Top 10 Surprise Endings in Video Games

03. Portal 2 (Valve, 2011)

Considering the grief that the game puts you through and all those bloody tests that you had to do - and complete well - the questions that followed the character through the game began with figuring out how it all relates to the end of the previous game.

Questions like where am I? How am I alive? What am I doing here? The clear indications that a lot of time is passing between your hibernation sessions just create more questions for which you need answers.

Of course those are followed by answers - many of which are provided by your companion for the first half of the game, Wheatley.

Eventually you do get to Glados but she doesn't really deliver the definitive answers you are seeking - rather you end up with a lot of new questions mixed in with a narration of the backstory of the company and how she became what she was.

Then you discover who Glados actually is... Err.. Was?

The shift in intentions is not easy to detect - but once Glados realizes that Wheatley is drunk with power, she finds a rather startling way to get rid of him!

Considering how bloodthirsty she was - and the speech that she makes after Wheatley is dealt with - it is not all that shocking in the end for you to expect her to turn on you - and kill you - but what actually happens is certainly a surprise. Instead of wanting you dead, your reward for all of the assistance you have given is simple: she wants you gone.

In fact the entire time you are riding the lift up you are expecting to die - so when the lift door opens and the laser target beams converge on you, it looks like your number is up! But no, wait, things get even stranger now! The bots SING to you! In fact they actually sing pretty good.

The lift continues up, you get a serenade and then the door opens and you find yourself in a grain field. With a pure blue sky above. The companion cube from the first game gets tossed out with you, and the credits roll. Did not see that coming.

You may find it interesting to know that the singer-songwriter who wrote the song Still Alive from the first game that everyone fell in love with is the same one -- Jonathan Coulton -- who wrote the song for this one. And how cool is that?