Rewatch Bonus / Video Games

• In the opening cutscene of Fable III, Logan looks at a map of Albion and pronounces like a despot, "This is my Albion. Its cities will bow to my law or they will burn. Its mountains will bend to my will or they will fall. This is my Albion. Its people will do as I say or they will die. Its future will be as I decree or it will end. I have seen what must be done, and nothing will stand in my way. We will be greater and we will be stronger, no matter what sacrifices we must make. This is my Albion, and I will see it destroyed before I surrender it." When you know that he's trying to protect Albion from an Eldritch Abomination called The Crawler and is doing everything he can no matter how lurid or tyrannical, his speech becomes sad and poignant.
• Spec Ops: The Line: The entire game, full stop, when you know it's Through the Eyes of Madness, Hearing Voices and just general psychotic guilt. For example:
  • All conversations with Konrad and the Radioman over the radio; the Radioman's taunting annoys your teammates to no end, but they never acknowledge Konrad's existence in conversation, because they can't hear his voice.
  • Everything shouted by Walker's hallucinatory version of the toughest Mook in the game, a Heavy Trooper with double health. Unfortunately these lines can only be heard on the Boss' first attempt, and the most distinct line ("The only villain here is you, Walker. There's only you."), which foreshadows that the Big Bad is already long dead, can only be heard if the Boss is defeated on the first go.
  • The significance of Konrad putting his pistol in his holster in the opening cutscene becomes more obvious in second viewings.
  • Konrad's face appears to oddly show up on a number of billboards. This is Walker imagining Konrad to be more important than he actually is.
• Bastion has a fair number, especially given that the characters are trapped in a "Groundhog Day" Loop. “Proper story’s supposed to start at the beginning. Ain’t so simple with this one.”
• Shadow Hearts: Covenant has a twist ending that... Does something to the character dynamics. The female lead character falls in love with the main character... Who turns out to be her son, thanks to little time travel incident at the end. Thankfully the relationship never went anywhere beyond a one-sided crush, so it's all just a bonus to the game's pervy humour.
• In Call of Duty: Black Ops Viktor Reznov, the Red Army sergeant from World at War, is a prominent character during the story of Black Ops twenty years later. We first see him as a fellow prisoner in a Russian prison camp who escapes with Alex Mason, the protagonist. They are separated, but Reznov turns up years later as a Russian defector and joins Mason's MACV-SOG unit on their various black ops, going as far as wearing an American uniform; he actually blends in frighteningly well with American Marines whenever they're around. MACV-SOG has a precedent for this in the form of Grigori Weaver, another Russian defector whom Mason has to assure others is trustworthy despite being Russian. It turns out Reznov died in the camp and from then on is actually a figment of Mason's imagination, Fight Club style. He's wearing an American uniform because Mason is replacing a random American with Reznov in his mind, but the player finds nothing strange about Reznov joining the unit and wearing the uniform because of previously seeing Weaver. Because Reznov is also an Ensemble Dark Horse, the unbelievability is further mitigated by the fact that a weak excuse is satisfactory if it allows him to have more screen time. Several innocent moments and seemingly unimportant lines of dialog are actually the people around Mason questioning his sanity as they notice fleeting moments where he's talking to someone who isn't there, but they're all cleverly disguised; the one time someone simply says "What the fuck is wrong with you?" to Mason, it seems as though he's chastising Mason for being startled and making noise when they're supposed to be keeping quiet.
• Dyztopia: Post-Human RPG: It's not obvious on a first playthrough, but on a second playthrough with more context, it becomes evident that Clyde's inhibitor implant actually is working to some extent, but he intentionally brainwashes himself in a way that doesn't set it off as much, allowing him to engage in his worst impulses with little to no consequences.
• Mass Effect 2: Throughout the Overlord DLC, you hear a noise that sounds like random static multiple times, until you get to the end and hear it with no distortion. The next time you play, you will very clearly hear "QUIET, PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP" every time.
• Dragon Age:
  • The more you replay Dragon Age II, the more facets the story gains. Even Act 1, which seems completely irrelevant to any ongoing Myth Arc in the series at first playthrough, turns out to have set up plot points that have a huge impact in the endgame. The storytelling in the game is so subtle, many players never come to appreciate it (further fueling the epic Flame War surrounding the game), but it's not uncommon to hear people suddenly "get it" after giving it a second (or third) chance. It became an even bigger example of this once Inquisition came out.
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition: Many conversations with Solas and Blackwall take on new meaning after learning their respective Reveals: Blackwall isn't actually Warden Blackwall, but an Orlesian war criminal who took his identity after the real Blackwall died. Even his distinctive voice plays into this, since his accent is a strange British/French hybrid. Likewise, Solas is revealed to be the ancient Elven God Fen'Harel ("The Dread Wolf") in the final scene of the game; extra points for openly wearing a canine jawbone as a necklace the entire time you knew him.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Final Fantasy VIII uses very subtle storytelling techniques to describe its characters. Big Bad Ultimecia is a particular victim of this, as it's not clear people are referring to her origin unless you play the game the second time and note when she is speaking through someone else. By the same token, much of Cid and Irvine's behavior through the first two discs of the same takes on a great deal more significance once you know the whole backstory.
  • Similarly, if you replay Final Fantasy VII knowing that Cloud was never really in SOLDIER and most of his memories are recounted as if he were someone else, the flashback scenes play very differently, as do Tifa's reactions to them, because she knows that Cloud's account of what happened isn't accurate. Aerith's date is essentially her trying to tell Cloud to stop pretending to be Zack.
  • Final Fantasy IX foreshadows Zidane's origins when he talks about only remembering a blue light and his Trance skills are more destructive and exotic compared to the rest of the party. He hails from another planet that is bathed in blue light and was created to be the ultimate soldier of destruction. Replaying the game with this knowledge in mind can give players a different look on Zidane and the what-ifs with his intended purpose.
