Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Where Are They Now Epilogue / Video Games

Go To

"Where Are They Now?" Epilogues in Video Games. Since this is an Ending Trope, all spoilers are unmarked.

  • 2027, a total conversion mod for Deus Ex, has this at the end of the game.
  • Arabian Fight ends with a short montage after the final stage, detailing the fates of the four playable characters after rescuing the princess. Notably, the hero Sinbat (a younger and heavily-fictionalized version of Sinbad from the Arabian Nights) would continue his journey as a sailor before eventually becoming the famed adventurer from the myths (which he eventually decide to compile into a book), the heroine Ramaya marries herself into royalty three years later and rules over Arabia as a wise queen, the retainer Goldor gets promoted to the royal commander of the guards only to be demoted back to a retainer because of his arrogance, while the Warrior Monk Datta would establish his own monastery and teach kung fu to the public for the next 40 years.
  • At the end of the Baldur's Gate II expansion pack, Throne of Bhaal, both the PC and every NPC in your party gets a text-based epilogue explaining how they live out the rest of their lives. Some are tragic (Minsc and Boo are together still, beyond the stars, where hamsters are giants and men become legends), and some are very, very funny (After a run-in with Elminster, Edwina the barmaid lives out the rest of her life as a bitter, bitter woman).
  • Baldur's Gate III initially had monologues by Withers explaining the ultimate fates of the party members, but this was Dummied Out. Patch #5 replaced it with a playable reunion party taking place half a year after the Final Boss.
  • Bastion has one of these during its ending credits sequence, featuring each of the major characters pursuing their own futures, which depend on whether or not the Player chooses to revive the world.
  • The Golden Ending of Batman: Arkham Knight reveals that James Gordon has become mayor of Gotham, Tim Drake and Barbara Gordon are getting married, and though Bruce Wayne has been outed as Batman and appeared to have died, a Bat-like figure still hunts Gotham's criminals.
  • The second season finale of Batman: The Telltale Series briefly reveals the final fates of its main characters, based on your decisions.
  • Battle for Wesnoth:
    • The epilogue text of Heir to the Throne explains what each of the four main characters do after defeating Asheviere.
    • Dead Water: After explaining that the merfolk don't have to deal with Mal-Ravanal since he has been destroyed by the Wesnothians, the epilogue continues with explaining what happens to each surviving party members.
  • Bionic Commando (1988) (the original NES game) ends with the revelation that the game is a story Super Joe is telling as an old man.
  • Blazblue Central Fiction ends with this kind of epilogue for each surviving character, showing what became of them after Ragna sacrificed himself to save all of reality:
    • Noel and Lambda become nuns, caring for a catatonic Nu.
    • Makoto and Tsubaki continue to work for the NOL alongside Jin, Kagura and Hibiki under Homura as Imperator.
    • Bang leads the reconstruction efforts of a new Ikaruga state.
    • Litchi adopts Platinum and they move to Orient Town together, with Mai and Kajun's help.
    • Carl follows the same dark path of his father and seeks out the Cauldrons.
    • Taokaka returns to the Kaka Village, to a hero's welcome.
    • Aname continues to travel the world with his troupe.
    • Bullet enlists with Sector Seven, serving under her old commander, Tager. Kokonoe keeps an eye on the captive Azrael.
    • Es returns to guarding the Azure Gate, while Naoto returns to his timeline.
    • Valkenhayn continues to serve Rachel, who visits Ragna's "grave" and vows to find him even though she has no memory of him.
    • In The Stinger, Ragna's Weapon Tombstone goes missing.
  • The True Ending of BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm gives us one, showing how each of the protagonists spent their well-earned vacation after saving the Internet.
  • Playing through Brutal: Paws of Fury on Sega CD will provide you with the resulting disgraced state of each combatant you defeat through the single player campaign. This includes a Mirror Match.
  • If you get the Golden Ending of Bugsnax, photographs will appear in the credits that reveal what the Grumpuses are doing after they left Snaktooth Island.
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops II has one that is determined by the games Multiple Endings.
    • Depending on where he is shot in "Suffer With Me", Mason shows up at The Vault after a 30-year coma and reunites with Woods and his son or David visits his father's grave with Woods decides to retire. Also if Menedez is not killed and Chloe is dead, he breaks out exactly a year later as promised, kills Woods, and travels to Nicaragua where he sets himself on fire over his sister's grave. Or Chloe is still alive and becomes famous for helping stop Menedez and gets interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel a year later while Menedez is still in prison.
  • The second half of Cave Story's ending credits features brief, wordless cutscenes, depicting the characters after the story's end. The scenes vary depending on which ending you got.
  • Chronicles of Inotia: Children of Carnia has one too. While Lydia sacrifices herself to impede the resurrection of the God of Darkness, she erases the memories of the party, while the epilogue shows how everyone would live if they didn't know each other. It turns out that it's actually a subversion because Elina shows up and restores their memories for their new quest.
  • Chrono Trigger briefly shows the characters in different times as the main three use their time machine. The remakes extend this with anime cutscenes.
    • Depending on when in the game you complete it, and which sidequests you've completed will alter the ending. Sometimes in minor ways, other times you'll get a whole new ending.
  • The end of the MMORPG Club Penguin Island shows some of the island's happenings and what the characters did after the servers shut down due to Executive Meddling.
