History DownerEnding / WebOriginal

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO2q5IVnKKQ The most TRAGIC ending in a Mario Party game...]]" has one of the most depressing endings in any of the group's ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' sessions, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as the title of the video would suggest]]. On the final turn, rather than simply rolling his die and purchasing a guaranteed Star, Sophist decides to "throw for content" and use his Warp Block to swap with Brent, giving the latter a massive lead with a total of ''5'' Stars. And while Vernias does manage to get both of the Bonus Stars, [[HopeSpot he still ends up losing the game]], as Brent had 1 extra coin than him. What makes this even worse is that all of this happened to Vernias [[ABirthdayNotABreak on his birthday!]]

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO2q5IVnKKQ The most TRAGIC ending in a Mario Party game...]]" has one of the most depressing endings in any of the group's ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' sessions, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as the title of the video would suggest]]. On the final turn, rather than simply rolling his die and purchasing a guaranteed Star, Sophist decides to "throw for content" and use his Warp Block to swap with Brent, giving the latter a massive lead with a total of ''5'' Stars. And despite getting both of the Bonus Stars, [[HopeSpot Vernias still loses the game]], as Brent had 1 extra coin than him. What makes this even worse is that all of this happened to Vernias [[ABirthdayNotABreak on his birthday!]]

** Nobody was happy with the outcome of their game on ''Mario Party 3''[='=]s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxujITAsWKY Deep Bloober Sea]]. After fighting for a single win on a normal ''Mario Party'' game, [[YankTheDogsChain Sophist's guaranteed victory taken away at the last second]], as Brent accidently forces the former to give ''2'' of his Stars to Vernias via Chance Time on the final turn. And while Sophist does manage to get 1 Bonus Star to put him ahead of Vernias, Brent would get 2 of the Bonus Stars and win the game through coins, despite the fact that he was in last place for the majority of the game.

** Nobody was happy with the outcome of their game on ''VideoGame/MarioParty3''[='=]s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxujITAsWKY Deep Bloober Sea]]. On the final turn, after fighting for a single win on a normal ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' game, [[YankTheDogsChain Sophist's guaranteed win was taken away from him]] when Brent accidentally forces the former to give 2 Stars to Vernias via Chance Time. And while Sophist did manage to get 1 Bonus Star to put him ahead of Vernias, Brent would get 2 Bonus Stars and win the game through coins, despite being in last place for the majority of the game.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO2q5IVnKKQ The most TRAGIC ending in a Mario Party game...]]" has one of the most depressing endings in any of their ''Mario Party'' sessions, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as the title of the video would suggest]]. On the final turn, rather than simply rolling his die and purchasing a guaranteed Star, Sophist decides to "throw for content" and use his Warp Block to swap with Brent, giving the latter a massive lead with a total of ''5'' Stars. And despite getting both of the Bonus Stars, [[HopeSpot Vernias still loses the game]], as Brent had 1 extra coin than him. What makes this even worse is that all of this happened to Vernias [[ABirthdayNotABreak on his birthday!]]

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO2q5IVnKKQ The most TRAGIC ending in a Mario Party game...]]" has one of the most depressing endings in any of the group's ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' sessions, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as the title of the video would suggest]]. On the final turn, rather than simply rolling his die and purchasing a guaranteed Star, Sophist decides to "throw for content" and use his Warp Block to swap with Brent, giving the latter a total of ''5'' Stars. As a result, despite getting both Bonus Stars, [[YankTheDogsChain Vernias still loses the game]] solely because Brent had 1 extra coin than him. What makes this even worse is that all of this happened to Vernias [[ABirthdayNotABreak on his birthday!]]

* In the ''Arby n' the Chief'' series finale, things were looking so grim that Arbitur was about to commit suicide but things looked up for him as Claire came back online and promised to play with Arbitur an hour a day. Things were looking up but [[spoiler:chief, who just got his voice back, decided he wanted to end it all with a literal bang]]. The episode ends with Arbitur and the chief [[spoiler:saying their goodbyes to each other and chief striking a match in a gas filled room with an explosion and sirens playing as credits rolled.]]

** The fifth installment's ending may be the most depressing one yet. Duck Guy gets grinded into canned food (''alive!'') and served as lunch for the Yellow Guy. The latter is then force fed every can (unaware that he had just eaten his own friend ''because he was drugged by the teachers''), and ends up sitting in the dark kitchen, completely alone. Afterwards, the mysterious caller (who had been trying to call the two throughout the episode) is revealed to be [[spoiler:the absent Red Guy, who had been calling from a phone booth outside]]. The episode ends with Red Guy, dressed in a trenchcoat and carrying a suitcase, walking away from the phone booth in the rain. It's implied that [[spoiler:he was the one who called Duck Guy and Yellow Guy earlier in the episode]]. Judging by the depressing rainstorm, the somewhat melancholic jazz music, and the fact that he has a suitcase, he's certainly not happy with the results.
** The sixth and final installment ends with [[spoiler:the palette swapped puppets sitting around the table again as the Notebook starts to sing. Nothing has apparently changed, and whether the puppets will be able to escape the endless cycle of torment remains ambiguous. Some theories say that the pallete swap, as well as the removal of a lot of items in the room, represent a new, more lighthearted beginning for the show.]]

