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Arc Words in Video Games.

  • Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation: "Go dance with the angels!" It starts out as an inside joke among the family of one of the side characters. When a little girl says it while defying an enemy soldier, one of those occupying her country's capital, on national broadcast no less, it becomes a rallying cry for the whole of Emmeria.
  • Afterimage:
    • "May our paths cross soon once again." - A recurring farewell message to a dead person. Appropriately, it's also the description of the "Condolence" achievement.
    • "Engardin razed" – On a surface level, it refers to the "Razing" incident that affected the world of Engardin, but several characters (including Renee and Ifree) use the phrase to express utter disbelief or shock at someone or something. It's just like this game's version of saying "What in the world!?"
  • Alice: Madness Returns has "What have you done?". Oddly enough, the answer is nothing. Alice blames herself for the death of her family, and much of her Character Development revolves around her realizing that she has no reason to feel guilty for it.
    • 'Centaurs in Oxford' seems to show up occasionally in collectible Memories. The Queen of Hearts alludes to its true meaning near the climax.
  • The word "slaughter" shows up a lot in Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, referencing Mandus' plan, and later the Engineer's, to destroy the world in order to prevent the horrors Mandus saw in the future.
    • "The coming century" also appears frequently. Mandus was so horrified by the events of the twentieth century that he saw in the orb that he cut out his sons' hearts to "save" them from dying at the Battle of the Somme and built the Machine to end the world, even giving a piece of his soul to it, which would become the Engineer.
    • And of course, pigs are referenced. The Engineer sees the whole world as "a machine for pigs... fit only for the slaughtering of pigs."
  • In Anachronox, the words "Eddie knows" is grafittied all over the area, and a lot of NPCs talk about this "Eddie". However, once you meet Eddie (fairly early in the game) and gets his aid, he's removed from the plot.
  • Anatomy begins to repeat the phrase "You never came back" during the last real run through of the game, and after it's revealed that the character you're playing as is an imaginary puppet of the Sapient House and never did exist.
  • "Nothing is true, everything is permitted." Al-Mualim and Altair discuss it in the first Assassins Creed, but what it means is better explained to the player in the sequel after Ezio meets Niccolo Machiavelli.
    • During the Golden Age of Piracy, Edward Kenway at first finds the creed to be very appealing, but comes to recognize that it carries numerous horrors with it as it doesn't only apply to him, but to everyone.
    • During the French Revolution, Arno Dorian interprets it as a warning - the fact that people can believe or do anything is dangerous, and so it is that the people need to be protected.
    • And then it takes on an entirely new meaning in Assassin's Creed Origins when a message left by The One That Came Before reveals that it might be possible to create an Animus that could not only view history, but change it.
  • Asura's Wrath: "Wrath", for obvious reasons, as well as "Mantra".
    • "Well Asura, is your wrath gone?" It ends with:
      Asura: My wrath, is finally... gone.
  • The original Baldur's Gate had Gorion's spirit in fact, your own Bhaal heritage appearing to you in dreams at the end of every chapter and always telling you "You will learn..." before you wake up and discover a new entry in your special ability list.
    • "The Lord of Murder shall perish, but in his doom he shall spawn a score of mortal progeny. Chaos will be sewn from their passage. So sayeth the wise Alaundo." This prophecy is said a number of times throughout the games. At first, it's subtle foreshadowing that all the trouble you're going through is cause you're a Bhaalspawn yourself, but then it hits full force that the further you go on your journey, the greater the impact you're having on the world, and not always for good reasons no matter what you choose to do.
  • Baldur's Gate III: "Authority" comes up quite often.
  • Batman: Arkham Knight: "This is how it happened. This is how the Batman died."
  • Batman: The Telltale Series Season Two: The Enemy Within: "We're two threads in the same stitch."
  • Bayonetta:
    • "The Left Eye, our treasured Left Eye, will never fall into the hands of another!"
    • "May Jubileus, the Creator, grace you!"
    • "My dear, sweet child. Fear not, for I am always watching over you." This one actually comes back in the sequel as well, but with a much more poignant meaning to it.
  • Bendy and the Ink Machine: "He will set us free".
  • The Binding of Isaac: "Friends 'till the end" shows up often as the description for several items in Rebirth, and there is a pill with the same name.
  • BioShock: Everything you're asked to do to continue the game is prefaced with "Would You Kindly". While at first it seems like just a Character Tic of Atlas, he later reveals that not only is he not who he claims to be, "Would You Kindly" is in fact a genetically coded key phrase that compels you to unquestioningly obey the "suggestion." This is a particularly cunning reveal since up until this point, chances are good you have (dun dun duuunnnn!) followed Atlas' advice without wondering where all this might be coming from.
    • Throughout the game, you hear several variants on Andrew Ryan's personal philosophy: "A man chooses, a slave obeys." This has a lot more impact when you realize you don't really have a choice in your actions throughout the game.
  • BioShock Infinite:
    • "Bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt", with the girl in question being Elizabeth, and 'us' being the Lutece twins. The end reveals that Booker, along with the audience, has been misinterpreting it the whole time. It's not a command to rescue Elizabeth during the events of the game, it was a deal Booker made a long time ago to sell his daughter Anna (Elizabeth's younger self) to the Luteces (pre-Heel–Face Turn) pay off his gambling debts. Booker does not take remembering its true meaning well.
    • "The seed of the Prophet shall sit the throne, and drown in flame the mountains of man." This actually happens in a Bad Future in which Elizabeth succumbs to despair, takes up Comstock's mantle and uses Columbia to lay waste to the world below.
    • "Lives, lived, will live." "Dies, died, will die."
    • "What is Columbia, if not another Ark for another time?"
  • A Bite at Freddy's: Biting. In addition to the word being included in the title of the game, the main menu's selection indicators are a set of snapping mechanical jaws, it's heavily implied that Edward's primary motivation for applying for the Fazbear's Grill job was to get a complementary bite to eat, and Fredbear got decommissioned because a kid bit his head.
  • BlazBlue:
    • "The Wheel Of Fate Is Turning" is just a cool throwaway phrase to start your fights with, right? Not quite. It's actually hinting at the "Groundhog Day" Loop that's been put in place, and the events that continue to cause the loop to endlessly repeat.
      • The "Rebel 1: Action!" that follows it also has meaning.
    • BlazBlue: Continuum Shift: "One of the many possibilities... of the Continuum Shift" appears at the end of every Story and Arcade playthrough.
    • BlazBlue: Central Fiction has recurring references to "dreams" - both in the sense of future ambitions, which is how Izanami turns the cast against each other, and in the sense of sleeping visions such as those of the Master Unit that prevent the world from changing.
  • Bloodborne:
    • "Farewell, Good Hunter. May you find your worth in the waking world." This phrase is said by the Plain Doll after every time you interact with her. She also repeats it in the Yharnam Sunrise ending, where its significance becomes a lot more profound.
    • "Paleblood" is first mentioned in the opening cinematic as an implied panacea that The Hunter came to the city of Yharnam to seek as a cure. It is immediately after this mentioned on a note that encourages you to "seek paleblood to transcend the hunt" which muddies the waters in regards to what it may be. After this The Hunter asks another sickly man who came to Yharnam seeking a cure about paleblood, only for the man to admit outright that he has never even heard of it. The third mention is in a note left upon a dank street that reads "Behold! A paleblood sky!" which just further deepens the mystery. Finally the word is brought up once more in a note in a lecture building dedicated to the study of The Great Ones that reads "The nameless moon presence beckoned by Laurence and his associates. Paleblood." Ultimately, what this nebulous "paleblood" actually is remains unanswered.
