There is nothing better than playing through a great video game. Games with great storytelling, daring adventures, and interesting worlds are games you remember forever. In that same respect, there is nothing worse than a bad ending. Especially when it comes at the end of a good game, a bad ending just leaves a sour taste in your mouth. Why did you have to go through all that trouble for a pointless cliffhanger, an impossible choice, or a tiny pile of loot?
Video games are not just for entertainment. Playing video games is about the journey toward an end goal, and playing through a story. When a game ends with a disappointing conclusion, it can make even the best-made games and the most awesome stories seem like they were not worth the time you put into the game. It seems that with all the money, time and effort put into these games, the the creators would put more care into making sure the game ended well, or at least had a clean bridge to the coming sequel. Some games, though, seem like the creators just fizzled out and gave up at the end of the game, and did not give any thought to what the players would feel while facing an awful conclusion.
Here are 15 games that will have you breaking disks and throwing controllers, because these game endings are so bad they will make you angry. What is the worst game ending you have ever seen? Chances are you will remember forever.
15 Final Fantasy X Ended So Badly It Needed A Sequel
Final Fantasy games are known for being epic and having great storylines. Final Fantasy X is no different. It is remembered as one of the greatest Final Fantasy games in the series—all of it except the ending, that is. You spend the entire game following the fate of Tidus and Yuna. By the end of the game, you won't even care anymore. The romance of Tidus and Yuna is left in an ambiguous, lackluster ending. Yuna is sad, and Tidus is swimming away... nothing exciting there. Especially after playing through such exciting gameplay and an experiencing the game's in-depth story, this boring ending left us on a low note. Luckily, the game got a sequel right away, to help make up for the disappointing ending to the first installment. Really though, they could have just made an epic ending the first time and avoided all that trouble.
14 Borderlands Left Us Wanting Loot
Borderlands is a great series of games, and the first installment was one of the greatest first-person shooters on the market at release. The world of Pandora is huge, and there is a lot of exploring (and shooting) to do to get through the game. You fight a big blue-eyed boss monster, and essentially save the world and the entire alien race. You deserve a reward! For all that work and effort, you would expect a big payout at the end. After all, the world is called Pandora—there has to be something awesome in that box, right? Well, wrong. You're lucky to get a wimpy gun and some money at the end of this game. Overall, it should have been a lot more exciting to open Pandora's vault. Instead, the game leaves off on a bitter note with no sweet loot to remember it by.
13 Batman: Arkham Asylum's Final Joker Battle Missed The Punchline
Especially for true Batman fans, Batman: Arkham Asylum was an amazing game. Facing off against the most iconic villains of the DC Universe makes this game special. The boss battles really take this game to the next level. You battle Poison Ivy's killer plants, head off against a back-breaking Bane and avoid the stalking, prowling predator Killer Croc. You face off against your own psyche in overcoming Scarecrow's fear toxin. After all this, the final, epic battle against the ultimate Batman villain, the Joker, should be the most epic video game battle of all—but it's just not. The Joker baits you from a tower, and you fight round after round of goons and cronies. Going head to head with the Joker would have finished the game with a bang, but instead, you are tired and bored by the time you get the cut-scene with Batman defeating the Joker. Disappointing.
12 Halo 2 Left Fans Hanging
Even the most dedicated Halo lover has sour memories of Halo 2. The game was excellent, no argument there, but the ending felt rushed and unfinished—probably because it was. There were supposed to be more levels and extra gameplay, but it just didn't happen. Halo 2 was rushed to completion and the creative team was forced to rearrange the game to have a different ending, which definitely shows in the final product. After waiting a long time for Halo 2 to release, the abrupt cliffhanger ending had fans tossing their controllers in anger. It didn't help that after this insane cliffhanger, gamers had to wait a long time to get the next Halo game. Developers have come forward and said they should have just taken longer and finished the ending they had already recorded with the cast, and we can't agree more.
11 Mass Effect 3 Had Multiple Endings— And They All Sucked
Mass Effect 3 is not a terrible game. It's actually a lot of fun, and throughout the game, you make choices that will have consequences and affect the ending of the game. This is all a lie, though, because once you reach the end of the game, each of the multiple endings is functionally the same. Why go through the trouble of giving you the illusion of choice, cause, and effect if it doesn't even matter in the end? When fans finished this game, there was so much outrage that BioWare actually realized their mistake and responded. They added an alternate ending via DLC, but it doesn't make up for the initial disappointment. BioWare should have put more work into making the alternate endings actually alternate endings in the first place, and then we wouldn't have to look back on this game and get angry all over again.
10 The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening Is A Nightmare
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening gets a pass on being completely awful because it's a Zelda game. It's the first time that Zelda went handheld. With that jump to new technology, fans were expecting an innovative, exciting game to match. Boy, were fans disappointed! Getting through the game is fine, but once you reach the end, you find out all your gameplay was for nothing, because it was all a dream. All the instruments you collected, the Nightmare boss you struggled to conquer— it all meant nothing. That's right, Zelda moves to handheld and instead of being something new and great, Nintendo decides to employ the oldest, most washed out trick in the book. Fans were outraged, and understandably so. The name probably could have hinted at this...but that doesn't make it any less disappointing.
9 Far Cry 3 Will Leave You Crying For A Better Ending
Far Cry 3 is another game with alternate endings, but we could do without either of them. You would think that after all the trials you face throughout the game you might get some kind of reward at the end, but you're instead forced to choose between two crappy options. Either you choose to kill all your friends and stay on the island as king, or you don't kill your friends and you go back to a normal life. Normal life sounds nice, but there is no connection to the game—the game just ends, and there is no consequence or resolution. If you kill your friends and stay on the island, there is an awkward sex scene with Queen Citra and then...you die. She kills you. Apparently, it's some weird impregnation ritual, but it's also a sort of punishment for you choosing to be a jerk in-game. We don't want a boring life lesson, we want loot and glory.
