History MindScrew / VideoGames

* The MagicalGirlWarrior [=RPG=] ''VideoGame/{{MGCM}}'' has TheMultiverse, as one of major plot points. The GutPunch in Chapter 4 Episode 5 depicts [[spoiler:Kaori, one of magical heroines, dies after being ambushed by a demon in the battle, and subsequently corrupted into a demon]]. In the next episode, player character Tobio (using his MentorMascot avatar Omnis with his computer) finds that Kaori and the rest of heroines are alive and intact. Then the next episodes shows that [[spoiler:a number of heroines die all over again in the battle (and in some cases, subsequently corrupted into demons), and he finds that all of heroines are alive and intact again]]. However, it’s later revealed that it’s not {{nightmare sequence}}s, '''not''' even GroundhogDayLoop, but actually he moves into alternate universes Omnis has created from possibilities he has made, where the heroines are alive and intact. Although Kamisaman [[HandWave partially explains]] it, the game is still somehow confusing to players, even [[SchrodingersCanon the canonicity of bond episodes, some dress episodes and even the]] [[{{NSFW}} DX]] [[SchrodingersCanon version are questioned]].

* The MagicalGirlWarrior [=RPG=] ''VideoGame/{{MGCM}}'' has TheMultiverse, as one of major plot points. The GutPunch in Chapter 4 Episode 5 depicts [[spoiler:Kaori, one of magical heroines, dies after being ambushed by a demon in the battle, and subsequently corrupted into a demon]]. In the next episode, player character Tobio (using his MentorMascot avatar Omnis with his computer) finds that Kaori and the rest of heroines are alive and intact. Then the next episodes shows that [[spoiler:a number of heroines die all over again in the battle (and in some cases, subsequently corrupted into demons), and he finds that all of heroines are alive and intact again]]. However, it’s later revealed that it’s not {{nightmare sequence}}s, '''not''' even GroundhogDayLoop, but actually he moves into alternate universes Omnis has created from possibilities he has made, where the heroines are alive and intact. Although Kamisaman [[HandWave partially explains]] it, the game is still somehow confusing to players, even [[SchrodingersCanon the canonicity of bond episodes, some dress episodes and even the [[{{NSFW}} DX]] version are questioned]].

* The MagicalGirlWarrior [=RPG=] ''VideoGame/{{MGCM}}'' has TheMultiverse, as one of major plot points. The GutPunch in Chapter 4 Episode 5 depicts [[spoiler:Kaori, one of magical heroines, dies after being ambushed by a demon in the battle, and subsequently corrupted into a demon]]. In the next episode, player character Tobio (using his MentorMascot avatar Omnis with his computer) finds that Kaori and the rest of heroines are alive and intact. Then the next episodes shows that [[spoiler:a number of heroines die all over again in the battle (and in some cases, subsequently corrupted into demons), and he finds that all of heroines are alive and intact again]]. However, it’s later revealed that it’s not {{nightmare sequence}}s, '''not''' even GroundhogDayLoop, but actually he moves into alternate universes Omnis has created from possibilities he has made, where the heroines are alive and intact. Although Kamisaman [[HandWave explains]] it, it still somehow confusing to players, even the canonicity of bond episodes, some dress episodes and even the [[{{NSFW}} DX]] version are questioned.

* The MagicalGirlWarrior [=RPG=] ''VideoGame/{{MGCM}}'' has TheMultiverse, as one of major plot points. The GutPunch in Chapter 4 Episode 5 depicts [[spoiler:Kaori, one of magical heroines, dies after being ambushed by a demon in the battle, and subsequently corrupted into a demon]]. In the next episode, player character Tobio (using his MentorMascot avatar Omnis with his computer) finds that Kaori and the rest of heroines are alive and intact. Then the next episodes shows that [[spoiler:a number of heroines die all over again in the battle (and in some cases, subsequently corrupted into demons), and he finds that all of heroines are alive and intact again]]. However, it’s later revealed that it’s not {{nightmare sequence}}s, not even GroundhogDayLoop, but he actually travels into alternate universes Omnis created from possibilities he has made, where the heroines are alive and intact. Although Kamisaman explains it, it still somehow confusing to players, even the canonicity of bond episodes, some dress episodes and even the [[{{NSFW}} DX]] version are questioned.

* ''VideoGame/DeathStranding'' has this in spades. For example, there is a lot of fetal imagery in the game, not to mention Sam falling into the ocean early on and then waking up as if nothing had happened.

* The ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series has TimeTravel, [[BlackAndGreyMorality ambiguously moral]] [[EvilVsEvil characters]], and [[GambitRoulette hideously convoluted plans]] from nearly [[GambitPileup every major character]] except one. Several fansites actually do a good job at discerning what took place in what time, but the [[LeftHanging ending of Defiance]] still leaves some questions in the air.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' stopped making sense somewhere around the middle of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories''.

