There are a lot of endings in video games. They all usually end happily, with the main character beating the bad guy, and saving the world. And, as a fictional world where things end well for everyone, we all like to see good triumph over evil. But, in the world of video games, there are just some moments that don’t care about the good ending. Sure, the good ending is right there, but what if you can’t get it. What if, no matter how hard you try, you can’t get that good ending, resulting in a bad ending or even the worst ending possible. And that’s what this list is for. So, let us talk about the worst possible outcomes for our hero. First, some rules. Only one game per franchise. Also, I am including games that I have not played before. Also, no games from any of the bad endings lists I made before, so no Chrono Trigger, no Persona 4 Golden, and nothing from that list. Also, this is the most obvious thing to mention, this list has MAJOR spoilers. So, you have been warned. With that said, let us start the list.
#10: Harvest Moon DS
This one is quite a weird one. You all may think that there is nothing too bad about a Harvest Moon ending. The worst you get is kicked off the farm. While that is a bit sad, OH, trust me, compared to everything else on this list, that is nothing. But in all seriousness though, In Harvest Moon DS, there is an event known as the Harvest Festival. During the festival, there is a bowl of stew that you are able to add any ingredients to. And when I say any ingredients, I mean ANY! INGREDIENTS! So naturally, the best thing that a person could do is take a Level 100 Poisonous Mushroom to them with the festival. And apparently, the mayor isn’t too wise, as even though you need to carry the mushroom over your head, he thinks that putting a dirty piece of fungus into the stew is a smart idea. So, after you throw it into the pot, the town begins to eat the stew… and you die. Of course, you only see your character die, but seeing as how you did poison the stew, everyone in the entire town is basically poisoned and is now… well, dead. Obviously. Sure, this may be more of a game Over, but try telling that to the credits that play immediately after your character just died. And you all thought the sad dog on the porch was the worst ending in a Harvest Moon game.
#9: Nosferatu
I have never played this sort of game in my life. Just gonna throw that out there. Now, the story of this game is your typical kind of game… with vampires. The vampire, Nosferatu, has taken Kyle’s lover, Erin. So, Kyle now needs to make his way through Nosferatu’s castle in order to defeat Nosferatu with some of the most awkward character movement in a game. Kind of like a cross between the original Prince of Persia and Castlevania. Now, of course, there is the usual “Oh, I defeated the evil vampire and saved my girl” sort of ending. But, that’s not what we are here to talk about. This game, being hard enough as it is, is harder with the fact that if you die enough times, you have already gotten the bad ending. Basically, once you die that one last time, you might as well give up if you do not want the bad ending. What happens is that, yes, Kyle is able to defeat Nosferatu, but once he makes it to Erin, she is already a vampire, and has bitten Kyle, making him a vampire. What makes it worse is that you can see that you have already gotten this ending on the game over screen, where you see a picture of Kyle and Erin, with Erin’s teeth now sharp, like a vampire. It’s the little things I like in games, even if they scare the hell out of me
#8: Clock Tower
Ah, Clock Tower. A horror classic, despite that this game is slow, and I mean SSSSLLLLLOOOOOOOWWWWW! But it’s still a good horror game, following Jennifer and her friends as they try (Mostly fail) to survive inside the Barrows mansion as they are chased by a psychotic nine-year-old with giant scissors. Now, you could argue that all of the endings in this game a pretty depressing. I mean, out of three of Jennifer’s friends, only one make it out of the Barrows Mansion alive. And that ending isn’t even canon. But if I had to pick one, it would be Ending F. The F stands for Fuuuuuuuuudge this ending. What, you thought I’d say fu- Anyway, after running through the mansion, nearly getting killed by Scissorman, and having to deal with your friends dying, you think the best thing to do is head to the top of the mansion. So, you manage to survive this long, and once you make it to the elevator, Scissorman surprises you inside and you die…… What? Yep, not even doing the right thing can save you in this game. Then again, this is a Japanese horror game. Probably should have expected that.
