There are, of course, major spoilers ahead for each of the games featured in this rundown, so skip a section if you want to discover the game’s conclusion for yourself.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Rockstar’s wild west opus has four endings (three as Arthur Morgan, one as John Marston) but owing to your inevitable attachment to Morgan during the 50-hour-or-so campaign none are especially uplifting. The ‘good’ – in inverted commas – ending sees Morgan assisting Marston in a shootout against Dutch’s gang and the Pinkertons. High honour: Arthur succumbs to tuberculosis watching the sunrise; low: he takes a bullet to the head. Abandoning Marston for the bad ending sees Morgan lose a knife fight to Micah Bell. Each ending elevates an already engrossing story, but it sure does suck for Arthur to lose his life no matter what you choose.

Ghost of Tsushima  

Jin’s defence of Tsushima from Mongol invaders culminates in the ultimate moral quandary, and players are divided on which direction is most canonical. On the one hand, killing Lord Shimura – his surrogate father – is most honourable for Shimura but distressing for Jin. Sparing his uncle dishonours the family, spitting in the face of samurai code. Opt for the former to poetically symbolise Jin’s full transition to ghost, severing any remaining connection to the samurai code he once adhered, no matter how much Shimura demanded it. Either way, Jin is left a lone wolf, his heroism reduced to villainy in the eyes of the Shogun.

Shadow of the Colossus

Yeah, you’ve slain sixteen colossi to revitalise your lady love Mono, but at what cost? The scheming Dormin doesn’t reveal their identity as annexed demon until the game’s very end, but by that time it’s too late, the damage is done. Shadow of the Colossus has a way of making you feel sorry for the fierce-now-slain colossi, even though your actions as Wander were in good faith; to be fair to Dormin too, they do uphold their end of the bargain in reviving Mono. Agro the horse survives too, at least.

Limbo

Enigmatic Limbo, the odyssey of a boy in search of his sister. This silent, dark ambient masterwork is open to interpretation, but the presiding theory is that the boy is dead and that the game is an allegorical retelling of his life right up until the moment he checks out. With all the gravitational flailing during the game’s final moments it seems the boy died in a car crash, but the gut punch here is that he clearly doesn’t know he’s already dead. Maybe his sister was never in Limbo? Or maybe she died in the crash too? The two never clap eyes on each other at the end, despite the sister sensing the boy’s presence. Tragic.

Braid

An ending which re-contextualises the narrative, during Braid we play as Tim during his attempts to rescue a princess from an evil monster, although maybe Tim is the monster all along? This blatant switcheroo is not as trivial as it first appears. Tim, as revealed via in-game texts, was instrumental in The Manhattan Project, with the princess being a manifestation of his guilt surrounding his part in the atom bomb’s development. The flip-reverse finale whereby we believe we’re rescuing the princess only for time to switch backwards to reveal she’s running away cements Tim’s legacy as wrongdoer. It’s a beautiful, bittersweet full circle.

SOMA  

Say what you will about SOMA, but it’s got one of the heaviest existential crises in all video games. Uploading consciousness to digital formats is conceptually and morally nebulous; SOMA asks just what it is to be human. Is it someone’s thoughts, personality, memories? If so, is it the same person if you extract these thoughts and implant them in a carbon-copied body? Experiencing this first-hand through the eyes of Simon, we feel a sense of triumph as his fourth iteration is deposited into the ARK before its voyage to interstellar sanctuary, but our eyes stay with Simon3 as he’s left behind in dark, subaquatic abyss, abandoned and alone.

The Last of Us

The pinnacle of moral middle ground, you play the majority of The Last of Us as grief-stricken smuggler Joel, and you’ll endear yourself to him principally due to the tragic loss of his daughter some two decades prior; a heinous tragedy, with unshakeable grief hanging over him like a dark cloud. Ellie is his chance at finally conquering his sorrow, of blowing this dark cloud away, so his actions – as abominable as they are for the rest of humanity – are explainable. There’s no denying his selfishness though; The Last of Us has us believe we play the good guy, but our nobility is shattered at the very end.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

A game about working together to overcome insurmountable challenges, little brother Naiee heavily relies on older sibling Naia, until he can’t. Ingeniously exemplified via in-game controls, the loss of thumb-stick functionality for the older brother symbolising the very real loss Naiee experiences when Naia is no longer his guiding light. Together with Naiee, we’re forced to adapt, to learn strength, and live without help. It’s a bittersweet ending to an emotionally charged story.

