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{{trope}}
In the vast majority of [[RPG
A '''Playable Epilogue''', however, lets you continue playing after beating the final boss. In some cases this simply means that the scenes taking place during the epilogue are interactive (you can talk to NPCs at your leisure, but not go out and explore the [[World Map]] or battle monsters), and your save file still reloads the game as it looked before the final boss. In other times the epilogue is an actual bonus chapter set in the "saved" world, after the main plot has been all wrapped up, often featuring extra side quests or dungeons to explore at your leisure.
A form of [[Extended Gameplay]]. See also [[Mini Game Credits]], where only the closing credits are interactive.
{{endingtrope}}
{{examples}}
* The NES ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' games are the [[Trope Maker]] here; from the very first game, in fact.
** ''[[Dragon Quest IX]]'' for the DS. There's an almost endless variety of randomly generate grottoes to find and explore, extra sidequests to complete, things to alchemize, a veritable army of [[Bonus Boss
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda Oracle Games|The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons]]'' games are unique in canon in that you can continue playing after you win, to allow the strange password system that [[One Game for
* The original ''[[Myst]]'' allowed the player to continue wandering around the various worlds and exploring after completing the game, even though that's what the player had already spent the entire game doing.
** The remake, "realMyst," added an additional world that could be accessed at this point: it didn't deliver any more story, but offered a nice world-builder engine and a cameo appearance by Riven.
*** And the opportunity to [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|shoot lightning bolts at whales]] (don't worry, they have NPC invulnerability).
* In ''[[
* In the ''[[Pokémon]]'' games, defeating the Elite Four doesn't end the game at all. It usually just opens up a high-level challenge, like the Battle Tower/Frontier. In ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver]]'', it turns out to be sort of a [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle|fake ending]]: even though the credits roll, you have ''half of the game left''. It turns out there's an entire ''region'' left to explore, and you need to get another eight badges to face [[Previous Player Character Cameo|the protagonist of the last game]] to get the real ending.
** ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' takes this even further. After you beat {{spoiler|N and Ghetsis}} and the story has clearly ended, you still haven't even beaten the Elite Four and become Champion, which was your goal in the first place! Becoming Champion is your main goal to work for during the postgame sidequests.
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* Strangely enough ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]'' let's you play even after you've beaten Gruntilda just in case you may have forgotten the some notes or forgot to get the infamous stop and swop eggs. Heck, you can even visit gruntilda's grave and dance on it!
* The ''[[Civilization]]'' games have the "Wait! [[Just One More Level|Just...one...more...turn!]]" option to play on after you've won a victory.
* ''[[
** The original ''Dark Cloud'' let you do it, too; the one difference was that, as {{spoiler|you had restored the whole world to how it was before}}, you no longer needed the [[Applied Phlebotinum|magical blue stone]] on your glove. Plus there was still a [[Bonus Dungeon]].
* ''[[
* ''[[Paper Mario:
** ''[[
** The First ''[[Paper Mario (
* ''[[Suikoden II]]'' has a
* ''[[Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete]]'' has a playable epilogue that could (arguably) be called the true final arc of the game; it's rather long and completes the game with a happy ending.
** The remake of ''[[Lunar Silver Star Story Complete|Lunar 1]]'' game also had a playable epilogue, though all you could really do is wander around [[Capital City|Meribia]] and watch all the secondary characters wrap up their story arcs.
* The original four ''[[.hack]]'' games as well as the [[.hack GU|G.U. games]] have playable epilogues which let the player recruit bonus characters as well as play through a [[Bonus Dungeon]] for the epilogue.
* ''[[Spyro 2:
* In ''[[
* Once you finish the [[Final Boss]] in ''[[
* In the "canon" ending (and the ending when you {{spoiler|keep Crono dead}}) for ''[[
* The ''[[Ultima]]'' games usually let you wander around and talk to people after beating the game, thus letting you see the aftereffects of your journey, much like in ''[[
** This isn't true for the Apple/Commodore/PC versions of any Ultima games this troper can think of, but it might be true in the console ports.