    • "Eyes on the inside." This phrase pops up a few times in association with Insight, the process of gaining eldritch knowledge in order to gain the ability to see beyond the mundane world. It's strongly implied that "insight" is a very literal term.
    • The DLC, The Old Hunters, adds a few more.
      • "Secrets" is repeated by Simon, Brador, and Lady Maria, each of whom have a different view on how your journey through the Hunter's Nightmare and the Dark Secret at Byrgenwerth at its end. Simon, the Seeker of Secrets, wants you to find it. Brador wishes to cover it up by killing you once you've found it, and Lady Maria wishes to protect it by blocking your way into the final area.
      • "Curse the fiends, their children too, and their children, forever, true." This is the narration from the trailer (and the first time you enter the Hunter's Nightmare), echoed in the Fishing Hamlet. This is the curse that created the Nightmare. "The fiends" are the scholars of Byrgenwerth, who committed an atrocity against the Fishing Hamlet and its guardian Great One Kos, and their 'children' are the Healing Church (founded by Byrgenwerth scholar Laurence) and the Hunters (all ultimately students of Gherman, who is heavily implied to have helped carry out the massacre).
      • "A bottomless curse, a bottomless sea." The Fishing Hamlet Priest uses this line when he gives you the Accursed Brew tool, and in the ending narration, where he describes the curse retreating after you Mercy Kill the Sweet Child of Kos.
  • Bravely Default: "Have the courage to disobey."
    • This one is especially unique in that while this line is uttered to the characters within the game, the message is actually addressed to the player. The game, once each mirror world is entered, begins nudging you to expose Airy for the liar and manipulator that she is by shattering one of the crystals. Doing so gets you an unsatisfactory ending. "Have the courage to disobey" refers to you needing to ignore the game's nudging, essentially allowing Airy to complete her task as you face each incarnation of Luxendarc with even stronger foes each pass, which sounds like a terrible thing to do, but is the only way to confront the true final boss and net yourself the Golden Ending.
  • Bravely Second: "By what strange trick of fate do your paths cross anew?"
    • We also have "Bravely Second, the courage to try again", which mainly features if You perform New Game Plus incorrectly, and serves as a clue that you're on the wrong path, and the trick to getting the Golden Ending.
  • Brutal Orchestra: "Let's try this again."
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops has "Dragovich... Kravchenko... Steiner... All must die..."
  • Castle Red: "Praise be"
  • Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow:
    • "Power of Dominance". Essentially, this IS Dracula's power and is what proves that Soma is Dracula reincarnated. His comment, though using different wording, to Graham (The Power to Rule) is what sets Graham off in a panic. Later, in Dawn of Sorrow, it comes into play again when Dmitri Blinov finds he can't easily copy that same power and dies when he loses control over the demons he absorbed.
    • "Dark Lord Candidate" is another, which refers to those born at the time of Dracula's demise and who can apparently claim the mantle of Dark Lord for themselves. Graham, Dmitri, and Dario are the three mentioned within the two games.
  • Castlevania: Curse of Darkness has "revenge" as the word thrown about throughout the game. Hector seeks revenge on Isaac for his part in getting his wife, Rosaly, killed while Isaac seeks revenge on Hector for betraying Dracula. This becomes even more of a focal point of the game as Zead actively encourages Hector's revenge since he's masquerading as Death and needs Hector to submit to Dracula's curse in order to revive him, Julia pleads with Hector to not lose himself in his quest for revenge, and St. Germain tells him to simply give up on it, doing so because he's a time traveler and knows what the future would hold.
  • Cave Story has a number of examples of this trope. The frequently recurring character Cthullu often says lines such as "You're a soldier from the surface, aren't you? Hasn't the war ended yet?" or "Where's your blonde pal? Oh well. Better keep running around til the batteries run out." As you slowly discover the backstory and eventually discover that the game takes place on a floating island and you are a robot programmed to come, with Curly, NOT to kill the Mimiga to prevent their enslavement like the game leads you to believe, but to destroy the Demon Crown and, if he was found out, then Ballos would most likely have to be killed as well. However, a person seized control of the Demon Crown (it's never made clear on which of the four it is, but it's most likely not the Doctor, as it is implied that the expedition to the island was rather recent). The battle between the protagonists and the wearer resulted in the former's' amnesia and it is implied that the battle resulted in the holder's death. The war is talked about, something on the surface, but is never elaborated on.
    • Another example is the red flowers. They are mentioned often in the opening sections of the game but the player never really understands the significance until they see the power firsthand during the battle with rabid Toroko.
  • "The black wind howls..." in Chrono Trigger. Said first by Magus, then by Janus who is actually Magus as a child.
  • Chzo Mythos: "it hurts", sometimes repeated ad nauseam. Each game has at least one diary or description that ends with this, and it is implied that the writer is losing their sanity and falling victim to Chzo.
  • The Command & Conquer: Tiberium series has the "Ascension" that Kane promises his followers. In the end... he wasn't lying.
  • Cube Escape has several:
    • All that you touch, you change.
    • Balance the substance of [my/your] past lives.
    • There will be blood.
    • The past is never dead. It is not even past.
    • You Know What to Do.
  • Two phrases that show up frequently in D4 are "Look for D", which drives David Young to figure out how his wife Little Peggy died, and "You can't change the past" or variations thereof, often used to discourage David from continuing his journey through time and move on.
  • Darkest Dungeon: "Ruin has come to our family." Refering both to the family estate, which is in ruins and overrun by monsters, and to the family of man, which is but an aberrant tumor grown from an Eldritch Abomination.
  • Dark Souls III: "And so it is, that ash seeketh embers." Your character is essentially a nobody who was charred to ash cause they weren't strong enough to link the fire, and you're now the only one who can hunt down the Lords of Cinder and reach the Soul of Cinder to decide the fate of the world, which is now on the brink of complete and total collapse.
  • Deadly Premonition: "At times we must purge things from this world because they should not exist, even if it means losing someone that you love."
  • Deadly Rooms of Death has "The Grand Event". The series gradually reveals that this refers to The Turning, an event that will wipe out the aboveground civilization, which Beethro must deal with.
  • In Dead Space, you'll hear "Make us whole again," first from a transmission from Nicole. As the game goes on, it gets creepier, as transmissions come from broken computers saying it over and over, then you'll hear it from Doctor Kyne and from Nicole herself. It's all from the Marker.
    • "Make us whole again" and the four steps ("Step 1: Into the dark machine. Step 2: The screws go tight, all around. Step 3: Cross my heart and hope to die. Stick a needle in my eye. Step 4: She'll be waiting.") take turns following you around in Dead Space 2, although the first one is the only one that goes through the entire thing. The second starts in the latter half and keeps up with you until you find out what it means.
  • Dead Space 3 game gives us three examples:
    • Turn It Off: When Isaac first reads it, he assumes the phrase refers to turning all of the Markers off. It's actually a plea from the Moon, which is imprisoned by 'the Machine,' which it wants to be turned off so it can finish Convergence.
    • A new meaning to 'Make Us Whole': A phrase spanning four years and several games before finally being explained. In the first, it was thought to be the Red Marker wanting to be returned to its pedestal. In the second, it was thought to be the Golden Marker wishing to absorb its creator Isaac. The true meaning is revealed. All of the Markers are an extension of the Moon's willnote , and they were attempting to have the 'Machine' keeping the Moon sealed to be turned off, allowing the Moon to finish its Convergence and absorb all of mankind.
