By Azhar on 24 Apr, 2012 at 4:15 PM

Which Game Had The Worst Ending?

After the recent global rage-induced season of controversy surrounding the ending of Mass Effect 3, I started to think about game endings in general and decided to ask readers about this in this week’s Question of the Week. That is, what would be the worst game ending you’ve ever experienced?

Typically, a game’s ending can be bad because it doesn’t answer its main story questions, is nonsensical, contradicts its plot, ends on a bad cliff-hanger or just plain sucks. Of course there are many criteria that determines a bad ending, and while a lot of it is subjective, there are many exceptions that just aren’t good in general. So, which game severed your nerve because of its ending?

Personally, funnily enough, the worst ending I can remember in recent times actually is from the highly controversial Mass Effect 3. I hated it, and said most of what was needed to say in my write-up about it. And yes, I also studied in the indoctrination ending too, after my write-up, and my opinion hasn’t changed much. Another ending that I recently remember hating was from Syndicate, because it was cliched and left the game feeling so unfinished, much like Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

I don’t want to ramble on for too long, so I won’t really go back ten years ago to think of any endings in the distant past that I considered to be bad. But I’m sure that you get the gist of it by now.

So what are your worst game endings? Mine is Mass Effect 3′s, from recent memory.

Question Of The Week is your chance to get involved. Experience the opinions and thoughts of eGamer readers and staff members. Also, if you have a good Question-Suggestion, email us and we might use it.

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Name: Azhar Amien
Location: Cape Town
Position: Editor, Reviews

Azhar has published 2506 posts. Read all of Azhar's posts.

Cloud Strife

Pacman had the absolute WORST ending EVER!
kluch

KoA: Reckoning ending was pretty shit IMO
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  What was shit about it? :) With spoiler warnings of course.
- kluch
  
  NOT REALLY SPOILERS BUT OK!#!****#***
  
  Its just this whole epic game leading up to this lolshit boss, I played it on hardest and it was a joke? Then you kill it and DAT ELF chick pops you a letter, you get a castle. Thats all, no cool gear or w.e just this “castle”. But mostly the boss fight
Coxsenai

World of Warcraft. :/ NEVER ENDS!!

Otherwise I would say Assassin’s creed Brotherhood.
- AG_Sonday
  
  Revelations was worse, when you look at Desmond’s ending.
- Toxxyc
  
  True dat. Revelations has thus far one of the most shitty endings in a game. Basically forces you to but AC III if you have anything more than half a brain cell.
- AG_Sonday
  
  Well that’s the point as far as I can see. Each game has a narrative with your ancestral assassin which gets wrapped up by the end of the game while Desmond’s story is continuing and will only reach closure with AC III.
  
  The problem is that the ending of Revelations chose to glance over some things that really could’ve been explained better or had some more time dedicated to them. It’s like they were too lazy and just decided to push those reveals forward to AC III.
- Toxxyc
  
  Slight spoilers:
  
  The reason I dislike the AC endings (Desmond’s side) is because it’s becoming very soapy-like. It’s literally a case of: I play for ~20 hours straight on a game I put a crapload of time (and money) into. I expect to find an answer with each new game, to find some closure or explanation (even the slightest) only to have Desmond say “I know that we have to do” {ladadadiedaaaaaa} *end of game*. 7de Laan anyone?
  Don’t dislike the game, and I absolutely love the endings to the Altaïr/Ezio parts of the game, and it’s what I’ve actually been playing Revelations for.
  
  I couldn’t care less for Desmond.
  
  The way they ended the Altaïr part of the game remains to me one of the most epic parts of the series. It’s just sooooo fitting, peaceful and just the way I would’ve expected him to want to end. Now THAT’S how they should make an ending.
  
  Still, I love the series.
  
  *goes off to see if the ACIII pre-order is available already*
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  I completely agree Toxxyc, but this is the very thing that makes me have absolutely no faith in Assassin’s Creed 3′s story, because Desmond will take up the mantle of the main character. Connor’s story will probably be great, but he’s not the main character so it just trips me out.
  
