Sometimes, video games either give you a superb and satisfying ending, leave the story on a cliffhanger, or deliver the worst kind of ending that may put you off of what you just played entirely. But other times, there are also games that allow you to create your own ending based on your decisions throughout the gameor at a choice pointin the final moments.
But some of the most memorable video game endings are ones that leave you shocked, broken, and speechless all through the end credits and back to the main menu. These are the kind of bleak and hopeless endings we’ll discuss here. From FPS games to third-person shooters, survival horror, and narrative adventure games, these are bound to remain with you.
In Far Cry 5, you take on Joseph Seed, a sinister leader of a doomsday cult in the fictional Hope County, Montana, who believes in a prophecy that a global nuclear holocaust will be God’s way of cleansing the Earth of sinners. He truly can make Far Cry 3’s Vaas and Far Cry 4’s Pagan Min seem pretty sane.
The whole game, you work tirelessly to take out his forces and capture him, but when that moment comes, much to your shock, multiple nuclear strikes hit Hope County and the United States, triggering the prophecy that Seed predicted and playing into his delusions.Joseph Seed wins, the Earth is ravaged, and then you get Far Cry New Dawn, an arguably worse unshakable fate than the ending.
You trigger this ending by choosing to ‘Resist’ instead of ‘Walk Away.’
Lies of P is a dark takeon the lore of Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio. While it stays true to the source material in creative ways for a Soulslike experience, the dark fantasy turns more into horror, as the world of Krat is filled with mutated infected from Petrification Disease, dark alchemy, and rogue murderous puppets that were responsible for the fall of society.
Therefore,Lies of P’s endingis pretty bleak and dark. Well, at least the one where you choose to give Geppetto P’s heart. It’s a twist that reveals Geppetto’s evil nature, as he reanimates his son, Carlo, who then slaughters all of their friends and allies in Hotel Krat that you’ve spent the entire game helping protect. Yeah, I don’t think you’ll be in the most cheerful mood after receiving this ‘bad’ ending.
One of the most devastating endings for a protagonistin video game history comes in Red Dead Redemption. It’s a very cold lesson in trusting that the government won’t eventually betray you for your service to them, and it leaves you heartbroken for John Marston and his family. Of course, we mean the scene where John faces a firing squad outside his own home as his son, Jack, and wife, Abigail, are there to witness it unfold.
It’s true that John was no saint and ran with the Van Der Linde gang, and is now doing an even worse deed by betraying his former friends and hunting them down for the US government, often resulting in them meeting their end. But what you never would’ve expected was for the same to be done to John despite all his efforts and cooperation. It’s a punch to the gut and will wreck you.
Spec Ops: The Line is the most incredible feel-bad war video game ever made. It’s like a psychological thriller interwoven with a third-person military shooter that sees you commit war crimes and tons of vile atrocities, including the use of white phosphorus on civilians. It’s very depressing and harrowing stuff that also takes some inspiration from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
The whole game, you’re on a crusade to stop the rogue Lieutenant Colonel John Konrad (a nod to Joseph Conrad), who is apparently to blame for all the death and large-scale tragedy. But in reality,in a similar twist to Fight Club, you learn that your character, Walker, manifested this version of Konrad in his psyche to rationalize his carnage. The two are the same person, and the actual Konrad is long dead. The confrontation scene between them, psychologically, is very well done for a video game.
There are multiple endings you can get after this moment, including one where Walker can kill himself by way of Konrad doing it, kill his version of Konrad and get rescued, or get into a shootout with fellow soldiers and die by their gunfire, or kill them all and live. Either way, all endings will leave you speechless.
6A Plague Tale: Requiem
A Plague Tale: Requiem is all about the tight sibling bond between Hugo and Amicia de Rune. Hugo is Amicia’s younger brother, affected by a condition known as the Macula that allows him to control the rat plague and affect its scourge upon the world, and his struggle with those abilities causes him to be hunted. In the sequel, Amicia ventures to find a cure, but soon all hope actually becomes lost.
Believing Amicia dead, Hugo allows the Macula to consume him and grows out of control. The only way to stop it all is for his life to end. Amicia and Lucas are both there to confront Hugo’s final form, but you have the choice of Amicia killing her brother or Lucas being forced to do it instead. Either way, this is the most shattering moment in the series and will absolutely leave you in ruins.
