History NoEnding / VideoGames

** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'': Connor makes one last visit to his destroyed village, then finds Davy Crockett and has a melancholy farewell chat with him. In Rogue, someone in the present day hints that he had a troubled marriage, and that's the last we ever hear of him. (The comics later retcon this bit into an Abstergo lie, he had a happy marriage with a native woman and his daughter was trained as an Assassin, and had even stronger Eagle vision then him)

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' ends during the climax of the game, with nothing more than a vague "500 Years Later" cutscene showing [[spoiler:a field of flowers where the city of Midgar once stood and Red XIII in it, implying either a GreenAesop or that humanity at least survived.]] This has since been remedied by ''Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren'' and various spin-off games, though whether or not this is any better is hotly debated in the fandom.

* The UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum newsgroup comp.sys.sinclair had this as a local meme; in a parody of the dropout messages provided by ancient Hayes modems, FLGT@:WEV:#l;[;#~@V:W~V@É+++ NO CARRIER +++ was [[InterruptingMeme a common way to end a post]].

* The UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 game ''Girl Fight'' has several files detailing information on each girl's background and objective, and hints at a plot involving cyberspace and a seemingly helpful AI trying to aid you against a shadowy organization called The Foundation. Yet when you fight through the arcade mode and defeat the final boss, your "ending" is a sexy digital pinup of your chosen fighter, and that's it; your character's goal, along with all the lore, is just completely dropped.

* The original release of UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} game ''Dark Matter'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTPS_GGhMqk ends abruptly]] with a text ending that provides absolutely no closure right in the middle of the game because the dev team ran out of money and apparently decided to release the unfinished game anyway.

* ''VideoGame/Action52'''s sequel ''Cheetahmen II'': After defeating the Apeman, the game gets stuck on the boss screen (where it was supposed to switch to the next set of levels by swapping the PRG ROM), making the game {{Unwinnable}}. If you hack to the last two levels, there's no ending after the FinalBoss either.

* ''VideoGame/LittlestPetShopBiggestAdventure'' uses kibble coins as currency, which are golden coins with paw prints on them. These are used to buy goods and services for your pets, in addition to paying the adoption fees for new ones.

* The arcade game ''Gun Force II'' (aka ''Geo Storm'') has no ending at all; upon destroying the final boss, you are automatically sent back to the beginning of the first level.
* The UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum newsgroup comp.sys.sinclair had this as a local meme; in a parody of the dropout messages provided by ancient Hayes modems, FLGT@:WEV:#l;[;#~@V:W~V@É+++ NO CARRIER +++ was [[InterruptingMeme a common way to end a post]].
%%* The story of the TimeManagementGame ''[[http://www.playfirst.com/game/fix-it-up-kates-adventure Fix-it-up: Kate's Adventure]]'' fits, according to [[http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2009/05/column_homer_in_silicon_narrat_1.php one review]].

* The adventure game ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' "rewards" you by letting you wander open-endedly around the Ages that you've just thoroughly explored, while Atrus sits at his desk writing and says nothing other than a slightly annoyed request to use the linking book to return to Myst. This left many players wondering whether they'd actually won. There are two subtle indicators of your success, the red and blue books being destroyed (although you don't learn Sirrus and Achenar's true fate until ''much'' later) and the music when you quit the game being softer and more cheerful. Nonetheless, there's no actual indication that you leave the Ages of Myst. Furthermore, at the start of the second game, ''VideoGame/{{Riven}}'', it's ''very'' strongly implied that you never left.
* Present in ''VideoGame/NinjabreadMan'' and its [[SelfPlagiarism shameless reskin]] ''Rock 'n' Roll Adventures'', both by Data Design Interactive. In both games, once you beat the third and final level, the game just kicks you back to the title screen with nary an acknowledgement. There aren't even any bosses to fight! Fellow reskins ''Anubis II'' and ''Myth Makers: Trixie in Toyland'' are VERY slightly better about this, with more levels, an actual boss battle, and a line of text acknowledging your victory before booting you back to the title.

* In the ZX Spectrum game ''Kraal'', completing the last level loops you back to the start of the game - you don't even get to keep your hard-won points.
* ''Cursed Crusade'' ended with Denz and Esteban searching for Denz's dad in Egypt, with the main antagonist still at large and caught up with Denz's dad to steal the last holy relic. Kind of a letdown unless the developers are planning for a sequel...

