5 Near-Perfect Open-World Games Ruined By Their Final Boss

You could argue there’s no such thing as a perfect open-world game, but a few releases come really, really close. After spending 50 hours in a gorgeous world, going through an immaculate story, and crafting the perfect build, nothing stings more than an underwhelming final boss that ends the ride with a wet fart rather than a glorious triumph.

A lackluster final chapter or fight doesn’t eradicate all the good work that came before it, and all these open-world games are still 100% worth playing and among the best in the genre. Still, they left me thinking, “That’s it?” rather than “That’s it!”, and you never want to end a long journey on a disappointing note.

Calamity & Dark Beast Ganon In The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

Style Over Challenge Or Substance

• Calamity Ganon is way too easy.
• Dark Beast Ganon looks spectacular and is a visual treat… but it is barely a fight and more of an interactive cutscene.
• Fix: Monk Maz Koshia presents a far better blueprint for a final boss fight, one Ganon should have utilized.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is undeniably one of the most important open-world games of all time, and Nintendo hit the bullseye in nearly every area. Still, the game has its issues, like the polarizing weapon durability system that is arguably a bigger problem than its most mediocre boss fights. None of the Divine Beasts are particularly great, but they are all better than Ganon.

If you defeat all (or most) of the Divine Beasts before facing off against Calamity Ganon, Link will be so overpowered and stacked with hearts that he will destroy his eternal enemy without ever being at risk of defeat. To be fair, Calamity Ganon would be an OK first phase if it was followed by a solid sequel, but Dark Beast Ganon is far worse. For the climactic fight, Nintendo went for spectacle at the expense of challenge, interesting mechanics, or player agency.

Dark Beast Ganon is just a slow-moving set piece with such telegraphed attacks that they pose no threat. Considering BOTW rewards a “solve it yourself” mentality, the game just handing the Bow of Light to Link for the final showdown is a betrayal of the entire game. One of the most ambitious and freeing open-world games ever should not end with a shooting gallery

Joseph Seed In Far Cry 5

An Atomic Fart

• The ending is among the worst in the franchise, and just overall infuriating.
• The final section is repetitive and provides no room for any strategy, something the rest of the game offers.
• Fix: Turn the final encounter into a full-blown siege on Joseph’s compound, with your allies working alongside you.

Far Cry has a habit of dropping the ball with its final boss, with the third entry being probably the most famous example. While Hoyt is a big let-down after Vaas, Far Cry 5 is even worse, with the climactic encounter with Joseph Seed dropping the ball and culminating in a frustrating ending.

Rather than going for a large or intimate battle, Far Cry 5 forces you into a repetitive escort mission as you free your allies from Joseph’s Bliss hallucinations, a process that is tedious, uninspired, and over stays its welcome. During most of the campaign, players can try out different tactics when approaching outposts, something that is completely thrown out of the window in the climax.

Then, we have the ending: Joseph unleashes armageddon and traps you in a bunker with him, which comes with nasty implications considering Far Cry: New Dawn. Everything you did throughout the game amounts to nothing.

Alduin In Skyrim

The World-Eater Isn’t Impressive

• An overhyped encounter that ends up being just another dragon fight.
• NPC allies trivialize an already trivial battle.
• Fix: Turn Alduin into a puzzle that requires constant use of Shouts and other magical abilities.

To be honest, nobody plays Skyrim for the main story, so Alduin’s status as the “final boss” doesn’t really matter, and players can continue playing indefinitely after taking down the dragon. Still, that doesn’t make this encounter any better, and its underwhelming nature provides no incentive to actually complete the core missions.

By the time they face Alduin, the Dragonborn would have already taken down a bunch of dragons, so the big bad needed to bring something new to the plate. The World-Eater simply doesn’t, instead being basically a reskinned Frost Dragon. Unless somebody streamlines the main story and ignores everything else, they will be overpowered by the time of this fight, turning this lore monster into a piece of cake.

If that wasn’t enough, Skyrim even gives you three Nord heroes as allies, furthering stripping away any stakes.

Pope Alexander VI In Assassin’s Creed 2

A Fist Fight With The Pope Sounds More Entertaining Than It Really Is

• A fist fight. That’s all the final fight is.
• No challenge, and an unsatisfying ending forced by an allegiance to historical accuracy.
• Fix: Ezio is an assassin, so just have him act that way. Turn the final encounter into a hard-as-heck stealth assassination.

Assassin’s Creed 2 is regarded as one of the franchise’s true high points, and its quality cemented the IP as a staple of the gaming industry. Even though its age shines through nowadays, the game is still ultimately a wonderful experience built around a likable protagonist and a beautiful setting. However, the final encounter with Rodrigo Borgia, aka Pope Alexander VI, was never good and has been mostly reduced to a meme.

“Ezio fights the Pope in the Vatican” is a memorable way to end Assassin’s Creed 2, but the execution isn’t incredible nor epic. For the final fight, AC2 strips you of your Assassin tools and just throws you into a boxing match with Rodrigo, utilizing awkward and clunky mechanics. Thanks to a forgiving countering system, Ezio never feels in any danger, which makes sense considering his opponent is a 68-year-old Templar stuck in an outfit that hinders his mobility.

The ending also isn’t great, as Ezio spares Rodrigo for what seems like no real reason. Sure, he says that he realizes that vengeance wouldn’t bring back his family, but he has already killed so many people by then. Due to Assassin’s Creed‘s adherence to historical accuracy, the story couldn’t kill Rodrigo in 1499 when his real version died a few years later.

Lord Scrotus In Mad Max

Not Quite A Magnum Opus Of A Boss Fight

• Anti-climactic handling of the Magnum Opus.
• Weird final phase.
• Fix: This is Mad Max. The final encounter should be solely vehicular combat.

Avalanche’s Mad Max is a brilliant open-world game that doesn’t always get the love it deserves, although its reputation has improved in recent years. Some issues aside, the game is carried by its incredible driving and vehicular combat systems, along with car customization that lets you create the ultimate death machine, aka the Magnum Opus.

Unfortunately, the final boss doesn’t lean into the game’s strengths. While starting off well with a chase sequence, things fall apart when Max destroys the Magnum Opus, killing basically his only friend in the process. Not only is the second part cruel, but the first also undermines the rest of the campaign, which dedicates so much time to fostering a connection with the car.

After that, the battle culminates with Max chasing after Scrotus’ vehicle while chucking a spear at him. At the very least, we could have had a traditional on-foot fight that made use of Mad Max‘s simple but brutal combat system.