6. Deus Ex: Invisible War
The end: Twenty years after a global pandemic and ensuing cataclysm - known as The Collapse - that devastated near-future civilization, the world has struggled back to its feet. But it still suffers from devastating plagues, unchecked proliferation of superpower-granting "biomods" and political instability, and four radically different factions want to rule what's left of it.
But it's awesome, because: As a biomodified super-agent employed by all four factions, you get to decide the fate of the world. And you'd better decide carefully, because you're smack dab in the middle of the Biblical end-of-times, even if you're too dazzled by technology to realize it - and for better or worse, it's up to you to be the judge on Judgment Day.
Granted, the connections between Deus Ex: Invisible War and the Biblical Book of Revelation (which details the supposed end of the world) are tenuous - it's more of an "inspired by" sort of thing than a direct allegory - but the really important elements are there. Consider the following:
| Book of Revelation | Deus Ex: Invisible War |
|---|---|
| 1. Tells of a worldwide government led by a charismatic figure known as "The Beast," who strictly regulates all economic activity. | 1. The world is united, more or less, under the strict economic authority of the World Trade Organization, led by a charismatic Frenchman known as Chad. |
| 2. Also tells of a false religion (led by another Beast, this one a false prophet) that rapidly grows to dominate the world's hearts and minds despite being a one-way ticket to damnation. | 2. All major religions have been merged into The Order, which has grown into a dominant political and military force despite being led by a cynical, insincere false prophet. |
| 3. At the end, Jesus Christ returns to lead the remnants of the world into a new golden age, which lasts for 1,000 years. | 3. One possible ending hands the fate of the world over to a benevolent overlord with the initials "JC" (backed by the ApostleCorp company, no less), who then leads it into a new golden age that lasts at least a few centuries. |
Don't go thinking Invisible War is a preachy, Left Behind-style allegory, however - you get to make your own decisions about whom to trust, which will largely depend on your own notions of right and wrong. Couch it all in a cyberpunk setting, and Invisible War's apocalypse is actually a really compelling and thoughtful (if disappointingly horror-free) end-of-days scenario.
Is it really the end? Despite the apocalyptic undertones, it's not so much the end of mankind as it is the end of the old order; whichever outcome you pick, civilization will emerge from its troubles drastically changed. But since even the worst-case scenario leaves behind a presumably large number of bioengineered mutant survivors scratching out a living in the desert wastes left by countless wars, we're going to say no.
(Warning: The following video contains spoilers.)
5. Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call in UK)
The end: Most life on Earth is extinguished during the Conception, a catastrophic event that instantly destroys the world so that it can eventually be reborn.
But it's awesome, because: The cataclysm happens in the game's opening 15 minutes, and you're spared so that you can wander what's left of Tokyo (now populated almost entirely by ghosts and demons) as a demon-human hybrid. The whole thing is steeped in culty Japanese pseudomysticism and peppered with weird, dream-like sequences, and the story will develop a little differently depending on the philosophy, or "Reason," your character decides to follow.
Eventually, you'll be tasked with remaking the world, but until then you'll be under constant threat of attack from demons. You don't necessarily have to fight them all, though - talking to them can get them to leave you alone, or even join you as hired muscle. And while your new friends start out puny, you'll soon be able to fight through the apocalypse alongside Dante from Devil May Cry and the monster-riding Whore of Babylon (or "Harlot," as the game calls her). How is that not awesome?
Is it really the end? That's up to you. Depending on the decisions you make during the game, the world can be brought back just the way it was before the Conception - or you can remake it in your own image. The latter is more fun.
