10 Ambiguous Video Game Endings You're Getting Totally Wrong
1. Metal Gear Solid 2
The Ending: Raiden realises that his entire mission on the plant has been an experiment. It was all a simulation and everything he'd been told was more or less a lie.
He nevertheless proceeds to complete his mission by killing Solidus Snake, but what was it all for?
What You Missed: The key here is that the whole S3 (Selection for Societal Sanity) simulation was designed by The Patriots in order to see if someone could be controlled and influenced in the most extreme situations. And in killing Solidus, Raiden essentially proves them right. But the meaning of the game's ending goes a lot deeper than that.
During the ending, we see Solidus looking up and reaching out to the statue of George Washington. This is highly symbolic as Solidus was actually a US President who was disgusted by The Patriots' plans and wanted to bring back the liberty and freedom of American citizens that had been so important to Washington himself.
Solidus wasn't the evil terrorist he was made out to be, but Raiden, and the player, spend the entire game growing to hate him, again proving that the S3 plan is a complete success as people's motives can be completely controlled with lies and manipulation.