  • Conflict Vietnam shows the main characters in a brothel (or something like that) while Cherry,er, Doc gives a voice-over about what happened to everyone. Junior goes home and joins the Black Panthers, only to get killed in a shootout with the FBI. Hoss signs on for a tour of duty in Cambodia. Ragman comes home to a some divorce papers and moves to the Rockies with his dog. Doc starts a family and becomes a doctor, his specialty being gunshot wounds.
  • The first Crash Bandicoot game, as well as the racing spin off Crash Team Racing did these, with humorous intent. Interestingly though, one of the bosses, Ripper Roo, is stated as studying and becoming an academic, and in the next game you find him in a gigantic library, and you disrupt his studies. (Un)fortunately Dr. Nitrus Brio didn't stick to his bartending. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time does it all over again with voice-over provided by Crash himself, to boot!
  • The ending credits for Cyberpunk 2077 will play you video messages from most of the characters you've met saying what they're up to now. Unless you decide for V to shoot themself, they will only mention how distraught or furious they are over their death.
  • Devil Survivor 2:
    • There's an epilogue for the Restorer ending for the Septentrione Arc. It resets the world to how it was before the Septentriones invaded, but with Character Development taken into consideration. The biggest changes are that Io is open about wanting to hang out with the protagonist and Daichi, and Airi and Hinako have formed a piano-and-dance duo, performing for cheering crowds.
    • The Updated Re-release gave an epilogue to the Record Breaker ending of the new Triangulum Arc. The new world is going well and no longer part of the Adminstrator system. The protagonist, Daichi, and Io are heading to the beach for a relaxing trip. Yamato is letting a dart choose where his next trip will take him, with Makoto shown to be working as his personal secretary. Airi and Hinako are still performing as AiHina Stars. And the Anguished One and Miyako have both been reincarnated as regular humans.
  • Dot's Home: An older Dot narrates the game's three endings, explaining what happened to her, her nephew Carlos, her Grandma Mavis, and their neighborhood after Dot's final decision upon returning to the present.
    • The Good Ending: Carlos moves in with his great-grandma after Dot moved next door to her, and he still loves it even if he complains about its condition. Dot also teaches at the local school, and she stands up for her neighborhood to make the community land trust. With everyone's support, the neighborhood is able to drive away predatory real estate companies who want to sell out their town, and they continue to fight for equal housing rights for all races.
    • The Neutral Ending: Alma holds her annual potluck at the Interfaith Community Center, and Dot volunteers for it whenever she returns to the neighborhood after moving out. Dot moves near the charter school she teaches at and plans to start her family there, continuing her family's legacy of making homes of their own. However, she worries if she made the right choice because her grandma lives alone in her house. Carlos rarely visits her because of his new "non-profit" architecture job, hoping to make housing more affordable to many people of all races.
    • The Bad Ending: Dot moves into Woodward Towers while her grandma moves in with Alma and Georgia after selling her house. Georgia then moves into a nursing home due to her ailing health and the rising costs to hire a full-time nurse, while Dot teaches at a charter school and Carlos takes up Georgia's job as a real estate agent. He's implied to be working for Home Equity, and with his great-grandma's house sold, neither he nor Dot see Mavis that much anymore. Dot herself feels lost in her new home due to its strict rules and regulations and the lack of community among her neighbors. She also can't help but feel overwhelmed by her neighborhood rapidly changing, such as the Interfaith Community Center being bulldozed years ago as part of a "redevelopment project", with the new project being in limbo. While real estate companies buy people out or give them vouchers to move while they "rebuild" the neighborhood for the rich, there are still some people who have hope for it and are fighting for housing equality.
  • Happens in Dragalia Lost, where it's revealed what happened to the characters now that Euden sacrificed himself so that all the people can live in the new world:
    • Elisanne and Alex opened up their own church and are using it to help orphaned kids. Ciella has joined them.
    • Ranzal finally accepted his duty as a noble, and Volk is now working alongside him as his right-hand man.
    • Luca, Sarisse, Laxi, and Mascula travel around the world seeking to unite the different nations in hopes of achieving world peace.
    • Cleo is still at the Halidom and continues to act as it's caretaker.
    • Ilia is now traveling the world alongside a newly revived Meenee and Mordecai.
    • Gatov and Shelia returned to their kingdom, where they restored it to its former glory
    • Origa returned to North Grastea, where she helped the north and south form a new friendship.
    • Jinlorda has taken on the role as Fairy King, and has helped them reach new heights, as well as giving the kingdom more access to the outside world.
    • The Five Greatwyrms live freely among the humans, and are working together to forge a new friendship between people and dragons.
    • Notte is still living with the Alberian royal family, and is just as close to them as she's ever been.
    • Zena has now been accepted as another one of the royal siblings, and is living peacefully with them.
    • Nedrick's curse has been completely removed, giving him blonde hair like most of his siblings. He has been fully accepted as the true seventh scion.
    • The Alberian Royal family has finally been united, and together, they strive to continually make Alberia a prosperous kingdom.
    • Even though Grastea is in a better place than it ever has before, Zethia still feels like there's something missing in all of it. When she's feeling down about it, she is greeted by a familiar face.
  • Dragon Age:
    • In the endings to Dragon Age: Origins and Inquisition, you're treated to a slide show detailing the further fate of your party members, allies, and factions based on to your decisions in the game. Inquisition is even given an updated epilogue with the Trespasser expansion, which concludes the game.