A Way Out

Two endings are possible in dual-protagonist prison break drama A Way Out, yet the deaths of seasoned criminal Leo or undercover agent Vincent don’t bring any significant gratification to the player. Canonically, Leo killing Vincent makes more sense. After all, he’s the real criminal here despite his final actions motivated by betrayal than bloodlust. Vincent killing Leo is the easier pill to swallow but implies a failure to morally resolve his sting operation. Both share kinship, both have families outside of the drama, there’re no winners at the end of A Way Out.

L.A. Noire

Despite L.A. Noire adhering to the tragic finale trope of film noir, numerous players find the game’s ending dissatisfactory. Centring on Cole Phelps’ humdrum death at game’s end, Phelps’ quest for redemption ending on a damp squib, with little recognition for the man he is, for his uneventful funeral, it’s easy to see this resolution as a rushed job by the developers. Thing is, Phelps spent his life seeking redemption for his failures as a soldier, police officer, and husband. The fact he was on the cusp of reclamation before his untimely death is plain tragic.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Sure, there are endless clues throughout MGSV: The Phantom Pain that Venom Snake isn’t in fact the real Big Boss, but The Medic whom Zero imparts skills, wisdom, and memories of Big Boss to act as decoy. By the end of the game, it feels like we’ve been playing as a lie. We eliminate the bad guys, but do we feel fulfilled? Aren’t we left with a feeling of emptiness – a Phantom Pain?

Inside

Monochromatic side-scroller Inside plunges a boy into a dangerous world, intriguing, otherworldly, hostile, and mysterious. He’s forging towards something, but that something is totally unexpected. Is the globule mass calling him? That point is up for interpretation, but once he’s enveloped, and the hulking mass escapes from the tight-knit facility all hell breaks loose. We escape, but to where? Was this whole thing orchestrated? One thing worth mentioning: when we reach the grey shoreline come the game’s very end, there’s a sense of tranquility. Of peace. Inside’s a strange one.

It Takes Two

Struggling couple Cody and May are forced to cooperate in It Takes Two, overcoming obstacles together in miniature toy-like form initially as a means to reach their daughter back in their human form, but then growing as a way to save their marriage. However, together they must torture and kill a stuffed elephant toy; a toy that, yes, whilst stuffed and not real is begging for mercy. It’s challenging, disturbing, quease-inducing, but come games end the trio of husband, wife, and daughter have a new perspective on their life and relationship. It’s just that getting there takes monumental challenge – kind of like true life.

Telltale’s The Walking Dead

Yes, an obvious pick for this feature. There’re question marks over saviour Lee’s fate – does he die in both the game’s possible endings? Sure, he’s bitten, so in one ending you shoot him out of sympathy, but in the other you can spare him. The tragedy here is that in saving your bullet you condemn him to becoming a walker. You’re left broken either way, a true example of survival but at what cost.

Gears of War 3

The ending of Gears of War 3 centers on sacrifice. It’s revealed player-character Marcus Fenix’s father Adam infects himself with Lambent cells in order to test his Locust eradicating machine. The machine works, sweeping a shockwave across Sera and completing the mission for Marcus and his team. They’ve won, but of course Marcus has lost his father, and perhaps greater, he mournfully ponders the remnants of humanity – was it all worth saving?

A Plague Tale: Innocence

A Plague Tale: Requiem introduced new gameplay options like controlling rats, a crossbow, larger environments for more opportunities and so on. But it’s easy to forget just how straightforward Innocence was. For the most part, you would be running, sneaking around, bonking enemies with the slingshot, solving small puzzles to progress past the rats, and so on. Not to say that any of this was bad. It’s smaller scale than Requiem and a perfect introduction to the world.

Potential customers of Telltale Games products faced an issue when the studio went bankrupt. All of its titles were removed from various storefronts including Steam. Though The Walking Dead: The Final Season resumed developed, its remaining episodes would become Epic Games Store-exclusive. It wasn’t long before The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series was also limited to the storefront.

But good news has finally come. Skybound Games, whose parent company owns the IP, announced that all four seasons of Telltale’s The Walking Dead would return on Steam today. Not only that but Season 2 and A New Frontier are now available on the Nintendo Switch eShop.

It’s still unconfirmed if The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series will be available to purchase on Steam. That version includes all four seasons, The Walking Dead: Michonne, the 400 Days DLC, various bonus content including a documentary and the “Graphic Black” setting for a more graphic novel look. Never say never though – stay tuned for more details.

