8 Secret Video Game Endings You Needed A Guide For
Good luck finding these hidden endings without some help.
Unlike movies or TV shows, video games don't necessarily have a single, objective ending by the time the end credits roll, as players can often access one of several, even many endings depending on how their playthrough goes.
It's a great way for video games to stoke discussion and of course incentivise multiple playthroughs, but it's also fair to say that some endings just ask way, way too much of the player.
Specifically we're talking about those secret, hidden endings - the ones typically billed as the "best" or even "true" ending, which the developer has decided to gate behind, well, a whole bunch of busy-work bulls**t.
And so, even the most die-hard and committed of players wouldn't be able to reach these endings without a guide.
While some might turn their nose up at seeking help during regular gameplay, the requirements to unlock these hidden endings are so brain-breakingly specific, and yet barely signposted in the game at all, that some might be downright impossible without assistance.
Indeed, these endings had us all turning to the Internet or perhaps even a good ol' fashioned paper strategy guide...
8. Dog Ending - Silent Hill 2
In an attempt to top the original game's UFO ending, Silent Hill 2 introduced another joke ending, in which the player learns that the entire game's events were orchestrated by an adorable dog. What the hell, sure.
But the circumstances through which the dog ending can be accessed are so specific that it's difficult to imagine anyone stumbling across it organically.
Firstly, you need to unlock the game's three regular endings - "Leave," "In Water," and "Maria" - and then start a new game off the same save file.
Locate the doghouse near Rosewater Park and you can find a key inside, after which you need to enter the Nightmare Lakeview Hotel and view a video tape in room 213.
The key can then be used to enter the Observation Room on the third floor, where you'll trigger the aforementioned ending with the dog.
As hilariously deranged as the ending and subsequent end credits sequence is - the latter packed with kooky, bark-filled music and cursed animations from the game - you'll never see it without some assistance.