Confusing game endings explained

The short version: Most of the symbols on Desmond’s cell wall potentially point to important future plot points, while revealing the next game might be in Japan.

Once more…

The long version:

What the f*ck does the writing on the wall mean?

We could give you an incredibly detailed, exhaustive breakdown on what all those symbols, hieroglyphics, numbers and Japanese text mean – losing our sanity and will to live in the process. OR, we could simply direct you to the incredibly detailed, exhaustive breakdown of the Assassin’s Creed wall that our sister site wrote back in 2007.

What we can tell you is they DO definitely mean something and aren’t just an indecipherable mess of random text to elicit a mass fanboy reaction, so excitable and undrecrakcer-filling, it would make the net explode. Certain segments of the wall elude to potential locations for future games, while also revealing potential paths the trilogy’s plot may travel down.

Examples?

The number 12212012 is important in ancient Mayan culture, as it refers to the date 21st December 2012, which is supposed to mark a historic event. If you read the emails from shady evildoers Abstergo, they make reference to having to launch on that date. If you tie this into the Pieces of Eden, many have assumed this is when the company will try to launch the satellite that will effectively eliminate freewill and allow them to control the world.

What does Yonaguni mean?

It’s the most westerly island in Japan, which could mean Ubisoft are hinting this will be a location in the next game. On the island lived the group of eponymous people, who were said to have perished in a similar style to those of the ancient – soon to be doomed underwater – city of Atlantis. Some think this might mean you’ll have to bump off a member of this civilisation in the next game, though, as these events happened generations before Altair’s Crusades assassinations, you may well be put into another assassin’s murderous kimono.

The short version: The troops shaking in the hall form the C-Consciousness’s Monolith and Sterlok has his memory wiped, explaining his amnesia from SOC.

Once more…

The long version:

Who’s the unconscious guy with the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. tattoo?

That would be Sterlok, the main character who you play in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. The emissions radiating from the plant most likely cause Sterlok to develop the amnesia that afflicts him in the first game, making him forget his identity and the events from Clear Sky.

What happens to the rest of the convulsing troops in the corridors?

Most likely the ones who don’t die form part of the Monolith in Shadow of Chernobyl, the structure the hive mind C-Consciousness creates to brainwash stalkers into obeying it in its quest to forge world peace through global subordination. Sterlok suffers the same fate and this is why he subsequently works for the C-Consciousness in SOC.

David Meikleham
Google AMP Stories Editor

David has worked for Future under many guises, including for 12DOVE and the Official Xbox Magazine. He is currently the Google Stories Editor for GamesRadar and PC Gamer, which sees him making daily video Stories content for both websites. David also regularly writes features, guides, and reviews for both brands too.