** In ''The Ultimate Crossover'', [[spoiler: after witnessing the remainder of the heroes getting dispatched by [[VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale Polygon Man]] and [[VideoGame/StarFox Andross]], [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Master and Crazy Hand]] create a devastatingly powerful bomb to destroy [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask the moon]], intending on stopping Andross in order to alleviate the Earth of the apocalypse he caused.]] While the people of Earth are indeed relieved of their troubles, [[spoiler:the explosion ends up killing [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]], [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]], and [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot Crash]] as well, prompting the people to mourn them and all of the heroes who entered the moon alongside them to combat the ultimate evil]].
** While the ending is seemingly the same in ''Remastered'', [[spoiler:it adds a cliffhanger in which Mario, Sonic, Crash, and several others are resurrected,]] setting up the events for ''Gaming All Stars 2'' and therefore downplaying the doom and gloom this time around.

* Creator/AchievementHunter's ''[[LetsPlay/AchievementHunterGrandTheftAutoSeries Let's Play Grand Theft Auto V]]'' episode "The Grand Heist": [[spoiler:After making it to a Titan and only losing Ray to a HeroicSacrifice, the rest of the Fake AH Crew is in smooth sailing, though under attack by choppers while in the Titan. Then the Titan stalls and starts to fall, its left wing clips a chopper and explodes, killing everyone so close to the finish line.]]

** In Limited Life, after hours of battles and fluctuating alliances, the final battle comes down to the remaining members of T.I.E.S. (Impulse and Etho) and the Nosy Neighbours (Pearl) fighting against the Mean Gills (Scott and Martyn), who are still going strong at this point and have managed to decimate the competition. With Impulse left under 10 minutes left by the end, the three negotiate to have a three-way, fair play DuelToTheDeath on roughly even time... which ends with Martyn going full-on CombatPragmatist before the duel even starts [[spoiler:while under the Watchers' influence]], killing both his Day 1 ally and their former enemy, then waits one last hour and a half for his life-timer to tick down.
** In Secret Life, after the Heart Foundation and the Roomies alliances (and Martyn, the last of the Big Dogs) are taken down, the ensuing fight splits the Mounders and Gem and the Scotts' tentative alliance, with Scar, the last unaligned player, siding with the Mounders while with them at the time. The band puts up a respectable fight but are taken down by Pearl, who didn't even want to live this long or win again, and Scar, who has refused to kill Pearl, even at her own request. The final duel ends with Pearl being shot and falling off a ledge, and while [[SoleSurvivor he doesn't die at the end of his episode]], Scar is left alone after spending almost the entire series alone and essentially friendless. It's even ''more'' of a downer in Martyn's "Eyes and Ears" continuity, as [[spoiler:Scar's loneliness and suffering is eventually [[GoMadFromTheIsolation drawn out]] off-screen [[EmotionEater for all it's worth]] by [[GodIsEvil the Watchers]].]]

* "The Malthusian Paradox", a British ARG running in late 2012, ends with [[spoiler:one protagonist under arrest, the other turning out to have been working for the enemy all along, the kidnapped professor dead, and the antidote to the genetic virus in the hands of some evil third party.]] And that's with the players being successful at every task along the way... Presumably, that was the ''good'' ending.

** Entry #25: [[spoiler:The video consists of a recording of a news channel reporting a fire that has burned a building down. It doesn't really hit home until the end, where Jay tells us why the report is worth anything: "That was my apartment."]]
** Entry #80: [[spoiler:Tim is left all alone after Jay is shot by Alex and taken by the Operator, and he fails to rescue Jay as well as catch Hoody. At the very end, he grimly admits that he has no idea of what to do next.]]

* Parody artist Jon Cozart, AKA WebVideo/{{Paint}}, turns the HappilyEverAfter endings of Creator/{{Disney}} films into downers in his "After Ever After" videos by setting them in our world and letting SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occur. The only exception for this is [[spoiler:Mulan, who is happy after [[AdaptationalGenderIdentity his transition]], but [[MediumAwareness feels bad when he realizes how awful the others have it]].]]

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO2q5IVnKKQ The most TRAGIC ending in a Mario Party game...]]" has one of the most depressing endings in any of the group's ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' sessions, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as the title of the video would suggest]]. [[spoiler:On the final turn, rather than simply rolling his die and purchasing a guaranteed Star, Sophist decides to "throw for content" and use his Warp Block to swap with Brent, giving the latter a total of ''5'' Stars. As a result, despite getting both Bonus Stars, [[YankTheDogsChain Vernias still loses the game]] solely because Brent had 1 extra coin than him. What makes this even worse is that all of this happened to Vernias [[ABirthdayNotABreak on his birthday!]]]]
** Nobody was happy with the outcome of their game on ''VideoGame/MarioParty3''[='=]s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxujITAsWKY Deep Bloober Sea]]. [[spoiler:On the final turn, after fighting for a single win on a normal ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' game, [[YankTheDogsChain Sophist's guaranteed win was taken away from him]] when Brent accidentally forces the former to give 2 Stars to Vernias via Chance Time. And while Sophist did manage to get 1 Bonus Star to put him ahead of Vernias, Brent would get 2 Bonus Stars and win the game through coins, despite being in last place for the majority of the game.]]

* ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'' was originally a BittersweetEnding, but the extended DVD edition turns it into this. [[spoiler:Critic and Chester's quest for the Necronomicon is a complete failure, causing Critic to lapse even further into depression and self loathing, Malachite [[KarmaHoudini is still alive]] (albeit "trapped" in a coffee shop), [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Mechakara]] has stolen Malachite's Hand for himself, and Mati's spirit becomes bitter and vengeful over how horribly the Channel Awesome crew treated him and how no one appreciated him until ''after'' he died, which leads to the events of ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee''.]]