    • The third game also gives a new meaning to the series' name: Dead Space. It seems to fit its obvious meaning, because it's, you know, a Zombie Apocalypse IN SPACE! However, the final message from Dr. Serrano gives a a better one. Humanity shouldn't be alone in the stars. There were many other alien civilizations, but they all fell prey to one thing: the Markers. They all grew past the point of sustainability, found the Markers and began to create more, spread them throughout their empire, and worship them. Then, the Necromorphs emerged, and would trigger a Convergence event, killing the entire race of aliens, making their entire space 'dead'.
  • Death Stranding: "I'll be waiting for you on the Beach." These are Bridget Strand's last words, and her daughter Amelie says the same thing to Sam on several occasions. Both of them using this phrase foreshadows the reveal that Amelie is actually just Bridget's detached soul, and the phrase itself is an allusion to how Amelie has been waiting on her own Beach for Sam to come find her and convince her to not go through with the Last Stranding.
  • Deep Sleep Trilogy: "You have to wake up."
  • Detention: Snitcher. Referring to how Ray sold out the forbidden book club and caused its members to be arrested and/or executed, which led to her suicide and the events of the game (her experiencing her sins in purgatory).
  • Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening: Throughout the game, Dante and the other characters allude to their gathering at the Temen-ni-gru tower as if it was a party, hence "party", "invitation" and other related words are being mentioned a lot. Assorted examples include:
    Mission 1 Title: A crazy party
    Arkham to Dante: From your brother. He sent this invitation to you. Please accept it.
    Dante: This party's getting crazy! Let's rock!
    Mission 4 Title: The uninvited one
    Dante to Lady: Are you going to the party? What's the hurry, didn't ya get an invitation?
    Dante to Vergil: You sure know how to throw a party. No food, no drinks, and the only babe just left.
    Dante: Well then, let's wrap up this crazy party. Shall we? Got to clean up the mess father left behind.
  • Devil May Cry 5: The word "Nightmare" pops up a lot and is mostly thematically used around Vergil and his two halves, V and Urizen.
    • The title of the prequel light novel is Before the Nightmare.
    • V's Golem familiar is named Nightmare, with abilities derived from the original Nightmare demon from DMC1.
    • It's in a part of Urizen's boast before Nero fights him for the second time.
      Urizen: I will show you... your worst nightmares! I will give you... despair and death!
    • The aftermath of Mission 18's boss fight reveals V's familiars being the manifestations of Vergil's thoughts when he was Nelo Angelo. As Griffon puts it, their deaths mark "the end of Vergil's nightmares".
    • In the Special Edition, a lyric from Vergil's "Bury the Light" leitmotif reads "Inherit the nightmare, Surrounded by fate, Can't run away".
  • Devotion:
    • "Where is Mei Shin?" In the bathroom, dead.
    • "Flawless present", referring to Feng Yu's delusions that in the present, everything is fine.
  • Digital Devil Saga : "Om Mani Padme Hum", translated as "Pearl of the holy lotus". It appears at the beginning of the first game, and in the Game Over screen of the second.
  • DonPachi series: Shinu ga yoi. An archaic and strong command to tell someone to "Die!", it's often directed at the player as they take on the True Final Boss.
  • Doom Eternal: "Rip and tear, until it is done."
  • Dot's Home: "Opportunity." As Dot learns in her Field Trip to the Past, her family took many opportunities to give her a better life in the present. Her grandparents got the opportunity to leave South Carolina for Detroit, her parents got the opportunity to raise her and Georgia for a brighter future despite the struggles with discrimination, Georgia wanted the opportunity to live a better life than her parents did, while her wife Alma wanted to give immigrants the opportunity to live in adequate housing. And presently, Grandma Mavis wants to give someone else the opportunity to live in her old house so she can live in a better one. On the other hand, Michael Murphy of Hope Equity believes that an open door is an open invitation for new opportunities, but actually, he wants to take the opportunity to exploit minorities with unfair housing prices.
  • Dragon Age II:
    • In conversations with the Qunari over the course of the story, the 'certainty' of the Qun is contrasted with the chaos of free will, foreshadowing the primary conflict of the second chapter.
    • As Anders gets crazier, he starts spouting "Everyone in Kirkwall must choose a side!". He forces the issue in the end.
  • Dragon Quest:
    • Dragon Quest VIII: "Such a pity." It later turns out it merely isn't Dhoulmagus's catchphrase, but rather the main villain Rhapthorne's, as it represents his distain for futility.
    • Dragon Quest Builders: "You are not a hero."
    • Dragon Quest Builders 2 as a differet Arc Word for each of it's three main chapters.
      • Furrowfield: Dreams
      • Khrumbul-Dun: Love
      • Moonbrooke: Conviction
  • Drakengard: "I hear a sound." A phrase that almost always means that whatever bad situation have gotten yourself into suddenly got a whole lot worse.
  • Dreamfall: The Longest Journey: "Find her. Save her." It actually refers to April Ryan, the heroine of the original game, The Longest Journey, who Zoe does eventually meet. Why she needed to be found, however, remains unclear.
  • Driver: San Francisco has the seemingly innocent phrase "eyes on the city" that Tanner keeps hearing people say to him, sometimes more directly than others. It's the name of the news program that Tanner keeps hearing from the TV in his hospital room while in a coma.
  • The Elder Scrolls:
    • In-game books and out-of-game lore have Vivec's commonly-used phrase "the ending of the words is ALMSIVI", as well as the phrase's variationsnote , which end each of his 36 Lessons and occasionally crop up elsewhere. "ALMSIVI" refers to the Tribunal, which he is a part of.
    • Morrowind has "The dreamer is awake," in reference to the reawakening of Big Bad Physical God, Dagoth Ur, a villainous King in the Mountain.
  • FAITH: The Unholy Trinity: "Gary loves you."
  • Fallen London has a lot of these:
    • All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.
    • Do you recall how we came to that place? And they sang of their lightnings and shapeful disgrace? We tilted our vanes and ennobled our spires. They welcomed us then, and commingled all choirs.
    • A reckoning is not to be postponed indefinitely.
    • NORTH
    • Every law has its consequences.
  • Fallout:
    • The series as a whole has "War. War never changes."
    • "Life in x is about to change" for the pre-Bethesda era. For 1, x was "the Vault" and in Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel it's "the Brotherhood". In an alternative intro for the second game (that is hidden in the game files), it was 'Arroyo'.
    • "Total atomic annihilation" appears frequently in the more recent games, such as Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, though mostly in the promotional materials.
    • Fallout 3 combines this with Arc Number in the bible passage: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." -Revelation 21:6.
    • The New Vegas DLCs (particularly Dead Money and Lonesome Road) uses the words "Let go," and "Begin again." Lonesome Road also has "Let it all end", "Courier Six", and "You can go home, Courier".
    • Fallout 4 has the phrase, "Welcome home." While it's admittedly not said a ton across the game, the phrase has incredible significance since the Sole Survivor is a Fish out of Temporal Water and is constantly struggling to adjust to the new world they find themselves in.
    • The official Penny Arcade comic has "The Vaults were never meant to save anyone," which fans have adopted as an unofficial tagline of the series.
  • Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus: "I'm so sorry."
  • Final Fantasy VIII's are more subtle, as "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec," which can be heard in various musical pieces from the opening FMV to the absolute final battle, are a fake-Latin anagram of the game's two intertwining themes: "Love" and the "Succession of Witches".