* In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword]]'', the game manages to render the PlayerCharacter [[DemotedToExtra to be of minimal importance to the overall plot]]. Given that the PlayerCharacter is pretty much technically MissionControl, however…
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals]]'' has a small one in a support conversation between [[{{CloudCuckoolander}} Treck]] and [[{{Gonk}} Gonzales]]. Over the course of their discussions, which never progress past introductions, Treck takes his tendency to forget other people's names to a new level and by the A Support, forgets ''his own name'' mid-conversation and when Gonzales erroneously tries to remind of his name, assumes that the name Gonzales gave him was correct.

* ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'' takes another stab at screwy postmodernism many years later. A narrator tells you what to do and everything that you're doing (the game demonstrates a clear hatred towards linear video games), even though there are obviously other choices. If you follow everything he does, Stanley turns out to have been under mind control and frees himself, but you still wonder if he's actually free. If you defy the narrator at any point, he attempts to bring the story back on track or find a new one, and he repeatedly states that it's just a video game. As you progress, you begin to wonder if you're Stanley or someone controlling Stanley, if the narrator is the designer, or if the narrator is just another character. It's so extreme that one of the first LetsPlay videos of the HD Remix was called "The Stanley Parable - A Story About Mindfuck".

** [[JustForFun/PokemonVietnameseCrystal A certain bootleg version of Pokemon Crystal]] is this for the whole game.

* The SecretLevel in ''VideoGame/BatmanDoom''. It's called "No Comment..." and "Weird!", and both names fit. Imagine Batman on a giant island made of flesh, floating in the middle of inky blackness and with biting mouths in the ground, with clock-adorned trees taken right out of Dali's "Persistence of Memory"; Batman must fight against floating eyes that throw batarangs at him and that leave the eyeholes of a giant mountain made of meat. Once you beat the eyes, you can enter the mountain's toothy mouth and proceeds down its... digestive tract? to the room with the exit. And the level music? The cheesy theme of the [[Series/Batman1966 Batman TV show]].

* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue''. The plot is a tangle of alternate timelines that actually happen successively thanks to continuous cosmic resets. At least one character perpetually exists one loop behind all the others, several are aware of the time loops, and others end up in loops that haven't happened yet and take information but to their current loop. All this means that ''every one'' of the mutually-exclusive Story and Arcade mode endings have actually happened, the difficulty is in figuring out which ones are [[TrueEnding "canon"]]. Put it this way: Noel should never exist in the original, "Phase 0" timeline, but after inheriting the Eye of the master unit, whatever timeline she perceives ''is'' the "real" timeline, and this paradox actually ''simplifies'' the story.

* The SecretLevel in ''VideoGame/BatmanDoom''. It's called "No Comment..." and "Weird!", and both names fit. Imagine Batman on a giant island made of flesh, floating in the middle of inky blackness and with biting mouths in the ground, with clock-adorned trees taken right out of Dali's "Persistence of Memory"; Batman must fight against floating eyes that throw batarangs at him and that leave the eyeholes of a giant mountain made of meat. Once you beat the eyes, you can enter the mountain's toothy mouth and proceeds down its... digestive tract? to the room with the exit. And the level music? The cheesy theme of the [[Series/{{Batman}} Batman TV show]].

* The recently released ''VideoGame/Death Stranding'' has this in spades. For example, there is a lot of fetal imagery in the game, not to mention Sam falling into the ocean early on and then waking up as if nothing had happened.

The recently released ''VideoGame/Death Stranding'' has this in spades. For example, there is a lot of fetal imagery in the game, not to mention Sam falling into the ocean early on and then waking up as if nothing had happened.

* ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic 2'' was [[ExecutiveMeddling not completed]], and thus has given rise to a [[EpilepticTrees tremendous number of]] [[WildMassGuessing theories about precisely]] [[MindScrew what the hell is going on]]. Among the most screwy are the theories that [[EvilMentor Kreia]] is one of the True Sith and orchestrated the events of both games for an increasingly unlikely series of reasons and the theory that Kreia knows she's in a video game and is out to kill the developers.

** ''[=AC1=]'' ended with [[spoiler:the player character somehow having manifested his ancestor's "[[AuraVision Eagle Vision]]" and seeing [[RoomFullOfCrazy the floor and walls covered in symbols written in blood]]]].
** ''[=AC2=]''[='=]s playable credits sequence wasn't that crazy, but the ending had [[spoiler:the holographic "ghost" of a pre-human being somehow knowing that in 2012, Desmond Miles would use an Animus to see Ezio's memory of meeting her -- and therefore using the Flying Eagle of Florence as ''an answering machine to the future'']].

