8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon (2025)

Ever enjoyed an ending so much only to have it fall apart when a sequel comes out? How about hating how a great game ended, but breathing a sigh of relief by seeing that the canon ending is different?

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This list is a minefield of spoilers, as most ending-related material goes, so keep that in mind while you slow down.

These are great games where all endings were created equal until the director said otherwise.

Most fanbases listed here enjoyed a few years wondering what really happened, then got their hands on sequels that clarified that "yep, everything went really, really wrong".

Join us through this trip down memory lane as we reminisce over your favorite game's most hurtful endings. Bring tissues, and a stuffed toy to hug later.

8 The Last Of Us

A Mandatory Slaughter

8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon (1)

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10/ 10

Action

Adventure

Systems

8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon (3) OpenCritic Reviews
Top Critic Rating:94/100 Critics Recommend:99%
Franchise
The Last of Us
Platform(s)
PS3 , PS4

Released
June 14, 2013
Developer(s)
Naughty Dog

Publisher(s)
Sony
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer

Engine
Proprietary (overall), Havok (physics)

ESRB
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
Expansions
The Last of Us: Left Behind

How Long To Beat
15 Hours

X|S Optimized
n/a

Metascore
95

Steam Deck Compatibility
Yes, The Last of Us is Steam Deck compatible

OpenCritic Rating
Mighty

Cross Save
no

Cross-Platform Play
No, The Last of Us Part 1 does not have crossplay

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Some people say The Last Of Us is the videogame equivalent of Oscar bait, but that argument is moot considering how well Naughty Dog executed that concept.

Unfortunately, there are some qualms about the ending of the first game.

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In the final level of The Last Of Us, Joel decides to save Ellie and doom humanity in the process. The player gets the choice to sneak in or go guns-blazing.

Originally, Naughty Dog had planned for two endings: the standard one that made it to the final game, and an alternate one where Joel went on a murderous rampage in the hospital.

While the developer eventually scrapped the footage for the alternate ending, when The Last Of Us Part II came out, most dialogue sequences over the hospital incident refer to Joel slaughtering those inside it.

In a very roundabout way, the bad ending of The Last Of Us is canon despite not actually being in the game originally.

7 Ghost Recon Wildlands

Serving Justice Through Gunshots

8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon (4)

Shooter

Systems

8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon (8) OpenCritic Reviews
Top Critic Rating:72/100 Critics Recommend:41%

Franchise
Ghost Recon
Platform(s)
PC , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One , Stadia

Released
March 7, 2017
Developer(s)
Ubisoft
Publisher(s)
Ubisoft
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer , Local Multiplayer

Engine
AnvilNext 2.0

ESRB
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs

How Long To Beat
27 Hours

PS Plus Availability
Extra & Premium

Steam Deck Compatibility
Playable

How Long To Beat (Completionist Runs)
80 Hours

OpenCritic Rating
Fair

The neverending conflict between DC bureaucrats and field operatives struck hard in Ghost Recon Wildlands.

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It is a divide so great that even special forces and a CIA agent could find common ground against it. Unfortunately, it is not enough.

After meticulously dismantling the Santa Blanca Cartel and cornering El Sueño in his megalomaniac mausoleum, Bowman and the Ghosts get a call from Washington telling them to stand down.

El Sueño cut a deal with the DOJ: he gets full immunity, in exchange for snitching on other cartel leaders.

It's a win-win, clearing out his competition and paving the road for Sueño to exert full control over Bolivia.

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Feeling that the American judiciary failed her, Karen Bowman executes the kingpin with three shots to the head, to the disbelief of Nomad and his crew.

Bowman gets sentenced to life for murder, but she does not seem to mind.

If you replay the last mission after completing 100% of the cartel destabilization missions, you get a secret "good" ending where Sueño gets house arrest in the US, but that is not nearly as exciting as the canon one.

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6 Shadow Hearts

Nothing A Little Time Travel Can't Fix

8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon (10)

JRPG

Systems

Platform(s)
PS2

Released
December 12, 2001

Developer
Sacnoth

Publisher
Aruze, Midway

ESRB
m

How Long To Beat
25 Hours

If you were gaming during the turn of the century, odds are you were either playing Final Fantasy VIII on the PlayStation or Shadow Hearts on the PlayStation 2.

Those were simpler days marked by self-sacrifice, dressing like the lead guitarist of a J-Rock band, and fighting battles that could be replicated on Microsoft Excel.

The Shadow Hearts franchise loves a convoluted approach to endings. The main title follows the bad ending of Koudelka, and its canon ending has Alice dying to save Yuri.

If your heart breaks when playing that, you'll be happy to know that Shadow Hearts: Covenant has a way to undo this.

The sequel's good ending sends you back in time to the start of Shadow Hearts, but this time Yuri knows how to save Alice. Makes you wish life was that easy.

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You Thought You Won, Commander?

8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon (12)

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9.5/ 10

Turn-Based Strategy

Action

Tactical

Strategy

Systems

Franchise
XCOM
Platform(s)
Android , Linux , iOS , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 , PS Vita

Released
October 9, 2012
Developer(s)
Firaxis Games , 2K Games , Feral Interactive
Publisher(s)
Firaxis Games

Multiplayer
Local Multiplayer

Engine
unity

ESRB
e

How Long To Beat
27 hours

The 2012 reboot of the XCOM series brought a lot of nostalgia and pleasure and introduced younger players to one of the best tactical games ever.

Who does not like saving humanity from wave after wave of aliens to save the Earth, without having to get into the "what did the author mean by this" discourse that comes with Starship Troopers or Helldivers?

The brutal difficulty of XCOM makes victory over the aliens one of the most exciting moments a gamer can have, but those who moved on to XCOM 2 in 2016 were left in disbelief.

