History Main / JigsawPuzzlePlot

** ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFiles'' functions similarly to ''Virtue's Last Reward'' but to a milder extent.

* ''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 ''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.

** ''VisualNovel/Remember11'' turns it UpToEleven. Its plot is so convoluted and divided over 33 (!) routes that it is said even the author was losing track by the end. If you don't get any bad ends, it's a fairly coherent story with most of the unanswered questions being possible to figure out, if not easy. But the more bad ends you get, the more material you have to work with such as ''why'' everything is happening, who everyone is and everything else. When you have the most information about the story is when you truly realize you have no idea what just happened, and you never will know for sure. At least one of the routes has one of the protagonists possessed [[BreakingTheFourthWall by the player]], roaring with rage at being in a world that makes so little sense. In fact, an accepted interpretation of the game is that [[spoiler:the plot itself is a MindScrew created by the mastermind to entrap and torment the player]]. Why? Because [[spoiler:to the characters in the game, the player is a [[YouBastard scary demon]] who [[BreakingTheFourthWall enters from another dimension]] to control their minds!]]

* As well as following an AnachronicOrder, the story told by the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series is not shown linearly. Flashbacks, including the OnceMoreWithClarity variety, are used frequently. In ''Saw IV'', Jill Tuck says "John's life defies chronology, linear description." The story itself is like a jigsaw puzzle, which is fitting, considering most of the killers are dubbed [[CollectiveIdentity the "Jigsaw Killer"]].

* As well as following an AnachronicOrder, the story told by the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series is not shown linearly. Flashbacks, including the OnceMoreWithClarity variety, are used frequently. In ''Saw IV'', Jill Tuck says "John's life defies chronology, linear description." The story itself is like a jigsaw puzzle, which is fitting considering the killers are all referred to as the Jigsaw killers.

* As well as following an AnachronicOrder, the story told by the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series is not shown linearly. Flashbacks, including the OnceMoreWithClarity variety, are used frequently. In ''Saw IV'', Jill Tuck says "John's life defies chronology, linear description." The story itself is like a jigsaw puzzle.

* 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'': Unlike most previous ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' series this adds a MythArc to the standard MonsterOfTheWeek format. It takes until the last few episodes to reveal all the pieces.

* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' sequel trilogy is infamous for its half-hearted attempt at this. ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', directed by Creator/JJAbrams, introduces several questions about why Rey is so strong with The Force, who her parents are, and the origins of Supreme Leader Snoke. However, its sequel, ''Film/TheLastJedi'', famously undermined all of these questions.

-->-- '''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''', ''Film/PodPeople''

[[folder:Pinballs]]
* ''Pinball/WhoDunnit'', appropriate to its MysteryFiction theme, has a backstory spanning the previous 34 years that must be pieced together by listening to all of the other characters and connecting together what they have to say, and they have a ''lot'' to say. Some information will not make sense until you know of certain aspects about them, such as [[spoiler:Walter, Victoria's father, changing his name to Butler to conceal his identity from her]]. This machine is a particularly unusual case in that almost all other pinball machines have either an ExcusePlot or NoPlotNoProblem

* The 1972 version of Солярис (Film/{{Solaris|1972}}) is an example of what can go wrong when Jigsaw Plot is mixed with adapting from book to film. The film based heavily on a novel which heavily relied on the narrator giving massive {{Info Dump}}s to give backstory and explain things. Given that much of the film adaptation is based on the ''actions'' that take place in the novel, but is bereft of ''any'' narration, meaning that things which made sense (or at least slightly more sense) in the novel, went completely unexplained in the film without buildup, exposition, or closure. Many plot revelations and pieces of characterization were changed to something very different, making the film hard to approach even for those who ''have'' read the book. The film also adds several scenes not found in the novel at all, which are quite trippy, leading to a film which has disturbingly large chunks of its running time occupied by {{Big Lipped Alligator Moment}}s. MindScrew and GainaxEnding do not even ''begin'' to express how weird the whole thing is.

