustrating, especially if you're trying to figure out how the ring Titrel is passed from person to person or how each character pursues their agenda. It doesn't help that the game often jumps through hoops of AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent. Thankfully, the game provides a cinematic theater organized into a comprehensive timeline to properly keep track of everything in a chronological order.
* Jon Ingold's text adventure ''All Roads'' is rare example of a computer game that pulled this off with only a few hours of gameplay. The full plot involves possession, body switching, and anachronic storytelling. And then there was ''The Muldoon Legacy'' series by the same author, which added a healthy dose of science fantasy.
* Suda 51's ''VideoGame/TheSilverCase'' series begins with ''Moonlight Syndrome'', in which [[spoiler:nearly everyone dies]], moves on to ''The Silver Case'' itself, in which the only detective investigating the events of ''Moonlight Syndrome'' is murdered, and then moves on to ''VideoGame/FlowerSunAndRain'', whose plot is too complicated and fantastic to explain here. By the way, one of the characters from ''Moonlight Syndrome'' makes a cameo in ''killer 7''. [[spoiler:The two boys with the adult voice are Mitra.]] And that game [[NoExportForYou never came out in America]]. Suda 51 is doing this for his own sick amusement, isn't he?
* The ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}'' games are designed like this, challenging the player to piece together the truth from the various character scenarios and the many archive items that can be found. Even then, the game outright ''hides'' certain pieces of the puzzle from you; for example, the first game [[spoiler:never shows the scene where Kei Makino is murdered by his twin brother, who assumes his identity and effectively replaces him in his scenarios]].
* While ''VideoGame/DeusEx'''s main story is pretty straight, the backstory is hidden in pieces in various in-game media this way.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' aimed for subtle exposition, and never outright states its most important plot points (such as [[spoiler:Squall being Laguna's son]] or the motivation of BigBad [[spoiler:Ultimecia]]).
* Only by the end of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' will you most likely understand everything that has gone on before, then a replay is recommended. It's possible to skip all the optional scenes that explain the backstory, and without them, it's practically a different game altogether.
* ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'' does this nicely, at least in the original F.E.A.R., [[ExpansionPack Extraction Point]], [[GaidenGame Perseus Mandate]], and [[CanonDisContinuity the second canon game,]] F.E.A.R. 2. F.E.A.R. 3 pretty much drops this entirely. The nice thing about the jigsaw plot is that it is handled in a way that provides a bonus to attentive players, but is not mandatory for understanding things.
* The protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' has a CannibalismSuperpower, so he learns the backstory by eating people who have memories connected to it. This is made more complicated by the fact that few of these people fully understand the situation (and according to one memory, some of them were deliberately given false info once the higher-ups figured out that any real info might get back to the protagonist.) The result is a bit confusing, to say the least.
* The [[OlderThanTheNES old]] and vast genre of [[AdventureGame adventure games]] ([[PointAndClickGame point-and-click]], [[InteractiveFiction text]], and the less antiquated first-person variety), where this trope was practically the whole point.
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' has the basic story of "mad science allows extradimensional aliens to conquer the Earth." Beyond that, you have to notice newspaper clippings in the game, keep your ears open for off-hand references in dialogue, and pay close attention to how your alien allies speak. It can be frustrating, but the alternative could have been a scene in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' where [[PlayerCharacter Gordon Freeman]] was locked in a room with an actual ''slide show'' of exposition. Even then, even if you are paying very close attention throughout much of the game, if you only play ''Half-Life 2'', then expect to still be pretty damn confused and ignorant regarding the overall plot. Much helpful information is not given until Episode 1. That's right; ''[=HL2=]'' makes you wait for the next game to clue you in on massive sections of the plot.

* ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' has a fairly straightforward main plot. The settings backstory, on the other hand, is revealed mostly through [[ApocalypticLog audio recordings left behind by people who used to live in Rapture]].
* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'':
** The main story of ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueCalamityTrigger Calamity Trigger]]'' is told piecemeal through ''every character's'' Arcade and Story Modes. Some players might find making a chart or a table handy, 'cause it gets complicated. Then, once enough pieces are revealed, it becomes simpler in a satisfying way.
** Starting from ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift Continuum Shift Extend]]'', there is an additional story chapter that recaps the essential meat of the plot of the last game in about the length of an individual character's chapter. Emphasis on essential.
** Unfortunately, because it's a FightingGame, a search for information on how to use the characters often ends with a plenitude of spoilers, which may not be major (fighting game) but it can ruin the satisfaction that figuring it all out near the completion of the story provides.
* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain''. Let's just call it a mystery with multiple player-determined characters and paths and solutions but set answers.

