8 Video Game Endings That Cost You EVERYTHING

Nier takes the concept of sacrificing everything for an ending and elevates it to mind-bendingly meta levels, as in order to achieve the game's fourth ending, Ending D, you'll need to straight-up lose your save data.

This ending sees the player sacrifice themselves to save Kainé, resulting in their very existence being forgotten by every other character. This is literalised by forcing the player to delete their own game save, leaving the game as though it's never been played. 

Oh, and on a new playthrough you're unable to use the same name you entered for this one.

To hammer home the gravity of the situation, the game even asks if you're really, really sure about doing it. 

It makes for a uniquely affecting and impactful ending, though the recent Nier Replicant remaster added an extra fifth ending where the erased save file could actually be restored.

All the same, for those who played the original version of the game, it made for quite the agonising dilemma. Yoko Taro repeated the trick in sequel Nier: Automata, though it didn't hit quite as hard.