No RPG stays the same throughout its entire runtime. However, there are some special games out there that entirely re-invent themselves halfway through their experience, causing players to entirely reconsider the game they had been playing up until this point.
These radical changes can be due to anything, like a major revelation about a villain’s motivations, your character embracing who they are and unlocking their full potential, or discovering a new location rich with lore about the world’s history.
While some RPGs offer a fairly stagnant world, letting players roam throughout it to immerse themselves in the setting, others will have players be a catalyst for change, where their actions will cause immense and obvious changes to the world and its people after making them.
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Here are 10 RPGs that totally reinvent themselves halfway through the game, heightening the game’s stakes and pulling players in for the long run.
Heavy spoilers for many of the games below.
10
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Finding the Skyhold
In the beginning of Dragon Age: Inquisition, your floundering army sets up camp in the snowy mountains of Haven. It’s here that the Inquisition would slowly make a name for itself, drawing in recruits and closing fade rifts spread throughout the world.
Eventually, players will be called upon to aid either the Templars or the Mages. Choosing one faction will condemn the other and establish which villainous faction will haunt you throughout the rest of your playthrough. Following this major main story quest, your home of Haven will be besieged by the forces of “The Elder One”, easily dispatching you and your forces with ease. It’s also here that we learn the perpetrator who opened the breach in the sky and blew up the chantry is, in fact an ancient Tevinter Mage turned Darkspawn called Corypheus.
Left alone in the cold with your forces depleted, your wise and Egg-like companion Solas guides your people to their new home: the Skyhold, a nearly impenetrable fortress.
The game here takes a major shift as, not only is your main hub entirely different, but you’re not introduced to the major foes you’ll face throughout the rest of your playthrough. It’s also from this point onwards that you’ll officially be named the Inquisitor, rather than the Herald of Andraste everyone has been dubbing you, cementing your role as leader for the remainder of the game.
9
Final Fantasy VI
The World of Ruin
Final Fantasy VI had one of the most impressive rug pulls in any JRPG at its time. Throughout the first half of the game, you believe you’re building up towards an epic confrontation with the emperor Gestahl and his evil empire. After the devious villain breaks his ceasefire and invades the Esper’s home town, capturing them in Magicite. Here, they also find the Warring Triad, and raise the continent into the skies harnessing their power.
As we believe we’re gearing up for a major boss fight, Kefka, in his deviancy, murders Gestahl and takes control of the Warring Triad. With their balance disrupted, the Warring Triad’s power unleashes a major cataclysmic strike onto the earth below, destroying entire cities and reshaping continents. With your airship destroyed in the ensuing chaos, scattering your party across the world, the game effectively hard resets itself for a depressing second half.
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From this point onwards, the world that you came to know is well and truly gone. Entire cities lay in rubble, with the survivors of the world hiding in fear that Kefka, now the god of magic, will rain his powerful might down on them.
It’s fair to say that this is one of the most famous twists in the entire JRPG genre, turning everything you knew about the game upside down. As entire regions change, and characters almost succumb to their own depression, Final Fantasy VI shifts from a magical story about Espers and Empires to a world clinging onto hope in defiance of a nihilistic god too broken to understand why life goes on.
8
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Everything is a Painting
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is filled with plot twists and subversion’s that entirely change how players see the game. The earliest example of this comes right after the game’s introduction, as your entire Expedition is wiped out by a man well above the age of being Gommaged.
A few hours after this, we’d be hoodwinked again as Gustave, our beloved protagonist and all-around good guy, is effortlessly slaughtered by the same old man in an effort to save Maelle. Immediately after this event, we’re introduced to Verso, who becomes the new party leader in place of Gustave. It’s these chains of events that would be enough to qualify the game for this list, however it’s the major reveal towards the end of Act 2 that changes everything you know about the game.
After defeating The Paintress and seemingly putting a stop to the Gommage, it’s revealed that the entire world is a painting and Maelle is a reincarnated version of Verso’s sister, Alicia, who is also a painter. In fact, her whole family are painters and the world you’ve come to know until this point is Verso’s canvas, which his family cannot seem to let go, as it’s their last remnant of him after he died in a fire started by the opposing Writers.
Such a major twist like this would alienate most players, but Sandfall Entertainment executes these moments so well, you can’t but help get drawn into the narrative they’re weaving even more.
7
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Say Farewell to Anyone Not in Your Party
As any Divinity: Original Sin 2 player would know, the game’s Act 1 can feel like an entire game. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself on my fiftieth run before abandoning the playthrough partway into Act 2.
As you play through Act 1, you’ll be introduced to several of your party members, who are also Godwoken, magical beings touched by the seven gods of Rivellon. As you work together, finding a way to remove the source collars on your neck and avoid having your power taken, turning you into husks, you’ll form a tight rapport with the group.
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After spending countless hours with your fellow Godwoken, you’ll finally be able to leave the accursed island via a boat. However, right as you set sail, your ship is suddenly attacked by the righteous Lady Dallis and a mysterious, cloaked figure. No matter how hard you try, there’s almost no way to win this fight, and you’re forced to stall for your companion Malady to cast a spell to help you escape. In the ensuing chaos, whichever Godwoken companions who aren’t part of your party die and cannot be resurrected for the rest of the run.
This effectively all but locks you into the remainder of your campaign, as you officially hit a point of no return within the story.
6
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
The Infamous Darth Revan Plot Twist
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is already a stellar RPG set within the Star Wars universe, but its infamous plot twist is what’s kept it a mainstay with RPG fans to this day.
