I don’t know about you all, but I feel like there’s are few things more frustrating in games than a wholly unsatisfying ending. Well, in games that are otherwise functional, I mean. Gameplay certainly and often does have its frustrations can be sure, but those frustrations can either be compounded or entirely mitigated by how well a game ends.

Do it right, and those frustrations and struggles become something that can actually enhance the story being told. Do it wrong though, and they can come to define the whole experience. If a games ends badly enough though, it can easily leave players wondering just what the point of it all was regardless of how fun the journey to get there was. Truly, endings are paramount.

Recently, I finally got around to playing the Shadows of Rose DLC for Resident Evil 8: Village. I had been looking forward to it since the base game was really fun, and getting to know more about Rose and what her role in things post RE8 sounded really interesting. The idea of using someone who can’t or won’t rely on guns/combat as much sounded cool too, as the the non-combat parts of RE7 and RE8 were the best, I thought. So with all that in mind, I dove in to see what was up.

spoilers ahead

Insum, there was still a lot shooting with a handful of simple puzzles, which while interesting enough wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. The same can be said for the story. Rose, being what she is, has apparently had a difficult childhood. This has left her feeling out of place and wanting a chance to be a normal person, one that she gets at the outset of the DLC. Using her powers, she contacts what’s left of the mold core from RE8 and enters a kind of dream/memory world in which she learns of a way to seal her powers for good. This place is where all the shooting, puzzle-solving and backstory come into play. Rose is desperately trying to get her “cure,” all the while dodging the world’s hostile manifestations.

Here’s the thing though, there’s little to no payoff for any of this. Sure, we learn a little about Rose and her life, but next to nothing about what her status as a mold hybrid actually means. Yes, she can contact/affect the remains of the mold and mold creatures and she apparently has white mold sweat…but that’s all as far as the game tells us. Given her importance to this branch of the Resident Evil story, I would have expected her abilities to be more…significant.

We also don’t really get much interaction between her and Ethan, whose memory still lives within the mold. We get wisps of a conversation and one actual exchange at the very end (with Capcom going to comical lengths to continue hiding Ethan’s face), but we don’t learn anything new about either of them. Ethan loves Rose and wants her to be happy and safe, and Rose loves her father and is grateful for his protection thus far. That’s it, and it’s all stuff we already knew by the end of RE8. The ending for Shadows of Rose is also just the ending from RE8 again. There are no new scenes and no new dialog. It’s basically just a big ol’ nothing burger. So…what was the point of all this exactly?

Some other wholly unsatisfying endings I still remember are those of Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mass Effect 3. As for the latter game, it’s been almost 12 years now, but the controversy is still legendary. Putting aside the near-total lack of having a meaningful impact on the outcome (which was a major kick in the teeth to fans at the time), having the story boil down to everything getting destroyed by one of three colors of space magic was just insulting. Having to talk to the “Star Child” AND THEN turning it all into some far-future grandpa’s bedtime story even more so! In 20 minutes BioWare changed me from a massive fan into a someone who couldn’t care less, all because of this half-baked ending.

Dragon Age: Inquisition’s ending wasn’t nearly so disappointing, but it did feel like an absolutely nonsensical rug-pull. It wouldn’t have even been that bad had we gotten more foreshadowing before or a bit more insight at the end. But no, we got “oh by the way, everything you thought you knew was wrong,” and then nothing for 10 YEARS. It’s almost enough to make you want Dragon Age: Dreadwolf to be a massive bomb for EA. Almost. I don’t actually want it to be bad or fail, I’m just a bit resentful of having to wait 10 years before getting some resolution for that particular cliffhanger.

Seriously, if your game is going to have a big story component, then it needs to end in a way that’s satisfying. That ending doesn’t have to be “good” per se, but it does need to be something that we can accept as players. No more non-endings, nonsense or sequel-baiting rug-pulls please!

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What are some game endings that left you confused or seething? How do important to you feel a game’s ending is, all things considered?

Image from the Resident Evil wiki