Top 10 Video Games That Break the 4th Wall
Script written by Garrett Alden
#10: “Pony Island” (2016)
Although its initial premise, that the player is playing an arcade runner game named “Pony Island” is pretty meta in itself, this game gets even more in your face. It soon becomes apparent that the game within the game you’re playing has been corrupted. And not just corrupted by a computer virus, but by the Devil himself! Combatting Lucifer requires changing the game’s code, though the game and the Devil like to mess with the details and your perception of reality, even altering your Steam messages. If you do decide to dive into this strange experiment of a game, make sure to tell Satan: “Not today!”
#9: “Monkey Island 2: Lechuck’s Revenge” (1991)
This early point and click adventure series from LucasArts features plenty of breaks to the 4th wall, and its second installment is no exception. Protagonist Guybrush Threepwood seems consistently aware that he’s in a video game, remarking on the parameters of his own game repeatedly. One notable moment sees Guybrush use a random pay phone in the woods to call the LucasArts hotline for help and asking questions of the annoyed employee on the other end of the line, even referencing the infamous “stump joke” from the previous game. The tongue in cheek nature of this game and its series are a big part of their charm.
#8: “The Stanley Parable” (2013)
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Few games out there are as intrinsically linked to the idea of breaking the 4th wall as “The Stanley Parable” is. In the game, essentially the only thing you can do is walk around while a narrator speaks. The variation in gameplay comes about due to the player choosing to either follow what the narrator says is the correct choice, or whether you decide to go your own way. However, choosing the latter option will certainly earn you a lot of grief from the narrator who will criticize your choices. The game’s branching paths almost always result in a meta event, with most acknowledging the fact that you’re in a game.
#7: “Conker’s Bad Fur Day” (2001)
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Rare games, particularly those on the Nintendo 64, often feature cheeky and self-aware characters, but “Conker’s Bad Fur Day” might be the most hilarious of them all. The game’s titular star is a drunken and irreverent squirrel and he and the other characters frequently call attention to the fact that they’re in a game, from referencing future events depicted in the game’s prologue, to literally knocking on the 4th wall near the game’s end when the game appears to freeze. Blackmailing the game’s designers to get a bunch of weapons? Now that’s impressive!
#6: “Deadpool” (2013)
C’mon – it’s Deadpool. This wisecracking, immortal superhero is renowned for the fact that he’s aware he’s a fictional character and his usual 4th wall breaks are found throughout the game that bears his name. Naturally, Deadpool is fully aware that he’s in a video game, often remarking on common video game tropes and features that appear in his game, while also speaking directly to the audience and himself…himselves? If we were ranking our entries based on quantity alone, this would easily take the top spot, but the shtick does tend to wear a bit thin after a while.
#5: “Batman: Arkham Asylum” (2009)
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This celebrated superhero game is a fairly straightforward one for the most part, its cavalcade of colorful villains aside. However, it’s one of Batman’s foes that provides the opportunity for an extremely metafictional moment. Scarecrow battles the Dark Knight by using fear itself, in the form of gas, to provoke vivid hallucinations. One of these sees the game appear to restart itself, only with the Joker and Batman having swapped places, and the Clown Prince of Crime apparently killing him; leading to a false game over screen and some rather puzzling advice.
#4: “Doki Doki Literature Club!” (2017)
At first glance, “Doki Doki Literature Club!” is an all too common take on a Japanese visual novel game. But beneath its outward appearance lies a darker and metafictional premise. One of the game’s stock heroines, Monika, becomes aware that she is a video game character and begins deleting the other girls from the game’s data in an effort to secure the player’s affection, leading to an increasingly dark and corrupted game and numerous 4th wall breaks. She’s even aware when someone’s recording the game, leading to a terrifying jump scare! Mind-bending, frightening, and surprisingly affecting, “Doki Doki Literature Club!” blurs the lines between game and reality like few others.
#3: “Metal Gear” Series (1987-)
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A franchise as off-the-wall as “Metal Gear” was bound to get meta eventually, but this kind of thing has basically been around since its inception. Sly references to the characters being aware that they’re inside video games abound throughout. Characters that are killed in prequels that appear in later games result in a game over because of “time paradoxes.” And no one’s going to forget that famous Psycho Mantis fight, where the psychic ninja reads your memory card and appears to mess with your TV just to get into your head!
#2: “Undertale” (2015)
Although this RPG has a whole host of jokes and mentions within the game itself that make it clear some of the characters know they’re in a game, “Undertale” takes things a step further than most games on our list by turning game elements, like save files into a game and plot element. While it’s pretty common to want to restart or reload something to undo a past mistake, “Undertale” remembers everything you’ve done, and given the game’s branching morality system, it also passes judgment on you for it. Going on a killing spree will leave your game altered forever, even in subsequent playthroughs. In short, you’ll feel your sins crawling on your back!
#1: “Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem” (2002)
Some horror games seek to scare the player through frightening in-game monsters or jump scares. “Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem” does so by getting into your head! While its sanity meter can lead to alterations of the characters and environments in the game, it will eventually start breaking the 4th wall by altering the way the screen displays things, such as pretending to delete your save files, emptying your inventory, or covering the screen with bugs. “Eternal Darkness” uses its awareness of its medium to do something truly scary for gamers – make us worry about our ability to play the game!
