15 Games Where the Straight Romance Is the Secret “Bad” Ending

Sometimes choosing the “ride off into the sunset” option actually sets you up for the bleakest outcome. These games hide stings in their love stories, where pursuing a straight romance—or making the “romantic” call at a pivotal moment—secretly pushes you into a worse ending, a harsher consequence, or a route the game itself treats as the wrong turn.

Far Cry 3

Ubisoft Montreal’s open-world shooter sets up a final choice between loyalty to friends or surrendering to the cult of Citra; if you accept Citra’s advances, the afterglow is a literal backstab, ending with the protagonist’s death on the altar. Published by Ubisoft, the “Citra” option rolls credits on a ritualized execution, framing the romance as the trap. The alternative choice spares you and your friends and continues the island’s story, but the “romance” locks in the bad finale.

Dark Souls III

FromSoftware’s grim RPG (published by Bandai Namco) hides a marriage “ceremony” with Anri of Astora that’s part of the Usurpation of Fire route; performing it requires stabbing your “spouse” with the Sword of Avowal in a tomb. Completing this ritual advances the Lord of Hollows ending—powerful but morally rotten—making the straight “wedding” the key step toward a dark conclusion. The questline details and outcome are documented across official-style wikis and guides.

Silent Hill 2

Konami’s classic survival-horror ties its “Maria” ending to how much attention James gives Maria over his deceased wife; showing extra care for Maria pushes you to leave Silent Hill with her, in a finale widely read as a psychological failure. Team Silent’s design tracks small behaviors like checking on Maria or letting her take damage to steer you into this outcome. Remake-era guides and official PlayStation materials outline the Maria requirements as the path many players consider the wrong emotional answer.

Doki Doki Literature Club!

Team Salvato’s kinetic-novel starts as a straight-boy dating sim and weaponizes that expectation; pursuing club “routes” triggers self-aware sabotage, breakdowns, and deaths instead of happy couple endings. The game’s structure is built to punish conventional romance-path play with meta-horror rather than epilogues of bliss. Documentation and community analyses consistently frame the romance setup as bait for the bad outcomes.

Catherine / Catherine: Full Body

Atlus built multiple “Order/Chaos” good-neutral-bad outcomes, including specifically labeled “Bad” endings tied to choices about Katherine (the conventional girlfriend) and Catherine (the succubus). The straight-and-stable Katherine path can culminate in one of the explicitly bad finales if you lie or dodge commitment, undercutting the typical relationship win state. Official guides and wiki breakdowns list these romance-flagged bad ends.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Ubisoft Quebec’s RPG lets you romance Daphnae of the Daughters of Artemis; finishing her questline forces a duel to the death after intimacy, turning the straight romance into a tragic endpoint for her thread. Ubisoft publishes and supports this quest as a morality test—complete the hunts, accept her terms, then watch the love interest become the mandatory casualty. Strategy resources summarize how the romance locks in that outcome.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

In Ubisoft Montreal’s saga, romancing Randvi before her separation from Sigurd counts as a strike against you in Sigurd’s judgment; stack enough strikes and you’re pushed to a worse final reckoning back in Norway. The game explicitly tallies these missteps, so a straight romance at the wrong time can help nudge you off the better resolution. Ubisoft’s support notes and community guides call out the romance’s effect on the ending variables.

Alpha Protocol

Obsidian’s spy RPG (published by SEGA) features Madison Saint James in Rome; sleep with her and her storyline barrels toward the museum bombing where she can’t be saved, with fallout rippling through later choices. The liaison sets flags that lead to grim consequences, making the straight romance the catalyst for a downbeat route. Community wikis and guides lay out the cause-and-effect around Madison’s fate.

School Days (visual novel)

Overflow’s branching VN is infamous because several romance routes end in graphic “bad ends,” including multiple straight paths where jealousy spills into murder and dismemberment. Pursuing particular girlfriends or juggling them can trigger the notorious endings the title became known for. Developer and wiki pages catalog these outcomes across releases and ports.

Saya no Uta (The Song of Saya)

Nitroplus’s horror VN frames a straight relationship between Fuminori and Saya that, depending on choices, ends with global contamination or mutual annihilation—love as the seed of catastrophe. The “romance” path is explicitly tied to apocalyptic spores or a double death, each treated as a bad or horrifying conclusion. Official summaries and community guides outline the three endings and how romance flags steer into the worst.

The House in Fata Morgana

Novectacle’s gothic VN (localized by MangaGamer) includes multiple chapters where straight romances, pursued the wrong way, branch into bad ends and “dead ends” that halt the tale. The structure intentionally uses love-choice missteps to lock tragic routes before you can reach the true path. Steam discussions and guides note that many choices exist mainly to produce these romance-tainted failures.

Hatoful Boyfriend

Originally by PigeoNation Inc. and later released by Mediatonic/Devolver Digital, this parody dating sim hides the “Bad Boys’ Love” route and several character-specific bad endings where straight routes with certain male love interests (like the school doctor) end in murder. Clearing normal romances unlocks the darker arc, recontextualizing the whole dating setup. Community guides detail how romantic pursuit leads directly to these infamous finales.

Katawa Shoujo

Four Leaf Studios’ VN assigns each heroine good/neutral/bad conclusions; picking the “caring boyfriend” option at the wrong moment can doom the relationship. Several straight routes (e.g., Hanako, Rin, Shizune) have clearly labeled bad endings reached through specific romance choices. Player guides and route write-ups map the exact dialogue choices that convert affection into failure.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

BioWare’s RPG (published by LucasArts) allows a male Revan to romance Bastila; if you embrace the dark side late-game, she joins you and the pair seize the Star Forge—an explicitly villainous ending for the galaxy. The “be together” angle on the dark path isn’t a happy resolution; it’s the empire-building bad finale. Official summaries and community references confirm Bastila’s alignment and the dark-side couple outcome.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

CD Projekt RED lets Geralt pursue straight romances; if you romance both Triss and Yennefer, you trigger “It Takes Three to Tango,” a scene that ends with losing them both—effectively the worst relationship outcome. Separately, sleeping with Keira Metz and letting her walk to Radovid leads to her public execution, turning that fling’s aftermath into a bleak character end. Official wikis and guides spell out both consequences.

If you’ve tripped one of these “love equals loss” routes yourself, drop the title and what happened to you in the comments!