10 Video Game Deaths You Were Powerless To Stop

7. John Marston - Red Dead Redemption

Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption boasts arguably the strongest climax to any of their games to date, as protagonist John Marston's past finally catches up with him and he gets, to not be too indelicate about it, lit up like a Christmas tree and peppered with more holes than a wheel of Swiss cheese.

What's truly brilliant about Marston's death is that the player is given a brief opportunity to use the game's slow-mo Dead Eye mechanic to take down as many of Edgar Ross' men as possible before John is blown to hell, implying a certain measure of player agency in how his fate plays out.

And while it would've been the most Rockstar thing ever if skilled players could use Dead Eye to actually avert John's fate, they're ultimately unable to avoid our morally dubious hero from being shot down like a dog.

But as a compromise, players are then able to take control of John's son Jack for the game's epilogue sequence, where you can mete out bloody vengeance against Ross in a mano-y-mano duel.