  • "This is my story." from Final Fantasy X. Frequently by Auron to Tidus and Yuna as "This is your story."
    • Referenced by Auron in Kingdom Hearts II, only referring to himself this time around, when defying Hades's control.
  • Final Fantasy XI: An ancient song, prophecy, and/or history, the "Memoria de la S^tona" is critical to the first three story arcs, most of the various Home Nation story arcs, and is likely a part of the as-yet unfinished storyline to "Wings of the Goddess". The first verse is the spoken-word intro to the first cutscene in the game. After completing the first storyline, the "true" meaning of the first verse is revealed: upon beginning the second, it is immediately and forcefully reinterpreted. Throughout the Chains of Promathia storyline, many major NPCs are in possession of one verse, which they have usually misinterpreted In Bahamut's case, so badly that he wishes to destroy all sentient life on the planet; in Tenzen's, he merely wishes to kill the player.
  • While not recurring, the very first spoken lines in Final Fantasy XIII ("The thirteen days after we awoke were the beginning of the end,") definitely qualify for the "meaning unveiled slowly as the story progresses" part. That includes questions like who is the speaker, in which sense did she awake, why did she awake, whom does she mean with "we", why is it "thirteen" days, what end is she referring to, why is it the beginning, etc..
  • Final Fantasy XIV: "For those we have lost. For those we can yet save." First spoken near the end of A Realm Reborn, the phrase gains both frequency and relevance from Heavensward and on, as the Warrior of Light experiences more and more loss.
    • "Hear. Feel. Think." It's Hydaelyn's catchphrase, but it's not until Endwalker that the player learns the full context of why she says that. It's Hydaelyn urging anyone who can hear her to acknowledge despair, so that they may learn to confront eventually rise above it.
  • Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn: "Not enough" and similar phrases are frequently repeated by the villains in both games, and it's only three-quarters of the way through the second that we learn exactly what they're lamenting there isn't enough of: death and destruction sufficient to unseal the ancient goddess they revere.
  • In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, after the Time Skip on Verdant Wind(the Golden Deer route) Claude, the leader of that House, talks about a "new dawn" for the continent of Fodlan. Fittingly, the final chapter of the route is titled, "Fodlan's New Dawn."
  • Five Nights at Freddy's: "IT'S ME.". Though it's mostly contributed (and used) by Golden Freddy, it pops up other times in the series as well, mainly related to the original animatronics and the Puppet.
  • Frostpunk: "THE CITY MUST SURVIVE."
  • Genshin Impact: "Heavenly Principles" pops up a lot over the story, being used to describe Celestia and its effect on the world.
  • Ghost Trick: "And it's almost dawn."
  • God of War Ragnarök: "What gets bigger the more you take away?" Brok tells Mimir this riddle, and Mimir isn't able to find the answer until Brok's funeral. The answer is 'a hole'.
  • Granblue Fantasy: "The sins of Nalhegrande" and "Divine retribution" are frequently brought up in the Dawning Sky arc as the cast slowly tries to figure out what happened fifteen years ago to cause the collapse of Torhid Kingdom. The former refers to the myriad crimes committed to cause its destruction whether internal or external and the latter refers to the destructive power of the Great Wall unleashed on Starke Island which none of the inhabitants realized came from there, so they ascribed it to some greater power.
  • Grand Theft Auto 2: "Respect is everything". Don't be so stupid to attack a gang unless you want any of their members to shoot at you for the rest of the level. And choosing to work for one gang in particular will naturally earn the wrath of a rival one.
  • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: "Big Smoke — Remember the name!" This line is referenced, after Big Smoke betrays CJ and CJ kills him at the end of the game, as Big Smoke is dying of his wounds and speaking to his former friend for the last time..
    Big Smoke: When I'm gone, everyone's gonna remember my name... BIG SMOKE!
    CJ: Damn. What a waste...
  • Half-Life has "Unforeseen consequences" show up when nobody expected it.
    • "Free Man" and many variations of it also appears very often. The protagonist's name is Freeman, and he is known in Half-Life 2 as "The One Free Man" and "The Opener of the Way", since he was never subjugated by The Combine. Irony kicks in when you realize that he's not at all free.
    • The Half-Life Modification Afraid of Monsters has two words: FORGIVE ME. The main character is a drug addict, who is on an overdose throughout the whole game. Does he survive his sins? No and yes, depending on the ending.
  • The Halo Expanded Universe established the phrase Oly Oly Oxen Free as a secret code used by Spartans as an "all-clear" message. The phrase is later referenced in Halo 5: Guardians. Except this time around, things are not all-clear.
  • "Keep Your Dignity" is a phrase that is continuously uttered in Hellsinker as a salute or wish. It's meaning becomes apparent in the last phase of the Rex Cavalier battle.
  • The Hex: "Sarsaparilla" pops up frequently in the games you play. This is some foreshadowing that the protagonist of the unreleased game Rootbeer Reggie is behind everything.
  • Hitman: Absolution: "We have a mutual problem." Used by Birdie to play every side against each other, or more accurately to play every side against 47.
  • The House of the Dead 4: "Hope."
  • Imscared: "I'm scared". The Steam version later adds "BURY HER" and "Six will do".
  • Injustice 2:
  • Just Shapes & Beats: "It's (NOT) over." It refers to the triumphant Post-Final Boss battle, Till It's Over.
  • Killer7:
    • The game has the phrases "Don't gain the world and lose your soul", "Let's dance", "In the name of Harman..." and "666" scrawled in various places.
    • "How Soon is Now" is the name of a song. While it's been covered many times, the original version was by The Smiths. (As it happens, all the courier memos are also named after songs by the Smiths.) While the other two may qualify as Arc Words, this one's probably more of a Shout-Out.
    • There's also the advent of the disappearance of smiles that runs throughout the game, before and after missions (with cheerful phrases such as "The day he stops smiling is the day we remember his smile".)
  • "Ultra" appears all the time in Killer Instinct. Ultra combos, UltraTech, etc.
  • Kingdom Hearts:
    • "We'll go together", a line that first appears in the first game's secret ending (well, in the English version at least, as the Japanese version has it stated early in the game, but was changed in the translation due to its significance not being known at the time). It returns at the end of Kingdom Hearts II as said by Sora, just before he and Riku go through the Door To Light and return home to the Destiny Islands. The game's final boss also says a variation of the line, "We shall go together," as a battle quote. The line also appears in Dream Drop Distance, said by Young Xehanort, though it once again gets changed in the English translation (translated to "Come with me"). In χ, the line is yet again used by the Beast (now the Prince) in a conversation with Belle- although it's also replaced in the English translation with "We'll make those dreams come true, Belle."
    • "One sky, one destiny", first appearing in the menu trailer of the first game, then said again when Kairi's letter is read by Sora at the end of Kingdom Hearts II. The words return in Kingdom Hearts III spoken by Master Xehanort, who reveals he can summon the titular Kingdom Hearts anywhere as all the worlds are connected.
    • coded has "Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it" ("We must return to free them from their torment" in the original version of the game). Mickey's desire to decipher the meaning of the statement is what ultimately kickstarts the plot of the game.
    • "Reconnect", starting from Birth by Sleep, is a word that appears at the end of the games' secret endings. Though starting from Kingdom Hearts III: Re𝄌Mind onward, the line gets replaced with "An Oath to Return".
