Worst Endings in Video Game History

Half-Life is considered by many to be one of the most important game series in computer history, so it's sad to see Half-Life 2 to end in such a depressing manner. After successfully destroying the Combine portal, Gordon Freeman and his friends are attacked by Combine forces and watch helplessly as Alyx's father, Eli, is killed. Even when D0g drives the enemies away, Alyx is left crying over her father's body. Obviously the story was meant to be followed by a third installment, but that was in 2007 and no news about it have been released since, leaving fans to settle with this de facto conclusion for this series. So much for the right man in the wrong place, Gordon.

Lots of hours spent in increasing your powers and developing your relationships with the other characters ultimately amount to nothing. No matter what the player chooses, Kreia dies and Malachor V explodes. Just to make things even more insulting, the player is never given the chance to refute Kreia's insulting philosophy about life and the Force. Even Chris Avellone felt ashamed of the final product.

Here we have a game that explores the complexity of moral choices and the conflict of personal freedom and the needs of society. We also have this amazing plot twist where Andrew Ryan is in fact Jack's father, while his mentor is Frank Fontaine, the real villain of the game. Sadly, the game features two standard "good vs evil" endings, depending on the player's choices. It's like the writers drove themselves into a corner with all the themes they were introducing.

This game already has a confusing story, so perhaps a confusing ending should be a surprise. After defeating Solidus in battle, Raiden is left wondering what to do next; until Snake gives him a lengthy, ham-fisted speech about the nature of life and the importance of free will, and then he is reunited with his girlfriend Rose. Unfortunately, Snake's efforts to uncover the Patriots are for naught, as Otacon reveals they have been dead for 100 years. Ultimately, Hideo Kojima saved his reputation with the ending for Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, so it kinda evens out.

Strap yourselves in, boys and girls, because this is where things get really ugly. There are four ways in which Commander Shepard can end the fight with the Reapers:
* He uses the Crucible to destroy the Reapers, along with all synthetic life in the galaxy, including EDI and the geth. Quick victory at the expense of steadfast allies.
* He can replace the Catalyst as leader of the Reapers and use them for whatever purpose he sees fit. The entire galaxy is his to protect or terrorize.
* He can sacrifice his life to bond organics and synthetics together, without their consent. Apparently, personal choice is a small price to pay for everlasting peace.
* He can flat out refuse to activate the Crucible and let the Reapers win, effectively dooming the entire galaxy for the sake of your moral principles.

Whatever Shepard chooses, the galaxy is permanently and irreversibly changed and the fates of all the characters you have come to know and love is revealed on a 2-minute cutscene. To be fair, BioWare realized their mistake and released 2 separe DLCs to make sense of what happened, but they only moderately calmed down the angry fans, which should tell you of how badly these endings were received. It's kinda understandable the new Mass Effect game takes place in the Andromeda galaxy.

I played this game with my uncle years ago, so I can tell from personal experience this game can leave a bitter taste in players' mouths. Even if it's the middle entry in the trilogy, one would expect a game of such high caliber to have a proper conclusion. Instead, it ends with a sudden cliffhanger; with the Master Chief getting ready to finish the fight. Adding insult to injury, the Chief himself had already signed out at the end of the second-to-last stage, leaving players to complete the final stage using the Arbiter instead. Don't get me wrong; the Arbiter is a good character; but you do not deviate from the protagonist. Ever.

The whole game is a pointless slog that sees Nathan Hale attempting to find a cure for the alien virus infecting his body. You'd expect a cure would be found soon, but it's later revealed that there is no cure and Hale only has a few hours before he is fully corrupted. Hale decides to make these last hours count by destroying a few Chimara ships, but the virus consumes him, leaving his friend Joseph Capelli with no choice but to kill him. Next thing you know, Capelli is the protagonist for Resistance 3.

The story of Desmond Miles comes to an unsatisfying conclusion in this game. Nobody cared, of course, because we came to play as Connor, the Colonial Assassin; but it's still worth mentioning. Minerva and Juno appear before Desmond and tell him he can either sacrifice his life to activate a shield that will protect Earth from oncoming solar flares but will also release Juno from her prison or he can let the flares hit and eradicate the majority of mankind; then he will lead the survivors and become a messianic figure... and his teachings will be corrupted and the new human civilization will destroy itself. Because the second option is friggin' stupid, Desmond chooses to sacrifice himself and task the Assassins with finding a way to stop Juno. We spend 5 games following Desmond's story and this is how he goes out? Really, Ubisoft?

To be fair, Tiberian Twilight wasn't originally meant to be part of the main Command & Conquer series; it was just a small, multiplayer game. It was only when EA got heavily involved in development that the game became an actual sequel to Tiberium Wars. The end result was a game very different from its predecessors. The ending was the icing on the cake: Kane is about to leave Earth using the Scrin tower. He convinces Commander Parker to activate it for him. Parker is shot by Colonel James (who was only using Parker to fulfill her vendetta against Kane) but nonetheless succeeds in activating the portal, allowing Kane and the Brotherhood of Nod to leave Earth. Sure, Earth is saved and the GDI wins, but Parker dies before seeing the fruits of his labor. Also, this means Kane's master plan was to leave Earth. That makes his wars with GDI seem utterly pointless given his goals never required defeating them, and when it came down to it, he actually needed their help. A crappy ending to an otherwise stellar series. Still, you gotta hand to Joseph Kucan; his performance as Kane was one of this game's few saving graces.

The entire game focused on the Ghosts attempting to stop Gabriel Rorke from activating a superweapon that could destroy America. After several confrontations, the Ghosts mortally wound Rorke and hijack his weapon to use it against the Federation. Before the Ghosts can celebrate, Rorke shows up and kidnaps the protagonist right in front of his brother and plans to brainwash him to destroy the Ghosts. All of this to set up a sequel that nobody is asking for at this point.