  I mean, it’s been four games and Desmond has hardly featured, and nor does he have any depth to his character. The stuff they revealed in Revelations were so predictable, and you picked up most of it through listening to the dialogue in the first game already. Massively disappointing.
  
  Altair and Ezio got great send-offs, but I can’t help but feel Revelations was a DLC. It was a really bad experience up until the send-off. And I think it’s done the wrong thing for the franchise, as in making it about Ezio rather than trying to give any depth to Desmond. He’s a loss cause now, and should die.
- AG_Sonday
  
  Couldn’t have said it better, Azhar. in fact, that’s pretty much what I was gonna say.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=720787108 Charl Den Dulk

Syndicate`s ending is fine because it ends were Syndicate War starts if you look at all the canon present in the story. Mass Effect 3 by far the worst.
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  Okay I guess that’s true, but many gamers probably haven’t played Syndicate Wars, and as a stand-alone experience it made Syndicate feel very bare-boned. I mean, it was already barely 6 hours long, and the ending was just abrupt.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=720787108 Charl Den Dulk
  
  That is because I pre-date all you grasshopper gamers by a few years. I used to play it with games like Genewars and Magic Carpet and Crusader No Remorse :P
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  Haha I come from the era of Jazz Jackrabbit, Worms, Liero, Pokemon (when Gameboys were the boss) and the rest :D
- Cloud Strife
  
  OMG Jazz Jackrabbit was the shit. Also in those days I enjoyed Alone in the Dark and the original Syndicate was for quite a while my favourite. Studying for school was a neglected concept..
Treble

Skyrim for one oh dear it was crap even crap would call that crap and the ending of AC Revelations a close second
- Toxxyc
  
  Wait – it’s possible to finish Skyrim? :P
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  Technically, Toxxyc, yes it is :P If you feel that finishing the main storyline means finishing the game :D
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=720787108 Charl Den Dulk

Ahahaha, Azhar going to give my age away here but the first games I touched on my dad’s pc was Ally Cat and Rampage go google if you don’t know :P

http://image.dosgamesarchive.com/screenshots/alleycat1.gif
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  Hahaha wow, you’re a relic :P I’m 18, still trying to catch up on the classics I missed, on top of trying to play every noticeable game released in a year. :D
  
  You’re making me nostalgic of my early bird games, like Jazz JackRabbit (even the original DOS one), LittleFighter and Pokemon..not to mention Contra and all those gems.
- Cloud Strife
  
  Eish Charl. I’m in the same boat..I played Ally Cat on a 286 on floppy..Remember Rampage? Rampage and Double Dragon was like the first multiplayer experience of my life..
- Jerry Curlan
  
  Well sir, I think I have you beat… as there weren’t any true PC’s when I was pumping quarters into PacMan & Defender in the arcade. I had a Commodore 64 at the time (64kb RAM lol) that would play games off a cassette tape. Fun times.
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  LOL Jerry Curlan is a golden oldie :P I think he does have you beat, Charl! Isn’t it cool though to see how games have progressed since then? :D
AG_Sonday

I’d have to say Darkness II or possibly Minesweeper. No, it’s definitely Minesweeper.
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  Yeah in Minesweeper those victory sunglasses are the shit!
  
  I remember getting so damn lucky on beginner once. Playing so long in IT in school, I managed to get a record time of 5 seconds, down from 11 to 7 and then finally to 5.
- Yashaar Mall
  
  and then people are like, “OMFG!! YOU MEAN THIS GAME HAS RULES??”
Martin van Tonder

Mass Effect 3′s ending wasn’t bad … It was a good ending to a great game.

Games with bad endings are games that don’t really ‘end’. They leave gaps in their story for another game for eg. all the Crysis games, all the Assassins’s Creeds games. They’re not bad games, but they really have sh*tty endings.
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  I can’t really agree with you there Martin. You’re basically saying that all cliff hangers are bad endings. I believe a good cliff hanger wraps up core issues of the game’s plot, but opens up new ones for the next game. A bad ending leaves nothing answered, and doesn’t end conclusively.
  
  Now admittedly Assassin’s Creed isn’t the best example since they don’t provide any answers, but the first game had an excellent ending because it wrapped up the main plots and opened up an awesome cliff-hanger for what was to come.
  
