A Game With a Different Type of Ending

I've beaten many games, good and bad, but this one was different. 

Usually the final boss is an intimidating menace, a seemingly insurmountable force that the hero must overcome.  Whether the actual fight is epic or disappointing it comes down to figuring out the mechanics; dodging at the right time, attacking at the right time, or using the right weapon.  The boss is defeated, the world is saved, the princess is rescued, the guy gets the girl and all is right with the world. Most of the games I remember beating ended similarly, until I played Red Dead Redemption.

:: Spoiler Alert ::

Never had I felt so helpless while paying a game as in that moment. Trapped in a barn, surrounded by dozens of men, betrayed by the man I had trusted. I had guided John Marston through a great ordeal as a lackey for this man, killing on his behalf. All Marston wanted was a chance to live in peace with his family, a chance to rebuild his life. Now here was the man, about to kill his errand boy, tying up his loose ends. I say John Marston, but when I peeked out through those barn doors and saw all those men out there I felt like it was me in that barn. I didn’t want to die. I had gone through so much, I just wanted to go back to my family for whom I had done everything, it wasn’t fair.

As I opened those barn doors and stepped out I kept hoping for something to happen. I wanted the cavalry to come in, an Indian attack, anything that would save me, maybe I could even kill all of them. Time slowed as the games’ bullet time effect kicked in and I started shooting. A bunch of them went down and then the others let loose on me. There was nothing I could do; John Marston lay dead on the ground.

The game wasn’t over; the last mission put you in the shoes of Jack, John’s son. He tracks down the man who betrayed his father, now an old man. Kill him or let him go, that’s the choice. I shot him in the face. That was it, he was dead, I had my revenge, and it felt empty. There was no fancy cut scene, and no happy ending. Marston was still dead and Jack had become a murderer. Things in life don’t always have happy endings, maybe games don’t have to always have one either.