** "The Cat Lady": [[spoiler:Marjorie is left in a worse mental state thanks to her encounters with the titular HumanoidAbomination and moves out of her house out of fear, forcing her to donate the stray cats she was fostering to an animal shelter. The Cat Lady gorges herself on several more cats before they're all finally moved.]]
** "Original Beast": [[spoiler:Maxwell Tannard is transformed into an immortal werewolf, much to his own horror, and has become well aware he won't be able to ResistTheBeast much longer. What he ultimately does is left ambiguous, but the ''least'' depressing possibility is that he's stranded himself on an island where he can't hurt anyone.]] A later episode reveals that he gave in and [[spoiler:transferred the curse to a priest so that he could finally die]].
** "The Duct-Tape Man": [[spoiler:Officer Diego Castrado's continued refusal to confront his trauma after killing spree shooter Peter "The Duct-Tape Man" Garrett results in him [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane either slipping into homicidal madness or being subject to the same possession as Garrett was.]] Either way, Diego winds up becoming the new Duct-Tape Man and is shot dead when he attempts to shoot up a crowded mall.]]
** Season 2 as a whole ends on one. [[spoiler:Jeremy is left emotionally shattered by the climactic confrontation with the Grinner, Malcolm Foy is able to escape (albeit with a binding symbol carved into his chest), the Grinner isn't banished to Hell and is just lying in wait for some other poor schmuck to summon it, Benjamin Scanlon and Preston Nicklesworth are dead, and Ron is revealed to be an agent of Project Hydra.]]

** Episode 42: Cecil is unable to [[spoiler:free Fey]], who turns out to be [[spoiler:a computer program and remains trapped at WZZZ reciting numbers for a Numbers Station in monotone against her will, possibly forever]].
** Episode 46: Tamika Flynn and her army attempt to rally Night Vale to join them in overthrowing Strexcorp, [[spoiler:only to fail and be arrested]]. The episode ends with Cecil's [[spoiler:barricaded-shut recording booth being infiltrated by Lauren and another [=StrexCorp=] employee (heavily implied to be Kevin, Cecil's Desert Bluffs counterpart), cutting off halfway through the sounds of a struggle]].
** Episode 64: Early in the episode, Cecil talks happily about the watercolor painting he made of [[LoveInterest Carlos]]. When the Glow Cloud rampages through Night Vale, [[spoiler:part of Cecil's studio is damaged and the painting is destroyed]]. Cecil tries to play it off as no big deal, but he's obviously very upset, and he sounds legitimately depressed for the last few minutes of the episode.

* The final chapter of ''WebVideo/WhoKilledMarkiplier'': Everyone is either dead, insane, corrupted, or left to an ambiguous fate. Including [[spoiler:you]].

* ''LetsPlay/PartyCrashers'':

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO2q5IVnKKQ The most TRAGIC ending in a Mario Party game...]]" has one of the most depressing endings in any of the group's ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' sessions, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as the title of the video would suggest]]. [[spoiler:On the final turn, rather than simply rolling his die and purchasing a guaranteed Star, Sophist decides to "throw for content" and use his Warp Block to swap with Brent, giving the latter a total of ''5'' Stars. As a result, despite getting both Bonus Stars, [[YankTheDogsChain Vernias still loses the game]] solely because [[KickTheDog Brent had 1 extra coin than him]]. What makes this even worse is that all of this happened to Vernias [[ABirthdayNotABreak on his birthday!]]]]
** Nobody was happy with the outcome of their game on ''VideoGame/MarioParty3''[='=]s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxujITAsWKY Deep Bloober Sea]]. [[spoiler:On the final turn, after fighting for a single win on a normal ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' game, [[YankTheDogsChain Sophist’s guaranteed win was taken away from him]] when Brent accidentally forces the former to give 2 Stars to Vernias via Chance Time. And while Sophist did manage to get 1 Bonus Star to put him ahead of Vernias, Brent would get 2 Bonus Stars and [[KickTheDog win the game through coins]], despite being in last place for the majority of the game.]]

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO2q5IVnKKQ The most TRAGIC ending in a Mario Party game...]]" has one of the most depressing endings in any of their ''Mario Party'' sessions, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as the title of the video would suggest]]. [[spoiler:On the final turn, rather than simply rolling his die and purchasing a guaranteed Star, Sophist decides to "throw for content" and use his Warp Block to swap with Brent, giving the latter a total of ''5'' Stars. As a result, despite getting both Bonus Stars, [[YankTheDogsChain Vernias still loses the game]] solely because [[KickTheDog Brent had 1 extra coin than him]]. What makes this even worse is that all of this happened to Vernias [[ABirthdayNotABreak on his birthday!]]]]
** Nobody was happy with the outcome of their game on ''VideoGame/MarioParty3''[='=]s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxujITAsWKY Deep Bloober Sea]]. [[spoiler:On the final turn, after fighting for a single win on a normal ''Mario Party'' game, [[YankTheDogsChain Sophist’s guaranteed win was taken away from him]] when Brent accidentally forces the former to give 2 Stars to Vernias via Chance Time. And while Sophist did manage to get 1 Bonus Star to put him ahead of Vernias, Brent would get 2 Bonus Stars and [[KickTheDog win the game through coins]], despite being in last place for the majority of the game.]]

** Nobody was happy with the outcome of their game on ''Mario Party 3''[='=]s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxujITAsWKY Deep Bloober Sea]]. [[spoiler:On the final turn, after fighting for a single win on a normal ''Mario Party'' game, [[YankTheDogsChain Sophist’s guaranteed win was taken away from him]] when Brent accidentally forces the former to give 2 Stars to Vernias via Chance Time. And while Sophist did manage to get 1 Bonus Star to put him ahead of Vernias, Brent would get 2 Bonus Stars and [[KickTheDog win the game through coins]], despite being in last place for the majority of the game.]]