TT The Walking Dead Fans! Two good pieces of news for this Twosday:

1) S2 and S3 of TT TWD are now in the Nintendo Switch eShop! Play through all 4 seasons on the go! https://t.co/aGKr0AoXBQ

2) All 4 seasons will be back on Steam….tomorrow! https://t.co/tRB6VCCVJY

— Skybound Games (@skyboundgames) January 21, 2020

Dragon Age 2

Don’t you just love it when a publisher wants a sequel for your game? Especially with just 14 to 16 months for development? Such was the fate that befell Dragon Age 2 thanks to Electronic Arts and as a result, BioWare ended up cutting a lot of story content and scaling back on the locations (besides crunching continuously). Granted, the sequel would find some appreciation, especially for what it offered in its short development cycle, but such haphazard development wasn’t needed.

Max Payne – Max Payne Trilogy

Wife and kid murdered, hooked on painkillers, fighting off endless mobsters (including one instance where’s tortured)…and to think that’s all the grief Max goes through in the first game. The second is barely an improvement as Payne loses Mona Sax while the third sees him embroiled in betrayal and shady business in Brazil. That being said, Max never gives up, seemingly going on in spite of himself and earns some manner of solace when it’s all said and done.

Solid Snake – Metal Gear Solid 4

To catalog all the trauma that Solid Snake has faced through his life would make for a whole separate piece. A product of Les Enfants Terribles, injected with FOXDIE, painted as a traitor by his country, yada yada, you know the drill. Metal Gear Solid 4 presents Snake’s greatest trials though. With his body breaking down and only a year to live, Snake embarks on one final mission to kill Liquid Ocelot. He battles the Beauty and the Beast unit, Metal Gear Gekkos, and even the realization that the FOXDIE will mutate in several months and wipe out the world’s population. Despite all this, Snake continues to pursue Liquid. Though victorious, Snake attempts to take his own life at the grave of Big Boss, stopped only by the latter. Who’s alive, surprisingly but that’s a whole other story. A new strain of FOXDIE was injected in Snake at some point, which means our hero is no longer at risk of killing off the world. Regardless, with some extra time left and Big Boss acknowledging him before finally passing on, Snake looks forward to the future with hope.

Arthur Morgan – Red Dead Redemption 2

When we first meet Red Dead Redemption 2 protagonist Arthur Morgan, he and his crew are on the run and beaten all to hell. As time passes, Arthur has to deal with the machinations of Dutch van der Linde, taking on more and more scores despite his leader seemingly descending into madness. Though various members of the gang die throughout the story and Arthur contracts tuberculosis (which was exceptionally fatal during those times), he still perseveres. Whether it’s rescuing John Marston, fighting off the Pinkertons, and rooting out Michah as a mole, Arthur keeps fighting until his very last breath.

Clementine – The Walking Dead

When Clementine first started her journey in Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Season 1, she was to be protected and watched over. With her parents dead, it stung all the more when she lost her protector Lee Everett. In Season 2, Clementine faces other trials – for instance, she’s bitten by a dog and has to sew her wound closed, all on her lonesome. Eventually she has to deal with the crazed antics of Kenny and Jane (which can end fatally). Did we mention Clem is only 11 years old at this point? A New Frontier starts with her possibly having one less finger depending on the player’s choice as she takes care of AJ by herself. Nevertheless, Clem has kept fighting and continued surviving. Will she make it out of The Final Season intact?

Commander Shepard – Mass Effect Trilogy

A veritable one-man army, Commander Shepard has dealt with almost everything possible by the time Mass Effect 3 closed. That includes killing Sovereign and a reanimated Saren, dying to the Collectors and being reborn, surviving a suicide mission against said Collectors, destroying the Alpha Relay (and an Batarian system) to delay the Reapers, the list goes on. In fact, Mass Effect 3 starts with Shepard having to survive the Reapers’ attack on Earth as millions die. With just one ship and a crew, Shepard builds a powerful military fleet and the Crucible to take the fight to the Reapers. That’s after solving the conflicts between the Turians, Krogans, Quarians, and so on while dealing with Cerberus. Sure, the player’s fate is possibly sealed by the end and maybe it’s all for naught depending on the choices made. But Shepard kept fighting and that’s all matters.

