I have a bad feeling…
Video games are full of shocking moments. From shocking revelations to heartbreaking deaths, these moments never fail to leave an impression on those who experience them.
These unforgettable, shocking scenes, which occur at key points in a game's story, are designed to have the greatest emotional impact possible. One of the most common ways developers achieve this is by surprising the player with a surprising twist that they never saw coming; BioShock's “Would you kindly” twist is one of the most famous examples. The shock value of these scenes is a big part of what makes them so effective, but a storyline can be just as, if not more, powerful if the player already knows that things are going to end badly.
The knowledge that something will go wrong, whether through clever foreshadowing or the player's past experiences with the franchise, creates a sense of dread. Like suspense in a horror movie, the feeling that something bad is about to happen is often more exciting than the moment itself.
Even though it was clear that things were going to end horribly for these characters, this didn't stop these moments from being shocking.
—
*Spoilers for games mentioned**
10. Freeing the Tree Spirit – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt forces players to make a lot of difficult decisions, but one of the toughest moral dilemmas is presented in the side quest “Whispering Hillock.”
While searching for his adopted daughter in the war-torn land of Velen, Geralt reaches the village of Downwarren, where the locals are terrorized by a terrifying presence. Upon further investigation, he discovers that the source of the village's woes is an ancient spirit trapped beneath an old tree. After speaking with the being, the player can choose to either free it or destroy it.
Freeing the spirits who promise to rescue the innocent orphans from the evil Crooked Women of Crookback Swamp seems like the right choice, but this exchange doesn't give the impression that the spirits can be trusted at all. All that's clear at this point is that nothing good is going to come from this quest.
If released, the spirit will keep its promise and save the orphans, but at the same time slaughter the villagers, but if the spirit is destroyed, the villagers are saved, but the old women devour the children.
Killing monsters is easier than making these moral decisions.
