Top 10 Fates Worse Than Death In Video Games

“Animal Crossing” series (2002-)

Anyone who has played an “Animal Crossing” game knows what they’re signing up for when buying a new game - a lifetime of being in debt to Tom Nook for the rest of their days! Part of “Animal Crossing’s” gameplay loop is in selling materials for Bells so that players can pay back their debt. Once fully paid, Tommy boy tells us about a new upgrade available for our house. Of course we’re going to go for it despite the bill being bigger than the last. And thus, the cycle repeats until we’re finally fully satisfied with our living conditions. (And we thought credit card bills were bad…)

“Banjo-Kazooie” series (1998-2008)

Even when she’s a skeleton of her former self, Gruntilda never really died, therefore she is eligible for this list. Her entire existence is just one big cycle of pain in variable amounts. First, she falls off the top of her lair and is buried underneath a boulder for two years. Then, she loses her head and is kicked around like a bony hacky sack. And finally, in “Nuts & Bolts”, she’s sent to one of LOG’s video game factories, sentenced to help ship out cruddy spin-offs starring minor characters. Old Grunty just somehow gets the worst at the end of every “Banjo” game.

“I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream” (1995)

Having to be a character in a horror game is already an awful life to accept, but the humans in “I Have No Mouth” have it far worse. While you can alter the ending by successfully disabling the evil supercomputer AM, five of the seven endings have virtually the same result. The remaining human character is turned into a blobby creature incapable of inflicting self-harm, unable to die, and mouthless. On top of that, the human character is forced to spend the rest of eternity with AM with no way to express their pain or end their suffering quicker.

“Inside” (2016)

While we’re on the subject of a blobby, miserable existence, it’s worth focusing on the boy from “Inside”. For the first half of the game, you’re hunted down like vermin by almost everyone and everything. Roughly around the last third of the game, he becomes one with an abomination lying deep within a laboratory - a blob of flesh. Though he escapes, the game ends upon reaching an open field with a lone ray of light shining down. And yes, we do know about the alternate ending. We wouldn’t say it made things look any brighter, though.

“Star Fox” series (1992-2016)

Much like Gruntilda, Andross has never truly died, but it’s not his life at the end of the game that we want to focus on - it’s what happened before. Prior to his galactic conquest, Andross was caught conducting unethical experiments with one resulting in significant losses to the Cornerian people. General Pepper sentences the mad scientist to a life of exile on the desolate planet Venom, located on the opposite end of the Lylat System from Corneria. Venom is a deserted planet, known to be completely uninhabitable. Even knowing that Andross survived living under the surface, we can’t imagine the suffering he must have endured along with the rage and hatred fueling him.

“DOOM” series (1993-)

Though the 2016 game would tell you “he chose the path of perpetual torment”, the Slayer was practically forced into the never-ending war between Earth and Hell. With the exception of “DOOM 3”, every game in the franchise is centered on the same marine from the first “DOOM” to “Eternal”, and every game ends the same way: demons dead, but the fight raging on elsewhere. Every time it seems like Hell has been defeated, the demons return in greater numbers than before. For the Slayer, the bloodshed never stops, the rage never subsides, and the deaths never mean the end.

“Crash Bandicoot: WARPED” (1998)

Cortex already had it pretty bad before “WARPED”, having fallen into a cave of crystals (and somehow surviving) and spun into the depths of space (and somehow surviving). “Warped” almost made sure Cortex, along with N. Trophy and Uka Uka, never returned again. Once defeated after collecting all the crystals and Time Relics, the three are sucked into a time portal and sent back all the way to prehistoric times as babies. Oh, and they’ve been set in a volcanic region of the world. And once again, they somehow survived, leading to the events of “Crash Bandicoot 4”. Eh, it ain’t so bad compared to being the laughingstock of Gasmoxia. Right, Oxide?

“Bloodborne” (2015)

The Hunter faces a long and arduous journey across Yharnam, having fought against werewolves, mad villagers, parasites, and more. And yet, none of the game’s three endings result in a life of peace and prosperity. One ends with Gehrman offing the Hunter, sending them back to the start of Yharnam. Another sees the Hunter taking Gehrman’s place as the Dream’s caretaker. And for the third? The Hunter defeats the Moon Presence and becomes an infant Great One, their fate left in the hands of The Doll. Like the Slayer, there is simply no such thing as “rest”.

“Hades” (2020)

Throughout this title from the masterful Supergiant Games, Zagreus struggles to escape the Underworld and break free of his father’s clutches. Alas, even when finally meeting his mother, Zagreus quickly learns of his curse - he is unable to survive for long on the surface before being brought back to Hades’ Palace. What’s worse is that no matter how many times he fights his way back to his mother, Zagreus suffers the same way every time. All he wants is a conversation with his mom, and yet it results in a painful death every time.

“Super Smash Bros.” series (1999-)

The Prince of WAHHH is forever stuck in the Assist Trophy case. But this isn’t our real number one (even though it truly is horrible)...

“God of War” series (2005-)

Honestly, of every video game character in the medium’s history, Kratos has arguably suffered the most. First, he was possessed by Ares and tricked into eradicating his family, causing him to spiral down a path fueled by vengeance and anger. He struggles to forgive himself over the span of several games, and at the end of “God of War III”, he attempts to bring himself to an end. However, a post-credits scene shows he did not perish, and thus, he dragged himself all the way to the Nordic realm. In other words, he lives the curse of immortality with a past that will haunt him for eternity.