Fatal Frame: Maiden of the Black Water alternate endings guide

In keeping with a series-long tradition of multiple endings, Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water introduces a total of eight different conclusions - two each for protagonists Yuri and Mui, and four for Ren. None of these endings are particularly hard to get, coming about based on decisions you make in the game's 11th hour; the tricky part is knowing what to do to get the ending you want most. Check out the guide below for a quick rundown on how to get every ending for each protagonist in this paranormal adventure, and mix-and-max as you see fit.

WARNING: I try to avoid spoilers as much as possible here, but beware that some might crop up by necessity. If you haven't played the game in full yet, I suggest you do so at least once before using this guide.

Yuri Kozukata endings

Yuri has two possible endings, one happy and the other a bit more grim. The ending you get revolves around Yuri's Touch ability, which allows her to see the memories of a spirit when shes defeats it and touches its remains. It also depends on where you beat the final boss, as the fight regularly shifts between underwater and overwater (as in, walking on water) stages.

To get the more hopeful Bride of Black Water ending, you'll need to defeat the final boss on the overwater stage and use Yuri's Touch ability to see into her memories. To get the sadder Embrace ending, defeat the final boss in the underwater stage and do the exact same thing. Pretty simple, and don't stress if you beat the boss in the wrong stage - if you take too long to use your Touch ability, she'll pop back to life and continue the fight until you 'kill' her again.

Miu Hinasaki endings

Miu spends a lot of time scaling Mt. Hikami to find her missing mother, Miku, and the circumstances of her ending aren't much different. After rescuing her mother and bringing her down from the mountain, Miu wakes up to find Miku gone, and is certain she returned to Mt. Hikami. Pursuing her mother to a part of Mt. Hikami called Twilit Peak, Miu is able to detect her mother's spirit and can take pictures of her when she appears along the path.

If you manage to snap a picture of Miku on Twilit Peak, you'll net yourself the heartwarming Dream Road ending. If not, the downer Shadow Child ending awaits you at the top.

Ren Hojo endings

Ren seems to be the favorite here with four endings, based on two different decisions you make in the final minutes of his journey. First, you have to choose who Ren's final encounter will be with: Ose Kurosawa or Shiragiku, both spirits important to Ren's story. To get the Love After Death or Box of Loneliness endings, choose Ose. To get the Inside the Box or A Cold Spring endings, choose Shiragiku. And for those wondering, no, there's no option to choose Hojo's assistant Rui.

Now it's down to how you interact with your chosen spirit when you're alone in a room with her, though it's not too complicated. For the Love After Death ending (the happier of the two, as the names may suggest), use Ren's Touch ability on Ose instead of taking a picture of her. For the morosely-titled Box of Loneliness ending, do the opposite and take a picture of Ose when you enter the room rather than embracing her.

Shiragiku puts up more of a fight, and I do mean that literally. If you're all for getting dragged to a hellish doom, do nothing and simply wait for her to react to you, which will result in the Inside the Box ending. However, if you're not down with that, use your Camera Obscura to defeat her and get the A Cold Spring ending instead.