Ending 3

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"This article contains highly speculative information. Tread lightly!"

Ending 3 is a secret ending in YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG. It has never been found. Little information is known about it, and as such discussions around it are highly speculative. It was initially confirmed to exist on Feb. 9th, 2019, with a tweet stating, "yes. in fact there is a whole ending no one has found!"

The ending is commonly thought to have something to do with the tower on the overworld map, which is never accessed in the main story.

While the Ultima Ending and the Old Frankton Ending are commonly thought to be the 3rd ending, neither of them are. However, they are heavily implied to be connected to it in some way.^{[Citation Needed]}

The Hint Trail

While initially Ackk Studios wanted the ending to be found naturally, they decided to give the community hints in order to guide them.

A few days after the existence of the ending was revealed (Febuary 17th, 2019), it was clarified that the ending was not in the KNN building, and instead to "look towards the tower on the map."

It was also confirmed that datamining will not work, as Ackk knew people would try to datamine the ending.

February 23rd, 2019 - Ackk posts the head of Chad, asking if anyone has found them in the game.

February 26th, 2019 - Andrew tells another user that Chapter 4 sounds good (in terms of where to look for Ending 3.)

March 2nd, 2019 - Ackk posts a tweet saying "The first person to find the 3rd YIIK ending will gain immortality maybe".

Andrew states on YIIKcord that Ending 3 is not about RNG or clock manipulation. It is "about doing things in a certain order, and ignoring what you're told to do, and doing things a different way. Similar to the 2nd ending."

He continues, "Yes,when the game tells you to do someting this does not mean you have to do it". When Andrew is questioned about the hint of it being in Chapter 4, Andrew explains that "Chapter 4 is where you can trigger it... It sets things in motion... there is something you must do in chapter 4... to trigger it... and you'll actually get to it shortly after Essentia Dungeon... the mysterious NPC I talked about on Twitter has to do with the 3rd ending".

He also confirms that the "Sammy Jumpscare" at the water tower has nothing to do with Ending 3, and that leaving for NYC locks you out of the Ending.

March 3rd, 2019 - Ackk posts a full body picture of Chad, stating that "You'll need to find this NPC if you are seeking the 3rd ending in YIIK. He has something you'll need...." In response to him being related to the heart door in Vella's Mind Dungeon, Ackk says "perhaps!!!!" Ackk also says what items they have, aviators and a book.

When talking about the tweets in YIIKcord, Andrew says "You must trade the red pill for the black pill... take the black pill which lets you walk on water... but first you need to get the aviators to Dax in chapter 4", and also that "You can find Dax around the time you go to the mall".

March 4th, 2019 - Andrew plays through Ending 3 to confirm it is still possible.

March 5th, 2019 - Andrew Allanson appears on the Dick Show podcast, giving more hints about the ending. "Ok, so I don't- it's... the way you unlock the third ending of the game, which is super hidden, people have to find you and get a red pill from you... So you have this item- yeah. You have to get the red pill from Dick Masterson, but you have to trade aviators to Dick Masterson to get the red pill. As of now it's hidden but I can tell people that Dick Masterson appears in chapter 4." Later in the day he restated the hint given, as well as giving additional information: "In Chapter 4, you must find Dax/Dick, and he'll make a request of you. He wants the Red Pill, which you know is found during ending 2. He'll give you something in return that allows you to travel across water... Here is something vital... if you do not find him in chapter 4 and get the request, it'll be hard to find him once you have the red pill because he changes locations and tells you where to meet him... so you can find him if you didn't in chapter 4 but he'll have moved"

March 7th, 2019 - It is clarified that Chad is in the current version of the game, and that his location is different for each platform. The varation was intended to confuse people.

March 9th, 2019 - Ackk Studios says they'll give a hint in a week of where Chad can be found.

The bizarre hint featuring DMT and Formulaic Acid skeletal formulas.

March 10th, 2019 - "Can't wait for the 3rd ending to be uncovered.... everyone will know so much about the YIIK lore then."