  • Final Fantasy X plays out a lot differently when you know the various secrets behind each character and the way they're acting.
  • Final Fantasy XII plays up Dr. Cid being crazy by talking to someone that no one can see or hear. Playing the game over again after learning that Cid was actually talking to Venat can have those scenes look quite different. Likewise, Balthier breaking his stoicism whenever nethicite or the Draklor Laboratories are brought up makes more sense when you learn that his father was Dr. Cid and had dabbled most of his life researching nethicite. There's also the scene of "Basch" betraying his men and the king, which is foreshadowed with his voice having a subtle difference in the accent. This is revealed later on to be Basch's twin brother.
  • On replays of Final Fantasy XV, it becomes extremely obvious that the "Ardyn" you first meet in Chapter 11 is actually Prompto, as his dialogue matches Prompto's general speaking style and vocabulary perfectly and doesn't sound like anything Ardyn would really say. It's also a lot more painful, as you know Prompto is watching his friend violently trying to kill him, and the fear and shock in his voice is completely genuine.
• Legacy of Kain. Not so much bonus, as replaying the series a second time is the only way you'll begin to understand its Kudzu Plot without someone helping you.
• Knights of the Old Republic is chock full of this, as several lines in the game are given new context with the knowledge of the amnesiac protagonist's true identity as Darth Revan, the main antagonist's former master. However, many of these key lines are presented as a flashback sequence right before The Reveal.
• Batman: Arkham City is loaded with these. There is much foreshadowing to the endgame. Many hints that Clayface is masquerading as the Joker to cover for the real deal because of his failing health are given throughout, but don't become apparent until a second playthrough.
• Ghost Trick definitely warrants a replay once you learn that Sissel is a cat, and the blonde man in the red suit, whose body Sissel thought was his, was actually Yomiel.
• Granblue Fantasy: Some Fate Episodes of specific characters have minor changes in dialogue if you manage to view them again after unlocking another version of that same character, or any version of another supporting character.
• The World Ends with You:
  • The game contains a thick and complex plot that tends to be easy enough to follow on the first playthrough. However, during a second playthrough, the perspective will alter your perception of the storyline, most noticeably everything regarding Joshua. It happens again after you've played through the game again and gotten all the secret reports, this time with Hanekoma.
  • Most notably, the opening movie actually sums up the entire plot, but you won't know until a second playthrough. Even the biggest spoileriffic detail is there, though it's a Freeze-Frame Bonus.
• Valkyria Chronicles is another example of an opening movie that makes more sense after beating the game. It contains scenes from the last few chapters, and there's even a glimpse of Valkyria!Alicia. Some cutscenes in the main game benefit from a second viewing too, e.g. Isara's "I want to fly my brother" line makes absolutely no sense the first time you hear it until you learn she's building a plane. And if you replay the game after finishing the DLC, you'll never feel the same way about having to fight Oswald the Iron in chapter 10...
• Illbleed generally doesn't have too much to warrant a replay, but after the true ending, and on the off chance you play the game again, you'll notice something interesting in the intro: the monster that was chasing Eriko was her dad, Michael Reynolds.
• In Red Dead Redemption and the prequel Red Dead Redemption II:
  • You'll likely not realize the significance of most of Marston's interactions with the Strange Man in the optional "I Know You" mission until you've seen the game's ending and know that he dies. Most notably, your final confrontation with him takes place at the site of Marston's future grave.
  • The sequel has a noticeable example as well. Arthur occasionally coughs throughout the story, but it's subtle enough most players don't pay any attention to it until he starts coughing up blood, passes out, and is diagnosed with tuberculosis late into the game. On a repeat playthrough, not only is the cough's ever increasing severity much more noticeable, the moment he contracts TB is also obvious.
  • Arthur's initial lingering resentment of John over abandoning Abigail and Jack and him taking it upon himself to take care of them makes more sense in a second playthrough. It's revealed late in the game that Arthur was married and had a son at one point, both who died in a robbery while Arthur was away. It's implied Arthur is trying to protect and care for Jack and Abigail to make up for how he wasn't there for his own family and likely resents John for not realizing how lucky he is that his family is still alive. In fact, Arthur specifically tells Hosea he’s more angry at John for running off on Jack than for running off on the gang.
  • Many of Micah's missions tend to devolve into massive slaughters of rival gangs, lawmen and sometimes even both. Upon realizing that Micah is the traitor, this makes a lot of sense. Micah is trying to get Arthur, the most competent member and the one most trusted by Dutch, killed.
• Dishonored has a few safe combinations that you can't find out until later in the game and plenty of foreshadowing of plot points and later enemies.
• Since they're so full of Wham Episodes, a lot of Tales Series games are fun to replay just for the sake of subtle Foreshadowing. In the case of Tales of Symphonia, it's worth playing twice to try out the Multiple Endings as well. Here are a few more examples.
  • Nearly every single opening video shows something that happens later in the game, and you'll only fully understand the openings once you've beaten them. Tales of Symphonia shows Kratos and Lloyd about to duel, presumably to release Origin. Tales of the Abyss, shows Eldrant and Asch and Luke's final duel on top of it, and the hyperresonance that destroys Akzeriuth. The anime eventually shows Luke speaking with Lorelei and holding Asch in his arms, which is basically the second-last scene. The very first image in Tales of Graces shows adult Sophie at the end of the future arc. It also shows Richard disappearing into the Lastalia shaft and Lambda's old body in the spaceship wreckage.
  • There's nearly always a traitor in your midst. Play the games again and you'll notice that some of them - including Anise in Tales of the Abyss and both Zelos and Kratos in Tales of Symphonia - are especially harsh towards minor characters who turn out to be traitors, and they often warn the party not to be too trusting. Guilty conscience, perhaps?
