8 MORE Video Games Where The True Ending Is The Bad Ending
2. Shadow Hearts Covenant
One of the most underrated RPG series of all time, Shadow Hearts is an overlooked PS2 saga of dark fantasy and cosmic horror.
The original Shadow Hearts has two possible endings. The good ending sees protagonist Yuri and love interest Alice overcoming the big bad and presumably living out the rest of their days together. In the dramatically darker bad ending, Alice sacrifices her soul and is killed.
That’s gotta suck for poor old Yuri but it at least gives him something to work towards which is why it’s this ending that is carried forwards into Shadow Hearts Covenant. In the sequel, Yuri is driven by his desire to revive his deceased lover. Whilst Covenant also has multiple endings, either way players go back in time in an attempt to undo their original mistake.
Ergo, it has to have happened in the first game at all for them to change the mistakes they made in the second.
It’s pretty clever and really rewards players who have invested time into both the first and second game, not to mention the predecessor Koudelka which, importantly, also features a bad ending which is canon.
So lesson learned: if you want to know the true story of Shadow Hearts, always go with the more depressing option.