So, at the end, Cole dies. But as Zeke and his body are going out to sea, his ship is struck by lightning, possibly meaning Cole is alive. 
 
I'm guessing that Cole absorbed the Blast Cores making him powerful enough to withstand the Ray Field Inhibitor killing him, instead just putting him completely out for a while (hey, it's a comic book video game!).
 
Also, if you listen to the last dead drop, Wolfe apologizes to Kuo for not warning her about what was going to happen, but not Cole. Sort of like he knew Cole would be fine. 
 
Anyone else have similar thoughts?

The lightning bolt also looked to be in the shape of a question mark, if I recall, basically saying he is (or will be) alive.

Wow i just beat it and i never noticed the lightning

I didn't really notice the lighting. I doubt he is alive. What would you do in the 3rd game if you continued the good story? Since every conduit in the world was killed even if their powers had not developed.

I was totally loving that ending until the lightening hit. Having the balls to kill of your main character is something I've wanted to see done properly for a while, and then they go and make it so he obviously survives lol.

To me the ending was kind of under whelming. it didnt win me over like the first one did. I agree with @Soap where i would like to see the main character die, but in the sequel and on open world game, i didnt do it for me. I like the game though, still wanna try the bad ending.

I honestly hope that if there is an inFAMOUS 3 that it continues after the events of the evil ending. It would suck if they continued after the end of the good ending and he somehow comes back to life. What would he do? Help rebuild the east coast? At least with the evil ending there is a clear conflict.

I hope the lighting was just a cool effect.  That part where you talk about how Wolfe apologizes to Kuo and not Cole is odd.  He has no attachment to Cole and through the dead drops you can tell that Kuo and Wolfe respected each other.  I think you're reading to deep into it if you think it foreshadows Cole's survival.

It would also ruin the whole "silent hero, but patron saint of New Marais" if he ended up living.

Anyone who thinks the lightning means he's still alive is crazy. It was just supposed to be symbolic.

So, at the end, Cole dies. But as Zeke and his body are going out to sea, his ship is struck by lightning, possibly meaning Cole is alive. 
 
I'm guessing that Cole absorbed the Blast Cores making him powerful enough to withstand the Ray Field Inhibitor killing him, instead just putting him completely out for a while (hey, it's a comic book video game!).
 
Also, if you listen to the last dead drop, Wolfe apologizes to Kuo for not warning her about what was going to happen, but not Cole. Sort of like he knew Cole would be fine. 
 
Anyone else have similar thoughts?

@Soap said:

I was totally loving that ending until the lightening hit. Having the balls to kill of your main character is something I've wanted to see done properly for a while, and then they go and make it so he obviously survives lol.

I don't think so. I think it was simply a gesture instead of foreshadowing inFamous 3. Don't get me wrong, inFamous 2 is a hell of a game, and my favorite PS3 exclusive and I would love nothing more than to have inFamous 3 in my paws in 2013, but I think this was it for Cole McGrath.

EDIT: You know what, maybe you're right. I watched the video and clearly there is a '?' in the lightening at the end:

[Link]

The inFamous universe already accepts alternate timelines (i.e.: Kessler is Cole). If they choose to make a third, they could pull some time shenanigans. But I was so satisfied with how the game ended, I'd be cool with the end of the franchise.

It's a video game inspired by comic books. 
 
If Jean Grey can come back to life a zillion times.....if freaking Bucky Barnes can come back to life........yeah, I'm confident we haven't seen the last of "The Electric Man".  Not when there's money to be made. : d
 
I'm sure they'll figure out some new kind of problem in the world that only Cole can solve.

I was really surprised that they actually let you fight the beast in this game and that cole ends up dying in the end, especially when you consider how many games end up pulling that bullshit where they say "well this game has a number 2 on it so lets see how long we can stretch this story line since we could only come up with this one bad guy". 
 
I hope they finish things with Cole and maybe make another game starring the younger brother he mentions somewhere in the game, although they would have to figure out a way to do it considering how this ending kills off all the conduits, hell they could bring Cole back as a villain somehow and have his younger brother take him on.

i took it that he is alive as well.  Kill Cole, kill all the conduits....eh...Infamous is effectively dead. Tho, if they go with this ending then Cole is the only one with powers which seems like a damper. 
 
Thought the ending was good as well. Tho was a little lame how Zeke was so eager to allow you to die; I was liking him in this game up until that point.

I thought the good ending was great, but now I'm kind of torn between whether or not I want a sequel with Cole. I do quite like the character and wouldn't say no to playing a game starring him again, but it seemed like the ended off this game on a really strong note.
 
