Games With Endings That Still Confuse And Fascinate Players

Video games offer a unique medium for storytelling where player agency often collides with complex narratives. Some developers choose to leave their conclusions open to interpretation or steeped in abstract imagery that defies easy explanation. These endings often generate years of debate among fans who analyze every frame and line of dialogue for hidden meaning. The following titles feature conclusions that remain topics of intense discussion long after the credits roll.

‘BioShock Infinite’ (2013)

The narrative follows Booker DeWitt as he attempts to rescue a woman named Elizabeth from the floating city of Columbia. Players eventually learn that the antagonist Comstock is actually an alternate version of Booker from a different timeline. Elizabeth reveals the existence of infinite realities and lighthouses that serve as gateways between these worlds. She drowns Booker at his own baptism to prevent Comstock from ever being born in any timeline.

‘Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty’ (2001)

Raiden discovers that his entire mission on the Big Shell was a simulation orchestrated by a shadowy group known as the Patriots. The plot reveals that the Colonel giving orders was actually an artificial intelligence constructed from societal expectations. This AI explains that its goal is to control human information flow to prevent society from drowning in triviality. The game ends with a live action sequence where characters discuss genetics and memes while breaking the fourth wall.

‘Bloodborne’ (2015)

Hunters in Yharnam seek to uncover the source of a plague that turns people into beasts. Depending on player choices the protagonist can wake up from the dream to forget everything or replace Gehrman as the new host of the Hunter’s Dream. The third and most complex ending involves consuming umbilical cords to ascend into an infant Great One. This transformation implies the hunter has evolved beyond humanity to guide a new era of existence.

‘Inside’ (2016)

A young boy navigates a dystopian world filled with mind-controlled humans and deadly security systems. The final sequence sees the boy absorbed into a massive amalgamation of flesh and limbs known as the Huddle. This creature breaks out of the facility and rolls down a hill before coming to a stop near the ocean. The silent conclusion leaves players questioning if the escape was genuine or just another stage of a controlled experiment.

‘Braid’ (2008)

Tim manipulates time to rescue a princess who has been snatched by a horrible monster. The final level reverses the flow of time to reveal that the princess was actually running away from Tim rather than seeking his help. This twist implies that Tim is the monster and his obsession with the princess is malevolent. Hidden text in the game suggests the narrative also serves as an allegory for the creation of the atomic bomb.

‘Death Stranding’ (2019)

Sam Porter Bridges traverses a fractured America to reconnect isolated colonies while avoiding spectral entities. The ending reveals that his adoptive mother Amelie is an Extinction Entity destined to bring about the end of the world. She chooses to isolate herself on her own beach to delay the inevitable destruction of humanity. Sam returns to the world of the living and raises his bridge baby Lou who was previously thought to be dead.

‘NieR: Automata’ (2017)

Androids 2B and 9S fight a proxy war against machine lifeforms on a desolate Earth. The true ending requires players to fight the credits sequence itself in a bullet hell shooter segment. Other players can sacrifice their save data to help the current player succeed in this impossible battle. The game deletes the player’s save files upon completion to emphasize the themes of sacrifice and impermanence.

‘Control’ (2019)

Jesse Faden enters the Oldest House to find her kidnapped brother and becomes the Director of the Federal Bureau of Control. She discovers that an entity called the Hiss has corrupted the building and her brother Dylan. Jesse cleanses Dylan but he remains in a coma while the Hiss threat is contained but not eliminated. The game ends with Jesse accepting her role as Director while many mysteries about the Board and the Oldest House remain unsolved.

‘Alan Wake’ (2010)

A writer searches for his missing wife in the town of Bright Falls while battling darkness that brings his fiction to life. Alan realizes he must write a balanced ending to his story to save his wife Alice from the dark presence. He sacrifices his own freedom by trapping himself in the Dark Place so Alice can escape to the real world. His final line states that it is not a lake but an ocean.

‘Soma’ (2015)

Simon Jarrett wakes up in an underwater facility in the future after a brain scan. He discovers that his consciousness has been copied into a robot body while his original human self died long ago. The game ends with Simon launching a virtual reality ark containing human scans into space to save humanity. The player perspective stays with the Simon left behind in the abyss while the copy lives on in the simulation.

‘The Witness’ (2016)

Players solve hundreds of line puzzles on a vibrant and uninhabited island. Completing the final challenge leads to a sequence where the player character flies over the island in an elevator before the game resets. A secret ending shows a live action video of a developer waking up from a virtual reality session in his office. This suggests the entire island experience was a game within a game designed to test perception.

‘Limbo’ (2010)

A boy travels through a monochrome landscape filled with lethal traps and giant spiders to find his sister. He eventually crashes through a pane of glass and lands in a forest where he sees a girl. She looks up as he approaches but the game cuts to black before they make contact. Many interpret this to mean both children are dead and trapped in a purgatory state.