** At the end of Double Life, the Red Lives hunt down the remaining Yellow Lives and two of the five remaining soulbound pairs at the time end up dying as a result of their own or their partners' stupidity (in oddly ironic/symbolic ways to boot). After Pearl kills the remaining two enemy soulbound pairs in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for her late CanineCompanion (and LivingEmotionalCrutch), Tilly, she meets up with her own soulmate, Scott. She gets a few moments to relax with her remaining dogs… before Scott blows himself up to give her the win, instantly killing them both due their soulbound-pair-induced {{synchronization}}.

** At the end of Double Life, the Red Lives hunt down the remaining Yellow Lives and two of the five remaining soulbound pairs at the time end up dying as a result of their own or their partners' stupidity (in oddly ironic/symbolic ways to boot). After Pearl kills the remaining two enemy soulbound pairs in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for her late CanineCompanion (and LivingEmotionalCrutch), Tilly, she meets up with her own soulate Scott. She gets a few moments to relax with her remaining dogs, …before Scott blows himself up, instantly killing them both due their soulbound-pair-induced {{synchronization}}.

* Einsteinian Roulette ends with the real purpose for the HMRC being revealed, the Eater of Stars moving back towards the Origin, the Lurker exploring the end of the galaxy, and HMRC personnel desperately trying to find another universe before the Lurker changes our own enough that life is physically impossible.
* The WebAnimation/{{mashed}} cartoon ''Betty Help?'' ends with Betty's goal of bringing water to a dying human being AllForNothing. The human is now a skeleton, and Betty stands by the body until her own battery runs out.

* Most episodes of ''WebAnimation/SaladFingers'' end in one of these. They're either MindScrew or horrifying.
* Considering the fact that the premise of ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' is 'Kill until only one survives' these kind of endings are pretty much inevitable. Of especial TearJerker material is the ending of V1, whereupon the winner visits the families of a number of their deceased classmates. There's also the fact, y'know, that the winner is the only survivor out of the group of 123 kids on the island.
* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': In-universe in the first Halloween cartoon, Homestarloween Party, where a scary story is told and each character adds a piece. Strong Sad ends the story by killing everybody off, causing all the attendees to leave in a funk, [[EverybodyCries many of them in tears]].
* In ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'', Dr. Horrible manages to defeat Captain Hammer and gain entrance into the Evil League of Evil. But in the process, Penny, the girl of his dreams (and the only [[FriendToAllLivingThings truly good character]] in the series) is accidentally killed and all but forgotten by everyone except him. It leaves him [[PyrrhicVictory emotionally destroyed]] and completely unable to enjoy his victory (or, indeed, feel anything at all).
* Season 1 of ''WebVideo/Lonelygirl15'' ends with [[TheHeroDies the death of the main character]]. The GrandFinale is also very bleak.
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * Honorable mention: ''All About My Dog: Marimo'' on Website/{{Youtube}}. The whole thing is pretty sad.
* Season 2 of ''WebVideo/TheGuild'' ends with Codex feeling horrible about breaking Zaboo's heart, seeing the guy she liked making out with her married friend Clara, and then finding Zaboo making out with Stupid Tall Hot Girl. Meanwhile, the guild leader Vork has a breakdown, and Bladezz deleted Tink's character, which in [[SeriousBusiness this series]] is just as angsty.
* ''WebAnimation/BonusStage'', after first killing off Rya in a cheap and poorly-executed manner, then went on to have Phil go back in time and murder himself in the first episode, resulting in Joel trying to hang himself, being persuaded to keep going and build a machine to resurrect people, then accidentally killing himself ANYWAY, thus erasing the whole series from time. And this was a CHEERIER version of the episode (the original just cut to Joel dangling from the rope after he decided to give up).
* Frequent in Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos; particularly notable is Blog/JustAnotherFool, which [[TropeCodifier codified]] many of the later examples.
* The first episode of season 2 of ''WebVideo/NightmareTime'' ends with almost every main character dead. Linda is sacrificed to a dark god, Zoey is hung from the ceiling of the theater, Sam has been hit by a car, and Gerald dies in the impact.
* The first season of the Webcomic/NuzlockeComics ends with Steven killing off Ruby's entire team.
* {{Youtube Poop}}s tend to take this path at times, usually played for laughs. For instance, WebAnimation/WalrusGuy's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB8Ph0hnRPY The Only Mama Luigi Poop Anyone Has Ever Made]] and Tropers/MadMan400096's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXUcIipAr6k Toonster Prom Time]].
* The second season of ''Series/CobraKai,'' when the school brawl ends. While many of the students are physically and psychologically damaged, Miguel and Samantha are actually hospitalized for theirs. Johnny and Daniel make neither eye contact nor any peep the entire time they're in the hospital elevator together, clearly conveying their sense of failure as sensei. It was also a royal case of TheBadGuyWins, as Kreese regained possession of one dojo while the other was shut down for quite some time.
* ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' has [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18490_the-7-most-soul-crushing-series-finales-in-tv-history.html an article on these endings]], with a few {{Sudden Downer Ending}}s included. A summarization of the list:
-->[numlist:7]

