8 Exact Moments We Knew Video Game Characters Were Doomed To Die

1. John Marston's Quiet Epilogue - Red Dead Redemption

It was probably daft ever thinking that John Marston could live happily ever after. Red Dead Redemption is all about how time is moving beyond old outlaws like him, and in order to fully do that, America needs a clean break.

It's why the entire Van Der Linde gang had to be snuffed out, and you didn't really think the Federal agents who tasked John with gunning his former friends down were going to leave him as a loose end and a walking reminder of those kind of men?

Well, yeah, honestly. This is a game after all, and John jumps through so many hoops to get back to his family. When he does finally fulfil his promise, he returns to his ranch and family and begins his life again, dreaming of the day he can finally put his guns down for good. When you pick up in the epilogue on the ranch, it feels like you're getting a taste of what this domestic bliss will be like.

But then, it keeps going.

Once the epilogue extends beyond the natural end point and doesn't hit credits, that's when you know there is something sinister in store for John. The ending is too perfect, too neat, and you're playing too much of it.

You don't know when it's going to happen, but every second that epilogue continues past the point it could have faded to black, you know you're one step further to seeing John atone for his past life.