The ending of twists in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and if one isn't paying attention, it's easy to get lost. The ending has quite a few layers, so let's break it down beat by beat.
[Warning - Major spoilers for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy follow.]
The Guardians have set out to stop Magus and Grand Unifier Raker from consuming the galaxy with "The Promise", something that can corrupt people's minds by mentally trapping them in the place they wish to be. The game often illustrates this via letting characters return to their homes with lost loved ones, such as allowing Drax to be with his family. Although it's a lovely thought, it's nothing more than an illusion and has a more sinister intent. By brainwashing the galaxy, they become of a cult, mindless soldiers in a battle they would otherwise probably not partake in.
By the end of the game, Magus has almost fully realized its goal of conquering the galaxy with the help of Star-Lord's potential daughter and Soul Stone wielder, Nikki. Raker and Magus have also captured Guardians' Adam Warlock, one of the only people that can help put an end to the madness. Knowing that Magus has corrupted the likes of Nova Corps and other powerful forces, the Guardians seek the help of Lady Hellbender.
Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy Ending: Lady Hellbender, Nikki, & Ko-Rel
Of course, the Guardians of the Galaxy are being hunted by Lady Hellbender after conning her near the start of the game. To make amends, they head to an ice planet to fight the legendary dragon, Fin Fang Foom. The group believes if they can simply knock the dragon out, they can offer it as a gift to Lady Hellbender and gain her trust to stop Magus. After an epic battle, Lady Hellbender is led to the Guardians by Mantis, and Star-Lord is able to convince her to help them and to take Fin Fang Foom.
Together, the Guardians, Lady Hellbender and her army, and Fin Fang Foom charge the base where Magus and Raker are holding Nikki and Adam Warlock. In what can only be described as a battle of epic proportions - because there's a dragon flying around blowing up spaceships - the Guardians enter the base and give Mantis control of the Milano. As the ragtag group of heroes makes their way through the base, players will begin to see the consequences of their actions from throughout the course of the game. If players got Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy's Worldmind and Cosmo to be allied with them, they'll have a much easier job clearing the way as these other parties will show up to lend a helping hand.
They eventually find Adam Warlock strung up and will free him from his bindings. The group confronts Raker and attempt to free Nikki from her corrupted state, but get subdued. In their downed state, Star-Lord hears the voice of Ko-Rel pleading him to save Nikki, resulting in him waking up in the hallucination where he helps Nikki prepare for Ko-Rel's birthday from earlier in the game. After making all of the necessary preparations, Ko-Rel knocks at the door and confirms to Star-Lord that she is really dead and her entire being isn't just trapped in the Soul Stone. A piece of her is still in the stone, allowing her to reach out to him, but she is otherwise dead and can't be saved.
Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy Ending: Nikki's Grief
Even though Star-Lord is Marvel's GotG's sole protagonist and is deemed to be very special, he's also hit with the fact that not everything revolves around him. Ko-Rel confirms that he is not Nikki's father and Ko-Rel is not her biological mother either. She took her in after finding her orphaned in the galactic war and raised her as her own. Nonetheless, Nikki still needs him and Ko-Rel's final wish is for him to break her free of her illusion. Quill destroys the cake Nikki had made for Ko-Rel and tells her that she's living in an illusion. Nikki only wishes to keep believing in the idea that her mother coming back, even if she doesn't, because it's better than coming to the with the fact that she is really dead.
The player has to console her using Marvel's GotG's choice-based dialogue system and show empathy while understanding her grief is unique to her and it's not always as simple as telling someone that they know how their pain feels, even if they can relate. Nikki ultimately comes to with her mother's death and breaks free of Magus' spell, obtaining powers from the Soul Stone and a cool new golden hairdo in the process. The Guardians set her aside and fight Raker while Adam Warlock attempts to contain Magus.
After a hard-fought battle, Raker dies believing his own dead son was resurrected from the dead, never fully breaking away from the Promise. The Guardians, Nikki, and Adam Warlock all attend a triumphant ceremony celebrating their victory where they exchange words with the Worldmind, Lady Hellbender, and Cosmo who praise them for saving the galaxy. They eventually board the Milano with Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy all Mantis and everything appears to be happily ever after as the credits roll.
Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy's Fake Ending
Except it's a fake-out. Various names in the credits begin to glitch out and get replaced with "Magus". The credits disappear as players return to the Milano to find Adam Warlock is sick and gagging. Star-Lord suggests he uses the bathroom before Warlock writes it off as bad indigestion. Shortly after, he begins to laugh maniacally and Adam Warlock, so important to Marvel's GotG, reveals at least that he's been consumed by Magus. The Guardians are then transported to another illusion where they're on a floating platform in space while a giant evil Warlock is standing in front of them.
The group realizes that Magus can be defeated once and for all by trapping him into the Soul Stone, but he's too far away to reach. Quill begins to antagonize him, resulting in a series of battles with cannon-fodder enemies. Eventually, as Magus attempts to wipe them out once and for all, Europe's The Final Countdown begins to play and the Guardians play a game of hot potato with the Soul Stone. The Guardians warn Star-Lord that the Soul Stone could kill him if he wields it, but in an act of selflessness, he takes Magus head-on with the stone as the song crescendos, highlighting the epicness of the soundtrack in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.
The Guardians all wake back up on the Milano, with Peter lying unconscious on a table next to the Stone. Groot heals him and Mantis confirms Magus has been sucked back into the stone. The group begins to contemplate what they'll do with the stone - sell or destroy it - but Adam Warlock demands that he take it. He reclaims the Soul Stone and puts it back in his forehead, shaking Peter's hand and apologizing for nearly killing them. Kammy the space llama gives him a lick of approval and then the credits roll - for real this time.
As is tradition with Marvel, there is a post-credits scene, but it doesn't really set up a sequel to Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy like most Marvel films would. Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" begins to fade in as Peter stands in the mirror and debates whether he can be a good surrogate father to Nikki. The group then decides they're going to go and buy more business cards. The last thing players see is a series of screens reminiscent of the end of an 80s film where it tells the viewer what the characters went on to do after the story ends.
Unlike Marvel's Spider-Man or even Marvel's Avengers, Eidos Montreal does not really set up a sequel - at least not directly. There are some very general seeds planted that could certainly be explored in a future game, such as discovering more about Peter's father or finding more of the Infinity Stones. Beyond that, no big threat has been set up for the next game. In Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos is dead, so it's highly unlikely he will be giving the Guardians any trouble with the stones. Either way, should the game sell well, it seems like a reasonable assumption that Eidos will make a sequel.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is out now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch via cloud streaming.
