Rockstar may have blown us away with the cinematic presentation in their Grand Theft Auto games, but their most impactful ending came from their superb western Red Dead Redemption. After having been the lapdog of the Bureau of Investigation for far too long, protagonist John Marston takes care of Dutch van der Linde and considered his debt paid up. It's not long, however, before bureau agent Edgar Ross leads an assault on the Marston farm, with John only barely able to get his wife and son to safety in time. Marston holds a last stand against the gang, but the numbers game is simple too heavily stacked against him, and he is brutally shot to death. This in of itself would have been a fittingly emotional and bleak ending, but it doesn't stop there: after John is put to rest, we move to three years later, where John's son Jack now bears an uncanny resemblance to his father. With his mother now dead as well, Jack seeks to exact revenge on Edgar Ross, who is now retired and residing in Mexico. Jack has a duel with Ross, which he easily wins, putting the whole sorry story to rest, and earning Jack the vengeance he so desperately deserved. This is a game that ended with both tragedy and, as the title suggests, redemption.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