* ''VideoGame/DreamfallTheLongestJourney'' ends with Zoe falling into a coma, April stabbed and falling off-screen, Kian arrested for treason, and the BigBad's plan seemingly succeeding. How exactly the latter part happened after Zoe destroyed Eingana, whether April really died, and what fate awaits Kian is left open. However the sequel, ''VideoGame/DreamfallChapters'' continued the story right where it left off and resolves all of the major plot threads.

* Quite a few of the alternate endings in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' count as this. A couple are basically just glorified credits reels, one has Marle and Lucca BreakingTheFourthWall and commenting on some [=NPCs=], and the most famous one of them all dumps Crono into the DevelopersRoom. The DS-exclusive ending that happens after the party fights the [[spoiler:Dream Devourer]] also cuts short right after the fight, with the final battle against Lavos never being shown.
* The normal ending of ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' treats you to a brief animation of the EldritchAbomination final boss escaping through a portal, then a title card saying 'Fin'. The good ending, meanwhile, is firmly cemented in GainaxEnding territory.
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' can only end in two ways. First, more common, is the fortress getting destroyed by something, ranging from a pack of goblins, to endless demon hordes, to ''all'' your dwarves throwing themselves into spiral of murder because of a lone kitten. However if you manage to survive all that, eventually and inevitably your fortress will grow so large that your computer will be unable to keep up and the FPS drop will force you to abandon it.
* The UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 game ''Girl Fight'' has several files detailing information on each girl's background and objective, and hints at a plot involving cyberspace and a seemingly helpful AI trying to aid you against a shadowy organization called The Foundation. Yet when you fight through the arcade mode and defeat the final boss, your "ending" is a sexy digital pinup of your chosen fighter, and that's it; your character's goal, along with all the lore, is just completely dropped.
* In ''VideoGame/LostInTheStatic'', after you pass the giant, you get a bunch of extremely easy screens. At the last one, the static fuzz which makes up the game's graphics start getting more and more indistinct until you see nothing but a screen full of static (normally, you can discern the various objects in the game by how the static moves in a specific place), then the static starts to fade until you have a white screen, and then the game closes.

* If ''Gekitotsu Dangan Jidousha Kessen: Battle Mobile'' is [[EasyModeMockery played on easy]], it cuts to the End screen ([[TragicKeepsake a picture]] of the hero and the deceased wife he's avenging) after the fifth boss. Playing on a [[HardModePerks higher difficulty]] lets you fight the final boss and see the actual ending, which is a [[AWinnerIsYou simple]] "drive peacefully through a highway as [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic beautiful video game music plays]]". Also, if by chance the game was finished on the extra high difficulty where everything is a OneHitKill, then a random running granny follows the car just before the credits end. [[GainaxEnding Yes.]]
* In ''VideoGame/BladesOfTime'', after some eleventh-hour plot twists, the protagonist and two companions finally escape back through the sphere to the other world, where they find themselves locked into a building. Then the BigBad emerges through the sphere for the final stage of the final boss battle. [[spoiler:After finally grinding him down, he stabs your male companion before sort of collapsing into a vortex. You and your female companion cling to the scenery as the vortex pulls your injured friend into it. He's gone.]] Cut to black. Credits roll.
* The plot of ''Eba & Egg: A Hatch Trip'', [[AllThereInTheManual only shown on the game's official Twitter page]], is that Eba sees an incoming bird of prey and rolls their younger sibling - the titular Egg - away from home on a quest to relocate to safety so that said Egg may hatch. After twenty-eight levels (twenty-nine if you count the tutorial stage), you're rewarded with a playable credits sequence, after which you're promptly booted back to the title screen with the Egg still unhatched.

