With the recent Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) raising more than $3 million for Doctors Without Borders (as reported by Game Rant), it’s clear that speedrunning has become an integral part of the gaming community. A speedrun is a playthrough of a game where the player, also known as a speedrunner, tries to complete the game as quickly as possible, often requiring expert skills, planned routes, and sometimes even exploits such as glitches.
While these players often have yet to experience most of the game, there are some games that allow players to reach an end at the beginning. In titles like Devil May Cry 5, these early endings can be achieved without any exploits.
Refuse (2022)
Made for the Game Boy Showdown game jam on Itch.io earlier this year, Reject is a mysterious psychological horror inspired by the Polybius urban legend. After a teacher is mysteriously murdered, the main character, an elderly police detective named Gail, is assigned to the case. While uncovering CIA conspiracies, she also struggles with her own cognitive decline, possibly caused by her age.
However, at the start of the game, the police chief tells Gail that she can just retire. If the player decides to dismiss the case, Gail retires and spends the rest of the day happily celebrating her granddaughter’s birthday at a bowling alley.
We Happy Few (2018)
Released in 2018, We Happy Few is a survival horror action adventure game set in a retro-futuristic version of the 1960s in the small British town of Wellington Wells. To forget about an event initially known only as the “Very Bad Thing,” the citizens began taking a hallucinogenic drug called “Joy.”
Throughout the game, the player follows three protagonists as they try to escape from the city while dealing with their personal struggles. But the player can just skip all that by letting the first protagonist, Arthur Hastings, choose to take more “Joy” instead of facing his repressed past. After getting back into the euphoric state and censoring the article about his past, the credits roll.
Harvest Moon DS (2005)
Following the success of the original 1996 SNES farming sim harvest moon, the Story of seasons franchise still has many episodes including the latest entry Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, one of the best farming games on the Nintendo Switch. One of these episodes is the game from 2005 Harvest Moon DS, in which the player restores a dilapidated farm in Forget-Me-Not Valley while also trying to save the Harvest Goddess.
When Mayor Thomas first visits the player, he insults the farm and the protagonist starts attacking him, causing the player’s in-game dog to attack Thomas as well. If the player chooses not to save the mayor from the dog, Thomas yells as the screen fades to white and the credits roll.
Clock Tower (1995)
The original 1995 SNES game Bell tower, with which the . began Bell tower series, is a point-and-click adventure game in which the player controls a young girl named Jennifer, one of the many orphans adopted by the Barrows family. When the other girls are murdered by a man with giant scissors known as Scissorman, Jennifer must try to find other possible survivors and escape the mansion alive.
Of the game’s nine endings, “Ending H” allows Jennifer to abandon the other girls and escape by car. However, after the credits, it is revealed that Scissorman was hiding in the back seat and he kills her.
Kidney: Vending Machines (2017)
Created as a sequel to Kidney, which was a spin-off of the dragon garden series, Kidney: vending machines is a 2017 science fiction action RPG that follows the androids 2B, 9S and A2 as they navigate a post-apocalyptic war in which the man-made androids fight against alien-made machines. To see the full story, the player has to beat the game multiple times and there are a total of 26 different endings.
One of these endings, called “Ending T: fa[T]al error,” can be obtained at the beginning of the game. After the tutorial, the player can choose to remove the OS chip from 2B, which kills her. This also works on the other following protagonists.
The Witness (2016)
Developed by Jonathan Blow, who also created the historical time travel indie game braid, The witness is a puzzle adventure game from 2016 in which the player has to explore a large island. Equivalent to myst, the player progresses through the world by solving puzzles, which mainly consist of interacting with various grid-like panels that each have their own unique rules.
Instead of solving hundreds of these puzzles, the player can unlock a secret area in the garden, which is the first location the player visits after the introduction tunnel. By clicking on the literal sun and connecting it to the glowing posts around the door, the player can enter a large secret area filled with additional voice recordings and another grid puzzle. The game ends with Blow’s self-recorded FMV showing his own troubling experience in his office.
Against: Hard Corps (1994)
Set up five years later Contra III: The Alien Wars, Against: Hard Corps is a 1994 run-and-gun game for the Sega Genesis that follows the titular Hard Corps as they attempt to stop a terrorist group led by Colonel Bahamut. In addition to allowing the player to choose between four player characters, the game also featured branching story paths and different endings.
During the Junkyard phase before the first door is broken, the player can instead climb the wall and meet the “mysterious character” who will invite the player to fight in the battle arena. If the player accepts and defeats the three bosses of the arena, they get a secret ending where the player character is transported to the age of the dinosaurs and marries a monkey.
Devil May Cry 5 (2019)
Set up five years later Devil May Cry 4, Devil May Cry 5 is a 2019 hack-and-slash action-adventure game that follows returning protagonists Dante and Nero along with a new protagonist named V as they use their demonic powers to stop the Demon King Urizen. As he tries to save the human world, the truth behind V and his connection to Urizen is slowly revealed.
After the prologue mission, which is about 20 minutes into the game, Nero already has to fight against the main antagonist Urizen. Although the player is supposed to lose this fight, it is possible to win this boss fight, especially if it is a New Game+ run. Unfortunately, all the player gets for managing this challenging win is some closing text and the credits.
Tales of Fate (1997)
Created as the second main title in the stories series and the first to be released internationally, Tales of fate is a 1997 PS1 action JRPG that follows a young naive adventurer named Stahn Aileron who becomes entangled in a battle for an ancient artifact after accidentally finding a sensitive sword named Dymlos. Shortly after meeting two other party members, Rutee and Mary, the trio must face a tough battle against future party member Leon Magnus.
Since the player is supposed to lose this battle, it is almost impossible to beat Leon even if the party is too high. But if the player manages to defeat him, Stahn and Rutee make some jokes and then a text appears revealing that the trio became a famous group of lens hunters and traveled the world together.
Far Cry 4 (2014)
One of the most iconic early video game endings is in the 2014 open-world FPS title Far cry 4. When the protagonist, Ajay Ghale, arrives in the fictional Himalayan country of Kyrat to scatter his mother’s ashes, he accidentally becomes involved in a civil war between Pagan Min’s royal army and a rebel group known as the Golden Path.
But all this conflict can be completely avoided if the player just waits for Pagan Min to return after leaving the main protagonist at the dinner table at the start of the game. When he returns, he helps Ajay achieve his goal and then the two leave to shoot together. This beloved Easter egg would later inspire the early endings in Far cry 5 and 6.
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