  • Tales of the Abyss:
    • Late in the game, you learn that Guy was initially in league with Big Bad Van. Play the game again and check out the conversation Guy has with Van in the manor in the first hour. Van mentions something about "leaving everything" to Guy, just as Luke approaches, and then Pere, who's also hanging around, shouts "Master Luke!" Seems like an incongruous exchange the first time, but the second time...wait a second, is Pere spotting for them to make sure Luke doesn't overhear their conversation? Genius!
    • There are a few instances where, if you’re playing the game the second time around, it actually becomes a little more painful. Guy's Gynophobia and Luke's immaturity, amnesia and ignorance of the world are Played for Laughs. However, if you know that Guy's gynophobia stems from PTSD of being buried in a pile of dead women who took the sword for him and Luke is really only seven years old due to being a clone then these instances might actually make you say Dude, Not Funny!.
  • Tales of Xillia has many. An early scene has Alvin describing his gun as a magical device that summons fire spirits. On a first playthrough, you'll probably just chalk it up to the fantasy setting (where all technology works through magic and spirit summoning). On a second, you know he's lying: it's just a normal gun. Alvin comes from another world that has modern-day technology. A lot of the game also takes on a very different meaning once you know Mila isn't really the Lord of Spirits.
• Metal Gear:
  • Metal Gear Solid: A lot of twists that come late in the game such as Liquid Snake pretending to be one of your support on the codec the whole time results in many scenes and conversations from earlier on now taking on totally different meanings when replaying the game. As some examples:
    • If you call Master Miller shortly after "Donald Anderson" dies in front of Snake, and you'll get Miller in total surprise at the death. After a second playthrough and you realize it's not your friend in shock that the man you tried to rescue dropped dead. It's the main villain surprised that his own henchman suddenly got killed.
    • When Snake recovers his gear after the torture segment and discovers that Revolver Ocelot planted a bomb in his equipment if you call your support staff they'll all remark on Ocelot's actions. Miller is particularly disgusted, which seems understandable but after knowing the truth, you realize Liquid's actually angered at how Ocelot acted against orders since he's manipulating Snake and needs him alive. Ocelot acting against orders also perfectly foreshadows his reveal as a double agent in The Stinger.
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the big twist at the end is that the events of the Plant Chapter were a series of carefully manipulated recreations of the events in the original Metal Gear Solid. The hints towards this twist are a bit more obvious during the second playthrough, particularly with the (A.I.) Colonel often letting it slipped by with his open distrust and hostility towards Solid Snake (who is disguised as a surviving SEAL Team 10 member) by acknowledging that he's an unaccounted factor in the "simulation", as his presence was not planned for. While it's initially implied to refer to the fact that Raiden was prepped for the Big Shell incident through V.R. training the A.I. accidentally revealed it was in fact referring to the S3 Plan, more worryingly known as "the Selection for Societal Sanity".
  • Some of the character's reactions to Raiden's mission appears to be odd on a first playthrough, however once you know the truth that it's all a simulation albeit with real consequences that suddenly their reactions make sense. Fatman's surprise at the rest of Dead Cell's goal. He's there as a test taker to see Raiden's progress through the S3 Plan. Ames who serves as one of the members of Secret Service is surprised when Raiden refers to him as such, in reality he's a member of the DIA whose there to keep watch on the President and ultimately ends up being a stand-in for Donald Anderson from the Shadow Moses incident. Finally the reaction to the demand of 40 Million dollars. The fact was that there never was one in the 1st place, the rest of Dead Cell's true goal was Arsenal Gear and they were merely biding their time until it's activation.
• Resident Evil
  • Ada being a spy sent to recover the G-Virus in Resident Evil 2 may seem like it comes from nowhere at first, but playing the game a second time with the knowledge in your head lets you pick up the more subtle cues that Ada isn't all who she appears to be; Ada is very quick to ditch Leon on multiple occasions, doesn't give a reaction to Leon when he formally introduces himself, encourages Leon to leave her when she gets wounded, and you can almost hear the "I don't give a damn what you think of me" tone in her voice when she replies to Leon after he scolds her like a child for running off without him. Ada is trying to accomplish her mission at all costs and she has to keep up her identity as a "civilian" without Leon catching on. Of course, Ada's resolve waivers slightly after Leon takes a bullet for her when Annette Birkin tried to kill her.
  • Replaying Resident Evil 7: Biohazard after Resident Evil Village and you can see the twist that Ethan died and was resurrected by the Mold more clearly. Ethan takes an inhuman amount of punishment, can reattach limbs and speaks with Jack within the Mold's Mind Hive. The family's reaction to Ethan not eating their food is more understandable when you realise he is as infected as any of them,
• Legend of Dragoon has some of this - a few specific instances:
  • Dart's interactions with Lavitz become a little... well, sad the second time around knowing that he never will get to buy Lavitz that drink.
  • The first time you fight Lenus, she makes an impossible escape and before she does so, says "Hey, you over there! What do you think of that!?" and points at Meru. Then during the scene after, Meru is in the scene and has some focus, which is a bit odd given what else happens. Suddenly these weird interactions make sense when you realize Meru's a Wingly herself,
• Jade Empire is positively loaded with these, as the main plot twist is foreshadowed in almost every dialogue ever, from Master Li being surprised you came back early (the bombers weren't yet there, and only Dawn Star's kidnapping got you out of the village in time) to the utterances of random passers-by ('he couldn't have known this, could he?') to the heavy hints the Water Dragon is dropping in every sentence.
• 9:05 is a very brief Interactive Fiction game by Adam Cadre that opens with what appears to be an exceptionally mundane situation — you're woken by an alarm clock and have to scramble to get to work on time. If you actually show up to work, however (you're given the option to just keep driving), the game ends abruptly with the revelation that you're actually a home invader who murdered the man whose bed you were sleeping in, and whose job you're going to. If you replay the game you can find the body under the bed, and the option to keep driving allows you to make a clean getaway.
