Mad Max Ending and Final Boss (Mad Max 2015 Video Game)

The reason why Chumbucket had to die is to stay true to the Mad Max mythology, and fit in with the canon. In the end, Max always remains the lone wanderer, scarred by yet another loss in a new adventure.

As bad as this ending hurts for many players (including myself), it's the only ending that is true to 'Mad Max'. Not only is Max constantly struggling with his own sanity from the loss of his family, but he cannot even look at a potential ally in the wasteland without either anticipating how they will betray him, or how simply associating with him will lead to their untimely death. It's easy for Max to revert to his 'fuck the world' attitude because he has ALREADY lost everything. He is in Hell. He even tells Griffa after the ending (Griffa too, is imaginary- adding to the severity of Max's psychosis). Max covets the imaginary 'Plains of Silence' to give his life a purpose- but he's ALREADY there- and part of him knows it. Griffa states that they may very well be in the very 'Plains of Silence' Max longs for, which means Max himself has had that very idea (Griffa is part of Max's empathetic subconscious trying to keep him from falling off insanity's deep end). Max lives in his own head and no matter how close allies and friends try to break in and earn his trust, he simply cannot allow it. To Max, trusting someone in the wasteland- no matter how unwavering they may seem- is to risk betrayal and death. Max's decisions do not even seem to make sense sometimes- why would he grab the snow globe as a keepsake, only to leave it as soon as he was reunited with the 'black on black'? He left it because he's insane. He's 'Mad' Max. The 'black on black' is a manifestation of Max's belief that being alone both physically and mentally is the best (and possibly only) chance at survival. When that dependence on being alone comes back to him after seeing the 'black on black', nothing else mattered. Regarding Chumbucket: I fell in love with him. He is BY FAR the most interesting and complex character written in the game. Max LITERALLY would not have been able to accomplish half of the deeds in the game's story without Chum throwing thunderpoons, pulling down scarecrows, and repairing the car through battles and sandstorms alike. HOWEVER- Chum IS not (and never was) devoted to Max, he follows 'The Angel of Combustion"- who he credits with divinely inspiring the Magnum Opus. In Chum's eyes Max is not nearly as important as the Magnum Opus- Max is just a Saint sent by the Angel- and 'she' could send another... Saints come and go, but Chum believes that BOTH he and the Opus were chosen by the Angel of Combustion- and are therefor irreplaceable. At the very least, Max is a saint and Chum himself is a prophet to the angel, so he and Max are arguably equals. The prophet builds, modifies, and repairs the Magnum Opus on the Angel's behalf and the saint is the driver. Chum knows how valuable he is- theoretically he had already hoped a new saint would emerge after Chum left Max to die in the Underdune- which leads to my main point about Chum... Chum not only left Max to die, he also gave information needed to find and murder Hope and Glory as well. BOTH were unforgivable in Max's eyes. For Max, forgiveness does not exist in this Hell, especially when he feels he has been betrayed. If you do not fast-travel after finding Chum in his safehouse following the Glory mission in the Underdune, you will traverse almost the entirety of the map from south to north towards the final boss. The ENTIRE time Chum is begging Max to talk to him and FORGIVE him. He weeps desperately. He knows that leaving Max to die and giving up Hope and Glory to Scrotus has changed everything. He isn't worried about losing Max, he's worried about Max taking the Opus and leaving without him (In my opinion, given the choice to kill Max or safe the Opus, Chum would sacrifice Max). He cares SO much more about the Opus than he does about Max. So finally Max had to sacrifice both Chum and the Opus. In my opinion Max's final decision might have been more sympathetic if Chum had not run away and caused the death of Hope and Glory, but the way things worked out, Max's mind could not allow him to let Chum live. The deaths of Hope and Glory were the deal-breaker, but after that modified Ford Interceptor came careening out from the back of Scrotus' war rig, Max lost ALL interest in Chum, the Opus, and yes- even Hope and Glory. In the end, both Max and his fractured mind want to return to the relative simplicity of scavenging the wastes with nothing but steel, petrol, and a photograph of his lost life. "In the hell of the wastes, the only things more scarce than food and water are that which makes us human: sympathy and compassion"

Chum was getting too emotional at the end there with Magnus Opus and he died with it. Max is a man of few words. "Get off" means get off.