* The ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' series, of course -- they're point-and-click adventure games with mystery plots, so it's pretty much to be expected. The games even go so far as to have a screen of unresolved plot questions, with each one checked off as the details are discovered.

* ''VisualNovel/HotelDuskRoom215'' does this as well. You yourself are looking for your former partner Bradley, and as you talk to the residents of Hotel Dusk and learn their stories they begin to slowly interweave and overlap with yours and each others. By the end of the game you've found peace for yourself and everyone else in the hotel, if not resolved their problems. Its sequel, ''VisualNovel/LastWindow'', does this as well. It has the advantage of an InGameNovel version of its own story to help you review how the story has gone so far.
* ''VideoGame/StarControlII'' just throws you into a huge starmap with no set objective aside from a vague "become powerful enough to defeat the bad guys", and the only information you have is 20 years out of date. It's up to you figure out what's going on and what you need to do from the bits and pieces of information you get from the aliens you encounter.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' is this to the point of being a KudzuPlot. There is very little in the way of story progressing cutscenes, and very little is directly explained to you. You can gain a bits of understanding about the setting, the past, and what is currently going on by compiling NPC dialogue, item FlavorText, and by observing your surroundings.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' is even worse than [[VideoGame/DarkSouls the games]] it serves as a SpiritualSuccessor to. The true nature of what's going on is buried in item descriptions and the occasional telling piece of scenery. It's not even clear which parts of the story are real or not, or if all of it or none of it is. Figuring out the timeline of all the important players and events prior to the game's start is almost as [[NintendoHard hard as the game itself.]]
* ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'': So many pieces, so many puzzles! And dozens and dozens of little storylines that always tell you more, but never enough to figure it all out at once. But every time, you get hints for another completely different storyline... All in all, if you want to have the ''whole'' story at any time, you'll need to work through many others, and piece it all together. Even snippets from the earliest moments of your career that were never important can gain a lot of relevance later on.
** The worst case of this is the Finding Mr Eaten storyline, for a couple reasons. There's multiple endings, so you need to play through it multiple times or converse with others who have beaten it, and it's ''very'' highly advised to not use a "main" account for it. This is because ''it completely and utterly destroys your account'', to the point where you're worse-off than a fresh one at the final step, even if you turn back at the very end and get the strongest weapon in the game in the process. If you continue, rather than get a weapon, you get one of the endings and your account gets deleted. For good.
* The entire ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy'' does this.
** [[VideoGame/MetroidPrime The first game]] does this to the largest degree. It is wholly possible to go through the entire game without even knowing what you're doing or why you're doing it. [[EnemyScan Scanning]] Chozo Lore and Pirate Logs as you find them will give you [[StoryBreadcrumbs bite-sized pieces of information]] that can eventually be assembled to see the whole picture. Fortunately, the game introduces scanning early on and makes it a core element of gameplay, so it is much more difficult than it sounds to blunder cluelessly through everything. It definitely doesn't hurt that the game marks the story scans with the icon indicating that they are mission-critical. ''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes Echoes]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption Corruption]]'' have cutscenes that provide enough information for the player to know the general plot, though rich amounts of details and backstory still have to be scanned.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' requires you to piece together the plot without the aid of cutscenes or expository sequences. And much of the information has to be taken from haphazardly-scattered, scannable data caches which are only visible to your scan visor. Yes, it is ludicrously easy to walk right by the entire story and not even realize it.
* ''VideoGame/AValleyWithoutWind'' is [[WideOpenSandbox very open-ended]], and set up in such a way players make the plot as they go along. It does this by dropping the player into the world without a single clue as to exactly what put it in this state to begin with. The player has to unlock various "mysteries", then seek out secret missions to earn precious scraps of backstory piece by piece.
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords''. If you listen accurately to what Kreia and other teammates tell you, play a Lightsider and learn everything you can from the Jedi Masters, and play the game several times that way (plus at least once dark side to note how peoples' stories change), you might actually be able to figure out just what happened during the complicated backstory, which is also full of contradictions because several characters just flat-out lie. To make it worse the player character already knows most of it and the game pointedly averts AsYouKnow; one of the most reliable sources of exposition is dialog choices, and even that's assuming you can figure out what is and is not a SchrodingersQuestion.
* ''VideoGame/ZombiesRun'' indulges in this a fair bit. The first mission introduces someone firing on a helicopter with a missile launcher, which gets touched on now and then but never resolved. The relationship with New Canton comes in, gets dropped, and then comes back again. Bit by little bit, the dual storylines explaining how Abel Township is surviving and how the plague began get resolved.

