Returning from Black Ops II, the Sadistic Choice.
War Is Hell. The Cold War was one of the darkest eras in history. As proven with the previous entries in the series, Black Ops Cold War is more than capable of tugging at some heartstrings.
- According to her bio, Helen Park joined MI6 going from studying International Relations in Oxford, because her brother was killed by an IRA car bomb.
- In the mission Desperate Measures, if you choose to kill Charkov by poisoning his tea with Nova-6, one of the dialogue options Belikov has after Charkov drinks the poisoned tea is "I'm sorry I wasn't a better friend".
- 'End Of The Line' is a Wham Episode all to itself, revealing that Perseus' endgame involves nuking Europe into oblivion and blaming it on the USA, but it gets worse at the end, when Bell, Lazar and Park are wounded by an RPG and Bell has only enough time to save one of them. Regardless of which one Bell chooses to save, the other one's last words are a Big "NO!" before being executed by Cuban soldiers just as Bell and the survivor are lifted to safety. Canonically, Lazar is the one left behind, which, needless to say, can be a devastating Player Punch as, unlike Park, Lazar was a genuine friend to Bell, as proven in the timeline where the player saves him; he is quite obviously against Adler's treatment of them, will look away if they are executed, and will plead for Bell to reconsider their actions if they ambush the CIA.
- To get the good ending, Bell must make a conscious decision to reject their old life and former comrades in Perseus. After a few congratulatory words that feel disturbingly like a good-bye, they gets rewarded by a shot to the face by Adler, their own handler. The only saving grace is that Bell manages to pull their own gun and fire back, so at the very least Bell went out fighting, which is a lot more than could be expected from someone in their position. Even assuming they get lucky and manage to shoot fast enough to kill Adler before he can kill them, they'd still likely just end up as a fugitive hunted by the American government.
- Even while you're slaughtering your former team on behalf of a group that wants to nuke Europe in 'Ashes to Ashes', Park or Lazar beg you to stop and reconsider your actions. This idealism is in stark contrast to the futile threats made by Woods and Mason, both of whom are clearly aghast at being betrayed by Bell, who they have fought alongside throughout the campaign, especially since Woods literally saved Bell's life earlier on, only to be repaid like this.
- Mason and Woods, who have fought together for years and are brothers in all but blood, are horrified when you kill them.Mason: [if Woods dies first] They got Woods! Fuck! I can't believe it.
Woods: [if Mason dies first] No! Mason! You're dead, Bell! - Also note that by killing Mason, you've orphaned his son David. You Bastard!
- From the same final mission, if Bell refrains from summoning Soviet troops to ambush Adler's team in, Adler expresses genuine, honest disappointment in Bell's decision to turn on the group, before executing them. If present, Lazar looks away right before Adler kills Bell, unable to watch the death of someone who he worked alongside throughout the story. Then, as Bell lies dying, Adler and company discuss what to do with Bell's body, and then decide to leave it there. All of Bell's efforts throughout the story, and they die alone, their body left forgotten about in the middle of nowhere.
- Mason and Woods, who have fought together for years and are brothers in all but blood, are horrified when you kill them.
- At the end of 'Brick in the Wall', should you kill Volkov, it is revealed by Hudson in the ending the Stasi are doing a number of sweeping raids that imprison and kill numerous innocent people.
- Everything about Bell really. Bell is an Iron Woobie who began their Trauma Conga Line by getting shot by their associate Arash Kadivar for being Perseus's favourite. They then gets captured by Adler and then subjected to Mind Rape and then brainwashing in order to gain access to his memories in order to prevent Europe from being nuked. Bell is brainwashed into thinking that they were friends with Adler and Sims for over a decade, starting with Vietnam; even though Bell was never really in Vietnam as far as we know. Bell makes good progress in stopping Perseus's plans until things go really wrong in Cuba where they are forced to leave either of his friends Park or Lazar, or even both to die. Bell themselves gets badly injured in the process, to the point of being unable to walk on their own two feet, drugged into nightmarish flashbacks under Adler's control who had no choice but to do it since all leads were lost in Cuba. There, Bell learns about Adler's true nature. From Bell's POV, Adler goes from being A Father to His Men to him to threatening to torture him for the information. And things don't appear to look up for Bell in the Good Ending...
