10 Video Game Characters Who Got Undeservedly Brutal Deaths

John Marston’s end has a bittersweet brutal beauty about it. Marston may not have been the goodliest and most noble of men, but he always had his family’s welfare in mind. The player commits awful deeds as Marston, but the raw, imperfect character develops in a gripping way. Through the course of Red Dead Redemption and its sequel (which is technically a prequel), we come to bond with him.

Players understand the reason why he’s being hunted, and the moral high ground is tough for Marston to claim. Nevertheless, his death is just heartbreaking to watch.

It has all the hallmarks of a movie tragedy, from his son’s entreaty “you’re comin’ with us, Pa,” to the slow opening of the barn door, from the few foes Marston can dispatch in slow-motion to his slow and haunting drop to his knees, it’s protracted, brutal, and genuinely upsetting.