• Atlas in BioShock has a Verbal Tic; every time he asks you to do something, he says would you kindly. This becomes a lot more meaningful when you meet Andrew Ryan, who has uncovered an Audio Diary where Dr. Suchong demonstrates mental conditioning with a child who has been conditioned to obey any command if it comes before or after the phrase "Would you kindly". Turns out Atlas has been psychically controlling you from the beginning.
• BioShock Infinite:
  • At the start of the game a man and a woman row Booker out to a lighthouse, after which they seemingly disappear from the rest of the game. Were it not for the fact that this scene is meant to appear unimportant, and thus quickly forgotten, then this one scene with them would make it blatantly obvious that these two are the Lutece twins who appear repeatedly throughout the game. For example, the subtitles refer to them as "A Gentleman" and "A Lady", which are also used to refer to the Luteces until their names are learned; they talk about "experiments", which should give away that they're scientists; they even sound exactly the same. The only attempt to mask their identity is the fact that their faces are hidden. Furthermore, they’re back and forth of "He doesn't row?" "No, he doesn't row" "Oh, I understand" seems like bizarre nonsense the first time you hear it. After finishing the game and hearing all the discussion of Constants and Variables, as well as learning that there are infinite variations of that scene, you realize what "He doesn't row" means - it’s a Constant that Booker doesn't help the Luteces row, meaning it's pointless for Rosalind to try and get him to help.
  • Many of the criticisms that Booker and Comstock say to each other could easily be used to describe the one giving the criticism, which makes sense as they're alternate versions of each other.
  • The "The Reason You Suck" Speech that Booker gives Comstock as he starts strangling him has Booker call Comstock out on "abandoning" Elizabeth, even though what Comstock did is more along the lines of trying to control her life rather than forget about her. The reason for this is that Booker's speech is actually subconsciously directed at himself because he feels guilty for selling Elizabeth, thus abandoning her.
• Persona 4, being a mystery plot, has a lot of this. Every major player in the mystery is introduced in the first hour of the game, including the killer, both Red Herrings and real mastermind.
  • While the main characters chase Rise's stalker, a van drives in the other direction. This is Taro Namatame's van, and he's about to use the TV hidden inside to kidnap Rise.
  • All interactions with Adachi hit differently when you know he's the killer. For example, all the times he accidentally lets information slip, it's because he's trying to lead the investigation team away from him.
  • Nanako mentions that she knows not to open the door for anyone but family and the delivery man. The delivery man is Taro Namatame, and he will take advantage of this to kidnap her.
  • Mitsuo Kubo is introduced trying to hit on Yukiko, but she brushes him off and the story pays no more notice to him. He kills Mr. Mooroka and claims credit for the other deaths because no one ever paid attention to him and he's utterly desperate to be noticed for something, even if it is serial murder.
• The opening cutscene of Baten Kaitos seems like it's just an Attract Mode, the developers showing off technical proficiency or some basic world building. However, most of the lines show up in the game, and the last two lines end being used in a completely different fashion than the viewer would expect. "Now, be what you've always dreamed to be!" would be a massive, game-changing spoiler, if the viewer had any idea what was really being said.
• A huge amount of things in Xenoblade Chronicles 1 take on an entirely different meaning with context revealed only near the end of the game. In particular: anything to do with Alvis, Zanza, Meyneth, Dickson and the Monado. Especially Alvis' heavy use of Exact Words. The things the High Entia ancestors tell Melia in the tomb and comments about the statues on Prison Island also make much more sense once you know about the connection between the High Entia and the Telethia.
• Xenoblade Chronicles X:
  • Rewatching the opening cutscene after beating the game, eagle-eyed players may notice The Vita and The Ares. Lines of narration about the Coalition Government knowing about the war in advance also make significantly more sense after learning about a particular late-game twist.
  • A lot of conversations during the first half of the game make a lot more sense after the Robotic Reveal. During the starting walk to NLA you can hear Elma almost say it out loud multiple times before visibly deciding it's too obvious to mention.
• A lot of character interactions in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 take on a very different light when you know Pyra and Mythra are actively suicidal for most of the game. In particular Pyra's eager to help Rex reach Elysium, but she never actually expresses support for his reasons why. Regarding a different character, much of Nia's moments up until Chapter 7 take on a different light once it's revealed she's a Flesh-Eater Blade. For example, she has a few notably pointed reactions to people expressing Fantastic Racism towards Blades in the first chapter.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3 retroactively turns all of 2 into one of these, with the reveal in its ending that Rex ended up having children with Pyra, Mythra and Nia. Rex's infamous "I love you and all you guys" to Nia was an actual Love Confession and not a rejection.
• Minecraft: Story Mode:
  • The opening cinematic has a narrator talking about "The Order of the Stone" — four friends who went on to become legendary heroes. If you watch this scene after The Reveal that Ivor was a member of the order but was erased from the story, you'll notice that the narrator puts emphasis on there being only four heroes.
  These FOUR friends together, would give so much to gain their rightful place as FOUR heroes
  • The opening cinematic begins by talking about how every legend slowly becomes a lie as more details are lost - the one exception being the legends of "The Order of The Stone". Once you know about the Order using the command block to easily accomplish their legendary feats, and also having a fifth member who was removed from the legends, it becomes apparent that the narrator was hinting at the beginning that he was about to tell one big lie.
  • In Episode 3, if you realize that Lukas knows about Petra/Gabriel's illness, you can spot him looking away from them in panic in some scenes.
  • The Reveal that the Order's story is a fraud makes a lot of what happens take on a completely different meaning.
• In Kid Icarus: Uprising the 13th mission has you going to defeat Arlon the Serene in the Lunar Sanctum. In the 20th mission, you learn the Lunar Sanctum was the prison of the Chaos Kin. On a second playthrough, you may pick up on foreshadowing of this fact, such as "[Viridi] said I mustn't let your attacks spread CHAOS here of all place." and "I'm afraid the Lunar sanctum doesn't have room for any MORE guests."
