History Cliffhanger / VideoGames

* A (particularly frustrating) example with {{Halo}} 2: Cortana in the clutches of the Gravemind. Miranda, Arbiter and Johnson stuck on Delta Halo. Master Chief emerging from slipspace, stowed away on an enemy ship, to find Earth's defenses about to be overwhelmed by the Covenant fleet. Roll credits with nothing more than a heroic one-liner. Only partially resolved with Halo 3 - We see Master Chief ariving on earth, but we don't see how Arbiter and co get back. How MC actually got off the enemy ship is explored in a spin-off comic series, and Cortana's fate is a plot-point for the rest of the game.

* 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 ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wseID0ru6Yg&feature=fvst click here for more details]]). The studio then went under.

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

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

* 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.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/{{Driver}} 3'', Jericho shoots Tanner with a LastBreathBullet, then he is shown flatlining and the doctors try to defibrilate him. The next game will start with him in a coma.

* ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood]]'' ends with a major cliffhanger. After getting brutally smacked down by Super Sonic, Imperator Ix commands the wormhole connecting Sonic's world with the Twilight Cage to close before he disappears. The whole team rushes right on out to the Cyclone to jet and get the hell out of dodge before they find themselves trapped for all eternity. And lest you not forget how the flow of time differs in the Twilight Cage with how Ix could still be alive after four thousand years, take a moment to remember [[MadScientist who stayed behind before you crossed dimensions]] [[BigBad and what he could possibly do with all that time...]]

* The second AceAttorney game has this in the ''middle of the game''. At the end of episode 2, when [[spoiler:Morgan Fey]] is arrested for assisting in a murder, she is shown talking to someone; who's 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''.

* ''SyphonFilter: Logan's Shadow'' ends with Mujari dead and Teresa and Logan critcally wounded in a surprise attack by Trinidad. WordOfGod says this is [[FranchiseKiller the end of the series]].

** The second AceAttorney game has this in the ''middle of the game''. At the end of episode 2, when [[spoiler:Morgan Fey]] is arrested for assisting in a murder, she is shown talking to someone; who's 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''.

* The ''MegaManLegends'' series features the mother of all video game cliffhangers: [[spoiler:At the end of the second game, the destruction of the Master system leaves Megaman stranded on Elysium with no way to return to Earth. The final scene shows Roll and Tron working on a rocket to get to the moon and save Megaman.]] A third game was in the works that would've resolved this plotline, but was cancelled.

* ''VideoGame/{{Vanquish}}'' ends with the BigBad escaping the exploding space colony and being revealed as merely an agent for the Order of the Russian Star, and those Bogey suits you fought were just remote-controlled drones. Due to poor sales and the expiration of Platinum Games' contract with Sega, chances for a sequel are almost nil.

* ''VideoGame/WingCommander II'' ended with [[TheDragon Prince Thrakhath]] bragging to the [[MegaNeko Kilrathi]] Emperor about the utter destruction of the Confederation's 6th fleet in Deneb Sector, with the last words on the screen being "To be continued in VideoGame/WingCommander III".[[hottip:*: This is somewhat revealed at the beginning of Wing Commander III, in which the opening scene has Paladin and Maverick looking over the destruction of the ''Concordia'', with rescue and recovery for other ships going on in the background.]]

* At the end of ''{{Driver}} 3'', Jericho shoots Tanner with a LastBreathBullet, then he is shown flatlining and the doctors try to defibrilate him. The next game will start with him in a coma.

* ''SoldierOfFortune: Payback''. Since the game was a critical and commercial flop, it will probably be left unresolved.

** The second AceAttorney game has this in the "middle of the game". At the end of episode 2, when [[Morgan Fey]] is arrested for assisting in a murder, she is shown talking to someone; who's 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''.

** How's [[spoiler: ''Sonic Chronicles: Eggman's Revenge'']] for a sequel title?
*** I perfer [[spoiler: ''Sonic Chronicles: The Eggman Empire'']].

