The secret ending, you know, that you get after you collect all the letters? It's moronic. The game would have been a billion times better without it.

It's completely nonsensical. So, you turn people into super killing machines with phone threats? I assumed it was some kind of high-tech sci-fi subliminal programming or something. And how the hell is killing Russian mobsters supposed to damage the "Russo-American coalition" (whatever the hell that's supposed to be)?

Hey, listen Denaton . . . if you're going to do super-secret endings, put more thought into it! The gameplay is still great, music is great, general atmosphere is great, but this part is just such a letdown. Why don't you patch this into something more sensible?

They're not super killing machines, silly man. Note that half the bonus masks you collected you picked up off dead mask agents. They *often die*. They're expendable suicide-troops.

Whether or not there's actually a russo-american coalition is left unanswered - the phone-guys are depicted as nationistic nutcases. Clever, but not sane.

I understand what you mean, but at the end of the day, I interpreted it as a game. Doesn't have to make sense, as long as it is entertaining.

I mean really, how likely is it for one man to go around killing people like a homicidal maniac without getting caught?

And how much more likely was it for another similarly homicidal maniac to guess a password and figure out the secret agendas behind the whole conspiracy?

I agree, but they had to put something to have a little replay value.

Ah well, maybe you're right. I mean, I love the game . . . I would buy a sequel immediately, were it offered me. Collecting the letters wasn't exactly painful, since I planned to play through the game anyway and collect more weapons and masks (and refine my killing skills while I was at it).

Since this is a Swedish game, do you suppose something was lost in translation? Most of the English is pretty good, but that last conversation is kind of janky-sounding, language-wise. And if what was said is exactly what was meant, I still stick to my guns that even fantasy must be internally consistent.

I wholeheartedly agree. I think the ambiguity of the standard ending (and the fourth wall nature of it) was very preferable to the secret ending.

Doesn't ruin the game, though. I still had a wonderful time, I still think the standard ending is brilliant (personally, I just deem that one canon) and the game still stands as one of the greatest I have played this year.

I think this is actually the point of the ending: the standard one leaves you with questions, but that's the whole meta theme of the game: questioning your actions, encouraging you to think outside the box. The secret one on the other hand is accessed by following the arbitrary, gamey mechanic of collecting abstract pixels, which doesn't really make sense. It provides an easy answer, but a hokey and ultimately unsatisfying one.

OP, this is a homage to the 80s. Do you remeber how stupid the endings to many of the movies were? It makes just as much sense....also see: Then again thinking about some of this could have been more detailed threats that they didn't get into.

^ Just the idea of having to have a nonsensical corporate/government conspiracy in everything that is happening.

I personally liked the normal ending more after seeing the secret one, for the somewhat high-brow take on social commentary and the added irony of it all.

Secret ending is the devs trolling the player. I liked it. Reminded me of Metal Gear and No More Heroes, which pull similar things.

I like that about it - there's something about the explanation that makes you ask even more questions. Like, is that even believable, or is it a further commentary on how we justify the atrocities we regularly commit in games every time we play them?

The cold, black ending of Showdown is a sober response to the violence. You've done awful things for no reason other than that you were told to. Did you do these things because your girlfriend was murdered, and in a crazed state of mind, tried to get revenge?

Are the phone calls real?

OF course there is a "russo-american coalition" it play in 1989 at the time where the berlin wall is about to fall and the cold war will end. This could already be seen as sort of a "russo-american coalition".

The game also never really tells you who these Russians are. They are into shady business but they actually could be people who are officially kind of respected guys in mid to high positions.

There is also the thing that these two guys are also just low level members of 50 blessings. Higher up than the masked killers but not really high ranked.

Assuming any of that stuff is real as well. It's a very open-ended story.