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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →“Starts at the end” can describe three different storytelling devices, and only one of them is confirmed by the official sources available for this topic. The clearest verified example is Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, a sequel that begins just after its predecessor’s final scene. It does not open on its own finale. This article defines the three structures, shows what the sources establish for each, and explains why it does not offer a ten-game list.
Three structures that get called “starting at the end”
Readers searching this phrase usually mean one of the following. Keeping them separate matters, because a game can fit one and still fail the others.
1. An opening scene from the game’s own final encounter
The game begins with a playable or cinematic version of its climactic fight, then rewinds to show how the player got there. The reader sees the outcome first and spends the rest of the game learning why. The available sources do not confirm any game that opens this way under this strict definition.
2. A flash-forward to a climactic moment
The opening shows a future event, such as a battle, a catastrophe or a confrontation, without necessarily showing the playable finale. The story then rewinds to the present and moves toward that moment. As with the first structure, no game is confirmed here by the sources reviewed.
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3. A sequel that begins after the predecessor’s ending
The new game picks up where the previous one stopped. This is a continuation structure, not a rewind. The player starts in the aftermath of an earlier finale, so the “end” belongs to a different game. This is the only structure with a confirmed example in the current sources.
The confirmed example: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
Konami Games Support describes the series chronology this way: the story “now takes place in a modern time, just after the very last cut scene of the first Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.” That places Lords of Shadow 2 directly after the first game’s last scene. It is a sequel that starts after a predecessor’s ending.
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Konami’s game page describes the title as an action-adventure game and the final chapter in the Lords of Shadow reboot. It lists a release date of February 25, 2014, and platforms of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The page says the protagonist is Dracula/Gabriel Belmont, who must reclaim his powers.
The sources do not establish how the playable opening relates to the game’s own ending. That is why this example belongs under the third structure, not the first. Describing it as opening on its own finale would go beyond what Konami has published.
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Adjacent examples that do not qualify
Official material about final bosses, endings and late-game encounters is easy to confuse with an ending-first opening. The three examples below are real, sourced, and relevant to endings, but none of them shows a game beginning at its ending. Spoiler note: the Ghost of Yōtei entry refers to the final duel.
| Game | Source | What the source establishes | Why it does not qualify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ghost of Yōtei | PlayStation Blog spoilercast interview with creative directors Jason Connell and Nate Fox, December 19, 2025 | The final duel with Lord Saito draws on weapons the player has learned to counter, and it concludes with a katana duel tied to Atsu’s family. | This explains how an ending is built on accumulated player skill. It says nothing about how the game opens. |
| God of War (2018) | Santa Monica Studio retrospective, 2022 | Baldur is the final boss of the main story, and the multi-phase fight is the culmination of the Aesir plot. | This is ending context. It does not show the game opening with that encounter. |
| Star Fox Zero | Time interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, March 3, 2016 | After the player reaches and defeats Venom, teleporters become important for finding other routes. | This describes route exploration after completion. The game does not begin at that point. |
Why the sources do not yet support a ten-game list
A ten-game list under the strict definition would need ten titles whose openings are each confirmed as their own final encounter or a flash-forward. The sources available for this topic confirm one title under the sequel structure and no titles under the first two. Filling the remaining slots with games that have an opening boss, a late-series sequel, or an interview about their endings would change the premise rather than support it.
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A game can be added to a list of this kind only when the following conditions are met:
- The opening scene is identified in a first-party synopsis, manual, official video or developer interview.
- The source states whether the opening is playable or cinematic.
- The source places that opening in the game’s own timeline, or in its predecessor’s, with a date.
- The story is shown to rewind or continue forward after the opening.
- The source makes clear which game’s “end” is meant.
How to test a candidate yourself
When you encounter a game described as starting at the end, ask these questions in order:
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstall- What is the first scene, and is the player in control of it?
- Is that scene the game’s own final encounter, a future moment, or the last scene of a previous game?
- Does the story then rewind to explain the opening, or does it move straight ahead?
- Is the answer confirmed by an official source with a date, or only inferred from a review or a fan summary?
- Does the “end” refer to the game you are reading about, or to an earlier title in its series?
A “yes” to the first structure requires answers that point to the game’s own finale. A “yes” to the third requires a predecessor whose last scene is named. Most games that get described as starting at the end fail at least one of these checks.
Spoilers are unavoidable when discussing these openings. Read official ending interviews only after you have finished the game, if you want the ending itself to stay unknown.
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