There are some games that initially hide their true nature, only to reveal it gradually as the game progresses.

For example, on the story side of things, there's games like "A Normal Lost Phone" and "Another Lost Phone", which at first appear to be games where you explore someone's phone, but then you discover that the game actually deals with some serious subject matter (as in, subject matter that might legitimately be a trigger to some people), but the game doesn't reveal that immediately.

Or, there's games that do that with the gameplay. A Dark Room may not seem like much at the start, but as you play the game, more game elements are revealed, and the game shifts into a genre you might not expect. (There's another game that I've played that gives you a health bar early on that you might not be expecting; that's perhaps a hint about what to expect in the future.)

So, what are your thoughts on games like this?

Edit: Why the low rating?

Are you talking about "emergent gameplay"?

I guess FF1 kinda counts? The intro chapter is a basic damsel in distress scenario, and then it becomes much larger in scope though the gameplay doesn't necessarily change that much.
FF8 does it pretty drastically story-wise, just much later (though there are some hints), and gameplay-wise I think a lot of people had the wrong impression about how to play it properly but gradually learned how.

Ori 1 sort of counts, as it doesn't quite blossom until you get some of the more advanced movement abilities like Bash and hovering.

Wonder Boy 3 seems like it would play like the prequel until after the intro level.

A couple years ago "Doki Doki Literature Club" became notorious for doing this -starting as a cliched romance visual novel and suddenly turning into something completely different- to the point of achieving meme status.

Well, in a way, I'd say Terraria. At first glance, it looks like a 2D side-scrolling Minecraft but once you play it, you start to realize that it's a lot more than that, even getting into dungeon crawling RPG elements at times.

Also, I'd say RuneScape, especially the modern game (also called RuneScape 3). First impressions of it make it look like a boring grindfest with graphics a decade behind the rest but as you play it, you start to realize that it's one of the deepest online roleplaying experiences you'll ever play, giving you the freedom to do literally anything (except break the rules, of course). It's more like The Elder Scrolls than that franchise's own MMO is (and that's saying something because I love ESO).

The anime Puella Modoka Magical Girl does that. First two episodes feels like normal magical girl storyline... After that.... Don't let your kids watch it.

As for a game that does that. Hmmm... There was 'Spec Ops: The Line' which showed the character you play is hallucinating and half of what is going on isn't real. Undertale, where the 4th wall breaking and things is a built-in mechanics of life/death and evil/good natures where you may or may not want to play certain ways.

Oh right, Evoland. It's a game that feels like an RPG but is actually a progression of technology and gaming styles as things have progressed, from gameboy to SNES to PS2-ish level while having a Final-Fantasy story/setting.

Brütal Legend. It starts as a linear hack and slash, then reveals it's a strategy game with an open world setting.

I would say that any good game (or any good fiction for that matter) reveals something deeper than you would expect along the way. However, today with all the marketing campaigns highlighting every meaningful point of the game it's rare that such a "deep spot" will escape the attention.

If you want just examples of games that deal with complex stuff, Sonic Adventure dilogy has much more depth in the story than one would expect from Sonic the Hedgehog game.

This made me sad. In the good old days, manga for 9-year-olds had the stuffed corpse of a murdered woman mounted over the fireplace in the first chapter. These days, the oh so subversive big 3rd episode shocker is supposed to impress the target audience of adults drawn in by a "normal magical girl storyline".

The only thing that pops up in my mind is how the Creative Assembly for years long tried to show us a strategy front and suddenly decided to show true colors in their latest range of games ......

yes, sex and drama sells, they do!

I'm old. By my standards, and compared to the manga I referenced, "more than 10 years old" is "these days".

I assume the mangas you read are likely in the 'horror' genre or mystery or mind games or zombie apocalypse or supernatural or something similar where death/undead is sorta expected.

Madoka looks and feels and starts off as a magical girl series you'd expect. Like Card Captor Sakura, or Sailor moon where you have adventures you are expecting certain things.

It's like going from 4 color comics where the rule is you never kill anyone, sure they are in danger but no one dies. Then you have a new manga based on the world resuming to a certain point, and when say Batman would capture the joker instead straps a grenade in his mouth and walks away before the explosion.

Does System Shock count? Because I feel the game slowly deals the hand to you.