** ''[=ACB=]'' ends with [[spoiler:Juno taking control of Desmond's body and forcing him to stab a paralyzed Lucy, then in the post-credits we're left wondering if Desmond even ''is'' the player character... or whether he himself is an ancestor called up through a future Animus]].
** ''[=ACR=]'' involves a situation of[[spoiler: Desmond entering Ezio's memory of entering Altair's memories. And that's before Ezio tells Desmond to listen to Jupiter.]]
** ''[=AC3=]'' DLC, ''The Tyranny of King Washington''. If the title isn't enough, here is a brief summary; [[spoiler:Connor finds himself in an alternative universe where his mom is still alive, there a magic tree which corrupts everyone who drinks its tea in exchange for [[CastFromHitPoints life-draining powers]] via MushroomSamba, there are fragments of the real world rendered in [=PS1=] graphics everywhere, and the American Revolution apparently never properly happened.]] Not to mention the excessive Mason symbolism, that EverythingIsTryingToKillYou, and whoever the hell that royalty supporter was at the end.

** ''[=AC3=]'' DLC, ''The Tyranny of King Washington''. If the title isn't enough, here is a brief summary; Connor finds himself in an alternative universe where his mom is still alive, there a magic tree which corrupts everyone who drinks its tea in exchange for [[CastFromHitPoints life-draining powers]] via MushroomSamba, there are fragments of the real world rendered in [=PS1=] graphics everywhere, and the American Revolution apparently never properly happened. Not to mention the excessive Mason symbolism, that EverythingIsTryingToKillYou, and whoever the hell that royalty supporter was at the end.

** You get little (was that a gas leak I just walked across?) to no warning at all that you've received a faceful of scarecrow toxin. Especially the [[spoiler:fake game crash glitch and fake game reset that turns into a modified version of the intro cinematic where a very serious Joker is driving the insane Batman to Arkham.]] These sequences are made worse by the ButThouMust factor being in effect. Even if you know where the gas is, you can't grapple to avoid it (if you do, you still get gassed), there are no passages around it, and the door you entered that corridor through locks behind you. ''Nighty-night, Bats...''

** You get little (was that a gas leak I just walked across?) to no warning at all that you've received a facefull of scarecrow toxin. Especially the [[spoiler:fake game crash glitch and fake game reset that turns into a modified version of the intro cinematic where a very serious Joker is driving the insane Batman to Arkham.]] These sequences are made worse by the ButThouMust factor being in effect. Even if you know where the gas is, you can't grapple to avoid it (if you do, you still get gassed), there are no passages around it, and the door you entered that corridor through locks behind you. ''Nighty-night, Bats...''
* ''VideoGame/DearEsther'', a mod of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', is famous for this. You're walking around an island all by yourself, and there is no gameplay. The entire story is told through narrated letters, and you won't hear all of the letters in one playthrough, meaning your understanding on the plot changes. Not only that, some of the letters contradict each other; sometimes the narrator was shipwrecked on the island, other times he is a hermit seeking solitude. At the end you [[spoiler: turn into a seagull and fly over the letters, which shouldn't be on the island.]]

* A lot of ''VideoGame/ThePath'' has this; for example, pictures and patterns randomly flashing over the screen, the random items you find littered around the woods and anything you see in grandma's house after encountering the wolf, especially if you've unlocked the secret rooms. The lit up items in your inventory don't seem to be the ones that are counted at the end of each stage, and when you don't unlock anything, you'll still see the same scenery (but unlocking does let you know about it in advance). There are collectable gold clovers in the game-- What happens if you get them all? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The entire scorecard and "game" features of the game seem to be there shearly to mock the concept of a traditional game, something which VideoGame/ThePath is ''most definitely'' not.

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', like the whole thing. It starts off as a standard plot about an AmnesiacHero getting caught in a war between two nations using LostTechnology, then it gets a little weird when the story gets into the hidden groups pulling the nation's strings behind the scenes, then it gets really weird with TheReveal of who is pulling the strings of the previously mentioned string pullers. Long story short: [[spoiler: a DoomsdayDevice powered by {{God}} created humanity so it would have the building materials to rebuilt itself with the aid of several immortals, and {{God}} tried to stop the device's plans using the power of reincarnation, and one human went along with the device's plan in an attempt to unmake humanity and end human suffering.]] ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' ramps the Mind Screwing UpToEleven. And there are hints that all ''Xeno'' games (including ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' and onward) are connected somehow.

* ''VideoGame/{{Braid}}'' has a highly confusing story to go along with it's tricky time-manipulating gameplay. Absolutely everything is metaphorical. What appears to be a simple tale about rescuing a princess turns out to be a complex story of a man's obsession, and the atomic bomb, [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory or something]].

** Playing as a [[MadOracle Malkavian]] turns the entire game into a mind screw, your character has an almost frighteningly good grasp of what's happening and what ''will'' happen, all the way to the end of the game, but they hide it in flowery metaphors and fourth-wall-breaking comments confusing enough that you won't realize it until a second playthrough. It's still a Mind Screw when ''[[spoiler: Caine himself]]'' shows up. Cue the freakout.