* Another example from ''Cracked'': An article about columnist John Cheese [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19030_quitting-smoking-6-things-you-notice-about-stupid-world.html trying to quit smoking]]. It's a very funny but intense recount of his thoughts and feelings during the first day kicking the habit. The sad part is, after a fake editor's note for the final joke of the article, there's a real note beneath it:
** ''Update: John resumed smoking a few months after this article was posted.''
*** Subverted. He quit again, although he still uses patches and gum.
* Almost every episode of ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'', however, "Class Act" is probably the most famous example.
* ''WebAnimation/MysterySkullsAnimated'':
** "Ghost" doesn't really end well. Everyone who wasn't already dead gets out alive, but Lewis is left heartbroken, and nobody is able to reconcile his tragic death and put his soul to rest.
** "Freaking Out" ends with a furious Lewis setting off to run down Arthur in a BigBadassRig, Shiromori hot on Mystery's trail, Arthur in the middle of SanitySlippage, and Lewis's true murderer on the move while implying that the only character that may know it was the thing that actually killed him is a "dog" making it rather unlikely Arthur will be exonerated for the murder.
* ''WebVideo/RomeoAndJulieta'': Being based on ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' helps, but even in that the protagonists' deaths at least managed to end the family feud. Here, they're dragged off in the middle of their wedding, hung from a tree, and busted open with a bat. It's pretty clear that the ones responsible won't be getting punished for it, and it's never made clear whether or not they know of the piñata's sentience, so they might not even know what they did.
* "The Malthusian Paradox", a British ARG running in late 2012, ends with [[spoiler: one protagonist under arrest, the other turning out to have been working for the enemy all along, the kidnapped professor dead, and the antidote to the genetic virus in the hands of some evil third party.]] And that's with the players being successful at every task along the way... Presumably, that was the *good* ending.
* ''Literature/SmirvlaksStone'' ends with both Nick and Stilyk dead, having been killed by Gnekvizz, who was in fact EvilAllAlong. On top of all that, it's revealed that he's the leader of a cult that desires to resurrect the demon Smirvlak so he can destroy the world.
* Elrich from ''Website/TheWanderersLibrary'' is destroyed by its stars, which are then captured and contained by the SCP Foundation at an unknown point in the future. A Hand, An Eye, A Tooth ends with protagonist being killed by her husband for her disfigurement.
* In the ''Arby n' the Chief'' series finale, things were looking so grim that Arbitur was about to commit suicide but things looked up for him as Claire came back online and promised to play with Arbitur an hour a day. Things were looking up but [[spoiler: chief, who just got his voice back, decided he wanted to end it all with a literal bang]]. the episode ends with Arbitur and the chief [[spoiler: saying their goodbyes to each other and chief striking a match in a gas filled room with an explosion and sirens playing as credits rolled.]]
* In ''WebAnimation/MarioBrothers'', at the end of the series everyone is dead, including Mario.
* ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'' was originally a BitterSweetEnding, but the extended DVD edition turns it into this. [[spoiler:Critic and Chester's quest for the Necronomicon is a complete failure, causing Critic to lapse even further into depression and self loathing, Malachite [[KarmaHoudini is still alive]] (albeit "trapped" in a coffee shop), [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Mechakara]] has stolen Malachite's Hand for himself, and Mati's spirit becomes bitter and vengeful over how horribly the Channel Awesome crew treated him and how no one appreciated him until ''after'' he died, which leads to the events of ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee''.]]
* Creator/AchievementHunter's ''[[LetsPlay/AchievementHunterGrandTheftAutoSeries Let's Play Grand Theft Auto V]]'' episode "The Grand Heist": [[spoiler:After making it to a Titan and only losing Ray to a HeroicSacrifice, the rest of the Fake AH Crew is in smooth sailing, though under attack by choppers while in the Titan. Then the Titan stalls and starts to fall, its left wing clips a chopper and explodes, killing everyone so close to the finish line.]]
* WebVideo/MatthewSantoro:
** Subverted in ''A New Planet & Antimatter!''. Eugene accidentally breaks a jar of antimatter, which kills Matt, sending him to heaven. St. Peter implies that Matt will shortly go to Hell, because he was never nice to Hugo and was always telling his audience to keep it sexual. But then, Matt tells St. Peter that he was just about to get 1500 subscribers, so St. Peter lets him return to Earth.
** ''THE GREATEST EVAR!'' ends with Hugo getting mad at Matt for locking him up, and attacking him. Then, he faces the audience, and says, "Hugo's show now."
** ''Anonymous'' ends with Anonymous taking over Matt's video.
* Parody artist Jon Cozart, AKA WebVideo/{{Paint}}, turns the HappilyEverAfter endings of Creator/{{Disney}} films into downers in his "After Ever After" videos by setting them in our world and letting SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occur. The only exception for this is [[spoiler:Mulan, who is happy after [[AdaptationalGenderIdentity his transition]], but [[MediumAwareness feels bad when he realizes how awful the others have it]].]]