• Bravely Default: The identity of the game's antagonist is much more pronounced on a second playthrough. There is a lot of foreshadowing pointing to Airy not being who/what she says she is, most notably when another Vestal meets her and expresses confusion as to what a 'Cryst-fairy' even is. The Reveal that Airy was using the party to over-stimulate the Crystals and that her millennia-long plan was nearing its completion makes her Continue Your Mission, Dammit! attitude stick out much more.
• In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, at the end of the main questline you find out that the reason the dragon Alduin suddenly appeared at the beginning of the game was because he went back in time to try to kill you (the Dragonborn) before you realized your powers and posed a threat. At first he indiscriminately attacks the entire area, but if you don't take shelter right away and linger outside for a while (far longer than any semi-competent player would spend during the sequence), you'll see him stop to look around, and if you're still there he'll recognize you and start targeting you specifically. Ironically, this is also a case of Nice Job Fixing It, Villain, since he appears just as you're about to be executed and inadvertently saves your life.
• BlazBlue:
  • Some of the nihilist comments (or even tirades) in BlazBlue make a surprising amount of sense after the fourth game reveals that the world is based on Master Unit Amaterasu's dream, and keeps coming back to that shape because her will overrides everything else - so a lot of the characters' actions genuinely are pointless and lacking consequence. This works especially well when done by Arakune ('In the end, you and I... are pointlesspointlesspointless!') and Terumi (eg. his 'World of lies' speech in Continuum Shift'), because Arakune is directly connected to The Boundary, Amaterasu's resting place and Terumi is Amaterasu's brother - they know the truth much better than everyone else.
  • Most of the scenes of Terumi interacting with Hakumen and Trinity in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift take on a new tone once you know that Terumi was a member of the Six Heroes too, along with his especially pointed mockery of anyone involved in their legacy.
    Terumi: (To a livid Valkenhayn and Hakumen) Wow, we're really getting the band back together, aren't we?
  • Continuum Shift gained one retroactively by its Updated Re Release. Makoto's story mode is set slightly before everyone else's, with her being sucked into a parallel timeline. There are a few in this story itself (such as Jin, not having had to deal with Noel in this timeline, being much more compassionate), but a main one is after the end of Makoto's story where she escapes and goes back to Kagutsuchi. Makoto appears in Jin's story mode for a scene, and her clear nervousness towards Hazama and the way Hazama speaks to her takes on a new light if you know that not long ago, Hazama tried to carve her up.
  • The entirety of the first game takes on a new meaning once it's revealed that it takes place inside a time loop, so every potential ending actually happened. Not to mention that when Ragna and Nu fall into the Cauldron, they become the Black Beast, causing the original events involving the Six Heroes.
  • One of Hazama's Game Over scenarios in the story of Continuum Shift has Hakumen refer to Terumi as the Dark Susano'o before cutting him down, Hazama's CS Arcade scenario has Hakumen tell him that his remnants within the Susano'o unit are unpleasant to bear, Hazama and Terumi both try not to bear the full brunt of the Susano'o unit's might against themselves and seek workarounds, and Terumi refers to himself as "the one true Susano'o" during his Astral Heat. All of this implies that he once inhabited the Susano'o unit in the past, but Centralfiction ultimately reveals that he was more than some random occupant, but rather the actual Takehaya Susano'o no Mikoto, the unit's original owner. This also explains why Hazama (with Terumi inside) tries to butcher Makoto in Jin's CS story; since a parallel Jin (a.k.a Hakumen) inhabits the unit courtesy of Rachel, Hakumen's CS story revealed that a parallel Tsubaki saved him from Nu, and the only reason that one instance of Tsubaki lived long enough to sacrifice herself for Jin is because Makoto put herself in Hazama's way. Makoto is responsible for Terumi losing access to that Susano'o in the first place and he hates her for it.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Replaying the game after beating it with all Chaos/Super Emeralds as Sonic makes the mural in Hidden Palace take a new meaning when you realize that it predicts the final boss battle in Sonic's story.
  • Sonic Adventure: As a result of the game's story being shown from six different POVs, replaying it gives new context to many of the cutscenes in which the characters' stories intersect, as well as the Tikal flashbacks, which tell a story in an Anachronic Order.
  • Sonic Adventure 2: Replaying the game after beating the Last Story makes you look differently at the cutscene in which Rouge looks up the files on Project Shadow and brings up the possibility of Shadow being a fake. In the Dreamcast version, you can even see a photo of the Biolizard on the monitor belonging to the computer Rouge is using. In addition, replaying the game after playing Sonic Battle and learning about Gerald Robotnik's fascination with Angel Island and the Echidna civilization shows that this reveal was foreshadowed by hints in Sonic Adventure 2, as it explains the Artificial Chaos enemies, the recreated Master Emerald shrine, and possibly even Shadow's appearance.
  • Sonic Heroes: The cutscenes involving Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic gain more context after you beat all stories and learn that the latter was posing as Eggman in order to collect genetic data on the player characters and Chaos.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (2006): Similarly, the cutscenes involving Mephiles gain new meaning after you learn his backstory and the fact that he's involved in a Stable Time Loop with Shadow. It also explains Elise's possession of a Chaos Emerald, and offers a possible alternate explanation as to why Mephiles looks like Shadow. In addition, the reveal that Sonic's death would prompt Elise to cry and release Iblis gives a new meaning to Mephiles' claim that Sonic is the Iblis Trigger.
  • Sonic Unleashed: The late game reveal that Chip is the light counterpart to the game's Eldritch Abomination gives new context to the cutscenes involving Chip and the Gaia Shrines, and his explanation that Sonic's transformation was a result of absorbing Dark Gaia's energies and his willpower was the only thing keeping him from losing his head gives new context to the Werehog and his beast-like behavior.
