this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2023
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Prey (2017). The ending really ruined wat was shaping to be a "top 10 favourite game". It was the equivalent of "it was just a dream" ending in movies, makes you feel like you just wasted your time.
Rather than a dream it was more like a test. The events of the game actually happened. The test is whether you'd make the same decisions again or choose a better/worse path. Then you're evaluated on that.
It's one of only cases I can think of where a "just a dream" style ending actually works instead of being a cop out.
This would be true, but they already used the "it was all a simulation/test" at the very beginning of the game, in the very first setting. You can't use the same trick twice, it just doesn't have the same impact.
I actually think that's exactly what makes the ending acceptable. They set the stage and open up that possibility in the very beginning of the game. Then they drop hints regularly throughout, allowing players to solve the mystery before the big reveal if they're observant enough. If the developers had not done it this way, it would have actually felt more like a copout. But you can tell they planned it from the start. The game was built around the ending, not the other way around.
My only real criticism with the ending is that there were only two outcomes, with the player getting to choose between them (usually). The events of the game only affected their dialogue at the end, and little else. If they fleshed that scene out with more endings based on your moral score, then it would have been much better received. A simple "yes or no" decision was too simple compared to the rest of the game.