* ''[[Phantom Brave]]'s'' playable epilogue pits the player against the main characters of ''[[Disgaea
* The best ending of ''[[
* ''[[Mechwarrior]] 2: Mercenaries'' allows the player to take on random missions even after completing the last campaign, keeping all of the assets they have acquired.
* ''[[Ecco the Dolphin]] 2'' had a three-stage playable epilogue.
* The first ''[[
** Oddly, one of those playable characters is, well, kinda dead.
** Mission Mode in the remake version also seems to take place after the main story.
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** Subverted in ''[[Persona 4]]'': {{spoiler|Take the right actions in what looks like the epilogue for the normal ending, and you'll get to another dungeon, the real final boss, and the True Ending.}}
* In a non-RPG version, ''[[Call of Duty]] 4'' features a playable epilogue set on a terrorist-hijacked plane in mid-flight. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the events in the game's story and is only accessible after watching the entire credits.
* The ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' games featured this, especially the GTA 3 story arc games. In ''San Andreas'', CJ even mentions he just wants to go around. This is useful for those who are looking for [[
** Of course in "San Andreas" beating the last storyline missions {{spoiler|ends the riots in Los Santos}}, something a lot of players really ENJOYED, so they would leave the last mission unfinished rather than blemish their completion rating (prior to 100%) by using a cheat code to achieve the same result or save to a different file.
* ''[[Fallout 2]]''. You get the obligatory "congratulations" round in most cities, and a free max level/skills item.
** It was originally averted in ''[[Fallout 3]]'', leading to massive fan outcry. It wasn't until the ''Broken Steel'' expansion that the player was allowed to continue.
* ''[[Knights of Xentar]]''. No more monsters or quests, just new lines of dialogue for almost everyone.
* All the ''[[Might and Magic]]'' RPGs (except 2 and 3) let you wonder around the world and complete any unfinished side quests after you've beaten the main game; you can also save at any point after the ending. ''World of Xeen'' was a special subtype because after completing each of the two main quests (one for ''Clouds of Xeen'', one for ''Darkside of Xeen'') the game would save then send you back to the main menu. Restoring the game would then let you continue on to the next main quest.
* The ''[[Dark Sun]]'' games from SSI let you keep playing after completing the game. In the first game in particular you could revisit the villages who helped you in the final battle and they would all acknowledge your efforts.
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*** ''Fable 2'' promises that there are quests available only after defeating the [[Big Bad]]. These quests amount to very little: the only quest that's truly only available after finishing the story is exploring a castle to find a [[Gender Bender]] potion, as well as the option to finish any quest you haven't already done.
*** ''Fable 3'' was better in this regard, several quests only becoming available after you've driven off the [[Final Boss]].
* ''[[Wasteland (
* ''[[Street Fighter]] EX2 Alpha'' (or was it EX3?) let you do this, mowing down [[Mook
** It was EX3. IIRC, it was just for fun; it didn't do anything. One of the flunkies was a Hugo-esque bruiser who grew bigger every time you decked him.
* ''[[Toejam and Earl]]'' and its sequel have epilogue levels where you just walk around and talk to the colorful alien characters.
* While getting married in some ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' games will make the credits run, this is ''very'' rarely the end of the game. (If you're playing ''Harvest Moon: Back To Nature For Girl,'' it is.) In fact, there's quite a bit more to do after getting married, aside from eventually getting a child, there's new events to see, sometimes new villagers to befriend, [[
** It also ends at marriage when you play as Sara in the third ''[[Game Boy]]'' game, and get married.
** In ''Harvest Moon DS'', however, the game ends after marriage. Fortunately, it's only if you marry a Mineral Town girl.
*** This was fixed in [[Distaff Counterpart|Cute]], where marrying a Mineral Town boy doesn't end the game.
* ''[[
* The 2008 ''[[Prince of Persia]]'' has a playable {{spoiler|[[Downer Ending]]}} epilogue where you {{spoiler|free Ahriman, the [[Big Bad]] you've just spent the entire game trying to stop, to bring Elika back to life.}} Confusingly, the [[Downloadable Content]] is called the Epilogue, but it's actually an [[Expansion Pack]].
