10 Video Game Characters You Didn't Realise Suffered Tragic Fates

Max Payne is admittedly one of the most tragic video game characters of all time - the series begins with him as an insomniac, alcoholic, drug-addicted NYPD cop hell-bent on slaughtering those who murdered his wife and baby daughter, and it only gets slightly less bleak from there.

The third - and to date, final - game then delivers what might be superficially deemed a "happy" ending, where Max brings down villain Victor Branco and, in the epilogue, quite literally walks off into the sunset in Bahia.

While Max has cleary found some inner peace, it's difficult to believe this will be anything but temporary - Max's considerable and still-untreated psychological trauma seems primed to resurface in the near-future, to say nothing of his continuing battle with substance abuse.

But even if Max conquers his personal demons, it's worth considering the possibility that someone associated with Branco will seek vengeance against him and pop a cap in his head while he's enjoying the easy life.

It feels inevitable that Max will be pulled back into a world of violence eventually, and even if not, he may find himself lacking purpose in a world with nobody left for him to kill.

This wasn't the redemptive ending for Max that some believe it to be: close to the end of the game, Max himself even says "Was it redemption? Not really, it was pathetic desperation and not much else."

Max filled the void with heroic bloodshed, but only temporarily. Without a driving purpose beyond merely existing, it's difficult to picture Max putting his feet up or sitting still for long.