Top 10 Surprise Endings in Video Games

06. Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar, 2010)

In the world of motion pictures there have been hundreds of really good movies that took on the western theme of the cowboy and made it sing, but in the world of video games there have been very few that attempted to embrace the western genre and succeeded.

There was Gun (2005), Call of Juarez (2006), and of course Red Dead Revolver (2004), so when Red Dead Redemption came along it was both the second game in the Red Dead series, the spiritual successor of Revolver, and a game whose early PR work suggested that it had serious potential for being a worthy and even epic adventure.

The setting starts in a part of the old west that borders on Mexico, and eventually expands to include the fictional towns of New Austin, West Elizabeth, and Nuevo Paraiso. The thing is even though the game appears to be the classic old-west tale, it actually takes place in 1911, not the 1860s like you might think.

Still and all, despite the events taking place in the twentieth century, the focus is still the American Frontier, cowboys, outlaws, and the sort of plot and sub-plots that are central to the theme. Well, that and new technologies like the automobile, big oil, and oh yeah, machine guns.

While the story largely focuses upon the events and life of one family, the way that it unfolds is easy to predict all the way up until the story culminates in revenge being won, the music would swell, the sun would set, and the credits would roll. Yeah, not here...

Instead of the game ending where you think it would, the game focus makes a surprise change to tell the story of what happens after the bad guy is dealt with, as Marston tries to rebuild his life and the ranch, only to face the surprise attack from the corrupt government agents and, shockingly, the death of the protagonist! Did not see that coming.

The story then jumps three years into the future, changing focus to John's son Jack and his own efforts to seek revenge on the man who did his family wrong!

Jack tracks down the now retired Bureau agent Edgar Ross who was ultimately responsible for the death of his father and duels him on a riverbank, bringing the whole sad story to a close.