  • Replaying Sonic Mania after playing Sonic Forces gives new context to much of its story and cutscenes, given that the latter explains the origins and mechanics of the Phantom Ruby, the main driving force behind the former's story.
• When playing Silent Hill 2 for the first time, James Sunderland's behavior may seem strange at first; he sticks his hand into things without knowing what could be behind them, he doesn't turn his flashlight off when hiding from Pyramid Head behind see-through doors, he jumps down holes without a second thought, and when he meets Angela for the last time, he hesitates slightly when she asks if he is saving the knife for himself. Once James' troubled past involving killing his sickly wife due to sheer frustration from her emotional abuse towards him comes to light, everything he did up to that point makes sense; because of James' massive guilt, he's given up caring about his own self-preservation and depending on how you play, it can finally spill over and result in him killing himself over it.
• Master Detective Archives: Rain Code: Upon finding the present-day victim in Chapter 1, Yuma and Shinigami have an argument as to whether or not this is an abnormal occurrence. On revisiting the game, it's far more clear that what Yuma is actually alarmed about is the fact the blood is pink.
• In Persona 5:
  • Prior to their first visit to the Meta-verse, you will notice that the Protagonist accidentally activates the Meta-Nav when he first meets Ryuji. And if you look it over after Morgana explains keywords (you have to state the name of the Palace Ruler, the location they've distorted into their Palace, and what they think of their Palace as), you can see that Ryuji accidentally states all three when complaining about how Kamoshida thinks he's king of the castle at Shujin.
  • When Akechi first meets the Phantom Thieves, he makes a remark about hearing someone talk about pancakes. This is the moment he gave himself away as the traitor; Morgana had made the 'pancakes' statement, and only people who've been to the metaverse can understand Morgana. It's a very different experience playing through Akechi's time as a party member knowing that the Thieves caught the slip-up and were suspicious the whole time.
  • Likewise, most players initially won't think too much of Goro Akechi's first appearance talking about the Phantom Thieves right after Madarame mentions there is a second Metaverse user. With knowledge of who the Traitor is, it comes off as suspicious that the game is introducing a character that is against the Phantom Thieves immediately afterwards.
  • Igor's voice and overall demeanor have changed since previous games (for example, he says 'welcome to my Velvet Room' instead of 'welcome to the Velvet Room'). It's easy to chalk this up to the death of his previous voice actor (and in fact, that is the Doylist explanation for it), but the in-universe reason is because it's not Igor, it's Big Bad Yaldabaoth masquerading as Igor.
  • In early parts of the game, Sojiro will receive random calls from someone he seems eager to placate, and a mysterious figure shows up in the first stage of his confidant link that Sojiro does NOT want to see. On a first playthrough, the calls are Played for Laughs and make Sojiro seem like a Henpecked Husband, and the suspicious man is just random. It's only on a replay that you realize the calls are coming from Sojiro's adopted daughter Futaba, who is having depressive fits when she makes the calls, and the mysterious man is Futaba's horribly abusive uncle, from whose custody Sojiro rescued her.
  • Royal introduces us to Dr. Maruki, the school therapist at Shujin who comes off as a bit of a goof. His confidant links, as well as his visits with the various Phantom Thieves, all center around mental cognition, and he mentions working on a paper on the subject. His becoming the second Big Bad during the new Third Semester puts all these interactions in a new light, as they are actually him gathering the information he needs to put his plan into motion. Especially notable is his interaction with Futaba when he realizes he's talking to the daughter of the scientist who kickstarted his research.
  • Also from Royal, new Phantom Thief Kasumi's brainwashing and true identity as Sumire are cleverly foreshadowed throughout the game. Her arc centers around her not performing as expected in her gymnatics because Sumire is failing to copy her dead sister Kasumi's style, something the gymnastics instructor unknowingly reveals when she chides "Kasumi" for not finding her own style. You only learn "Kasumi's" name from a dropped student ID, and until The Reveal, you never hear anyone aside from "Kasumi" herself and Morgana (who until then only interacts with her the same time the player does, so he only knows as much as you do) refer to her by that name; everyone else only calls her "Yoshizawa." The fact she is also often seen in the company of Dr. Maruki is also a hint that he's the one who's brainwashed her. Knowing all this on a replay throws every interaction with Kasumi into a new light.
  • Related to the previous, near the start of Royal when Sojiro drives you to school for the first time, a report plays on the radio about a traffic accident killing a 15 year old girl. Sojiro remarks how sad it is and then the story moves on. This is the accident that killed the real Kasumi.
  • When Kasumi accidentally enters the mystery palace, if you're looking for it you can notice that she pulls a Ryuji and says all three keywords in casual conversation immediately beforehand: telling Joker over the phone to meet her in Odaiba by the stadium, lamenting that she's useless to Joker and Dr. Maruki, and commenting on a passerby mistaking the nature of the building by saying "it's not a lab, it's a stadium."
• Digital Devil Saga has a surprising amount of details and justifications that only make sense after beating the sequel. Besides the reveals justifying why no one has emotions, why Sera has godlike powers, and why everyone knows about things that don't exist in the Junkyard, the biggest standout is the creepy and mostly unexplained Disneyland-expy called Destinyland. Destinyland is a demon-infested amusement park that tells a story about a princess and two princes, who look an awful lot like Sera, Serph, and Heat. It's an accurate analogy of what happened to Sera five years ago, down to the fairy tale setting reflecting her young age, and the garbled penultimate chapter reflecting how she was traumatized by the experience.
• God of War (PS4):
  • The first conversation between Kratos and the Stranger takes on a different meaning when you re-watch it knowing that they're having One Dialogue, Two Conversations; Baldur is looking for the last Jotun in Midgard, and thinks it's Kratos (it's actually his deceased wife, Faye), while his vagueness leads Kratos to assume that Baldur knows of his past in Greece.
    The Stranger: I thought you'd be bigger. But you're definitely the one. Long way from home, aren't you?