* The original release of UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} game ''Dark Matter'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTPS_GGhMqk ends abruptly]] with a text ending that provides absolutely no closure right in the middle of the game because the dev team ran out of money and apparently decided to release the unfinished game anyway.
* ''VideoGame/FreedomWars'' ends with [[spoiler:you and your party [[RidingIntoTheSunset flying into the sky]] with the help of a character who was forced into a HeelFaceTurn. The part where you were supposed to save the world from its current state is never addressed.]]
* The penultimate mission in ''VideoGame/JudgmentRites''. Kirk and company board a strange alien ship that's about to land on a Federation colony. The ship turns out to be populated entirely by mentally-damaged individuals, but the main computer has been sabotaged and only vague clues as to the ship's origins can be located. Finally, after a lot of messing about, the away team manages to reach the ship's database and access it. It offers an explanation as to the ship's origins, but that explanation conflicts with other data in the computer. When Kirk points this out, the computer suddenly reveals that it was all just a test by an alien civilization that has nothing to do with the ship or the people on board, and you move on to the next mission.
* The adventure game ''Blue Ice'' had no ending screen whatsoever, and no indication that you've completed all the puzzles. The ultimate goal was to find all the clues necessary to decode a secret phrase, and send the solution to the authors in hopes of getting a prize. The authors didn't put in an ending screen to prevent players from cheating their way into the ending and claiming the prize -- the only way of finding out if you won was... to ask the authors if your guess was right ([[http://www.the-spoiler.com/OTHER/Psygnosis/blue.ice.3/index.html or just look up the solution on the net]]).
* The original release of ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' simply ends after Giegue is forced to retreat by the Eight Melodies. The three playable characters simply face the screen while credits roll in the background. The English localization and the Japanese ''Mother 1+2'' GBA re-release add in an extended ending, in which everyone is shown alive and well (including [[spoiler:Teddy]], who was implied to have died in the original).
* ''VideoGame/MindZero'': After you defeat the final boss, Shizuku (the girl you spend half the game trying to rescue) is pulled through the unsealed door to the inner realm because "She is going to be made the Empress of the [=MINDs=]." The final boss laughs and says something about "Those old men must be scared shitless right now!" then dies. Kei (the protagonist) screams [[BigNO NOOO]], then the scene switches to the two cops who helped the party throughout the game and their car ''explodes'' for literally no reason. Only the young cop survives, also screaming [[BigNO NOOOOO.]] ''Then'' the scene shifts to some guy in a white suit talking on the phone, then hanging up and wondering if he'll ever meet the party in person. The game finally ends with a black screen of text saying [[SequelHook "This is only the beginning."]]
* ''VideoGame/BravelySecond'' ends with time coming to an end. You're allowed to walk around and talk to people in the now-grayscale world all you want. You never even fight the main villain aside from the HopelessBossFight at the start of the game. [[spoiler:[[NewGamePlus So you ought to go back and beat him when you had the chance.]]]]
* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity Nova'''s Pirate storyline ends up somewhere between this trope and LeftHanging in relation to the other five storylines -- the immediate personal story ''does'' get resolved, but what the other storylines suggests is the common story of ''Nova'' ([[spoiler:resolving the wars and beginning the process of unifying humanity again]]) is left entirely untouched in the Pirate storyline -- all you provide is a (in the grand picture fairly minor) strategic gain for the Rebellion, which ''unlike'' the immediate political changes in other storylines isn't even represented in-game once you complete the storyline. The Pirate epilogue also only extends to what happens right after you complete the final mission, while the other storylines' goes at least a few decades ahead.
* ''VideoGame/JourneyToSilius'' has very little plot as it is, but the ending is a single still image with no text, and then the credits roll.
* While ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' does have a credit screen along with a DistantFinale {{Stinger}}, the game ''doesn't'' end there! It goes about for another four missions that are all ''rehashed'' version of levels that players ''have already beaten in the previous chapter''. Completing these level doesn't progress the story and there is no new content from that point on. There was supposed to be a true final mission which resolves the conflict between [[spoiler:Eli and Diamond Dogs, ending in a FinalBoss fight against Sahelanthropus, but the mission was left unfinished and removed from the game, leaving the game with literally no ending]]. That being said, [[spoiler:TheReveal that Venom Snake is ''not'' Big Boss, which ''drastically'' changes Big Boss's characterization in the original ''Metal Gear'', is still a proper note to conclude on, as it confirms that Venom was the "Big Boss" killed by Solid Snake in Outer Heaven at the end of that game, while the one in ''Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake'' was the real deal.]]
* ''VideoGame/SpaceStationSiliconValley'' actually [[InvokedTrope invokes this trope]]. When you clear the final level, you are told by Dan that you shouldn't bother waiting for a grand finale, because he sold it to buy a new ship.
* If you get the bad ending in ''VideoGame/CharlieMurder'', the game abruptly stops after you defeat Lord Mortimer, with no last hoo-rah or cutscene, and instead skips to the credits. The good ending path continues [[spoiler:in Hell and you fight the TrueFinalBoss]].
* After completing the final level of ''VideoGame/EldritchLandsTheWitchQueensEternalWar'', [[spoiler:the player receives a dialogue with the necroshroom itself... but that's it, the necroshrooms are still a problem and most of the mysteries are still open to be solved. The second necroshroom dialogue is just a developer message in which he thanks the player, and tells them to [[SequelHook keep their eyes open for a sequel]].]]
* ''Seraph'', by Dreadbit Games, makers of ''VideoGame/{{Ironcast}}'', offers the player a choice after defeating the final boss: Join him, or kill him. Whatever you pick, the game immediately cuts to the credits. And that's it. WordOfGod confirms this was intentional.
* The 2010 reboot of ''VideoGame/{{Splatterhouse}}'' ends with Rick using the power of the terror mask to defeat Dr. West and his EldritchAbomination Masters, The corrupted. During the final moments of the portal that connects the corrupted overlord to the human realm, something slips out and possesses Jennifer, Rick's girlfriend who was kidnapped at the beginning and is Rick's motivation. Rick is then told by the Terror mask that the deal made hasn't been fulfilled, so he can't remove it. While Dr. West is killed by the possessed Jennifer, the narrative then stops with a cut to credits. Due to the whole development team being laid off and no details if they had a direct sequel in mind out in public as of April 2018, the potential cliffhanger became a no ending.
* ''VideoGame/Stay2017'': We never really get an answer as to who [[spoiler:kidnapped Quinn or why.]]
* Obscure [=PlayStation=] 2 game ''VideoGame/KillSwitch'' revolves around a character that can be controlled remotely through his neural implants, and who is being used to heat up regional conflicts into dangerous wars. The game ends when he manages to kill the person that was controlling him against his will, with no real indication on what happened as a result of the wars that he instigated.