* The 1972 version of Солярис (Film/{{Solaris|1972}}) is an example of what can go wrong when JigsawPlot is mixed with adapting from book to film. The film based heavily on a novel which heavily relied on the narrator giving massive {{Info Dump}}s to give backstory and explain things. Given that much of the film adaptation is based on the ''actions'' that take place in the novel, but is bereft of ''any'' narration, meaning that things which made sense (or at least slightly more sense) in the novel, went completely unexplained in the film without buildup, exposition, or closure. Many plot revelations and pieces of characterization were changed to something very different, making the film hard to approach even for those who ''have'' read the book. The film also adds several scenes not found in the novel at all, which are quite trippy, leading to a film which has disturbingly large chunks of its running time occupied by {{Big Lipped Alligator Moment}}s. MindScrew and GainaxEnding do not even ''begin'' to express how weird the whole thing is.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Surprisingly, ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' is showing signs of this, courtesy of King Radical, Charles Goodrich and Frans Rayner, in that order.
* ''Webcomic/TheArtistIsDead!'' takes a little piecing together. [[spoiler: [[UnusualChapterNumbers Chapter Pi]]]] doesn't help things.
* ''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/BobAndGeorge''. Started out as a filler sprite comic while the author learned how to draw, stuff kept happening and we end up with multiple parallel universes, various alternate timelines, clones, doppelgangers, etc. And it still all worked out in the end. David Anez is either the most talented jigsaw plotter ever or the King of AssPull. Possibly both.
* 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/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.
* ''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/ElGoonishShive'', and thanks to Dan Shive's bitter refusal to ever tie things up, some of the pieces just collect dust.
* ''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.
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' has plot elements that are still being worked out and mysteries in the main plot that started on the third page.
* ''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/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/{{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''...
** This is {{Lampshaded}}; the term "Ultimate Riddle" is mentioned by a few characters. During one section the reader progresses through the story by clicking on pictures that [[ScrapbookStory fell from a scrapbook]], which metaphorically translates into the reader picking up pieces that fell from a puzzle and seeing how they all fit.
** According to Creator/AndrewHussie himself, this trope is probably the best summary of Homestuck we're gonna get:
--> "The thing is, Homestuck is both a story and a puzzle, by design and by definition. If asked to define it, “a story that’s also a puzzle” is as close to true as any answer I’d give."
** [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=006872 Lampshaded]] by Caliborn as representative of the [[HateDumb anti-fans]] of Homestuck:
--->uu: I HAVE NOTICED. AS [=YOuR AWFuL=] MEANDERING SAGA WENDS ITS WAY. [=THROuGH=] THE ASS CRACK OF NOWHERE AND BACK.
--->uu: ANSWERS TO POINTLESS [=QuESTIONS=] ARE OFTEN DEFERRED. NIGH INDEFINITELY.
* ''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/TheMansionOfE'' tends to spend more time leisurely exploring the eponymous structure more than answering plot questions.
* ''Webcomic/{{morphE}}'' is designed this way. It specifically alternates between character development, world building and plot development leaving cookie crumbs to answer the DrivingQuestion.
** Chapter 2 ends with a brief glimpse into a private meeting with Amical and his guards which offered a little insight into what he expects of the seedlings, but not enough information to be sure of what.
** Chapter 3 involves the three main seedlings calling their families. The narrative didn't elaborate on the history of some of the things they were saying. Asia in particular leaves a lot of intrigue for debate given the clues we have been given about her abnormal upbringing which resulted in her being "rescued".
* ''Webcomic/{{Paranatural}}'' starts out as a fairly standard, if somewhat silly, parody of shonen anime with a [[SchoolClubFront school club that fights ghosts]], a main character with a pretty [[MissingMom standard backstory]] and a lot of fun quips at genre conventions. And then it turns out that there's at least four secret societies with different goals vying for power, including a [[MysteryCult cult]] run by [[TheMasquerade seemingly unrelated townsfolk]], a [[PiecesOfGod fragmented diety]], an [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]], and a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampire.]] That isn't including that the main character's mentor is [[TricksterMentor definitely hiding some plans of his own]], as is said mentor's oldest friend, estranged sister, and boyfriend. Even the background characters are involved in tiny pieces of a gigantic overarching plot, including a [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil student council]] that may be the only thing standing in the way of the Vampire, a 'rebellious factor' opposing them led by [[AmbiguouslyHuman another ambiguously human]] student, and perhaps even a looming apocalypse. [[ItMakesSenseInContext And that's not even mentioning the talking rabbits.]]
* ''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/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/StandStillStaySilent'': After the DistantPrologue taking place JustBeforeTheEnd, the reader gets dumped into a time period ninety years AfterTheEnd. Anything about the setting not spelled out in the EncyclopediaExposita or by characters themselves needs to be pieced together via various hints given in the story itself. On occasion, the narration of events unfolding in the story's present turns into this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* 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 anachronistic storytelling. And then there was ''The Muldoon Legacy'' series by the same author, which added a healthy dose of science fantasy.
