Weter-cooler moments are a hallmark of fiction, and it's rare when a game can truly take catch players off guard. People always remember those moments in books, films, or TV shows that made them stare in disbelief, but video games are an interactive medium, and as such, require different tactics to really surprise users.Plenty of titles have their fair share of "wow" moments, but the exceptional ones don't relinquish control from the users.When executed well, these moments can really immerse players and make them forget that they're playing a video game. The following entries provoked moments of awe and wonder with their mechanics and stories.Lots of spoilers ahead
10 The Rhythm Sections In Rayman Legends
Taking some cues from Bit Trip Runner, the rhythm sections in Rayman Legends mixed the series' imaginative platforming with a plethora of licensed and original compositions to deliver a delightfully offbeat experience. The first section, Castle Rock, takes Ram Jam's Black Betty and replaces the vocals with the trademark Raymanese gibberish. Other tunes include a mariachi version of Survivor's Eye of the Tiger and a high-pitched variation of the 5.6.7.8's Woo Hoo. If that wasn't enough, there are also remixes of these levels that incorporate visual tricks that force players to rely solely on audio cues.
9 The Eponymous Effects In Eternal Darkness Sanity's Requiem
Sanity is a prevailing theme in the disturbing prose penned by H.P. Lovecraft, and Nintendo's GameCube Survival horror capitalized on that concept to its fullest. The main gimmick of Eternal Darkness Sanity's Requiem is the mental tricks that are played on users who let their sanity meter go too low. Some of these come in the form of little jump scares like the sudden shot of a corpse, but others are far more devious such as the memory card and TV shenanigans. Just when players think they've gotten wise to the title's mind games, something else takes them by surprise.
8 Poo's Training In Earthbound
Shigesato Itoi's SNES RPG Earthbound was known for its quirky humor and minimalist art direction, but those elements belied a hidden sinister undercurrent that was occasionally glanced at by players before being put on full display in the game's emotionally resonant finale.
While far from the darkest moment in the series or even in the game, Poo's training is the most likely to catch players off guard. What makes this scene effective is how the game will not proceed unless they have the player's full consent to strip them of their senses, making full use of the medium's interactive nature.
7 Players Think With Portals In Valve's Puzzler
It's rare when a tutorial can stimulate the senses, but the unique mechanic in Valve's first-person puzzler was brilliantly demonstrated during the game's introduction. Players are gradually eased into the portal game mechanic with early rooms simply challenging them by walking through already made portals. Once players start to get a handle on things, they can finally get their hands on a gun that shoots one portal. A few test chambers later, players get a fully functional gun they can mess around with to their heart's content. All of this is bolstered by an unnerving laboratory atmosphere with a twinge of dark comedy.
6 The Psycho Mantis Fight In Metal Gear Solid
In one of the best instances where gameplay mechanics were integrated with the story, the fight with Psycho Mantis pulls out all the stops to provide players with a psychological battle. Mantis by boasting his psychic abilities and proceeding to tell players what kind of games they enjoy, how they fare in fights, and how good they are at avoiding traps. In reality, he's getting this info from the memory card, which is a subtle clue on how to defeat him. During the actual fight, players are bombarded with visual tricks that make it appear as if the TV has just changed the video input.
5 The Scarecrow Sections In Arkham Asylum
Evoking memories of Eternal Darkness, The Dark Knight's bout with Scarecrow's fear toxin was an undeniable highlight of Batman Arkham Asylum. The high-stakes hide-and-seek sections are only the tip of the iceberg in moments where Batman's grip on reality is put to its ultimate test.
All his greatest fears are made flesh as he's forced to relive the worst day of his life, sees visions of those he values the most perishing, and being committed to the asylum by the very crooks he defends Gotham from. Players are even presented with loading screens, which provide gameplay tips that are impossible to perform with the controller.
4 The Milkman Conspiracy In Psychonauts
It should seem fitting that a game that deals with psychics would have a mind-blowing moment. The best level in Tim Schafer's Psychonauts deals with a conspiracy buff named Boyd, whose paranoid mind must be plunged to gain access to the asylum. Once there, Raz discovers a bizarre mish-mash of an idealized Norman Rockwell suburb with an M.C. Escher twist. Populating this neighborhood are strange monotone agents wearing paper-thin disguises and oddly sinister girl scouts. The laughs and "eureka" moments players will get from this one level make The Milkman Conspiracy enough to be a game of its own.
3 The Ideological Debate Was A Highlight Of Fallout
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Players might not have expected an ideological debate in the wasteland, but they certainly got some in Interplay's RPG. Fallout's big threat could've easily just been a cartoonish mustache-twirling villain (much like the ones in the Bethesda entries), but Black Isle really put in the effort of giving The Master an ideology, which made some moral sense to him if not the player. Regardless of whatever stance the player takes, The Master genuinely believes his cause to be just and necessary to ensure the world's survival. Players can talk him out of this plot, but it requires some concise points and substantial evidence to back them up.
2 The Two Open Doors Are The Thesis Of The Stanley Parable
In The Stanley Parable, players are presented with the first meaningful choice once they enter the room with two doors and hear the narrator say, "When Stanley came to a set of two open doors, he entered the door on his left." This is the catalyst for a series of events that can range from funny to nightmarish. Once players reach their tailored conclusion, the whole thing starts over and players are once again presented with the two-door open doors. It serves as a brilliant thesis statement on the rest of the game that makes the player wonder if they truly have any free will.
1 Undertale Remembers
There are many games that promise players' choices but fail to give any meaningful consequences for the decisions that are made. Gamers who've played Mass Effect or Walking Dead are all too familiar with making a split-second choice they end up regretting, then reloading a previous save to undo it and pretend it never happened. Undertale isn't one of those games. Players who kill Toriel by accident and then reload a save will be greeted by Flowey, who mocks the player for undoing a moral choice they made. Whatever players do, Undertale does not forget.