    • Initially averted in the ending to Dragon Age II, where all Varric says is that Hawke's friends went their separate ways after the final battle except Hawke's love interest (if applicable), who stayed by Hawke's side. In-universe, it makes sense that Varric wouldn't be forthcoming, since they are all fugitives by that point and Varric is not inclined to reveal the whereabouts of his friends to the woman who arrested him. When he returns as a party member in Inquisition, you have the opportunity early in the game to ask him about the events of II, and he gives a proper epilogue detailing what became of the other six party members.
  • Dragon's Crown details the exploits of your chosen character after defeating the Ancient Dragon:
    • The Fighter's exact exploits after defeating the Dragon are unknown, but he would tell high tales of his accomplishments at the taverns which became the stuff of legends. He was last seen departing for the high seas as an elderly adventurer.
    • The Wizard had, in the past, attempted to save his ill sister from death by using forbidden magic, but only succeeded in placing her body in limbo. With blood from the Ancient Dragon, he creates an elixir to end her suffering.
    • The Dwarf's kingdom had been subjugated by the Ancient Dragon, and his people were on the verge of extinction. After slaying the Dragon, he became renowned as the noble avenger and was hailed as a great hero.
    • The Amazon came to Hydeland to search for her past, having been adopted by other amazons after being saved as an infant from orcs. While she had given up on finding her past since arriving, an elderly couple who sees her realizes her eyes are exactly the same as the son they had lost...
    • The Sorceress achieved her dream of living the high life, becoming a fortune teller for nobles and enjoying a life of luxury. In time, however, she grew bored with mundane life and began to crave adventure.
    • The Elf was a social outcast among her people, wishing for see the world while her kin were isolationists. Upon returning to her village, however, she is welcomed with open arms; having fulfilled the elves' prophecy of felling the Ancient Dragon, she is named Crown Regent.
  • The ending of Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones reveals that Billy and Jimmy Lee have continued to spread martial arts teachings around the world, Chin Seimei returned to China with his Master Kenpou and still remaining friends with the Double Dragons, Yagyu Ranzou returned to Japan to become a ninja, hoping to be called emperor, and Hiruko(who died in a trap just before the Final Battle) was not the first, nor will she be the last to let greed for power ruin their life.
  • EXTRAPOWER: Attack of Darkforce gives an epilogue scene to major characters during the end credits.
  • The ending credits of Fairune 2 consist of a montage of Hope Girl, Layla and the Ancient Codex travel the worlds of Fairune together with the Fairies.
  • Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout: New Vegas conclude by describing what eventually happens to the various communities you helped (or, alternatively, hindered) along the way. New Vegas has these endings for the Downloadable Content, with Dead Money and Honest Hearts having the most characters mentioned in the ending and the most variations.
    • Though even your best intentions and what seems to be the best path can instead turn out very wrong...
    • Also, even most of the good endings are just a less grey ending than normal. Take New Reno, you could have it turned into a place with schools and free, clean water for all...which'll be captured by raiders or forcibly subjugated into the NCR because they don't have any protection. On the other hand, you could leave it in the control of the Bishops, who'll fight for its place in NCR and turn it into a legitimate city...that'll fight for the rights for drug use, gambling, and prostitution.
      • Notably, New Vegas takes both the Wright and Bishop endings as canon; the Wrights are in control of a stable New Reno as part of the NCR, yet the Bishop child was conceived and became a powerful figure in the city.
    • The endings also tell you what happened to your companions provided they survived to the end of the game. John Cassidy settled down and fathered a daughter named Rose of Sharon who would also follow a figure who will change the Wasteland in the future, Marcus went out east and founded a town where Mutants can live in peace, and that arrogant little shirt Myron was stabbed to death by an addict of the same life-destroying drug he invented.
    • Fallout 3, however, notably doesn't have one, which was another reason people hated the ending.
    • Fallout 4 lacks one as well, although it's understandable considering the game immediately picks up where it left off and there were much fewer major choices for the player to make this time around.
  • In The Feeble Files, we get a brief slideshow montage of what each major character does after the ending, and then the credits roll.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Final Fantasy IV gets one of these. It goes through the fate of everyone who lived through the game.
    • Final Fantasy V has this: one of the surviving characters (Krile by default) writes to Mid telling him what they and all the other surviving characters are doing since Exdeath was defeated.
    • Inverted at the end of Final Fantasy VI, where they show what each character did in order to escape rather to show what they were doing. After that, they show the real ending.
    • Final Fantasy IX shows some animations of the principle players and their fates some time after the game as Queen Garnet recalls Zidane's sacrifice. Later, Garnet attends a play given by the Tantalus players, one of whom removes his hood at the climax of the drama revealing himself to be Zidane (although anyone with any sense would have figured that out ten minutes previous).
      • The ending scene shows other characters in its epilogue: Steiner and Beatrix are now Alexandrian nobles, Eiko is adopted by Cid and Hilda, Amarant returns to his adventuring days along with Lani, Quina keeps being a Chef, Freja and Fratley fall in love all over again, and Vivi dies, but not before leaving a load of clones around.
    • The second season story of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius ends with a six stage epilogue in which Raegen and Citra are travelling throughout the worlds of Paladia and Lapis to see what the main cast has been up to since the end of their big battle with Emperor Vlad. Sieghard becomes part of a travelling troupe together with Shamlin and Nagi, Folka spends the rest of her days in Olderion to atone for her past transgressions, Cid spends his days living peacefully together with his daughters, Ignacio takes up sculpting to honor his old friend Kagane, Sakura and Nichol become aides to Rain, the king of Aldore, Lid and Jake are travelling the skies together (and Jake plans to propose to Lid when the time is right), Physalis becomes a knight of Grandshelt by suggestion of Raegen, and Fina sets off on a new adventure together with Rain and Lasswell, just like old times. After the credits roll, one last cinematic plays setting the stage for the third season's story.