* ''Literature/TailsOfFame'' ends on a very dour note. Rast is murdered on Douglas' orders. Shortly afterwards, Douglas gives up the names of various criminal associates in exchange for immunity and gets off scot-free. Despite Seamus and Rast being dead, by the time the story's over, hundreds of innocents have died and it's implied a race war is going to start soon. And since Douglas is still alive, he's going to continue with his criminal activities and will only make things worse for the city of Stercullo.
* ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' has a few distressing endings.
** Entry #25: [[spoiler:The video consists of a recording of a news channel reporting a fire that has burned a building down. It doesn't really hit home until the end, where Jay tells us why the report is worth anything: "That was my apartment."]]
** Entry #80: [[spoiler:Tim is left all alone after Jay is shot by Alex and taken by the Operator, and he fails to rescue Jay as well as catch Hoody. At the very end, he grimly admits that he has no idea of what to do next.]]
* ''Literature/DayOfTheChoosing'' ends with the protagonist, amongst thousands of other innocents, getting devoured by "All the Rest," with no indication that the entity will stop consuming innocents until the whole planet is destroyed.
* ''Blog/HamstersParadise'': The original sketches (which Tribbetherium has admitted regretting for being pessimistic and is now working on making the final project more optimistic) ends with the mousey micks (the final sapient species of hamster) causing their own extinction due to out-of-control industrialisation, but not before irreversibly destroying the climate of the planet itself, causing a runaway greenhouse effect that ultimately causes the final extinction of all life on the planet.
* ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'':
** Episode 42: Cecil is unable to [[spoiler:free Fey]], who turns out to be [[spoiler:a computer program and remains trapped at WZZZ reciting numbers for a Numbers Station in monotone against her will, possibly forever]].
** Episode 46: Tamika Flynn and her army attempt to rally Night Vale to join them in overthrowing Strexcorp, [[spoiler:only to fail and be arrested]]. The episode ends with Cecil's [[spoiler:barricaded-shut recording booth being infiltrated by Lauren and another [=StrexCorp=] employee (heavily implied to be Kevin, Cecil's Desert Bluffs counterpart), cutting off halfway through the sounds of a struggle]].
** Episode 64: Early in the episode, Cecil talks happily about the watercolor painting he made of [[LoveInterest Carlos]]. When the Glow Cloud rampages through Night Vale, [[spoiler:part of Cecil's studio is damaged and the painting is destroyed]]. Cecil tries to play it off as no big deal, but he's obviously very upset, and he sounds legitimately depressed for the last few minutes of the episode.
* ''Script/{{Migraine}}'' ends horribly for everyone ''except'' the VillainProtagonist. Ken Muntz ruins his kind neighbor's love life, then kills him afterwards. It's revealed that he's murdered at least seven other innocents and has been selling their flesh on the BlackMarket for money. And the final scene shows that Ken is going to keep killing innocent people until he's caught by the police or killed.
* Most Creepypastas are this or have a BitterSweetEnding at best. The villain usually wins.

* The final chapter of ''WebVideo/WhoKilledMarkiplier'': Everyone is either dead, insane, corrupted, or left to an ambiguous fate. Including [[spoiler:you]].
* There is an entire fandom around this trope called "Bad End Friends", where KidHero characters of various media are portrayed in the worst ending for them, usually leaving them [[FallenHero possessed or insane]]. The core characters are most likely [[DemonicPossession Bill]]![[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls Dipper]], [[SanitySlippage Beast]]![[WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall Wirt]] and [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity Ice Prince]]![[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime Finn]]. Some other examples include [[EmptyShell White]]![[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse Steven]], [[FromNobodyToNightmare Evil]] [[WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty Morty]], [[EarnYourBadEnding Chara]]![[VideoGame/{{Undertale}} Frisk]], [[DespairEventHorizon Button-Eyed]]!WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}, [[TheHeroDies Ghost]]![[WesternAnimation/ParaNorman Norman]] and [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Turbo]]![[WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes K.O.]].
* ''Literature/ThirtyDaysInSpring'': Every survivor but Ryan and Amelia commits suicide after all the trauma of the woods. Amelia is left wondering if humans are in any way decent when law is taken away. The only really hopeful part of the ending is the implication that Ryan will be arrested for his crimes, but this isn't confirmed.
* ''WebAnimation/GamingAllStars'': In ''The Ultimate Crossover'', [[spoiler: after witnessing the remainder of the heroes getting dispatched by [[VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale Polygon Man]] and [[VideoGame/StarFox Andross]], [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Master and Crazy Hand]] create a devastatingly powerful bomb to destroy [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask the moon]], intending on stopping Andross in order to alleviate the Earth of the apocalypse he caused.]] While the people of Earth are indeed relieved of their troubles, [[spoiler: the explosion ends up killing [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]], [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]], and [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot Crash]] as well, prompting the people to mourn them and all of the heroes who entered the moon alongside them to combat the ultimate evil]].
** While the ending is seemingly the same in ''Remastered'', [[spoiler: it adds a cliffhanger in which Mario, Sonic, Crash, and several others are resurrected,]] setting up the events for ''Gaming All Stars 2'' and therefore downplaying the doom and gloom this time around.
* ''WebAnimation/JaidenAnimations'':
** "I Attemped a [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokemon Platinum]] [[SelfImposedChallenge Nuzlocke]]": Jaiden defeats the Elite Four and Cynthia, but loses half of her team to [[ThatOneBoss/{{Pokemon}} Cynthia's Garchomp]] in the process, then realizes she's in an alternate reality created after Giratina split her in two in the Distortion World; in her original reality, she wiped out [[{{Permadeath}} and got her entire team before she even made it to Cynthia]][[note]]In actuality, Jaiden gave up after she lost half her team in the first two fights against Aaron and Bertha, since her remaining three Pokémon, which were weak against fire-types, now had a hopeless disadvantage against Flint. But she and her chat agreed that since it was a birthday stream, she should try again. She still felt guilty about SaveScumming, however, [[RealitySubtext and worked in the alternate reality subplot]][[/note]]. This knowledge of both realities and another version of herself losing so horribly [[PyrrhicVictory leaves Jaiden so overwhelmed with guilt that she finds the victory hollow and doesn't believe she deserves it]].
* ''WebVideo/EasyAllies'': The end of the Frame Trap "Broth and Noodles 2018" special.
* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue: Recovery One'' ends with South shooting Washington in the back and leaving him for dead, letting the Meta steal his equipment in exchange for letting her go with Delta for the time being.
* ''WebAnimation/{{Sodor}}'': ''Sodor II'' has a few.
** [[spoiler: "The Vicarstown Gambit" ends with the confirmation that Bill's rebuild has halted, and that he is now slated to be scrapped. Flora is also barred from working beyond her branch line after she angrily crushes Scruffey to pieces.]]
** [[spoiler: “Last Chance” ends with Diesel being framed for crashing Duck, then exiled from the railway that previously saved him from scrap. Diesel 10 and Perry seem convinced that this means he will be scrapped soon, though they seem unaware that he has instead been purchased by Paul Maxwell. Furthermore, Thomas is threatened by Perry to keep quiet or else he will meet a horrible fate at his hands.]]
* ''Podcast/TheStoragePapers'':
** "The Cat Lady": [[spoiler:Marjorie is left in a worse mental state thanks to her encounters with the titular HumanoidAbomination and moves out of her house out of fear, forcing her to donate the stray cats she was fostering to an animal shelter. The Cat Lady gorges herself on several more cats before they're all finally moved.]]
** "Original Beast": [[spoiler:Maxwell Tannard is transformed into an immortal werewolf, much to his own horror, and has become well aware he won't be able to ResistTheBeast much longer. What he ultimately does is left ambiguous, but the ''least'' depressing possibility is that he's stranded himself on an island where he can't hurt anyone.]] A later episode reveals that he gave in and [[spoiler:transferred the curse to a priest so that he could finally die]].
** "The Duct-Tape Man": [[spoiler:Officer Diego Castrado's continued refusal to confront his trauma after killing spree shooter Peter "The Duct-Tape Man" Garrett results in him [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane either slipping into homicidal madness or being subject to the same possession as Garrett was.]] Either way, Diego winds up becoming the new Duct-Tape Man and is shot dead when he attempts to shoot up a crowded mall.]]
** Season 2 as a whole ends on one. [[spoiler:Jeremy is left emotionally shattered by the climactic confrontation with the Grinner, Malcolm Foy is able to escape (albeit with a binding symbol carved into his chest), the Grinner isn't banished to Hell and is just lying in wait for some other poor schmuck to summon it, Benjamin Scanlon and Preston Nicklesworth are dead, and Ron is revealed to be an agent of Project Hydra.]]
* An unfortunately common occurrence in WebVideo/MattMcMuscles' series ''What Happened?!'', which goes over games and movies that went through DevelopmentHell and more often than not came out poorly. Some episodes can have somewhat positive endings, but most of them end in studio closures, financial failure, lawsuits, or any other awful repercussions that come from a critical or financial bomb.

