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Stop whatever you're doing and watch the end of the Matrix video game

I can't believe this video is real.

Let me provide some backstory: In 2005, now-defunct developer Shiny Entertainment released The Matrix: Path of Neo, a video game that allows its player to reenact scenes from the Matrix trilogy in Keanu Reeves' iconic role. The films' directors, the Wachowskis, are also credited with directing the game, and this video is a compilation of the cut-scenes from the game's final sequence.

I never finished the game in 2005 and somehow never got around to watching this 2012 collection of all the game's cutscenes.

Anyway, if you've seen the films, you know Neo's true path concludes with Christ-like martyrdom, but the game stops just before this point and imagines an alternate path: Two pixelated beings, representing the Wachowskis, enter a white room and explain that this sort of dramatic scene would be "lame" in a video game. Instead, they suggest an ending which they compare to "Hulk vs. Galactus," before sarcastically telling the player to "enjoy enlightenment."

Instead of dying, completing the arc of the plot, Neo fights a skyscraper-sized Agent Smith, punching a hole through its chest and cuing, what else, Queen.

I've watched this video a couple times and I can't decide if it's a satirical jab at the people who design and play video games; the Wachowskis cutting creative ties from this entire project; or a love letter to the ridiculousness of action games around the time it was created. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Update: Let's go deeper down the rabbit hole. Julian Williams linked us to this video from a stage in which Neo and Morpheus "teleport to a Senate hearing decrying violent video games," only for the venue to be overrun by Agent Smiths.

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