* ''VideoGame/DesktopDungeons'' implements this, in part, to deal with the fact that there's no single linear path for the plot to take. Information about the backstory is often doled out in class challenges and boss monologues.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': Eight player classes, each with their own story arc and five companions with their own, smaller character arc. The companions from the Consular class have worked with the Trooper's companions ''and'' the Bounty Hunter's. The Jedi Knight's healer used to [[FriendsWithBenefits "date"]] Imperial Agent's terrorist companion. The Imperial Agent sabotaged friends of the Consular's terrorist companion. The Smuggler's companions used to be best friends with the Sith Warrior's companion. The Imperial Agent's opponents include characters from ''everyone else's'' story. This in ''addition'' to all the little story arcs and sidequests that can date back to ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', the ''Tales of the Jedi'' comic, and the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse in general. It's Creator/BioWare, prepare for a ''long'' play-through to understand half of it. [[spoiler: In the expansion ''Knights of the Fallen Empire'' you find out that many of the parts that don't seem to fit, especially the Sith Emperor apparently pursuing several mutually exclusive strategies at once, were due to him deliberately wasting everyone's time while he readied his ''other'' empire to win in the end.]]

* While the plot of ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys1'' seems to be nothing more than "homicidal animatronics gun for hapless security guard", a grisly backstory is revealed via secret posters. The rest of [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys the series]] adds more pieces to the mythology, including a creepy puppet seemingly masterminding the animatronics, a purple Atari man bringing death wherever he goes, yellow animatronic/suit hybrids that are lethal deathtraps, the mysterious Fredbear and his restaurant, the purple Atari man's family (and his own robot creations), and even the animatronics' creator. Said information is also presented in AnachronicOrder, so have fun figuring all ''that'' out.
* The ''VideoGame/DarkParables'' have evolved into this over time. With the release of each game, the player learns new details about characters and situations they encountered in previous installments. The series is now up to its tenth game, and WordOfGod states that they intend to produce several more titles (since there's plenty of material to use, given that they're all based on fairy tales), so the various plot threads will continue to weave together for an indefinite length of time.

* ''VideoGame/CubeEscape'': The [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness first released installment]] was a simplistic game about fishing at a lake with some SurrealHorror {{Jump Scare}}s thrown in, but the games since then have each revealed parts of an increasingly complicated and symbolism-laden plot/backstory involving the mysterious death of a woman, a lake that runs on people's extracted memories, bird-headed creatures who may or may not be demigods, and much more.
* ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple'': The terminals and Alexandra's recordings comprise the bits and pieces of the story.
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'' has this for history and details of the world of Thedas, for which you collect bits and pieces as codex entries that you can spend hours reading them and piecing them together; in fact, the main conflict of ''Videogame/DragonAgeInquisition'' was foreshadowed as early as in ''Videogame/DragonAgeOrigins'' if you took the time to slug through the entries dealing with [[spoiler: the Elven Gods, the fade and the Old Gods]]. To a lessor extant the BroadStrokes of all six origin stories happened, and the dwarf storyline especially requires you to have seen both dwarf origins to get the whole picture.
* Played ''extremely'' straight with ''VideoGame/HerStory''. The game's story is told through videos; and you can view the videos in any order (you have to find the videos by querying the right terms into the search engine). The way the story is presented, the player has to piece together the full plot on their own.
* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''. If you head straight to fighting Calamity Ganon after the tutorial section, you'll still get enough plot exposition to know what's at stake. But completing the other story quests will not only make the fight much easier from a gameplay perspective, they'll also provide you with further clarification on what Link's relationships with Zelda and the Champions were like.
* Before the beginning of the main story in ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', a 'war' happened in which the student council conspired to sabotage a number of other highly skilled idols and promote the student council president's own idol group ''fine''. After Anzu, the player stand-in, transfers in, the main story kicks in and the student council are taken down. However, the specific details of what went down during the war, including who was allied with who and how they reacted to the events, have only been revealed in trickles across assorted event and gacha stories. To make it even worse, you can normally only read those stories if you manage to collect the associated cards, which involves either extensive, intense playing (for events) or RandomNumberGod mercy (gachas). (However, players are also able to access limited numbers of keys which allow them to read episodes without the associated card, and translations of the stories into English can be viewed online.) And that's not even getting into the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters many, many]] characters' backstories, which are often hinted at ''years'' before they get explained in full. For one example, Chiaki is a very important character who would've been majorly impacted by the war, and is a close friend of one of the biggest victims (Kanata), but though the game started in 2015, it was only in ''January 2019'' that the players found out his part in it all: [[spoiler:he was a fine supporter who honestly believed they were carrying out justice until he got to know Kanata and realised he was actually a good person who didn't deserve what happened to him.]]
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' fell into this in the games from ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' to ''VideoGame/Sonic06'' (with the exception of ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' due to the game really just having an ExcusePlot). In the case of Adventure, [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 Adventure 2]] and ''especially'' 06 it was due to the AnotherSideAnotherStory nature of the plots with not all the events being directly seen from the chosen character’s point of view. As for ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'', it was due to the pick-your-path nature of the plot meaning not everything was revealed on a single run through the game.