* PlayedForLaughs when ''WebVideo/{{Rerez}}'' plays the video game adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/{{Reboot}}'' and manages to finally beat the game. They find the ending unsatisfying at best with its generous heaping of AWinnerIsYou, but are never-the-less glad it's over and high-five over their victory. Cut to '''GAME OVER -- USER WINS''' and clips from the cartoon of rescue teams and wailing sirens responding to the sector that was nullified, killing everyone within, because they beat said game.
* At the end of ''WebAnimation/BabushkaTheMovie'', not only do [[VideoGame/AmongUs the impostors kill off the crew]], but there's the equivalent of a quick [[TheStinger after credits scene]] where Corpse Husband, the [[SoleSurvivor only confirmed survivor]] (who agreed not to inform on the impostors at the start because he owed one of them a favor) is left in a HeroicBSOD while the impostors nonchalantly lounge around him. Surrounded by a scene of carnage and the bodies of friends, all Corpse can do is [[ThousandYardStare stare straight ahead]] and whisper "All my friends are dead." [[https://youtu.be/3JmGQTMvO-U?t=436 The impostors laugh]] at that, and that's where the video ends.
* All four seasons thus far of the ''WebVideo/LifeSMP'' provide this trope. It is a ForegoneConclusion that [[EverybodyDiesEnding everyone dies at the end of each series]], however the context around it differs between seasons:
** Grian's perspective really hammers in the ending of 3rd Life: After an entire series of him and Scar wanting to make it big together, their friendship collapses and the two fight to the death. Grian wins, but his victory is hollow -- everyone else is dead, and his only true friend for the entire series is gone at his hands. Grian ends the series by [[LastSurvivorSuicide taking his own life]]: he didn't die with riches, friends, and power -- he died sad, poor, and alone, in the ruins of his and Scar's magnum opus.
** In Last Life, there are no more Green Lives remaining after Martyn becomes a red life, meaning the Reds on the server have to duke it out between themselves. Scott, Cleo, Pearl and Ren form an alliance to go after Grian and Joel, and while they lose Cleo during the fight, in the end Grian and Joel go down as well. Scott, Pearl and Ren decide that they don't want to betray one another, and each of the four remaining Reds picks a cardinal direction (Pearl picks north, Scott picks east, Martyn picks south and Ren picks west), they split off, count down, and each of them charges into the center of the map where they proceed to slaughter each other until only one remains. The winner of Last Life, Scott, only gets a brief moment to say goodbye to his axolotl Binkie before he too drops dead.
** At the end of Double Life, the Red Lives hunt down the remaining Yellow Lives and two of the five remaining soulbound pairs at the time end up dying as a result of their own or their partners' stupidity (in oddly ironic/symbolic ways to boot). After Pearl kills the remaining two enemy soulbound pairs, she meets up with Scott. She gets a few moments to relax with her dogs, …before Scott blows himself up, instantly killing them both due their soulbound-pair-induced {{synchronization}}.

