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To The Bitter End

To The Bitter End

To The Bitter End

Games are often left unfinished. Sometimes they’re too difficult, too vast, or too repetitive to see all the way through to the closing credits. To The Bitter End is our look at those endings that are worth fighting for—or at least worth reading about.

To The Bitter End

A Way Out saved its best idea for the last 20 minutes

5/22/18 12:00pm

The smartest thing about Hazelight Studio’s otherwise dopey prison-break thriller A Way Out is something its director…

To The Bitter End

With one final death, Nier: Automata's ending redefines the meaning of life

Anthony John Agnello

2B dies a lot. For Nier: Automata’s fetish-maid-android-samurai, death is just another occupational hazard of waging an…

To The Bitter End

Dracula might be dead, but life goes on after Castlevania III’s bittersweet ending

Anthony John Agnello

1/18/17 12:00am

Three things happen at the end of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse in quick succession. First, you unclench your anus,…

To The Bitter End

Without its deleted finale, Metal Gear Solid V has no ending at all

10/19/16 12:00am

They say that before you embark on a journey of revenge, you should dig two graves. This is why Metal Gear Solid V: The…

To The Bitter End

After a deadly serious quest, Altered Beast’s ending let us in on the joke

Anthony John Agnello

7/27/16 12:00am

Altered Beast asks the impossible from the second it starts when a pixelated Zeus commands players to “Wise from your…

To The Bitter End

Fantasy Zone’s daddy issues twist drags it back to bleak reality

7/06/16 12:00am

I often try my best not to think about my absentee dad, a man who hasn’t tried to contact me since I was 11 years old.…

To The Bitter End

Crackdown’s cartoon police state feels more real in 2016

5/12/16 12:00am

Crackdown’s ending scene is less than 90 seconds long. The player’s character overlooks the metropolis of Pacific City…

To The Bitter End

Shadow Of Mordor proves revenge is shallow by whiffing its final battle

Anthony John Agnello

Contrary to popular belief, one can simply walk into Mordor—at least, if you’re an unkillable badass possessed by a…

To The Bitter End

Pulling Noby Noby Boy apart only brought people together

Derrick Sanskrit

1/13/16 12:00am

She broke through Earth’s atmosphere twice. The first time, on February 19th, 2009, she was little more than wonder and…

To The Bitter End

Knights Of The Old Republic’s endings provide more proof that good is dumb

Anthony John Agnello

11/18/15 12:00am

If you rush through it, finishing Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic takes just about the same amount of time as…

To The Bitter End

Brothers embodies the best of siblinghood when it breaks your control

Anthony John Agnello

7/08/15 12:00am

Gabe’s head fell right off his body. From the top of the basement stairs, I tossed him a miniature basketball, and when…

To The Bitter End

The tragedies of Telltale’s The Walking Dead give meaning to the game’s final choice

5/06/15 12:00am

Lee Everett is a dead man walking. In the finale of Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Season One, he is tasked with tracking…

To The Bitter End

The truth is more wondrous than the mystery when Professor Layton’s on the case

2/10/15 11:00am

At the detective’s request, the suspects are gathered in the parlor. The dowager, the duchess, the vicar, the…