Top 10 Video Games RUINED By Their Own Lore

Top 10 Video Games Ruined By Their Own Lore

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we’re counting down our picks of the Top 10 video games that got destroyed by their own lore.

#10: “Metal Gear” series (1987-)

We’ll admit that it's already tough to keep up with “Metal Gear’s” story and lore, what with all the different Snakes and everything. However, “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” is where everything fell apart. Don’t get it twisted - this is still a phenomenal game, one of the best that came out in 2015! But that ending was so rushed and unfinished, and the fact that the ending that would have been was tied to the collector’s edition makes the franchise’s end kind of annoying. Even though it does loop things back to the very first “Metal Gear”, come on, you can’t sit there and tell us this whole series was meant to be stuck in a time loop.

#9: “Borderlands” series (2009-)

For the most part, “Borderlands” is a fairly straightforward series that doesn’t get super convoluted with its plots. Unfortunately, “Borderlands 3” is where the franchise jumped the shark by getting way too crazy with superpowered freaks running around. First, you’re throwing in another superpowered version of enemies known as “the Anointed”. Next thing you know, Lilith can suddenly use her Siren powers to fly into the moon and explode to stop it from destroying Pandora? Where was this crazy nonsense when Handsome Jack was terrorizing the planet? How come none of the other Sirens have this absurd amount of potential? “Oh, she’s the Firehawk!” Give us a break with that cop out!

#8: “Assassin’s Creed” series (2007-)

To the hardcore fan, “Assassin’s Creed” might be the mildest offender when it comes to ridiculous plotlines or continuity issues. So, what’s the issue? Well, it all lies in the Isu. Now, most of us can follow the whole “advanced human species that created the modern human species” bit. Where it gets convoluted is how the Isu would take on forms of other gods from different religions. It is way too much wire-crossing to expect players to follow when the franchise has been going on for as long as it has been. Why Ubisoft threw this wrench into their own story is anyone’s guess, but did we really need to know the creators of the Pieces of Eden?

#7: “The Legend of Zelda” series (1986-)

Now, we have a feeling many of you are thinking we put “Zelda” on the list because of all the different iterations of Link and how the timeline is out of order with the releases of each game. But no, it’s gotten more frustrating than that. As great of a game as “Tears of the Kingdom” is, it ignores a lot of plot holes that, if filled with an ounce of logic, would have kept Ganondorf from taking over Hyrule. And even though the game is a direct sequel to “Breath of the Wild”, “Tears of the Kingdom” makes little to no reference to its predecessor in any way. The Divine Beasts seemed to have had no impact on the world, and the stone tablets just suddenly appeared despite “Breath of the Wild” not having them? Yeah, there are a lot of logical and continuity problems being neglected here.

#6: “Mortal Kombat” series (1992-)

At one point, “Mortal Kombat” did have its ducks in a row with the storyline. MK9 was a necessary reset to reel in the focus, and MK11 managed to perfectly weave all of the games into one story while leaving the door open for a brand new tale. And that opportunity was completely wasted with “Mortal Kombat 1” in 2023. Despite NetherRealm Studios selling the game as a new and original story during marketing, MK1 recycled the timeline nonsense a THIRD time, and it got annoying quick. Essentially, every character has a trillion different versions of themselves where they controlled the timeline, and even if one of them dies, they can still be brought back from the dead. It’s the MCU of video games, everyone, and there are no consequences, no high stakes of any kind!

#5: “Kingdom Hearts” series (2002-)

Speaking of timelines and time travel, “Kingdom Hearts” was once a special story about Sora becoming the wielder of the Keyblade. This title alone made him an important character, someone who did have the power to control the fates of many, many worlds. “Birth by Sleep” demolished this notion by revealing that anyone could wield a Keyblade. This wasn’t something determined by gods or fate or even Mickey Mouse - it just requires training under a mentor. “Dream Drop Distance” worsened the franchise’s lore by introducing time travel, which opened the door for the series to over-explain everything that had happened prior. And some of us thought the “light and darkness” sounded like complete nonsense.

#4: “Star Ocean” series (1996-)

Overall, you can enjoy most of the “Star Ocean” games as if they were standalone stories. However, “Star Ocean” had its reputation tainted because of one particular game. “Star Ocean: Till the End of Time” is the most infamous game in the franchise due to its absurd, ridiculous, and unrealistic plot twist. Towards the end of the game, everyone discovers that they are actually fictional characters within a computer simulation being controlled by entities in the fourth dimension. Yeah, they find out they’re in a video game. Even upon learning this, no one bats an eye at this nor falls into an instant state of existentialism. It didn’t help that “Star Ocean 4” would try to do damage control by writing off its predecessor as an alternate universe. Make it make sense!

#3: “Fable” series (2004-)

“Fable” had a really neat approach that sort of kept the first two games related to each other without compromising the player’s overall story. “Fable II” opens with your new character being the child of your character from the first game. Neat, right? Ideally, “Fable III” should have followed that blueprint. Unfortunately, it did not. You’re still the kid of your hero from “Fable II”, but you have an older brother who is acting as a king. This one degree of separation essentially erases whatever direct influence and continuity you could have had at the start of “Fable III”. On top of that, if you’re trying to play Evil across all three games, why would Jasper and Walter even consider helping you overthrow your brother when you’re clearly going to be worse?

#2: “Yakuza / Like A Dragon” series (2005-)

Whether you’re a casual or a hardcore fan, this franchise has some of the messiest lore and continuity imaginable, so much so that it's given “Yakuza / Like A Dragon” some notoriety within its own fanbase. You have characters living by certain beliefs after spending dozens of hours chasing an ambitious dream, characters seemingly outplaying each other in absurd ways only to pull the dumbest moves that get them killed, and then, some scenes where any normal civilian would step in and have some influence in the story. At some point, you kind of have to abandon all belief and view these games as soap operas. Getting caught up in details is just going to drive you nuts.

#1: “Five Nights at Freddy’s” series (2014-)

How can the youngest video game franchise on this list possibly be the worst when it comes to keeping its story in line? Well, the first four “Five Nights at Freddy’s” games do a decent job at keeping its seams nice and tight. But then, you get “Sister Location”, which introduces a whole other branch of Fazbear Entertainment. Then, you’ve got Fazbear Fanverse games that add even more sister locations on top of that. Then, you have more than twenty novels that add even more animatronics and variants of those animatronics and variants of those variants that come from sister locations of the sister locations from different periods of their history. You know, this franchise used to be about just this one restaurant where kids were terrorized by horrifying animatronics. Simple and clean.

Which game do you feel ruined its story with convoluted lore? Did it make our list? Let us know down in the comments!