    • χ introduces "May your heart be your guiding key", words of encouragement stated by the Master of Masters and the Foretellers. The words make a come back in A Fragmentary Passage and Kingdom Hearts III as words Yen Sid would always say before seeing off his pupils. It's implied the phrase was lost to time and thus few people know it. Xehanort learns of the phrase from the mysterious Subject X, a girl displaced in time. Xigbar saying it at the beginning of III foreshadows his reveal as Luxu, one of the apprentices of the Masters of Masters.
    • Kingdom Hearts III has two lines said throughout the game that count as this. The first is "With all my heart", a line said by Sora when talking about fighting for the people he cares about. The second is "It is etched", said by Maleficent and the various incarnations of Xehanort whenever talking about preordained events.
  • Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords has many characters using the word 'echo' to describe events or feelings without entirely knowing why, except for Kreia, who uses the word repeatedly while knowing exactly what she's talking about. The significance is gradually explained throughout the game.
    • Also used several times throughout the game is this exchange, similar to Planescape: Torment, when The Exile is asked to describe The Force:
      I only know what its loss feels like.
      Then tell me of its absence.
  • Knock-Knock: "You thought about it."
  • Kuukiyomi: The developers like to slap the word "OMAE" ("YOU(R)" on the global version) in any bland-name products besides the red objects that player controls as. Another arc word is "Considerate" and/or "Reading The Air".
  • Legacy of Kain. "History abhors a paradox".
  • The Last of Us has 'endure and survive'.
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel has the Dreichels the Lionheart, the winner of the Civil War in The Empire two hundred and fifty years before the start of the story, has him declare these words as the school motto for Thors: "Arise, O youth, and become the foundation of the world."
  • The Legend of Zelda:
  • Leo's Fortune: "Take your gold and go." Victor, Olga, and Sergej in turn reject Leo's offers to fund the rebuilding of their livelihood. Said family members later conspire with his wife to coerce him into ultimately using his fortune to revive The Apparatus and therefore prevent The End of the World as We Know It.
  • Limbo of the Lost has two: "Forget reality, surrender to your darkest dreams" and "Join us, join us now!" The latter is repeated by a disembodied voice throughout the game who is trying to be creepy but ending up annoying.
  • Little Inferno: "You can go as far as you like. But you can't ever go back."
  • Marvel's Spider-Man 2
    • "Heal the world." This is the mission statement of the Emily-May Foundation, a technological startup Harry Osborne starts and brings Peter Parker into, in the hopes of using technology and science to solve the troubles plaguing the world, from world hunger to climate change. After Harry becomes Venom, however, this statement becomes corrupted, along with Harry, as they seek to "heal" the world by transforming it into a symbiote-infested wasteland.
    • "Second chances." Throughout the game, various members of Spidey's rogues' gallery make an effort to turn their lives around. For many of them, however, the involvement of Kraven and his Hunters threatens to derail their efforts to go straight and lead honest lives. This is also at the core of Miles Morales and Martin Li's intertwined character arcs: Li is genuinely remorseful for his actions in the previous game, which led to the deaths of Aunt May and Miles's father. While Miles finds it difficult to forgive Li for taking his father from him, he eventually decides to let go of his hatred and give Li the chance to start making amends.
  • In Mass Effect 3 the various arcs have their own arc words:
    • Concerning Mordin and the genophage:
      "Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong."
    • Priority: Rannoch has two, reflecting to the overall desires of the two warring races of the Quarian-Geth/Morning War: their homeworld and their creator's acceptance (and forging their own path), respectively:
      "Keelah se'lai."
      "Does this unit have a soul?"
    • In the Leviathan DLC:
      "The darkness cannot be breached."
  • Max Payne features a number of instances of the phrase "the flesh of fallen angels." Those are just utterances from addled junkies and it doesn't really mean anything, just that Valkyr users are off their rocks. Something with more sense is Vlad's "[insert name here], dearest of all my friends." which he says to a lot of people, not just Max, and it usually means that he intends to kill them later.
  • From Mega Man ZX: the "Game of Destiny."
  • Metal Gear:
  • Metroid Fusion: "Any objections, Lady?" Samus notes early on that her prior CO, Adam Malkovich used these words prior to missions as an indication of trust between the two of them. Later on, when Samus is locked in Sector 1 and told that the Federation is on its way to capture one of the SA-X clones, her computer, who she had named Adam in memory of him, suggests she alter the station's orbital path to collide with SR-388 in order to destroy all the X and asks the same question of her, showing that her computer is Adam's uploaded intelligence and she can indeed trust its guidance.
    • Adam keeps the catchphrase in the sequel, Metroid Dread. The fact he doesn't use it anymore after Samus lands in ZDR hints towards the fact communications have been hijacked.
  • Monark has "Irrationality", oftentimes used to describe the supernatural, reality-warping Pactbearers and their justifications for their crimes and immoral actions.
  • At the beginning of Mortal Kombat 9, just before being killed by Shao Kahn during Armageddon, Raiden sends a message to his past self: "He must win". One of the main driving forces of the story focuses around the heroes trying to prevent Armageddon, slowly figuring out what exactly the prophecy means. And it's not until after countless mistakes, as well as the forces of Outworld having conquered Earthrealm and slaughtered most of the heroes, that Raiden, finding a technicality in the rules, suddenly realizes who "he" refers to: Shao Kahn himself.
    • Also, expect to hear "family and clan" when there's anything concerning Scorpion or/and Sub-Zero.
    • "There are fates worse than death" in Mortal Kombat X. Appears in a few scenes, each said by Raiden, with various meanings. At first, he refers to the reverents that Quan Chi enslaved. Then the phrase is used as a threat after Raiden becomes corrupted in The Stinger.
    • "Have a nice day" tends to finish off character endings where The Bad Guy Wins.
  • In Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness, every character refers to some kind of darkness, whether moral or emotional, when describing their motivations.
    Elisabet: [Icelandic] winters are long and dark. We found each other in that darkness.
    Gunnar: Sometimes, I think I will be okay. Other times...I am in such terrible darkness.
    The game's theme song: Yet even in this darkness, something calls for me to find...
  • Nazi Zombies:
    • "You must ascend from darkness."
    • "Beware the Doc."
  • Masks pop up quite a lot, in conversation and on various characters, in Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer.
  • NieR: Automata:
    • "Glory to mankind."
    • "This cannot continue."
    • "Become as gods."
  • Night in the Woods: "I won't die here."
  • No More Heroes: "Head for the Garden of Madness!", and "Jeanne".
  • No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle: "The Crownless King", and "The No More Hero". "Travesty" shows up often as well.
  • Octopath Traveler:
    • Ophilia: "Loneliness."
    • Cyrus: "Knowledge is for one and all."
    • Tressa: "What is your most precious treasure?"
    • Olberic: "For what did I wield my sword?"
    • Primrose: "Faith shall be your shield."
    • Alfyn: "I saw someone in a bind, and I helped him out. Simple as that."
    • Therion: "It's believing in people that makes us strong."
  • OFF gives us "The switch is now on OFF." It's a recurring puzzle element, and the last piece of dialogue in the game's official ending, as The Batter ends the world itself.
  • OMORI:
    • "Welcome to White Space. You have been living here for as long as you can remember."
    • "Waiting for something to happen?"
    • "Welcome to Black Space."
    • "There is nothing here."
    • "It's a long way down... do you want to jump?"
    • In the Hikkikomori route, "It is not alive." becomes this.
    • "Don't forget — it's in the toy box."
    • "Everything is going to be okay."