#7: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice For All
With a game like Ace Attorney, where you are able to continue from where you save (Which is VERY frequent), you wouldn’t think that there would be a terribly bad ending. Well, Justice For All changes that, I’m afraid. Though it may be the least loved in the franchise, I still like it, especially the final case. Matt Engarde, the defendant, who Phoenix is trying to protect, is in fact the murderer of Juan, and Adrian is seen as the killer now, and Maya is held captive by the assassin Shelly De Killer and will kill her if Matt is found guilty, but if he is innocent, Maya will shun Phoenix forever. It’s quite intense, really. Now, most Ace Attorney games due seem to go bad when you present the wrong evidence enough times, but trust me, they NEVER go as far as what happens with this game. If you happen to present the wrong evidence at the last cross examination, you will not just get a guilty verdict. No, what will happen is that Matt will be found innocent, Adrian will be found guilty, Maya will forever shun Phoenix, and Phoenix will give up his profession as a defense attorney. And to think Justice For All was dull
#6: Live A Live
Yet another Japan only game (Goddamn it, Japan). Live A Live sets you in different time periods, basically killing everything with Dio in it’s name. And then you play as a Dio……. Let me explain. In the game, after you complete everyone else’s stories, you then play as Oersted, a brave knight. After hearing that the princess was kidnapped (Classic video game story), Oersted goes to save her, but after being mistaken for a demon when the king is killed, Oersted is forced to kill the royal guards to find his way out and save the princess, only for his friend, Straybow, to try and kill him, and realize the princess was trying to manipulate him so he could be mistaken for the Demon King. So, basically, Oersted goes into full on rage mode, becomes the demon king Odio and destroys the kingdom, and then brings all the characters from the other stories to fight him. If you play as the other six, you get the usual good guys win. But, if you play as Odio, you will kill all of the heroes, and then, lead to, not just the end of the world, but it will lead to the total destruction of time itself. And in the end, not even Odio is happy. And again, WHY WAS THIS NOT SENT TO AMERICA!?
#5: Silent Hill 2
I know none of you need me to tell you this, but Silent Hill 2 is NOT a happy game. It is far from it. James comes to the town because he got a letter from his dead wife, and is now trying to figure out what is going on, all the while running around the cursed town filled with decaying monsters and, of course, the dreaded Pyramid Head (Before he became a sellout). However, even though this entire game is depressing, it has nothing on the ending “In Water”. In the game, you find out that James was responsible for the death of his wife, Mary, and that Pyramid Head was created in order to punish James and everything that walks amongst Silent Hill. But, in the “In Water” end, it is revealed why James truly came to Silent Hill. And at this moment, James drives his car off of a cliff and into a river, ending the game. I can say that, throughout this already depressing game, this is probably the saddest this game has gotten. I mean, when you compare it to the Dog ending…. actually, let’s not compare these two endings together… that would be crazy.
#4: Dishonored
I know that this game was going pretty bad from the start. I mean, you have the empress killed in the safety of her own castle, and her place is taken by a dictator who wants to wipe out the poor, there is a deadly rat plague killing everyone around the city, and not even a ragtag group of rebels can be trusted. So naturally, we can make it worse. You can play through this game in two ways. Either as a pacifist and get the good ending, or as the worst human being ever and kill everybody in a five mile radius, and get one of the two bad endings… yep, this game has two bad endings. But the worst one is what happens when you fail to save Emily. Emily, the heir to the throne, and her captor, the traitor Havelock, is going to jump off the lighthouse to their deaths. You could use blink and save Emily… but for the worst ending, just walk right over, and Havelock will jump, with Emily, and they will both die. If this does happen, all of Dunwall will then be destroyed by the rat plague, leading to the death of everyone there, and Corvo, the psychotic bastard who started it, will leave by boat, probably going to do it again…. well, at least the Overseer had fun watching… that’s all that matters, right?
#3: NieR
If you remember my questionable video game moments list, you remember I talked about the canon ending to the prequel to this game, Drakengard, and described it as the most horrifying thing I have ever seen in my life. And here, I thought NieR’s ending would be just as terrifying. Fortunately, there was no giant babies, time travel, and killed atop Tokyo Tower. Unfortunately, this one is a real hard to handle bad ending. To get this ending, you need to play through the game not once, not twice, but three times. Once you do finally reach that moment, you will be granted with a choice at the end of the game. Kaine is dying in what I am guessing is the most painful death ever. You have the choice to either kill her out of mercy, or, you can have Nier sacrifice himself in order to save her, with everyone forgetting he existed, as his sacrifice will erase his entire existence. As creepy as Nier sacrificing himself is on it’s own, it’s made even worse when, if you do choose to sacrifice Nier, the game won’t just erase his existence, but it will erase your save file, and it will make you watch as it does it. Truly the worst thing a game could ever do to a gamer.