* The infamous NES "kusoge" RPG ''VideoGame/HoshiWoMiruHito'' is a {{downplayed|Trope}} case where there technically is an ending scenario, but it's clearly incomplete. The game was supposed to have MultipleEndings based on player decisions before the FinalBoss... except neither the FinalBoss nor the "good" ending were programmed into the game, so once you initiate the final battle, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption you're immediately treated to the "bad" ending where you lose]]. There isn't even a credits sequence -- once the scene completes, it reverts you back to the title screen.
* The sequel to ''VideoGame/FreedomForce'', titled ''Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich'' ends on a cliffhanger with Alchemiss preventing her own FaceHeelTurn by [[RetGone warping time in order to cause her own non-existence]], only for her to end up in an alternate dimension where she comes face to face with a personification of the mysterious Energy X which is the substance that gave all the heroes their superpowers. Creator/IrrationalGames never made a third game in the series, likely due to the fact that they nearly went bankrupt self-publishing ''Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich'' and were bought by 2K Games shortly after.
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2 Episode 2'' ends in a rather infamous cliffhanger with Gordon and Alyx getting ready to head off to the arctic in search of Dr. Mossman and the mysterious cargo ship the Borealis when Alyx's father, Eli, is horrifically killed in a Combine ambush. As Alyx sobs over Eli's body, the screen fades to black in what is probably one of the most tragic endings ever seen in a video game. ''Episode 2'' was released in 2007, and for whatever reason, Creator/ValveCorporation has never seen fit to continue the storyline.
* The American NES version of ''VideoGame/ThunderAndLightning'' just shows the game over screen after you beat all 30 levels. The Japanese version instead continues to a MinusWorld.
* ''VideoGame/HerStory'' is a mystery game where the sole form of interaction is [[InteractiveMovie watching various police interviews]] and using the information to search through a catalogue of other interviews and piece together a case surrounding a crime entirely on your terms. Very unusually for this kind of game, there's no "win state". You can [[HundredPercentCompletion find all 200+ interview clips]] and "solve" the mystery on your own terms, but the game doesn't directly reward you for it, whether by validating your conclusions as being correct or offering any other addendum showing the fate of the interviewee. Rather, it simply prompts you at random intervals if you're done searching and are satisfied with what you've learned -- answer "yes" to both, and the game sends you to credits, along with an option to resume if you changed your mind and want to investigate further.
* ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'' has many endings; sometimes humorous, sometimes sad. This makes the "Escape Pod" ending particularity bizarre, as Stanley reaches it and the game cuts to black and resets and the Narrator suddenly disappears entirely. That is, until you look at unseen textures which explains InUniverse that it would be a GoldenEnding, but the lack of the Narrator means that it never progresses. Eventually subverted in ''Ultra Deluxe'' if the player brings the Reassurance Bucket with them, as Stanley [[SentimentalSacrifice sends it to space]].

