Summary
Plenty of video games love to reward players for their hard work with a happy ending. The heroes win, the world-ending villains are defeated, and the day is saved (at least, until the sequel). But then there are games that prefer to reward their players with a satisfying end to an engaging story, no matter how much it hurts.
Rockstar Gamesare masters of thesedark endings. Their biggest titles feature grim, violent worlds filled with tragedy and betrayal, where a neatly wrapped-up “happily ever after” just wouldn’t feel natural. Life is hard. Characters are complex. And sometimes, the bad guy simply wins.
Some protagonists were justmade to suffer, and with a name like “Max Payne,” there just was no escaping it. The first entry in the belovedMax Payneseries saw the titular detective’s happiness come to a screeching halt with the tragic loss of his wife and daughter.
The man spends the next two games spiraling between depression, anger, and revenge. One of the few bright glimmers of hope he has is his burgeoning relationship with the duplicitous Mona Sax. However,Max Payne 2sees Mona gunned down by Lem after choosing to spare Max’s life. In the game’s final moments, Max’s love interest passes away in his arms, and he’s forced to accept his life of tragedy.
One of the reasonsGrand Theft Auto 5is so acclaimed is its use ofthree main charactersinstead of the traditional single protagonist. The story weaves together the lives of three completely different men — Franklin, Michael, and Trevor — and how circumstances led them to becoming “flawed, awful, totally uncomfortable, and poorly matched” friends.
The game’s climax, however, aims to put their bonds to the ultimate test. Franklin is confronted with an impossible decision: kill either one of his best friends, or risk impossible odds trying to save them both. Choosing to betray either one is bad enough, but Michael’s death hits particularly hard. Just as his life was turning around, the man he took under his wing lets him down — figuratively and literally.
Arthur Morgan isnot a good person. No one in the Van der Linde gang is, and that’s sort of the point. All throughoutRed Dead Redemption 2, it’s made crystal clear that the outlaw ways are dying, and for good reason. The gang, Dutch in particular, may try to claim some twisted morality for their actions, but the changing world has no place nor sympathy for them anymore.
The game’s two endings both see the gang disbanded, with each membereither dead or trying to get a clean slate. Dutch is still in denial over Micah’s manipulations, and Arthur himself is dying. If players tried to redeem Arthur throughout the game, he at least passes away with some integrity. Otherwise, Micah puts him down like an animal. It’s a game with no winners, only broken men.
Cole Phelps is a man with a complicated past, which has caused him to struggle in his personal life. However, as a detective, he was unbreakable, refusing to bow to the rampant corruption in his departments. When Roy Earle failed to win him over to his dirty cop ways, he decided to ruin Phelps’s marriage and career by publicly airing out his dirty laundry.
Even in disgrace, Phelps continued his investigations, eventually overcoming the evil schemes ofMonroe and Dr. Fontaine.LA Noireends with his heroic sacrifice, uttering a solemn “goodbye” to those whose lives he’s just saved. That would be bleak enough, but it gets worse. Earle speaks at his funeral, and his eulogy is a thinly-veiled brag about how he’s gotten away with everything. The only criminal Phelps couldn’t bust stands triumphant over his casket, daring to call him “a good friend.”
At leastGTA 5gave players a slim chance for the three main characters for a happy ending, butGrand Theft Auto 4is a resolute downer. No matter what the player chooses, main character, Niko, is doomed to lose someone close to him in the final act. Their only choice is who that person is: his beloved bowling-loving cousin Roman, or his close friend/possible girlfriend Kate.
To make matters worse, both potential murders share a setting: the front steps of a church mere moments after Roman’s wedding to Mallory. It’s hard to say what’s sadder: Kate dying in Niko’s arms just as they’re growing closer, or Roman dropping right in front of his blushing bride. And all poor Niko has to cling to is the promise of retribution.
The aforementionedRed Dead Redemption 2ends with John Marston as the only Van der Linde gang member to truly escape the outlaw life, striking out to start anew with his wife Abigail and son Jack. At least, he did…for a while. The originalRed Dead Redemptioncontinues where the prequel left off, showing that a former outlaw can never truly escape his past.
After being forced to hunt down his former associates, John returns home, believing the Pinkertons will now leave his family alone. Instead, they roll up to the Marston farm with an entire firing squad in tow. Realizing his fate is sealed, John helps his family escape before taking down as many shooters as he can. Thislegendary sacrificewas bad enough, but it led young Jack to become a vengeful outlaw himself, the very life his father hoped to save him from.