#2: The Witch’s House
Oh, are you ready for it to get depressing, because it’s about to get REAL depressing. The Witch’s House is a very simple RPG Maker kind of game, like Mad Father, Ib, the usual stuff. However, those ones at least have one decent ending. Sure, they are messed up, but nothing like The Witch’s House. In this game, Viola, a young girl, is stuck in the forest, and the only way for her to make it out is by exploring the Witch’s House…………….. Anyway, as she explores it further, she will soon find Ellen’s knife. If you choose to pick this up near the end, when the witch, who is a crippled body, is chasing you, get ready for a messed up ending. In the ending, it is revealed that Viola was really the witch, Ellen, all along. Viola intended to switch bodies with Ellen, since she felt bad for her, but Ellen decided to keep Viola’s body. While that would be bad enough on it’s own, it’s made worse by the fact that when Viola’s father shows up, she shoots the real Viola dead, and believes Ellen is her real daughter. Sure, the good ending may just be a lie, but I’d like to think it was the good ending… Because after an ending like THAT, I want to at least enjoy something good.
#1: Undertale
I tried, guys. I tried so hard, but Undertale just does everything perfectly well. It has some of the best battle systems, some of the best bosses, and it also makes you feel like the world’s biggest prick with it’s Genocide ending. In this RPG, you actually have a choice to either let the enemies you meet live, or you can kill them. If you spare them, you are on your way to the good ending, but you do not level up, making the game harder. If you kill them, you level up, but you get the worst ending possible. During the end of the Genocide route, your character is basically planning on killing everyone in the entire world. It gets so bad to where Flowey, the main antagonist and most evil character (Purposely) even admits that your actions are evil. You then meet Sans, who does everything in his power to stop you, even by keep on his turn so you can never leave. However, no matter what the outcome is, Sans is killed and then you move on to Asgore, who was told by Flowey how evil you really are. But, no matter what, you manage to kill Asgore, and then Flowey, who, before he is killed, is literally crying and begging for his life that you do not kill him. And in the end, you will meet Chara, who will destroy the world and will mock you how you caused the world. It really makes things worse, as the game straight up blames you for what has occurred in the world of Undertale. Everyone is dead, the world is destroyed, and you are face to face with this psychopath because of the choices you made. After which, you can choose to erase the world or not. Erasing the world and remaking it comes at the cost of you giving up your soul, and throughout the next playthrough, Chara can be seen in the game. And if you refuse…. well, I’ll let you see what happens. I just hope you aren’t too easily frightened. And with all that, this is easily the hardest-hitting bad ending in any game
Well, there you have it. Did you enjoy the list. Tell me what you thought of it. With that said, I will see you all next time.
#10: Harvest Moon DS
This one is quite a weird one. You all may think that there is nothing too bad about a Harvest Moon ending. The worst you get is kicked off the farm. While that is a bit sad, OH, trust me, compared to everything else on this list, that is nothing. But in all seriousness though, In Harvest Moon DS, there is an event known as the Harvest Festival. During the festival, there is a bowl of stew that you are able to add any ingredients to. And when I say any ingredients, I mean ANY! INGREDIENTS! So naturally, the best thing that a person could do is take a Level 100 Poisonous Mushroom to them with the festival. And apparently, the mayor isn’t too wise, as even though you need to carry the mushroom over your head, he thinks that putting a dirty piece of fungus into the stew is a smart idea. So, after you throw it into the pot, the town begins to eat the stew… and you die. Of course, you only see your character die, but seeing as how you did poison the stew, everyone in the entire town is basically poisoned and is now… well, dead. Obviously. Sure, this may be more of a game Over, but try telling that to the credits that play immediately after your character just died. And you all thought the sad dog on the porch was the worst ending in a Harvest Moon game.
#9: Nosferatu
I have never played this sort of game in my life. Just gonna throw that out there. Now, the story of this game is your typical kind of game… with vampires. The vampire, Nosferatu, has taken Kyle’s lover, Erin. So, Kyle now needs to make his way through Nosferatu’s castle in order to defeat Nosferatu with some of the most awkward character movement in a game. Kind of like a cross between the original Prince of Persia and Castlevania. Now, of course, there is the usual “Oh, I defeated the evil vampire and saved my girl” sort of ending. But, that’s not what we are here to talk about. This game, being hard enough as it is, is harder with the fact that if you die enough times, you have already gotten the bad ending. Basically, once you die that one last time, you might as well give up if you do not want the bad ending. What happens is that, yes, Kyle is able to defeat Nosferatu, but once he makes it to Erin, she is already a vampire, and has bitten Kyle, making him a vampire. What makes it worse is that you can see that you have already gotten this ending on the game over screen, where you see a picture of Kyle and Erin, with Erin’s teeth now sharp, like a vampire. It’s the little things I like in games, even if they scare the hell out of me
#8: Clock Tower
Ah, Clock Tower. A horror classic, despite that this game is slow, and I mean SSSSLLLLLOOOOOOOWWWWW! But it’s still a good horror game, following Jennifer and her friends as they try (Mostly fail) to survive inside the Barrows mansion as they are chased by a psychotic nine-year-old with giant scissors. Now, you could argue that all of the endings in this game a pretty depressing. I mean, out of three of Jennifer’s friends, only one make it out of the Barrows Mansion alive. And that ending isn’t even canon. But if I had to pick one, it would be Ending F. The F stands for Fuuuuuuuuudge this ending. What, you thought I’d say fu- Anyway, after running through the mansion, nearly getting killed by Scissorman, and having to deal with your friends dying, you think the best thing to do is head to the top of the mansion. So, you manage to survive this long, and once you make it to the elevator, Scissorman surprises you inside and you die…… What? Yep, not even doing the right thing can save you in this game. Then again, this is a Japanese horror game. Probably should have expected that.