When someone requests for a hint, they reply with an image of two skeletal formulas. The first is DMT, a psychedelic drug. The second is of Fumaric Acid, which is composed of C₄H₄O₄ (404).

March 14th, 2019 - A mysterious Twitter account shows up stating that they found Chad in the Fire Escape. The translated message mentions a "lunar phase," possibly referring to something about the calendar segment in Chapter 5. Ackk Studios asks if they could complete his request, which is the actual impressive part. Notably they are playing the Switch version. Interestingly, in the actual game, Chad replaces the drinking fountain instead of appearing right in front of it.

March 27th, 2019 - Ackk gives instructions on how to find Chad. "First you must find him in South Town. But you need an item in your possession for him to appear. Next follow up to window room...." Someone questions them about the actual first step, since their instructions don't tell you how to find the item. Ackk Studios says to "Check the west side of the map." They ask what is west in terms of the Overworld, and Ackk replies with saying that "the tower is the north of the map." They also question Andrew on YIIKcord saying that the NPC is really well hidden, but they explain that "I had it backwards and was explaining it from memory after having created a long time ago, my apologies. The item you get will explain where dick is in the description, he is there without but he is invisible. You can talk to him if you collied with him... But the item causes his model to become visible"

April 7th, 2019 - Someone asks if its too late to find Chad if Chapter 4 is over. Ackk replies with a simple "no".

April 14th, 2019 - AckkStudios tweets a series of tweets.

• "Dax.... is that you????"
• "Frustrated no one has shown you. Maybe I'll just film it and get you started...."
• "The key is simple... data mining has done you wrong"
• "I've done my best to guide you. Originally only one ending was to be found in q1 2019... I'm shocked we're already hunting the third!"

April 15th, 2019 - Ackk Studios quotetweets their Chad post with "He's definitely not in Australia, that's for sure."

In response to someone streaming to find Ending 3, AckkStudios says "Be in new game plus, name yourself *****, go to **** Town and check the upper right corner. 10% chance the glasses you need to find him will spawn. He'll be on the crosswalk. That's the only fucking hint I'm giving now."

April 16th, 2019 - A post is made simply stating "Second Quest". The replies confirm this is a hint. In another thread, someone claims to have found Ending 3. Ackk Studios in response says "How long did it take to figure out how to destroy his left shield?"

April 17th, 2019 - "The Third Ending is very sad and challenging to complete... I hope you find the journey worth it in the end." When questioned, Ackk replies "this is sad in a different way.... more tragic, perhaps?"

April 18th, 2019 - A cryptic tweet quoting The Count of Monte Cristo says "'All human wisdom is contained in these two words, 'Wait and Hope'. waiting is key....". While it isn't directly confirmed, this may be a hint in regards to Ending 3.

April 19th, 2019 - When someone asks "how long should we be waiting in soul space for chad to show up?", Ackk Studios replies "Stay there as long as it takes. Definitely dont check for another scene with stars".

Chad

Main Article: Chad

Chad, also known as Dick or Dax, is a hint system added to help with the ending.^{[Citation Needed]} His likeness was based off of online podcaster Dick Masterson. There are different locations for each platform.^{[Citation Needed]} One notable encounter has Chad mentioning a yellow pill, which he says that you need to bring to him for "keys to the tower." Interestingly, this yellow pill item doesn't seem to exist as an item in the game's files, and may refer to something else entirely.

The importance of the yellow pill has been widely debated. Andrew Allanson referred to it as a "vital clue" and to see it as a "concept" as opposed to just an item. One interpretation is that it refers to something on ONISM, or perhaps the ONISM Cypher, as the text on ONISM is a bright yellow. Another interpretation has to do with The Matrix, where the protagonist Neo is given a binary choice: a blue pill to stay in a fantasy, or a red pill to see the truth behind reality. Seeing as the third primary color is yellow, this would imply that the yellow pill would be some kind of escape from the binary option that is presented.

missingpersons@ackkstudios.com

The first person to send Alex the elevator footage of Sammy is someone who uses the address missingpersons@ackkstudios.com. This is an actual e-mail address one can contact, and was active for a period of time. There's a few known responses from this e-mail that were saved.

