Best Games With Multiple Endings

Since its inception, the video game industry has developed quickly and substantially, with the quality of games progressing immensely in only a few decades. In the modern day, there's a plethora of genres and styles, and video games are finally seen as a legitimate form of art and entertainment. While it is difficult enough to develop a game with both a narrative and enjoyable gameplay, some creators even painstakingly program their games to have multiple storylines and endings.

Classic developers like Telltale Games heavily contributed to the popularity of branching narratives, and now many massively successful games allow the player's in-game choices to have an impact on the storyline. This style of game is popular for several reasons, namely because it lets gamers feel as if their gameplay truly has an effect on the world - which provides a level of immersion that's near impossible to achieve in any other medium. It also gives some video games serious replayability, which makes them a worthy investment. Some of the most profound and fantastic games have multiple endings, and most of them gamers won't want to miss.

8 Papers, Please - 21

Papers, Please is a border-control simulation game set in the fictional country of Arstotzka. Players will arrive at their job each day and use different criteria and tools to process individuals trying to enter the country. Papers, Please offers different characters that players can help or condemn, as well as bribes to overlook criminal activity.

There are twenty-one different endings to Papers, Please, some that will finish the game early and others that will allow players to make it to the end. Some of these endings are gained through good or bad gameplay, and others are dependent on the actions players take when they encounter certain characters. Seventeen of the endings are considered to be bad, while only three are considered to be good - and the twenty-first ending is achieved by instantly dying.

7 Catherine: Full Body - 13

Catherine: Full Body is a cult-hit puzzle, social-simulation game where gamers play as Vincent, a man plagued by nightmares as he navigates his infidelity and overall apathetic approach to life. It was re-released in 2019 with more content, an additional character, and extra endings.

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Catherine: Full Body has thirteen endings, in which Vincent can either end up with Katherine, Catherine, Rin, or on his own. Each woman has more than one ending, usually categorized as 'good', 'bad', or 'true' depending on choices made by the player throughout the game.

6 NieR: Automata - 26

NieR Automata is an action RPG that follows the events of the proxy war between the Androids and the Machines. The game encourages replays since certain aspects of the story will only become available after the first run, and therefore finishing one playthrough is not considered to be the end of the game.

There are generally thought to be five main endings, and the other twenty-one are alternatives based on certain choices made by the player. This includes two endings that are classified as bad endings. Players looking to get multiple endings for Nier: Automata will almost certainly need a guide due to the amount of possibilities available.

5 Chrono Trigger - 19

Chrono Trigger is one of the most celebrated cult-classic video games ever and has been the inspiration for dozens of pixel RPGs since. It follows a party of characters who travel throughout time to save the world from Lavos. Chrono Trigger is very concerned with the ripples of time, so it's no surprise that it has multiple endings.

There are technically nineteen endings to the game, including one rerelease exclusive. Every ending requires the player to face off against Lavos, meaning there are thirteen main endings and one bad ending in which players must watch the future they tried to prevent. One ending, known as Beyond Time, has five different variations, bringing the total to nineteen.

4 Detroit: Become Human - 40+

Detroit: Become Human is another interactive adventure set in the year 2038. Players will control Connor, a police android who hunts down rogue androids; Kara, a maid android who rescues a young girl from her abusive father, and Markus, a carer android who commits to freeing all androids from subjugation after his owner passes away.

Detroit: Become Human has so many choices available throughout the game that there appear to be upwards of eighty unique endings. However, a lot of these endings will end up essentially being the same, except for one or two small changes. This means there are really around forty different endings since choices by each character will greatly impact the storyline.

3 The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe - 43

The Stanley Parable is well known for being an unpredictable meta game that doesn't conform to standard conventions or rules. It follows Stanley, the player character, and the Narrator, who tells Stanley what to do. It's nearly impossible to truly explain the plot of the game without experiencing it firsthand.

Upon its original release, The Stanley Parable had nineteen unique endings. However, in its updated title The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe, twenty-four new endings were added. The game actively encourages replays, since some endings can only be achieved after a previous playthrough, and because the game can quite easily be cut short with an untimely death. It's worth a play for its ingenuity and individuality.

2 Until Dawn - 3+

Until Dawn is an interactive survival horror game where players will take control of eight different characters as they battle to survive a terrifying killer and increasingly supernatural events. Players will be able to make dozens of unique choices that will impact their relationships and options later in the game.

Because of the sheer amount of decisions available, there are technically well over one hundred scenarios in the game. In reality, though, players will technically always end up in the same ending scenario since the story is linear. In this final scene, there are three possible conclusions dependent upon what combination of characters live and die, what relationships are good and bad, as well as what information has and hasn't been uncovered. The ending monologues of each character are the most heavily impacted, with around thirty-one variables across all characters.

1 Heavy Rain - 7

Heavy Rain is an interactive action-adventure game in which players step into the role of four different characters to try and solve the mystery of the Origami Killer. Heavy Rain has been incredibly successful since its release and features multiple choices in action and dialogue that impact the game.

As is the case with many interactive dramas that follow a linear story, there are restrictions to the amount of endings available. Gameplay will be affected by players' decisions, but in total there are roughly seven different actual endings. The biggest variations come in the epilogues, in which players learn what's become of each character. Depending on whether Shaun Mars is or isn't saved, as well as what characters live and die, there are around seventeen epilogues available across all characters.

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