Welcome one and all to our new Saturday club feature ‘Controversial club’. As so much of our content is positive, charming and a lovely read we thought we’d start a weekly article where we can get a bit of rage out, or just generally be dicks! I introduce our controversial club, a place where we can all write about things that get on our nerves, rub us the wrong way and generally go against the norm.
This week we’re talking about our most favourite controversial game endings, those that maybe rubbed people the wrong way!
Oh, and Spoilers ahead. Obviously.
Salman
I don’t really remember a lot of controversial endings but one that really divided me at one point was definitely the Last of Us’. To me that game is a super good story stuck in the body of a just okay game. But after seeing that ending I didn’t want the story to be over and then after some thinking I realized that it was kinda perfect. The subtle way Ellie reacts in that scene is just so perfect and it made me happy that it ended right there. It also then made me super unhype for The Last of Us II since it’ll be following Joel and Ellie again. Which is like whaaa dude come on like give us new stories with new characters but whatever. Another controversial ending was probably Bioshock Infinite’s since it was so stupid that I just sat back and enjoyed the shit show unfolding. That game isn’t very good and neither is that ending. A lot of people think of it as a huge mindfuck but to me it was just silly. Oh and another controversial ending for me is of MGSV. I’ll need to write a goddamn thesis as to why I hate and love that ending so much but its just stupid and amazing at the same time. Take my word for it, it’s some wild shit.
Javier
I’m unsure if it’s debated but for me the ending of both Oblivion and Skyrim are utterly crap. You spend 100+ hours fucking about having a good time and making your character an absolute boss, mostly avoiding the story, get to the end and finish the final boss in about 2 minutes, without breaking a sweat. WHAT’S THAT ALL ABOUT!! I understand that this is due to gamers who don’t commit an entire 2 months to the game but there should have been more of a scale for those of us who do to make it an actual challenge.
My other is a very recent game and that is Shadow of war. I played the whole game very happily until act 4, in which you had to endlessly grind with your armies and overtake all the different areas in the map. I was warned by Luke to not grind for 30 hours and just watch the ending on Youtube, and boy was i glad i did. It’s a 1.5 minute video which loosely ties the game into the movies and ends with Talion taking off his armor. A shit ending to 2 really great games.
Josef
I know that Salman briefly mentioned MGSV and I rise to that challenge. Now this is a game ending that definitely rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. While to me it is an interesting ‘twist’ and has some interesting implications. The way MGSV handled the story and overall narrative was rushed and poorly put together. After Chapter 1 the entire story seems to fall off a cliff as you are rushed to do a few repeats and what feels like two different endings. The one I’m referring to of course is the ‘Truth’ ending where you find out that Venom is not big boss at all but a clone created to spread the message and ideology of the boss. I feel like this ending would have been better given the right context leading up to it instead of it coming out of nowhere and feeling rushed.
Will
Life is strange was the fucking shit, yo. In fact, I’ve got ‘Before the storm’ sat in my library as a reward for when I finish a big piece of work for my degree.
But the original’s ending really boiled a lot of people’s biscuits.
For those unaware, the ending consisted of a single choice- save the town of Arcadia Bay and leave your best friend to die, or let her live and see the town destroyed. “Bay or Bae”, as I put it. Personally, I chose the Bay, needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few and all that.
But that was it- there were two endings. At the end of the game, a game all about choices and their consequences, there were no consequences for your past choices. It all came down to one. That got many a reddit thread up in arms.
Personally, I didn’t mind it- I think that the idea that all the meaningful choices you make can sometimes be for nought is relevant AF to the story, but I’m in the minority here.
Git Gud at symbolism, fuckers.