A common description for games is the phrase "smoke and mirrors," the idea that nothing you see is quite real but all a trick to make you think it's real. Some of the things are obvious. Whole open-worlds are obviously never fully loaded at once but use fancy tricks to make them feel like they are.
But what if we go one step further? What if the reality within games themselves threw mysticism to the wind and acknowledge their false reality? There's a degree of overly meta-ness to it all, but it's a fun concept to wrap the head around, especially when executed right.
7 The Matrix 𝔉 🎃
What better game to highlight false realities than the Matrix? In a series dedicated to the choice of living in a peaceful, fulfilling creation versus the pain but truth of your own reality, the Matrix is a prime example of simulations. And of course, the games themselves were worked on by the Wachowskis so they're of course in line with the greater lore, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:likely even essential.
The Matrix never hidesಌ its simulated reality after the beginning, instead making it the central premise, a debate upon true fr🔜eedom of choice. Even though the games never quite touch on the same debate, using games as an extra meta layer towards simulation instead, the Matrix Awakens tech demo begs the question: When in games are we seeing reality, versus a very real falsity?
6 Prey
You wake up in your bed. It's March 15, 2032. You get dressed and head to work. You do a few tests. Something's gone wrong. You wake up in your bed. It's March 15, 2032. You get dressed and get ready for something else. Prey opens up with an opening that almost instantly tells you something's not quite right. You step a little further and find out that you've been forced to relive the same day for years.
Prey is inventive in this regard. It lets you see the moving pieces that made everything seem real while being entirely fake. The game manages to keep this mysticism up throughout its duration, with false mirrors, reflections, and things that seem just a little off. And then comes the "always in your face" ending, that, all along, the whole game was a simulation — a test to see if Typhon can be made hospitable to humans. But that final choice is up to you, provided you didn't kill many humans.
5 Superhot
Superhot came to the spotlight many years ago for its incredible gameplay, with a twist on the idea that gunplay had to be constantly high-octane, or that bullet-time needs to be a special ability. Superhot plays with the motion of time, making every movement precious but giving you as much time as po🐬ssible to plan.
However, Superhot goes deeper. In lore, it's you playing the game upon the recommendation of a friend. It's addictive and you can't stop playing, even though the game is telling you to. That's weird. But you keep playing anyway. And then there's you, in the game playing the game while you watch yourself. Weirder, but you don't stop playing.
4 Assassin's Creed
The Assassin's Creed series is a long-running one, with more mainline games in its lifespan thus far than many decades-old franchises can muster up. Core to the initial story of the games was the Animus, the machine in which you play a simulated version of an ancestor's memories in a game-like way. It's an interesting premise that has been downplayed with each game since.
The Bleeding Effect was core to this — a way for the simulated to, well, bleed into reality. Your mind started to become inseparable, your memories shared between yourself and a long-distant relative. There was no simulation at that point, just one person who thought everything was real. While Assassin's Creed is one of the most obvious picks for a list like this, we'd be remiss not to mention their alleged history of abuse, which you can read more about here.
3 Kingdom Hearts 𝔉ꦡ
Ask anyone who's played Kingdom Hearts for a brief synopsis of the story of the series, and they'll likely redirect you to some hours-long lore analysis video that still doesn't quite seem to answer it, while the exact lack of understanding is, in fact, very "Kingdom Hearts." It's best to just play the games like Sora: willfully ignorant but just so damn happy and caring.
That said, there's a genuine love put into Kingdom Hearts. And the opening of KH2 is a prime example. Roxas is living out his days with his friends, earning some money to go to the beach. But then, things seem a little out of place. Weird cloaked men start appearing, time stutters and freezes, out-of-bounds areas aren't loaded yet, and more. It all starts collapsing all around him, and he's told he's part of something bigger when all he wanted was to enjoy his summer vacation. And then there's Re:Coded, supposedly conceptualized while drunk.
2 Destiny
Bungie has always had a penchant for deep lore, one that extends much farther and deeper than you see on the surface, but it rewards you for digging deeper. The original Halo trilogy has this with the Forerunners and their hidden terminals, and Destiny is littered with this — seeds of lore planted almost a decade ago finally ꦿblooming only now. But those kernels were always there, and a grand plan was finally set in motion.
Core to Destiny are the Vex, a liquid lifeform in robotic frames that form a hivemind that creates endless simulations of the universe until they reach an optimal outcome. But it goes deeper, especially now with a greater understanding of Light and The Darkness. There's the Gardener and the Winnower, ideas that represent the Light and Dark and their endless struggle. They stand above everything in their own Garden, playing a cyclical game to create a different outcome. And every time, they wipe the board clean and replace the pieces.
1 Xenoblade Ch𝓡ronicles
The Xenoblade series has a long history. Creator Tetsuya Takahashi was originally the creator of the Xenogears games, famed for their themes and gameplay. Xenoblade itself is actually completely disconnected in terms of actual lore, more a spiritual successor, the name actually chosen by l💮ate Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. Xenoblade Chronicles was a large undertaking, an RPG designed to implement more western elements while evolving what a JRPG would be.
Xenoblade Chronicles came with a loveable set of characters, a unique setting and premise, and a world set on a literally titanic scale. It starts as a simple journey of revenge and discovery, before evolving into a deeper story on the meaning of life and what we make of it, and the presence of gods and their place in the grand scheme of things. But it also, albeit briefly, reveals that scientists in an existence long since passed discovered how to simulate whole universes, Shulk's own world possibly being one of those. It's never definitively said, though Shulk himself acknowledges that his own existence is real enough that it doesn't matter.