10 True Video Game Endings You Gave Up On

True endings are bloody weird when you think about it.

It takes a strange kind of mind to invest the time and energy needed to create a video game, then lock its ultimate denouement behind an arbitrary check-list. Collect the crystals, finish the sidequests, romance every houseplant - it's like the designers are forcing the player to invest the same amount of energy in completing the game as they did in making it.

Granted, some games are worth the effort. Nier: Automata's incredible ending, for example, wouldn't have hit nearly as hard without the work needed to unlock it. And sometimes the journey is its own reward - Mario Galaxy 2's ending may be forgettable, but the sheer joy of exploring its expertly crafted worlds is a reward in and of itself.

Unfortunately, these games fail to live up to those lofty examples.

From asking too much of the player to hiding their true ending a little too well, each game on this list saw their players give up on it like a New Year's resolution in February. After all, there's always another year, and there's always another game.

Yoko Taro - the creator behind the aforementioned Nier: Automata - has a long history of forcing players to jump through hoops. Each of his games require multiple playthroughs to unlock their secrets, a trend that started with Drakengard.

Unfortunately, multiple endings are about the only thing Automata and Drakengard have in common. Whereas the former is viewed as one of the best games of its generation, Drakengard's reputation is deservedly murkier.

To put it bluntly, there's a reason Taro farmed out Automata's combat to action-game specialists Platinum. As great as his early games are at building worlds and bending minds, they are every bit as bad when it comes to actually playing the damn things. And Drakengard is the worst of the lot - dull, monotone graphics, tedious hack 'n' slash combat and flat, uninteresting level design that makes replaying it as appetizing a prospect as a drywall sandwich.

Unfortunately, replay it you must. Not only that, but you'll also have to find all 65 of its weapons, complete it multiple times, and then finish an out-of-nowhere rhythm battle of such absurd difficulty you'll leave teeth marks on your controller.

(Stunts like this explain why games journalists used to greet Taro's games with a cry of "Yoko? Oh no!").