Summary
Japanese gaming conglomerateSquare Enixhas provided gamers with epic experiences across multiple console generations over the years. Throughout the 90s, Square Enix stood tall as pioneers of the gaming medium, turning out a variety of instant-classic JRPGs.
Needless to say, not all of their games — from yesteryear’s classics right up until today — have provided players with upbeat narrative experiences. In fact, some Square Enix efforts have done just the opposite, shocking gamers with their disquietingly glum conclusions. Of the manydarker endingsto Square Enix games out there, there are a select few that are the bleakest of the bunch.
This goes without saying, butspoiler warning.
If a game was published by Square Enix, it will be included.
Players Must Make A Tough Decision to Close Out Life Is Strange
Life is Strange
DON’TNOD Entertainment, Feral Interactive, and Square Enix bring you a story rich game about a young woman’s life where player chocies matter and determine how the story goes. An indie hit, the game also features a defining soundtrack that sets the atmosphere for the story.Life is Strange is an award-winning and critically acclaimed episodic adventure game that allows the player to rewind time and affect the past, present and future. Critics describe it as Twin Peaks meets Heavy Rain or Gone Home meets The Walking Dead but with time travel.Follow the story of Max Caulfield, a photography senior who discovers she can rewind time while saving her best friend Chloe Price.The pair soon find themselves investigating the mysterious disappearance of fellow student Rachel Amber, uncovering a dark side to life in Arcadia Bay. Meanwhile, Max must quickly learn that changing the past can sometimes lead to a devastating future.
This well-received episodic video gamecloses out with a difficult choice for players to make. Regardless of which choice players run with, the ending leads to death and loss.
Protagonist Max initially reverses timein order to save her longtime pal Chloe. Unfortunately, these temporal shenanigans connect to a devastating storm that rocks Arcadia Bay. Ultimately, Max must choose between saving her friend, and preventing the storm. Should Max commit to saving Arcadia Bay, Chloe dies, and vice versa. Needless to say, players are hit with a gut-punch of an ending either way, with no truly bright or hopeful conclusion on offer regardless of how the game is played.
Players Get More Than One Disturbing Ending With This One
Drakengard
DEATH FROM ABOVERain destruction on your foes from the back of a flying, fire-breathing dragon. Dogfight airborne enemies within massive environments or dive lower to crush and burn armies on the ground.CHAOS BELOWLay waste to armies with the might of your steel and magic. Wield an arsenal of deadly weapons and control a band of allies with formidable skills.
From start to finish,Drakengardstands tall as one of the darkest, most twisted games in Square Enix’s long history. The gametakes players to a bleak fantasy worldconstantly under threat from the mysterious Watchers.
Of the five endings on offer, two stand out for being especially grim. If players choose to follow through with the resurrection of Caim’s sister Furiae, the process will unfortunately turn her into a monster, the clones of which will begin on a destructive path toward eviscerating humanity. The third ending, meanwhile, sees Caim prevent his sister’s resurrection, and in doing so, incur the wrath of the dragons. After brutally fighting a secondary protagonist, and the dragon Angelus, the player character resigns himself to the fate of having to take on the now world-destroying dragons. Overall, considering the game’s dark storytelling and subject matter, it’s hardly surprising the climax comes with some incredibly bleak notes.
The Reapers’ Game takes center stage as a macabre, compelling story in this eerie action game. The Game requires the dead to offer up their most prized possession in a bid to compete, and win, the reward of resurrection.
Main character Neku’s own death winds up being an essential part of the plot. For much of the game, he struggles with memory loss when it comes to the circumstances of his demise. In a grim twist, it turns out that game partner Joshua shot him in order to set him up as his representative within the Reapers’ Game. Joshua’s cruel antics don’t stop there, however, as he attempts to force Neku to kill him, before shooting Neku again when he struggles to commit to such a grim decision. While post-credits scenes end the story on a slightly lighter note overall, the climax calls into question much of the game’s plot and accomplishments, focusing on betrayal and death in a way thatcasts a dark, thematic shadow overThe World Ends With Youas a whole.
This well-regardedDrakenguardspin-off takes playersinto a complex world of monsters, Replicants, and mystery. Regardless of the version players choose between the originalGestaltand theReplicantremake, the game has a surprising, somber finale.
For much of the narrative, the player character is hot on the heels of the mysterious Shadowlord. In a grim twist that forces the player to re-evaluate much of the plot that has come before, it turns out the player character is in fact a Replicant of the Shadowlord. Regardless, the player character pushes forward, and takes the Shadowlord down. From there, many of the additional potential endings offer their own dark twists, including one in which players can sacrifice their character for Kainé, leading to the complete erasure of the player character from the game. Another ending scene also reveals the antagonistic Shades’ perspective, as players see how they were trying to defend their friends and loved ones from the player character. Overall, regardless of where players wind up,Nierdelivers time and time againon dark, emotional endings.
2024’s update of the beloved 1997 classic,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthends on an unexpectedly sad, bleak note. While the original ends on a more hopeful scene suggesting the world is eventually healed, the remake ends on both a darker moment, and what borders on a cliffhanger.
Aerith’s death serves as a harsh realitytowards the end of the game, as she dies attempting to stop Sephiroth. Her death comes shortly after she reveals to Cloud her true feelings for him. Following her demise, Aerith is only visible to Cloud. As if her sad death wasn’t enough, the game doesn’t even have the hopeful shot of Earth in the future, instead ending with the now rather dejected team continuing the chase for Sephiroth, with the horrifyingly destructive Meteor still on its way.