• Unknown 2020 - The message "I think I may have seen Semi Pak" was sent to MissingPersons, and they replied with "Do you have any information on the missing?"
• Sept. 9, 2020 - "Did this message find you? They're sent at random intervals. The ONISM Cypher doesn't work every day. Seek him for what you desire."
• Sept. 10, 2020 - "Seek the ONISM Cypher if it exists in your reality. If it does not, find a way to escape your reality with your body and soul intact."
• Nov. 16, 2020 - "Tell me what you truly seek, Paralleled One. be honest, be direct."
• Nov. 20, 2020 - "Don't you see it was already broken when you sent this email? Don't you see it was already broken when you bought the game? ... or stole it."
• Nov. 23, 2020 - "Have you considered the nature of time and when ONISM is written?"

ONISM Cypher

As mentioned in the e-mails, there is a some kind of cypher hidden on ONISM. It apparently "doesn't work every day," and may or may not exist in "your reality." Missingpersons also asks the recipient to "Seek him for what you desire."

It's unknown how the cypher is hidden on ONISM. Potential leads include the URL number of posts, which are often duplicates of other posts. They are also oddly always 5 digits long. Additionally, in the Japanese version, all of the URLs for the posts are changed. Another suspicious aspect is the formatting of ONISM, which have seemingly random spaces and indents across the site. Some posts even go off screen.

It is also questionable if the cypher is somehow embedded on the entire website itself, implying it was set-up by Michael, or if the cypher is being delivered by a user or a group of users on the site. This is an important distinction, as one means that the entire site is used for the cypher, where the other means that only some specific messages are apart of it.

One theory about the cypher is that is a reference to the character Cypher from The Matrix. In the film, Cypher takes the red pill, allowing him to see reality for what it really is. However, he realizes he hates the truth, and wishes to go back, choosing to try and sacrifice his companions to "untake" the red pill.

Ultima Ending

"I wonder what I was like in this parallel life..."

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The "Ultima Ending" has existed in the game's files since release.^{[Citation Needed]} It's implied this would take place in late chapter 6, as the player is directly mentioned as a character. It appears to be a continuation of the events in the Tutorial Dungeon.

Alex discovers two dead parallel versions of himself, the Essentia 2000, and a being known as Proto Ultima Alex. Alex speculates that this was Essentia's grand plan all along- to get Alexes from other realities to defeat Proto Ultima Alex. The Essentia 2000 reveals herself to actually be the Essentia 9802, and says they haven't entered the player's reality yet as they "...do not yet face the choice of what direction your life would take." She remarks about how Alex got to do that first with the player. (Possibly a reference to Alex recruiting the player to join him to defeat Proto-Alex).

After the battle against Proto Ultima Alex, Essentia and Alex float in the clouds. Alex says he wants to enter a reality which doesn't have a parallel version of him, so he can live with his friends again, and try to help people, like how the Essentia helped him. He then thanks the player for being the true guiding light on his quest.

This ending was likely created around the range of February 21st, 2016 and April 27th, 2016, judging from screenshots Ackk Studios posted of the ending.

SPECULATION: It is implied that in the original vision for the game, the player's choices would lead to either the Y2K Debugger Ending or the "Ultima Ending", making this the original game's Ending 2. This was known as the "Failed Ego Death" route.^{[Citation Needed]}

Old Frankton Ending

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The "Old Frankton Ending" was added in the 1.25 update.^{[Citation Needed]} It could've been added in an earlier version for Switch or PS4, but that has not been confirmed. Speculation: Unity games are allowed to ship with certain levels disabled in the build. While the pre-1.25 versions didn't have this ending, it did have all of the areas from the beta version of Frankton... except for the ones used in this ending. This implies that the ending existed in full before 1.0's release, but was disabled.

