Summary
- Game reveals involving illusions can significantly impact player experience by changing perceptions.
- Illusions in games can be created using hallucinogens, simulations, or hidden truths within narratives.
- Titles like “Man of Medan,” “Hellblade,” and “Prey” cleverly use illusions to immerse players in unique storytelling.
Few moments stick in players’ memory as much as a reveal that everything you’ve experienced in the game to that point isn’t real. There may be real elements and even real danger, but most of what happened was an illusion. If done correctly, this reveal should blow your mind and completely change how you feel about everything that’s happened in the game so far.
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The illusion can be created in multiple different ways. Magic or hallucinogens are often involved. Sometimes, your character is unknowingly placed into a simulation. There are even instances where your character knows the truth, but you don’t because of the way the story is framed, such as you may be inside a dream or someone’s imagination without knowing it. Whatever way it’s done, these are all games that include significant illusions.
8
The Dark Pictures: Man Of Medan
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan is the first in the anthology of interactive survival horror games from Supermassive. Kidnapped by pirates, a group of friends must survive an encounter with a ghost ship.
- Released
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August 30, 2019
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes
In Man of Medan, you control a group of young people who set out on a diving trip in the ocean. However, the trip takes a turn for the worse when they meet some people who capture them and take over their boat. Then, they force the protagonists to help them find some treasure they’re looking for. This search leads them to a mysterious and seemingly empty ship, and they all get aboard.
While on the boat, things start to get creepy as you begin seeing scary figures and even get chased by some of them. Yet, you find out later that these are actually just hallucinations brought on by a bioweapon that was housed on the ship they’re on.
7
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
- Released
-
August 16, 2017
- ESRB
-
M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
The main character of Hellblade is a warrior named Senua, who is attempting to reach Helheim to rescue the soul of her lover. However, the game is more about her struggling with psychosis.
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This is a condition where it’s difficult to decipher what is or isn’t real. So, it makes sense that the entire game works the same way. While on this quest, it’s hard to know what bits are really happening and what is just an illusion created by Senua’s mind. Unlike other games with illusions, there is never a true reveal of what’s real.
6
The Evil Within
Third-Person Shooter
Survival Horror
- Released
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October 14, 2014
- Developer(s)
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Tango Gameworks
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
The Evil Within is a horror game that puts you in the shoes of a Detective named Sebastian Castellanos, who attempts to investigate a mass murder that has occurred at Beacon Mental Hospital. Shortly after getting there, he is ambushed by a strange being, and then he wakes up in a horrific place that is covered in blood.
Later in the game, you learn about a machine called STEM that connects minds together and creates a simulated enviroment. Sebastian discovers that he’s attached to the machine and has been roaming a world primarily created from the twisted mind of the main villain, Ruvik.
5
Spec Ops: The Line
- Released
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June 26, 2012
- Developer(s)
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Yager Development
- ESRB
-
M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
After hearing a distress message from a man named Colonel Konrad, a military squad heads into Dubai to find him. The country isn’t in a great state because of devastating sandstorms and the conflict that occurred in the aftermath. Protagonist Captain Walker doesn’t make things any better as he accidentally kills a bunch of innocent civilians in a white phosphorus attack.
After this, the game changes a bit. Walker begins to see and hear things that aren’t really there. Then, once he gets to Konrad, whom he blames for the white phosphorus incident, he finds a skeleton. Konrad had been dead a long time. Walker had made him the main villain in his head to protect himself from the truth that he was the one responsible for the white phosphorus attack and most of the other horrible things that happened since they got to Dubai.
This isn’t really a case where everything is an illusion, but certain moments are as is the main narrative.
4
Professor Layton And The Diabolical Box
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
- Released
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November 29, 2007
- Developer(s)
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Level 5
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo
- ESRB
-
Everyone 10 + // Alcohol Reference, Mild Violence
In Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box, the titular character and his apprentice, Luke, go on an adventure to find a mysterious box and solve the mystery behind it. This goal takes them to the town of Folsense, which is incredibly bright and filled with color. While there, they meet a man named Anton, who lives in a castle. He’s supposed to have been around for a long time, but he still looks very young.
It’s during their time at the castle that Layton discovers that not everything is right in the town of Folsense. It turns out that the mine under the castle contained a hallucinatory gas that was released when the place was discovered. This made everyone see the town as a bright, vibrant place and Anton as a young man. Neither of those things was true, though. Folsense is actually a desolate place, and Anton is elderly.
3
Prey
Prey
- Released
-
May 5, 2017
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood, Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence
Prey takes place on a fancy space station called Talos 1, where some clever scientists do important research. Like most space stations in games, it isn’t a great place to be as an alien species is taking it over. It’s up to you to stop them. Or at least, that’s what you think you’re doing.
At the end of the game, it’s revealed that you’re actually one of those aliens, and the whole game was a simulation to test if you can show human empathy. The reason for this is that these creatures are invading Earth, and if you’ve shown empathy to humans, you may be the key to bringing peace between the species. Whether you pass or not depends on how you treated human survivors during the game.
2
Twelve Minutes
- Released
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August 19, 2021
- Developer(s)
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Luis Antonio
- ESRB
-
M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
Few games are as dark or strange as Twelve Minutes. It’s a title about a guy who keeps living the same evening over and over again in a time loop. Well, it isn’t a full evening, as it’s only a 12-minute sequence between him, his wife, and a guy who shows up at the door.
Based on your actions, a lot of different things can happen during that time, which can lead to different outcomes. In the true ending of the game, though, you discover that what’s happening isn’t real. It’s the protagonist imaging what his future life could be if he married his half-sister.
1
Silent Hill 2
- Released
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September 25, 2001
- Developer(s)
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Team Silent
- ESRB
-
Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Violence
The story of Silent Hill 2 revolves around a man named James Sunderland who ventures to the titular town after receiving a letter from his wife. The fact that his wife is supposed to be dead immediately tells you weird things are going on. Once he gets there, he finds the town mostly empty. He does, however, encounter some monsters, including one of gaming’s most famous ones, Pyramid Head.
You later find out that these creatures aren’t real. They’re the manifestations of James’ psyche intended to punish him for killing his wife. Some other things he witnesses throughout the game are illusions, too. So, how much of the whole experience is real is hard to figure out.
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