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1

That's right, commander: despite you and your unit's heroic acts against overwhelming odds, XCOM 2 reveals that the aliens won the war.

If it makes you feel any better, the developers came out to say that while XCOM 2 tells the story of what happens if you lose, what happens in your save is real in that microcosm.

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If you won in Enemy Unknown, you won. Is it a coping mechanism? Yes. Will I take it? Most definitely.

4 Far Cry 5

Living The Dream With Armageddon Cultists

8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon (18)

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9/ 10

FPS

Open-World

Systems

8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon (22) OpenCritic Reviews
Top Critic Rating:82/100 Critics Recommend:80%

Franchise
Far Cry
Platform(s)
PC , PlayStation 4 , Stadia , Xbox One

Released
March 27, 2018
Developer(s)
Ubisoft Montreal , Ubisoft Toronto
Publisher(s)
Ubisoft
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer , Local Multiplayer , Online Co-Op

Engine
dunia 2, cryengine

ESRB
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol

How Long To Beat
18 Hours

X|S Optimized
Yes

File Size Xbox Series
46 GB (November 2023)

Number of Players
1-2

PS Plus Availability
Extra & Premium

OpenCritic Rating
Strong

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Life teaches you not to trust crazy cultists, but as much as it hurts to admit it, Joseph Seed was right.

As Far Cry: New Dawn reveals to us, his belief that the world would end soon came to pass, as shown in the Resist ending of Far Cry 5.

After you defeat The Father, three nuclear bombs go off and turn the county into glass. The truck carrying Seed to Dutch's bunker crashes, but he and the Deputy survive and make it there on foot.

Seed kills Dutch and cuffs the Deputy, before absolving them. Talk about good company for a nuclear holocaust, eh?

New Dawn fast-forwards to 17 years after the events of Far Cry 5 and lets you "enjoy" life in post-apocalyptic Montana while good old Joseph Seed runs yet another cult.

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3 Blood Omen: Legacy Of Kain

Dooming The World All By Yourself

8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon (23)

Action-Adventure

Top-Down

Hack and Slash

Systems

Platform(s)
PC , PlayStation (Original) , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5

Released
November 15, 1996

Developer(s)
Silicon Knights
Publisher(s)
Crystal Dynamics

ESRB
M For Mature // Blood and Gore, Violence

Legacy of Kain came out in 1996, with strong top-down gameplay and a dark story that did not pull any punches.

During the last chapter of the game, the player defeats the Dark Entity and restores eight of the Pillars of Nosgoth.

You become aware that you are the last pillar guardian, the Pillar of Balance, and the fate of Nosgoth rests in your hands.

You sacrifice yourself for the good of the land or doom the world to decadence at the hands of your tyranny. In 1999, the sequel (Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver) revealed that the latter was canon.

After killing the other pillar guardians and refusing to sacrifice himself, Kain's choice set in motion a chain that brought the wheel of fate to a halt, turning Nosgoth into a wasteland.

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2 Spec Ops: The Line

Pick Your Horrible Fate, Captain

8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon (27)

Third-Person Shooter

Systems

Franchise
Spec Ops
Platform(s)
PC , PS3 , Xbox 360

Released
June 26, 2012
Developer(s)
Yager Development
Publisher(s)
2K Games

Multiplayer
Local Multiplayer

Engine
havok, unreal engine 3

ESRB
M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language

How Long To Beat
6 Hours

Release
2012-06-26

Metascore
77

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and in no place does that resonate more than in Dubai.

Few games set in our world can be as gruesome as Spec Ops: The Line, and all of the endings tie up perfectly into the story.

If you are the pedantic type, you will contest this entry: how can any ending in Spec Ops: The Line be special if they are all beyond awful?

After finding Konrad's body, Walker and the colonel's projection draw guns on each other. If you don't shoot Konrad, he fires at you, which leads Walker to shoot himself. Jolly, right?

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If you do "kill" the projection of Konrad, Walker looks around to see that the colonel's body and the 33rd soldier that came to him for orders are both gone.

After radioing in an evacuation, you meet a convoy of Humvees outside while you wear Konrad's dress suit.

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You can hold your fire and leave Dubai with them, or try to fight. If you die, Walker bleeds out thinking of how men like him can never go home.

If you win against overwhelming odds, Walker retreats into the ruins, parting with a chilling "welcome to Dubai". With the city's water supplies exhausted, there is little chance Walker will make it past a few days.

Tragically, most storefronts delisted Spec Ops: The Line early in 2024 due to expired music licenses.

1 Metro 2033

No Karma Means No Mercy

8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon (32)

FPS

Systems

Franchise
Metro
Platform(s)
PC , PS4 , Switch , Xbox One

Released
August 28, 2014
Developer(s)
4A Games
Publisher(s)
Deep Silver

Engine
4A Engine

ESRB
m

How Long To Beat
9 Hours

The Metro series is one of the grittiest shooters out there, and although 4A Games took a lot of liberties with the source material (with Metro: Exodus fully diverging from Metro 2035), the Ukrainian developers stayed loyal to Glukhovsky's ending for Metro 2033.

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After reaching the top of Ostankino Tower, Artyom has the face of an entire species in the palm of his hand.

If you went through painstaking lengths to get positive karma during your playthrough in one of gaming's harshest karma systems), you have access to the Enlightened ending where Artyom saves the Dark Ones.

That stuff about enlightenment turns out to be all fluff, as Metro: Last Light and Exodus confirm that Artyom called in the missile strike on the nest, leading the Dark Ones to near-extinction.

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There have been some incredible games throughout history and yet, the ones that are truly remembered for greatness are the ones that nail the landing.

8 Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon (2025)
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