Gordon Freeman – Half Life

It’s never just a normal day for Gordon Freeman, a physicist for Black Mesa caught in a resonance cascade that causes aliens to invade the facility. With Black Mesa in ruins, aliens warping in to kill him and Marines attempting to cover the mess up (by also killing him), Gordon is probably in over his head. And that’s before heading into the alien dimension Xen to kill the Nihilanth and stop the resonance cascade for good. If you thought that meant the Freeman got a break, then you’re wrong – he’s subsequently thrown into stasis by the G-Man before waking up years later in a world ruled by the Combine. Gordon has to fight his way from below, galvanizing the resistance and ultimately taking down Dr. Breen, the leader of City 17, to ensure some kind of freedom for humanity. Even as the situation continues to worsen, Gordon keeps going, never backing down from a fight no matter how unfavourable the odds may be (or how hopeless a sequel seems).

Joel – The Last of Us

When a game starts with a main character’s daughter dying in his arms, you just know it only gets worse. Case in point, Joel from The Last of Us who would partake in a life of brutal post-apocalyptic survival with his brother before becoming a smuggler. And of course, things only got worse after he was tasked with smuggling Ellie. From there, it’s one battle after another against brutal Infected, bandits and even soldiers as he protects Ellie. At one point, Joel is near death and needs Ellie’s help in the Winter (which leads into a whole other rigmarole for Ellie). By the end, Joel has transported Ellie to the Fireflies’ base in Salt Lake City. However, he learns that Ellie must be operated on to derive a vaccine for the infection. Since this will result in her death, Joel goes on a rampage to rescue her, eventually escaping the hospital and lying to Ellie about the reason. If nothing else, The Last of Us showcased what lengths Joel could go to protect those he loved.

BJ Blazkowicz – Wolfenstein

The never-ending torment that is William “B.J.” Blazkowicz’s campaign against the Nazis has been the stuff of gaming legend. Wolfenstein (2009) would kick-start a whole new tale though and introduced a worrying alternate future. What if the Nazis won World War 2? In Wolfenstein: The New Order, Blazkowicz recovers from his vegetative stage several years later following a failed raid on Deathshead’s fortress. He eventually joins the resistance and even infiltrates a forced labour camp to find the key to opposing the Nazis. Oh, and he goes to the Moon as well because why not? The game ends with Blazkowicz apparently dead but in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, he’s back at it again, avenging fallen comrades and working to liberate America from the Nazis. Things can get pretty grim throughout the story, including a pivotal plot point where Blazkowicz is decapitated and must have his head reattached to a super-soldier’s body to survive. But even as our hero struggles to maintain a stoic appearance through it all, he’s still an expert at making the Nazis’ lives miserable.

Sam Fisher – Splinter Cell Series

Ah, Sam Fisher. Remember this guy? This guy was trained to be a Navy SEAL before facing all the ruckus of the first three Splinter Cell titles (which includes averting World War 3). So of course his story took a turn for the worst in Double Agent when his daughter Sarah was “killed”. Becoming a double agent to help the NSA, eventually Fisher is forced to kill Colonel Irving Lambert to maintain his cover and subsequently goes on the run. Splinter Cell Conviction reveals that shockingly, Sarah is still alive but Fisher must go through another a series of trials, including saving the president of the United States from assassination. Though the subsequent Blacklist attacks had some chance of destabilizing the newly formed Fourth Echelon, Fisher survived it all, even showing up in Ghost Recon Wildlands to prove that he’s still got what it takes.

Ethan Mars – Heavy Rain

Though his family life is relatively happy to begin with, Ethan Mars faces one tragedy after another following an accident that kills his older son Jason. Ethan himself falls into a coma after the accident and after awakening, divorces his wife and spends the days blaming himself. Eventually, Ethan’s younger son Shaun is kidnapped by the Origami Killer and the former must complete a series of tests to save him. Said tests include driving into traffic at high speed, killing a drug dealer, crawling through broken glass and, oh, just cutting off one of his fingers. All of that is before he eventually has to film himself drinking poison. With the help of journalist Madison Paige and FBI agent Norman Jayden, Ethan eventually locates the Origami Killer and, depending on the player’s actions, can save Shaun while surviving. If all goes well, Ethan starts a new life with Madison and Shaun, his ordeal finally over.

Marcus Fenix – Gears of War Trilogy

Being sentenced to prison for going against orders and trying to rescue his father, Marcus Fenix emerges into a world that’s overrun by the Locust. Keep in mind that Fenix had already been through a long period of war between different nations for Imulsion. The Coalition of Governments is thus formed and Marcus goes to war with his best friend Dom to stop the Locust. Despite a victory at the end of the first game, Marcus has to fight the Locust in their home turf before eventually destroying Jacinto – the last major human city, mind you – to ensure victory again. Oh and there’s the Lambent, mutated by the planet’s Imulsion and slowly consuming it so that’s two disgusting armies that Marcus has to deal with. From the destruction of the place he called home to the death of his father and even Dom, Marcus has a rough time of it in the original trilogy. Still, even with the fate of humanity constantly resting on his shoulders, he fights on because it’s the only thing he knows.

