Because As Dusk Falls is a narrative adventure game with a branching storyline, your decisions may drastically change the story you experience with each playthrough. Trying to discuss the game’s events with friends is liable to shed new light on characters and reveal totally different outcomes for characters such as Jay, Zoe, Vince, and the rest of the ensemble cast. If you’re curious to find out about all As Dusk Falls endings, this guide will walk you through every possible outcome for the game’s 13 characters whose lives can be permanently changed over the course of the six-episode saga. Here’s every character death, divorce, prison sentence, and all other outcomes possible in As Dusk Falls.
Vince Walker
Seven endings including three deaths
Vince has seven possible endings, including three in which he dies. If you fail the quick-time event during the fight with Dante in the motel bathroom, Vince can be electrocuted to death. He can also be drowned by Tyler during the standoff by the pool which occurs right after the Dante fight. If Vince is taken as a hostage in the car with the Holts and does not sneak out of the backseat while Tyler and Sharon are talking outside of it, he will die in the ensuing car crash in the fourth episode.
If Vince survives, he may end up on four possible paths, including taking either a corporate job (if he takes the settlement offer from his former employer) or opening up a flight school (if he decides to take his former employer to court). Should Vince and Michelle both survive the Desert Dream Motel crisis, they will stay together or get divorced based on whether they reconciled following Michelle’s infidelity.
Jay Holt
Five endings including two deaths
The youngest Holt, whom you learn isn’t exactly a Holt at all, can wind up on one of several paths–most of them tumultuous. Jay can be arrested in three different endings. In one of them, he receives clemency. In another, he is executed. In the third such ending, he escapes to Mexico but is later reported to the police by Zoe if she refuses to forgive him.
If Jay escapes to Canada and Zoe does not report him, he can either live freely or commit suicide depending on how Zoe responds to his apology.
Zoe Walker
Six endings including no deaths
Since an older Zoe is the narrator of the story, she naturally can’t die any sooner than when we catch up with her in 2012. However, even after that, her life is never seriously in danger–look for her in the sequel, we bet. Zoe’s endings revolve around how she treats Jay as well as what her career prospects look like. She can visit Jay in one of four different endings, two in prison and two in Canada. If she visits Jay in prison, it comes when Jay is scheduled to be put to death. Zoe may either attend his execution or refuse to be present for it. If she visits Jay in Canada, she may either choose to forgive Jay or turn him into the police.
Separately, Zoe’s schooling changes based on her emotional well-being at the end of the story, with her electing to either stay in journalism school or drop out.
Michelle Walker
Four endings including one death
Michelle is usually alive in Zoe’s college years, but she may not live to see it if she gets shot in the Desert Dream hostage crisis and is not treated for her wounds when the Holts release a single hostage of Vince’s choosing. When the police first storm the motel, Michelle is shot if Vince chooses for the group to run for the door rather than stay where they are, so players can avoid her wound entirely if they don’t run for the door. If she does survive the motel, Michelle can stay married to Vince if they both survive and have previously reconciled their issues regarding Michelle’s affair–in some playthroughs, players don’t even learn that Michelle actually did have this affair. If she divorces Vince or if he dies, Michelle remarries–a detail Zoe isn’t too fond of, we found.
Sharon Holt
Two endings including no deaths
Though the Holt family matriarch cannot die in As Dusk Falls, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows for her. In one ending, she flees to Mexico alone. In another, she flees with Paul. These depend on Paul’s actions when Dante visits his trailer. In Sharon’s worst ending, she is caught trying to flee and is sent to prison.
Paul
Three endings including no deaths
Like his once (and perhaps future) flame, Paul can’t die, but he may not live a quaint life in the end. Paul can escape to Mexico with Sharon if their attempt to flee the trailer is a success. He could also be caught there as Sharon flees alone, or he could side with Dante and turn Sharon into the police.