In the ending, Alex travels through the Tutorial Dungeon and gets warped to Old Frankton after stepping on a magic carpet. He finds The Essentia 2000 and Wilfrid exploring the area as well. Along the way Alex eavesdrops on the conversation they have, giving a bit more context as to what is happening. Essentia says that they need to "...find what we came her for, and get out quick." Eventually they find something of interest (what it is isn't clear) and realize they are able to "understand the plan." Wilfrid is worried that what they're trying to do may blow up in their face, and warns the Essentia that "...the division may exist for a reason." Wilfrid also says that they're mixing realities and is concerned because he isn't sure what the results of that would be. They both leave for The Throne Room but accidentally leave a teleporter behind which Alex can enter.

Alex challenges them, mentioning that he's been here before, and lambasts them for destroying his reality and killing his mother and friends in the process. Essentia makes a comment about her plan coming to fruition, implying they haven't done anything to Alex yet. Alex even states that he has travelled through many realities, and through time to stop them once and for all. He engages in a battle with Wilfrid and Essentia.

After defeating them, Alex explains to the party what exactly happened. He says that reality after reality, he has been manipulated by The Essentia, who has been trying to make Alexes not live productive lives so The Essentia can be the last one standing. Alex vaguely hints at what happened in Ending 1, where everything was destroyed on the turn of the new millennium. But, somehow, The Player was able to find a way to turn everything back before the main story happened, and in Alex's words, back in "The Beta Era."

With The Essentia and Wilfrid defeated, Alex declares that everyone is now free from their tyranny. Claudio and Chondra return to their original reality and reunite with Aaron. The rest return to Alex's reality, shortly before the adventure began. Alex decides to go grocery shopping for his mom and cleans the house, with help from Michael, Vella, and Rory. He congratulates the player for being the "true guiding light," instead of the Essentia.

The YouTube Video

A small channel named MasterShielder73 Robles, uploaded a video titled "Third Ending Revealed! Steph Plays: YIIK: A Post-modern RPG", uploaded on 8/19/19, a day after the account itself was created. Notably the files for this ending did not seem to exist at the time, and was the first time this ending was seen in the public eye.

The description for the video is in Spanish. Translated to English using DeepL reads:

There is a special message from
developer who appears before the third ending begins.
I removed it as requested by the developer.

Several oddities exist in the video. The version of the game at the time was 1.07, yet the video says 1.02. The game is also being played on PC, yet the first version that came out for the PC was 1.03. The previous PC versions were a pre-release only meant for a select few people.^{[Citation Needed]} This could imply that the video was made by a beta-tester of the game.

The save data is illogical with how the game normally works. On normal circumstances, all names are supposed to be red, but some of the names are white. A timecode reads "035:23:37". The file they use, Link, has an abnormal amount of time played of 95 hours. While not impossible, this amount of time is not normally needed to complete the game.

While the video starts at night, as soon as they exit Alex's house the screen shows it has turned to daytime for about a second. When exploring Old Frankton it is also at daytime. The sea normally has two textures flashing, but in the video it doesn't flash at all.

The weeks following, two other videos were uploaded on the channel, showing gameplay of Hotline Miami. There are potential narrative similarities between the two games. Both have the protagonists receive strange phone calls throughout the story, and have their reality "broken" in some way. A character in the beginning of the game asks "Does April the 3rd mean anything to you," a date close to the start of YIIK, April 4th. Hotline Miami also has a secret ending, where the player must collect hidden letters to spell out a phrase, and meet characters representative of the developers of the game to get answers to big questions about the game's story. This is somewhat similar to the Unseen32 ONISM post where Brian Allanson talks directly to Alex.

Trivia

• The Ultima Ending is translated to the Japanese and Chinese languages.
• The script for the Ultima Ending exists in the Episode Prime Demo.
• The scene after Proto Ultima Alex's defeat is a reference to the ending of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
• The music that plays while exploring Old Frankton is a slowed down, remixed version of the Cape Juno Theme.
• When the game released, the website claimed the game only had two endings.
  • This could refer to how the endings used to work in 2016, where one path led to Ending 1 and the other the "Ultima Ending."