After 50 hours of gameplay Max decides to undo all my work by killing chum and destroying the car I'd built....

"Now my blood returns for you Scrotus....Now my blood returns!!!" MY GOD I LOVE THAT LINE

Weirdly, it makes sense that Max kills Chum, or causes him to die. Throughout the game Chum was never anything else than a tool for Max to reach "The Plains Of Solitude". He never gave to shits about him. Which is a great contrast since we, the gamers liked Chum and wanted him to survive, and we condemn Max for doing that. But Max is Max, he's not a hero.

Just realized the game ending sets up fury road perfectly, he's haunted by his actions here....

....through this whole game, I didn't realise how much I liked Chum Bucket...until 8:33 :'(

now it makes sense about max has hallucinations about the kid and others in the movie - mad max fury road..

Why didn't Max just have Chum use the thunderpoon rather than ram it?

The Jarringly short time between death and 'Hey thanks for playing, heres Chum and the car again!" after credits was possibly the worst idea ever. The ending should have been either A: Thunderpooning the side of the Mover to knock it off. B: When Chum was raving on the hood Max should have said something along the lines of maybe the Opus isnt just an angel, but a martyr whos sole purpose was to kill Scrotus, that might have got him off, knowing the Angel had been born and was about to complete her task.

One of the best video game endings ever.

I don't get why everyone's complaining about the ending. It's Mad Max, very cynical, I doubted Chum was going to survive anyhow. Plus he doesn't care about the car - it's just a means to an end for him. Oh, and as for Chum and the Magnum Opus coming back after the credits, it's non-canon. It's like how when you kill off Baby Panay in Just Cause 2 and beat the game, the army still stays. It's so the rest of the experience isn't boring.

Damn this ending is dark as hell man, had his only friend killed and didn't give a fuck.

While playing I was hoping for a good ending. That was way better than I would expect. A true Mad Max ending!!!!

i feel bad for the girl and the woman

I got real mad at Max for wasting the car we players took so much care to upgrade in the campaign, but at least he got his beloved V-8 back! As for Chumbucket, screw him, he was dead to me from the moment he betrayed Max to "protect" the Magnum Opus.

They could have made the ending so much better. First off, I would have loved if Max would have literally painted "Glory" on the Magnum Opus. The boss battle would start off as a car chase (like in the game) to a certain point, when Scrotus has the upper hand, but Chum sacrifices himself (whether willingly or not) and the Opus during the fight to save Max. Then Max continues fighting Scrotus and a few surviving Warboys on land in hand-to-hand combat with unlimited RAGE, draining his life bar to the minimum and reaching a point, where you shoot your shotgun at his knee, thus crippling him, which is followed by with a satisfying button mashing sequence, where you beat Scrotus' face like a savage until his body is covered with his own blood, then pull out the blade out of his head and start crushing/slashing one of his arms with it. And while Scrotus coughs blood and shivers from shock, Max takes back his original double-barreled, loads it, shoves it down his mouth, shouts "For Glory" and unloads both buckshots, making a splattering mess, covering himself and everything in blood.

The reason people don't like the ending because it isn't a happy ending. News flash the Mad Max series has never had happy endings. The closest thing to a "happy ending" would have been Fury Road and that was only happy for Furiosa and the people at the sanctuary. Max at the end of that movie is still broken and has no purpose other than to be alone and survive. Max is destined to be a man without a happy ending.

I know this ending angers some people, but I absolutely love it. It's heart wrenching, especially if you put in the effort to max out Max with the Griffa tokens and have him get SO CLOSE to peace, only for everything to come apart, partly because of the Wasteland and its inhabitants dragging him down, partly because of Max's own inability to emotionally connect. Forcing the player to pull the trigger and kill Chum to get revenge, and descend back to square one is so painful, and I love every minute of it.