Most video games have started to deviate from the classic good-beats-evil story that has populated the industry for so long. The video game audience has evolved quite a bit and it only makes sense that the stories should now be aimed at older people as well. As a result, games began to take on darker aesthetics and sharper storytelling, with many players loving the maturity brought to the table by certain titles.
However, people may argue that certain games go too far in their attempt to make their games as bleak and sad as possible. This reaches a point where certain players simply cannot enjoy a happy ending of their own, and are forced to watch all their beloved characters walk down a dark path with no hope of ever getting a happy ending for themselves. Here are some titles where almost no character gets a happy ending.
10 dark souls
Miyazaki’s patented storytelling is everywhere dark souls for all to see. Almost all parts of the lore are quite well hidden and none of it is particularly fortunate.
The fact that the final boss theme is so tragic shows how sad the fate of the world’s inhabitants is. Even characters players encounter in the game have to go through their own tragedies and show how meaningless life in the world of dark souls is real.
9 Bloodborne
Bloodborne is arguably the best game Miyazaki has ever made. The haunting Victorian aesthetic coupled with the advancing Lovecraftian themes makes this game quite immersive indeed.
Suffice it to say that hardly anyone in this game gets away without going completely insane after spending too long in this plague-ridden world. The three different endings players can reach are all quite cryptic, and none of them evoke feelings of happiness given the subtext of the world.
8 Ox free
Ox freeThe time-bending story is absolutely compelling the first time around, exploring the story of Alex and her friends as they decide to explore the mysterious Edwards Island. The plot starts off simple before culminating in something truly breathtaking.
Ox free‘s strength lies in the depth of the characters and the captivating story they tell along the way. Unfortunately, a playthrough of the game reveals that the teens are in a time loop with no escape unless players decide to go through a round of New Game+ instead.
7 limbo
limbo is a truly engaging title, serving as an atmospheric side-scroller with simple yet engaging gameplay. Most people would want to mess with as little as possible simply because of how visceral the main character’s death is.
The ending of the game is purposely left open and none of the conclusions are joyful in any way. Most people agree that the boy and his sister are dead. The first makes his way through hell and relives the abuse he endured as a child.
6 Inside
After the release of limboPlaydead has been hard at work developing a game that captures the feelings of limbo while also modernizing its mechanics. The end result was a game titled Inside.
What begins as a story of a young boy trying to escape the authorities turns into a mind-boggling tale of control, where the “boy” may not even be aware. The game has both a main and alternate ending that is quite cryptic and makes it clear that the world and its characters are in a pretty bad shape.
5 Spec Ops: The Line
Spec Ops: The Line brilliantly undermines expectations, initially leaving players thinking that this was nothing more than a run-of-the-mill shooter. However, it is only when players explore the intricacies of the story that the truth comes to light.
Spec Ops: The Line serves as a great commentary on the desensitization of violence and how players deal with their trauma. Walker thinks it’s better to just blame an unseen force for everything rather than take responsibility for his actions, with each ending making it clear that neither he nor his team will enjoy a happy ending.
4 Max Payne
The first Max Payne begins in an incredibly sombre tone, describing the moment when Max came home to find his wife and child murdered. This leads the video game agent on a path of revenge where he is hunted by everyone from the police to the local mafia.
Though Max eventually clears his name, it’s clear that his fate will be anything but happy. His family’s death still weighs heavily on him and most players will have noticed how hopelessly addicted he is to painkillers too.
3 Empty space
Most horror games don’t shy away from having happy endings to maintain the integrity of their atmosphere. That is the case with Empty spacewhere the conclusion is quite definite, but feels rather hollow, considering how much Isaac Clarke has lost in the course of his journey.
His girlfriend’s voice turns out to be a hoax, when in fact she was already dead long before the events in the game ever started. In addition, the game ends with a vision of Isaac hallucinating his dead girlfriend, who then moves to beat him.
2 System shock 2
The System shock series is one of the most underrated sci-fi series out there. With the first game getting a modern remake, it’s just a given that many players will be excited to get into this series, whether as a newcomer or a long-time fan.
However, System shock is another game where the ending is anything but happy. Virtually everyone in the Von Braun is dead, and SHODAN is still alive and even now infecting humans.
1 Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 contains the proprietary brand of emotional storytelling that CD Projekt Red is so famous for. Despite the turbulent development period, the game is currently in a fairly stable state and is well worth most players’ time.
Players who invest a lot of time in V and the other side characters will certainly be disappointed with the many endings that Cyberpunk 2077 has to offer. Regardless of what options a player takes, V will eventually die if he goes back to his own body, with the only solution to keep his body alive is to put Johnny in the biochip. So players can either spend the limited time they have with the people they love or let V enter cyberspace while Johnny grabs his body. Anyway, both outcomes are pretty sad in their own right.
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