* ''PennyArcadeAdventures Episode 3'' ends with [[spoiler:Tycho being murdered by the BiggerBad, 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''.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Turok}} 3: Shadow of Oblivion'' by Acclaim ends on a post-credits cliffhanger. [[spoiler:Adon tells the Council of Voices that she is certain that Joshua Fireseed, despite dying again following his brief resurrection by Oblivion, is still alive. Pleading for permission to try and save him, the council proclaims he was meant to die and denies her request. Adon adamantly says she will defy them and do it anyway before taking her leave. The council is then seen talking to a dark shaded female character who is told to "prepare herself" with the implication being that they have marked Adon for death and want Joshua to remain dead.]] Acclaim never resolved this ending with a direct sequel instead making one final Turok game, ''Turok: Evolution''. It wasn't a sequel but a prequel to the previous games and the comic series they spun off from. Any chance of a genuine sequel went out the window as Acclaim went bankrupt in 2004. The whole Turok universe was later rebooted in the 2009 game ''Turok'' by Touchstone Games putting the ending of Turok 3 in cliffhanger limbo.

* ''VideoGame/{{Turok}} 3: Shadow of Oblivion'' by Acclaim ends on a post-credits cliffhanger. [[spoiler:Adon tells the Council of Voices that she is certain that Joshua Fireseed, despite dying again following his brief resurrection by Oblivion, is still alive. Pleading for permission to try and save him, the council proclaims he was meant to die and denies her request. Adon adamantly says she will defy them and do it anyway before taking her leave. The council is then seen talking to a dark shaded female character who is told to "prepare herself" with the implication being that they have marked Adon for death and want Joshua to remain dead.]] Acclaim never resolved this ending with a direct sequel instead making one final Turok game, ''Turok: Evolution''. It wasn't a sequel but a prequel to the previous games and the comic series they spun off from. Any chance of a genuine sequel went out the window as Acclaim went bankrupt in 2004. The whole Turok universe was later rebooted in the 2009 game Turok by Touchstone Games putting the ending of Turok 3 in cliffhanger limbo.

* ''VideoGame/{{Turok}} 3: Shadow of Oblivion'' by Acclaim ends on a post-credits cliffhanger. [[spoiler:Adon tells the Council of Voices that she is certain that Joshua Fireseed, despite dying again following his brief resurrection by Oblivion, is still alive. Pleading for permission to try and save him, the council proclaims he was meant to die and denies her request. Adon adamantly says she will defy them and do it anyway before taking her leave. The council is then seen talking to a dark shaded female character who is told to "prepare herself" with the implication being that they have marked Adon for death and want Joshua to remain dead.]] Acclaim never resolved this ending with a direct sequel instead making one final Turok game, Turok: Evolution, which was a prequel to their Turok games and their parent comic series. Any chance of a genuine sequel went out the window as Acclaim went bankrupt in 2004. The storyline was later rebooted in the 2009 game Turok by Touchstone Games putting the ending of Turok 3 in cliffhanger limbo.

* ''VideoGame/{{Turok}} 3: Shadow of Oblivion'' ends on a post-credits cliffhanger. [[spoiler:Adon tells the Council of Voices that she is certain that Joshua Fireseed, despite dying again following his brief resurrection by Oblivion, is still alive. Pleading for permission to try and save him, the council proclaims he was meant to die and denies her request. Adon adamantly says she will defy them and do it anyway before taking her leave. The council is then seen talking to a dark shaded female character who is told to "prepare herself" with the implication being that they have marked Adon for death and want Joshua to remain dead.]] Acclaim never resolved this ending instead making one final Turok game, Turok: Evolution, which was a prequel to their Turok games and their parent comic series, before going belly up in 2004. The storyline was rebooted in the 2009 game Turok by Touchstone Games putting the ending of Turok 3 in cliffhanger limbo.

* ''VideoGame/{{Turok}} 3: Shadow of Oblivion'' ends on a post-credits cliffhanger. [[spoiler:Adon tells the Council of Voices that she is certain that Joshua Fireseed, despite dying again following his brief resurrection by Oblivion, is still alive. Pleading for permission to try and save him, the council proclaims he was meant to die and denies her request. Adon adamantly says she will defy them and do it anyway before taking her leave. The council is then seen talking to a dark shaded female character who is told to "prepare herself" with the implication being that they have marked Adon for death and want Joshua to remain dead.]] Acclaim never resolved this ending instead making one final Turok game, Turok: Evolution, which was a prequel to their Turok games and the parent comic series, before going belly up in 2004. The storyline was rebooted in the 2009 game Turok by Touchstone Games putting the ending of Turok 3 in cliffhanger limbo.