* ''[[
** This is there for the sake of the game's [[Multiple Endings]]. Each boss guards three high-valued treasures, and taking too long to beat a boss will make the treasures start to disappear- the ones you get end up at the final boss room, which works the same way. If you missed a treasure before, you would ''have'' to fight the boss again after beating the game.
* After completing each episode of ''[[Strong
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' games (At least Morrowind and Oblivion) let you keep going after you finish the main quest, often with a handful of added side quests that are only available once you beat the main quest and awarding you special items. The [[NPC
* ''[[Pokémon Ranger]]: Shadows of Almia'' has one of these. After you start up your save file, you're promoted to the highest Ranger Rank (in honor of [[Saving the World]] and all that), and your rewards are access to your player records and the hidden [[Monster Arena|Capture Arena]], as well as additional [[
* ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'' had two short playable sections in its epilogue.
* The ''[[Marathon
* ''[[Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice]]'' has more than half the game after you finish the story mode and defeat the final boss. And that's not counting the DLC.
** True to a lesser extent for Disgaea's 1 and 2 where you can do all the optional sidequests and endless grinding before you finish the game, but there's little point.
* ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]'', to a degree. After the credits and the ending sequence, the game decides to give you one more "screw you" moment. A piece of fruit starts falling, and you have to dodge it or die. In the epilogue. Did I mention this was ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]''?
** In an uncharacteristic motion of generosity, however, the fruit falls at about a quarter of the speed of all the other fruit in the game, making it very easy to dodge, and even if you do die, your win against the final boss will be recorded on your save file. In the end, this is more like a choice the player can make depending on [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|how sadistic they feel by the end of the game.]]
* ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' lets you continue playing after beating the final boss so that you can finish up The Riddler's challenges. Or go for a couple [[Cosmetic Award|Achievements/Trophies]].
** [[Batman: Arkham City|Arkham City]] is much the same, but it also has side-quests on top of the Riddler Challenges.
* ''[[Hitman]]: Blood Money'' has an interesting variant. The entire game leads up to the supposed death of Mr. 47, and if you sit through the ending credits you will see his funeral. However {{spoiler|you will notice that his health meter is on the screen during the credits, with just a ''pulsing'' sliver of health, and if you mash the controls enough he will revive from his death-like coma and the ending credits are interrupted while you play the truly final mission of the game.}}
* Endless Summer from ''[[Bully (
* Kameo Elements Of Power lets you run around as much as you want after you beat the Big Bad.
* ''[[Terranigma]]'' gives us a playable [[Tear Jerker]].
* "Heaven" in in the ''[[Harvest Moon]] Wonderful Life'' games.
* ''[[Brutal Legend]]'' has the "get 100% completion" version of the playable ending, though you can also look up your surviving allies and find out how they're doing.
* ''[[
** Luckily you can start a separate file to get it (albeit the flying machine is about two-thirds of the way through the story), or purchase the Battle of Forli DLC which adds a side mission where you can use the flying machine around the Wetlands and kick guards as much as you like.
** The first game left Desmond alone in the lab, giving him an opportunity to poke around and find all the plot hooks as well as go back into the Animus and replay the missions. Annoyingly, the only ''new'' bit of the lab that becomes available at the end is useless if you didn't {{spoiler|steal Vidic's USB pen}} earlier in the game, and once the NPCs leave there's no way to get it.
** ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
* ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'' allows Marche and his party to continue to explore Ivalice after defeating the Final Boss, and some of the newly recruitable story characters will mention the absence of {{spoiler|Mewt}}.
* The movie's plotline for ''[[The Godfather (
* ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]'' series have these, especially adding some new missions that tie up loose ends (Such as in the first, explaining that {{spoiler|Gengar was the human who got Gardevoir cursed by accident, and you have to bring him to Gardevoir's resting place in the hopes of bringing her back, and you can later visit the meteor that threatened the world, which contains Deoxys as a [[Bonus Boss]]}}), number two gives even more to the story, but darker and edgier. {{spoiler|You find out that it was DARKRAI who set up the [[Evil Plan]] to destroy Temporal Tower and plunge the world into darkness, and he's the reason you and Grovyle got separated and you got transformed in the first place.}} The sister game, Explorers of Sky, adds Shaymin as a recruit should you finish the Sky's Peak.
