Few things are able to mark our existence like great stories, especially if they end in a shocking and unpredictable way. Video games have managed to surprise us on many occasions, to the point of devastating our souls: the endings of these five titles still haunt us today.
Red Dead Redemption: It seemed like a quiet life
The younger ones among you probably have a more vivid memory of the equally shocking Red Dead Redemption 2, but those who played video games in the early 1910s still haven’t recovered from the final stages of Red Dead Redemption, which see John Marston perishing on his ranch under the blows of American army agents, intent on eliminating even the last survivor of Van der Linde’s gang.
What breaks the heart is not only the event itself, but also the way in which it is orchestrated: in the last missions of the adventure Rockstar Games gives the player the illusion of peace and redemption, making him taste the beauty of a quiet life and believe that Marston has definitively atoned for his. When everything seems to be going well, finally comes the blow from which we never recovered.
The Last of Us Part I: the unbearable weight of a lie
Joel and Ellie’s first adventure is a swing of strong emotions that follow one after the other without stopping. It is difficult to digest the horror that confronts the protagonist duo on their journey towards the western United States, but the most shocking moment of all has nothing to do directly with violence, but rather with a lie.
Ellie, the only one immune to Cordyceps, represents humanity’s last hope, “the last of us”, and is willing to sacrifice herself for this. To develop a vaccine, however, it is necessary to remove part of her brain, an operation which she cannot survive. Joel, for her part, is not willing to lose another “daughter”, and takes her away from the hospital where they were ready to operate on her, making himself author of an unprecedented massacre. When the young woman awakens, Joel tells her, lying to her, that there are dozens of people like her, that there has been no way to find a cure and that the Lights have stopped trying.
The most poignant moment comes at the end: as they walk through the woods, Ellie – who has smelled something – says to Joel: “Swear to me that everything you told me about the Lights is true”. At that point the man responds without hesitation “I swear”. 
The weight of this lie uttered to the iconic notes of Gustavo Santaolalla will have resounding repercussions on the story told in The Last of Us Part II.
Silent Hill 2: the assassin in me
On the occasion of the announcement of the release date of Silent Hill 2 Remake, we cannot fail to also mention Konami’s psychological horror, which at the beginning of the millennium was able to surprise us with an incredible revelation. In the story, James receives a letter from Mary, his wife who died three years earlier from an illness (or so he believes). 
In the letter there is an invitation to meet in their “special place”, which is located in the town of Silent Hill. The protagonist, dazed and tormented by doubts, goes there and ends up discovering a horror beyond his imagination and colliding with the atrocious truth sanctioned by a videotape: he himself murdered Mary by suffocating her with a pillow.
Braid: Who is the real monster?
Braid is one of the brightest and most ingenious platformers of recent modern gaming history, as well as one of the first video games to demonstrate the potential of the independent development scene. The recent publication of the Anniversary Edition brought to mind the shocking conclusion of the game. Braid is based on a peculiar mechanic: the main character, Tim, is capable of moving backwards in time. The beginning of the game, therefore, represents the end, and vice versa.
Throughout the campaign, between one escaped trap and another, we are given the illusion that the protagonist is trying to save a princess “kidnapped by a horrible and evil monster”, but in reality it is quite the opposite: the truth is That the real monster is Tim and the princess is doing everything to escape him (this is the reason for the traps and obstacles that appear during the adventure) and jump into the arms of a knight.
Final Fantasy X: It’s just a dream
The journey of Final Fantasy X is long and full of memorable events. While adventuring on Spira, Tidus encounters multiple characters, but his most significant bond is with Yuna. Over the course of the story, we see their relationship born, grow and consolidate, even through unforgettable scenes such as the one in the Macalania woods, until they become heavily involved from an emotional point of view.
For this reason it is difficult to recover when at the end it is discovered that in reality Tidus doesn’t existor rather, does not exist in the physical sense of the term: it is nothing more than a dream, a projection of the faith of the inhabitants of Spira, therefore with the mission concluded vanishes forever leaving Yuna (and consequently us) with an unbridgeable void.
This list it does not represent a ranking of the most shocking endings, but rather a selection of those that have marked my life as a gamer. Many other examples could also be given, such as Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite, Spec Ops The Line, Dead Space, Heavy Rain and many others, for this reason you are all invited to tell us the experiences that shocked you the most.
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