* With the addition of the bordering on MindScrew ending of ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood Brotherhood]]'', the [[FramingDevice Framing Story]] of ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' definitely qualifies for this now. Creator/{{Ubisoft}} were meticulously vague with just about every sentence said, giving the player bits of evidence and conspiracies that either seem to contradict each other, or seeming have no relevance whatsoever. Not to mention the player has NO IDEA if said sources of information can be trusted, if everyone secretly has an ulterior motive, or if they're just being [[ProperlyParanoid overly paranoid]] about things. "Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted"... more like "Believe NOTHING, expect EVERYTHING, but don't expect to know how it all fits together".
* ''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/{{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.]]
* 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.
* ''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/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.
* 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/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.
* While ''VideoGame/DeusEx'''s main story is pretty straight, the backstory is hidden in pieces in various in-game media this way.
* ''[[VideoGame/{{Doom}} Doom 3]]'' did this quite nicely with its audio logs, video disks, and emails. Plus, it also did wonders for making players actually get the plot by placing important information such as codes in with the plot.
* ''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.
* 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/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.
* ''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.
* 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.
* ''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/HeavyRain''. Let's just call it a mystery with multiple player-determined characters and paths and solutions but set answers.
* 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.
* ''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/{{killer7}}'' sets the puzzle pieces in front of you, takes a handful away, and leaves you to assemble the rest.
* The ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series. It rations out the information just enough that all the WildMassGuessing and FanWank can start to make sense if you aren't careful.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' is probably the best example, as you have to play the game three times (each time as a different character) to piece together the entire story, ''plus'' gather all the "Xehanort Reports" that explain ([[KudzuPlot as best they can]]) the more confusing details.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' 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...]]
* ''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.
* While ''Videogame/Left4Dead'' has a straightforward plot, the survivors' personalities can be understood fully by listening on their comments. One of the most infamous is [[CloudCuckooLander Ellis]]' tell-tale involving [[MemeticBadass Keith]].
* 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.
* 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.
* While ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney'' had some elements of this trope, its sequel, ''VideoGame/{{Dreamfall|TheLongestJourney}}'', goes full-hog with it. So many pieces, and not enough game to cover them with.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' is heading for this. The main plot is fairly straightforward, but if you do loads of sidequests and talk to people a lot little details start cropping up - e.g. in [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 the first game]], Wrex can tell you a story about an asari mercenary he knew and fought with. In [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 the second]], an asari you meet ([[spoiler:Aria T'Loak]]) unknowingly implies that she was that mercenary.
* 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''.
* 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/{{Nier}}'', strangely jumping ahead 1312 years after the tutorial and only giving hints as to what happened in the interim. [[{{Tagline}} Nothing is as it seems.]]
* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'': Characters' stories and the overarching plot come together pieces at a time, with many revelations being saved for The Very Definitely Final Dungeon.
* ''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.
* ''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/ThePath'' is extremely complicated and piecing together the story takes quite a bit of time. And even then there's still [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory loads of stuff]] [[MindScrew that's up for your interpretation]].
* 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.
* ''VideoGame/ProjectDownfall'' is nigh indecipherable in a single playthrough. Each alternative path and ending reveals a little more of the bigger picture.
* 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.
* ''VideoGame/QuestFantasy'' is pretty complicated and is told in AnachronicOrder. Often, things are not explicitly spelled out as to where they connect, so the player has to keep track of a pretty complicated story despite the total playtime of all the games not being too long.
* 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]].