* ''[[
** ''[[Mass Effect
** The ability to complete sidequests and the DLC's with ''[[
* ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'' has a brief moment after the final boss and subsequent cutscene where you get to walk around and speak to your party members and related NPC folk about what happened, ask them what they're going to do, and generally sort of fill out the epilogue before the final FINAL cutscene of the game.
** ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Just Cause (
* A variant of this happens in ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]''. After {{spoiler|John Marston dies}} and the "final cutscene" plays, you will have control over {{spoiler|Jack Marston}}, and you can continue on in freeplay mode. However, the end credits won't play until you head to Blackwater, talk to a random bystander and complete the {{spoiler|"Remember My Family" mission, where Jack finds and kills former Blackwater Agent Edgar Ross - achieving his revenge}}.
** ''[[Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare]]'', a [[What Could Have Been]] DLC, plays this trope too; following the credits, {{spoiler|1=the non-DLC normal story ending comes about (wherein John is killed), only with the twist that Seth steals the treasure that caused the dead to rise before when taken, thus bringing the dead (including John) back to life, allowing the player to finish side quests and to free roam.}}
* In ''[[Dragonball Z]] The Legacy of Goku II'' and ''Buu's Fury'', once you defeat Cell/Kid Buu you can continue playing for as long as you like before speaking to Dende/going to Bulma's party to activate the final cutscenes. In fact, in the former game, it's only in the Playable Epilogue that you can unlock the [[Secret Character]] [[Joke Character]] Hercule, which allows you to choose an alternate ending cutscene if you max out his level; in the latter, [[Fusion Dance|Gogeta]] can be unlocked during the epilogue.
* If you complete ''[[Demons Crest]]'' with a [[
* In the ''[[Metroid]]'' games, Samus has a penchant for blowing up the planet/space station you just spent hours exploring. Not so in ''[[Metroid: Other M]]'', where she returns to the Bottle Ship to find {{spoiler|the late Adam Malkovich's helmet}}, various missed items, and a [[Bonus Boss]], among other things.
** Though the Bottle Ship does explode anyway after Samus finds what she was looking for.
* In ''[[Indiana Jones And His Desktop Adventures]]'', once you fulfill your quest you can walk around the entire gameworld and talk to people, though only two or three people have new lines.
* In the newest Halo game, Reach, you get to {{spoiler|fight on a part of Reach that is getting glassed by the Covenant after the credits at the end of the Pillar of Autumn. You see randomly generated Spartan bodies, and no matter how well you perform, the end is always your death due to numerous Elites. However, this is a mild spoiler because the opening cutscene is one of your player character's helmet with a bullet hole through the visor.}}
* ''[[Grandia II]]'' had an epilogue where you took control of Roan who, some time after the [[Final Battle]], goes {{spoiler|[[King Incognito]] again}} to visit his friends [[The Fellowship Has Ended|now living all across the land]].
* ''[[Sword of Vermillion]]'' had a minor one. After defeating the [[Final Boss]] and obtaining the last of the [[Plot Coupons]], there are no more [[Random Encounters]] and you can freely visit all towns and talk with the [[NPC
* ''[[Rule of Rose]]'' features a very elaborate one, where you play as child Jennifer, walking around the orphanage to say farewell to the precious memories she had about the place despite of all the bad that happened. It culminates the storyline masterfully and provides some of the strongest [[Tear Jerker]] fuel in video game history.
* ''[[Fossil Fighters]]'' gives you access to a huge number of new things after beating the main game. Not only do you gain access to two new areas (which you will need to visit in order to [[Gotta Catch
* Every single game in the ''[[
* In the last few issues before its original shutdown in 2012, ''[[City of Heroes]]'' started including story arcs that ended with an optional "mission" in which you played a different character and got to see [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue|what happened to them after your part of the story finished]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]
[[Category:Ending Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Playable Epilogue]]
|