  • The reveal that Atreus is Loki, fated to cause Ragnarok was brilliantly hinted at throughout the game, such as more than one instance of association with wolves, a propensity for telling many stories, carrying mistletoe at one point leading to Baldur's death as a direct result and Jormungandr, one of Loki's children in myth offhandedly remarking about a sense of familiarity with them. After The Reveal, many things about the character make more sense and those little details fall into place neatly.
• God of War Ragnarök: Fittingly for one of the more powerful Shocking Moments, there are many hints along the story for a second playthrough that indicate that Odin is masquerading as the Norse god of war Tyr ahead of The Reveal when Brok exposes him and is fatally stabbed by the imposter. This Youtube video elaborates on some of these hints, with a detailed list of Foreshadowing including but not limited to:
  • Tyr's words often act as a Conflict Ball, and he encourages Atreus's cockiness multiple times.
  • He insists on sleeping in Sindri's broom closet, and if you go inside when he's not there, you can see raven feathers on the floor. Odin's raven teleportation leaves feathers behind.
  • When Atreus offers him a spear, he declines the "walking stick." Odin's walking stick is actually his spear, Gungnir.
  • He calls Freya 'Frigg' and Atreus 'Loki'; the former was Odin's pet name for Freya and Tyr of all people should know she hates it, and the latter is what the giant prophecies called Atreus, but isn't his actual name (Faye wanted to name him Loki, but deferred to Kratos's suggestion of Atreus), so this in hindsight is a dead giveaway that he only sees Atreus according to his role in the prophecy, which is a very Odin way to think.
  • He often says Innocently Insensitive things and then apologizes. Odin often says intentionally insensitive things and then apologizes insincerely.
  • He has the Character Tic of holding his arms behind his back. Which Odin shares.
  • He's annoyed when he learns Sindri and Brok stole Draupnir back. Because they did it under his nose.
  • He knows a good deal about the Mask (which he attributes to Odin's interrogations about it) and is surprisingly accepting that it is what Odin thinks it is.
  • He switches between naysaying all the others' plans on the grounds of not wanting a war and stubbornly pushing his own. Because he's trying to manipulate them.
  • Odin immediately pegs the Draupnir Spear as Brok's work. He shouldn't know this, because the planning was carried out in the Realm Between Realms where his ravens can't reach, and the initial forging was done underwater by a mermaid- again, no Odin ravens around.
  • Odin only has one of his two ravens with him. Because the other is hiding in Sindri's closet, acting as a teleportation anchor point.
  • After Kratos kills Heimdall and claims Gjallarhorn, Tyr rebukes him by citing the deal Odin offered (but Kratos did not take) at the beginning of the game, where he said he'd leave Kratos alone if Kratos didn't kill any Aesir. Kratos never told anyone about that deal.
  • Tyr is utterly shocked by the reveal of Groa's true prophecy and his behavior is affected for a while afterward. Odin is horrified that all his preparations for Ragnarok were based on a lie.
  • At one point, Tyr comes up behind Atreus and bumps into him on accident. On Odin's blind side.
• One of the reasons a lot of players (who played Dreamfall Chapters episode-by-episode) recommended playing it again was this. Among the most notable is the fact that Queenie and Old Lady Alvane have the same voice actor and that bottle of Biju Zoë gives is part of the potion Saga creates. Due to the fact that the last episode featuring Queenie was in 2015, and the Biju was given in 2014, a lot of people actually missed this.
• Several details in Kings Quest (2015) are much easier to catch on a replay, especially in the first chapter during the knight trials. Of particular note, it's a lot easier to see that Manny is orchestrating events to ensure that he and Graham are the final competitors because he sees Graham as the weakest link and therefore the easiest to beat.
• Until Dawn:
  • The sessions with Dr. Hill take on a different light when the player knows who he is talking to. For example, if the player chooses Josh as the person they dislike the most, Dr. Hill will say that he understands you better and to go easy on said person. The "you" in this case is Josh and you are telling your hallucination of your psychiatrist that you despise yourself the most.
  • Earlier on, Josh mentions to Sam that it will probably take a traumatic event for Chris and Ashley to confess their feelings for each other and that Chris wouldn't say anything about how he felt for Ashley unless someone puts a gun to his head. Both comments are said jokingly as a Shipper on Deck but it takes a darker turn once the player finds out that Josh was the Psycho and he deliberately engineered traumatic events and the death traps revolving around Chris and Ashley in hopes that his best friend and his crush would get together.
• On the first playthrough of Dead Cells, the King being a catatonic Anti-Climax Boss seems like just the result of his Villainous Breakdown, with him being so deranged that he never even gets out of his throne anymore. On repeated playthroughs, the scene becomes a lot more disturbing as you realize the reason he’s catatonic is because his soul’s not in his body. You are said soul, now a small slime, and when you “kill” the King, you’re really just destroying your own brain dead body. The Reveal also puts a whole new light on the fact that some NPCs are inexplicably hostile and rude towards the Beheaded; they recognize him as the King, who is inadvertently responsible for the Plague and the destruction it wrought.
• Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones: A blink-and-you-miss-it in the prologue chapter. Right after Eirika and Seth escape Castle Renais, leaving King Fado behind, you can see a Necromancer appearing among the red troops. There's only one character with that class in the whole game (Lyon), who later confesses to having been the one to kill King Fado.
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses:
  • During the first battle, if Byleth speaks to the others, Dimitri and Claude express concern about the bandits and the threat to their lives, while Edelgard was more interested in Byleth. It's revealed that Edelgard was the one to hire the bandits to kickstart her plan to further her ambitions by killing off Dimitri and Claude and thus had little reason to be worried about the bandits.
  • After the prologue battle, the bandit leader meets face to face with The Flame Emperor, who pulls a You Have Failed Me on said bandit. On replays, not only is it obvious that The Flame Emperor shares their title with Edelgard, but that her problem with the bandit's actions isn't that he failed to kill Edelgard, but that he tried it at all.
