After a series of cryptic tweets from creative director Alex Hutchinson, fans have uncovered yet another secret ending in Far Cry 4. The first one was discovered to be a cheeky easter egg that can play out very close to the game’s beginning (beware of spoilers, though). The new ending is found at the other end of the game, right by the actual ending. Needless to say, spoilers are ahead for this one as well.
The hunt began when Hutchinson followed up an acknowledgement of the first secret ending with a tantalizing hint, noting that “they didn’t find the super secret alternate ending that requires to to make a snap decision and creates a whole new mini-location.”
But they didn't find the super secret alternate ending that requires you to make a snap decision and creates a whole new mini-location…
— Alex Hutchinson (@BangBangClick) November 14, 2014
Fans grilled Hutchinson over the following week until he narrowed it down further, noting that one fan was close: “Big change as yet undiscovered is right at the end…”
@MitchyD @adrianchm No but you're close… Big change as yet undiscovered is right at the end…
— Alex Hutchinson (@BangBangClick) November 24, 2014
The second ending is possible in a narrow window at the end of the game. After taking Pagan Min’s compound, you have the opportunity to let him fly away to safety by helicopter. If you have a grenade or rocket launcher ready, you can shoot him down instead, causing a dramatic explosion and a fade to black with the words “The king is dead” before the credits start to roll.
Once the credits are done you can jump back into the game. Blow open the door to Min’s compound and head up the hill. Eventually you will happen upon the site of the downed helicopter with Min’s corpse laying beside it. You can loot the body for the golden pen that Min used to kill one of his men in the opening sequence of the game in addition to a lapel pin worth a hefty sum.
The crash site is probably the “mini-location” to which Hutchinson alluded, though some fans think that there might be more secrets still waiting to be found. Eurogamer’s Ian Higton has created this excellent and thorough video demonstrating the ending and speculating about the secret location. What do you think?
Far Cry is a phenomenal game from Ubisoft’s Montreal studio: an energetic open-world playground that brims over with emergent potential. The fictional sub-Himalayan dictatorship of Kyrat that serves as the setting is a living, dangerous thing. Your actions can affect it, but life there continues on with or without your input. How tragic, then, that a world so full of life is constantly obstructed by its own, cancerous plotline. Far Cry 4’s story is idiotic, heavy-handed in all the worst ways, and filled with characters that are either morons or monsters.