Retcons are a fact of life for long-running (and well-loved) video games. Some are a story twist that rewrites a character’s past or a low shift that changes how everything works. Sometimes, they’re lazy patches for continuity errors. But, other times, they actually improve the narrative.
In this list, I’ll look at some of the biggest gaming retcons and rank them based on how much sense they actually make. Some are surprisingly thoughtful. Others? Not so much. Whether you’re a lore nerd or just love a good plot twist, here are some retroactive changes that reshaped our favorite games.
If you grew up thinking of Samus Aran as a stoic, unstoppable force, Other M probably felt like a punch to the gut. Suddenly, she’s timid, and overly deferential to her former commander, seemingly unable to make decisions without his say-so. It’s not just a tonal shift. It rewrites how we’re meant to see her during earlier games like Super Metroid.
Fans had imagined a quiet strength behind her silence, but Other M reframed it as emotional fragility. Whether that adds depth or just undercuts her legacy depends on who you ask, but for many, it didn’t sit right.
Skyward Sword boldly declared itself as the “first” game in the Zelda timeline, retroactively assigning origin stories to the Master Sword, Zelda, Ganon, and a slew of other characters. For a series that thrived onvague myth-making and disconnected plots, this was a huge change.
But it actually works. It gives extra thematic weight to the cycle of reincarnation you see throughout the later games. However, it is also divisive. Not everyone liked having the myth and plot suddenly explained, after all.
Late in Mass Effect 3, you meet a glowing space child who tells you that the Reapers were created to preserve life through destruction. This “Star Child” moment rewrites the purpose of the entire trilogy. It’s a jarring retcon that lands very hard.
It tries to tie everything together with one final twist. However, for many fans, it feels rushed and provides an overly philosophical answer to a complicated story. It technically makes sense, but it falls flat emotionally.
In the first Resident Evil game,Albert Weskeris just a shady guy in sunglasses. By Resident Evil 5, he’s basically a trench coat-wearing demigod with anime-tier powers. Capcom retconned his entire backstory to explain his powers and seeming invincibility.
It’s completely over the top, but it kind of fits the escalating absurdity of the franchise. It’s not subtle and doesn’t 100 percent make sense, but it’s oddly satisfying if you buy into the chaos.
6That’s Not a Remake
Final Fantasy VII Remake
FFVII Remake pulls the ultimate meta-retcon: it’s not just a retelling of the original story. It’s a rewrite of its own canon. The game acknowledges the original plot and then veers away from it.
That means that future entries could change anything, too. It’s a bold and controversial change, but it also makes quite a bit of sense. They made retcon the point, and it opened the door for some pretty stellar storytelling.
For most of the original trilogy, Cortana is a snarky, loyal AI companion with no hint of doom on the horizon. But in Halo 4, she’s suddenly succumbing to “rampancy,” a kind of digital dementia that affects all smart AIs after seven years.
The main problem is that this law wasn’t emphasized before, and she seemed completely fine. This retcon gives her a tragic arc, but it does feel a bit forced. It feels like it was created from the end they wanted, not the story they told.
DMC2 is the black sheep of the series (so much so that later entries quietly ignore or overwrite it). By the time Devil May Cry 3 and 4 roll around, Dante’s personality has completely shifted back to cocky and energetic, rather than the stoic action guy from DMC2.
The series essentially soft-retcons its tone and character direction without ever officially saying so. Honestly, this is one of those retcons that makes perfect sense. We’re all better off pretending DMC2 was a dream.
By the time Dream Drop Distance comes around, Kingdom Hearts has been steadily raising the stakes. Then it throws in time travel, because why not? Xehanort can suddenly leap across timelines, and multiple versions of himself team up like a JRPG multiverse council.
It’s a wild retcon that retroactively affects the events of nearly every game. It kind of makes sense, in Kingdom Hearts terms. But for anyone hoping for a clean narrative, it’s about as stable as Jell-O.
Originally, Assassin’s Creed made it a point that wielders of the hidden blade had to lose a finger to use the weapon properly. Ezio’s family ring finger was even cut off in a ritual.
Then Origins, set much earlier, features hidden blades without the sacrifice. The lore is quietly rewritten: Oh, it turns out the finger thing was optional all along. It’s a small retcon, but it messes with a foundational moment in the series’ mythos. Sure, it’s logical, but it doesn’t exactly make sense.
Before Skyrim, there was no mention of Dragonborns as a core part of Tamriel’s destiny. Suddenly, they’re central to everything. The idea of being able to absorb dragon souls and Shout ancient magic is introduced as a weighty prophecy that seemingly everyone knew about.
But, retroactively, the lore had never been hinted at. Still, it fits. The Elder Scrolls is built onlayered mythology, and Skyrim’s retcon feels more like digging up old secrets than rewriting facts. It adds some depth and doesn’t technically break anything.
