Games you can't win (Spoilers within)

[Kyrian007]

Once upon a time that was the default "mode" of video games. You could never "win." Pitfall springs to mind. Galaga, Space Invaders, Pac-Man... they never ended. So that really doesn't count. The one from that era that does is the one where never being able to win, was the point. Where the point of the game is that the only way to win is not to play. Missile Command.

Actually, supposedly Pitfall did have an ending - there were something like 7 treasures to find within the time limit. I don't know of anyone outside of the developers who ever saw it though.

Urban legend. Playing to the "final screen" of Pitfall was possible... then you exited to the right and were once again in the first screen where the game began. It was a never-ending loop.

 

[The White Hunter]

[
It's a bit cliffhangery about that.

Still,excellent gasme, got some feels out of me inbetween mowing down nazis.

It is, but it does seem rather heavily hinted at, considering BJ

Spoiler

wasn't gonna make it to the helicopter before the nuclear strike hit.

The fact that the next game was a prequel practically confirms it. Not to mention the Nazis still rule the world regardless, which is still depressing as hell.

For that matter, Singularity doesn't really have a good ending either. No matter what ending you get,

Spoiler

the Soviets, or some variant thereof, still run the world in the new timeline and it's heavily implied that the ending where you end in the helicopter is the canon one, due it being the only one that isn't a summery. Though that ending is slightly less depressing then the others, with the implication that the Soviet Union in the new timeline is a little less oppressive then the other ones in the game

.

Yeah but we'll see, I'll be happy to just see more from the studio behind new order frankly. Wonderful game, bit too drawn out, but all else it was great.

Singularity is underated as fuck, the endings are super depressing though. Awesome fun game though.

 

[Coruptin]

Did someone say games you can't win?

Spoiler

You just lost

 

[Dalisclock]

Actually, does DEFCON count? Considering the entire point of the game is to fight a thermonuclear war and millions of people are going to die no matter how well you play, one could say you don't win DEFCON, you just lose fewer of your own people then the other guy.

 

[AidoZonkey]

Spec Ops: The Line

Spoiler: Slight spoilers

The best you can hope for is to survive, but theres no winning, no matter what you do you loose. Some may see the best possible ending as a win, but your not the hero of any ending, you are a monster, thats why you dont win

Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core

Spoiler

You dont win, but man oh man do you go out in a blaze of glory. I knew how it had to end, but its to the credit of the game that I didnt give up, I never wanted to give up

 

[LordLundar]

Did someone say games you can't win?

Spoiler

You just lost

*WHAP!* Bad Coruptin!

As for me, the Deponia trilogy. At the end of each title all your efforts end up with the character your playing as failing and the bad guy winning.

 

[DoPo]

Spec Ops: The Line

Spoiler: Slight spoilers

The best you can hope for is to survive, but theres no winning, no matter what you do you loose. Some may see the best possible ending as a win, but your not the hero of any ending, you are a monster, thats why you dont win

Spoiler

Even if you survive, it's debatable wether that's the "best" ending, to be honest. Well, I suppose compared with every other one, the ending where you both survive and surrender to the US troops at the end (or at least is killed by them), is probably one of the overall better ones since the US army would presumably at least help out the people in Dubai at least a bit. But still, I don't think any of them can be really called good for Walker to any extent. Even Walker himself realises that when he says "Requesting immediate evacuation of Dubai. Survivors: one too many" and later if he's taken home alive he responds "How did you survive this?" with "Who says I did".

 

[Mike000]

Once upon a time that was the default "mode" of video games. You could never "win." Pitfall springs to mind. Galaga, Space Invaders, Pac-Man... they never ended. So that really doesn't count. The one from that era that does is the one where never being able to win, was the point. Where the point of the game is that the only way to win is not to play. Missile Command.

Actually, supposedly Pitfall did have an ending - there were something like 7 treasures to find within the time limit. I don't know of anyone outside of the developers who ever saw it though.

Urban legend. Playing to the "final screen" of Pitfall was possible... then you exited to the right and were once again in the first screen where the game began. It was a never-ending loop.

uh...yes, if you just ran in one direction, it was a loop...but it was actually a non-euclidean maze. Switching from the above ground path to the underground one and running in the same direction, you'd see things like screen 1, 3, 7, 5, 9, 8. Reversing direction on some screens would take you to somewhere other than the screen you had just left. It was too much of a pain to track.

 

[WolfThomas]

Kane and Lynch. well both games but the first in particular.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

FEAR: Extraction Point.

Fate/Extra's ending involves you discovering that you

Spoiler

are simply a disconnected copy of a real person in a coma somewhere and therefore can't actually win because you're not human. You can however make one last wish before the system destroys you as the abberation you are.

I suppose Silent Hill: Shattered Memories counts, too, since

Spoiler

You died years ago.