* ''WebOriginal/WhatColorAreYou'': To the game segment: the player is killed by a collapsing wall right before reaching the castle, and never achieves their destiny. The creator lampshades how depressing that was, commenting that "All that did was make me sadder."
-->''"You die. You never achieved your destiny or found your purpose. You died without a name in a world that will forget you. GAME OVER."''

* Parody artist Jon Cozart, aka WebVideo/{{Paint}}, turns the HappilyEverAfter endings of Creator/{{Disney}} films into downers in his "After Ever After" videos by setting them in our world and letting SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occur.

** "I Attemped a [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokemon Platinum]] [[SelfImposedChallenge Nuzlocke]]": Jaiden defeats the Elite Four and Cynthia, but loses half of her team to [[ThatOneBoss/{{Pokemon}} Cynthia's Garchomp]] in the process, then realizes she's in an alternate reality created after Giratina split her in two in the Distortion World; in her original reality, she wiped out [[{{Permadeath}} and got her entire team before she even made it to Cynthia.]][[note]]In actuality, Jaiden gave up after she lost half her team in the first two fights against Aaron and Bertha, since her remaining three Pokémon, which were weak against fire-types, now had a hopeless disadvantage against Flint. But she and her chat agreed that since it was a birthday stream, she should try again. She still felt guilty about SaveScumming, however, [[RealitySubtext and worked in the alternate reality subplot]][[/note]]. This knowledge of both realities and another version of herself losing so horribly [[PyrrhicVictory leaves Jaiden so overwhelmed with guilt that she finds the victory hollow and doesn't believe she deserves it]].

** "I Attemped a [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokemon Platinum]] [[SelfImposedChallenge Nuzlocke]]": Jaiden defeats the Elite Four and Cynthia, but loses half of her team to [[ThatOneBoss/{{Pokemon}} Cynthia's Garchomp]] in the process, then realizes she's in an alternate reality created after Giratina split her in two in the Distortion World; in her original reality, she wiped out against the Elite Four before she even made it to Cynthia, [[{{Permadeath}} with her entire team getting killed]][[note]]In actuality, Jaiden gave up after she lost half her team in the first two fights against Aaron and Bertha, since her remaining three Pokémon, which were weak against fire-types, now had a hopeless disadvantage against Flint. But she and her chat agreed that since it was a birthday stream, she should try again. She still felt guilty about SaveScumming, however, [[RealitySubtext and worked in the alternate reality subplot]][[/note]]. This knowledge of both realities and another version of herself losing so horribly [[PyrrhicVictory leaves Jaiden so overwhelmed with guilt that she finds the victory hollow and doesn't believe she deserves it]].

* Literature/TheAdventuresOfASword: The story ends with [[TheBadGuyWins The Big Bad Winning]] killing all the heroes and will likely continue oppressing the people of Northeast Planet for many more years with no longer a chance of stopping him.

* All three seasons thus far of the ''LetsPlay/LifeSMP'' provide this trope. It is a ForegoneConclusion that [[EverybodyDiesEnding everyone dies at the end of each series]], however the context around it differs between seasons:
** Grian's perspective really hammers in the ending of 3rd Life: After an entire series of him and Scar wanting to make it big together, their friendship collapses and the two fight to the death. Grian wins, but his victory is hollow--everyone else is dead, and his only true friend for the entire series is gone at his hands. Grian ends the series by [[LastSurvivorSuicide taking his own life]]: he didn't die with riches, friends, and power--he died sad, poor, and alone, in the ruins of his and Scar's magnum opus.
** In Last Life there are no more Green Lives remaining after Martyn becomes a red life, meaning the Reds on the server have to duke it out between themselves. Scott, Cleo, Pearl and Ren form an alliance to go after Grian and Joel, and while they lose Cleo during the fight, in the end Grian and Joel go down as well. Scott, Pearl and Ren decide that they don't want to betray one another, and each of the four remaining Reds picks a cardinal direction (Pearl picks north, Scott picks east, Martyn picks south and Ren picks west), they split off, count down, and each of them charges into the center of the map where they proceed to slaughter each other until only one remains. The winner of Last Life, Scott, only gets a brief moment to say goodbye to his axolotl Binkie before he too drops dead.

* ''WebAnimation/GamingAllStars'': In ''The Ultimate Crossover'', [[spoiler: after witnessing the remainder of the heroes getting dispatched by [[VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale Polygon Man]] and [[VideoGame/StarFox Andross]], [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Master and Crazy Hand]] create a devastatingly powerful bomb to destroy [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask the moon]], intending on stopping Andross in order to alleviate the Earth of the apocalypse he caused.]] While the people of Earth are indeed relieved of their troubles, [[spoiler: the explosion ends up killing [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros Mario]], [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]], and [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot Crash]] as well, prompting the people to mourn them and all of the heroes who entered the moon alongside them to combat the ultimate evil]].

* WebAnimation/{{Youtube Poop}}s tend to take this path at times, usually played for laughs. For instance, WebAnimation/WalrusGuy's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB8Ph0hnRPY The Only Mama Luigi Poop Anyone Has Ever Made]] and Tropers/MadMan400096's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXUcIipAr6k Toonster Prom Time]].

* The first season of the Webcomic/NuzlockeComics ends with Steven killing off Ruby's entire team.