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' fell into this in the games from ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' to ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' (with the exception of ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' due to the game really just having an ExcusePlot). In the case of Adventure, ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' 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.
* ''VideoGame/SpookysHouseOfJumpScares'' to an extent. At first it appears to be a ParodyGame, with the title's {{Jump Scare}}s being simple cartoony cardboard cutouts, but as you progress through the house you find notes left by people who have previously entered it, hinting towards its true purpose.
* ''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/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.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple'': The terminals and Alexandra's recordings comprise the bits and pieces of the story.
* ''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/TheWitness'': In a very literal sense. Not only does one have to solve puzzles in order to uncover the plot, but [[spoiler: the plot itself is a carefully hidden puzzle, buried in a hidden section of the mountain, found in the form of audio recorders that provide their own clues as to what happened.]]
* ''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/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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* This is what ''Series/TwentyFour'' is all about. Things tend to get properly put together halfway through, though.
* ''Series/{{Alias}}''. In this TV series, the mythic arc takes a shadowy backseat to the "everyday" spy dramas that Sydney faces. This is one of the earliest projects of creator Creator/JJAbrams. His famous "Mystery Box" style of storytelling frequently leads him to make use of Jigsaw plots in his other works.
* 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/BabylonFive'', pre-planned 5 year plot which was shifted by three episodes near the end due to network difficulties threatening to cancel the series a year short of the original ending, and where actors leaving and arriving meant that some functions were [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute shifted to other characters while still getting the same effect]].
* The new ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}''. Like ''Lost'' above, they only began to plan out everything towards the end of season 1. Unfortunately, it began suffering from TheChrisCarterEffect after Season 2, and by the GrandFinale it was pretty clear that the writers were making it up as they went along.
* Both seasons of ''Series/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' feature a lot of bizarre and seemingly unrelated events that all turn out to be connected in the end.
* ''Series/{{Dark|2017}}'': A time-travel drama that features so many paradoxes and interwoven timelines that it is almost impossible to keep track of. The show begins in the present day, with several strange presences and events, and as characters begin to travel backward and forward in time, the audience gets to learn the causes of many of these events.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' goes into a strenuously long arc in Season 6 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/{{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.
* ''Series/TheLeftovers'': Subverted somewhat. The show opens on a world where 2% of the world's population suddenly vanished one day. The show's plot has the majority of characters trying to figure out why this happened and potentially how to reverse it, uncovering other new mysteries along the way, but the show's theming heavily implies that searching for answers to these questions is a painful and pointless endeavor.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}''. This may be the most famous example. 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.
* ''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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'' originated the trope for an entire series. Secret agent known only as [[YouAreNumberSix Number Six]] resigns for unknown reasons, and is brought to a strange island known as The Village, where an unknown organization attempts to force him to explain why he resigned.
* Each season of Australian drama ''Series/SeaPatrol'' does this.
** The first series builds up a mystery involving a mysteriously poisoned marine biologist, a freighter captain, a bag of contaminated crabs, the fishermen who caught them, and a crate full of water bottles. It all comes together in the season final, when Captain Gallagher is revealed to be manufacturing a biotoxin to sell on the black market.
** The second series, subtitled "The Coup," builds up to a coup d'etat on a fictitious Pacific island, involving an Australian businessman and a group of Eastern European mercenaries. It's not done quite as well as the first, because any viewer can tell that Walsman will be behind it from roughly the second episode. Surprisingly, individual episodes in this season are on average better than in the first, but the mystery is badly handled.
* ''Series/Sense8'' has a jigsaw-puzzle plot for the entirety of Season 1, and parts of Season 2 as well.
* ''Series/TheShadowLine'' does this, as it has many seemingly disparate plot points that only fall clearly into place in the final two episodes.
* ''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.
* ''Series/StrangerThings'': The first season has the adult, teen, and child characters each investigating the strange happenings in Hawkins, Indiana. The opening mysteries of Will Byers' disappearance, a strange telekinetic girl named Eleven, a secret government laboratory, and the attacks of a monster known as the Demigorgon all tie together by the season finale.
* By Season 2, ''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.