8 BioShock Makes It Shockingly Hard To Avoid A Bad Ending
BioShock is a creepy, dark game with twists and turns that rival any good horror story. The ending (or endings) are really messed up. Not the good kind of messed up that leaves you disturbed and excited to play more—no, these are just mean and annoying. Throughout the game, you meet little girls who are protected by Big Daddies. They are infected with ADAM, a genetic material that enables super powers. You get the choice to use the ADAM for yourself, or be altruistic and save the orphans. If you save the little girls, your ending is nice. You open up an orphanage for them and live happily every after. Otherwise, all the kids die and a mysterious submarine hijacks the stolen ADAM anyway. The worst part is that you fail even if you accidentally kill or fail to rescue even one girl, so you will probably fail no matter what.
7 Ghosts 'N Goblins Tricks You With A Phantom Ending
Some games angered fans with boring endings, bad cliffhangers, or disappointing resolutions, but Ghosts 'n Goblins takes the cake for being downright mean. The ending to this game is the rudest thing Capcom has ever done to gamers. This is a pretty fun 8-bit game, and it goes pretty smoothly. At the end of one of these retro games, you expect to get a princess, a heap of gold coins, or at least some celebratory fireworks. When you finally reach the end of Ghosts 'n Goblins, you find out it's not the end at all–it's just the beginning. The end screen reveals that the entire game was an illusion. You return to your body and have to fight through an even more difficult version of the game with a weak weapon to reach the real ending. After the deception of the faux ending, nothing is worth that suffering.
6 Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic II Will Have You Running To The Dark Side To Avoid This Ending
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is not a great game, to begin with, so tacking on a disappointing ending sends angry players to the Dark Side. Throughout this game, there is very little direction or concepts that make sense. You wake up on a ship with a strange companion, and you never really learn what is going on. You end up blowing up a planet because... it was bad? With all the lore in the expansive Star Wars universe, this game could have gone in a million awesome directions. Instead, you end a directionless game with a directionless ending. Without the end credits scrolling by, you would not even notice that there was a conclusion, because the game is just over, with no real resolution. It's disappointing to get all the way through a Star Wars game with high hopes and only hit the low notes.
5 Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor Has An Awful Ending That Casts A Shadow On The Series
With The Lord of the Rings book series to reference, this game should have been solid. For the most part, it is. It really feels like you are in Middle-Earth, especially while you're hacking Uruk-Hai to death. After all the endless Middle-Earth fun, you would expect an intense ending once you figure out you are going to go up against Sauron himself. Sauron is the ultimate enemy, and he murdered your wife and son. This big final boss battle seems like it is going to be epic—but what you get instead is a half-assed cut scene explaining that you will get to fight Sauron, but you will have to wait until the next game. After an in-depth game with an awesome combat system and plenty of lore to back it up, this ending make you not even want to wait for the next game.
4 Fable II Fails To Deliver An Epic Ending
The Fable games are known for being in-depth RPGs with a lot of adventure and character growth. Fable II is no different. You fight battles, overcome obstacles, travel the land, and make choices that develop your character and even change the course of the game. The main antagonist, Lucian, is truly evil. He kills your family, even your dog, and will not stop until he succeeds in his evil plans. You get to the end of the game in anticipation of the final battle, because everything in the game promises an epic conclusion. You fight Lucian, but he is easy to defeat. Even if you don't fight him, someone else on your side will kill him. You are then faced with three end-game choices, none of which really connect to your in-game choices or advance the game. It's just over, and it fails to live up to the rest of the game.
3 Final Fantasy XIII-2 Messes Up A Perfectly Good Ending
Yep, there are two Final Fantasy Games on this list. This game is good, because it piggybacks on the success of Final Fantasy XIII. The original game was in development for a decade, and the creators took the time to perfect everything, including the ending. Unlike Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XIII did not need a sequel to fix the ending. All the loose ends were tied up and fans were happy. Final Fantasy XIII-2 came in and mucked everything up. This storyline took the continuity of the original game and made everything more confusing. This ending left us on a sad, disappointing "to be continued..." note, with no explanation of the conclusion and very little resolution to stand on. Overall, it's a mystery why this game had to mess up Final Fantasy XIII, but it definitely did prove that not every game needs a sequel.
2 Doom 2 Is Doomed To Fail With This Ridiculous Ending
Doom 2 is an excellent first person shooter, and a game you could easily come back to over and over again if the ending hadn't led to you very likely destroying the game with fire and a sledgehammer. The game itself is exciting, and making your way through a ton of inventive enemies has surprises around every corner. Then, suddenly, you're up against a wall. No, literally—a wall. The ultimate villain, the final boss, the biggest fight in the game, is a wall. I mean, it has a big demon face on it but does that really make it any better? Once you shoot the wall and it... dies? The game is just over. After fighting your way through difficult levels, countless enemies, and harrowing adventures, this is the most insulting ending imaginable. The end of this game will have you trying to shoot yourself instead of this stupid wall.
1 No Man's Sky Is No Man's Idea Of A Good Game Ending
There was a lot of hype around No Man's Sky at release, which is certainly a contributing factor to how thoroughly depressed gamers were about this ending. The beauty of No Man's Sky was going to be the ability to roam the galaxies and discover new planets. There is an option in the game to follow a set path and uncover new planets and races. The path hops from world to world on its way to the center of the universe. Once you reach the center, the assumed goal of the game, nothing really happens. You have two choices: continue exploring from there, or start the game back over at the beginning. If that's the conclusion, it seems unnecessary to have this game path at all. Sure, exploration is the goal and discovery is great, but getting nothing for all that gameplay feels like a misleading disappointment.