What are some games that "get real", so to speak?

SIGH

Undertale

...

Game goes from being about a demon possessed militiaman and his squad fighting terrorists to trying to find a way to stop an encroaching parallel universe from devouring their world (with the big matter being how do you kill something with no proper form). I suppose less of a "cute game gets dark" thing than a "stakes get raised tremendously" one.

I still remember joking with a friend that that tournament section of Super Paper Mario was pretty much Bleach, and what do you know, even the fucking backgrounds vanished once the Pure Heart was destroyed.

I didn't play it but I heard Bloodborne is a perfect example of this.

Good stuff.

Another good example
Even after you finish, the game goes even deeper with the plot revealed in the other two routes
It goes to an extreme level considering the number of secrets the game has, to the level that even datamining was used
Unhappily, the gameplay equivalent of this only happens with the last boss of the most grindy route It's still worth though bully me all you want

Obligatory.

Custom Robo

What happened to my image?

MGS2 comes to mind.

I actually really liked the way the cast was handled in Abyss (note that this doesn't exactly mean I like the characters themselves), as they all had some level of problems to at least acknowledge, if not start to work out. And the amount of bickering and the group barely holding together at times made it feel somewhat refreshing compared to most JRPG parties. Though i will admit that it's that very factor that tends to make the game extremely prone to being love it or hate it.

Even the villains seemed to get more characterization than usual (for Tales up to that point, anyhow), and each had actual personalities and reasons for supporting their boss. Helps that they were pretty re-occuring rather than one off enemies.

kill yourself faggot

Not all that much. I mean, it happens with amygdala, either when falling for its trap spots early game or after Rom, but the changes are never much more extreme than spooky reskins for enemies and a red sky. Sommes bosses surprise you with transformations, chief of them Gascoigne, but Gundyr does it better. Hell, DaS3 has more enemies suddenly transforming. BB just has a gothic style going for it.

>in the fourth one your partner literally fucking dies

The World Ends With You.

twice

Literally all of Dark Souls 3 bosses have a second form, and it's a gimmick that gets really old really fast.
The whole game is shit overall, it's worth one playthrough and that's it, even worse than DaS 2.

China uniting early when you've taken only a couple states from the mainland as Japan in Vicky 2.

Isn't this pretty much the case with most adventure/RPG games? Considering they are designed to start out easy and lighthearted to introduce the player to the gameplay/game world then shit goes down at higher levels?

Was going to post Custom Robo. That fucking twist.

but user, China has shit tech and shit troops in general.

9 out of 10 times they're easy to mow down in droves and can be bullied relentlessly, but once in a blue moon they unify earlier than usual and up their military tech on par with yours. It's happened to me once.

Mega Man Legends 1/2 (especially 2)

little inferno, near the ending

ah fuck wrong last image

Tzeentch reveals he was calling the shots from the beginning.

Pretty cool since these games are non linear.

LOOK AT ME I'M SO DEEP

WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST GET TRIGGERED AND STOP PLAYING THIS GAME YOU may have PAID MONEY FOR? YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO FINISH THE GAME!!!

pokemon mystery dungeon is some satanic shit

its about friendship

Star Wars Battlefront 2
Galactic Conquest
as the Separatists

You're pretty stupid if you believe that's what the game's message is trying to convey. Konrad isn't directly saying it to the player, he's saying it to Walker. You don't get any choice in how the story progresses, no chance to turn back, because Walker himself never turned back. This isn't your story, it's his. Seems you might be reading much deeper into the game for a narrative than you need to be.

Dragon's Dogma isn't exactly cute, but I think it still qualifies. Just when you think you've finished a fairly rote fantasy dragon slaying story it takes a hard left into metaville.

Explain

I think he means that you start out with twink bots as your standard unit, which in turn makes your army look like faggotry incarnate. That is until you conquer your third planet and unlock the Droidika, Magna Guard, and Garrison perk. At that point your army is nothing short of robo rape.

Oh boy, I can't wait to paint some more and go to my best friend's wedding!

Thief TDP is the only example I can think of right now where shit gets real multiple times. You think that's it, nothing can get worse than this, and then it does. Repeatedly. Right up until Constantine gives you your compensation my assumptions kept getting shattered.

Viewtiful Joe on ultra V-rated

I can play it in my sleep by now but by god people struggle just playing on kids and UVR takes your balls and throws them against the wall before hitting them with a hammer.

Actually, even now, the best players cannot reliably beat Young Blue or Jet Black

and don't even get me started on UVR Alastor, the strat to beat him under 3 minutes is pure luck, otherwise expect to spent a lovely 10+ minutes whittling his health bar

oh wait, you mean story. I'll throw it to dangan ronpa 2. The entire basis that the world has gone to shit because of a high school girl is silly, as is the first 4 chapters, but the moment Komaeda grabs the student book and the countdown finishes, the story just blows the fuck up

Mass Effect 3's ending. It made me cry every tim.