#7: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice For All
With a game like Ace Attorney, where you are able to continue from where you save (Which is VERY frequent), you wouldn’t think that there would be a terribly bad ending. Well, Justice For All changes that, I’m afraid. Though it may be the least loved in the franchise, I still like it, especially the final case. Matt Engarde, the defendant, who Phoenix is trying to protect, is in fact the murderer of Juan, and Adrian is seen as the killer now, and Maya is held captive by the assassin Shelly De Killer and will kill her if Matt is found guilty, but if he is innocent, Maya will shun Phoenix forever. It’s quite intense, really. Now, most Ace Attorney games due seem to go bad when you present the wrong evidence enough times, but trust me, they NEVER go as far as what happens with this game. If you happen to present the wrong evidence at the last cross examination, you will not just get a guilty verdict. No, what will happen is that Matt will be found innocent, Adrian will be found guilty, Maya will forever shun Phoenix, and Phoenix will give up his profession as a defense attorney. And to think Justice For All was dull
#6: Live A Live
Yet another Japan only game (Goddamn it, Japan). Live A Live sets you in different time periods, basically killing everything with Dio in it’s name. And then you play as a Dio……. Let me explain. In the game, after you complete everyone else’s stories, you then play as Oersted, a brave knight. After hearing that the princess was kidnapped (Classic video game story), Oersted goes to save her, but after being mistaken for a demon when the king is killed, Oersted is forced to kill the royal guards to find his way out and save the princess, only for his friend, Straybow, to try and kill him, and realize the princess was trying to manipulate him so he could be mistaken for the Demon King. So, basically, Oersted goes into full on rage mode, becomes the demon king Odio and destroys the kingdom, and then brings all the characters from the other stories to fight him. If you play as the other six, you get the usual good guys win. But, if you play as Odio, you will kill all of the heroes, and then, lead to, not just the end of the world, but it will lead to the total destruction of time itself. And in the end, not even Odio is happy. And again, WHY WAS THIS NOT SENT TO AMERICA!?
#5: Silent Hill 2
I know none of you need me to tell you this, but Silent Hill 2 is NOT a happy game. It is far from it. James comes to the town because he got a letter from his dead wife, and is now trying to figure out what is going on, all the while running around the cursed town filled with decaying monsters and, of course, the dreaded Pyramid Head (Before he became a sellout). However, even though this entire game is depressing, it has nothing on the ending “In Water”. In the game, you find out that James was responsible for the death of his wife, Mary, and that Pyramid Head was created in order to punish James and everything that walks amongst Silent Hill. But, in the “In Water” end, it is revealed why James truly came to Silent Hill. And at this moment, James drives his car off of a cliff and into a river, ending the game. I can say that, throughout this already depressing game, this is probably the saddest this game has gotten. I mean, when you compare it to the Dog ending…. actually, let’s not compare these two endings together… that would be crazy.
#4: Dishonored
I know that this game was going pretty bad from the start. I mean, you have the empress killed in the safety of her own castle, and her place is taken by a dictator who wants to wipe out the poor, there is a deadly rat plague killing everyone around the city, and not even a ragtag group of rebels can be trusted. So naturally, we can make it worse. You can play through this game in two ways. Either as a pacifist and get the good ending, or as the worst human being ever and kill everybody in a five mile radius, and get one of the two bad endings… yep, this game has two bad endings. But the worst one is what happens when you fail to save Emily. Emily, the heir to the throne, and her captor, the traitor Havelock, is going to jump off the lighthouse to their deaths. You could use blink and save Emily… but for the worst ending, just walk right over, and Havelock will jump, with Emily, and they will both die. If this does happen, all of Dunwall will then be destroyed by the rat plague, leading to the death of everyone there, and Corvo, the psychotic bastard who started it, will leave by boat, probably going to do it again…. well, at least the Overseer had fun watching… that’s all that matters, right?