The first season of Telltale’s The Walking Dead felt like the emotion would be carried through from start to end, especially the moment you’re introduced to Lee and Clementine. Lee is Clementine’s new guardian and protector, but he’s a soulful guy who is more like a mentor and a father figure, with their bond growing throughout the episodes. Then, what falls on you isthe most gut-wrenching and depressing moment.
Lee actually got bit by a walker, and now Clementine has to do the inevitable and end his life before he can turn, which results inone of the saddest horror game deathsof all time. It also solidifies Clementine as the main protagonist in this series, with Lee serving as a vehicle in her coming-of-age journey through the apocalypse. It’s like the course The Last of Us Part 2 would chart, but way ahead of its time, narratively speaking.
The Last of Us Part 2 is a bleak game from start to finish. The beginning is explosive, featuring the pivotal scene of Abby beating Joel to death with a golf club as Ellie is held down and forced to watch. This starts Ellie and Tommy’s path towards vengeance, which doesn’t end well and only leads to more loss. Abby also goes through her own harrowing journey after getting her revenge on Joel.
It all leads to a desperate and chance encounter at the Rattlers' compound on a beach in Santa Barbara. Abby is now hurt and caring for Lev, but even so, Ellie must take her revenge, and the two get into a knife fight that sees Ellie nearly kill Abby. Ellie remains broken in the end, and when she returns to the farmhouse, Dina and JJ leave her. She’s alone with her guitar and receives an emotional flashback of her and Joel, where she admits she would “like to try” to forgive him.
There are eight different endings you can unlock in Silent Hill 2, but each of them will feel soul-crushing and hopeless, except maybe the funny and cute ending with Mira the dog or the alien invasion one. This depressing vibe starts after you complete the hotel section and finally play the videotape that reveals James killed his cancer-stricken wife by smothering her with a pillow and that she’s been dead all along.
James confesses his actions to Laura and confronts his guilt for the murder, leading to two final boss fights – one with dual Pyramid Heads and another being the Silent Hill monster form of Maria / Mary. The ‘Leave’ ending will see James and Laura exiting Silent Hill as Mary reads her parting words to James in a voiceover, stating, “You made me happy.” And the ‘In Water’ ending sees James kill himself because of what he did.
The performances by the voice actors in the 2024 remake of Silent Hill 2elevate the drama and sorrowfulness of the final moment shared between James and Mary, as well as Mary’s ending narration of her letter.
The original Life is Strange byDon’t Nodis still the best for a reason. It’s the friendship and sisterly bond between Chloe Price and Max Caulfield that drives the emotion and heart of the story, one of the best duos in gaming history, and just simply unforgettable characters. That’s why, when it comes to the final decision point, you’ll probably need some tissues nearby. At least, I’d recommend it.
That’s because your decision is either to selfishly save Chloe and let the tornado wreak havoc on Arcadia Bay, or sacrifice Chloe to save the lives of you and everyone else in Arcadia Bay, which means Max being present to witness Chloe’s death and not do anything to prevent it. Chloe seems content with her decision to face death and leaves Max with emotional parting words, like “You did nothing but show me your love and friendship. You made me smile and laugh, like I haven’t done in years.“I’m not crying, you are.
I view Detroit: Become Human as Quantic Dream’s masterpiece. First off, its graphics, voice acting, animation, and cinematic quality can still go up against even the most technologically impressive PS5 and PC games of the current generation. Secondly, the story is my favorite of any game I’ve played, and that’s only further driven byone of the most tragic endings you can unlock for Kara, which speaks to the overall meaning of the game.
It’s called Detroit: Become Human because, by the end, you really feel sympathy for the androids and relate to them as humans and not machines, especially in the case of Kara. Kara is a housemaid android who genuinely cares for the well-being of Alice, a young android whom she treats as her adoptive daughter. In this ending, they are forced to revert to their bare factory form and get herded into a chamber to be destroyed, along with dozens of other androids, an emotional and searing image.
This scene draws parallels to the Holocaust and is a way to frame that this kind of tragic and horrible injustice can happen to any group at any point in history, even androids whom you can empathize with in the near-future setting of 2038. It elicits a true human response, and that’s why I think it’s such a powerful and reflective statement to end the game on.
