Before NieR, there was Shadow of Memories

Before NieR, Shadow of Memories was one of the first games on the PS2 that introduced players like me to having multiple endings and different choices that really impact a character’s fate.

ChaseFace, a YouTuber and voice actor did an amazing video explaining what happens throughout the game and each ending including EX1 and EX2, which for someone like me did not know about as I only managed to get endings A through E. I will never get over discovering Dana (in 2001) is Margarete and Margarete (in 1580) is Dana and how you can leave both in their correct timeline or the timeline they grew up in.

I bring up NieR because it is one of my favourite game series. NieR Geshalt, Replicant and Automata has resurfaced the game industry in the last few years as a series that requires multiple playthroughs to achieve that deepest and somewhat depressing endings you can imagine. Automata is known for having 26 but many result in early deaths, but the personal choices in the game don’t feel like they unlock endings. That’s where Shadow of Memories differs .You’d never think the decision between a statue and a flowerbed would determine Eike’ survival.

A game like Shadow of Memories that infuses time travel and the psychological thriller genre with eight different endings was an exhilarating mission to complete back in the PS2 days. To summarise the main story, Eike is Dr Wolfgang Wagner from what it seems to be an alternate timeline. He’s lost his memories and got immortality and youth from Homunculus. Thus revealing that Hugo is Eike’s son, Dana is his daughter (who got changed up with Margarete in the 1980’s by Homunculus, who is Eckart and Miriam Brum’s daughter). So ultimately, Hugo wanted to kill his own father, Margarete has a crush on her “so-called” father, and Eike has a little crush for Dana, his own daughter. It’s wild to think, I know.

In terms of endings, I won’t go into detail about each chapter but rather highlight each ending and why they stand out and my opinion.

Ending A

Eike travels to the 1980’s and discovers that Homunculus switched the infants Dana and Margarete, making modern-day Dana actually Margarete Wagner and medieval-Margarete actually Dana Brum. Furthermore, it is revealed that the fortune teller is the trapped, disembodied spirit of Hugo’s mother, Helena Wagner, brought back after a failed attempt by Hugo to revive her. Homunculus creates a puppet resembling Dr Wagner to attempt to dissuade Hugo from his plans, and after a short discussion, the puppet and Hugo disappear in a haze of smoke. Margarete realises this too late. Homunculus reveals he couldn’t call up the spirit of the real Dr Wagner because he is not dead. While returning the digipad to Homunculus, Eike accidentally drops the device dramatically and it somehow kills him. Later, it is mentioned that Margarete is now reunited with her biological parents, the Brums, who had adopted her, but it seems they are unaware of their true relation to each other. While meeting up in the square, Eike and Margarete return to the spot where Homunculus died, only to discover a full-grown tree where Eike picks up the Philosopher’s stone.

Ending A to me seemed like the best ending over Ending D since both girls were returned to their original timeline, Miriam was alive and Hugo and Homunculus ceased to exist.

Ending B

Ending “B” contains two variations: B1 and B2. In B1, Eike discovers the fortune teller’s identity as Helena Wagner. The building was the Wagner’s house and like Ending A, her unrest spirit has been trapped to remain there. Eike convinces Hugo to enter the hut to meet with her and Helena causes the building to collapse, killing Hugo, who somewhat agrees to commit suicide in order to be reunited with his mother (But it’s not mentioned if her spirit is actually freed by this). He then returns Margarete to the past in which she grew up in. In B2, sees Hugo attempt to abandon Margarete in the present, only to have Eckart subdue and scold him (neither he nor Margarete are aware they are father and daughter). Hugo apologises and returns to the past with Margarete. Both variations conclude with Eike’s decision to have a drink at the bar in celebration of surviving and being able to live.

I have many thoughts but also how a spirit managed to make a child commit suicide so he could feel at peace with his mother. Imagine if Helena was a demon that was tricking Hugo. It’s also very bittersweet as Margarete is forced to go back to her time.