‘Silent Hill 2’ (2001)

James Sunderland travels to Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his wife Mary who died three years prior. The narrative reveals that James actually killed Mary himself to end her suffering and his own burden. Different endings show James committing suicide or trying to resurrect Mary using dark rituals or leaving town with a child named Laura. The Dog ending humorously reveals a Shiba Inu was controlling the events from a control room.

‘Mass Effect 3’ (2012)

Commander Shepard leads the galaxy in a final stand against the Reapers. The catalyst intelligence offers Shepard three choices to resolve the conflict by destroying synthetic life or controlling the Reapers or merging organic and synthetic DNA. Each choice has vast implications for the future of the galaxy and the survival of Shepard. The original ending caused significant controversy due to the lack of closure regarding the consequences of these decisions.

‘Spec Ops: The Line’ (2012)

Captain Walker leads a team into a sandstorm-ravaged Dubai to locate a missing colonel. As the mission progresses the situations become increasingly hallucination-heavy and morally disastrous. The ending reveals that the villain Walker was chasing had been dead the entire time. Walker was suffering from a dissociative break to cope with the war crimes he inadvertently committed during the mission.

‘Returnal’ (2021)

Selene crashes on the alien planet Atropos and finds herself trapped in a time loop where death resets her progress. She discovers a replica of her childhood home and uncovers repressed memories involving a car crash. The ending sequences blur the line between the alien reality and Selene’s psychological trauma regarding her mother and son. It remains unclear whether Atropos is a real planet or a purgatory constructed from her guilt.

‘Signalis’ (2022)

An android named Elster searches for her lost partner in a dystopian facility overrun by corruption. The narrative loops and degrades as reality fractures under the influence of a cosmic entity. Endings vary based on playstyle and suggest different outcomes for the promise Elster made to her partner. The surreal imagery and non-linear storytelling leave the true fate of the characters open to interpretation.

‘Elden Ring’ (2022)

The Tarnished travels the Lands Between to repair the Elden Ring and become the Elden Lord. Players can choose to usher in an age of stars with Ranni the Witch or burn the world with the Frenzied Flame. The Age of Stars ending involves taking the order of the world far away into the cosmos to remove its influence on humanity. The lore remains cryptic regarding the true nature of the Greater Will and the Outer Gods.

‘Dark Souls’ (2011)

The Chosen Undead fights through the kingdom of Lordran to reach the Kiln of the First Flame. The player must choose to link the fire to prolong the Age of Gods or let it fade to begin the Age of Dark. Linking the fire demands the sacrifice of the protagonist and merely delays the inevitable darkness. Walking away allows the natural cycle to proceed but casts the world into an uncertain era of humanity.

‘Hollow Knight’ (2017)

A small knight explores the ruined kingdom of Hallownest to contain a magical infection. The basic ending sees the knight absorb the infection and become sealed away as the new Hollow Knight. The true ending requires the player to enter the mind of the infection’s source and defeat the Radiance. This action destroys the infection permanently but seemingly consumes the knight and their siblings in darkness.

‘Final Fantasy VII Remake’ (2020)

Cloud Strife and his allies fight the Shinra Electric Power Company in the city of Midgar. The group encounters ghostly entities called Whispers that exist to ensure the timeline follows the plot of the original game. The party decides to defeat the Arbiter of Fate and effectively unbind themselves from destiny. This change creates a new timeline where characters who originally died may still be alive.

‘Kingdom Hearts III’ (2019)

Sora and his friends gather to defeat Master Xehanort and prevent another Keyblade War. Sora abuses the power of waking to save Kairi from destruction and alters reality in the process. The game ends with Sora fading away while his friends play on the Destiny Islands. A secret movie shows Sora waking up in a realistic version of Tokyo while Riku wakes up in another modern city.

‘Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’ (2015)

Players control Venom Snake as he builds a mercenary army to take revenge on Cipher. The final twist reveals that the player character is not the legendary Big Boss but a medic who underwent facial reconstruction and hypnotherapy. The real Big Boss has been operating in the shadows to build a true military nation elsewhere. Venom Snake accepts his role as a phantom and eventually dies fighting Solid Snake in the original game.

‘Little Nightmares II’ (2021)

Mono and Six travel through a distorted city to reach a signal tower that is warping reality. Mono eventually defeats the Thin Man and rescues Six from a distorted monster form. Six betrays Mono during their escape and drops him into a chasm where the flesh walls absorb him. Time passes and Mono grows up to become the Thin Man ensuring the time loop continues.

‘Twelve Minutes’ (2021)

A husband is trapped in a time loop where a police officer accuses his wife of murder. The protagonist eventually learns that the officer is looking for the wife’s father who is actually the protagonist himself. The loop is revealed to be a therapeutic session designed to help the protagonist accept his repressed memories of incest. Players must choose to forget the past or accept reality to break the cycle.

‘Transistor’ (2014)

Red fights through the city of Cloudbank using a talking sword that contains the consciousness of her lover. She defeats the Process that is deleting the city but finds that she cannot restore what was lost. Red chooses to impale herself with the Transistor to join her lover inside the weapon’s digital world. The two are reunited in a countryside simulation within the sword while the physical world remains silent.