  Mass Effect 3′s ending being bad or not is a matter of gigantic controversy that I think everyone wants to put behind them by now :P I thought it was rubbish.
- http://egamer.co.za/author/cavie Caveshen “CaViE” Rajman
  
  Seriously, how many sci-fi movies have you watched where the ending was perfect?
  
  As for the Crysis and Assassin’s Creed things, I’m inclined to agree here.
  
  As far as the two Crysis games go, the first one’s ending didn’t quite connect with the second game at all, did it? No coherency.
  
  Then Assassin’s Creed ended well yes, but every subsequent game has done the same thing: Grand reveal of sci-fi element, game ends, play ALL of the next game until the last five minutes, grand reveal of sci-fi element, game ends, etc etc. It’s a disappointment that we have to basically watch a 30-minute cutscene play out over the course of a hundred+ hours.
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  What kind of defense is that :P The ending doesn’t have to be perfect. I quite clearly said it had to be conclusive :) But Mass Effect 3 is an ancient debate now.
  
  I forgot to mention Crysis. I enjoyed the first game’s ending, but Crysis 2 doesn’t even seem remotely connected. I couldn’t understand how it got from point A to B. Even the designs of the aliens completely changed, to the point that it didn’t seem like the same enemy.
  
  I only said the original Assassin’s Creed ended fantastically. I think Assassin’s Creed 2 did enough to further the hype, so it was a nice end, but apart from Brotherhood’s great wrap-up of Altair and Ezio’s story, I agree, the endings didn’t make the experience worth it. As such, I don’t really have any faith in AC3′s story, but at least I can sleep at night knowing the gameplay will be good.
- Toxxyc
  
  Funny, the first game that shot into mind when I thought about crap endings was the original Crysis. But then I started to think about it a bit more and realized that it’s actually pretty awesome. Sure, Crysis was a game built to show off the epic engine, but it still was a solid FPS experience for me. Same with Crysis 2. Crysis 2 pretty much secured my love for the series. Not because it was a linear FPS with (face it, it’s true) pretty average graphics, but because it was fun (never got tired of the headshots on the pink aliens) and made me feel incredibly awesome along with it. Only at the end when you realize that, well, you’re pretty much a sack of bones and blood and that the Nanosuit is what kept you both alive and standing, you get the point of the game: You’re nothing more than a tool for the Nanosuit, a host to this epic parasite… LOVE the endings. All of them. Warhead’s as well.
http://egamer.co.za/author/cavie Caveshen “CaViE” Rajman

Need For Speed: Most Wanted. When I found out [spoilers] was really an undercover [spoilers], I was mortified. My erection was never quite the same after that.

Just kidding. :P

To be honest I couldn’t find a single game off the top of my head which had an ending that was “worst” in my opinion. Most games I play either end relatively well or in a mediocre way that leaves me not dissatisfied but not fully satisfied either. A sort of “meh” rather.

To humour, then, I went through my entire games list on my Xbox 360 (obviously there’s a lot more from the PC titles I’ve played over the years but let’s go with it) and the only one I could find that was a marginal disappointment was Jericho, because the ending of course could be completed by a five-year-old whereas getting to that point was… not as easy. Though still easy.

Incidentally, and totally not trolling Azhar here, but I found Arkham City’s plot arc involving Strange and Ra’az to be rather contrived and predictable. Which is to say, I saw it coming from the moment I set foot in Arkham City. The Joker twist was epic, and redeemed the game nonetheless, but, bleh.

*awaits potato rage*
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  Actually that’s not trolling me :P I also found Ra’s final story influence to be a bit of a spastic moment, but at least it made sense, and the game was pretty damn conclusive I’ll give it that. It felt like a great ending to Batman, and it was a really bold, confident move from Rocksteady. And I thought the overall plot was fantastic. Rocksteady really used the source material well, and proved they’re not afraid to take liberties with it. That final Joker twist was unbeatable, and redeemed my eyebrow-raised moments.
  