Ending C

Eike travels to 1580 to Dr Wagner’s house. There he hides and sees Hugo searching for his father’s research when an elderly Hugo appears with a time machine and offers to teach him to use it. When Eike reveals his presence in an effort to stop young Hugo from listening, the older Hugo panics and tries to escape up the stairs. Margarete gets in his way, and he threatens to strike her with his cane. Hugo rushes to stop him, and the two make physical contact, causing both Hugos cease to exist due to a dimensional paradox. Margarete collapses and Eike who is unable to help her just returns to the present and gives the Digipad back to Homunculus. After he leaves with the Digipad, Eike stupidly lies down in the street to look at the stars, only to be run over by two drunk men in a car.

I never understood this ending for two reasons:

1. No car drove in that square, not once but then again the game is set in Europe and how common alcoholism is that makes people go crazy is represented well in this ending.

2. In the end, Eike dies by his own fault as it seems no-one rushed to his help, despite all the people he helped. But also, who decides after escaping death to live in the middle of a square and not just sit on a bench?

Ending D

Eike enters the ruined lab and burns Wagner’s notes about the stone, just as Hugo and Margarete enter. Unable to read the burned notes, Hugo apparently never learns what his father was working on and thus never desires revenge or creates a time machine, causing Hugo and Margarete in the present to disappear. It is revealed that Homunculus is actually a djinn or genie imprisoned in the Philosopher’s Stone, and not a artificial lifeform created by Dr Wagner. Only then does Wagner realises that he has ultimately wasted his life and neglected his wife and children for nothing. Extremely depressed by this, he wishes to be young again like Eike and “do-over” his life. Homunculus grants his wish in gratitude for being unsealed but after Wagner tries to reseal him. Homunculus curses him “to walk the Earth eternally and suffer” with recurring amnesia.

This is the ending that many players consider as the canon or original as it’s not too hard to get but also makes sense. Eike is revealed to us as Dr Wagner and we come to realise they are one and the same but he seems to have permanently loses his memories.

Ending E

Eike asks Dana (the actual Margarete Wagner aka his biological daughter, based on Ending D, though neither is aware of this), to return with him to the present day in which she grew up, and she agrees. She is then held hostage by Hugo in the square when they teleport to present day. Eike goes back in time to get Margarete and brings her to the present, where she slaps and scolds Hugo. Tearfully, Margarete tells him she can try and be more like their mother was and will take care of them both. Hugo apologises and returns to the past with Margarete, who had managed to warn Eike about Hugo’s plans. Eike then walks Dana home after returning the digipad to Homunculus. In a flashback, it is shown that Homunculus made Wagner disappear(possibly killing him), after he had wished never to see the djinn again. But it is possible this is not actually a flashback, but an epilogue, revealing what happens after Eike gives Dr Wagner the stone, which contains the Homunculus he sealed away in another timeline. This also explains how Eike is able to encounter Homunculus in the ruins of Wagner’s house after the experiment fails and why he did not recognise him.

This is the default ending that many players like me get on their first playthrough but feels incomplete as Dana and Margarete are not in their correct timeline and nothing feels perfect in the end for the story.

Ending EX

The Ending “EX” has two variations where the player and Eike have extra content where the latter is very aware of his existence, a sort of limbo awareness. Awakening from his first death with all his memories, Eike gets the red stone from the diner before Dana comes looking for him. He can either give Dr Wagner the stone, which allows him to make an elixir and heal Helena, or die in the bar fire to enter Homunculus’ dimension and throw it at him, causing him to cease to exist as a result of coming into contact with himself.

Both endings result in Eike fading away. Regardless of either choice, the final scene is the same. A young man who resembles Eike is walking through the streets in present day and struck down like before. The object turns out to be a soccer ball that hit him, and the man returns the ball to a boy similar in appearance to Hugo.

This is the ending I never got but was surprised to hear about the outcome of it. In my opinion, it is possible that the “EX” endings show descendants of Eike and Hugo in the early to mid 2000’s and how they live their life in present day which is nice to see.

While NieR in itself does amazingly known for its bizarre and dark endings, I’d love to see more games replicate NieR’s attention to detail to death and time. In an era where game walkthroughs were printed off the computer or official walkthrough books rarely found in GAME, each ending pushes the player to replay the game and search for answers to the multiple decisions they can make including hidden ways to prevent Eike from succumbing to his destiny. The time travel aspect of the narrative really worked in many ways than one, it’s the strength of getting to those endings along with the eerie ticking of the clock and soundtrack that makes Shadow of Memories one of the best murder mystery games with multiple endings.