* A possibility in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'': if a plot-essential NPC is killed, the main storyline cannot progress. The game will inform you that "the thread of prophecy is severed" and give you an option to reload before the essential character's demise, or continue playing and "persist in the doomed world you have created".

* [[ObviousBeta Due to its rushed release]], the fourth ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' game, ''Super Double Dragon'', gives the player a clearly tacked on text-only epilogue after defeating the final boss instead of the originally planned ending. The Japanese version, ''Return of Double Dragon'', despite being a more complete game in every other aspect, doesn't even bother with such pretense, but instead skips straight to the end credits.

* The infamous NES [[SoBadItsGood "kusoge"]] RPG ''VideoGame/HoshiWoMiruHito'' is a {{downplayed|Trope}} case where there technically is an ending scenario, but [[ObviousBeta like most of the game, it's clearly incomplete]]. The game was supposed to have MultipleEndings based on player decisions before the FinalBoss... except neither the FinalBoss nor the "good" ending were programmed into the game, so once you initiate the final battle, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption you're immediately treated to the "bad" ending where you lose]]. There isn't even a credits sequence -- once the scene completes, it reverts you back to the title screen.

{{No Ending}}s in VideoGames.
----

** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'' ends with Altair's story mostly wrapped up, but Desmond's is left almost entirely unresolved. The game just rolls to credits as soon as you exhibit Eagle Vision and see [[spoiler:the mad scrawlings on the floor and walls from the previous occupant.]] None of the slowly accumulated foreshadowing in the game becomes relevant until ''Videogame/AssassinsCreedII'', leaving [[SequelHook that particular plotline hanging]].
** ''3'': Connor makes one last visit to his destroyed village, then finds Davy Crockett and has a melancholy farewell chat with him. In Rogue, someone in the present day hints that he had a troubled marriage, and that's the last we ever hear of him. (The comics later retcon this bit into an Abstergo lie, he had a happy marriage with a native woman and his daughter was trained as an Assassin, and had even stronger Eagle vision then him)
** ''4/Black Flag'': Edward proudly introduces his son Haytham to a friend. In the spinoff Freedom Cry, we learn that the Jackdaw sank (just to put in perspective, this was the vessel which took out multiple fortresses, at least several dozen men-'o-war, and ''five'' superpowered ships which ate every one of their past challengers for breakfast). Later material gives vague allusions to Edward's daughter being captured and treated horribly, him being killed at home in a cowardly ambush, and Haytham's anger at this driving him into the arms of the Templars. None of this is ever shown or explained in the games, but the expanded universe shows it all in detail.
** ''Rogue'': Shay kills Arno's father and reaffirms his loyalty to the Templars, kicking off the events of Unity. He's not seen or mentioned even once in that game, or any other game, for that mater.
** ''Unity'': Arno gazes over a cemetery and quietly reflects on his life and what the Creed truly means. The bonus pack ends with him watching Napoleon being arrested and taken away. Like Shay, he simply disappears afterward.
** ''Syndicate'': Jacob and Evie receive knighthoods and assist Queen Victoria in a few missions. Given that there's been no successor to Desmond Miles, and the next game, Origins, takes a ''huge'' jump into the past (and also severely downplays the present-day plot), it looks like Ubisoft is no longer interested in connecting the Assassins' lives in any way, so it looks like what we've seen is all we'll ever see.