    • "Will you forgive me? My best friend..."
  • Ori and the Blind Forest opens with the Spirit Tree's line "We shall always remember the night when I lost Ori to the Great Storm", while Ori and the Will of the Wisps follows it up with "We shall always remember the day when new life came to Nibel", as well as "We shall always remember the night when hope faltered" during its ending, which also combines this trope with Title Drop in the line "It was the will of the wisps". "Light" and "darkness" also recur throughout both games.
  • From Papers, Please: "Glory to Arstotzka." While it often appears as a greeting, this phrase reflects upon the Inspector's life choices, which may not always serve the regime. The culmination of this occurs when helping the revolutionaries, who just replace it with "Glory to New Arstotzka." If you escape to Obristan, it gets replaced by "Obristan Above All" at the end of the ending.
  • Persona as a whole has "I am thou, and thou art I", which is usually said by the eponymous Anthropomorphic Personifications whenever their user summons them for the first time. Starting from Persona 3, expect the wild cards to be told that they must take responsibility for their actions when signing any form of contract.
    • Persona 3:
      • "Memento Mori" and its translations "Remember that you are mortal", "Remember that you will die", and "Remember your death". It's only ever really seen in the opening video, but this is the video that plays every time you power on the system. The main character dies.
      • Once you reach October 4th, the date is repeated a lot throughout the day. It's the day Ken's mother was accidentally killed by Shinjiro Aragaki and his Persona Castor, and Ken plans on getting even that day. While Shinjiro does end up dying, it happens in a way that traumatizes Ken.
      • "The Answer" sees a great deal of use in the section of the same name, particularly in "the answer to life." This makes a great deal of sense in that a large part of the story involves finding out why the protagonist died.
    • Persona 4:
      • "I am a Shadow... the true self", which is said by the major Shadows at the start of their boss fights.
      • The Shadows of various party members often say "You're me, and I am you." While the party members, unable to accept the most shameful parts of their personalities (as well as ones they may not be aware of), initially respond with "You're not me!", they (except for Mitsuo) ultimately repeat the Shadows' lines back to them, accepting their Shadow and gaining a Persona in the process.
      • Teddie's character arc often references the idea of a "promise." He makes you and Yosuke promise to find whoever has been throwing people inside the TV, and promises to stay and play with Nanako after the culprit has seemingly been caught, which causes him no small amount of anguish when Nanako seemingly dies in December.
    • Persona 5: "It's unforgivable" gets dropped a lot, especially during Persona awakening sequences, as most of the party members are driven to join the Phantom Thieves due to wrongs committed against them that society on a whole has been unable or unwilling to correct.
      • "Deal" also gets said quite often. Many of Joker's relationships are based around him making deals with other people, from his promise to Morgana to help recover his memories, to his various Confidants who he helps out in exchange for benefits.
      • Igor constantly refers to the events that occur as a "game". It's the first hint that he's not who he is, and that the events unfolding are all the manipulations of a higher being.
      • Variations of "I stole your future" frequently appear in the villains' Motive Rants about how and why they rigged the system against the next generation to benefit themselves.
      • The idea of "a place to belong" is often mentioned, especially in Ryuji's Confidant and the Kaneshiro arc.
    • In Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, "Why do you have to be like that?" is often repeated in the fourth labyrinth. This question was asked to Hikari every time she was judged and mistreated by others for not fitting in, becoming a full-on Trauma Button. When her beloved father asked her the same question out of genuine concern, not realizing just how horrible those words were for her, it shattered her completely.
  • "What can change the nature of a man?" from Planescape: Torment. Also an Armor-Piercing Question.
  • Pokémon:
    • From Pokémon Legends: Arceus: "Pokémon are terrifying creatures." The phrase is uttered by several characters throughout the game, and serves as an example of how unfamiliar humans are with Pokémon in this setting, often resulting in contention if not outright hostility between the two; over the course of the game, however, the protagonist's actions help to break down this unfamiliarity and begin making positive changes in the relationship between Pokémon and humans.
    • From Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: "Treasure" and relating questions to it becomes a titular theme of the game as the story involves the characters, the Player Character included, find what it is that they consider a "Treasure".
  • Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has "Honor and glory", often used sarcastically and bitterly by the Prince, since the honor and glory he (and his father) hoped to attain at the start of the game wasn't worth unwittingly starting the apocalypse or, the Prince later decides, sacking the city of the Maharajah in the prologue. The final chapter of the game is titled Honor and Glory, and the words are repeated again by the Prince when he finally climbs the Tower of Dawn and finds the Hourglass, but loses Farah in the process. "Bravely I had fought and slain my enemies, proving my honor and glory. But though I could fight until the desert sands themselves were red with blood...I could not bring back the dead."
  • In Professor Layton, some variation of: "Because that's what a gentleman does."
  • "Scope" in The Reconstruction. Fitting, since it's the game's Central Theme.
  • Resident Evil: "They have escaped into the mansion where they thought it was safe, yet..." The very first words to start off the whole series. Oddly enough, the true danger isn't the zombies, the mutant dogs, and the other abominations on the grounds, but the Umbrella conspiracy that Jill and Chris would wind up embroiled in to some extent for what seems to be the rest of their lives.
  • Gathered through three chapters of Rule of Rose: Everlasting / True Love / I Am Yours.
  • RuneScape: Practically every piece of content involving Xau-Tak includes, at one point or another, the phrase "Do you really think you can save them?" or some variation thereof. Sometimes the question addresses the player by name, even though in such instances the phrase was canonically uttered thousands of years before the player's birth.
  • Saints Row has "The Pyramid", and to a lesser extent, the Ultor Corporation.note 
  • In Sands of Destruction, Kyrie keeps hearing the phrase "acta est fabula" (Gratuitous Latin for "the play is over") right before everything around him turns to sand. The rest of the cast later hears them and learns they're actually the Destruct Code, and as the Destruct, Kyrie has to obey any order given to him with those words. Except that The Power of Love has made him immune to them by the time they learn this; although they still seem to function as a magical incantation to activate his powers, he now has a choice in whether and how they work. It's even the final line in the game.
  • Shadow the Hedgehog has the phrase "This is who I am" spoken by the titular main character in every ending. The entire game revolves around Shadow discovering the truth about himself and who he is, which he finally learns in the "Last" ending (which is the canon ending).
  • Sonic Adventure: "The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power. Power is enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos." First spoken by Tikal in this game, it turns out to be an incantation that the Echidna tribe uses in order to invoke the power of the Master Emerald. In the sequel, Knuckles himself uses it during the Last Episode, in order to stop the Chaos Emeralds from causing the Space Colony ARK to crash into the Earth. The word "Chaos" is generally common throughout the franchise.
  • Sonic Adventure 2: The phrase "The ultimate lifeform" appears a few times. It's even used in the Boss Subtitles of the True Final Boss, though the text got cut off and rendered as "The Prototype of the Ultimate Life".
  • Shadowgate: "Five to find, three are one. One gives access, the bladed sun. The silver orb, to banish below. The staff of ages, to vanquish the foe. Joining two, the golden blade. The last to invoke, the platinum horn." Found in Scroll 1 early on in the game, this riddle is basically your instructions on how to stop the Warlock Lord
  • Silent Hills: "Watch out. The gap in the door... it's a separate reality. The only me is me; are you sure the only you is you?"
  • Silent Hill: Shattered Memories: "I love my daddy!" Said at the opening cutscene and repeated throughout the game. Turns out to be the entire point of the game, when it's revealed that the whole game is about the adult Cheryl Mason trying to cope with Harry's passing and her love for him either making it difficult for her to let him go, or her remembering him as something he never was.
