10 Terrifying True Endings In Video Games

The Fatal Frame series is criminally underrated, and many would argue that Crimson Butterfly, the second installment, is the pièce de résistance of the franchise. You can see this in the game's poignant and touching story, which follows a pair of twins who explore an abandoned town only to be attacked by dangerous spirits.

This abandoned village was damned after a failed sacrifice ritual led to a Hellish Abyss shrouding darkness over it. During the game, Mio and Mayu are targeted as new sacrifices for the ritual with the hopes of saving the village, and there are multiple ways it can go down in the end.

In the "Crimson Butterfly" ending, Mayu accepts her fate and encourages Mio to complete the ritual. She does so, strangling her older sister and watching as her body is flung into the abyss. Mayu then becomes a Crimson Butterfly, who a distraught Mio chases with tears and apologies to. Later, Mio is found sitting in the revived village. As the screen goes black, Mayu whispers, "Didn't we promise each other? Together forever."

While the village is saved, it's still devastating to see the twins torn apart, and the terror of Mio living with the guilt is horrible. The touching yet devastating ending was officially canonized in the follow-up game, Fatal Frame III: The Tormented.