The player's choice plays an important part in roleplaying video games. The player can influence the progress of the story, their relationships with NPCs, and even the ending of the game. While not every RPG game offers multiple endings, they can still tell a deep and engaging story.
One of the more unique and interesting ways that a game's story can end is when the villain wins. This might be a consequence of the player's choice, or it's just the way the story is written. Either way, it's a rare and refreshing experience when the hero doesn't simply win and live happily ever after.
Be aware that the following entries have major spoilers for the plot of the games picked for this list.
10 Diablo Series
Blizzard has proven time and time again that they are not a fan of happily-ever-after endings. Many campaigns in Warcraft and Starcraft franchises have ended with bad guys winning, or at least not completely defeated. It's no surprise Diablo villains had some considerable victories over the years.
In the original Diablo, the villain convinces the hero to sacrifice themselves in order to save the world, a seemingly heroic ending. But in Diablo II we found out that this sacrifice was in vain. At the end of Diablo II, the villain succeeds in their plan, and even in the expansion, the hero has to destroy a corrupted Cosmic Keystone, bringing the demonic invasion upon the world and paving the way for the plot of Diablo III.
9 Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy is a franchise with great gameplay and memorable storylines. Many villains have succeeded in their evil plans throughout the different titles in the series. But one of the most devastating villain victories has to be Kefka from Final Fantasy VI.
While the heroes eventually managed to win by the end of the game, Kefka left a lasting mark by killing the Emperor, obtaining god-like powers, destroying most of the world, and ruling over the remains of it for a year.
8 Persona 2: Innocent Sin
The Persona franchise has some powerful and godlike villains. Nyarlathotep, the final boss of Persona 2: Innocent Sin is one of the evilest and most powerful villains of the series. And to top that off, he actually wins.
Nyarlathotep manages to manipulate Maya Okamura to strike Maya Amano with the Spear of Destiny, killing her quickly. With the prophecy fulfilled, the rotation of the earth will stop, destroying everything on the surface of the planet. The whole plot of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is for heroes to create a new timeline and stop this villain.
7 Xenosaga
Classic JRPGs are famous for rich and interesting stories, and many of them have more complicated endings than just the heroes defeating the big bad evil. Xenosaga series has one of the more interesting stories in the genre.
The villain, Wilhelm, is a unique character that technically succeeds in his plan and wins, evolving a collective subconscious for mankind. While the villain wins in this game, it can actually be considered a good ending. Wilhelm is a morally grey character and is actually considered a protector of humanity, and his victory doesn't bring destruction like most bad endings.
6 Odin Sphere
Multiple endings in RPG video games are getting more common as the genre evolves, and this classic Playstation 2 ARPG, Odin Sphere, offered a few endings based on how the player finished the last chapter — one of them being a bad ending where the world is destroyed.
In this ending, we get to see a cutscene where the hero, Myris, stands on the rapidly sinking tip of Horn Mountain, the last piece of land in Erion. She watches as the world crumbles and is destroyed, and prays that someone would survive this Armageddon while uttering her last words: "This is a horrible ending..."
5 Fallout
Fallout is one of the most popular RPG franchises, and over the years, it has had its share of good and bad endings across multiple titles. But one where the villain truly wins is the bad ending from Fallout 1.
On multiple occasions during the game, the hero has the option to voluntarily surrender to the Mater's army and reveal the location of Vault 13. This leads to a cutscene where the character is submerged in FEV and the Vault is being overrun by super mutants. It is implied that this ending would eventually lead to the obliteration of human civilization on the west coast.
4 Divinity II: Ego Draconis
The popular RPG franchise created by the Larian Studios, the Divinity Series, is actually famous for not having good endings. Most victories in the story come with great losses, and it takes a lot to defeat the villains, sometimes over the course of a few games.
The one game in the series with the most disastrous defeat for the heroes is the third title in the franchise, Divinity II: Ego Draconis. In the end, the player finds out that they have been manipulated by the villain's partner all along, and they end up releasing him, while they themselves will be sealed in a crystal to helplessly watch the destruction the villain will bring.
3 Star Trek Online
MMORPGs usually don't have clear endings as the story is constantly evolving and progressing. But, they do complete shorter storylines and quests, and sometimes these quests can have undesired endings for the heroes.
In one of these quests in Star Trek Online, the player captain and the officers are manipulated by an Undine infiltrator to commit war crimes, and the infiltrator gets away without any consequences.
2 Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant
This classic RPG series, originally released in the 80s and 90s, tells epic stories of heroes going against multiple powerful villains. One of these villains, the Dark Savant, puts the heroes in an unwinnable situation by the end of Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant.
The Dark Savant takes the party of heroes hostage for the exchange of a cosmic keystone. If the heroes refuse to give up the stone, they will be killed, and if they do give him the stone, he will become extremely powerful. The ending is a lose-lose situation for the heroes and the villain always achieves his goals and becomes more powerful.
1 Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut
Mass Effect 3's original ending was unsatisfying for most players, as we didn't really get closure to Shepard's story. But the release of Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut answered this request by adding multiple cinematics and endings based on the player's choices during the trilogy.
One of these endings, and probably the worst outcome, is when the player refuses the Catalyst's choices. In this case, the Reapers destroy the entire galactic fleet and continue to harvest the galaxy for their gains.