* ''VideoGame/{{Action 52}}'s'' sequel ''Cheetahmen II'' after defeating the Apeman, the game gets stuck on the boss screen (where it was supposed to switch to the next set of levels by swapping the PRG ROM), making the game {{Unwinnable}}. If you hack to the last two levels, there's no ending after the FinalBoss either.

* ''VideoGame/FableII''. At the end, [[spoiler: BigBad Lucien is shot either by you or your partner Reaver, falling down to his apparent death. Theresa allows you to make a wish, then takes the Spire for herself and teleports you back into the world]]. The ''See the Future'' DLC: [[spoiler:Theresa shows you a vision of your character as king/queen, and with a child (the future protagonist of VideoGame/FableIII). She then declares your exploits insignificant compared to your child's, and kicks you out again.]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' ends during the climax of the game, with nothing more than a vague "500 Years Later" cutscene showing [[spoiler:a field of flowers where the city of Midgar once stood and Red [=XIII=] in it, implying either a GreenAesop or that humanity at least survived.]] This has since been remedied by ''Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren'' and various spin-off games, though whether or not this is any better is hotly debated in the fandom.

* The story of the TimeManagementGame ''[[http://www.playfirst.com/game/fix-it-up-kates-adventure Fix-it-up: Kate's Adventure]]'' fits, according to [[http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2009/05/column_homer_in_silicon_narrat_1.php one review]].

* ''VideoGame/SentinelWorldsIFutureMagic'', an old 80s RPG for the Commodore 64 and PC: The reward you get for defeating the final boss is -- wait for it -- it returns you to the DOS prompt! Ah, sweet, sweet victory....
* A wretched ZX Spectrum example is ''Kraal'', where completing the last level loops you back to the start of the game - you don't even get to keep your hard-won points.

* Quite a few of the alternate endings in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' count as this. A couple are basically just glorified credits reels, one has Marle and Lucca BreakingTheFourthWall and commenting on some [=NPCs=], and the most famous one of them all dumps Crono into the DevelopersRoom.
** The DS-exclusive ending that happens after the party fights the [[spoiler:Dream Devourer]] also cuts short right after the fight, with the final battle against Lavos never being shown.

* The UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 game ''Girl Fight'' has several files detailing information on each girl's background and objective, and hints at a plot involving cyberspace and a seemingly helpful AI trying to aid you against a shadowy organization called The Foundation. Yet when you fight through the arcade mode and defeat the final boss, your "ending" is a sexy digital pinup of your chosen fighter, and that's it; your character's goal, along with all the AI and Foundation hooey, is just completely dropped. One could argue that you shouldn't expect a throwaway UsefulNotes/{{shovelware}} game to bother with proper endings, but it's very easy to argue back that if a developer won't provide any closure to a fighting game's story, they might as well save time and [[NoPlotNoProblem leave out the story altogether]].

* In ''Blades of Time'', after a lot of nonsense and some eleventh-hour plot twists, the protagonist and two companions finally escape back through the sphere to the other world, where they find themselves locked into a building. Then the BigBad emerges through the sphere for the final stage of the final boss battle. [[spoiler:After finally grinding him down, he stabs your male companion before sort of collapsing into a vortex. You and your female companion cling to the scenery as the vortex pulls your injured friend into it. He's gone.]] ''Cut to black. Credits roll.''

* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity Nova's'' Pirate storyline ends up somewhere between this trope and LeftHanging in relation to the other five storylines -- the immediate personal story ''does'' get resolved, but what the other storylines suggests is the common story of ''Nova'' ([[spoiler:resolving the wars and beginning the process of unifying humanity again]]) is left entirely untouched in the Pirate storyline -- all you provide is a (in the grand picture fairly minor) strategic gain for the Rebellion, which ''unlike'' the immediate political changes in other storylines isn't even represented in-game once you complete the storyline. The Pirate epilogue also only extends to what happens right after you complete the final mission, while the other storylines' goes at least a few decades ahead.