  Overall though, I can’t say whether I like Arkham Asylum or Arkham City better. I think the Asylum experience, atmosphere and concept was much more oppressive and immersive (Scarecrow moments anyone?), and Batman seemed a lot darker. His cowl design was cooler. But Arkham City’s gameplay, and overall story were amazing, as well as the final twist. The game’s last stretch completely annihilated Arkham Asylum’s final endgame.
  
  But I think both games are outstanding on their own. I wouldn’t want to debate which was better, as it would be a disservice to both. I really like the fact that Rocksteady opted for something so different with and put a staggering amount of effort into their sequel, and in the end that’s what mattered to me.
- http://filesharingtalk.com/ SonsOfLiberty
  
  Dude Most Wanted was the best NFS game ever :) And as for you SYFY comment, I can’t think of any :D besides Serenity/Firefly, but I blame that on FOX! And you already know my stances on games and endings so I won’t even talk :)
  
  BAC wss the best game this year :) Loved every minute but if you dig deeper you know why the Joker thing had to turn out the way it did.
  
  And with Asslym everyone expected it to flop, they were both some of the best games I ever played, can’t compete with Bioshock but close enough :)
- Toxxyc
  
  Yeah the whole “undercover” thing really did make absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.
  
  I found Metro 2033′s ending a little lacking in detail as well (cliffhanger classic), though I hope that it’s to be clarified in the new game. I need to know more man, I need to know more… :)
- http://filesharingtalk.com/ SonsOfLiberty
  
  Oh dude I loved Metro 2033, I got why it ended that way, and I played the “good” way each time and have only gotten the one ending, ever tried for the others, CANNOT wait for Metro Last Light, the game play trailers look awesome.
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  I still need to finish Metro 2033 :/ Gonna have to be wary of that cliff hanger now..
- AG_Sonday
  
  Don’t you dare say bad things about Most Wanted, boy. It was great and that’s the end of it :P.
  
  However, Arkham City’s plot did well to include Ra’s al Ghul but the way it was done was so strange (hehe) and somewhat at odds with everything else going on but it did allow for Joker to once again take centre stage and I think that was probably the plan. Rocksteady didn’t want any villain to be more memorable than Joker in Arkham City.
Cloud Strife

At the end of the day the endings arent that important to me as long as the game is fun. I look for good endings in other industries, like books..but thats personal preference.
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  The endings are only important to me in story driven games. Basically games you play largely for the story.
- Cloud Strife
  
  I remember the days of Silent hill where if you missed a whole bunch of stuff it resulted in a crap ending so I get what youre saying, its just not a deal breaker for me.
- AG_Sonday
  
  It’s no deal breaker in most games but a shitty ending does mar the experience because you might’ve enjoyed the game up till that point and will still remeber it fondly but a bad ending will definitely leave a bad taste in your mouth that won’t go away soon.
Yashaar Mall

I cant think of a single game I’ve played and said, “i am disapoint with hierdie ending.” I’ve almost never let a small segment of a game or a story affect me. However, i was extremely disappointed when I caught the then all 150 (or 151) Pokemon, and all Oak gave me was a shitty piece of paper that said, “Well done”.
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  Oh my word, I know right? Catching all the Pokemon is the most unrewarding thing ever.
  
  Why can’t you unlock a giant potato monster? Or something equally evil.
- AG_Sonday
  
  Well Pokemon is one of those ‘the journey is more important than the end’ type of things and honestly, they don’t really know how to end it which is why they keep inventing new Pokemon for Ash to catch in the animated series.
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  But Ash is a little bitch. Or a pedo. He wouldn’t even let Bulbasaur evolve.
http://www.facebook.com/nadine.franzsen Nadine Franzsen

L.A. Noir horrible ending, made me dislike the game even though I enjoyed it before I got to the ending.
- http://egamer.co.za/ Azhar Amien
  
  I agree the ending was pretty abrupt and it seemed off, but I really enjoyed the experience. It did waver towards the end, and I was expecting disappointment. But there’s so much more Rockstar could do with that IP in a possible sequel, but I think it’s probably best left alone as a great experiment.
  
  One of its main problems was that even though it was immersive and deeply interesting, it was also extremely formulaic, even when you moved through the different divisions. Homicide was by far the best :D