10 Shocking Video Game Finales NOBODY Understands

6. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Solid V Phantom Pain
Konami

The Metal Gear series is another franchise famous for its twists, turns, and stunning endings, though, for many, The Phantom Pain left players confused and wanting.

For the uninitiated, in the end it is revealed that you weren’t playing as Big Boss at all, but instead The Phantom, a medic that Big Boss used hypnotherapy and plastic surgery on to make you into a copy of him after the helicopter crash in Ground Zeroes.

It wasn’t just the shock that bothered players though, fans argued the finale hung together in a very unsatisfying way, and given creator Hideo Kojima’s seemingly unhappy departure from Konami, it was a glum end to a genre-defining series. Insult was added to injury as it appears there was supposed to be extra endgame content that didn’t make it into the game.

Whatever your take on whether the ending was good or bad, it certainly wasn’t where we were expecting the series to round out.

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Contributor

Jess has been a journalist and content creator in the games industry for over 15 years and has been WhatCulture's resident Australian import and sorry cop since 2020, upping the quotient of swearing and apologising in WhatCulture Gaming's annual blooper videos considerably. She previously worked at GameSpot for 10 years, most notably hosting GameSpot News in addition to E3 live shows, and PAX panels. She regularly livestreams a variety of games on her 'jessmcdonell' YouTube and Twitch channels and hosts the 'Do It On The Day' podcast. She has won awards for her news and feature work in gaming as well as an accolade for her comedic writing (likely an admin error). She can be found on X at @jessmcdonell and Instagram at @jessicamcdonell sharing her current videogame fixations, industry insights, and videos of her cat, Karma.