* While ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' does have a credit screen along with a DistantFinale {{Stinger}}, the game ''doesn't'' end there! It goes about for another four missions that are all ''rehashed'' version of levels that players ''have already beaten in the previous chapter''. Completing these level doesn't progress the story and there is no new content from that point on. There was supposed to be a true final mission which resolves the conflict between [[spoiler:Eli and Diamond Dogs, ending in a FinalBoss fight against Sahelanthropus, but the mission was left unfinished and removed from the game, leaving the game with literally no ending]]. That being said, [[spoiler:TheReveal that Venom Snake is ''not'' Big Boss, which ''drastically'' changes Big Boss's characterization in the original Metal Gear is still a proper note to conclude on, as it confirms that Venom was the "Big Boss" killed by Solid Snake in Outer Heaven at the end of that game, while the one in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was the real deal.]]

* ''Seraph'', by Dreadbit Games, makers of ''{{VideoGame/Ironcast}}'', offers the player a choice after defeating the final boss: Join him, or kill him. Whatever you pick, the game immediately cuts to the credits. And that's it. WordOfGod confirms this as intentional.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Splatterhouse}} 2010'', a reboot of the franchise: The game ends with Rick using the power of the terror mask to defeat Dr.West and West's EldritchAbomination Masters, The corrupted. During the final moments of the portal that connects the corrupted overlord to the human realm, something slips out and possesses Jennifer, Rick's girlfriend who was kidnapped at the beginning and is Rick's motivation. Rick is then told by the Terror mask that the deal made hasn't been fulfilled, so he can't remove it. While Dr. West is killed, by Possessed!Jennifer, the narrative then stops with a cut to credits. Due to a layoff variant of Cancellation of the whole development team of the game and no details of if they had a direct sequel in mind out in public as of April 2018, the potential cliffhanger became a no ending.
* ''VideoGame/Stay2018'': We never really get an answer as to who [[spoiler:kidnapped Quinn or why.]]
* Obscure Playstation 2 game ''kill.switch'' revolves around a character that can be controlled remotely through his neural implants, and who is being used to heat up regional conflicts into dangerous wars. The game ends when he manages to kill the person that was controlling him against his will, with no real indication on what happened as a result of the wars that he instigated.

* The infamous NES [[SoBadItsGood "kusoge"]] RPG ''VideoGame/HoshiWoMiruHito'' is a {{downplayed|Trope}} case where there technically is an ending scenario, but [[ObviousBeta like most of the game, it's clearly incomplete]]. The game was supposed to have MultipleEndings based on player decisions before the FinalBoss... except neither the FinalBoss nor the "good" ending were programmed into the game, so once you initiate the final battle, [[FailureIstheOnlyOption you're immediately treated to the "bad" ending where you lose]]. There isn't even a credits sequence -- once the scene completes, it reverts you back to the title screen.

* The American NES version of ''[[VideoGame/ThunderAndLightning Thunder & Lightning]]'' just shows the game over screen after you beat all 30 levels. The Japanese version instead continues to a MinusWorld.

* While ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' does have a credit screen along with a DistantFinale {{Stinger}}, the game ''doesn't'' end there! It goes about for another four missions that are all ''rehashed'' version of levels that players ''have already beaten in the previous chapter''. Completing these level doesn't progress the story and there is no new content from that point on. There was supposed to be a true final mission which resolves the conflict between [[spoiler:Eli and Diamond Dogs, ending in a FinalBoss fight against Sahelanthropus, but the mission was left unfinished and removed from the game, leaving the game with literally no ending]]. That being said, [[spoiler:TheReveal that Venom Snake is ''not'' Big Boss, which ''drastically'' changes Big Boss's characterization in Metal Gear 1, Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, is a shocking moment on which to end, providing some closure.]]

* The American NES version of ''[[VideoGame/ThunderAndLightning Thunder & Lightning]]'' just shows the game over screen after you beat all 30 levels. The Japanese version instead continues to a MinusWorld.

* The sequel to ''VideoGame/FreedomForce'', titled ''Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich'' ends on a cliffhanger with Alchemiss preventing her own FaceHeelTurn by warping time in order to cause her own non-existentance, only for her to end up in an alternate dimension where she comes face to face with a personification of the mysterious Energy X which is the substance that gave all the heroes their superpowers. Creator/IrrationalGames never made a third game in the series, likely due to the fact that they nearly went bankrupt self-publishing ''Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich'' and were bought by 2K Games shortly after.