  • The Fire Emblem series also has this feature, upon completion of the credits short epilogues explain the unique future of all characters in the player's army who do not die during the story. In games in which you can pair the characters together, each character's ending will vary based on whether they were paired with anyone, and if so, who.
    • It was also used for the epilogue of Hasha no Tsurugi, the Alternate Continuity manga of Fire Emblem 6.
  • Not unsurprisingly, this is done in Ghost Trick by the same creators as Ace Attorney. With a slight twist. This epilogue shows what happens to all the characters (except Jeego and Tengo) after Sissel, Missile, and Yomiel rewrote the timeline. With the potential exception of the blue people, everyone seems to be happy with their new lives.
  • Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure ends with a collection of photographs (or in The Captain and his nurse's case, a letter) showing what happened to the game's cast of characters.
  • In Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, there's a variation. The credits show what everybody who got out alive is doing when the atomic bomb hits Miami, killing them all.
  • Jade Empire's ending includes a textual description of every surviving party member's fate, as well as that of at least one of the more memorable minor characters (Sir Roderick Ponce von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard; that's actually his full name).
  • Five of the entries in the Kingdom Hearts series have credits that serve as this. While the former two only show certain characters and worlds, the latter three have epilogues for all the worlds that the heroes have visited.
  • Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe introduces a new post-game mode known as the Magolor Epilogue, detailing Magolor's journey to escape Another Dimension, restore his powers, and redeem himself after having his soul destroyed by the Master Crown and being defeated by Kirby at the end of story mode.
  • The It's a Wonderful Failure bad ending of Laura Bow 2 lists the fates of the entire cast and the unfortunate things that befell them because of your failure.
  • The credits of The Legend of Tian-ding depicts the game's aftermath if you get its The Hero Dies / Bittersweet Ending. After the death of Tian-ding (your player character), your rival Matsumoto who pulled a Defector from Decadence earlier then proceeds to clear your name. Your protégé-turned-killer, A-Lian, comes to regret his actions and took over your role as the protector of Taiwan, while the real traitor was subsequently arrested and imprisoned. Unfortunately, your Love Interest, the Hooker with a Heart of Gold whom you spend most of the game trying to buy her freedom, ends up being purchased by a wealthy foreign tycoon, and spends the rest of her life unhappily. On the plus side, you get a statue and a shrine in your likeness after the war ended, where your protégé narrates your deeds to the next generation.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
  • Live A Live:
    • The Distant Future chapter ends with an after-action review of the chapter's events, revealing what happened to the characters after the Cogito Ergo Sum arrived back on Earth. Captain Hor, Kirk, Huey, and Rachel's bodies are all properly secured. Kato receives medical treatment for his injuries. Corporal Darthe receives an honorable discharge from the military, and is stated to now be employed at a company that makes medical robots. Finally, Cube is taken into custody during the ship's investigation.
    • The game's Golden Ending ends on a series of scenes showing what the main characters are up to after defeating Odio:
      • Pogo has a child with Beru, while Gori is revealed to have had several children with his harem of female gorillas.
      • The Earthen Heart Successor takes up the Shifu's mantle and begins training new students in the ways of Earthen Heart. In the remake, it's shown that these students include Sun Tzu Wang and his gang.
      • Oboromaru, depending on if the player accepted Sakamoto Ryōma's offer to work for him, is shown to either be continuing his missions under the Enma clan, or becomes Ryōma's bodyguard and is shown foiling an assassination attempt on Ryōma (possibly Ryōma's actual historical assassination).
      • The Sundown Kid continues to wander the desert. In the remake, should the player have spared Mad Dog in their second fight, the scene features Mad Dog riding alongside Sundown, showing that he managed to get O. Dio back.
      • Masaru closes up his gym, presumably planning to continue his journey.
      • Akira visits Dr. Tobei, who is currently holding a demonstration of his teleporter to the kids at the orphanage, using Taroimo as a test subject, only for it to once again blow up in his face.
      • Cube reunites with Kato and Darthe on the Cogito Ergo Sum, presumably after being let out of custody during the investigation into OD-10.
  • Love of Magic: A "Where Will They Be Soon" epilogue, where Owyn has visions of various characters in the future: Xochi is healing Elsewhere in the Americas, Dylan is proposing to Fiadh, Hel is going somewhere with Jormungandr, and four of his children are meeting up at the Crowley before going off on another adventure.
  • The Lufia series typically shows these while the credits are playing. A particularly sad example lies in Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, where everyone is waiting for Maxim and Selan to return from Doom Island...except they won't, and their spirits visit their child one last time before departing. And then the remake's New Game Plus ending finishes with "Jeros, we're home!"
  • Mafia III has one that depends on the which ending the player. based on this Lincoln Clay either takes over the city ruling alongside Cassandra, Vito & Burke and eventually becomes the biggest mob boss in the American South and a Villain with Good Publicity or leaves New Bordeaux for good gets the welding job in California he mentioned at the start of the game and is constantly moving around between states (or even between countries) to remain one step ahead of Agent Magurie but still sending postcards to Father James and the city in control of whoever is still alive.
