History Cliffhanger / VideoGames

* In the sequel to ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'', also called Bionic Commando but for next-gen consoles, the game ends with the hero plummeting from thousands of feet into the sky, followed by a [[TheStinger Post Credit]] SequelHook consisting of a morse code exchange referring to a pair of mysterious "projects", the second part of which translates into German ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wseID0ru6Yg&feature=fvst click here for more details]]). [[CreatorKiller The studio then went under]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}} II''. A third game was never made because Sega didn't earn back their budget for both games (because most people ended up pirating the first due to the Dreamcast's lack of copy protection, and the sequel was an Xbox exclusive in America), and Yu Suzuki left Sega or so we thought when he finally returned to the company and announced at [[UsefulNotes/ElectronicEntertainmentExpo E3]] 2015 that a third game would come to UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and PC, tying up some very loose ends.

* ''[[VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin Ecco: The Tides of Time]]'' ends with the eponymous dolphin protagonist following the Vortex Queen into the time machine and becoming "lost in the tides of time". WordOfGod said he had something in mind involving the Atlanteans, but alas, the third installment never materialized; the [[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]][=/=][=PS2=] game ''Defender of the Future'' was instead a ContinuityReboot by a different developer.

* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'' ends on a rather big one. The invasion of the US is stopped and presumably the US counterstrike is about to begin. Soap and Price are wanted fugitives, [[spoiler:Shepherd]] is dead but his plan is in motion and you still have no idea where [[spoiler: Makarov]] is.
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' loves this:
** The [[VideoGame/BlazBlueCalamityTrigger original Arcade game]] always ends with the characters getting sent back in the past due to being in a time loop. Most worse is Ragna's, where he gets to fuse into a monster, sent back as a destructive monster in the past that gets killed.
** The console version had the crew getting out of the time loop... just in time for the supposed BigBad, Terumi, showing himself off and got away scots free for his next plan... giving Tsubaki the order to assassinate Noel and Jin (still a psycho).
** The original Arcade of [[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift the sequel]] eventually had the characters confront Terumi, beat him... then Terumi reveals that he's just warming up and he summons Noel, turned into a mindless monster bent on destroying the world, to fight you... and the game ends.
** The console version of the sequel threw A LOT of surprises: [[spoiler:Noel gets saved and Jin stops being a psycho. However, Tsubaki had a new resentment with Noel and stuck with NOL, thus not quite giving Jin and Noel a happy end for all they've been through. Then, the originally good-hearted Litchi [[FaceHeelTurn turns antagonist]] and joins NOL so she can procure the cure for Arakune which is in NOL all while having her degenerate further, and lastly... ''Terumi is not the BigBad''. The BigBad, the NOL Imperator, turns out to be Saya, ''Ragna and Jin's sister!'' Then they all head off to Ikaruga for the sequel to come. And if the supplying material is to be trusted... turns out Saya was just being a PuppetKing, Terumi still retains his BigBadDuumvirate position with Relius.]]
* VideoGame/AsurasWrath. In multiple times in the True End. [[spoiler:Deus is dead, Asura can finally reunite with Mithra... and suddenly Olga appears and threatens to kill her for Deus' death... until all of the sudden, that Golden Spider accompanying Asura most of the time kills Olga, possesses Mithra and... the end, that's it. Regardless, at the end of the game, Asura is still pissed off.]]
* ''VideoGame/PennyArcadeAdventures Episode 3'' ends with [[spoiler:Tycho being murdered, Gabe and the BigBad being hurled through a wormhole while the former repeatedly punches the latter, and Moira and Jim being banished to what looks like Hell, where Jim acquires a full body (and vocal cords). The last shot is of an inexplicably alive Tycho surveying a wasteland, but he seems...''changed''.]] This leads directly into the 4th game: [[spoiler: the world has been destroyed, all that remains is Hell (of the Under and Over varieties), and according to not-quite-right-Tycho, the only thing that can be done now is killing the final windowsill god to unmake the world in the hopes that a new one will be created.]]
* The second ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' game has this in the ''middle of the game''. At the end of Case 2, when [[spoiler:Morgan Fey]] is arrested for assisting in a murder, she is shown talking to someone whose identity is unknown to the player, about how her time is coming and that her plan will soon come to be. This cliffhanger, who she's talking to, and what she means isn't resolved until the ''next game''.
* At the end of ''[[VideoGame/{{Driver}} Driv3r]]'', Jericho shoots Tanner with a LastBreathBullet, then he is shown flatlining and the doctors try to defibrilate him. Resolved in somewhat of a strange manner with ''VideoGame/DriverSanFrancisco'', which shows that both he and Tanner survived...only for Tanner to immediately get into a brutal crash after the first mission and get flung into AdventuresInComaland for the rest of the game.
* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'': The ending of episode I has the marine finding himself teleported into a dark room with a damaging floor, surrounded on all sides by enemies, and unable to escape. The episode ends just as he's down to his last health points. Episode II begins with him alive and well. [[http://www.doomworld.com/vb/post/1376566 According to]] WordOfGod, the marine killed all the enemies and escaped.
* ''Escape from Thunder Island'' and its sequel ''Rita James and the Race to Shangri La'', being parodies of 40s film serials, have actual in-game cliffhangers with an announcer and punny titles.
* The first ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' ends with Ryo moments away from landing a killing blow against [[FinalBoss Mr. Karate]], but his sister Yuri intercedes, and is about to reveal his identity when the game cuts to credits. The next game confirms that Mr. Karate is actually Ryo and Yuri's father, Takuma Sakazaki, who [[HeelFaceTurn joins forces with his kids]].
* ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'':
** While Episodes 1 & 2 end with some form of closure, the ending of Episode 3, where Max [[spoiler: inadvertently finds herself in an alternate timeline where Chloe is paralyzed]], is just plain cruel.
** Episode 4 ends with an even crueler one, [[spoiler: where Max is drugged and unable to use her rewind powers to prevent Chloe from being shot through the head!]]
* An interesting one happens due to NoExportForYou at the end of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade''. The prince you saved from assassins late in the game, Zephiel, is now an embittered adult who has awakened a demon dragon and gives a SlasherSmile to the man who confronts him about it. For Western players, this is an unresolved TwistEnding, but for Japanese players it's a ForegoneConclusion since the game is a prequel to ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'', which has Zephiel as the BigBad.
* The ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series:
** ''Blood Omen'' ends with [[AntiHero Kain]] being given the choice to sacrifice himself and save Nosgoth, or refuse the sacrifice, let it rot, and conquer it. Later games reveal he chose to damn Nosgoth.
** ''Soul Reaver'' ends with [[BigBad Kain]] and [[NotQuiteDead Raziel]] fighting, only for Kain to use the Chronoplast to travel back in time. Raziel follows him, and ends up coming face-to-face with [[MadOracle Moebius the Timestreamer]]. Unique in that it wasn't meant to be a cliffhanger ending; the game's TroubledProduction resulted in Creator/CrystalDynamics ending the game there. Fittingly, ''Soul Reaver 2'''s intro is a retelling of these events, and starts off with Raziel meeting Moebius.
* ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' ends with Samus blowing up a Federation owned research space station, along with planet [=SR388=], in order to completely eradicate the X parasites whose existence would threaten the entire galaxy if they had escaped the station. Aside from the station being owned by the Federation, said Federation were also planning to capture the X parasites to study and weaponize them. With the X and the station both gone, Samus is effectively a wanted criminal. It took ''nineteen'' years for a [[VideoGame/MetroidDread sequel]] to be released, with the result being that Federation factionalism combined with Samus' otherwise heroic reputation meant nothing actually changed from her actions.
* In ''VisualNovel/KindredSpiritsOnTheRoof'', [[WhamEpisode the main story scene for September 22]] has Yuna's ChildhoodFriend Hina [[WhamLine give Yuna]] a LoveConfession, and the scene ends with Yuna struggling to comprehend what she's just heard. The game does not return to Yuna's reaction to the confession until after you play through the other couples' scenes for the month of September, as well as a brief scene between the kindred spirits.
* The "Energy" level from ''VideoGame/HeavenlyBodies'' ends with your astronaut caught in a giant explosion and the feed recording you cutting off.]]
* Most chapters in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyDimensions'' end with either the Warriors of Light or the Warriors of Darkness facing some kind of imminent catastrophe, which then gets resolved when the story switches back to them.
* ''VideoGame/Yakuza3'' ends with [[spoiler:Hamazaki, reduced to destitution due to the events surrounding Kiryu, stabbing Kiryu in the streets of Kamurocho. TheStinger, however, shows Kiryu having recovered, and he returns in ''VideoGame/Yakuza4''.]]

* In the [=PS2=] game ''Haven: Call of the King'', the endgame is as follows: [[spoiler: The eponymous protagonist is chained to a wall with no way out and left to die of starvation/thirst. The "Great King" who Haven spent most of the game trying to signal so he would return and save his people is dead, poisoned by the evil alien overlord Vetch--who has escaped after the final battle, presumably to go wreak further havoc on Haven's people.]] Even getting HundredPercentCompletion doesn't help: the game adds a teaser screen for the sequel, suggesting things would carry on from there without actually giving any idea of how other than saying that [[spoiler: the king was definitely, finally, totally dead]]. Then the sequel was never made due to poor sales.

* ''VideoGame/System Shock 2'' ends with SHODAN possessing Rebecca Siddons with Thomas Suarez being caught in a situation where he may have no chance of escaping, the development plan for what happens after this has been left little to know about since August 11th, 1999, and has only had official confirmations during 2015 for System Shock 3 that has been under development hell by the studios and writers leaving the project that so far hasn't been declared as cancelled.

* ''VideoGame/SyphonFilterLogansShadow'' ends with Mujari dead and Teresa and Logan critically wounded in a surprise attack by Trinidad. WordOfGod says this is [[TorchTheFranchiseAndRun the end of the series]].