9 Most Disappointing Video Game Finales

7. Episode 5: Polarised - Life Is Strange

I’ve gone slightly off the rails here by including a game that is technically just told in episodes but since it was released over a period of time and disappointed more than a few players, I’m going to allow it.

Life Is Strange is a fantastic evolution of the adventure genre both in the format of its storytelling through time-travel, its compelling story, decision-making mechanics, and relatable characters. Unfortunately for studio Dontnod all this investment into the narrative and those within it means they really had to nail the finale. In a lot of ways the story is very satisfying. There are surprising and shocking conclusions to a lot of the game’s mysteries and the time manipulation mechanics are woven in in a meaningful and interesting way. Then we hit our endgame.

Though you’ve been making choices the entire game about what to do, who to save, who to side with, and how to act, you’re given a binary choice at the very end.

Not just that, you’re given a binary choice that not only overshadows any choices you’ve made so far, it can nuke your town and everyone in it off the map if you go with one option. The other isn’t much better as it leads to the death of the one person who spurred your journey on from the get go. While some were a fan of this ending and, to be fair, you have to be understanding of the limitations of choice-based narratives that are still trying to tell a linear story, others were more than a little disappointed that it all came down to this.