11 Best Video Game Endings Of All Time

Posted on Saturday, November 3 @ 09:47:05 Eastern by Alex_Osborn

First impressions are incredibly important, but the last few minutes of a game—whether right before the credits roll or in some cases after—often make or break an entire experience for the player. How does the story end? Are we left with some incredibly cruel cliffhanger? Does everyone live happily ever after? To pay tribute to some excellent storytelling, we've decided to highlight eleven games that will undoubtedly leave a lasting impression.

Obviously, there are way too many games to possibly include all that are worthy of recognition, and some just have too many different endings that properly discussing them would be a headache and a half (I'm looking at you, Chrono Trigger) so please bear that in mind before you decide to chew me out. Okay? Thanks.

Oh yeah... SPOILERS are obviously bound to follow. If you weren't astute enough to figure that out for yourself, perhaps you deserve to have eleven of the best endings ruined for you. Alright, that may have been a bit harsh.

11. Spec Ops: The Line

For a game that at first glance appears to be nothing more than a shallow third-person shooter set in Dubai, Spec Ops: The Line is incredibly deep, and it's all thanks to the ending. To come to the end of the journey and realize that everything you've been doing isn't quite what you thought it was is not only shocking, but completely horrifying, providing a look into the tragedy of war like no other game has before. If it weren't for the game's stellar ending, there would be little reason to give Spec Ops a second glance, which speaks volumes to its final moments.

10. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII is heralded by many as the greatest role-playing game of all time. Gamers love Cloud and Aerith, going so far as to dress up like them at gaming conventions. Crisis Core is special in that it serves as a prequel to the legendary RPG, providing the epic and emotional lead up to the events of FFVII. As such, the very last moments of this PSP classic not only tug on your heartstrings but fill you with a warm sense of nostalgia as you are lead to the opening moments of Square's PSone masterpiece.

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Tags: Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Zelda, Konami, Microsoft, Nintendo, Valve, Sony

Comments

damo_rox619
Joined: Jan 2007

Posted: Nov 3rd, 2012 at 2:11 pm
You only finished MGS3 4 times? That's insulting..... But hooray to MGS getting top spot! God I love that series. Good list too, I knew Red Dead Redemption would deservedly get a high spot. Also My favourite game of all time is MGS2, and while I love the story more than (evidentally) eeeeeeeverybody, the ending wasn't as 'solid' as the other games in the series, especially considering the after credits conversation about the patriots being "dead for 100 years" was contradicted by snake in MGS4 saying "that's a load of crap", it makes the ending a little pointless.

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Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012

Posted: Nov 3rd, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Thank you for including Metal Gear Solid 3. That's all I wanted in life.

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Bretimus_v2
Joined: Jan 2009

Posted: Nov 3rd, 2012 at 2:43 pm
Good list and it's not just "here it is". It was cool to hear your explanation and why you felt that way. Awesome article Alex.

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sliverstorm
Joined: Jun 2007

Posted: Nov 3rd, 2012 at 2:52 pm
I would reverse MGS3 and MGS. Where MGS told a bombastic (in the best way possible) macro-level story, MGS3 did the same while simultaneously keeping at its heart a very human story about sacrifice and patriotism. MGS4 probably had the best ending if you were a fan of Metal Gear, but MGS3 had the best unbiased ending of the series.

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Lien
Joined: Feb 2008

Posted: Nov 3rd, 2012 at 2:54 pm
This list had a list that would satisfy gamers of all genre and i wholeheartedly agree with the number 1. Nicely done Alex.

And that's very brave of you for putting ocarina of time anywhere else but the number 1 spot. Heaven forgive, i can already hear the revenging zelda fanboys stretching their fingers before they will type their essays in the comments here...

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darkvictory
Joined: Apr 2011

Posted: Nov 3rd, 2012 at 3:20 pm
Fox.....Die.

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UpAndAtThem
Joined: Mar 2009

Posted: Nov 3rd, 2012 at 3:57 pm
It's too obscure a game to make the list, but "Robotech: Battlecry" for PS2 had an awesome, and very dark ending.

Your character has won the final battle, but is stranded in space in a crippled fighter, waiting to die as his air runs out...
He gives a speech about the hope he has for the future of Earth, as it rebuilds from near-total destruction. As the last scene fades out (presumably as he blacks), you see what appears to be the light burst of a ship coming out of spacefold.
If I have my Robotech timeline right (which I may not), this is the Robotech masters coming to wage a new war on Earth... so much for that hope that he spoke of with his dying breath...

Overall, a great and very underrated game.

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xclant
Joined: Nov 2005

Posted: Nov 3rd, 2012 at 4:30 pm
i actually enjoyed the force unleashed i like the way it tied all the classic movies into its universe and i really enjoyed the alternate spin on things....

Another great game i enjoyed beating was the original god of war My god after the 99 dark kratos encounters i was ready to take Aries down i swear to Zeus.....

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friggest
Joined: Mar 2008

Posted: Nov 3rd, 2012 at 5:06 pm
Youre missing BioShock 1 or 2.
You are also missing Twisted Metal 2 endings.
RE: Code Veronica
Dino Crisis 2

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De-Ting
Joined: Nov 2006

Posted: Nov 3rd, 2012 at 5:36 pm
I don't think enough games were considered, but I know making these kinds of lists can be hard. Still, I don't agree with a lot of it.