* ''Series/{{Taken}}'': There are numerous mysteries such as the reason behind continued abductions of Russell Keys and later his son Jesse and grandson Charlie, the nature of the artifact found at the Roswell crashsite, the purpose of the implants found in the heads of all abductees and most significantly the aliens' ultimate goal in creating hybrids. As the series progresses, answers to all of these questions are provided.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' doesn't have any overarching arcs (since the format of the show is that each episode is a standalone story), but more than a few individual episodes have had plots of this type.
* ''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/WandaVision'': Taking place after the events of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', this show suddenly has Wanda Maximoff and Vision [[spoiler:(who is supposed to be dead)]] living in a small town full of {{sitcom}} tropes. It is initially unclear how they ended up here, and mysterious breaks in the sitcom story hint at more sinister forces at play.
* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'': A story about a park full of androids designed to cater to rich guests in a WildWest themed fantasy world. As the androids, or "hosts," [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming begin to form self-awareness]], the show begins to reveal the machinations of the park's creators, Ford and Arnold, as well as the nature of the hosts and the various motivations of those in the park. This is a show that seems tailor-made to spark watercooler discussions on Reddit. Its plot is so dense and complex that the mystery overtakes almost every other element of the story.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/{{Amatsuki}}'', particularly concerning the backstory and the real world timeline.
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' throws several curveballs regarding the nature and motives of Titans within the series, most of which just raise more questions than provide answers.
** Every time there's a [[TheReveal reveal]], nothing is ever ''actually'' answered because we're provided with so much new information that all previous knowledge about a character or a concept is rendered useless. Most notably occurs after [[spoiler:the characters finally get to Eren's basement and learn the truth about the world. Well, kind of]]. All the [[UnreliableNarrator Unreliable Narrators]] don't help either, and nobody in-universe really knows what's going on themselves.
* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' is a perfect example of this. The entire series is in AnachronicOrder, with almost every major plot point being shown in the first episode but without enough context to put them together. It even includes the [[TheReveal above mentioned style]] of WhamEpisode. And being the SpiritualSuccessor, ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' does this, too.
* ''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/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/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.
* ''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/FullmetalAlchemist'', both the original manga and [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]] in their own respective ways.
* ''Manga/FutureDiary'' has several important plot points that aren't fully explained until near the end. Something is clearly wrong with Yuno (even aside from all the [[{{Yandere}} other]] [[AxCrazy things]]), and then there's Murmur, who seems to have [[DragonWithAnAgenda her own plans]] for the Survival Game. [[AmateurSleuth Aru Akise]] is attempting to investigate the mysteries surrounding Yuno, but he doesn't have much success until near the end of the story.
* ''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.
* ''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.
* ''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/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.
* ''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/{{Kekkaishi}}'' and all the stuff relating to Karasumori and the Urakai.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'': One example suffices; the primary design for [[spoiler:the Innovators, the main villains of Season 2]] can be seen in ''contextually-relevant background scenes'' in Season 1, specifically on Kinue Crossroad's desk.
* 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/{{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.
* ''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.
* ''Manga/PandoraHearts'': From beginning to end, there are hints that paint a bigger picture to the past and the backstories of each character,especially regarding the Tragedy of Sablier, Pandora, Abyss, Will of Abyss, and almost everything, really.And the mystery keeps you at the end of your seat. Not to mention the Alice In Wonderland themes and references that are already confusing and weird by themselves.
* ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'' seems designed to confuse, bewilder and annoy. It's basically the unfinished, leftover "scraps" of story ideas from [[Creator/SatoshiKon an already crazy writer/director]].
* ''Anime/{{Penguindrum}}''. It makes little sense till the last two episodes.
* ''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.
* ''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.
* ''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/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' may just be the TropeCodifier among anime. ''Anime/StarDriver'', from the same writer, also fits ''very'' well.
* ''Manga/SaintSeiyaEpisodeGA'': The story is actually at what will be the seventh published volume, yet there is still no clear plot.
* ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'' has this since the plot is one big MindScrew.
* ''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.
* 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.
* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' it seems straightforward up until the revelation about the clones and time travel.
* 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]].
* 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/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.]])
* ''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.
[[/folder]]

