With The Matrix Resurrections about to open in theaters everywhere and stream on HBO Max, the eagerly anticipated science fiction epic continues from the original Matrix trilogy that concluded in 2003 with The Matrix Revolutions. The trilogy received three tie-in video games with Enter the Matrix, The Matrix Online and The Matrix: Path of Neo, with the first releasing in 2003 and the latter two in 2005. While Enter the Matrix canonically expanded on the story of the 2003 film The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Online continued the story from the cinematic trilogy's conclusion, Path of Neo completely altered the ending to The Matrix Revolutions to better suit the video game medium.
Franchise creators Lana and Lilly Wachowski had been heavily involved in bringing The Matrix to video games, writing and directing Enter the Matrix and Path of Neo while overseeing the project with developer Shiny Entertainment. This led to Enter the Matrix containing live-action sequences set prior to and during The Matrix Reloaded to expand the story and showcase what protagonists Niobe and Ghost were up to during the film. Path of Neo allowed gamers to play as Keanu Reeves' iconically stoic protagonist Neo, the hero of the trilogy, recreating memorable moments directly from the film trilogy -- except for The Matrix Revolutions' climactic showdown between Neo and his nemesis Agent Smith.
The 2003 film ended with a rainswept brawl between Neo and Smith, with the two soaring through the thunderous sky and pummeling each other through buildings as crowds of people possessed by Smith quietly looked on. Realizing the only way to defeat Smith was from within, Neo allowed himself to be absorbed by Smith and destroyed him from the inside out. This freed everyone else possessed by Smith and seemingly destroyed the rogue computer program for good, but at the expense of his own life. Although this ending worked for the story the Wachowskis were crafting for the big screen, they sought to change it up for the video game adaptation.
In Path of Neo, moments before Neo would have surrendered himself to Smith at the end of The Matrix Revolutions, digital avatars of the Wachowskis themselves appear on-screen to congratulate the player on getting this far before explaining what was to come next. Admitting the martyrdom angel wouldn't be as effective or rewarding for a game as it was in the film and suggested Shiny change up Path of Neo's climactic battle. Instead, the hordes of Smiths that were silently watching Smith Prime fight against Neo decide to all work together to construct and operate a kaiju-sized iteration of the sneering villain from raw material of the surrounding city.
What results is Neo flying around his titanic opponent, dodging his mighty swings across the ruined cityscape while knocking off pieces of the crudely fabricated giant. Eventually, as the gigantic Smith takes enough damage, the absorbed individual Smiths are overcome with energy from the damage and exertion and erupt in a giant, green explosion that presumably frees them from Smith's control while Neo's fate is left unknown. Instead, as a new dawn rises over the digital world, the people of Zion celebrate the war against the machines coming to an end as the hit Queen song "We Are the Champions" plays out over the closing credit sequence to wrap Path of Neo on a strangely different note.
With Path of Neo unafraid to subvert the more self-serious elements and themes of the Matrix trilogy, it will be interesting to see if the reportedly leaked tie-in game for The Matrix Resurrections will also change up the content from its cinematic counterpart or maintain a stronger fidelity to the original source material. In the meantime, Path of Neo gives the film trilogy a more effusively celebratory end, with a self-aware wink to fans of the franchise while delivering on the genuinely oddest boss fights a movie tie-in game has ever seen.