  • South Park: The Stick of Truth: "Never fart on anyone's balls."
  • Spec Ops: The Line:
    • "Do you feel like a hero yet?"
    • "I/We had/have no choice."
    • "Gentlemen, welcome to Dubai."
  • Splatoon: For the whole series, we have "That heavenly melody", used to refer to the Calamari Inkantation.
  • Splatterhouse: "She doesn't have to die."
  • You know your main mission throughout S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is to "Kill Strelok." Unfortunately, those words are the only thing that you know, due to a case of Easy Amnesia.
  • The Stanley Parable:
    • "...and Stanley was happy."
    • THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END
  • Starship Titanic: What some people think of Leovinus (Nobody likes a smart ass) turns out to be quite important if you've pressed the wrong button, as well as pertaining to the fate of the ship.
  • Stellaris: In the Horizon Questline: "What was will be. What will be was."
  • SUPERHOT:
    • "SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. HAND. OVER. CONTROL."
    • In later parts of the game, three phrases keep popping up: "The mind is software." "Bodies are disposable." "The system will set you free."
    • Both an In-Universe and a Real Life example due to the game's encouragement: "It's the most innovative shooter I've played in years."
    • In MIND CONTROL DELETE, there's "MORE". Avar1ce only wants whatever MORE the System can provide. Even when it tells them there's nothing left and even tricks them into giving up everything, it still fails to assimilate Avar1ce, who still wants MORE.
  • [1] includes many instances of the word "star". The phrases "all-stars" and "superstar" crop up a lot, and the seven chosen ones are called "The Star Children". Other examples include:
    • Throughout Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, there is a single two-character phrase that the Shroobs constantly say. It's only at the very end of the game that a translation is given - "DESTROY."
    • The Brutal Bonus Level of Super Mario Odyssey has the phrase Thank You as one of these: said by the people cheering Mario on at the beginning of the level, the Sphynx if you answer all his questions, a series of spark pylons spell it out, and finally Cappy says it as you get the Power Moon.
  • Remember the Citadel and Resist written in blood on walls in System Shock 2.
  • Tales of Monkey Island:
    • In Chapter 1:
      Guybrush: Listen. See this ring? It means that Elaine and I are married. Hitched. Cohabitating. Eternally betrothed. Till death do us part. Got it!?
      LeChuck: Till death do you part, eh? We'll have to do something about that.
    • And in Chapter 5:
      Guybrush: I've told you a million times, LeChuck, I'm already married to—
      LeChuck: "Till DEATH do you part," Threepwood! And that part has already been taken care of!
  • Tales Series:
    • Tales of Phantasia: "If there is evil in this world, it is in the hearts of men". The line is mentioned and quoted to have been said by Morisson before the game's titlescreen shows up. The line turns out to have been originally said by Dhaos.
    • Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World: "Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality" said by Richter once, and essentially sparked Emil's entire journey.
    • Tales of the Abyss:
      • REPLICA!!!!!.
      • "The planet's memory."
    • Tales of Berseria: Artorius asks people "Why do you think that birds fly?" as a Secret Test of Character. Most interpret the question literally, give an answer about hunting for prey, and thus fail to prove themselves. The answer Artorius is looking for is that birds fly because they have strong wings, just like people sin because they have free will. The answer Velvet gives before the final battle is that birds fly because they want to fly and that is the only reason they need.
  • In Team Fortress 2's Alternate Reality Game, the word "Tobor" and the acronym "MvM" kept popping up. The end result of the ARG was the new Mann Versus Machine game mode.
  • In the Tekken series, "Power is everything", as of 6. Repeated by either Kazuya or Jin often during the series recap in the Scenario Campaign prologue, as well as in some game trailers.
  • TinkerQuarry has "Stay a while." Usually used in a sinister context.
  • Theresia: Dear Emile: "Hey... Don't you think love is a stupid concept? It's just your body trying to pass on its genetic material. It's a scam your brain is pulling on you. If you think about it... The same goes for murder, right?" This is said by Maylee in the second story, Dear Martel, but is said again in simpler terms during Dear Emile. While it sounds like a "Love is stupid" rant, it takes a different spin when it's revealed that Maylee is the one who created Epicari to kill Martel so she could claim her brother for herself, and this line is said while the orphanage is descending into chaos from the epidemic she created. Essentially, love is an extremely dangerous and difficult to define term that can have serious consequences if acted upon irrationally, which Maylee only seems to understand after she basically becomes the Greater-Scope Villain of the story as a whole.
    • "Theresia". The first word Leanne and the doctor encounter in their stories. It refers to Martel Theresia and Emile Theresia, whose blood became the vaccine to combat Epicari.
  • Trauma Team: With six different protagonists with individual story-lines, it was inevitable that this would occur.
    • The "Forensics" mode has the word Rosalia show up significantly twice during cases, with no clear reason why two unconnected people would mention the name, apart from a both victims dying of a sudden hemorrhage. Multiple cases also involve brain-tumors leading to irrational, murderous behavior. Finally, Naomi starts The Summation each time by stating "The dead shall speak".
    • The "First Response" mode has a central, important one — "Beginning", spoken by the ghost who appears to Maria. This turns out to be the last words of Rosalia Rossellini, whose spirit also appears to Naomi in her final mission.
    • The "Diagnosis" mode features Gabriel Cunningham assisted by RONI, essentially a talking medical database. As the Diagnosis missions go on a running theme emerges of RONI sticking to hospital procedure of waiting times for scheduling scans and tests, while Gabe prefers hurrying things along for the sake of the patients. This culminates in RONI adding a "To Hell With That" procedure to her database. It's only referenced a couple of times, but very nicely captures the conflict Gabe faces for his story.
  • Undertale:
    • "Determination" is repeated at every save point. On normal / pacifist runs, it's in reaction to the environment and can be sublime or ridiculous. On Genocide runs, however, it becomes darker by simply reading "Determination." You later learn that determination is a tangible force.
    • "But nobody came." On Genocide runs, you know you've killed all the monsters in an area when you have an empty encounter that simply reads this. But it also comes up under some Act options in the other modes, particularly if you call for help. Or scream. Or cry. Especially in the True Lab. In a normal run, it's also one of Flowey's catchphrases, and a Pacifist run reveals that this is a reference to his own backstory.
    • "SAVE" turns out to be one, too. It's something you can do because it's a game, but it's also an in-universe concept discussed by one or two of the more enigmatic characters, and it takes on a new meaning in the Final Boss battle of a Pacifist run, in which you must save the Lost Souls of Toriel, Asgore, Sans, Papyrus, Undyne and Alphys, and then, the final boss himself.
    • To a more subtle extent, "It's you" and "It's me" are arc words associated with Frisk and Chara respectively and reflective of the player's own morality and the relationship between player and game. Looking at your reflection in a Genocide run prompts the text "It's me, [playername]!". In any other run, it yields "It's you!" at the beginning of the game and "Despite everything, it's still you" in the endgame. A Pacifist run adds "Still just you, Frisk" in the epilogue.
    • And then on a more humorous note, "Don't you have anything better to do?"
    • Deltarune:
      • "Shining" or "power" to the first game's "Determination", as well as the phrase "the choices you make don't matter"; this is contrasted to the message of Undertale quite severely, which was that your choices really do matter quite a lot. Furthering the contrast, the word "determination" never appears in Deltarune's first chapter.
