Every once in awhile a game comes around that is more hyped up than it should have been. Other times one appears and the developers really thought it would go somewhere. Sometimes there's bad timing and another studio released something that so brightly outshined everything else that now other games have to rush to follow suit. The worst case scenario is that a game didn't get enough traction to justify making more games, period.
Whatever the reason, sometimes there are cliffhangers in video game universes that just will not come to fruition. While that does let the fans have some fun with the thought of what might have been, it can be a shame if that happened to occur in a favorite game or series.
10 The Punisher (2004) Promised A Sequel
Despite how well 2004's The Punisher video game did financially, fans have yet to see a sequel come from the game. There had been one announced, only for radio silence to happen after stating that some beloved characters were going to appear within it.
A post credit cutscene has made sure that fans remember this fact as well, having The Kingpin furious and vowing to take down The Punisher. Maybe it all just became too much to expect a couple of lines from the Marvel stars, and the producers are afraid of the backlash. And considering that hardly anyone who had a Marvel game license in the 2000s still has that license anymore, any unfinished Marvel-based game series from that era will likely always stay that way.
9 Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance II Almost Got There
Forgotten Realms has given out plenty of worlds for studios to play with. Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance II might not have been the best game to showcase the city of Baldur's Gate in video game for, but it tried desperately to turn itself into a trilogy.
So much so that the developers were actually working on a third installment that had to be shelved after some messy internal politics. The studio ended up being shut down, so it is unlikely that there will ever be a real final battle to save the city. At least in this case, a new Dark Alliance game was just released so the franchise itself is no longer dead— but since it's a reboot, the continuation of the particular story that the previous series left hanging will have to just stay hanging.
8 Game Of Thrones: The Telltale Series Tells Nothing
While Game of Thrones fans are used to waiting quite some time for the next part of the story to be released, it still stings a little that The Telltale Series ends the way it does. Ethan Forrester has been murdered by Ramsay Bolton, and Mira Forrester has to make some choices at the conclusion.
However, the players never really get to see this come into fruition, as the game ends there with clear intent to start anew. The problem is that the license has been acquired by another company and therefore has many wondering if they will ever have to stop waiting. Any new Game of Thrones games that might come out going forward will likely be their own thing and won't ever return to the story of this particular series.
7 Suikoden III Went Backwards
Suikoden III was not the final game released by the franchise, but it was the last one to build off of of the game before it. Suikoden IV and Suikoden V were both prequel games that came out after a new lead had taken over. Suikoden Tactics took place around the timeline of Suikoden IV and Suikoden Tierkries tried to put everything together by making alternate realities a canon thing.
However, Konami has seemingly stopped making AAA games altogether. So after all of the build up that the original three games had put into place about a real, overarching big bad, and how close Suikoden III came to making it a potential thing, players are likely never going to see the epic battle with Hikusaak. Another thing they will probably never see? The rest of the missing True Runes.
6 The Absence Of A Half-Life 3 Has Become Legendary At This Point
Probably one of the most iconic installments of awful cliffhangers will always be Half-Life 2. The game sets itself up just fine for a third addition to the series with a dramatic death scene for Eli Vance and radio silence for Alyx and Gordon Freeman.
It has become such a meme that Valve doesn't know how to count to three— the company also seemingly stopped at two installments for Portal, Team Fortress, and Left 4 Dead despite what huge successes those franchises all were— that the company's refusal to say anything regarding a potential next installment does nothing but add more fuel to the internet's fire. In the meantime, Gordon's crowbar sure has gotten awfully dusty.
5 Sly Cooper Thieves In Time Ended With An Unnecessary Bait & Switch
In a game where the protagonist gets to run around time, it would have been perfectly acceptable to end the game just about any way possible. Picking a cliffhanger of an ending where Sly is faded out in a failing blimp is certainly one way to do it, though it really felt like a tie in for a fifth game.
The worst part is that if all of the trophies are gathered, it unlocks an extra scene where he wakes up in the desert. So everyone knows he is fine, and there would be a perfect entry point to the next game. However, the developers have even stated that there are no plans for another installment, so it feels more like a bait and switch than anything.
4 Mother 3 Might Have A Point
Mother 3 is the sequel to the game English-speaking audiences know as Earthbound, though Mother 3 has thus far only ever been released in Japan for the Game Boy Advance. It's just as well, as the game ends on a cliffhanger that no doubt left Japanese fans extremely frustrated.
The developers purposefully left it up to player's interpretation as to what happens next after the game's heartbreaking finale that leaves Lucas's fate in question, but the fact there has never been another Mother game after makes for a long standing cliffhanger for the strongest plot in the whole series. It leaves players sobbing, piercing them in the heart in pain, but it just never really gives any closure.
3 Resident Evil: Gaiden's Ending Hinted At Major Repercussions For The Entire Franchise, But It Was Never Seen Through
Sure the Resident Evil franchise is a fantastic one, complete with all of the fighting and slaughter everyone craves. While the fighting is good and all, the series is not great at keeping their plot threads neatly trimmed.
Same goes for the Game Boy Color installment Resident Evil Gaiden, where at the very end it's heavily implied that the final, shapeshifting big bad was never actually killed, and instead took the place of Leon. Since he and Barry were escaping with another survivor, it stands to reason that there was a plan for another game to address what really happened to Leon, or what was about to happen now that the monster was in his place.
2 The Darkness II Was A Disappointing Follow-Up To A Strong Original That Ruined Plans For A Trilogy
The Darkness and its sequel duo were lauded at the time as early examples of what the Xbox 360 and PlayStation were capable of. They were fantastically ambitious games, but they really do not hold up well to modern standards in any sense whatsoever.
The first game did fantastic, all things considered, in making sure the players were attached to the character Jenny, so it did a ton of damage when she dies. The second game pulls from that, having her be the main source of plot throughout the game. However, the game ends on a massive cliffhanger as Jenny is again returned, but to be revealed as the enemy of the Darkness. The hero is again left frustrated and heartbroken in a lead in for a third adventure, but that is definitely not going to happen now.
1 Sonic Races Out With Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
BioWare had made some truly fantastic games in their day, and while it wasn't the greatest, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood allowed Sonic fans the chance to get their feet wet with an RPG title, seen by some as Sega's answer to Nintendo's popular RPG spin-offs of its Mario franchise. The game followed Sonic as he defeated a new threat, leaving Eggman behind to conquer his world. It was a definite lead up to a new title, one BioWare had even pitched.
However, the company was bought out by EA and everything for the sequel game was shelved. If anything ever comes out, it would be littered with glitches and false hopes anyway as seems to be the BioWare way, so maybe it should stay a cliffhanger— or be picked back up by a different developer. Obsidian, perhaps?