true ending

English

Noun

true ending (plural true endings)

  1. (video games) An ending in a video game that leaves no ambiguity, mystery or doubt.
    • 2006 February 26, Jonathan Leung, “Sonic the Hedgehog”, in VGMaps.com[1]:
      Another interesting bit (though again not too different from Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle) and Sonic Heroes) is that getting all the endings unlocks the "Last Story", and playing this final mission gets you to the final boss and the "true" ending.
    • 2013 June 17, Jester, “Anna: Extended Edition Review”, in GND-Tech[2]:
      The true ending proved to be quite difficult for most people to obtain. If you really get stuck on the puzzles and don’t rely on guides, you might take well over a dozen hours to finish the game.
    • 2019, Andra Ivănescu, Popular Music in the Nostalgia Video Game: The Way It Never Sounded, Springer International Publishing, →ISBN, page 32:
      In any case, the game makes it clear that there is a right choice to be made, described as the "True Pacifist Route", in which no creature is killed, which leads the player to what is commonly referred to as the "true ending" of Undertale.
    • 2024 August 11, Michael John-Day, “10 Terrifying True Endings In Video Games”, in WhatCulture[3]:
      Seeing your actions impacting the game's narrative, leading to various endings ranging from good to bad to terrible, is a commonly used trope in the gaming sphere. But it does often leave titles missing out on nice official conclusions. However, that's where "true endings" step in, to allow developers to have their cake and eat it too.

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