10 Saddest Video Game Endings Of All Time

10. Nier

The game sees its titular hero and his companions, Kainé and Emil, battle monsters known as Shades as he seeks to be reunited with his daughter, curing her of her mysterious illness. While Emil is sacrifices himself to aid Nier on his quest, the ending is ultimately cheerful as father and daughter reunite.

Play the game a second time, and Emil will even survive this sacrifice.

Even better, right?

Well, play the game a third time and the player will find Kainé dying in agony. The hero is presented with a choice to either kill Kainé, or sacrifice himself.

The catch? Sacrificing your hero truly means sacrificing the character you have grown attached to over three iterations of the game. All memory of them is wiped from the game characters, and to make this more real, Square Enix throw in a fourth wall break by erasing all save data from the console, and starting a new game prevents the player from naming the character the same name as used previously.