Signalis, like plenty of other games, has multiple endings that can be achieved through the player making different choices than their previous playthrough.
In some cases, the endings are classified as being either “good” or “bad,” either of which, though historically more the one labeled as good, can also be declared to be the “true” ending of a game.
For one of Signalis’ creators, at rosie-engine studio, Yuri Stern, hearing Signalis players put one of its endings in a “good, bad,” or “true” classification is disheartening for them.
“I was watching some streams of Signalis recently and saw that towards the end many people in the chat would tell the streamer that they got the “Good” or “Bad” ending.
Whenever I see this, I get a bit sad. Perhaps it was lost in translation, but we tried our best not to write a ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’ or ‘True’ ending.
I think those who see the endings of the game in these categories have a very different understanding of the story than I do.”
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Stern also went on to talk about how this approach also attributed to some factors of older horrors not being adopted in Signalis, such as giving the endings a rating, similar to the first Silent Hill.
“If there was a ‘true ending,’ we wouldn’t have made any other endings.” said Stern.
They continued, “I wish people would be more open to let others figure out for themselves how their ending made them feel. Instead of telling a streamer ‘you got hte best ending!,’ maybe you can ask, ‘did you think this was an interesting conclusion?’ and they can decide if they liked it or not.”
Stern is right to point out the limiting nature that is to see any game with multiple endings in this light that one of the endings is good, another bad, and potentially another the ‘true’ or ‘best’ ending.
Having different endings classified like may help encourage a player’s motivation to replay games and achieve the other endings, but as games and the narratives they are able to tell evolve, letting go of limitations like that is essential to improving the storytelling possible.
Source – [Twitter]