!!Examples:

%%* The ''Franchise/{{SAW}}'' movies.

* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' sequels are infamous for their halfhearted attempt at this. ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', directed by Creator/JJAbrams, introduces several questions about why Rey is so strong with The Force, who her parents are, and the origins of Supreme Leader Snoke. However, its sequel, ''Film/TheLastJedi'', famously undermined all of these questions.

* Spoofed in ''Film/HotFuzz'', where Nicholas Angel's investigations about a series of murders bring together all the clues in a complex web of intrigues... except they didn't really matter and the real reason for the murders was ''far'' simpler and stupider.
* 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/{{Holes}}'' just barely qualifies, as it has two subplots which are not connected to the main plot until towards the end of the book.

* ''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"]]]].

* ''Series/WandaVision'': Taking place after the events of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', this show suddenly has Wanda Maximoff and Vision [[spoiler:(who is supposed to be dead)]] living in a small town full of {{sitcom}} tropes. It is initially unclear how they ended up here, and mysterious breaks in the sitcom story hint at more sinister forces at play. Part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it also ties into the larger Jigsaw Puzzle Plot of the overall franchise.

* 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, Strexcorp'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.

* ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' The conceit of this books series is that a small town is surrounded by a giant dome, and all adults are teleported out of it. The teen characters find out more and more about the powerful forces that created this little isolated world while fighting to stay alive.

* ''Webvideo/MarbleHornets'', to the point of MindScrew.

[[folder:Pinball]]

** ''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.]]
** ''VisualNovel/{{Remember 11}}'' turns it UpToEleven. Its plot is so convoluted and divided over 33 (!) routes that it is said even the author was losing track by the end. If you don't get any bad ends, it's a fairly coherent story with most of the unanswered questions being possible to figure out, if not easy. But the more bad ends you get, the more material you have to work with such as ''why'' everything is happening, who everyone is and everything else. When you have the most information about the story is when you truly realize you have no idea what just happened, and you never will know for sure. At least one of the routes has one of the protagonists possessed [[BreakingTheFourthWall by the player]], roaring with rage at being in a world that makes so little sense. In fact, an accepted interpretation of the game is that [[spoiler:the plot itself is a MindScrew created by the mastermind to entrap and torment the player]]. Why? Because [[spoiler:to the characters in the game, the player is a [[YouBastard scary demon]] who [[BreakingTheFourthWall enters from another dimension]] to control their minds!]]

* The Machinima series, ''Machinima/SmashKing'' is very much inspired by anime, so it's no surprise that this series falls under this trope. The story thrusts you into the middle of Bowser's daily life as a trophy without much preamble, while he's gathering teammates for the upcoming Smash King tourney, and many mysteries such as [[spoiler:why Mario and Lucario want revenge against Bowser, Bowser's past, the Twilight Realm, the goals behind Snake's trio, Ridley, and so on]] are thrust upon the viewer with information slowly drip fed about all of them leaving you questioning and trying to figure out what's going on for a long time before you start getting large bouts of answers. The series rewards the viewers who try to analyze every little detail said by the characters as the mysteries slowly get pieced together over time.
* 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/EverymanHYBRID'' has literal jigsaw pieces scattered across the internet.
* ''WebVideo/KateModern'' is a mild example, successfully building up and maintaining various mysteries.
* The series ''WebVideo/Lonelygirl15'' is notably reticent to explain any more than about half of what's going on at any given time.
* ''Webvideo/MarbleHornets'', to the point of MindScrew.
* ''Roleplay/RubyQuest''; by the end, you still don't have all the pieces. Apparently more could have been gotten if certain actions had been taken. Or more could have been missed, or course. WordOfGod answered quite a few things, though.