* ''LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai'' due to the first four of its seven parts being in AnachronicOrder. Those unfamiliar with ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' (which ''Kara No Kyoukai'' was a prototype of) would have absolutely no idea what's going on until the end of the third movie.

* ''Anime/MawaruPenguindrum''. It makes little sense till the last two episodes.

* The anime version of ''Manga/TriGun'', in stark contrast to the manga, has a tendency to focus very heavily on the human elements of its story while confining many of the other backstory details to subtle cues that might go unnoticed on a first viewing.

* ''FanFic/MegaManRecut'' is ''very'' layered, and many character facets and an overall plot remain hidden.

* The WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse fanfic ''FanFic/SeedsOfRebellion'' makes use of SwitchingPOV and AnachronicOrder to slowly piece together the {{Backstory}} of how the Crystal Gem Rebellion came to be

* Creator/GrantMorrison writes a lot of these. It's not always a bad thing, though, just seems to be his style. [[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman His run on Batman]] notably had some elements that didn't seem to make sense until the end.

* ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'' can be enjoyed just as the journey of two sisters to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong - but this leaves a lot of questions unanswered. What exactly was that Voice? What's the meaning behind the [[spoiler: symbols on the scroll in the ship]]? How did [[spoiler: Elsa thaw]]? All this can be answered by putting together the puzzle, to discover the [[http://www.naclhv.com/2020/01/a-systematic-mythology-of-frozen.html true nature of Ahtohallan]].

* ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'' can be enjoyed just as a story of two sisters and their journey to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, but if you give it some thoughts you can infer quite a bit about the [[http://www.naclhv.com/2020/01/a-systematic-mythology-of-frozen.html deep mythology of its universe]].

** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsDreamDropDistance'' gives the big picture by including detailed summaries of all the previous games in the series, and shows how all the plots are tied together. [[MindScrew Good luck understanding the story of the actual game, though...]]

* ''VisualNovel/YuNo'' from 1996 is the TropeCodifier of the MultipleRouteMystery structure widely used in the visual novel medium, and likely the third VN to use it as a whole. During the main game, the plot splits into several routes, all of which have an independent plot to a minor degree but [[KudzuPlot raise and only partially answer many mysteries]] in the overall scheme. After completing the main routes the player is allowed to enter the final route, which [[ThirdLineSomeWaiting (after some meandering plot developments)]] finally answers almost all mysteries introduced earlier.

* ''VisualNovel/YuNo'' from 1996 is the TropeCodifier of the MultipleRouteMystery structure widely used in the visual novel medium. During the main game, the plot splits into several routes, all of which have an independent plot to a minor degree but [[KudzuPlot raise and only partially answer many mysteries]] in the overall scheme. After completing the main routes the player is allowed to enter the final route, which [[ThirdLineSomeWaiting (after some meandering plot developments)]] finally answers almost all mysteries introduced earlier.

* The thing about ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'' is that seemingly throw away one-episode jokes can build into long-term plots. Carlos and Cecil's romantic relationship, Dana being trapped in an alternate plane of existence, Strexcrop's take-over, the mayoral campaign, Night Vale's weird connection to Russia, [[spoiler: Cecil's true past and the question of who bought Lot 37]]... it's building up to something, but its not clear what, yet.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' mostly averts this practice, as every book is stand-alone, and even in the case where it isn't -- like ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'' -- most of the stuff you need to know is mentioned a second time. However some pieces of character development can only be understood correctly if you read every book where the character in question turns up, and find a lot of things were already mentioned. A major contender for this is Death, who shows up in every book but two, but if you only read the books where he or his granddaughter Susan star in you will never grasp the full depth of his character. It works the same with Sam Vimes, as the "beast" that is inside of him is elaborated on in every book for brief amounts of time, only to be given a starring role of sorts in ''Discworld/NightWatch'' (and even then this subplot is continued afterwards). Another major character is Carrot, who on the surface is a NiceGuy who genuinely wants all people to live in peace and harmony, but in truth there is a massive complexity behind his simpleness which a reader may only begin to understand by reading all of the watch books and the short story "Theater of Cruelty".

* ''Frozen II'' can be enjoyed just as a story of two sisters and their journey to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, but if you give it some thoughts you can infer quite a bit about the [[http://www.naclhv.com/2020/01/a-systematic-mythology-of-frozen.html deep mythology of its universe]].

* ''Manga/SaintSeiyaEpisodeGA'': the story is actually at what will be the seventh published volume, yet there is still no clear plot.