  • The Extended Cut DLC for Mass Effect 3 provides official "Where Are They Now?" Scenes for characters that survive the events of all three games such as seeing Wrex and Eve with their newborn baby.
  • Metal Gear:
  • In Miitopia, the credits sequence shows what happened to every major character at the end of the game. The Noble's Son and the Princess get married, the King is dealing with the fact that even his guards get hungry, the Genie and the Prince of Neksdor are bickering, the Fab Fairies wave at the camera, the Dark Lord is still back to his old self, and the Great Sage is still traveling the world and helping people (with the reincarnated Dark Curse, if you chose to spare him). Finally, there's a freeze-frame of all your Miis together.
  • Mortal Kombat 1 has this in the form of the character endings in Klassic Tower, the standard arcade mode. In previous Mortal Kombat games (and fighting games in general), character endings are portrayed as "What if this character won the tournament/defeated the Big Bad?" scenarios, which are generally non-canon except for one character deemed The Hero. Since this game already deals heavily in The Multiverse where every previous ending is canon and then some, the endings here focus on this one reality and show what each character does after the story mode's final battle. Several endings overlap based on the relationships between the characters, and many even serve as Sequel Hooks for future games:
    • Liu Kang learns that the damage done to his body after reclaiming his power over the hourglass has cost him his immortality, meaning that, while his life will still span for eons, he will eventually die. This knowledge leads Liu Kang to decide that he needs to find a successor, and ultimately chooses Geras for the role.
    • Geras discovers that the timelines have become intertwined thanks to the events of the story, giving him the power to secretly survey them all so as to avoid any future dangers to Liu Kang's timeline.
    • Raiden learns from Liu Kang of his previous timeline counterpart, and that his humility was a specific change done by Liu Kang in order to avoid another Dark Raiden situation. Though Raiden understands Liu Kang's reasoning, he disagrees with it, and decides to start training under Kuai Liang in order to master his rage for the sake of future battles.
    • Kung Lao is inducted into the Shaolin Masters and begins training Shujinko. However, Kung Lao's ego causes him to fail to instill humility in Shujinko, causing him to turn into a power hungry egomaniac and a threat to the realms. Though Shujinko is quickly subdued and has his powers and memories stripped by Liu Kang, Kung Lao is humbled by the experience, and agrees to restart Shujinko's training, this time with Raiden alongside him.
    • Sub-Zero, having managed to escape during the final battle, decides to expand the Lin Kuei's power by kickstarting the Cyber Initiative, spearheaded by Sektor.
    • Scorpion and Smoke go on the run alongside their supporters in the Lin Kuei from Sub-Zero and his loyalists, fleeing to Japan and taking refuge with Kuai Liang's childhood friend, Harumi Shirai. Kuai Liang and Harumi fall in love and get engaged, with him honoring her by naming his new clan after her. The newly formed Shirai Ryu now set out in their mission to defeat Bi-Han and restore the Lin Kuei's honor. Along the way, Smoke meets an orphan boy who attempted to rob him and takes him in as the clan's first initiate, with the boy turning out to be this timeline's version of Hanzo Hisashi (the original Scorpion).
    • Johnny Cage learns that Liu Kang wants him to be the one to reveal the existence of the other realms to Earthrealm. Recognizing that revealing everything all at once would make things too unbelievable, Johnny decides to build a cinematic universe that will allow people to slowly adjust to the situation, while also letting him make money off of his new franchise, thus resolving his financial woes.
    • Kenshi Takahashi teams up with Jackson Briggs, an FBI agent in this timeline rather than an Army major, to eliminate the last of Kenshi's Yakuza ties. Soon after, Shang Tsung shows up to steal Sento. With Jax now aware of other realms and the potential threats against Earthrealm, he manages to get his superiors to form the Outworld Investigation Agency (OIA), with Kenshi signed on as a member.
    • The collective Mind Hive of Ermac takes back control of the body from Jerrod. With the spell used to create him failing, Ermac frees Quan Chi so that he can heal him. Quan Chi does, only to betray Ermac right after and attempt to re-enslave him, but Ermac is able to fight him off using the unique abilities of his collective souls. Recognizing that the conflict of his souls will destroy him, Ermac now sets out to unite his souls under a single desire. Meanwhile, inside of Ermac, Sindel is reunited with Jerrod after he accidentally absorbed her soul per the events of the story, with the two now fighting against the rest of Ermac's souls for the right to govern the body.
    • Mileena, now empress, and Baraka meet to discuss a solution to the Tarkatans' poor living conditions. Resolving to win the compassion of Outworld's populous for them, Mileena decides to reveal her own Tarkat affliction. While it causes a scandal, it also allows her to win over her remaining doubters and affirm herself as a rightful leader. Baraka, meanwhile, is satisfied that the Tarkatans are no longer outcasts, deciding that that is enough until their disease can be cured.
    • Kitana is tasked by Mileena as the new leader of Outworld's military after General Shao's revolt, rebuilding it and purging the remaining Shao loyalists. While initially disliked by the soldiers due to her noble status, she wins them over after leading a victory against Shao's forces, and will continue to fight until Shao is defeated completely and peace in Outworld is achieved.
    • Shang Tsung is revealed to have been imprisoned sometime after the final battle, but successfully escaped. He attempts to escape capture by going out to sea, but a storm destroys his boat. However, he survives and wakes up on a mysterious island that's home to the Well of Souls, with him now intent on mastering its power.