      • Every keyword related to Dr. Gaster shows up either in-game or on the Twitter lead-up to its release. Things like "Very, very interesting", "Darker, yet darker", "Don't forget", "feedback" from nonsensical yet ominous surveys and variations of "be seeing you soon/you'll meet somebody soon".
  • Urban Chaos: Riot Response has one. While not a sentence, or a phrase the Company, Shift It appears everywhere! If you look for it. The reason it's so important is that Shift it are actually the Burners. The CEO is the leader of the gang, and forcibly brainwashed all of his employees into the animals that are the burners.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines: "Don't open it." (The 'it' in question is the sarcophagus MacGuffin the plot revolves around, and God help you if you don't listen.)
  • Warframe: Quite a few, though more subtle than most examples.
    • The game's primary theme is titled "This is What You Are." Several quests and events center on various people asking exactly what the warframes and the Tenno are, finally culminating in The Second Dream, when it is revealed that the Tenno is a human child using strange Void powers to pilot a warframe from a distance.
      Lotus: This is who you really are. A Tenno. More than human. But once a child like any other.
    • The Lotus mentions "the war within" at the end of the Second Dream. This foreshadows the next major quest, The War Within, which is about fighting the Twin Queens from trying to possess your body. The Orokin used to do this all the time, which is one of the many reasons the Tenno killed them.
    • "Sacrifice," understandably, comes up quite a bit in the Sacrifice quest. It's given a more negative connotation than usual; it's mostly about making a Human Sacrifice look like a Heroic Sacrifice.
    • Fortuna has the song "We All Lift Together," which summarizes the expansion quite well. Players promptly decided it described the entire fandom quite well, and adopted it as a catchphrase when helping another player. We all lift together, Tenno.
    • Rap. Tap. Tap. Though it started as words, it's really more of an Arc Sound; whenever the Man in the Wall shows up, the sound of knocking on glass is brought up.
  • The Video Game cross Visual Novel War of the Human Tanks: "To all the Human Tanks living in this world, cock the rifle in your hands, pull the pin of your hand grenade and aim the antiaircraft gun. Your enemy stands before you. Pull the triggers and annihilate them." It turns up at the start of all the Parts/Episodes, and seems to just be a recurring line talking about how the Human Tanks fight. It's when you get to Episode 13 that you realise the enemy being referred to is the faceless commanders who send countless of absolutely loyal beings to their deaths. And the line is telepathically spoken by the final boss, whose death will result in the eventual death of every Human Tank.
  • the white chamber: "Do you regret?" and variations. It refers specifically to whether or not Sarah has redeemed herself from the murder of her crewmates.
  • In Wing Commander IV: The Price Of Freedom, the arc words are conspicuous only because they're also a Title Drop: "The price is freedom is eternal vigilance." The phrase becomes key to understanding the motivations of several characters, and in true science fiction fashion, invites the player to decide if those actions are justified.
  • Wizardry IV: "Have you forgotten something?" appears many times throughout the game; it's even the last words of all of the game's endings. Except, of course, for the Golden Ending. Because no, you haven't, and neither has Werdna.
  • The Wolf Among Us has "these/my lips are sealed". By the time you hit episode two or three this takes on a whole new meaning that isn't as innocuous as you might have thought.
  • Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus: "The old and the weak are doomed". First used by B.J's abusive father Rip to justify his Social Darwinist ways to B.J in various situations, then used by B.J to describe his battered and broken body, then used awesomely as a Badass Boast against Frau Engel (and to an extent, the Nazi empire itself):
    "Can you feel it, General? You are the old and weak. And this is your day of doom."
  • The Works of Mercy: "Monsters don't have reflections in the mirror".
  • The World Ends with You: "To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise. What a wonderful world such would be..."
  • Although it is only said twice, "No king rules forever" serve as Arc Words for the entirety of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. The two times it is said happen to be when fighting the games two most powerful/main villains, Yogg-Saron and Arthas. Yogg is referring to Arthas and it is the last thing Arthas's father's ghost says to his son before he dies. This quote not only summarizes the fall of the Lich King but many of the other events that occurred during the expansion and things that will happen shortly after such as: 2 kings (Yirmon and Anub'Arak) die, Malygos, the dragon aspect of magic/leader of the Blue Dragonflight, was killed, the Alliance found a new leader in King Varian, Bolvar Fordragon (the guy who was ruling Stormwind while Varian was doing stuff) was presumed to be dead after the Wrathgate fiasco but is found alive (sort of, maybe) but has to become the next Lich King in order to prevent the Scourge from going crazy[er] and killing EVERYTHING. In addition, the quote can be viewed as Foreshadowing of things to come in the pre-Cataclysm event and the expansion itself: The Gnomes and Darkspear Trolls taking back their respective homelands after being in exile for years, Warchief Thrall being replaced by Garrosh Hellscream, as well as many other changes in leadership on Azeroth.
    • Also, from the same expansion, "The Light of Dawn."
    • Also from The Wrath of the Lich King expansion: "This world is worth saving."
    • In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, several of the villans including Deathwing make mention of something called "The Hour of Twilight". In the novel Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, we finally learn what it means: It's the event in which the Old Gods will claim their final victory and extinguish all life on Azeroth, including Deathwing.
    • Mists of Pandaria had "What is worth fighting for?". The expansion featured a deeper look into the Alliance/Horde conflict and what both sides want to achieve through their fighting. The Alliance and the Horde are both dealing with their own cultures and attitudes to the world around them, while the Pandaren are realizing that they might need to fight for someone or something in the future.
    • "Times Change", said by Garrosh Hellscream in response to changing the course of history in the trailer to the expansion Warlords of Draenor, thus preventing the Old Horde from drinking Mannoroth's blood by helping Grom kill Mannoroth, and preventing his resulting death. This phrase has been adopted by the fanbase as a response to complaints down the line of They Changed It, Now It Sucks!.
    • "You are not prepared..." is Illidan's catchphrase in Burning Crusade. In Legion, he says "You are prepared" when addressing his Illidari recruits.
    • As of Battle for Azeroth, "I've taken care of everything" have become deep arc words in the Warcraft lore. Always to do with a king, always to do with a trade for power, and always to do with death. Though their first repetition is in Warcraft 3, as the voice of the Lich King to Arthas and Arthas to King Terenas right before his blatant murder, they're the first words spoken by the Zandalari Emperor Rastakhan to his daughter after he binds his bloodline in eternal servitude to Bwonsamdi, the loa of death.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 1: "Seize our destiny" starts out as Dunban's catchphrase, but eventually morphs into this as the story progresses.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles X: "It's you or us" and several variations on the phrase.
  • Though you're given much more information about it, and it is much more direct than in most cases, "fourteen years ago" arguably counts in Xenosaga. It's eventually revealed that it was when Shion summoned the Gnosis.
  • Similarly, Xenosaga's predecessor, Xenogears, has multiple phrases over the course of the first disc with hefty plot significance not explained until partway through the second. It's pretty easy to tell when they're being brought up- they're nearly always in -dashes-. Time of the Gospel and Contact come immediately to mind.
  • Dee's prophecy, quoted in the beginning of ZombiU says that "a cleansing fire of black angels will purify the world". You're supposed to believe that it's either Death or the Ravens of Dee (depending on who's talking to you), but it turns out that Dee had something else in mind. They're the RAF jets on their way to firebomb the city, silhouetted black against the red sky.
    • "The Tower shall fall when the Ravens flee."

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