10 Video Game Endings That Get Worse The More You Think About Them
7. A Good Time To Be A Bad Guy - Red Dead Redemption
Red Dead Redemption made big waves in the space of game narratives when it ended on a tragic, but impactful, denouement. After sacrificing himself for his family, John Marston dies in a hail of gunfire while his wife and child escape the besieged family ranch.
The game then picks up years after its climax for one final mission: now playing as John's once gentle and kindhearted son Jack, you seek out and kill the man responsible for his father's death, sending Jack down the same outlaw path as his father.
But where this gets really bad is when you consider the timeframe we're dealing with.
Jack begins his outlaw life in 1914 at the age of 19. The wild west is basically dead by this point. World War I is about to start. Prohibition is right around the corner, and with it, an explosion of organized crime.
Jack is likely to end up embroiled in one, the other, or both.
On one hand, in his physical prime, disillusioned and angry at the law for destroying his family, a decadent and ultra violent life of crime awaits him. On the other is the second-most destructive war in human history.
It's hard to imagine how Jack gets any kind of happy ending.