Arc Symbol / Video Games

"Even Bureau veterans can only find one key in the Motel, the key that opens the door marked with the inverted Black Pyramid. The rest, the many other doors, are still mysteries to us. We're all merely guests there. Even the Board."

• Albion has the Eye of the Goddess symbol that turns out on rock faces in different places on different continents. No-one knows what it is until you meet the Enlightened Ones and they reveal it marks their secret teleporter caves, which Harriet can open for you.
• In Assassin's Creed, the Assassins' insignia, resembling a stylized letter A as well as the opening of their hoods, and to a lesser extent the Templar cross.
• In The Beginner's Guide, Coda's games features plenty of lampposts and three dots arranged in triangles. Coda's friend Davey suggests that the lampposts represent the completion of a project, but is unsure about the dots. The end reveals that Davey put the lampposts there himself, and has him begging Coda to explain the dots.
• Chains in BioShock. Andrew Ryan's objectivism is professed as "the great chain," and there are many decorative chains in the architecture of Rapture as well as tattooed on the protagonist's wrists.
  • Bioshock Infinite gave us the bird or the cage to represent Elizabeth. Or, possibly, both at once.
  • Burial At Sea gave us the Ace of Spades to represent Jack Ryan.
• The crest of the Azure in BlazBlue. It's visible in the logos for the first and last entries in the series Calamity Trigger and Central Fiction. Ragna and Nu's crests are each incomplete versions of it. The full thing shows up when Ragna activates his azure grimoire in Calamity Trigger's true ending. In Chronophantasma it appears on each of the coffins in the "Grave Marker of Bases" stage. (Nu's stage), and finally on the exterior of the Amaterasu unit when it is revealed late in Chronophantasma.
• Bloodborne:
  • The Hunter's Mark,◊ a Caryll Rune depicting a human dangling upside down.◊ This mark represents the Hunters and is the sign of the Hunter of Hunters covenant, as well as the symbol representing Blood Echoes. The symbol is also, naturally, associated with The Hanging Man of the Major Arcana, a perfect representation of the Hunters as a whole and Gehrman, the First Hunter, more so than anyone else.
  • The Eye, representing both mankind's inability to fully grasp the universe around them with their own basic senses as well as the solution to this conundrum: Insight, the process of uncovering eldritch knowledge that allows humans to line their brains with eyes on the inside. This, obviously, also ties into Third Eye symbolism and the enlightenment it represents.
• Borderlands:
  • The symbol of the Vault.
  • Each gun, shield, and grenade brand has its own symbol, but Hyperion's italicized H is the most important to the plot.
• The upside-down black pyramid is a recurring motif that applies to the Federal Bureau of Control and The Board in Control. It's in the game's promotional material, it's used by the game's UI to mark new documents and mods, it hangs over the first Control Point Jesse purges, it's present in the FBC's logo, and the Board's appearance is represented by it.
• Coromon: "Lux Solis", which means Light of the Sun, tends to be connected with sun-related imagery and phrases.
• Darkest Dungeon has the stress symbol, a three quarter circle with five lines extending out. Although the most obvious appearance is whenever a character is stressed or fails a test, it also appears on several monster designs and locations, and even resources - it's on the family crest, for example. It's implied to be the symbol of whatever monstrous creature the Ancestor summoned. It even shows up on entities not directly related to That Which Came From The Portal; Bandit Vvulf has it on his shield. Darkest Dungeon 2 refers to it as the "Iron Crown", and implies that even That Which Came From The Portal is subservient to it; it is nothing less than the heart of darkness.
• Dark Souls has the Darksign, a ring of fire surrounding the dark. It symbolises the Age of Dark kept in check by Gwyn's age of fire. Also the inherent darkness of humanity kept in check by Gwyn's branding them with the darksign itself, which caused them to reject their true dark nature and be drawn to Gwyn's fire.
• The reversed peace sign in Deadly Premonition. It's actually the sign of the Red Tree.
• The Blood Dragon in Dragon Age: Origins, as seen everywhere from the game box to the game over screen.
