8 Adventure Games That Totally Reinvent Themselves Halfway Through

Video games are relatively famous for featuring shocking twists in their stories, such as Halo: Combat Evolved becoming a horror game midway through the debut of The Flood and BioShock's generation-defining "Would you kindly" revelation.

However, there are several games that twist their nature not narratively but rather through gameplay, with some titles even shifting into entirely different genres within a single playthrough.

Here are eight adventure games that totally reinvent themselves halfway through their runtime, with many of these titles changing their gameplay routine, introducing brand-new protagonists, and even experimenting with completely different game genres.

8 James Cameron's Avatar: The Game

Becoming a Member of the Na'vi

The seventh console generation was arguably the end of an era for movie tie-in games as film studios and game publishers increasingly saw these types of games as not being worth their financial cost but one of the last great movie tie-in titles was James Cameron's Avatar: The Game.

Set two years before the first Avatar movie, Avatar: The Game has players embody the Lance Corporal turned Avatar Program inductee Able Ryder as they initially aid the RDA in defending the Blue Lagoon outpost from hostile wildlife while simultaneously assisting in research operations.

Midway through the game, players are given a choice of either siding with the RDA in eliminating Na'vi fighters or joining the Na'vi resistance, with the latter option causing players to no longer have access to human vehicles and instead fight humans using bows and arrows, spears, and the flying Banshee mounts.

7 Destroy All Humans! 2

Alien on Alien Violence

In 2005, Pandemic Studios released one of the greatest games of the sixth console generation with the comical but highly violent Destroy All Humans! which saw the small Furon Crypto-137 infiltrate 1950s America to harvest DNA from humans and prepare for a Furon invasion of Earth.

However, Pandemic Studios flipped the script in 2006's Destroy All Humans! 2, which initially saw Crypto-138 go on the offensive against the Soviet Union, only to reveal that the Soviets were being manipulated by the Blisk, an insectoid alien race that were storied rivals to the Furons.

For the latter half of Destroy All Humans! 2, most of the gameplay is centered around fighting the Blisk on Earth and on the moon in open combat, rather than the more stealth-oriented gameplay seen in the early parts of DAH2 and the original DAH.

6 Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

Dipping Into an Open-World

Among all of Nintendo's series created in the 21st century, the first-person Metroid Prime series is arguably the most beloved and critically acclaimed, with one of Nintendo's most anticipated games of the century being Metroid Prime 4, which was originally announced to be in development in 2017.

MP4 wouldn't be released until 2025, now called Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, and while it initially seemed to be more of what made the original Metroid Prime trilogy so great, fans were shocked halfway through when the game suddenly became open-world with the Vi-O-La motorcycle.

In many ways, this dipping into the open world genre frustrated many fans, largely in part due to the open-world sections of the game offering nothing to do beyond riding around the sands of Sol Valley and collecting resources, with these open-world areas not even featuring music unless players purchase the Vi-O-La amiibo.

5 God of War

Embracing Kratos' Past

2018's God of War was a much-needed revival of Sony's long-running deity-focused franchise as it not only saw Kratos travel to Northern Europe and encounter Norse gods but saw the series transition from its hack and slash roots into more modern, over-the-shoulder third-person gameplay.

For most of God of War's runtime, the game is played primarily with Kratos using his new ice elemental Leviathan Axe alongside his son Atreus, assisting in combat with his bow and arrow and being able to summon poweful spectral animals.

Halfway through the game, God of War shifts back to its solo roots with Kratos being temporarily separated from Atreus and reacquiring his infamous Blades of Chaos, causing the game to play a bit more visceral akin to the Greek-focused God of War games.

4 Dave the Diver

The Many Activities of Sea People Village

At first, players of Dave the Diver may think the game is simply split between diving for fish in the Blue Hole during the day and managing a sushi restaurant at night, but there's far more to Dave the Diver than meets the eye.

After playing through the game for a bit, players will be able to explore more of the Blue Hole and encounter massive bosses such as a giant squid and giant truck hermit crab, but the game really changes when players can access the Sea People Village.

Here, players can get involved with sides quests but also take part in fun mini-games such as Find the Pearl, Card Matching, and Triple Crown-like Seahorses races, with these mini-games just scratching the surface of how often and varied Dave the Diver reinvents its gameplay routine.

3 Assassin's Creed III

The Kenway Family Divide

In Assassin's Creed III, the game initially begins much like its predecessors with Desmond Miles inhabiting the Animus to relive the memories of his ancestor Haytham Kenway during the French and Indian War in the 18th century to recover ancient Isu artifacts and prevent modern Templar machinations.

However, after playing as Haytham for a few sequences, it's revealed that Haytham was actually a Templar Grand Master all along and the game shifts perspective to his half-Mohawk son, Connor, who goes on to be trained as one of the last Assassins of the Colonial Brotherhood during the Revolutionary War.

During Connor's training as an Assassin, the game introduces a few brand-new mechanics to the Assassin's Creed series, with the most notable of which being naval combat, allowing Connor to captain a brig called the Aquila and battle Templar and Royal Navy ships throughout the Atlantic Ocean.

2 Brutal Legend

Commanding Legions of Fans

To many young gamers, Jack Black may seem like a fairly new gaming icon thanks to his roles as Steve in A Minecraft Movie, Claptrap in 2024's Borderlands, and Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but arguably his most iconic video game role was as Eddie Riggs in the heavy metal-themed action-adventure game Brutal Legend.

Created by legendary game designer Tim Schafer, Brutal Legend sees heavy metal band roadie Eddie Riggs be transported to a heavy metal-inspired world where he becomes destined to lead a resistance in defeating Emperor Doviculus using The Separator axe, his guitar Clementine, and his Druid Plow hot rod.

At first, Brutal Legend plays similarly to most melee-focused, third-person adventure games, but halfway through the game, it suddenly turns into an RTS, with Riggs being able to command groups of fans to fight hordes of demons in large Stage Battles.

1 Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath

A Bounty Hunter No Longer

The Oddworld franchise is certainly one of the most odd game series ever created and while its platform entries get most of the attention, I would argue that the best entry in the series is 2005's Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath.

An action-adventure game that combines third-person exploration and melee combat with first-person shooting, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath initially sees the titular Stranger travel around western Mudos as they set out to collect bounties on outlaws in order to save up enough moolah to pay for a life-saving surgery.

After the Stranger is captured and publicly revealed to be a wanted centaur-like Steef, Stranger's Wrath completely forgoes its bounty hunting routine and instead becomes a freedom fighting game, with the Stranger leading native Grubbs in destroying a dam controlled by the oppressive Sekto Springs Bottled Water Company.