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While there are many games that feature multiple endings, urging you to go complete multiple playthroughs, there are some games that require you to play them more than once to actually get the “real” ending. Here are some of the most interesting and worthwhile examples of such games.
8 NieR: Automata
As one of the most popular examples of this type of game in recent history, we have NieR: Automata. There are many things that make this game interesting, from the odd combination of bullet hell and hack-n’-slash to the hauntingly beautiful music and deep dive into humanity’s experience of an apocalyptic future. But one of the things that makes the game stand out is the fact you can’t get the full breadth of the narrative unless you play through it multiple times.
There are multiple endings (more than 20, in fact), but most of them are joke endings. To actually reach the final conclusion of the story, you have to play NieR: Automata at least three times. While each run has some similarities throughout, some things will change from your previous playthrough. You’ll dive into the perspectives of different characters, and some events will play out completely differently.
Some may think it’s a bit of a hassle to have to go through the same content to some extent, but I think it’s pretty exciting: going through the same motions, not knowing when exactly the story is going to have a big twist compared to before, is pretty cool. All in all, NieR: Automata is a unique game that is admittedly not for everyone, but there’s a good reason it took the world by storm in its debut. It truly is one of those games that are an incredible first-time experience.
NieR: Automata
- Released
- March 7, 2017
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Platinum Games
- Publisher(s)
- Square Enix
7 Hades
Hades is a critically acclaimed roguelike game that has you play as the son of the titular character as he attempts to escape the underworld. In this action hack-and-slash, you will do the usual roguelike things: fight through randomized dungeons and enemies, die a lot, and use your acquired treasure and experience to improve your character and increase your odds of success in the next run.
By its very nature, every roguelike intends for you to play it more than once. That’s kind of the point when speaking to gameplay. But Hades does have an actual story going on, one that evolves over time as you complete more runs. You will not get the end credits for this game just because you beat it once. You won’t even get it if you beat it twice. It’ll take more than a dozen runs to get the full experience of Hades and wrap up all of its subplots.
That may sound like a lot of time to spend on one game, but Hades has often been praised as one of the greatest games of all time, with overwhelmingly high review scores and ratings. It’s definitely worth a look if you love roguelike experiences.
Hades
- Released
- December 6, 2018
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Supergiant Games
- Publisher(s)
- Supergiant Games
6 Fuga: Melodies of Steel
Alright, so this is a bit of a misnomer, in some ways. Technically speaking, Fuga: Melodies of Steel is a game that has multiple endings, as well as a true ending. But unlike most of the other games on this list, you can technically get the “true ending” on your very first playthrough. However, I’m including this game anyway, because getting the true ending on your first playthrough is extraordinarily difficult, and the devs clearly intended for players to only get this ending on subsequent playthroughs.
At any rate, Fuga: Melodies of Steel is a game with lots of cute anthropomorphic characters. Unfortunately, they all lead horrible lives as a band of orphans living in giant tank they used like a mobile fortress straight out of Howl’s Moving Castle in a desperate bid to protect themselves against soldiers from a hostile nation. In this turn-based tactical RPG, players will have to manage and improve their tank-home as they take gambles that risk the lives of other characters in the group every step of the way.
Your decisions have real weight here and can actually require you to sacrifice characters as you progress. If you love games with that type of severe gravitas, the Fuga: Melodies of Steel series can give you that experience.
Fuga: Melodies of Steel
- Released
- July 29, 2021
- ESRB
- pegi 16
- Developer(s)
- CyberConnect2
- Publisher(s)
- CyberConnect2
5 OneShot
OneShot is a small indie game, but don’t let that fool you. It has overwhelmingly positive reviews out of the 50,000+ it has on Steam. In this puzzle adventure game with retro graphics, your goal is to guide a child through a magical, mysterious world in order to help them restore their long-dead sun. The charming pixel art is accompanied by well-written characters, compelling conversations, and amazing music.
The real twist? OneShot knows you are playing it, and interacts with you, regularly breaking the fourth wall. Players already love the emotional depth and hard-hitting nature of the game’s supposedly singular ending, but if you can unlock a special secret after your first playthrough, you’ll find that there is a whole lot more game hiding behind that first story, and the game, and your character, will know that you are playing a second time.
For just $10, I cannot recommend this masterpiece of a title enough.
OneShot
- Released
- December 8, 2016
- ESRB
- e
- Publisher(s)
- Degica
4 AI: The Somnium Files
ai-the-somnium-files-5.jpg
This is not quite a visual novel, but AI: The Somnium Files, has some similarities to one. This is mostly a story-driven game where you try to solve the convoluted murder of someone you once knew with the help of a special artificial intelligence that lives in your eyeball and dream-diving, a la Psychonauts. It’s chock-full of charming characters, dialogue, interesting locations to visit, and wit.