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Longo_2_guns
Joined: Jun 2003

Posted: Nov 3rd, 2012 at 6:36 pm
Cough
Nier
Cough

Though I've never been a fan on lists like this, because they all need the word "my" at the beginning of the title. Which makes it far too easy for me to insult you for your inferior taste in art while I wear my turtleneck and drink my wine.

3 2

ShadeTail
Joined: Nov 2006

Posted: Nov 3rd, 2012 at 8:19 pm
I've been playing the original Darksiders lately, and the ending on that one is some powerful Shit. It leaves a powerful sense of satisfaction and closure, and yet...the war continues.

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drathbone
Joined: May 2011

Posted: Nov 3rd, 2012 at 8:35 pm
Surprised Braid or Bioshock isn't on there.

1 1

Alex_Osborn
Joined: Jan 2012

Posted: Nov 4th, 2012 at 6:33 am
BioShock had an incredibly poor ending. What preceded that ending, however, was amazing.

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Kakulukia
Joined: Nov 2005

Posted: Nov 4th, 2012 at 3:58 pm
Crisis Core's ending got a bit ridiculous when Zack was shot about fifty times with machine guns - plus the last shot in the face in first person - and he lives long enough to have this conversation with Cloud. What the hell were those guys shooting with, canned peas?
I'm still waiting for that game to get on PSN, though. GET TO IT, SQUARE!

I'd have put FFX somewhere in the list, too.

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HorriblePerson
Joined: Sep 2011

Posted: Nov 4th, 2012 at 4:36 pm
I'm glad that Kingdom Hearts got a mention. It's a game I always recommend. Also, I'd like to submit Persona 3 for this list.

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Greywolfe1982
Joined: Jan 2008

Posted: Nov 4th, 2012 at 5:03 pm
Enslaved: Journey to the West (Odyssey to the West?) has, without a doubt, my favourite ending of all time. In a game that was very character driven, it captured both Trip and Monkey's personalities perfectly, and everything simply felt real.

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Fieperskaivu
Joined: May 2011

Posted: Nov 4th, 2012 at 6:35 pm
Not that it should be on this list, but if you're a fan of Transformers then give Fall of Cybertron a playthrough. The last level was more exciting than anything I've played in a while.

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slothrock
Joined: Oct 2012

Posted: Nov 5th, 2012 at 8:17 am
I may be alone with this, but I feel that the Darkness 2 deserved a spot on this list. While the game itself was short, the ending was awsome. I love how it made me feel like I just ran through a ton of **** for nothing.

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oblivion437
Joined: Nov 2006

Posted: Nov 5th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
I have a hard time taking Spec Ops seriously. The story is completely implausible from the very beginning. It doesn't help matters that the superficial cribbing of Coppola and Conrad is actually shallow and meaningless; names and plot elements are yanked from various sources therein but they have no overall significance. They're as inane as the endless pop culture references in the Borderlands games. In defense of Borderlands, however, the inanity is the point; they're goofy little one shot setups for a quick giggle. In an interesting linkage; Walt Williams (lead writer of SO:TL) worked for Irrational Games when they made Bioshock. I don't think it's a coincidence that both games fail to overcome the aesthetic, ludic and narrative bars they set for themselves in the exact same way.

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oblivion437
Joined: Nov 2006

Posted: Nov 5th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
Mr. Osborn, I attempted to reply to your comment directly but couldn't...

For me the real moment where the game took a nosedive was after the big twist. It marshals all the resources it can to justify the players' lack of freedom to that point and even had the bravery to explicitly state the justification to the player. However, once that justification was nullified (the player has taken both doses of 192) the game does not change at all. In fact, the player has overall less freedom (Point Prometheus is a one-way trip) than they did when they were supposed to be under exterior control! This is a textbook example of ludonarrative dissonance. The players' actions and the story they are told have not only no meaningful relationship to each other (gameplay and story segregation) they are at odds with each other.

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boba1701
Joined: Mar 2009

Posted: Nov 5th, 2012 at 3:24 pm
Shadow of the Colossus had a great ending that really made me rethink the character I played the whole game and stuck with me for a long time.

Also, I thought your no multiple-endings rule would disqualify the MGS games since you can actually save both Liquid Snake and Big Boss?

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keadyluke
Joined: Dec 2012

Posted: Dec 4th, 2012 at 8:07 pm
final fantasty 7 should have been no1 just cause its a legendary game

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pacjoc
Joined: Jan 2013

Posted: Jan 3rd, 2013 at 2:31 am
I think I'm the only one who didn't like the Final Fantasy VII ending :)

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crazydanO5
Joined: Feb 2012

Posted: Jan 14th, 2013 at 3:16 am
That's a pretty great line up. There is "one" game that told a pretty amazing story from beginning to finish though, and that game was "Final Fantasy Tactics: War of Two Lions". I felt like it had amazing characters, and a enough twists and turns to really get you intrigued and invested. It's definitely one of the best, with a great ending as well.

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