    • General Shao and Reiko are revealed to have been imprisoned sometime after the final battle, but successfully escaped. Still intent on taking over Outworld, Shao begins to rebuild his army with new recruits in the form of citizens disillusioned with Mileena's new rule. While the new recruits are eager, they're not good soldiers, so Shao changes tactics by finding a doomsday weapon in the form of Onaga, the Dragon King, who is currently imprisoned in Mount Tsaagan. Though Reiko knows he likely won't survive the mission to tame Onaga, he goes through with it anyway as he truly believes that dying in service of his General is the greatest possible honor.
    • Rain and Havik team up and go on the run, with Havik agreeing to provide Rain with a safe haven from Mileena's forces so long as Rain helps him topple Seido's government. Rain does so by using his magic to summon a giant tsunami that destroys the Seido capital. But while Havik is happy that his people are now "free," the act leaves Rain horrified and remorseful over his actions, and so he chooses to turn himself in in the hopes that he'll one day be forgiven, even if that requires his execution.
    • Quan Chi is revealed to have been imprisoned sometime after the final battle, but was eventually freed by Ermac. Despite losing what power he had gained, he is undeterred in his mission to find more, and now sets out to find the Hourglass and master his dark magic so as to kill Liu Kang and become the Keeper of Time.
    • Tanya discovers that King Jerrod's murder was not the failure of Li Mei, but the Umgadi's Matron Superior, who arranged his assassination and used Li Mei as The Scapegoat. After the Matron Superior is arrested, Mileena decides to disband the Umgadi, but is convinced by Tanya that it can be reformed, leading Mileena to put her in charge.
    • Li Mei, having mended her relationship with the royal family, is put in charge of the Imperial Police by Mileena. However, she soon realizes that she loathes the mountain of paperwork that comes with working in the bureaucracy, and so resigns from her post and resumes her role as Sun Do's first constable.
    • Reptile is tasked as Mileena's emissary to the Zaterrans, with him accepting so as to prove to his people that his shapeshifting mutation is not to be feared. While he's happily welcomed back by his people, he soon discovers a trove of official records indicating that his shapeshifting ability is not unique to him and a Government Conspiracy is in place to kill those with the ability to keep it from spreading. With this knowledge, Syzoth now resolves to find out who is leading the conspiracy and put an end to it.
    • Ashrah is accepted into Earthrealm by Liu Kang and joins the Shaolin, but finds herself haunted by the fact that Sareena is still under Quan Chi's control. She successfully manages to save Sareena and has Liu Kang break Quan Chi's spell over her. With the two now living in Earthrealm, they form the Order of Light so as to act as a protective force for the realm.
    • Nitara is held responsible for advocating for her Coven's role in Quan Chi's failed plot, and so is tasked with finding a new feeding ground for Vaeternus under threat of banishment. However, she realizes that the Vaeternians don't need to conquer a realm for food, but can instead capture beings to breed them for a renewable source of food, and chooses Earthrealm as the place to start her plan.
  • The Nameless Mod, a total conversion mod for Deus Ex, has one of these for just about every named character, ala Fallout. This is in stark contrast to the original game's Ambiguous Ending.
  • Pretty much all Nippon Ichi games have an epilogue in the best ending shown using either the in-game sprites or hand-drawn stills. For example...
  • Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has a variation of this in an e-mail sent to Mario by Goombella:
    • Goombella is still doing research with Prof. Frankly, and comes close to confessing her love for Mario, but decides to tell him another time.
    • Koops returns to Petalburg with his father and is deciding to run for mayor.
    • Flurrie makes her big comeback as a theater actress, where she and Doopliss play the leading roles in a play about her adventure with Mario.
    • Yoshi becomes a solo fighter in the Glitz Pit, and calls himself "The Great Gonzales Jr." on Mario's behalf.
    • Vivian reunites with her sisters and returns to Twilight Town, where Beldam promises to be nicer to her from now on.
    • Captain Bobbery is in much higher spirits now, and he regularly goes sailing with Cortez.
    • Ms. Mowz returns to running her badge shop in Rogueport, and has reportedly found an extremely rare badge.
    • Lord Crump and Grodus are still around, but it's unlikely they'll be doing any evil again, especially since Grodus has been reduced to a disembodied head.
    • Most surprisingly, TEC-XX is revealed to still be alive, and wishes to see Mario and Peach again some day.
  • PAYDAY 2 has one for the Golden Ending where the credits contain the most widely circulated rumors as to what happens to the Payday gang after they kill the dentist in order:
    • Dallas bought a yacht he dubbed the Medic Bag and alternates between throwing wild parties and sailing off on adventures.
    • Chains moved to LA and became a Hollywood stuntman working on major blockbusters.
    • Gage joins Chains after getting the use of his legs back.
    • Wolf briefly traveled with Dallas aboard the Medic Bag before returning to Sweden and disappearing completely.
    • Hoxton bought the Golden Grin Casino and divides his time playing poker there (because It Amuses Him since he doesn't care about winning or losing) and a beach house.
    • Houston moved to Mexico where he opened a bar that runs a side gig mediating shady deals between gangs, criminals and corrupt government officials.
    • Bodhi went back to extreme sports, briefly went into a coma after breaking the record for highest skydive, and is currently building a car to break the land speed record.
    • Bonnie returned to Glasgow, opened a distillery, and made a popular brand of whiskey that is now the go-to drink for criminal victory toasts.
    • Clover bought a castle in Ireland and now breeds and trains show horses alongside Hoxton's old butler Aldstone.
