One of the oldest and, debatably, most annoying storytelling tropes is the cliffhanger.
When a story ends on a cliffhanger, there are still obvious loose threads, business for the characters to take care of. Oftentimes, there may even be a smash cut to credits while a character is being actively endangered.
10 Incredible Games With Weak Endings
There have been some incredible games throughout history and yet, the ones that are truly remembered for greatness are the ones that nail the landing.
Games are obviously no exception to this trope, with a fair number of stories ending on cliffhangers of their own.
Some manage to get resolved in a timely fashion with sequels or updates only a year or two out. Others are left up in the air for as much as a decade, assuming they even get resolved at all.
10Doom (2016)
Oops, All Argent
From the very beginning of the 2016Doomrevival, Dr. Samuel Hayden makes it clear that he believes Argent energy from Hell is the solution to all of humanity’s woes.
At the end of the game, after the Slayer defeats the horrifically mutated Olivia Pierce, Hayden swipes the Argent-generating Crucible.
Using the Slayer’s tether system, he blasts the warrior somewhere into the depths of space so he can focus on Argent research.
This cliffhanger was technically resolved in Doom Eternal, as the Slayer came back aboard agiant floating space castle. How exactly hegota giant floating space castle isn’t super clear, but it’s not really important.
A Fight That Needed Finishing
Just about every mainline Halo game ends on a cliffhanger, as they’re all meant to be part of a continuous saga. One entry that deserves particular recognition, though, isHalo 2.
Halo 2 leaves things in a particularly dire state. Cortana is in the hands of the Flood Gravemind, while the many Halo rings are now set for a remote activation from parts unknown.
Meanwhile, Master Chief has been warped to a random battlefield aboard the Prophet of Truth’s ship. When asked by Admiral Hood what he’s doing there, Chief simply responds, “finishing this fight.”
This was a pretty crafty decision on the devs’ part, because with the announcement of Halo 3, they already had aperfect, hype-building taglineready: “Finish the Fight.”
8Mega Man Legends 2
We’re Diggers On The Moon
Mega Man Legends 2
At the end of Mega Man Legends 2, Mega Man Volnutt successfully defeats Sera, convincing her to end the Carbon Reinitialization Program with Gatz and Yuna’s help.
However, there’s a bit of a problem: as a byproduct of Gatz’s death during the battle with Sera, all of them are now stranded aboard Elysium.
The game ends with Mega Man still up there, while Roll begins drafting plans to build a rocket ship to fly up and rescue him.
Sadly, despite fan demand, we’ve never gottenanother Mega Man Legends game, so it looks like he’s going to be floating in space indefinitely.
7Alan Wake 2
Resolved In A Patch
Alan Wake 2
In the climax ofAlan Wake 2, both Alan and Saga have been drawn into the Dark Place, with Mr. Scratch in control of Casey’s body.
Following Alan’s manuscript, Saga banishes Scratch from Casey’s body with the Clicker, then shoots Alan in the head with a Bullet of Light to destroy him.
Saga attempts to call her daughter to see if the power of the story has been successfully undone, but the gamecryptically cuts to blackbefore we find out.
Interestingly, this was actually resolved in a post-release patch. The Final Draft update adds a new ending for a new game plus, where it’s revealed that Saga’s daughter is fine and Alan has mastered control over the Dark Place.
6Half-Life 2: Episode 2
Still Memed On To This Day
Half-Life 2: Episode 2
If you’re too young to know why people have spent years memeing on Valve for Half-Life 3’s nonexistence, you can find the reason at the end ofHalf-Life 2: Episode 2.
At the end of the game, Gordon and Alyx successfully defeat the Combine forces that are trying to prevent the Resistance from launching their portal-closing rocket.
The rocket launches and the Combine are trapped on Earth, but as everyone prepares to leave, a group of Combine Advisors appear. Gordon and Alyx are restrained, while Eli Vance is killed.
Eli was planning on telling Gordon vital information about the original Black Mesa incident, but until we getanother Half-Life, we’ll never know what that info was.
5Shenmue 3
Three Cliffhangers In A Row
The Shenmue series is meant to be viewed as a single, cohesive narrative, following Ryo’s quest to hunt down Lan Di in revenge for his father’s murder.
Unfortunately, every game in the series so far has continued that revenge quest rather than ending it.
Shenmue 3 Director Yu Suzuki is Already Hoping to Make Shenmue 4
With Shenmue 3 finally out for fans to enjoy, series director Yu Suzuki is already setting his sights on continuing the story in Shenmue 4.
After an 18-year development gap between Shenmue 2 andShenmue 3, Ryo did finally track down Lan Di in the mountains of China.
However, Lan Di defeated him pretty much immediately and took off again, meaning we’ll have to wait who-knows how long for yet another Shenmue to see what happens next.
4Sly Cooper: Thieves In Time
Stuck In Ancient Egypt
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
All three games in the original Sly Cooper trilogy had relatively firm endings, some more upbeat than others, but otherwise on good stopping terms. However, the next big release in the series,Thieves in Time, shook things up.
As Sly battled with Le Paradox aboard his time-traveling blimp, a hole in space-time was ripped open. Sly manages to get the team to safety and boots Le Paradox into the ocean before the whole blimp vanishes.
Bentley, Murray, and Carmelita have no idea where or when Sly ended up, but promise each other that they’ll track him down somehow.
A post-ending scene reveals that Sly and the blimp crash-landed at the feet of the great pyramids of ancient Egypt. This predicament has yet to be resolved.
3God Of War 2
More Of A Cliff-Climber Than A Cliffhanger
God of War II
At the end ofGod of War 2, Kratos has the power of the Blade of Olympus in his hands and a burning hatred for the gods in his heart.
He travels back to the Great War to recruit Gaia and the Titans to his cause.
In the present, Zeus tells the other Olympians that Kratos is nothing to worry about when the mountain begins to shake.
He looks down the cliff wall to see Gaia and the Titans slowly climbing up it, Kratos screaming bloody murder on her back.
This cliffhanger was resolved fairly succinctly, with God of War 3 immediately picking up with the titans scaling Mount Olympus.
2Kingdom Hearts 3
Sora In Shibuya
Kingdom Hearts 3
Just about every game in the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise ends on a cliffhanger, not just the main series. Of course, no one does cliffhangers quite like the main series.
InKingdom Hearts 3, after Kairi loses her heart and body, Sora abuses the Power of Waking to revive her. He’s warned that doing this could cost him his own existence, but he’s sure his friends will figure things out.
After reviving Kairi, Sora disappears completely. His friends all begin various forms of research and training in the hopes of tracking him down.
In the secret ending, Riku has a dream of Sora and himself in a Shibuya-like city apparently known as Quadratum. Wherever Sora is, we won’t know until Kingdom Hearts 4finally rolls around.
1Psychonauts
Took Sixteen Years To Resolve
Psychonauts
The originalPsychonautsends on a pretty solid note, at least at first. Raz successfully resolves Coach Oleander’s personal demons, leaving him sane and repentant, while Ford offers him a full role as a Psychonaut.
However, as everyone’s leaving camp, the counselors receive dire news: the Grand Head of the Psychonauts (and Lili’s dad), Truman Zanotto, has been kidnapped.
Raz, Lili, Oleander, Sasha, and Milla board the Psychonauts’ jet and fly off to save the day.
This ending was left unresolved for many years. Eventually, we found out what happened to Truman in Psychonauts in The Rhombus of Ruin in 2017, followed by the full picture in Psychonauts 2 in 2021.
8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon
Ever enjoyed an ending so much only to have it fall apart when a sequel comes out?