* Literature/WhateleyUniverse. It took years to find out what ''really'' happened to Cavalier and Skybolt, and now even some of the main characters are struggling to figure out who [[BigBad Hekate's Master]] really is. And that's after well over a hundred novels, novellas, and short stories. And now Chaka has gotten a mystical prophecy no one in-story can figure out, so the puzzle pieces are getting waved in our faces.

* ''The Last Dragon Chronicles'' is a children's fantasy book series that introduces the Pennykettle family and their ability to sculpt clay dragons that come to life. As the series goes on, the story reveals more about the origins of these powers and of dragons in general, and by the end, the story includes interdimensional aliens, time travel, and three separate parallel universes.

* ''Series/{{Dark}}'': A time-travel drama that features so many paradoxes and interwoven timelines that it is almost impossible to keep track of. The show begins in the present day, with several strange presences and events, and as characters begin to travel backward and forward in time, the audience gets to learn the causes of many of these events.

* ''Series/{{Wandavision}}'': Taking place after the events of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', this show suddenly has Wanda Maximoff and Vision [[spoiler:(who is supposed to be dead)]] living in a small town full of {{sitcom}} tropes. It is initially unclear how they ended up here, and mysterious breaks in the sitcom story hint at more sinister forces at play. Part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it also ties into the larger Jigsaw Puzzle Plot of the overall franchise.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHollow'': The show opens on three teens waking up in a fantasy/sci-fi world with no memory of how they got there. As they run through various obstacles, they slowly piece together the fact that they are [[spoiler: inside a video game]].* ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'': Brothers Wirt and Greg find themselves lost in a fantastical woodland fantasy world called The Unknown. The plot steadily reveals information about the show's BigBad, The Beast, and also revealing that [[spoiler: the brothers got to The Unknown from the Real World]].* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'': Unlike most previous ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' series this adds a MythArc to the standard MonsterOfTheWeek format. It takes until the last few episodes to reveal all the pieces.

Lots of interesting things are going on in the series' MythArc: {{Mind Screw}}s, [[GovernmentConspiracy wild]] [[AncientConspiracy conspiracies]], unrevealed {{Love Dodecahedron}}s, an OntologicalMystery, and the odd bit of AppliedPhlebotinum or two. Sometimes [[EscapeFromTheCrazyPlace the setting itself is just plain crazy]], to boot. ItsALongStory, and there's [[NoTimeToExplain far too much to explain]] in the series pilot.

It's frequently also called a Mystery Box Plot or a Puzzle Box Plot.

* ''Series/{{Alias}}''. In this TV series, the mythic arc takes a shadowy backseat to the "everyday" spy dramas that Sydney faces.

* ''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.

* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'': Unlike most previous ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' series this adds a MythArc to the standard MonsterOfTheWeek format. It takes until the last few episodes to reveal all the pieces.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHollow'': The show opens on three teens waking up in a fantasy/sci-fi world with no memory of how they got there. As they run through various obstacles, they slowly piece together the fact that they are [[spoiler: inside a video game]].
* ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'': Brothers Wirt and Greg find themselves lost in a fantastical woodland fantasy world called The Unknown. The plot steadily reveals information about the show's BigBad, The Beast, and also revealing that [[spoiler: the brothers got to The Unknown from the Real World]].

%% * 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.
* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' could be said to be the second variety.

* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'' originated the trope for an entire series.