10 Infuriating Video Game Cliffhangers You Didn't Realise Have Answers
8. Lost In The Timestream - Ecco: The Tides Of Time
In Ecco: The Tides of Time, the titular dolphin discovers the Vortex aliens have returned, intending to wreak havoc upon the timestream. Using the power of The Asterite once more, our bottlenose hero faces off against the nefarious Vortex Queen.
After supposedly destroy her, your cetacean chums congratulate you, before the credits roll. But instead of living happily ever after, this sequel ends on a downer. In the epilogue, The Asterite tells Ecco to destroy The Time Machine to ensure the Vortex never distort the spacetime continuum again.
Instead of doing as he's told, Ecco uses The Time Machine to venture to an undisclosed era. Though this ending seemed to set up another instalment, it never came to be.
Luckily, we know what was meant to happen. According to the creator, Ed Annunziata,
"Ecco 3 was going to be about the Atlanteans war with the Vortex. At the end of Tides of Time, Ecco goes back to help.
The most annoying thing about Ecco 3 being cancelled is it causes the player to misconstrue Ecco's actions. Because he didn't destroy The Time Machine, it looks like Ecco was punished for his disobedience. In reality, our aquatic saviour was doing what he always does - protecting the timestream because he's awesome.