6 Games Where the Evil Ending Was BETTER
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VOICE OVER: Adrian Sousa
WRITTEN BY: Nathan Sharp
Most games let you play the good guy, and even games with moral choice make the good ending the canon one, and even punish the protagonist for being a bad guy. Here are games that do the opposite, games where the evil ending was just a lot more fun.
Games Where the Evil Ending Was Better
Sometimes bad is good. Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at six games where the evil ending was better than the good ending.
For this list, we’ll be looking at video games where the evil ending was either thematically richer, more consistent with the characters and story, and/or more emotionally impactful than the good ending.
“Injustice 2” (2017)
The story of “Injustice 2” is your traditional superhero fare: a bad guy - in this case, Brainiac- threatens the safety of Earth and the good guys fight him off. By the game’s climax, the player is left with a choice – play as Batman and spare Brainiac or play as Superman and kill him. If you spare Brainiac, the typical superhero ending plays out – Batman defeats Superman and saves the day. Yawn. If the bad ending is chosen, Superman kills Brainiac, bonds with his ship, brainwashes Batman, re-establishes the world-dominating Regime, and forces Supergirl to join it. Now isn’t that much more interesting? Not only does it lead to discussions regarding complex character traits and motivations, but it also leads to some intriguing storylines for later installments. It’s certainly better than “conventional good guys win ending #582.”
“Spider-Man: Web of Shadows” (2008)
“Spider-Man: Web of Shadows” has four different endings, and they vary from boring and predictable to awesome and enticing. Guess which one the bad ending is? In the red path (or good endings), things go how you’d expect – Spider-Man saves Manhattan and everything is relatively hunky-dory with Mary Jane. But the true black path ending is where things get interesting. By the end of the story, evil Spider-Man rules over Manhattan with Black Cat while a symbiote-infected Wolverine is sent to kill him. Can you imagine how cool a fight between symbiote Spider-Man and Wolverine would be? We can’t, which is why we want to see it so badly. Forget swinging into the sunset with Mary Jane. We’ve seen that a thousand times.
“Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader” (2001)
“Rogue Squadron II” contains two bonus levels – Triumph of the Empire and Revenge on Yavin – which see you playing as Darth Vader. In the first, you play through the famous trench battle and successfully repel the rebel’s attack on the Death Star. In the second, you destroy the Yavin base and squash the rebel alliance for good. Playing through such an iconic scene as Darth Vader is a huge treat for “Star Wars” fans, and the ending provides a nice “what-if” scenario to ponder over. Sure, it’s definitely not canon, but it’s still interesting to see what would happen if the climactic battle went the other way.
“Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal” (2001)
“Throne of Bhaal” is an expansion pack for “Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn,” and while it’s not a base game, it completes the overall story of BioWare’s “Baldur’s Gate” series. And what an ending it is. Upon completion of the story, the player has two choices – ascend the titular Throne of Bhaal or destroy it and return to boring old mortality. And in choosing ascension, there is yet another branch of endings – use the Throne for good or become the literal God of Murder. Now, we don’t like to emphasize evil here at MojoPlays, but how metal does that sound? Being the God of Murder concludes the story in a daring and unexpected way and emphasizes the idea that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Some people, like the player character, have the potential to cause immeasurable destruction. And that’s much scarier than fire giants and dragons.
“Undertale” (2015)
There are three major endings to “Undertale.” In the neutral ending, the player defeats both Asgore and Flowey and returns to the surface world. In the pacifist ending, the barrier is broken and the monsters live peacefully with humans. And in the genocide (and obviously evil) ending, the human murders all the monsters before the First Child destroys the world. Upon rebooting the game, the player is met with a blank screen before Chara schools them on bad choices having bad consequences. The game only loads up again if you give your soul over to Chara. It’s a wonderful bit of meta-storytelling and it serves as a haunting commentary on player agency, responsibility, and morality. The evil ending is not only emotional, but it explores some intriguing themes and concepts about gaming and is one of the best examples of a video game truly asking you to ponder your immoral actions and decisions.
“Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun” (1999)
“Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun” follows the events of the Second Tiberium War from the perspective of two factions – the GDI (AKA the good guys) and Nod (AKA the bad guys). In the GDI ending, Commander Michael McNeil kills bad guy Kane with a shard of Tiberium. In the Nod ending, the world is hit by a Tiberium missile which forever alters life on Earth. Not only does it cause mankind’s extinction, but it eliminates every form of carbon-based life on the planet. The ending is let down a little by the cheesy acting and special effects, but the music helps give the scene a suitably apocalyptic and epic scale. Saving the world is fun and all, but nothing is more powerful than watching it end. If only more games had the guts to include such a brazen and unforgiving ending.
