The 15 Most Suspicious Things a Video Game Character Can Say

There are certain things you learn to recognize when you've played enough mystery games.

A character smiles too much.

Someone disappears immediately after telling you they're going to check something.

A perfectly innocent-looking person somehow knows a detail that hasn't been made public.

And then there's the dialogue.

Because video game characters have a remarkable talent for saying things that should immediately make us suspicious.

Sometimes it's subtle.

Sometimes it's so obvious that you practically want to reach through the screen and shake the protagonist.

And sometimes a character will say something so suspicious that you know, right then and there, that they are either the murderer, involved in the conspiracy, hiding a massive secret, or about to get killed.

So, in the interest of public safety, we've compiled a list.

1. "I Have Nothing to Hide."

Oh, do you?

Do you really?

Because nobody with nothing to hide has ever felt the need to announce that they have nothing to hide.

Imagine being questioned by a detective.

"Did you kill him?"

"No."

"Okay."

"I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE."

"Right."

"I'M A COMPLETELY INNOCENT PERSON."

"Nobody said you weren't."

"I DEFINITELY WASN'T THERE THAT NIGHT."

"Sir, I haven't asked where you were."

At that point, we're going to need a bigger interrogation room.

The more aggressively a character insists they're innocent before anyone has accused them of anything, the more likely it is that they have a secret basement.

2. "You Shouldn't Be Here."

This is one of the great classics.

You walk into a room.

A character looks at you.

They say:

"You shouldn't be here."

Oh.

Okay.

Why?

Why shouldn't I be here?

What's behind you?

What's in that closet?

Why did the music just change?

And, perhaps most importantly:

What are you doing here?

Because if I shouldn't be here, there's a pretty good chance that you shouldn't be here either.

In a mystery game, "You shouldn't be here" is rarely an invitation to leave.

It's an invitation to investigate absolutely everything.

3. "I Can Explain."

No.

You probably can't.

And whatever explanation you're about to provide is almost certainly going to make things worse.

"I can explain."

You were standing over the body holding a bloody knife.

"I can explain."

Okay, we're listening.

"It isn't what it looks like."

It looks like you stabbed him.

"There's a perfectly reasonable explanation."

We're fascinated.

"I was just..."

And now you're going to tell us something so ridiculous that we are going to spend the next six hours trying to figure out what you're actually hiding.

The phrase "I can explain" should probably just be replaced with a giant flashing sign:

THIS PERSON IS HIDING SOMETHING.

4. "Promise Me You Won't Tell Anyone."

Absolutely not.

We're telling everyone.

Okay, fine.

We won't tell anyone.

But we're definitely telling our partner.

And our partner is going to immediately say:

"That sounds suspicious."

And now we're investigating.

The problem with secrets in mystery games is that the player is usually the worst possible person to tell.

Because the moment a character says:

"You can't tell anyone."

we know we're going to have to find out why.

5. "Don't Ask Questions."

Oh, we're going to ask questions.

We're going to ask all the questions.

In fact, we are now significantly more interested in whatever you don't want us asking about.

This is especially suspicious when the character says it immediately after providing an incredibly suspicious piece of information.

"I saw her leave the house at midnight."

"Why?"

"Don't ask questions."

WE HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

6. "It's Complicated."

This phrase has never once made a situation less complicated.

"It's complicated."

What does that mean?

"There's a lot you don't understand."

Okay, then explain it.

"I can't."

Why?

"I promised someone."

Who?

"I can't tell you."

Why?

"It's complicated."

And now we're going in circles.

At this point, we have learned precisely one thing:

Something is definitely going on.

7. "I Wasn't There."

Nobody asked if you were there.

That's the problem.

If the detective walks into a room and says:

"We found a body in the east wing."

and your immediate response is:

"I wasn't there."

Congratulations.

You're our primary suspect.

This is especially suspicious if you weren't even being questioned.

"Did you kill him?"

"No!"

"Where were you last night?"

"I wasn't in the basement!"

"We didn't ask about the basement."

"..."

Cut to basement.

8. "You Have to Trust Me."

No.

We don't.

And the fact that you're asking us to trust you has made us trust you considerably less.

Mystery games have trained us.

We've been hurt before.

We've trusted the charming stranger.

We've trusted the helpful neighbor.

We've trusted the mysterious woman who appeared out of nowhere.

We've trusted the guy who told us he was "just trying to help."

Never again.

If a character says:

"You have to trust me."

our immediate response is:

"Absolutely not."

9. "Whatever You Do, Don't Open That Door."

Well, now we have to open the door.

There was perhaps a 20 percent chance that we were going to open it before.

Now?

100 percent.

You've basically just given us a quest objective.

The game might as well display:

NEW OBJECTIVE: OPEN THE DOOR

And this rule applies to anything.

"Don't go into the basement."

We're going to the basement.

