Many people expect modern video games to have amazing and memorable narratives that are a joy to uncover. After all, gaming has evolved from its early days of having simple gameplay loops without any clear objective in mind. Many modern AAA games are so determined to allow players to do everything in their video games that simply having a main story isn’t enough. Players also want side stories and complex character arcs to complement the experience as well.
Given how complex video game development is, it’s always possible that certain story arcs that are set up in video games never really reach any sort of a natural conclusion, being discarded in favor of other plot developments instead. The most notable instances of this are mentioned below.
7 The Importance Of Eve (Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood)
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is a great game that builds up on the success of the second mainline entry in the series. It’s a fun title to play through, with Ezio’s character being as engaging as ever. However, one particular plot point in the game that’s never really brought up later is a message Subject 16 gives to Desmond in the real world.
This appears in a hidden scene, with Desmond being asked to find Eve, the first woman, since her bloodline is apparently going to be really important to decide the fate of the world. With this in mind, fans were pretty aggrieved to find out that this arc was never picked up in later games, which makes the infamous real-world segments of Assassin’s Creed even harder to sit through.
6 Harley Quinn’s Pregnancy (Batman: Arkham City)
Harley Quinn is one of the most popular villains of all time, with her partnership with the Joker being pretty engaging to witness in the Arkham series. However, in the second game, this romance is cut off with the Joker breathing his last after his body was ravaged by the Titan serum.
In the game, players can find a hidden detail with a positive pregnancy test on Harley Quinn’s table. However, instead of building on this, the arc was promptly discarded in the Harley Quinn’s Revenge DLC, with Rocksteady backing out of this story and labeling the pregnancy test as a false positive.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is one of the biggest video games of all time, with the world being absolutely loaded with content that will keep players invested for hundreds of hours, if not more. In fact, this game is so massive that a decent amount of content has been cut out of the title as well.
One of the characters in the game, Mjoll, is on a mission to remove corruption from the city of Riften. While this would’ve made for a great tale for the Dragonborn to explore, this expansive side quest was cut out of the game to save development time.
4 The Side Effects Of Red XIII’s Experimentation (Final Fantasy 7)
Final Fantasy 7 is a legendary JRPG with some really twisted happenings in the mix. One character who personifies the eerie side of this game brilliantly is Professor Hojo, a deranged maniac who experiments on live subjects and creates horrible monstrosities. Even his own body isn’t off-limits.
At one point, Tifa asks Red XIII if he would be fine, given that anyone experimented on by Hojo slowly loses their sanity over time. This plotline is never brought up, leading to Red XIII being pretty underdeveloped when compared to some of the other party members in the game.
3 Ethan’s Blackouts (Heavy Rain)
Heavy Rain was a massive success for Quantic Dream, with players getting heavily invested in Ethan’s quest to save his son from the Origami Killer. Early on in the game, Ethan experiences several blackouts that are ultimately what ends up leading to Shawn being kidnapped in the first place.
However, these blackouts are removed in the final half of the story and never really explained. One possible explanation was that these blackouts were being triggered because of a psychic connection between the Origami Killer and Ethan, but this idea was scrapped since it ruined the realism of the game.
2 Kiryu’s Relationship With Kaoru (Yakuza Kiwami 2)
Kiryu Kazuma is one of the greatest video game characters of all time, and the second game in the Yakuza series lets him interact with a potential love interest. This romance blossoms into sometime real, with Kiryu and Kaoru sharing an intimate kiss moments before their assumed demise, only for the bomb that was threatening their lives to never go off.
While they share a powerful moment, Kaoru ends up going away to fulfill her duties as an enforcer of the law. She never really does anything of note after that, which makes for a pretty disappointing conclusion to what could’ve been a great romance.
1 Dark Energy And Aging Stars (Mass Effect 2)
Mass Effect 2 is one of the greatest action RPGs ever made, with players getting the opportunity to expand their squad by helping out several possible recruits. One of these characters is fan-favorite Tali’Zorah nar Rayya, who is one of the most compelling characters in the series.
Tali mentions a star that is losing energy at a rapid pace because of dark energy, which is certainly quite sinister and was even meant to serve as a major source of motivation for the Reapers to take over the universe in the sequel. However, many key figures in BioWare departed, and the motivations of the Reapers were altered significantly in subsequent games.