Moreover, it has multiple amazing twists throughout the plot, which will require you to play it multiple times. There are multiple endings, some of which are standalone, but to get to the true solution to the gory acts of murder that drive this game’s plot, you’ll have to go through a series of connected endings that get increasingly more insane the longer you keep going, until it all ties together at the very end. Honestly, it’s a game that would make a great TV show.
This mix of point-and-click puzzle adventure and story is not for everyone, but if you love games that are all about the plot and your own detective skills, AI: The Somnium Files is on sale for just $4 right now. As someone who played it to completion myself, I promise you that price is an absolute steal.
AI: The Somnium Files
- Released
- July 25, 2019
- ESRB
- t
- Developer(s)
- Spike Chunsoft
- Publisher(s)
- Spike Chunsoft, Limited Run Games
3 Bravely Default
Originally a 2012 game, Bravely Default got a remaster, Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster, as a release title for the Nintendo Switch 2. It’s a Square Enix RPG, so you probably know what to expect if you’ve ever touched an older Final Fantasy game. The writer, Naotaka Hayashi, also worked on the anime Steins;Gate, which might tip you off to how wacky this adventure about four heroes trying to reclaim crystals and fight darkness can get.
The game is actually very similar to an older Final Fantasy title, with a party of heroes, town exploration, overworld enemies, NPCs and sidequests, etc. But this is a game with “loops.” Without spoiling the story, you will find yourself looping into an alternate version of the world after every playthrough. In each alternate world, things change a little at a time. Dialogue, the boss fights, the side quests; you’ll end up going through more than half a dozen parallel worlds with these gradual changes.
Admittedly, some players found these loops tedious, but you have the freedom to rush to the end goal and not do everything in each loop if you really want to. Bravely Default and its remaster are definitely worth looking into if you love classic RPGs with great battle systems and excellent character writing.
Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster
Systems
- Released
- June 5, 2025
- ESRB
- Teen // Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
- Publisher(s)
- Square Enix
- Number of Players
- Single-player
2 Undertale
Undertale may be an older game, but it’s a cult classic for a reason. Even those who have never played it have usually heard of it and its pretty complex narrative and game progression systems. There are three different endings, but with multiple variations of each one, leading to 93 different permutations total. The way you interact with pretty much every single character in this role-playing game about a child who has fallen into a monster-filled underground affects what happens and how.
It may be ten years old, but Undertale stands the test of time with critically acclaimed combat mechanics, music, themes, originality, and dialogue. As for the impact of multiple playthroughs, it depends on what exactly you do in your first run. Dialogue throughout the game may change depending on what actions you took before, and there is one secret ending you can achieve that will permanently affect all of your future runs even if you reset the game.
The 8-bit art style and unique mechanics may not be for everyone, but a game doesn’t get overwhelmingly positive reviews across more than 250,000 reviews on Steam without being really good, and it only costs a few bucks to nab this beloved cult classic.
Undertale
- Released
- September 15, 2015
- ESRB
- E10+ for Everyone 10+: Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Use of Tobacco
- Developer(s)
- Toby Fox
- Publisher(s)
- Toby Fox, 8-4
1 Starfield
Starfield was a hotly anticipated game that ended up being pretty divisive. Some people loved it. Some felt it fell far short of the hype, even feeling that it was bad on release. But this game is worth a second chance now. Regardless, this action-RPG from Bethesda has some incentive for you to make multiple playthroughs of it. Your first playthrough is pretty straightforward stuff; meet a lot of characters, fight a lot of bad guys, explore space, complete a main quest, nothing you haven’t done before in any other RPG.
It’s when you complete the main story for the first time that things get interesting. You can either choose to stay in your current universe or enter an alternate reality, basically restarting the game from the beginning, but with your character already knowing everything that happened the first time. This means you’ll have special dialogue options as well as the ability to sway the entire narrative of the main quest with your knowledge of the future, creating a completely different outcome in your second run.
On top of that, enemy encounters, character personalities, and the details of quests change throughout your alternate reality jumps as well. Needless to say, if you want to actually experience the full breadth of Starfield’s narrative, you have to play the game at least twice.
Starfield
- Released
- September 6, 2023
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda
These are some of the best games out there if you love the experience of multiple playthroughs, where each one is different from the first because of some actions that you took before. If you’re more interesting in games that just have a ton of multiple endings, you may want to consider some visual novels; don’t worry, there are plenty that are perfect even for people that don’t like traditional visual novels.
