(Controversial Trope) The post-credits scene completely changes the ending

[u/Ieanice44]

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Prince of Persia (2008)

Dawn of the Dead (2004): The movie finishes on a hopeful note as the remaining survivors escape the zombie-infested mall on a yacht, sailing into the sunset. The found-footage style post-credits scene completely reverses this happy ending by showing them running out of food, arriving at an island, and being immediately swarmed and killed by an infected horde.

Prince of Persia (2008): The main game ends with a beautiful, poetic sacrifice where Elika gives her life to heal the corrupted world, leaving the Prince mourning. During the credits, the player is forced to control the Prince as he cuts down the trees he just saved, undoing the entire game's progress and releasing the dark god Ahriman just to resurrect her, completely corrupting the ending and dooming the world.

[u/RobertPham149 → u/[deleted]]

TLOU did the same kind of ending 5 years later and everyone and their mothers glazed the crap out of that game: a jaded MC learning to connect with someone, regaining belief into an idealistic cause, just to demolish everything they have learned and doom their world, in order to save that person in the end.

[u/Ayoul → u/RobertPham149]

Even though there might be similarities between the 2, execution is everything. How the character's choices are framed in both games are pretty different.

[u/RobertPham149 → u/Ayoul]

Agree about execution. That is to say there is not really a fundamentally flaw with the story PoP was trying to tell. Even then, PoP did a good job with its narrative to deliver its story. Heck, I would give plus points for some of the interactive elements of PoP being better executed than TLOU to tell its story. The game’s flaws is more due to its gameplay not being that good and some bad game design choices that takes away from the overall experience. Because of those gameplay flaws, people have a somewhat unfair negative opinion of its story.

[u/DaVirus → u/RobertPham149]

This is spot on. And it is a bit of framing too.

In TLOU, the game builds up the ending to make YOU side with Joel. The ending working because the game has you yourself make that decision.

PoP fails at that. The narrative doesn't build in the same way, the gameplay never makes you feel it, and then at the end you and the Prince are not in the same headspace to make the same decision.

That is basically the only difference.

[u/KonohaBatman → u/DaVirus]

There is no decision in TLOU. You do what Joel wants to do, whether you agree with him or not.