Sometimes bad is good. Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at six games where the evil ending was better than the good ending.
For this list, we’ll be looking at video games where the evil ending was either thematically richer, more consistent with the characters and story, and/or more emotionally impactful than the good ending.
“Injustice 2” (2017)
The story of “Injustice 2” is your traditional superhero fare: a bad guy - in this case, Brainiac- threatens the safety of Earth and the good guys fight him off. By the game’s climax, the player is left with a choice – play as Batman and spare Brainiac or play as Superman and kill him. If you spare Brainiac, the typical superhero ending plays out – Batman defeats Superman and saves the day. Yawn. If the bad ending is chosen, Superman kills Brainiac, bonds with his ship, brainwashes Batman, re-establishes the world-dominating Regime, and forces Supergirl to join it. Now isn’t that much more interesting? Not only does it lead to discussions regarding complex character traits and motivations, but it also leads to some intriguing storylines for later installments. It’s certainly better than “conventional good guys win ending #582.”
“Spider-Man: Web of Shadows” (2008)
“Spider-Man: Web of Shadows” has four different endings, and they vary from boring and predictable to awesome and enticing. Guess which one the bad ending is? In the red path (or good endings), things go how you’d expect – Spider-Man saves Manhattan and everything is relatively hunky-dory with Mary Jane. But the true black path ending is where things get interesting. By the end of the story, evil Spider-Man rules over Manhattan with Black Cat while a symbiote-infected Wolverine is sent to kill him. Can you imagine how cool a fight between symbiote Spider-Man and Wolverine would be? We can’t, which is why we want to see it so badly. Forget swinging into the sunset with Mary Jane. We’ve seen that a thousand times.
“Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader” (2001)
“Rogue Squadron II” contains two bonus levels – Triumph of the Empire and Revenge on Yavin – which see you playing as Darth Vader. In the first, you play through the famous trench battle and successfully repel the rebel’s attack on the Death Star. In the second, you destroy the Yavin base and squash the rebel alliance for good. Playing through such an iconic scene as Darth Vader is a huge treat for “Star Wars” fans, and the ending provides a nice “what-if” scenario to ponder over. Sure, it’s definitely not canon, but it’s still interesting to see what would happen if the climactic battle went the other way.
“Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal” (2001)
“Throne of Bhaal” is an expansion pack for “Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn,” and while it’s not a base game, it completes the overall story of BioWare’s “Baldur’s Gate” series. And what an ending it is. Upon completion of the story, the player has two choices – ascend the titular Throne of Bhaal or destroy it and return to boring old mortality. And in choosing ascension, there is yet another branch of endings – use the Throne for good or become the literal God of Murder. Now, we don’t like to emphasize evil here at MojoPlays, but how metal does that sound? Being the God of Murder concludes the story in a daring and unexpected way and emphasizes the idea that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Some people, like the player character, have the potential to cause immeasurable destruction. And that’s much scarier than fire giants and dragons.
“Undertale” (2015)
There are three major endings to “Undertale.” In the neutral ending, the player defeats both Asgore and Flowey and returns to the surface world. In the pacifist ending, the barrier is broken and the monsters live peacefully with humans. And in the genocide (and obviously evil) ending, the human murders all the monsters before the First Child destroys the world. Upon rebooting the game, the player is met with a blank screen before Chara schools them on bad choices having bad consequences. The game only loads up again if you give your soul over to Chara. It’s a wonderful bit of meta-storytelling and it serves as a haunting commentary on player agency, responsibility, and morality. The evil ending is not only emotional, but it explores some intriguing themes and concepts about gaming and is one of the best examples of a video game truly asking you to ponder your immoral actions and decisions.
“Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun” (1999)
“Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun” follows the events of the Second Tiberium War from the perspective of two factions – the GDI (AKA the good guys) and Nod (AKA the bad guys). In the GDI ending, Commander Michael McNeil kills bad guy Kane with a shard of Tiberium. In the Nod ending, the world is hit by a Tiberium missile which forever alters life on Earth. Not only does it cause mankind’s extinction, but it eliminates every form of carbon-based life on the planet. The ending is let down a little by the cheesy acting and special effects, but the music helps give the scene a suitably apocalyptic and epic scale. Saving the world is fun and all, but nothing is more powerful than watching it end. If only more games had the guts to include such a brazen and unforgiving ending.
