Best Endings in Video Game History

Welcome to the game that saved Hideo Kojima's reputation after the hilariously confusing ending of Sons of Liberty.

Before the time of Solid Snake, there was a young soldier named Naked Snake. His mission is simple: defeat his old mentor, the Boss, who has defected to the Soviet Union and prevent World War III.

After fighting through numerous enemies, Snake has a final confrontation with the Boss, which ends with Snake reluctantly killing his old mentor. If that wasn't heartbreaking enough, Snake later learns that the Boss never really defected and even went as far as to plan her own death just to protect the country she loved.

Here, ladies and gentlemen, is an ending that forces people to challenge their own morals and explore the conflict between personal desires and the needs of the many.

Joel spends the entire game bonding with Ellie, seeing her as a replacement for his dead daughter, as they both try to surive in a world ravaged by undead monsters. In fact, Joel has become so attached to Ellie that he is willing to kill the Fireflies, even when they believe that Ellie should be sacrificed in order to create a cure for the virus that has destroyed the world.

With the last hope for a cure gone forever, Joel and Ellie are left to face an uncertain future all by themselves. Whether or not you agree with Joel's actions, it can't be denied that this ending fits into the game's somber, grieving tone.

Throughout this horrifying exploration of war and its consequences on soldiers, Martin Walker hunts down Konrad, the man supposedly responsible for killing innocent people in Dubai.

Players had the shock of their lives when they learned that it was Walker himself who had committed the horrible crimes Konrad was accused of and the Konrad they had been chasing after the whole time was merely a hallucination caused by Walker's psychological stress.

Depending on the players' choices, Walker can either return home a broken man, commit suicide or fully become a monster. In any case, players can never see Walker and this game in the same way again.

What can I say about this ending that hasn't been said already?

Love can force people to do stupid things and nobody knows that better than Wander. In an attempt to save Mono, the woman he loved, from her untimely death, Wander asks the mysterious Dormin to resurrect Mono. Dormin instructs Wander to kill the 16 colossi but warns him that he will have to pay a heavy price for Mono's resurrection.

Sure enough, after Wander kills the final colossus, Dormin regains his full power and takes posession of Wander. Lord Emon uses a spell to banish Dormin and Wander deep within the temple of the forbidden land.

After Dormin is defeated, Mono is fully resurrected but the man she loved is gone forever. Bittersweet doesn't even begin to describe this ending.

Even if you try to forget your past, your past will never forget you, especially if you're a criminal forced to work for the government.

John Marston is forced by federal agent Edgar Ross to hunt down members of his old gang to make sure his family is left alone. Unfortunately, Ross goes back on his promise and attacks John's home. Outnumbered, John chooses to fight Ross' men all by himself while his family escapes. This is a fight John can't win, however, and John is inevitably killed.

Many years pass and John's son, Jack, has become an adult and kills Ross in revenge for John's death. Unfortunately, Ross' death doesn't resurrect John and Jack has condemned himself to the same life John himself tried to escape from years ago. Revenge always comes with a heavy price.

The war against the Locust reaches its epic conclusion in this game.

After discovering Adam Fenix, Marcus' father, is still alive and has been working on a device that could finally destroy the Locust, Marcus and his friends must fight wave after wave after wave of Locust enemies to protect Adam until his machine is ready to activate.

Good news? The Locust are finally defeated and humanity is saved. Bad news? Many good people died to make it happen, including Adam. By the end of the game, Marcus is so broken by everything he had lost that he can't help but think about what he has left and Anya answers that they finally have a tomorrow.

Chell and GLaDOS are forced to work together to defeat Wheatley and escape Aperture Science. After a hard struggle, Chell opens a portal into the Moon and throws Wheatley into outer space while GLaDOS regains control of Aperture Science.

So, does that mean that Chell and GLaDOS will restart their old conflict? Nope. GLaDOS has developed something of a conscience throughout ther journey with Chell and has decided to let Chell escape into the real world, no strings attached. Chell's departure is celebrated by dozens of robotic turrets singing opera. Unexpected? Yes. Hilarious? You bet it was!

With all the controversy surrounding the endings of Mass Effect 3, it's easy to forget how amazing the endings of Mass Effect 2 were.

Working with the shady Illusive Man and his Cerberus organization, Commander Shepard and his/her crew embark on a potentially suicidal mission to defeat the Collectors. Depending on the player's choices throughout the game (especially during the final mission), the amount of characters who survive the endgame will vary. Even Shepard's survival is not guaranteed.

By offering similar but surprisingly different endings to players who want to discover every last secret in this game, Mass Effect 2 delivers a surprisingly personal ending to an amazing story.

Even after all these years, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is still considered one of the best games of all time, so it's only fitting for this game to have one of the best endings of all time.

With the help of Princess Zelda and the Sages, Link finally defeats Ganondorf and traps him in an alternate dimension, but Ganondorf swears he will return and destroy anyone who dares to oppose him. Zelda returns Link to his original timeline and Link uses this opportunity to prevent Ganondorf's rise to power in the first place, but not before bidding farewell to his beloved fairy, Navi.

Not only is this a heartwarming, poignant ending in its own right, but it also has serious repercussions for the Legend of Zelda franchise. According to Hyrule Historia, the ending of Ocarina of Time created 3 timelines and set the stage for future Legend of Zelda games.