Just imagine playing a game as expansive as Elden Ring or The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, going through countless hours of story and missions, putting your hard work into the game with the expectation that the final boss fight is what everything has been building toward. Then, once you arrive, you're greeted with a disappointing finale to what's been an otherwise great game.
For many video-game fans on Reddit, this is far from a rare occurrence in video games, especially otherwise popular ones. Which fights have garnered the biggest disappointments?
Navarro - Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
The first game in the Uncharted series pulls a bait-and-switch with its villains, as the seeming main antagonist, Gabriel Roman, is double-crossed by his second-in-command, Navarro. ManiacalTeddy found the entirety of the first game frustrating, but singled out the boss fight as "complete bulls--- ... [Navarro] could shoot at you, but you couldn't hurt him."
The ending battle requires finishing off supporting goons, and then following Navarro into the following areas, until a final point with a simple quick-time fight. It's beyond disappointing, and makes no sense for a game focused on shooting enemies the whole time. The formula improved with subsequent games, but this fight never held up.
Atlas - BioShock
After fighting through waves of mutated humans in BioShock's city of Rapture, and experiencing the great twist with Andrew Ryan, one of the best FPS video game villains, saying the simple phrase "would you kindly?" players were treated to an absolutely horrendous and basic final boss fight against Atlas.
"I feel like that fight took everything that had been established throughout the game and threw it out the window," posted KoboldCoterie. There's no challenge to the fight, and the game decides to arbitrarily impose a no-respawn rule after it begins. On top of that, the game's resolution comes through a cutscene. It's telling that the game's director apologized for this a decade later.
Rais - Dying Light
The end of Dying Light sees players fight through enemies while climbing up a tower, where a final "battle" takes place with Rais, although to call it a battle is charitable. The mission involves a long series of quick time events while listening to Rais speak. There's no strategizing, no room for creativity on the part of players to figure out a unique way through.
It's the gaming equivalent of bowling bumpers, as bixorlies points out, saying that after a great game the developers "decide on an ending less interactive than a visual novel." Again, the best boss fights will be emotionally climactic and build off of what players have learned throughout the game. This does neither.
Sauron - Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Another final boss that relies heavily on quick time events is Talion's final fight against the Sauron-possessed Black Hand. "There is zero excuse for using a QTE as the final boss fight," Redditor stillnotking posted at the time of the game's release. "Very disappointing." Even the lead-up with the Five Talons understandably disappointed the user.
This was in response to an original post confused about the lack of challenge inherent in the final fight, which again speaks to exactly how a boss fight is nothing if it doesn't deliver on player expectation by acting as the culmination of everything that came before. It may be one of the best Lord of the Rings video games, but Shadow of Mordor still missed its full potential by not delivering on the ending.
Demise - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
When another Redditor asked which final boss was the most of a let down, Atroz55 cited Link's fight with Demise in Skyward Sword. "There was so much build up for him, then I got to him and killed him in 1-2 minutes without getting hit once," the user bemoaned. The fact that no damage was taken at all makes Demise about as intimidating as a toy sword.
For some games, a no-hit win would be a source of pride, something it took the player hours to achieve; when it can be done with less than 120 seconds of experience, it's a sign of an underdeveloped boss. While some might say Demise's boss fight is one of Legend of Zelda's best, this user's personal experience is evidence, at least for them, to the exact opposite.
Ganon - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Ganon is the Bowser or Donkey Kong of the Legend of Zelda world, having been the franchise's main antagonist since the very first game in 1986. It's no surprise that he's Breath of the Wild's final boss, but what surprised Redditor Telvan was how easy it was to beat him.
"I prepared so much buff food," they said, and fellow users agreed, noting how they'd saved up in anticipation of a big fight, but then it didn't come. Commenter Mr_Buscemi was able to beat him without any practice in the game beforehand. Yes, Calamity Ganon looks intimidating, and the gameplay leading up to him is some of 2017's best, but there's a reason few players focus on Ganon when praising the game.
Eveline - Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Released in January 2017 to be in tandem with the release of the movie Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Biohazard sold itself as being a restoration of classic Resident Evil, based more on surviving the enemies rather than fighting them like in the then-recent previous entries. But its finale didn't satisfy Becker607.
"Anyone else disappointed in the final boss fight with Eveline?" they ask. Just like Telvan in Breath of the Wild, the user had saved up resources in anticipation of having to use all of it in an epic final fight, but it was unnecessary. With this game, in a way, it's worse than Breath of the Wild because of this title's whole focus on survival horror. If there's no threat to survival, then the game loses its appeal.
Corypheus - Dragon Age: Inquisition
Although arguably the best Dragon Age game, Inquisition also found its finale in disfavor with Bob_Juan_Santos. This Redditor called the game's battle against Corypheus's mage and dragon forms disappointing because "The dragon is no more special than the other 10 dragons you can fight throughout the game," and they disliked the simple mage-dragon-mage fight sequence.
While the disappointment is once again caused by unsatisfied anticipation of a larger fight, the Red Lyrium Dragon does have a unique purpose in the game: it's meant to not only be a symbol but an actual extension of his power. Seeing it as a combo might help somewhat, but it won't change the gameplay, which is the real focus of the problem for this poster.
The Elden Beast - Elden Ring
Elden Ring is one of 2022's most acclaimed games, and its expansive world provides countless missions and areas for players to experience, but all that couldn't change the final fight with the Elden Beast, which disappointed a former Redditor.
"Such an underwhelming way to wrap up the game," they say, with the teleporting gimmick coming in for particular criticism. This user also dislikes the endings of Dark Souls games, though, which are made by the same studio. Sure, those endings get complaints as well, but the gameplay outside of the endings seems to make up for it, including for one responder to the post.
Abby - The Last of Us Part II
Discussing The Last of Us Part II was a minefield when it released in 2020, in the same way The Last Jedi was a few years before it, and one of the main points of contention was Abby. Her murder of Joel at the beginning of the game angered quite a few players, and for those who remained, playing as her was the final nail in the coffin.
But for MeInMass, the issue was that they "so fundamentally disagreed with Ellie’s choice to leave Dina, it snapped me out of the story," and so the final fight Ellie has with Abby was a disappointment for the story reason that this player felt betrayed by Ellie. At least the fight fit in with the mechanics and themes.