• Chains also figure heavily in Dragon Age II in keeping with some of the themes of the game (the meaning of slavery and freedom; certainty versus free will) and Kirkwall's long history as a center of the slave trade. As Fenris reminds Anders, "No one is truly free."
• The stone knife in Fallen London, particularly in the "What the Thunder Said" storyline. Also candles and mirrors.
• In Fallout: New Vegas, the player can find images of the American flag painted in red, white or blue colors in many areas across the first three DLC packs. It is hinted, and confirmed in the fourth DLC, that the flag is the image of Ulysses, the Greater-Scope Villain waiting for you in The Divide, and the flag and its colors denote where he's been and what he found there.
• Far Cry 3:
  • Every time you see the Chinese Knife, something weird is going to happen.
  • The tatau. They not only symbolize the extra skills that Jason unlocks, but as the tatau grows, the more Jason becomes like the Rakyat in mindset.
• Spheres in Final Fantasy X. The name of the world is Spira, people use physical spheres to make video recordings (and a major Sidequest involves an Apocalyptic Log using them), the biggest pastime is Blitzball (an underwater football-rugby hybrid in a floating spherical arena), and the very imagery of spheres may evoke the game's theme of Vicious Cycle.
• GAG: The Impotent Mystery has flies as an arc symbol: the main character lives in an apartment on Fly Street, has a jar of Spanish flies on his table, and reads an erotic magazine called Flyboy.
• The Hex has a hexagon repeatedly popping up in various areas. This is revealed to tie into a dangerous artifact called The Hex, which allows the video game characters to go into the real world.
• The 50 Blessings insignia, a circle with 3 horizontal slashes going through it, is a recurring symbol seen throughout the levels in Hotline Miami, spray-painted in various places. It's featured more prominently as the game icon for the sequel, Wrong Number, as well as being spray-painted onto the Fans' van (though it is unlikely they are aware of the symbol's true significance).
• Hysteria Project has the mysterious H-emblazoned maze tattooed on the protagonist's arm.
• Kingdom Hearts:
  • The X symbol has been all over the series from the very beginning, but Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] reveals just what it means: it is known as the Recusant's Sigil, and Xehanort uses it to mark vessels for his Grand Theft Me plan.
  • There is also the blue eye symbol that ordains many Dark aligned Keyblades. Blank Points explains it represents the Master of Master's Gazing Eye letting him see into the future.
• Lakeview Cabin Collection has a red eye show up throughout the episodes inscribed on walls, when the player isn't looking.
• The Silent Princess flower in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which is a rare breed that may be dying out. The flower represents both Zelda (in her frustration over the position she's been forced into in life) and the hope of Hyrule to flourish after disaster. The final shot of the Golden Ending is of a cliffside covered in these flowers, symbolic of Hyrule finally undergoing a rebirth after the defeat of Ganon.
• In Mass Effect, the Citadel's council chambers and the Serpent Nebula, where the Citadel is located, are shaped like Reapers. Look at the map of the council chambers to see its resemblance.
• White petals in Metal Gear, from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater onward. They're primarily associated with The Boss, but the motif also represents death and the loss of innocence (when the petals turn red).
• The Artifact symbol in the first Metroid Prime game, symbolizing the twelve artifacts that must be found to access the Impact Crater, though also appearing prominently throughout the rest of the game.
• The bulldog logo crops up very often in Mirror's Edge, until Faith discovers that it belongs to the private security company Pirandello Kruger, one of the conspirators in Project Icarus.
• No Man's Sky has a mysterious, floating, rhomboid object with an even more mysterious, pulsating red orb in its center. All that's known about it is that it's called "The Atlas".
• In OneShot, the lightbulb Niko carries around is supposed to be the dying world's new sun. It is a venerated symbol that appears as a pattern on the clothing of the denizens of the Glen, the altar in the late Prophet's house, and near several objects or puzzles Niko has to interact with.
• The Mark of Torment in Planescape: Torment, tattooed on the nameless hero's left scapula.
• Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Hexagons are all over the place, and are hinted to have something to do with the Terastal Phenomenon. The crystals produced by Terastalization are hexagonal prisms, the Tera Orb resembles a Poké Ball with a hexagon in place of a button, the Tera Jewels that crown Terastalized Pokémon all have a hexagonal gem with what resembles eyes on it at the front of their base, and the symbol selected to Terastalize a Pokémon is a hexagon with lines extending outward from each corner. They even show up in minor, but unusual places such as being the frames of Jacq's glasses. The Scarlet or Violet book depict what may be the Pokémon that enables Terastalization, with a shell covered in hexagonal scales, though it does not make a physical appearance in the base game.
• In Potion Permit, crescent moons are the symbol of Moonbury. They can be found in the town's decor, Moon Cloves are traditional gifts, Moon Brooches are given to your partner when asking them out, and the Moon Stone is proudly on display in the town hall.
• An X shape on a yellow background is prominent in Puyo Puyo Tetris, such as on the packaging of physical copies and the loading screens. This is Ex's symbol. It's visible on his hair and is used in his strongest attack.
• Resident Evil 4 has the Los Illuminados crest, which is shaped like the Las Plagas parasites.
• RiME has spirals and keyholes, both emblematic of the game's central tower. And, in turn, of the father's difficulty in entering his dead son's room.
• Silent Hill has the Seal of Metatron, which Dahlia falsely claims is the "Mark of Samael", inscribed by Alessa in key Otherworld locations in an attempt to Mercy Kill herself and prevent the birth of the Order's god. Silent Hill 3 and Silent Hill 4: The Room feature the Halo of the Sun, which is used as a Save Point in the former, and marks the portals to and from the latter's Otherworlds as wells as the doors to the staircase connecting them.
• Sonic Frontiers: Whenever Sonic completes a quest that leads to the souls inside the Koco leaving the vessels, a strange glowing angular symbol appears in the sky. The same symbol is engraved in various ruins across the islands. When Sonic asks Sage about it in the Final Horizon DLC, she replies that it was the symbol of the god that the Ancients once worshipped.
• In The Spectrum Retreat, the double circle logo of the game is everywhere in-universe, from windows to floor patterns, to even the design of the robot staff. As it turns out, it's because it's the symbol of Spectrum, the company that designed the hotel.
• Stars in general crop up everywhere in the Mario franchise, but each 3D game since Sunshine also has a certain symbol associated with it.
  • The sun is the symbol of Super Mario Sunshine. The game's stand-in for Power Stars are the Shine Sprites, and one of the main goals of the game is to restore sunlight to Delfino Plaza by gathering the Shine Sprites.
  • Stars are the symbol of Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel. They represent the game's theme of exploring space, Power Stars return to being the main collectible, and Mario is assisted by baby stars known as Lumas.
  • The Tanooki tail is the symbol of Super Mario 3D Land. It is found on the logo, it is the "mascot powerup" of the game through the Tanooki suit, and many of Bowser's minions are equipped with a Tanooki tail.
  • The Cat tail is the symbol of Super Mario 3D World. Much like the Tanooki tail in its predecessor, it is found on the logo, is essentially the "mascot powerup" of the game, and several enemies are equipped with Cat abilities including Bowser himself in the final battle.
  • Bowser's Fury takes it to the next level by giving cat ears to a lot of characters and decor elements. The collectibles are now "cat shines".
  • Super Mario Odyssey:
    • Hats. The new mechanic introduced in this game involves using a sentient hat named Cappy to capture and possess creatures, the titular Odyssey is an airship shaped like a hat, the Cap Kingdom has sentient hat ghosts, and buildings and coins shaped like hats, and plenty of inhabitants in other worlds wear them too.
    • The Moon. Mario has to collect Power Moons, the moon itself if visible in every kingdom, a moon design is in the New Donk City plaza, the Insert Song mentions moons and the final three kingdoms all take place on the moon: Honeylune Ridge (aka the Moon Kingdom, natch), the Dark Side of the Moon, and the Darker Side of the Moon.