One thing that I found kind of strange was that they didn't tie up the loose ends with Alden (who Cole suggested may still be alive after falling off a bridge in the first game), Sasha (who was still very much alive in the first game and guided you through the evil side missions) and Moya. Granted I didn't even think of these characters much until after I had beaten the game, but I think it would have been nice if they had tied up these loose ends. 
 
Should there be another game following this ending I suppose that Alden and Sasha would have been killed by the RFI but Moya could still be around and maybe they could focus on the governments involvement that was alluded to in both games as well as any other business that the First Sons may be up to. Regardless, I really enjoyed this game and I think that this franchise could continue to grow if Sucker Punch chooses to continue with it.

@Soap said:

I was totally loving that ending until the lightening hit. Having the balls to kill of your main character is something I've wanted to see done properly for a while, and then they go and make it so he obviously survives lol.

Yea I completely agree. I thought it was awesome that they would kill of their main character in a pretty big franchise. But seeing that really disjointedness me as it is clearly an out for them to make some stupid reason for him to come back to life and have to learn all his powers again that might for instance take about 10 hours to do in a whole new game.

The cane is a reference to Sly Cooper 4.

@Loose: They probably all kicked the bucket right at the beginning of Infamous 2.

@KaosAngel said:

The cane is a reference to Sly Cooper 4.

Sucker punch aren't making Sly Cooper 4, so that doesn't make much sense.

I was totally loving that ending until the lightening hit. Having the balls to kill of your main character is something I've wanted to see done properly for a while, and then they go and make it so he obviously survives lol.

@KaosAngel said:

The cane is a reference to Sly Cooper 4.

Sucker punch aren't making Sly Cooper 4, so that doesn't make much sense.

I really thought that was a really strong ending, and I am hoping that Sucker Punch sticks to it and this is the definitive end of the series. Don't get me wrong I love inFamous and inFamous 2 but I really wanna see what is next from Sucker Punch, that and this is a perfect way to tie up the series and complete it without having to go back and define cannon endings (something that is so annoying in modern games) for the purpose of a sequel.

Why did you betray me Kuo?! WHY?!?! I gave you everything! But, no, that wasn't enough for you! You had to be greedy and try to survive instead of being a beatiful snow angel sacrifice.

T_T

Yeah, but at the end, she came back to the good side. I chalk it up to a moment of temporary sanity, yes sanity since who really wants to die? 
 
Have you guys seen the evil ending? Not just the final comic cutscene, but how it all plays out? It's pretty damn brilliant in its presentation.

I definitely did not see that ending coming with him dying.
 
Makes me wish I had a second save to go and see what the "evil" ending was.  It totally made me wish I had sided with Nix on more occasions.  
 
Definitely my most enjoyable game of 2011 so far.

Just was thinking about this though...
 
Kessler knew who John was in the original Infamous correct?  He also knew that the beast would come.  Couldn't he have just "taken out" John then?  This would stop the whole Beast timeline...granted we wouldn't have a game then.

Just was thinking about this though...  Kessler knew who John was in the original Infamous correct?  He also knew that the beast would come.  Couldn't he have just "taken out" John then?  This would stop the whole Beast timeline...granted we wouldn't have a game then.

@Aphex said:

@KaosAngel said:

The cane is a reference to Sly Cooper 4.

Sucker punch aren't making Sly Cooper 4, so that doesn't make much sense.

I guess that's why they didn't put "Now Playing: Sly 4!" on some of the theaters in the city then? Oh, wait, they did. 

@MancombSeepgood said:

@Aphex said:

@KaosAngel said:

The cane is a reference to Sly Cooper 4.

Sucker punch aren't making Sly Cooper 4, so that doesn't make much sense.

I guess that's why they didn't put "Now Playing: Sly 4!" on some of the theaters in the city then? Oh, wait, they did. 

No, he was right. Sucker Punch aren't making Sly Cooper 4, Sanzaru Games are.

i havent bought the game yet i seen both endings the evil one was stupid to me cole aint like that but the good ending made me sad because he is my fav superhero hes more normal than others he has the biggest heart you could imagine and he doesnt run around in tights but i dont like how he died i think when the lightning struck he came back to life and then they returned to new marais or what ever it is called and then Festival Of Blood happend so thats what i think i hope they make a third one where he is the good guy again but they could make a twist like werewolves or zombies maybe even a greek god that would be kinda kool but those are just some ideas but ya it makes me sad and i keep wondering if hes really dead like zeke sais he has more humanity than anybody but yea