The plot twist I’m referring to, of course, is the reveal that you are the infamous Darth Revan. Until this point, Revan is this larger-than-life figure, whose influence on the universe is still felt even after his death. Every world you visit has been radically changed because of Revan’s war, his turn to the dark side, and his quest for the Star Forge.
With how many plot threads and character arcs tie back to Revan, you can’t help but feel like a passenger in a story where he’s still the main character and you’re just tying up their loose ends. While the character you’re roleplaying up to this point does feel like a genuine person who’s building his own relationships and connections to these places, you can’t help but feel that you’re just following in Revan’s footsteps, instead of forging your own path.
So, when it’s inevitably revealed that you are, in fact, Revan, so much of the game’s story turns on its head, and you’re left spending the second half of the game making amends for your previous deeds.
5
Bloodborne
The Death of Rom, The Vacuous Spider
Bloodborne first starts with the Gothic horror premise of you hunting down monsters and other hunters who have become monsters themselves. But as you keep playing, gaining more insight into the events of the game (and literally ‘Insight’ the stat), you come to learn that there’s a more sinister cosmic force pulling the strings.
After reaching the town of Byrgenworth, where all the chaos with the Old Blood let loose, you’ll jump into a lake, landing in a mysterious location with this freakish cosmic arachnid known as Rom, the Vacuous Spider. Unlike other bosses, Rom is slow to attack, almost like it’s cowering in fear from you. Once you succeed in killing her, this mystical veil protecting the world disappears, and a terrifying blood moon descends on the world.
Following this, the entire world changes. Old characters you met have now either died, or transformed into monsters. You’ll also be able to see Lesser Amygdala’s, letting you teleport into the Nightmare Frontier and learn about the Great Ones’ influence on the world.
4
Deus Ex
Your Allies are the Villains
Deus Ex is a game that speaks to themes like transhumanism, surveillance, and how capitalism can corrupt institutions, and no single plot point reinforces this more than its mid-game twist.
At the start of the game, you work as a UNATCO agent, combating NSF terrorists as a deadly plague afflicts the city. Across several missions, you’ll grow close with your fellow UNATCO allies, buying into the organization’s propaganda about its glorious leader and role in maintaining control in society.
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As it turns out, the UNATCO aren’t such great people after all, as you eventually discover that the Grey Death plague affecting the city was man-made by the very same organization you work for, who are using it for power and population control. After a mission goes awry, you find yourself becoming a reluctant ally to the NSF group. It’s here where you’ll come to learn that the entire leadership structure of UNATCO is complicit in their evil deeds, and that it’s just a puppet for an even worse organization out there.
3
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
One Timeskip and a Major War Later
What initially starts as a lighthearted JRPG where you train child soldiers and send them off to war, Fire Emblem: Three Houses eventually becomes a story about religion, class and oppression, and the need to reform the institutions that enforce them.
Towards the end of the game’s first half, the monastery you teach at is attacked by a powerful force, which, as it turns out, is led by one of the students, Edelgard. After declaring war on Garreg Mach and the Church’s archbishop, Rhea, you’ll eventually be knocked unconscious in the middle of battle, only to wake up five years later to find the region ravaged by war.
Depending on which house you chose to teach, the game’s story will start to wildly splinter off, focusing on different themes and arcs. If you choose the Blue Lions class, you’ll find yourself embroiled into a Game of Thrones-like tale of revenge. If you chose the Golden Deer (the best house), along with the help of Claude, you’ll get to bring major reform to the nation, and uncover the conspiracy behind the dark forces influencing events behind the scenes.
Edelgard’s class is the most interesting run, as you can either choose to align with her crusade against the Church, or join them in condemning her. Either way, the game becomes far more mature, showcasing the real cost of war and the avoidable circumstances that lead up to it.
2
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
A Controversial World-Changing Event
Imagine spending six years in a world that has become almost a daily routine for you, only to see it now destroyed and lying in ruin. That was essentially the premise of World of Warcraft’s third expansion, Cataclysm, which gave the world of Azeroth a huge makeover, much to the dismay of fans.
The expansion would see Deathwing the Destroyer enter Azeroth through Deepholm, fracturing the World Pillar and causing the Elemental Plane to start collapsing onto Azeroth. Which is just a fancy way of saying that the world was engulfed in mass destruction, significantly altering major cities like Stormwind and Orgrimmar. The sky also casted a sickly, fiery orange glow to reflect the volcanic activity caused by Deathwing’s return.
It remains one of the most controversial moments in World of Warcraft’s history, so much so, that the changes it made would significantly inspire the eventual World of Warcraft Classic, letting players visit the Azeroth they fell in love with.
1
Slay the Princess
The Long Quiet & The Shifting Mound
Slay the Princess starts off with many questions, although it seems no different than your usual anti-trope indie game that wants you to kill a princess rather than save her. This radically changes after your first run, however, as you’ll find yourself stuck in a loop, with new voices appearing each run, as well as a princess whose disposition can radically change depending on your choices.
As you continue playing, you’ll learn that you and the princess are two parts of a cosmic being, with the princess shifting depending on your perception of her, and yourself, a nascent god embodying emptiness and stagnation. Where the Princess is forever changing, you remain unmoving.
Of course, this leads to several horrific encounters with the Princess depending on our choices to either dispatch or save her. But Slay the Princess quickly evolves from its “damsel-in-distress” setup, to bloom into a tragic love story between two cosmic beings discovering their innate nature.
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