‘Hyper Light Drifter’ (2016)

A drifter suffering from a terminal illness explores a ruined world to find a cure. He destroys a malevolent entity known as Judgment that resides in the center of the map. The exertion of the final battle causes the drifter to succumb to his illness and die. The final vision shows a jackal leading the drifter toward a white light while the world begins to heal.

‘Fahrenheit’ (2005)

Lucas Kane commits a murder while possessed and tries to uncover the supernatural forces behind his actions. The story escalates from a murder mystery to a global conflict involving ancient Mayan oracles and artificial intelligence. Lucas eventually gains superpowers and fights the internet itself in a physical form. The ending varies depending on which faction Lucas allows to control the secret of immortality.

‘Deadly Premonition’ (2010)

FBI agent Francis York Morgan investigates a ritual murder in the town of Greenvale. He constantly speaks to an unseen presence named Zach who turns out to be his alternate personality. The ending reveals that the player has been controlling Zach and that York is the one who vanishes. The narrative involves supernatural trees and gas zombies that complicate the murder mystery.

‘Killer7’ (2005)

Harman Smith leads a group of seven assassins who are physically manifestations of his own personality. The plot involves a political conflict between the United States and Japan involving broken treaties and missile strikes. The game ends with a confrontation that may not have happened in reality due to the nature of the protagonist’s existence. The final scene jumps one hundred years into the future to show the conflict is eternal.

‘Drakengard’ (2003)

Caim and his dragon Angelus fight to save the world from the Watchers and the Empire. The final ending sees the pair transported through a dimensional rift to modern day Tokyo. They engage in a rhythm battle against a giant queen beast in the sky above the city. The Japanese Air Force shoots them down immediately after their victory and leaves their bodies impaled on a tower.

‘The Vanishing of Ethan Carter’ (2014)

Paul Prospero investigates the disappearance of a young boy named Ethan Carter in Red Creek Valley. He solves murders and encounters supernatural entities like spacemen and ancient sea monsters. The conclusion reveals that Paul is a figment of Ethan’s imagination created to cope with a house fire. The supernatural events were stories Ethan invented while dying of smoke inhalation in a locked room.

‘Virginia’ (2016)

FBI agent Anne Tarver investigates a missing persons case in a small town with a secret. The narrative is told without dialogue and relies heavily on jump cuts and dream sequences. Anne experiences visions of alien abductions and rituals that may or may not be real. The ending suggests a cyclical nature to her career and choices without offering a definitive solution to the case.

‘Firewatch’ (2016)

Henry takes a job as a fire lookout to escape his troubled personal life and communicates with his supervisor Delilah. They uncover what appears to be a massive government conspiracy involving monitored communications and fenced areas. The truth reveals a tragic accident involving a former lookout and his son rather than a grand conspiracy. Henry and Delilah never meet face to face and simply evacuate the forest as a wildfire approaches.

‘No Man’s Sky’ (2016)

Players explore a procedurally generated universe with the goal of reaching the galactic center. Reaching the center resets the simulation and transports the player to a new galaxy to begin again. The lore explains that the universe is a simulation created by an artificial intelligence called the Atlas. The Atlas is dying and the traveler is witnessing the final moments of its processed existence.

‘Outer Wilds’ (2019)

The player explores a solar system trapped in a twenty-two minute time loop that ends with a supernova. They eventually reach the Eye of the Universe which exists outside of the current reality. Entering the Eye causes the universe to end and a new Big Bang to occur based on the player’s experiences. The game concludes with a screen showing a new universe with new lifeforms born from that sacrifice.

‘Layers of Fear’ (2016)

A painter wanders through his shifting Victorian mansion while trying to complete his masterpiece. The environment changes based on where the player looks and reveals the painter’s descent into madness. The ending depends on which items the player collected and can result in a portrait of his wife or himself or a formless mess. The loop often restarts to imply the artist is trapped in his obsession forever.

‘Outlast 2’ (2017)

Blake Langermann searches for his wife Lynn in a remote region controlled by a religious cult. He suffers from hallucinations of his childhood school where a friend named Jessica died. Lynn gives birth to a baby at the end of the game but claims there is no infant before dying. Blake is left holding what he believes is a child while the sun appears to explode and destroy the world.

‘Prey’ (2017)

Morgan Yu fights alien creatures called Typhon aboard the space station Talos I. The ending reveals that the entire game was a simulation run by Alex Yu to test a Typhon hybrid. This hybrid has been implanted with Morgan’s memories to see if the aliens can learn empathy. The player must choose to take Alex’s hand or kill everyone in the room.

‘Scorn’ (2022)

A humanoid creature navigates a bio-mechanical world filled with flesh and machinery. The protagonist attempts to reach a portal to ascend to a higher state of existence but is attacked by a parasite. The final sequence sees the protagonist mutate into an immobile mass of flesh just inches away from the exit. The game offers no dialogue or text to explain the history or purpose of this gruesome world.

Tell us which game ending left you the most baffled in the comments.