    • Dragan went back to being a Double Agent for the Butcher before retiring and opening a world-class gym in Zagreb that has trained several world champions.
    • Ethan and Hila went back to being internet celebrities.
    • Jacket replaced his tape recorder for an all-digital set-up and now runs a gang of high-quality thugs in Miami.
    • Jimmy discovered a new Fantastic Drug and got contracted by a private space agency for a top secret project.
    • Jiro returned to Japan to where he avenged his family and is rumored to now be Walking the Earth.
    • Sangres traveled with Jiro to Japan and then decided to stay there and is currently one of the few foreign Yakuza bosses.
    • John Wick returned home to a final gift from his wife.
    • Joy opened a retro-game hall in Seattle, and runs the biggest retro-game company in the world which has won several awards.
    • Rust rebuilt his bike, grabbed a leather bag full of money and rode off into the wasteland never to be seen again.
    • Scarface went missing on an alligator hunt and depending on who you ask either got renamed "The Colonel" and joined a lost warrior tribe or is running a cartel somewhere in the Florida Everglades.
    • Sokol moved with his friends and family to Cyprus and is currently running an organization powerful enough to influence the country's government.
    • Duke used the Gang's stolen artifacts to open a museum and is currently married and living with a number of cats in New York.
    • Sydney retired from crime, became an Olympic gold medalist, used her newfound fame to support the fight against child cancer, and is now volunteering at wildlife rescue centers around the globe.
    • Locke started a cyber security company after moving to California, and is pursing a career to become a pro golfer while competing in full combat fatigues.
  • Persona:
    • The SEBEC questline in Persona ends this way for the party members that fought in the Final Battle, although most of the characters return for Persona 2 anyway.
      "As for his [the Player Character's] fate... That's for you to decide."
    • Persona 3 has this twice, technically. The Bad Ending takes place three months after you kill Ryoji, the avatar of Nyx, and as such erase everyone's memories of the coming end of the world so you can live out the couple months of your life in peace. Or, if you choose not to and get the Good ending, the ending itself will take place inevitably on the same date as the bad ending, only with Nyx dead, the main character dying slowly and everyone's memories suddenly coming back, which itself takes place around a month after the final boss fight. The Answer itself, an expansion/epilogue for the main story, takes place about a month after The Protagonist's death.
    • In Persona 5 Royal, the credits shown in the ending you get after completing the Third Semester shows what the party members are up to. Likewise, if you accept Maruki's reality, you will also see a montage of your party members in the credits.
  • Pillars of Eternity tells the player what their various party members got up to after the game's end, as well as the fates of the communities the player has visited. The game being a bastion of Grey-and-Gray Morality, sometimes benevolent-seeming options have less optimal ends.
  • During the credits of the original Pokémon Ranger game, you see various Pokémon Rangers doing rangery stuff. And remember the Go-Rock Quads? They're playing at a concert in front of the clock tower!
  • Quilts & Cats of Calico: One week after the Feline Festival is held in celebration of the truce between the Kingdom of Scratchington and the enemy kingdom...
    • Frida becomes successful in theatre in the Free City of Tomkitty.
    • General Joseph retires and returns to his wife Vivianne, who recovers from her illness. They return to their respective hobbies, gardening and singing, and make more time for each other.
    • After mysteriously vanishing during the festival, Oomi leaves a cryptic note in hir hermitage: "Meow the Force be with you."
    • Gustav resigns from the army and becomes a private investigator. He also makes amends with his rival Edward.
    • Edward and Frank open their own men's boutique and become popular in Tomkitty for their designs. They even tailor for the royal family.
    • Flora rebuilds her trading business and opens up a new shop, which is co-run with Greta.
    • Billy stops begging in the streets for food and joins the biggest circus in Tomkitty as an acrobat.
    • Tina and Mona continue working for the Head Engineer as Senior Engineers. After building the soil fertilizer machine, which helped end the war, they focus on making useful technologies for the community, with prosthetics being their biggest success.
    • The Quilter and their father rekindle their relationship after the latter left them to help fight the war by working at the Factory. He returns to his old job as a traditional quilter, and he and his child open a tailor shop together.
    • Matthew becomes the new Head Engineer after Albert resigns and is revealed to be the Narrator All Along.
  • The Creative Closing Credits for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart show what the characters of the game are doing in the aftermath of Emperor Nefarious's final defeat:
    • Clank gets a new arm that resembles Rivet's robot arm.
    • Dr. Nefarious, having survived being crushed by Emperor Nefarious's derelict Humongous Mecha, turns off the lights in Emperor Nefarious's office. He then returns home, and visits Lawrence and his new family.
    • Gary and the Plumber look through a scrapbook together.
    • The Zurkon Family hang around a scrapyard.
    • Goons-4-Less meditate with the Dimension Monks.
    • The Morts invite Ratchet and company to a picnic.
    • Emperor Nefarious's robot assistant escapes capture by the Phantom and Mama Zurkon.
    • Pierre and his crew play with Bubbles, the octopus monster that Pierre was nearly fed to.
    • Ratchet and Clank reunite with Talwyn Apogee, and tell her of their latest adventure.
    • The Fixer helps rebuild the Pocket Dimensions.
    • Qwark and Quantum strike poses in front of a statue of Qwark.
    • Rivet and Kit go through the Emperor's music collection.
    • Crank sings karaoke at a party.
