Bad End Theater – Just in time for console launch

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• DEVELOPER: NomnomNami
• PUBLISHER: NomnomNami
• PLATFORMS: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
• GENRE: Visual Novel / Puzzle
• RELEASE DATE: October 26, 2021 – PC / July 10, 2025 – consoles
• STARTING PRICE: 8,19€
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

Even four years later, Bad End Theater remains a surprising, unique, and excellent visual novel with puzzle elements. Now, with its console release finally here, it’s the perfect time to dive back into its immersive world. This choose-your-own-adventure experience lets you pick one of four protagonists: Hero, Maiden, Underling, or Overlord to explore interconnected narratives in a dark fantasy world of humans and demons.

Get ready to shape the story of four unique characters

As its name suggests, every choice you make in Bad End Theater leads to a bad ending, but there’s a twist once you reach a certain point. The game’s unique hook lies in its interconnected narrative: choices made for one character, like the Hero’s decision to fight or flee, directly influence the outcomes for others, such as the Overlord’s story. You can even toggle character personality traits, dutiful for the Hero or disloyal for the Underling to unlock new paths, creating a web of cause-and-effect that encourages experimentation.

The gameplay is minimalist, revolving around clicking through dialogue and selecting choices at key moments, typically 2-3 per route, which last a few minutes each. The four protagonists offer distinct perspectives on a shared world. For example, choosing the Hero to slay demons might lead to the Maiden’s demise, while making the Underling loyal could alter the Overlord’s fate. The game’s flowchart shows these branches and endings, but you can’t jump to specific scenes; you’ll need to replay manually to change choices.

The puzzle element lies in manipulating personality traits to unlock all 40+ endings, including a “true” ending that ties the narratives together via Tragedy, who represents the story’s nature. It takes 2-3 hours to complete all endings, with playtime depending on your puzzle-solving skills. While it might sound boring, being able to skip dialogue and jump straight to choices makes the story unfold much faster. However, the biggest issue is easily getting lost; it’s unclear how to unlock new character personalities until you stumble upon them, and each personality drastically changes the story.

Light on dialogue, but images tell the story

The game’s meta-narrative, exploring fate and inevitability, is compelling but light on dialogue; the prose feels more like a summary than a full story. This isn’t necessarily bad, as it allows you to quickly jump between scenes, which is ideal for those less interested in lengthy visual novels. Be advised, however, that Bad End Theater doesn’t shy away from blood, gore, betrayal, and murder.

It was truly fun to see the Maiden’s story unfold, as she connects with all the characters. For instance, she can politely interact with the Underling, who might or might not try to eat her. She can then befriend the Overlord, after which the Hero arrives, and they all start understanding each other. However, once the Maiden returns to tell the village that demons aren’t so bad, she might be burned at the stake or even take the Hero with her. But, one part of the story always remains the same – a tragic end.

Bad End Theater uses a charming 16-bit pixel art style, mixing cute, chibi-like characters with a grim fantasy setting. NomnomNami’s 600 amazing illustrations show various tragedies like burning castle or demonic battles with surprising emotion despite the retro look. Overall, it’s a very visually pleasing game. Plus, hunting achievements is very easy, and there are several secret endings to find.

Perfect for anyone who loves weird indie games

With its upcoming release on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5, you have nothing to lose by trying this game. I expect it will be quite affordable on those platforms. I’ve already played it with an Xbox controller, and the controls were intuitive and easy. It’s a worthwhile purchase for anyone who enjoys compact, thought-provoking stories.

Review copy provided by the publisher