#3: NieR
If you remember my questionable video game moments list, you remember I talked about the canon ending to the prequel to this game, Drakengard, and described it as the most horrifying thing I have ever seen in my life. And here, I thought NieR’s ending would be just as terrifying. Fortunately, there was no giant babies, time travel, and killed atop Tokyo Tower. Unfortunately, this one is a real hard to handle bad ending. To get this ending, you need to play through the game not once, not twice, but three times. Once you do finally reach that moment, you will be granted with a choice at the end of the game. Kaine is dying in what I am guessing is the most painful death ever. You have the choice to either kill her out of mercy, or, you can have Nier sacrifice himself in order to save her, with everyone forgetting he existed, as his sacrifice will erase his entire existence. As creepy as Nier sacrificing himself is on it’s own, it’s made even worse when, if you do choose to sacrifice Nier, the game won’t just erase his existence, but it will erase your save file, and it will make you watch as it does it. Truly the worst thing a game could ever do to a gamer.
#2: The Witch’s House
Oh, are you ready for it to get depressing, because it’s about to get REAL depressing. The Witch’s House is a very simple RPG Maker kind of game, like Mad Father, Ib, the usual stuff. However, those ones at least have one decent ending. Sure, they are messed up, but nothing like The Witch’s House. In this game, Viola, a young girl, is stuck in the forest, and the only way for her to make it out is by exploring the Witch’s House…………….. Anyway, as she explores it further, she will soon find Ellen’s knife. If you choose to pick this up near the end, when the witch, who is a crippled body, is chasing you, get ready for a messed up ending. In the ending, it is revealed that Viola was really the witch, Ellen, all along. Viola intended to switch bodies with Ellen, since she felt bad for her, but Ellen decided to keep Viola’s body. While that would be bad enough on it’s own, it’s made worse by the fact that when Viola’s father shows up, she shoots the real Viola dead, and believes Ellen is her real daughter. Sure, the good ending may just be a lie, but I’d like to think it was the good ending… Because after an ending like THAT, I want to at least enjoy something good.
#1: Undertale
I tried, guys. I tried so hard, but Undertale just does everything perfectly well. It has some of the best battle systems, some of the best bosses, and it also makes you feel like the world’s biggest prick with it’s Genocide ending. In this RPG, you actually have a choice to either let the enemies you meet live, or you can kill them. If you spare them, you are on your way to the good ending, but you do not level up, making the game harder. If you kill them, you level up, but you get the worst ending possible. During the end of the Genocide route, your character is basically planning on killing everyone in the entire world. It gets so bad to where Flowey, the main antagonist and most evil character (Purposely) even admits that your actions are evil. You then meet Sans, who does everything in his power to stop you, even by keep on his turn so you can never leave. However, no matter what the outcome is, Sans is killed and then you move on to Asgore, who was told by Flowey how evil you really are. But, no matter what, you manage to kill Asgore, and then Flowey, who, before he is killed, is literally crying and begging for his life that you do not kill him. And in the end, you will meet Chara, who will destroy the world and will mock you how you caused the world. It really makes things worse, as the game straight up blames you for what has occurred in the world of Undertale. Everyone is dead, the world is destroyed, and you are face to face with this psychopath because of the choices you made. After which, you can choose to erase the world or not. Erasing the world and remaking it comes at the cost of you giving up your soul, and throughout the next playthrough, Chara can be seen in the game. And if you refuse…. well, I’ll let you see what happens. I just hope you aren’t too easily frightened. And with all that, this is easily the hardest-hitting bad ending in any game
Well, there you have it. Did you enjoy the list. Tell me what you thought of it. With that said, I will see you all next time.
Unpa Lunpa doom-pa-de-do
I’ve got a perfect order for you
Unpa Lunpa Doom-pa-de-dee
If you wish to live, you’ll listen to me
What can we do when our labor camps full
Unable to get children to produce our wool
Insurance Fraud is our get-rich-quick scheme
Scaring the people so I may haunt their dreams
The nuclear threats also make me glee
Unpa Lunpa Doom-pa-de-dong
If you follow my laws, you will live long
You will be in daddy’s graces too
Like I, Unpa Lunpa, doom-pa-dee-do
I’ve got a perfect order for you
Unpa Lunpa Doom-pa-de-dee
If you wish to live, you’ll listen to me
What can we do when our labor camps full
Unable to get children to produce our wool
Insurance Fraud is our get-rich-quick scheme
Scaring the people so I may haunt their dreams
The nuclear threats also make me glee
Unpa Lunpa Doom-pa-de-dong
If you follow my laws, you will live long
You will be in daddy’s graces too
Like I, Unpa Lunpa, doom-pa-dee-do