"Don't read that journal."

We're reading the journal.

"Don't touch that box."

We're touching the box.

"Don't look behind you."

Okay, that's just cruel.

10. "I Thought You Knew."

This is a particularly nasty one.

Because it means somebody knows something that we don't know.

And that is unacceptable.

"What do you mean?"

"I thought you knew."

"Knew what?"

And now the game has our attention.

There is nothing quite like realizing that two characters have apparently been having an entire conversation that you weren't invited to.

Suddenly, every previous interaction is being reconsidered.

What did they know?

Who else knew?

When did they find out?

Why didn't they tell us?

And why is this person suddenly looking nervous?

11. "That's Not Important."

It is absolutely important.

You know how we know?

Because you just said it isn't.

If you walk into a room and see a strange photograph on the wall and the character says:

"Oh, that's nothing."

We're examining that photograph until the controller overheats.

If it's really nothing, why did you bring attention to it?

Mystery game rule:

Anything a character insists is unimportant is probably extremely important.

12. "We Should Talk Later."

No.

We should talk now.

Especially if you say this while looking around nervously.

Because "we should talk later" almost always means one of three things:

1. You know something.

2. Something terrible is about to happen.

3. You're going to disappear before we can talk.

Sometimes it's all three.

And if the character walks away immediately afterward?

We're following them.

Obviously.

13. "You Don't Want to Know."

Actually, we do.

That's why we're playing the game.

We want to know everything.

Tell us the horrible thing.

Tell us the disturbing secret.

Tell us what happened in 1987.

Tell us why everyone keeps refusing to talk about the abandoned house.

Tell us what happened to Rachel.

WE WANT TO KNOW.

The phrase "you don't want to know" is basically a neon sign pointing toward the central mystery.

And if you say it while looking terrified?

Congratulations.

You just moved yourself considerably higher on our suspect list.

14. "It's Not What You Think."

Oh, it's absolutely what we think.

Maybe not exactly.

But something close enough.

This phrase has become so suspicious that it might as well be a confession.

You find someone standing next to a suspicious object.

They say:

"It's not what you think."

Okay.

Then what is it?

"You're misunderstanding."

Explain it.

"I can't."

Why?

"Because you wouldn't believe me."

Try us.

"No."

Suspicious.

15. "There's Something I Need to Tell You."

This is the final boss of suspicious dialogue.

Because when a character says this, you know one of two things is about to happen.

They're about to reveal a huge secret...

or they're about to die.

Sometimes they do both.

They take a deep breath.

"We need to talk."

The music changes.

The camera moves closer.

You know something is coming.

"I've been meaning to tell you..."

And suddenly you're yelling at the television:

"JUST SAY IT!"

But they won't.

They'll pause.

They'll look away.

They'll start explaining something completely unrelated.

And then they'll say:

"I'll tell you later."

NO.

NO, YOU WILL NOT.

Because this is a mystery game.

And we have played enough mystery games to know exactly what "I'll tell you later" means.

They are not making it to later.

Honorable Mentions

There are, of course, countless other suspicious things a video game character can say.

Like:

"Don't worry. Everything is under control."

Nothing is under control.

"I've never seen this place before."

You knew exactly where you were going.

"Stay here. I'll be right back."

You're dead.

"I didn't mean for this to happen."

What did you mean to happen?

"We don't have much time."

You absolutely have more information than you're telling us.

"You need to leave. Now."

We're staying.

"This is the last place anyone would look."

Why would anyone be looking here?

"I've been waiting for you."

How did you know we were coming?

"Tyrant Virus is a super virus."

Okay Wesker, sure.

And perhaps the most suspicious sentence of all:

"Trust me."

No.

We have played these games before.

We know better.

The Mystery Cartridge Rule

Here's the thing about mystery games:

Eventually, you learn to listen differently.

You stop hearing dialogue as simple conversation.

You start listening for the weird pause.

The strange wording.

The unexplained detail.

The thing someone says that they probably shouldn't know.

You notice when a character suddenly changes the subject.

You notice when they refuse to answer a simple question.

You notice when someone says, "I wasn't there," when nobody asked where they were.

And sometimes...

You notice absolutely nothing.

You spend six hours developing a brilliant theory involving secret identities, hidden relationships, elaborate conspiracies, and a murder that happened twenty years ago.

Then the game reveals the truth.

And you sit there in stunned silence.

Because the person you suspected?

Completely innocent.

The person you trusted?

The murderer.

The thing you thought was a meaningless detail?

The key to everything.

And that is exactly why we love mystery games.

Because sometimes the most suspicious thing a character can say isn't suspicious at all.

Sometimes we're just terrible detectives.

And honestly?

That's half the fun.

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What suspicious phrase immediately makes you distrust a video game character?

Tell us in the comments. We're always looking for new reasons not to trust fictional people.