Among the many RPGs that challenge players with difficult choices and deep world-building, The Age of Decadence stands out for its gritty atmosphere and complex decision-making. The game doesn’t hold your hand, nor does it offer easy resolutions. Set in a world ravaged by the collapse of an empire, every choice you make has weight. What makes this title especially intriguing is how dramatically its endings can differ based on your actions, loyalties, and philosophical outlook. Exploring these endings is a journey through power, betrayal, survival, and even transcendence. The game’s nonlinear narrative means you can reach vastly different outcomes, making replayability and experimentation essential to understanding its full scope.
Overview of Ending Possibilities
The Age of Decadence doesn’t offer a single ending. Instead, it presents a wide range of outcomes depending on the character you play, the faction you align with, and the choices you make throughout your journey. Whether you’re a merchant, assassin, loremaster, or diplomat, each path leads to unique conclusions that reflect the game’s core themes decay, ambition, and the consequences of power.
Faction-Based Endings
Much of the story revolves around the major factions vying for control in the post-imperial world. Aligning with any of them opens up a different narrative arc and ultimately a distinct ending.
- House DaratanFocuses on restoring the imperial legacy through diplomacy and political power. Endings in this path often relate to the unification or survival of the remnants of the old order.
- House AurelianThis militaristic faction seeks control through force. Their ending can involve complete domination, civil war, or collapse depending on your success and decisions.
- House CrassusReligious and arcane, this faction is obsessed with ancient power. Endings here often involve the resurrection or manipulation of otherworldly forces.
- The Merchant GuildA pragmatic path focusing on economic dominance. These endings emphasize survival, influence, and the rise of a new economic era.
- The CommerciumAnother merchant-oriented faction that plays politics for profit. Endings with them can include monopolistic control or cunning manipulation of the empire’s ruins.
- The Imperial GuardsA faction focused on maintaining stability and order through strength. The fate of the empire’s remains is often in your hands with this route.
Major Themes Across Endings
The endings in The Age of Decadence are not black-and-white. Each one reflects the complexity of a broken world trying to rebuild or destroy itself. Understanding the philosophical and thematic backbone of these conclusions helps players grasp what each ending means.
Decay and Survival
At its core, The Age of Decadence is about the aftermath of greatness. Many endings, regardless of faction, portray a world struggling to survive after immense loss. Whether your actions lead to a new beginning or hasten the final collapse, the underlying tone is often melancholic.
Power and Corruption
Gaining power doesn’t guarantee a better world. Some endings show that even if you unite the factions or achieve dominance, your rule might be oppressive, unstable, or ultimately meaningless. These outcomes question whether power is worth pursuing when it leads only to more conflict.
Knowledge and the Supernatural
Players who explore the ancient ruins and delve into forbidden knowledge may encounter endings involving alien artifacts or ancient gods. These paths can lead to enlightenment or madness. In some cases, you may awaken a power that reshapes humanity or erases it entirely.
Unique and Rare Endings
Beyond the expected faction outcomes, there are secret or hard-to-achieve endings hidden behind obscure quests and interactions. These require a deep understanding of the game’s lore and mechanics.
The God Ending
If you pursue the path of divine power, it’s possible to awaken an entity that grants you control over fate itself. This ending is rare and philosophical, questioning the nature of free will and existence. You might ascend beyond humanity or become a tyrant shaped by ancient will.
The Destruction Ending
Sometimes, peace is not an option. If events spiral out of control, your choices may lead to total societal collapse or global devastation. These bleak endings reinforce the consequences of arrogance, selfishness, or failure to understand the forces you’ve unleashed.
The Peaceful Diplomat Ending
One of the hardest endings to achieve without bloodshed involves uniting factions through diplomacy. This requires extremely high skill levels in persuasion, etiquette, and streetwise dialogue. It’s a rewarding conclusion that paints you as the architect of a fragile but lasting peace.
Character Class Influence
Your class in The Age of Decadence plays a huge role in what endings are even possible. Since different classes begin in different cities and have unique story arcs, your initial choice shapes the world’s response to your actions.
- AssassinLikely to end with power shifts through murder and manipulation, possibly triggering chaos.
- MercenaryEnds may involve siding with military factions or dying in service to someone else’s ambitions.
- PraetorDiplomatic and political endings are most accessible through this class.
- MerchantOften leads to peaceful economic outcomes or clever manipulation of politics.
- DrifterMay stumble upon ancient knowledge or become an unpredictable wildcard in the story.
Because every class starts with unique challenges and paths, playing through the game multiple times with different roles can reveal completely new facets of the world and its possible conclusions.
Do Endings Offer Closure?
One common debate among players is whether The Age of Decadence delivers satisfying closure. The answer depends on your expectations. The game doesn’t tie everything up neatly. Many endings leave room for interpretation, with the world still recovering or falling further apart.
That said, the game’s openness is also its strength. The ending you get reflects the character you played. If you played a selfish, ruthless tyrant, your ending will mirror that. If you tried to save the world through diplomacy or knowledge, the consequences will match. In that sense, The Age of Decadence offers personal closure, even if the world itself remains ambiguous.
Replayability and Ending Discovery
Due to its branching storylines and highly reactive narrative, The Age of Decadence practically demands replayability. Players who only go through the game once will miss dozens of possible paths and conclusions. Discovering every ending can take dozens of hours and multiple characters.
Why You Should Try Multiple Endings
- To understand the lore from different perspectives
- To experiment with different builds and strategies
- To explore consequences of radically different decisions
- To appreciate the game’s philosophical depth and ambiguity
Each playthrough offers something new. Some players may find themselves questioning morality, history, and the use of power in ways that go beyond traditional RPG experiences.
The endings of The Age of Decadence are as complex, unforgiving, and rewarding as the game itself. They don’t offer fairy tales or perfect worlds. Instead, they present realistic consequences in a harsh universe shaped by centuries of decay and conflict. Whether you bring hope, destruction, or something in between, your ending is yours to earn. For players who enjoy deep storytelling, difficult moral choices, and world-building that doesn’t shy away from darkness, the journey to discover every ending is well worth the effort.