  • The game contains a musical example: the main theme, Edge of Dawn, definitely warrants a re-listen once you realize it's actually a Villain Song, apparently Edelgard expressing regret for what she's become and nostalgia for her time in the academy. Notably, the song plays for the credits on all the routes in which Edelgard dies- on Edelgard's Crimson Flower route, "The Color of Sunrise," an instrumental piece, plays instead.
  • If you have Dimitri and Edelgard fight in the mock Battle of the Eagle and Lion in Chapter 7, she tells him "If the Empire and the Kingdom go to war, we'll be able to fight as much as we please" and he replies "I'm sorry, but that is not something to joke about. The thought of fighting you is troubling at best". Not only is this painfully ironic if you've seen the time-skip trailer, and if you know Dimitri is later anything but troubled about fighting Edelgard after he (wrongly) concludes that she is responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur but it takes on a very new meaning once you finish Part 1. Edelgard was planning to invade the Kingdom from the very beginning, making her dialogue her less friendly banter and more thinly-veiled death threats.
  • Many scenes with the Death Knight take on a new meaning after the 3rd wave of DLC revealed Jeritza and the Death Knight aren't the same person, per se, but rather the Knight is his split-personality. This explains why the Death Knight has no qualms with killing his half-sister, but also makes him more of a Tragic Villain, as he isn't in control of his actions in that state.
• Fire Emblem Engage: Much of the first three chapters takes on a new meaning on replays. The way Lumera speaks to Alear subtly implies they were Happily Adopted by her and not her biological child, alongside the way she summons Sigurd and her surprise and probing when Alear describes how they first summoned Marth. Alear turns out to be Sombron's child, as only Fell Dragons summon Emblems with invocations.
• Near the beginning of Paper Mario: The Origami King, Origami Peach asks Mario, "Should the Toads be silenced...for all of eternity?" Within what you should know at that point, it's a tipoff to King Olly's level of control over Princess Peach, the ever-loving and compassionate ruler of Toads, to make her nonchalantly say something that goes completely against everything she believes in. With knowledge of the end of the game, however, it's also a tipoff to King Olly's genocide plan for the Toads, namely to turn them all into inanimate blank paper that can never be restored.
• In Devil May Cry 5, V and Nero's Odd Friendship and the time they spent together throughout the game becomes significant when it's later revealed that V is, in essence, Vergil, Nero's father. This means that Vergil's first real friend was none other than his own son.
• Octopath Traveler: Playing through Therion's story after beating everyone's once might result in a feeling of deja vu during his flashbacks. The town that he recalls running around in with Darius during the cutscenes "Partners in Crime" and "Friends, Brothers, Partners" is Riverford, the final town visited in Olberic's story. Specifically, they run into the eastern half of town while getting away from the guards, and are also seen running directly away from Werner's manse after robbing it.
• If you replay Hotline Miami after completing the sequel, you'll find that many of the details are cleared up and several plot-points become much more apparent. One of the most notable is the revelation that Jacket actually knows exactly who is leaving the messages on his answering machine and why, and he is performing the hits on the Russian Mafia willingly, rather than being coerced.
• Throughout Link's adventure as an adult in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, he gets help from Sheik who teaches him warp songs and gives him hints in the form of poetry. When the two meet up again in Kakariko Village, Shiek doesn't bother with the poetry and is straight up worried over Impa's safety due to her going to the Shadow Temple alone to confront the monster there. Playing this scene with the knowledge that Sheik is Zelda in disguise, their reaction to Impa being in danger makes a lot more sense.
• Fate/Grand Order:
  • The team's doctor Romani Archaman refusing to believe that Solomon is behind the destruction of human history. It's understandable at the final singularity, where we learn that he is the Grand Caster Solomon reincarnated after helping his master win the Holy Grail War. The "Solomon" trying to end history is the Beast Goetia controlling his corpse.
  • In Singularity F, the heroes encounter a Caster version of Cú Chulainn who helps them retrieve the grail. But when he is summoned, he never gives his real name. He also retains his memories about Singularity F, despite the fact Servants normally don't remember their past summons. It's revealed in Lostbelt 6 that he's a pseudo-servant of Odin, who acted to aid Chaldea against Goetia's threat and later help them bring the end to Avalon la Fey.
• Rewatching the opening cutscene of Elden Ring after completing the game makes it obvious that the scene brazenly reveals several major spoilers that can't be fully understood unless you already know what you're seeing: Marika and Radagon struggling for control over their shared body as they fight to destroy/fix the Elden Ring. When the person with a hammer looks more feminine, that's Marika shattering the ring, and when they look masculine, that's Radagon repairing it.
• Rakuen: Replaying the game knowing that Yami is the Boy's innermost thoughts rather than a separate character puts his demeanor in a different light. Despite his unshakable optimism on the surface, the Boy has to wrestle with many negative thoughts such as resentment over those around him passing away one by one and thinking his illness makes him too weak to be a hero or deserve a wish from Morizora.
• In the good ending of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, it's all but outright stated that Vyers/Mid-Boss is a resurrected King Krichevskoy. Replaying the game with this in mind makes several moments change entirely.
• Right before the final battle in Golden Sun, Saturos and Menardi fight the heroes one last time before fusing together to become the Fusion Dragon. Before the fight, Saturos tells Felix to take Sheba to safety since he and Menardi may not have the strength left to protect her. This line of dialogue may sound like nothing unusual until the final battle in Golden Sun: The Lost Age where after the fight is over, it's revealed that the final boss was the fusion of Jenna and Felix's parents and Isaac's father in dragon form. Kraden explains that if the party had been defeated, the parents would have died anyway because they didn't have the energy to maintain their monstrous form. Knowing this, the last stand Saturos and Menardi made before their demise showed that they knew they probably would die even if they beaten Isaac's party and were desperate enough to go down that route in order to stop him.

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