Most video games are about challenge and conflict. Players overcome obstacles to achieve a goal. However, some games take liberties to protect their story. There’s a line to walk between requiring player skill to proceed through the game while still being able to create meaningful stakes.
Sometimes, games take a shortcut to maintain this balance. However well the player does, and however thoroughly they win a conflict, the game doesn’t let them score a proper victory. It could be that control is taken away from the player afterward and they lose, or that the story wipes away their achievement.
This article contains gameplay clips from various video games. Some clips feature blood and violent character deaths.
10 Darth Malak
Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic
It’s hard to let players fight endgame bosses earlier on. An unwinnable boss fight isn’t often fun. However, the player can’t kill them without affecting the story. As a result, many games let the player win but negate their victory. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic does this when Darth Malak confronts the player aboard Leviathan.
Malak, in contrast to his endgame challenge, is very weak aboard Leviathan. A well-built player character can easily defeat him. However, the fight will always be interrupted by Bastilla saving the player from Malak, claiming that he’s too strong. Regardless of the player’s performance, Malak will always force the player to flee and take Bastilla prisoner.
9 Long Night Of Solace
Halo: Reach
Halo fans know going into Halo: Reach that it won’t have a happy ending. The titular planet is well-known as the sight of the UNSC’s greatest defeat at the Covenant’s hands. However, the game takes an optimistic turn briefly during the mission “Long Night of Solace.” NOBLE team’s plan to destroy the Covenant supercarrier works, giving Reach respite at a significant cost.
However, this victory is undone within moments. Halo: Reach dedicates an entire mission to destroying one supercarrier. In that mission’s end cutscene, a much larger Covenant fleet materializes over Reach — including multiple supercarriers. The entirety of “Long Night of Solace” is rendered pointless in one of the game’s biggest gut punches.
8 The Heart Of Darkness
Darkest Dungeon
Most video games reward players for their struggle and effort. However, Darkest Dungeon lives up to its grim and brutal tone by revealing there’s no real victory to be had. The player must brave several grueling trips through the titular Darkest Dungeon to fight the Heart of Darkness. However, defeating it achieves very little.
Darkest Dungeon‘s ending narration reveals that killing the Heart of Darkness barely slows it down. It will inevitably grow until it can destroy the world, regardless of the player’s actions. Darkest Dungeon requires more effort to beat than most video games, but it’s all for naught.
7 Abby Anderson
The Last Of Us Part II
The Last of Us Part II is a grim revenge story that shows its events from both perspectives. Ellie Williams spends the game tracking down Abby Anderson to avenge Joel Miller — at great cost to herself and others. After their first bout, Ellie and Abby part ways. However, over a year later, Tommy Miller tells Ellie where to find Abby.
Ellie leaves to hunt Abby once more. This time, the player controls Ellie as she fights Abby in the game’s final battle. When they win the fight, however, Ellie lets Abby go. This ties in with The Last of Us Part II‘s themes about revenge and its pitfalls, but it leaves many players feeling dissatisfied.
6 Redeeming John Marston
Red Dead Redemption
Red Dead Redemption‘s main storyline comprises a lengthy quest for John Marston to clear his name by taking down his old gang. John goes up against the remnants of the Van der Linde gang so that FBI Agent Edgar Ross will return his family and let him live in peace. The player guides John through several ordeals to achieve this.
However, Ross betrays Marston in Red Dead Redemption‘s infamous ending. He releases Marston’s family, but Ross later returns with a gang of men to kill Marston. John never gets to enjoy his fresh lease on life with his family, despite the intense effort the player puts into the game.
5 Apollyon
For Honor
The final fight against Apollyon in For Honor doesn’t pull any tricks to have her survive despite the player’s skill. Instead, the game takes a more subtle approach. Throughout For Honor, Apollyon tries to create a never-ending war between the three factions. In the climax, the three factions work together to besiege Apollyon’s fortress and kill her.
However, this truce doesn’t last. Despite the player’s efforts to thwart Apollyon’s plan in For Honor, and despite her death, her plan succeeds. Before long, the factions turn on one another and start fighting once more. The player has no way to stop this, since it forms the basis of the game’s multiplayer.
4 The Black Knight
Fire Emblem: Path Of Radiance
The Black Knight is Ike’s personal arch-nemesis in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. However, he’s unbeatable for much of the game. Things finally come to a head in a duel between the two. If the player has built Ike carefully, there’s a chance he can beat his hated enemy. The game rewards the player for doing so, but also lessens their achievement in the story.
The Black Knight survives and escapes after the duel, and no one manages to find him. Furthermore, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn reveals the Black Knight let Ike win. The Fire Emblem Tellius duology undercuts one of its hardest-fought victories twice over.
3 Our Princess Is In Another Castle
Mario
Super Mario Bros‘ storytelling is minimalist and straightforward. However, it undermines the player’s achievement several times over. The player fights their way through several of Bowser’s bases throughout the Mushroom Kingdom, each capping off one of the game’s worlds. When they reach the end, however, they’re told that Peach is in another castle.
This doesn’t happen just once. This happens at the end of every single Super Mario Bros world except the very last. Super Mario Bros reuses this plot device a grand total of seven times before the player actually rescues Princess Peach from Bowser.
2 GLaDOS
Portal 2
The first half of Portal 2 follows Chell and Wheatley trying to escape the ruined Aperture Science lab. However, they reawaken Portal‘s antagonist GLaDOS in the process, who bars their way and resumes testing with Chell. Eventually, the two work together to replace GLaDOS with Wheatley as the facility’s operator.
This seems to clear the way for Chell to escape and Portal 2 to reach a happy end. However, taking control of the facility immediately turns Wheatley power-hungry and vindictive. The player’s spent many hours trying to help Chell escape. However, Wheatley becomes a more dangerous villain than GLaDOS almost immediately, rendering the player’s efforts pointless.
1 Kai Leng
Mass Effect 3
Kai Leng is one of Mass Effect 3‘s most recurring villains. He menaces Shepard and their allies on the Citadel, again on Thessia, and for a final time at Cerberus Headquarters. The second encounter earns players’ ire by undercutting Shepard’s own track record and the player’s efforts.
Kai Leng is Thessia’s boss fight in Mass Effect 3. He isn’t much of a challenge, and most builds can easily handle him. When Shepard deals enough damage, however, the game shifts to a cutscene. Kai Leng uses a gunship to level the area, quips at Shepard’s expense, and then steals the Vendetta VI. The player’s dominance in the fight ends up meaning nothing.