Batman – Batman Arkham Series

Hoo boy does Batman take a beating in Rocksteady’s Arkham series. He starts off hunted by a bunch of assassins, surviving burning, poison, electrocution and even the Joker in Batman: Arkham Origins. This leads to Arkham Asylum where the Dark Knight is more or less trapped in the prison, and must deal with crazed inmates and villains including a mutated Joker. You’d think that’d be the end but alas, the caped crusader must then deal with the mess that’s Arkham City, preventing Protocol 10 from coming into effect while also not dying to the Joker toxin in his blood. Batman: Arkham Knight sees the hero on the back foot, dealing with a strong militia and his old ward Jason Todd as the Arkham Knight. Oh and the Joker is also in his head, threatening to wrest control at any moment. Even as his mind breaks down and his identity has been exposed to the entire city, Batman successfully combats Scarecrow (with some help from Todd) and even rounds up all the villains in the city before initiating the Knightfall Protocol. Though the conclusion is fairly open-ended, Batman showcased exemplary, almost borderline insane drive and focus throughout the series to keep Gotham City safe.

Scorpion – Mortal Kombat

Hanzo Hisashi, better known as Scorpion, isn’t someone easily classified as a hero. A former member of the destroyed Shirai Ryu, Scorpion would spend his days in hell, seeking revenge against the Lin Kuei clan and Sub-Zero for his family’s death. The story has seen its fair share of twists and turns through the years but with Mortal Kombat 9 rebooting events, Scorpion would be aligned with Quan-Chi from the start. Of course, he was unaware that Quan-Chi was actually responsible for the death of his family. After being manipulated by the sorcerer further, Scorpion eventually breaks free and revives the Shirai Ryu while returning to life. He even makes amends with Sub-Zero before embarking on a quest to kill Quan-Chi (which would result in Shinnok being released but that’s a different story). Say what you will about the guy but Scorpion had honour and was committed to avenging his family till the end.

Issac Clarke – Dead Space

If anyone could top this list for the sheer amount of punishment taken, both physically and psychologically, it might be Isaac Clarke. In Dead Space 1, Isaac has to deal with all kinds of monstrosities in an attempt to save his girlfriend Nicole (who turns out to be dead by the end). He’s then haunted by a nightmarish specter of Nicole before facing the Necromorphs again in Dead Space 2. Being thrown out into the darkness of space, nearly having his eye drilled out, multiple risks of being torn asunder – that’s a regular day for Isaac. And no, Dead Space 3 doesn’t offer any respite since a Necromorph moon of all things crashes straight onto the planet that Isaac is on. He’s miraculously alive though and decides to keep going, the utter mad lad.

Kiryu Kazuma – Yakuza Series

Another close contender for heroes who suffered immensely, Kiryu Kazuma of the Yakuza series is as tough as they come. In the first Yakuza, Kiryu takes the fall for the murder of Sohei Dojima, head of the Dojima family, to ensure his friend Akira Nishikiyama stays out of prison. After a decade in jail, Kiryu is finally out but under fire from the entire Japanese underworld. Even Nishiki betrays him for his own ends. The first game  ends with Kiryu losing his childhood friend Yumi and Nishiki before working to take care of Haruka. Of course, it’s never that simple as Kiryu finds himself embroiled in a Yakuza civil war in Yakuza 2. It’s just one conflict after another with endless fights, bizarre circumstances and the ever-terrifying Goro Majima stalking his every step. Still, if there’s ever anyone who  takes what life throws at him and beats it to a pulp, it’s Kazuma Kiryu.

WARNING: There may be some spoilers ahead.

TRIP (ENSLAVED: ODYSSEY TO THE WEST)

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is a woefully overlooked and criminally underrated game, and the character of Trip is perfectly emblematic of just how good a game it was. On paper, Trip should be nothing more than yet another annoying character in a glorified escort mission – you literally have to carry her weight – but she proves to be so much more. During gameplay, she can actually be pretty helpful, but what helps her really stand out is just how well written she is as a character, plain and simple. That excellent writing is backed up by equally excellent acting and voice work, and watching her relationship with Monkey grow over the course of the game is one of the highlights in an excellent game.