  • The epilogue of The Reconstruction takes place one year after the finale, and shows what all the characters have decided to do with their lives — in a few cases, it also finishes their Character Arcs. Especially important because the world was destroyed in the finale, and the epilogue shows how successful the cast was in rebuilding it.
  • The last buyable newspaper in Red Dead Redemption describes how some of the minor characters ended up.
  • In Romancing SaGa 3, some of the NPCs, each of the recruitable characters, minus the ones you recruited and the other 7 that you can choose, each have a small cutscene depending on the actions taken.
  • In Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell, if you manage to complete all the sidequests and take over 100% of Hell, you unlock an epilogue that shows what happened to Gat's allies in Hell.
  • The credits of Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope is preceded by a montage of the bosses, showing where they went after the Order of No Quarter was broken up. Most of them find a new calling in life, but two of them (King Knight and Treasure Knight) are just shown being punished, and a third (Polar Knight) is left completely ambiguous—his screen doesn't even get a description like the others' did.
  • Skies of Arcadia ends with several shots of the minor characters and all the crewmembers you gather over the course of the game, with a continuation of what happens to them after the events of the game.
  • Sly Cooper:
    • After the final level of Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, what happened to rest of the gang after the Cooper Vault job is told, with some being quite humorous or a bit romantic.
    • The second game shows what happened to the Big Bads after they did their time in the slammer.
    • The fourth game also shows off the various fates of the villains as well as some of the main characters. Achieving 100% Completion shows what happens to Sly.
  • At the end of StarCraft: Brood War, there is a summary of what happened to all five of the main characters who survived.
  • Legacy of the Void wraps up the StarCraft II trilogy with a cutscene that briefly reveals the fate of the three races of the game.
  • Star Ocean: The Second Story has this at the end, showing what all the characters in your party are doing with their lives post-victory over the Big Bad. It all depends on how you've built the character relationships throughout the game.
  • Every Suikoden game ends with a short blurb describing what happened to every one of the numerous characters you recruited. Brew some tea and get cozy.
  • Super Mario Bros.:
    • Super Mario Galaxy 2: The closing credits for the game shows Mario and Yoshi showing Peach some of the planets they both visited on the way back to the Mushroom Planet, Bowser being spat out of his black hole and becoming tiny, before the heroes (and Lubba) are finally shown back in the Mushroom Kingdom standing in front of the cake mentioned in the prologue. And you can actually die in the credits!
    • Super Mario RPG: The ending cutscene shows what certain characters are doing now that you've beaten Smithy. Bowser and his troops are repairing his castle (and a Shy Guy stole his copter), Yoshi beats Croco in a race, Toadofsky has a recital, Mallow rejoins Nimbus Land, Booster and Valentina get married (with Booster flying the altar at the last minute) and Jonathon Jones looks out at the sea.
    • Mario Party Advance: After doing all the quests in Shroom City, you get an epilogue that shows you what happened to all the people you've helped.
  • The credits of the remake of Trials of Mana at least show brief scenes of the ongoing lives of each of the protagonist characters. These are shown for every character, regardless of whether or not you selected them as playable in that particular playthrough. (At the beginning of the game, you choose three out of six possible playable characters.)
  • Troublemaker ends with a cutscene 3 years later depicting the characters' lives post-graduation and taking down the Absurdly Powerful Student Council. Your friends, Richard and Zaenal, now owns a coffeeshop in Jakarta, while your bestie Boby went from your Fat Best Friend to becoming Formerly Fit and is a businessman having a meeting with your other ally, Rani, in the same shop. Then you walk in and offer your pals tickets for an upcoming MMA match to be held in Jakarta, with you in the spotlight, and the game ends.
  • Undertale has one in two of the Multiple Endings:
    • In the Golden Ending, nearly each one of the numerous characters are shown with a brief description of what they did after the game ended, with the major characters getting longer animated sequences. (The text varies depending on whether or not you met a special requirement for each monster.)
    • The neutral endings have a less in-depth version of this. Sans or Alphys calls the player character and tells them what everyone has been up to since they left the underground. What specifically, including who becomes the ruler after Asgore's death, varies depending on how many kills the player has.
  • Valkyria Chronicles shows the fates of the game's main characters via text, while a more elaborate scene for Welkins and Alicia is shown after the credits. The epilogues for the game's side characters can be seen in optional material unlocked in the New Game Plus.
  • Vandal Hearts has one of the characters writing a book about their adventure and what happened to each character.
    • Ranging nicely from a stamp collection to being a major political player in rebuilding the land.
  • Vixen 357 has one after the credits roll, which shows a portrait of each character with a description of what they are doing now after the final mission. Some of their portraits, however, are not shown.
  • Wild ARMs XF has one for each of the main characters except the one missing and presumed dead. Darn it!
    • Wild AR Ms 4 has one, too. Jude becomes a forest ranger and lives in the woods, Yulie becomes a schoolteacher, Arnaud and Raquel get married and open a restaurant, but Raquel dies after the birth of their daughter.
    • Wild ARMs 2 as well. ARMS is disbanded; Ashley marries Marina and joins her family bakery, and they have twins; Lilka returns to her studies; Brad retires to T'Bok to stay with Billy and help the town grow; Tim joins Colette on a farm near Baskar; Kanon resumes bounty hunting; and Marivel goes back to restoring her standing as an aristocrat.
  • The YAWHG always ends this way, though the results vary WILDLY. In addition to learning what happened to each of the characters you guided through the game, you also learn the ultimate fate of your hometown after the Yawhg came.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top