• They Bleed Pixels has one that looks like the claw that your hands transform into. It can be found pretty much everywhere; in the background scenery, on some platforms, those gates that can open and close are shaped like it, the knife the headmaster is always seen with is shaped like it, and on the front cover of the book of claws.
• Among several unidentified glyphs appearing in Thief: The Dark Project, one in particular, resembling an eye inside a semi-circle, reappears numerous times throughout the game, including several cutscenes and in Constantine's mansion, with no explanation given until the last third of the game, when it is revealed to represent the Trickster.
  • The Eye is an artifact Garrett is trying to steal through much of the first game, and it also requires an actual human eye to be made to work. Garrett loses an eye which gets replaced by a mechanical eye.
  • In the second game, you can throw little eye-shaped cammeras to look around corners and on high roofs. There are also lots of security cammeras in the form of brass heads with a single large glowing eye, and one of the curses used by some guards in the game is "curse your eyes". And in Victoria's realm, there are large flowers with huge eyeballs for blossoms. Which always stare at you as you keep moving through them.
• Touhou Project: A red and white yin-yang, both representing the Hakurei, most prominently the main character, Reimu Hakurei, as well as the balance and philosophy that Gensoukyou is founded upon: Humans and Youkai being able to live in (relative) peace by having made the Conflict Ball between them something that's Inherent in the System.
• Undertale:
  • Flowers. They're often associated with wishes or desires (some of the echo flowers in the marsh repeat the wishes people made on the ceiling crystals), and golden flowers are especially important. The game begins when the Player Character lands on a bed of golden flowers and later survives a second fall when it's broken by a similar bed in an improbable location. They're also used as decoration in Toriel's house and the final area. However, the game does not use the usual association of "innocence", as Flowey demonstrates.
  • A rune consisting of three triangles, a circle, and wings repeatedly appears, first on Toriel's dress but also in various shops. It's called a "Delta Rune" and symbolizes the "angel" in The Prophecy who has seen the surface, and will either free monsterkind from the Underground or destroy them all. In the Pacifist Ending, Asriel—who did visit the surface—takes on an angelic form and, after the Player Character defeats and saves him, breaks the barrier to free everyone... In the Genocide Ending, the Fallen Child, who originally was from the surface, and becomes an Abstract Apotheosis of Level Grinding in this route, kills everyone until there's literally no one left, and then erases the world itself.
  • Eyes, especially the left eye. In the Genocide route, Mettaton's right eye is missing, and both Undyne and Sans' left eye (or eye socket, in Sans' case) glow brightly during their boss fights. The player's attack field (which is eye-shaped) is also selected from the left side of the screen.
  • The ' :) ' shaped smiley face is associated with determination gone bad and/or wrong, appearing mostly in the Genocide route (it will eventually replace the '!' that appears on a random encounter) but also in the Final Dungeon of the Pacifist route and, of course, as Flowey's default expression.
  • Hearts represent many things in the game and appear several times on many characters and buildings, but most importantly they represent souls. The playable character's heart is red, which is implied to be the colour of Determination, while a monster's are upside-down and white. Towards the end of the game, it's also revealed that there were seven other human children who fell down into the Underground, and their hearts are Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue and Purple, which are implied to be the colors of Bravery, Justice, Kindness, Patience, Integrity and Perserverence respectively. Different colored hearts also reflect different characters throughout the game, such as the heart of the Child turning blue against Papyrus, purple against Muffet, and yellow against Mettaton.
  • There's another recurring shape that — for the most part — isn't seen until late in the game. The unique shape of the determination extractor pops up in Photoshop Flowey's body, Sans's Gaster Blasters, and Asriel's Hyper Goner. It appears to be based on a goat skull.
• In Chants of Sennaar, each language has a different but similar symbol that looks vaguely like a kite, and which always represents each civilization's most important ideal. The end of the game reveals that they are all different angles on the shape representing the connections between all the people of the Tower.

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