It’s then that you get to walk back through most of the places you visited, enjoy the good work you’ve done, say goodbye to your friends, and, finally, go home.Īs simple as it may sound, there’s something truly magical about Earthbound essentially allowing you to play out events that most games would try to cram into a cinematic epilogue sequence. After a long battle, you’re finally transported back to your world. Earthboundĭuring Earthbound’s climactic battle against the entity known as Giygas, the player is required to “spam” a party member’s Prayer ability in order to summon the goodwill of all the people our heroes helped along the way. That goodwill is then weaponized into attacks that help you defeat Giygas. Noire, but he’s as much of a victim of his own shortcomings as he was a hero. He may have been the protagonist for much of L.A. Phelp’s desire to go by the books, not open up about his personal past/pains, and refusal to see the truth about so many things all contributed to his death as well as the perpetuation of a societal cycle of violence, corruption, and injustice. It’s not only that kind of bleak finale that helped define the most influential noir movies ever, but an ending that confirms that Phelps’ various character flaws were all intentionally implemented. Yet, it really is something close to perfect in its own way. Between the sudden change in the game’s protagonist that happens late into the adventure, the shocking death of the game’s previous main character, and the almost joyless final moments, it can be a lot to process. Noire’s ending, and I honestly understand why. Some criminals were brought to justice, but those with true power lived to see another day and shape the public narrative about what happened. At Phelps’s funeral, we watch as corrupt cop Roy Earle delivers Phelp’s eulogy. Kelso wins that particular argument, and Phelps is actually killed shortly thereafter while attempting to help Kelso escape the sewers. Kelso disagrees and thinks they should essentially put Hogeboom down. Phelps wants to arrest Hogeboom and bring a sense of closure to the arson cases and the corruption they represent. Noire’s final moments see Detective Phelps and his old Marine buddy Jack Kelso face off against Ira Hogeboom: a fellow Marine whose recent arson attacks may have been the result of Phelps’ decision to order him to torch a cave full of soldiers during the war. With that out of the way, here are 20 of the best video game endings ever. In some cases, though, interactive elements of those final levels did factor into the ending. Generally speaking, though, endings in this instance represent the finale of a game’s story rather than the best last levels. There was no universal rule for what a video game “ending” consists of as some are naturally longer than others.That said, these entries do obviously contain spoilers. While I try to offer as much context as possible, many of these endings are complicated and quite long. These entries are not intended to be full ending explainers.If a video game had multiple endings, only one of those endings could be eligible for this list.A “one entry per franchise’ rule is in place for this list.Actually, some of those endings proudly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the great endings in other mediums.īefore we dive into those endings, though, here are a few rules to keep in mind. Truly great video game endings aren’t the anomaly they once were when the medium was young, but there’s still something of an elite group of video game endings that have raised the bar to a level we would have never previously dreamed of. We’re’ here today to celebrate those great endings. On the other hand, a truly great ending can not only solidify a game’s legacy but perhaps redeem whatever missteps that game may have made along the way. A bad ending won’t necessarily ruin a great game, but it will always be that “asterisk” you go back to when you’re recalling your adventure. A truly great video game ending has to not only feel satisfying after hours and hours of play but somehow wrap up an adventure that everyone will have inevitably experienced at least slightly differently. Never forget how difficult it is to create a truly great video game ending.
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