INCLUDES SPOILERS ABOUT THE ENDINGS OF VARIOUS GAMES


I was thinking about games that end badly for the protagonist you play as, in a poignant or bittersweet way. Some examples I could think of:

- Freespace 2: One of the possible endings (indeed the one you're likely to get on a first playthrough) has you fight in a convoy escort mission - when the star of the system you're in goes supernova. Unless you're close to the point where you can jump out of the system, you won't escape and die, with your (somewhat pointless) sacrifice acknowledged in the admiral's speech at the ending of the game. I thought this fit really well with the general tone of the game...an almost hopeless fight against impossible odds, with your character just being a cog (albeit an important one at times) in a larger war effort.
- Stalker: Clear Sky: You play as a guy who wants to stop the zone's emissions which are slowly, but surely killing him. After a heroic battle in which you gun down dozens of enemies, you reach the centre of the zone...when a large-scale emission hits and your entire team (the Clear Sky faction) gets wiped out. Your character's fate is left ambiguous (and never resolved), but most likely you're dead or transformed into some kind of zombie. Typical prequel-downer ending, felt really poignant. You tried to escape death, fought heroically, but in the end it didn't matter.
- A golden wake: Somewhat disappointing regarding gameplay, but the story is pretty unique. You play as a guy who's trying to make it in 1920s America...and fails. The game ends with you being a miserable loser during the Great Depression, when you reconnect with an old acquaintance...and are killed when you save that aquaintance's life in a storm. This one really impressed me, a story about failure and life's disappointments isn't something one sees often in games.
- Planescape Torment: One of the endings has the Nameless One accept the punishment for all his sins, condemned to endless battle in the Blood War. Grim, depressing, but also oddly fitting imo.

So what are your experiences with games that end badly for the protagonist? Did you feel it invalidated everything that went before or did it enhance your appreciation of the game?

School Days - 3 endings have you killed off by certain characters

Farcry 3 - Kill your girlfriend / get jiggy with Citra who then thrusts a dagger in your chest

I assume we should just exclude horror games from this?

Fallout 3, in the vanilla campaign. You have to go through a highly irradiated room to activate the GECK.

Bioshock was pretty rough on you too, if you harvested too many little sisters.
Bioshock Infinite was just a complete mindfuck at the end. No spoilers for either of those because they were excellent games.

Hard West: Depending on which character you choose for the final fight you will have to fight the other one.

Metro 2033: In the first playthrough and depending on how you behave you will get the ending like in the book.

Far Cry 2: No matter what you choose as your last mission your character will die.

Fallout: I guess most people will know what I mean although it is possible to shoot the Overseer in an act of revenge...

Legend of Grimrock: The outro gives no clues whether your characters make it or not.

Gothic: The protagonist gets buried under rocks.

Vaporum: You will learn who is the real antagonist...

Painkiller: In all difficulties but the highest the game ends with the protagonist in hell.

Chaser: If I remember correctly the protagonist get caught and the resistance will be defeated.

Earthworm Jim - ending

Another World. The guy remains stuck on the alien planet. On the other hand, maybe his new life was better than the one he had back on Earth, who knows, at least he made a friend. :)

The Blackwell Epiphany. Not spoiling it, but it doesn't have a happy ending.

True, and that's one of the games where I didn't actually like the ending, seemed almost like a forced way to end the series definitely. Rather depressing imo.

In Infidel the pyramid you've been exploring caves in on top of you and the game ends talking about how maybe someday some other explorer will find your remains. I wouldn't say it negatively affected my view of the game, maybe because it felt true to game's tone.

Darkwood, SOMA, Detention - the holy trinity of downer endings.

Sorry, I can't bring myself to spoil these. Experience them for yourselves!

Nier Automata: 2B gets infected by a virus, comes across 2A and is then slain with her own sword.

Penumbra: Black Plague, Outlast, Deadlight, Alan Wake, OnEscapee, Stasis, Inside, Mafia, Realms of the Haunting, What Remains of Edith Finch, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Singularity, Sine Mora EX, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and many of the endings to Corpse Party end with a sour fate for the protagonists. I'm sure there's many more that I don't remember.

Haven't played any of them, but know about Mafia's ending...that seems pretty fitting for the story, if you get involved in organized crime, that's what you get.

Metal Gear series as a whole
StarFox DS (Damn, that shit was depressing, and i ain't even a furry)
Wing Commander Prophecy (You surely know why)
Pikmin
Metroid 4 (Just horrible overall, but at least she's alive, and her primary enemy is part of her [which happens at the beginning of the game])
Final Fantasy 6
Final Fantasy X

These games are special, because the character represents YOU personally:
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (You potentially sacrifice eternal life and ruling the world in favor of doing the right thing, even if you otherwise never do the right thing [alt ending where you can rule the world was never finished])
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Shivering Isles Expansion (Presented positive, but is really bad for 2 reasons)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Dragonborn Expansion (It's only hinted upon, but implied you end up in a lust for knowledge for eternity and forfeit your place in "heaven" for it)

I could continue, but the fates of some side characters in some games... Just wow. Poor Saria and princess Ruto.

Dying light or in the extension of choice where he jumped the bomb or he turns into a zombie.