The strangest endings in video games, ranked

Being enjoyable throughout no longer suffices. Great games require a memorable ending. They often stick in the mind for the wrong reasons. Some games end on a straight-up bizarre note, so let’s have a laugh and reminisce, now that you’re hopefully no longer mad at them.

Heavy spoilers to follow, of course.

Sonic and the Secret Rings has Sonic going full villain and not realizing it

The Sonic The Hedgehog series of games never scored high marks for gripping drama or epic climaxes, so you know this is going to be bad, bad. By the end of Sonic and the Secret Rings, the inexplicable Arabian Nights-inspired entry, Sonic gets to make three wishes. He uses one to bring Shahra, one of the many human women he somehow has falling for him in every game, back to life. That’s a good wish, but once he’s all out of wishes, he realizes an immense sadness is consuming Shahra.

He attempts to fix this by asking Shahra for one final wish. Does he wish for her sadness to go away? For some smart material or immaterial change that would help with her condition? Well, no. He asks her to spawn a literal mountain of handkerchiefs so that she has something to wipe her tears with forever. This is so devoid of empathy that it’d be a great choice of wish for a cheeky villain, but Sonic does this earnestly, and it plays out as if this truly is a heartfelt way to end a story.

The UFO ending from Silent Hill: Homecoming can accidentally destroy your entire playthrough

Imagine being on the cusp of finally unraveling all the mysteries in a game and finding an emotional conclusion to your narrative, then seeing your main characters being taken away by a UFO, never to return, and never getting any sort of explanation as to why the hell that happened. That can totally happen to you in Silent Hill: Homecoming, which I assume can only be one of the most jarring experiences in gaming for anyone unaware of the series’ famous UFO endings.

Silent Hill games have always had joke endings, most of which have to do with aliens and UFOs. I love them all, except for one. The thing about these endings is that they’re extra. Players can only get them on second or further playthroughs, and only when players make some really bizarre choices that lead them to an equally eerie conclusion. This article won’t judge the merits of optional endings in games, but Silent Hill: Homecoming‘s UFO conclusion isn’t optional at all. The string of decisions one must make to get abducted isn’t far-fetched at all, meaning it’s actually pretty easy to get this bonkers but completely unfunny ending by accident.

Fallout 3’s original good ending was so bad that they changed it

There’s no more dramatic ending to a story about saving the world than when the hero sacrifices their own life for a greater cause, but that applies only when that’s by the hero’s own choosing.

In Fallout 3, a game that belongs to a series known for excellent experimentation with player agency, we don’t really have that choice. To save the world, you are forced to enter a chamber where you’ll be irradiated to death, even when accompanied by a friend who’s totally impervious to radiation, who could’ve easily performed that task in their stead, preventing anyone from dying.

In case you’re wondering, you can even actually ask your radiation-immune friend to take your place, but he’ll reply with something that translates to “you know plot armor? Well, now you have the opposite of that. Time to die!”

Fans found this ending so silly that the devs decided to fix it—for anyone who’d acquire the Broken Steel DLC, that is.

Tomb Raider The Last Revelation’s ending kills off Lara Croft out of despair and exhaustion

All Tomb Raider games end with Lara taking what she went to get, then stylishly running into the sunset, all except for Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, where she just dies from getting crushed after a fall. And sure, that’s easily the most game-accurate death Lara could have, but it’s just bizarre to see such a beloved hero meet their demise in such an abrupt manner.

It turns out that the reason for this choice was even wilder. Back in the Late ’90s, the Tomb Raider series’ success could only be compared to how much its devs hated making the games. What had begun as a really cool endeavor quickly turned into grueling work hours with no time to rest for years on end, so the developers took a stand.

The devs decided to kill off Lara at the end of the game because they could no longer take it, believing that the execs would just be unable to force the devs into another development cycle, since Lara was dead, and no way that capitalism would have the power to resurrect her on the fly, right?

Interesting try, but as soon as they were done with TLR, the devs had to immediately begin work again on Tomb Raider Chronicles, where we played in various past adventures as Lara’s friends reminisce about her during her wake.

Now that’s how you pay your respect to beloved heroes and to your developers at the same time.

Mass Effect 3—need we say more?

The first two Mass Effect titles remain some of the most interesting sci-fi of all time, and in no small part because they truly do make the player feel like their decisions will impact the destiny of the entire galaxy. Mass Effect 3, which was made after the departure of the series’ main writer, seems to forget that important lesson.

Even though it supposedly features multiple endings, which players will reach depending on their decisions, they all bring about the same underwhelming conclusion . The only real difference between them the different-colored strobes hitting the player’s eyes throughout the entire thing. This is not just a bad ending to one game; it’s a terrible way to wrap up a once-great series about choice.

IT so much backlash that the developers had to remake it, and somehow managed to remain bad.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park’s ending is peak Jeff Goldblum

Video game tie-ins tend to suck, but The Lost World: Jurassic Park is special in the sense that it’d be better than the movie it’s tied to, even if that movie didn’t suck. It’s a truly fun title that’s also way superior to the Lost World tie-in for the Sega Saturn, a console featuring hardware leagues ahead of the Genesis.

Still, because this version only came out for the Genesis once most saw that console as even more extinct than the dinosaurs (in our world, not in Jurassic Park world), few know about that, or about the game’s bizarre ending where Jeff Goldblum—yeah, the guy himself, not his Dr Ian Malclom character—takes one second to congratulate players on beating the game, right before going full ’90s dad and telling them to go outside and try to get in touch with someone of the opposite sex.

A true masterclass in backhanded complimenting.

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MOUSE P.I. For Hire is coming soon to PC and consoles, and it’s coming pretty soon. Developed by Fumi Games, MOUSE P.I. For Hire puts you in the boots of Jack Pepper across an action-packed adventure.

But first, let’s look at when the game goes live worldwide so that you can jump in in the first minute.

MOUSE P.I. For Hire release countdown

MOUSE P.I. For Hire releases worldwide on Thursday, April 16. The following countdown will expire once the game goes live across all platforms.

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The countdown is based on the following timings.

• 5am PT
• 7am CT
• 8am ET
• 3pm UTC
• 4pm CET

The timings are based on the information available on SteamDB. While MOUSE P.I. For Hire will also be available on consoles, the same schedule is valid. Hence, you can’t take advantage of any New Zealand trick for extra hours of gameplay.

What to expect from MOUSE P.I. For Hire

MOUSE P.I. For Hire is an FPS title unlike anything you might have seen. It’s an adventure that takes inspiration from the cartoons of the 1930s. The black and white visuals are all hand-drawn frame by frame. While the visuals might be all retro, the gameplay is anything but that.

As you progress along your adventures, you’ll find out more about the world around you. You’ll have to make full use of your arsenal and firepower to eliminate enemies in front of you. The world of MOUSE P.I. For Hire will throw plenty at you, including different bosses. Hence, you’ll need to master the use of your weapons and upgrade them over time.

Here’s a summary of what you can expect from the game.

• Hand-drawn visual world inspired by teh class cartoons.
• Fast-paced FPS combat where you have to be constantly on the move.
• Single-player campaign that you can complete at your own pace.
• Over 20 levels teeming with all kinds of enemies.
• Unique weapons and equipment that are completely upgradable.
• Different consumables that will turn the tide of the battle in your favor.

While the game doesn’t offer a demo, you can choose to pre-purchase MOUSE P.I. For Hire on your preferred platform.

The post MOUSE P.I. For Hire release countdown: Exact date and time appeared first on Destructoid.