Enslaved Altered Ending
Warning: This article contains spoilers on the game Enslaved.
On October 5th 2010 a game called Enslaved hit markets. The game featured brilliant writing with characters that had depth, beautiful graphics depicting a dystopian, and great game play featuring a smooth combat system. The game was a bright spot that would mark the arrival of the epic October launches (including Fable 3 and Fallout: New Vegas). Not much was wrong with the game until you hit the ending.
The ending was a 180 from the intended destination that the plot was setting up; going so far as to even contradict several established story elements in the process. This article will aim to address all the issues that arose from the foreign ending.
In the beginning of the game several things are established that contradict the ending of the game. While on the slave ship the slaves are referred to as “slaves” and are organized into classes since only class A slaves were allowed to use the escape pods. This goes against the ending of the game which says they are citizens not slaves.
The slaves are treated as such too. They were given strict rules and in the opening when one broke one by talking to Monkey he was killed by his headband with a massive dose of pain. It was not pretty. This shows that they are not treated as citizens but slaves.
Next hole in the ending is how the bands work. What was revealed after the crash was that they do jack into the brain the purpose is control and not to create a nirvana matrix like the ending revealed. The bands basic operation is that if a slave disobeys any order he is given a dose of pain is administered and through this method control and obedience is achieved.
Next you have the way the Pyramid forces act in the game world. At around 1/3 marker you find Trips home has been attacked and raided by the slavers (pyramid forces). This lends credence to my theory that the Pyramid was originally where the elite retreated as they would need a constant supply of slaves.
The attack itself was done like a medieval raid. Many were killed and those who weren’t were rounded up and hauled away. This contradicts the supposed reason that they are simply giving them a better life.
If it is all sunshine and happiness like the ending says it is why do they need slave ships at all? This seems largely contradicting of the role in which the pyramid is trying to achieve.
At the 2/3 mark you find out that the Pyramid forces are building a large mech called a Titan. The purpose of this Titan is made explicitly clear; it is to allow them to conquer anything they want without opposition as nothing would be able to stand against it.
This raises several issues, who is building this mech if the operation appears as it does in the ending? Where are the engineers, mechanics, and various others who would be needed to achieve such and undertaking? Finally why would they even need such a machine? It isn’t like they are actually elites trying to rule the world or anything.
Then you have during a particularly funny cinematic where a human voice which sounded military was on the radio. If there is no elite and not military outside the mechs then who was this guy who informed you that you were in their airspace? Who also were the ones flying the salvage ship you were tailing? Also who and where were the others that reported that you were tailing said ship? The ending does not answer any of these questions but seems to instead contradict them.
Finally what leads to the theory that it is elite inside the Pyramid is the symbolism of it all. The pyramid has long been associated with elite, the powerful, and secret societies. This makes it all the more likely that the pyramid was an elite facility that they retreated to, to continue living a life of luxury and continue asserting their power.
This is not the first time this has happened ether. This was also seen in Wolfenstein a few years back. In that case originally one of the black market brothers ratted out resistance leader but in the end it is revealed that it was also Dr. Alexandrov who was the leader of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Instead the ending of the game goes against the general plot structure and even contradicts the story itself. This has led me to the conclusion that this was not the original ending but is instead as foreign as it appears.
