Thomas Anderson’s journey as The One doesn’t seem to end in The Matrix, as The Matrix 4: Resurrections reveals things are still amiss within the eponymous virtual reality. In The Matrix 4 trailers, viewers are led to believe that both Neo and Trinity are still trapped within the confines of the Matrix, but a new crisis will reawaken their dormant memories.
While fans wait for the explosive sequel to arrive in December 2021, series newcomers and savants can look back at some of the hit The Matrix games to get a glimpse of what the Wachowski’s may have been hinting about the future of the Matrix. And eagle-eyed fans may realize they missed key details - and Easter Eggs - that may change the way they see The Matrix games.
10 The Official Matrix Site Used To Have Games
Anyone who’s ever been to a hit franchise website back in the early 2000s will likely remember them having games, something The Matrix did to its website way back. While the URL whatisthemtarix.com now leads to the Matrix Resurrections’ main website, fans could once indulge in classic games related to The Matrix. These games include:
9 Enter The Matrix May Very Well Be An Entirely New Film
Testament to the dedication of creating a large-scale The Matrix universe is the fact that Enter The Matrix has a whopping hours’ worth of footage from Reloaded. In fact, it seems an hours’ worth of clips from Reloaded was created precisely to tie in with the game.
Moreover, The Matrix actors and their stunt doubles returned to voice and mo-cap their respective characters for Enter The Matrix. It’s through their participation that Enter The Matrix has the same fluid combat that the original cast share in the films. This level of detail may explain the game’s USD 20-million budget - making it the most expensive video game during its release.
Enter The Matrix was released in 2003 for the GameCube, PC, PS2, and Xbox.
8 Enter The Matrix Ties Closely With The Animatrix And Reloaded
Despite its poor reception, Enter The Matrix not only serves as the series’ first foray into the video game world but perhaps a template of things to come. Unlike other video game adaptations, Enter The Matrix has a 2003 release that coincided with the release of The Animatrix and The Matrix Reloaded. As such, it makes sense for much of its background to tie into the two media. In turn, Enter The Matrix expands upon the stories shared by the media:
7 Enter The Matrix Has Links To Revolutions
Similar to its ties to Reloaded, Enter The Matrix also contains key tidbits that provide a sneak peek at the events of The Matrix Revolutions. Thanks to some key game events and key cutscenes, players at the time can obtain clues as to the fate and future appearances of other characters:
6 Path Of Neo Expanded The Background
Given how The Matrix: Path Of Neo transforms much of the films’ events into a game, it makes sense for certain situations to become expanded. Aside from gamifying key fights, certain sequences get unique add-ons that further enhance both Neo and the player’s participation in background events. These include:
5 Path Of Neo Changes The Key Ending
Central to the ending of the trilogy is the hero’s sacrifice, where Neo sacrifices himself to stop Agent Smith’s rogue programming from destroying both the Matrix and what’s left of the real world. Path Of Neo completely changes this narrative. Instead, the final battle between Neo and Agent Smith will have the game empower players into overpowering the Agent.
This isn’t a gameplay element either, but something embedded in the plot. At some point in the fight, the Wachowskis manifest as game sprites and tell the player that, for this game, Neo isn’t obligated to sacrifice himself. As such, the fight culminates in Neo smashing a city-wide construct of Agent Smith called the MegaSmith. The game ends with the Kid celebrating Neo’s success in saving the Matrix.
4 The Matrix Online, Neo’s Fate, And Sarah Edmontons
While fans already know Neo is alive in Matrix Resurrections, players of the MMO had no choice but to wonder about his true fate. And Neo’s ultimate fate after Revolutions remained a focal point throughout the game’s plot. At the start of Online, Morpheus points out that the Machines never gave Neo’s body back to them. However, the Machines also pointed out that they never got to recycle Neo’s real body anyway.
What’s more curious is a woman waking up from a coma named Sarah Edmontons. In the game, a newspaper clipping of her mysterious awakening has a note that asks “Is this him?” Eagle-eyed players may note that Sarah Edmontons is an anagram of Thomas Anderson. Sadly, the game eventually abandoned this subplot.
3 The Matrix Online Essentially Kills Morpheus
While Laurence Fishburne doesn’t reprise his role as Morpheus in Resurrections, Yahya Abdul-Maleen II will take the mantle of Neo’s mentor. Whether this is similar to the Oracle replacing an external shell or a new story entirely is unknown. However, what’s intriguing is how Morpheus dies in The Matrix Online years prior.
In the game, Morpheus is convinced the Machines still have Neo’s body. In a bid to convince them, Morpheus set up bombs throughout the city that specifically target redpill players. When activated, it releases a virus that “reveals’’ the code of redpills to bluepills in the area - potentially causing a crash in the system as bluepills get forced into rejecting the Matrtix.
2 The Matrix Online Hints Towards Trinity’s Fate
After Trinity’s death, there remain mentions of her and her legacy throughout The Matrix Online. However, similar to Neo and unlike Morpheus, Trinity had no direct interaction with the plot. Interestingly, a journal from the Assassin - the program dispatched to assassinate Morpheus - highlighted a bit of his past as a recycler.
In the lore, recyclers are programs tasked to “recycle” human bodies or to liquefy them for reuse after death. Prior to his transformation into an Exile, the Assassin apparently received a command that didn’t allow it to recycle Trinity’s body. It’s not revealed who gave the directive and for what reason, and if this hints at Trinity’s return.
1 The Matrix Online Had A Surprise Ending
When Sony Online Entertainment pulled the plug on Matrix Online, players were left in a huge cliffhanger. After all, at the time, events in the game forced humanity and the Machines to break the Truce. However, in the game’s final moments, all player avatars presumably “died” in a mass closure. Thankfully, the game doesn’t necessarily end in a cliffhanger. As per archives, what remained of the game’s writing team actually had an ending to the game in mind.
In the notes, it’s revealed that the renewed conflict would lead to an entirely new arrangement. Here, the Machines would program a new Matrix where humans would be free to choose their own fate. Moreover, in this Matrix, the Machines care for humans instead of enslaving them. The catch here, though, is that this new Matrix is reserved only for newly-grown humans, as the older humans would remain in the old Matrix.
The Matrix Resurrectionswill be released on December 22, 2021, in the United States.