Vanessa
Five endings including no deaths
Jay’s accomplice and possible girlfriend will survive the story no matter what you do, but her life will be forever changed in any event, as she always crosses paths with the fugitive, Jay. She can escape to Canada with Jay, where she is said to leave him six years later, according to Jay in his talk with Zoe. She can also be arrested with Jay in the National Park. In two different points in the National Park, Jay can leave Vanessa behind, including during his fateful cliff jump to freedom. If Jay surrenders, Vanessa may also be allowed to go free. A lot of this depends on whether or not Jay comes clean with who he is during the night after the party. Vanessa will stay by Jay’s side through all the hardships to come provided she doesn’t learn from her father that Jay is a fugitive. She needs to hear it from Jay.
Tyler Holt
Three endings including one death
Tyler has three endings, and each of them is rather sad. He can die at his family’s cabin if Dante was made aware of its existence by Joyce’s son, Ash. He can also be caught and sent to prison or escape imprisonment completely, but his freedom is somewhat limited even in the latter case: He quietly works on an oil rig far away and keeps his head down, seemingly estranged from his family. He’s arrested only if Jay lets Tyler fall from the tree and hurt his leg when they’re arguing in the woods.
Dale Holt
Two endings including two deaths
Dale’s fate is sealed no matter what, and he never lives to see the morning after the hostage crisis begins. But when this happens is somewhat in the player’s hands. If Vince chooses not to warn Tyler about the police sniper, he will be shot in the head in that very moment. If Vince does warn him, Dale’s life continues for only a short while longer, as he is eventually killed in the final shootout at the motel. Dale never makes it to the getaway car with his family.
Bear
Two endings including one death
The absentee father figure of the Holt clan has two straightforward endings, and players directly choose in one single moment how his story ends. When Bear heads to the shed to quietly hang himself, Jay spots his suicide note, causing him to run to the shed. There he finds Bear hanging and can elect to either cut him down or let him kill himself.
In either event, the Holts still owe a gambling debt to the shady loan sharks, so the robbery and eventual hostage situation unfold no matter what, but whether or not Bear is recovering in the hospital is up to you.
Jim Walker
Two endings including no deaths
Vince’s dad has plenty of secrets of his own, and while you can only maximally uncover some of them in any playthrough, his relationship with his son can change based on how they’ve gotten along in the story. Jim can either be estranged from Vince or remain on good terms with him, assuming Vince is alive at the end himself.
In either case, the game ends with a cliffhanger that suggests Jim has been shot just as Zoe is arriving to visit him, setting up what looks to be a sequel in the series’ future.
Joyce
Two endings including one death
The manager of the Desert Dream Motel can either be shot and killed or survive the hostage crisis, and it all comes down to one scene. When Joyce and Vince’s dog, Zeus, are each making a lot of noise, Dale grows angry and trigger-happy. Failing to calm Joyce down in this scene will result in Joyce being killed by gunshot.
If you’re wondering, there is no version where Zeus is harmed, so don’t worry about it.
Big Sam
Three endings including one death
Big Sam is the cop who stops in for a drink and some chit-chat early in the game’s first episode, and how you play this scene will determine whether Sam survives or not. If you hide Joyce’s bloody earring, Sam will come and go none the wiser. If you allow him to see it but try to play it off like nothing is wrong, Sam will clandestinely call for backup when he leaves, after alerting Vince he plans to do so. If Sam is persuaded to confront the Holts head-on, he will die in the ensuing shootout.
The Best Ending
The “best” ending is open to interpretation, of course, but most players tend to think of it as “the one where the fewest people die.” In As Dusk Falls, you actually can complete the story with virtually no one dying–sorry Dale, not you–so here’s a quick explainer on how to achieve that ending.
With Vince, you must:
- Forgive Michelle for her affair
- Hide Joyce’s bloody earring from Big Sam, or just don’t tell him you’re being held hostage
- Ask Joyce to calm down when she and Zeus are both making Dale upset
- Make amends with your dad, Jim, whenever possible
- Choose to sue the airline
- Don’t run for the door when the police assault the motel
- Survive Dante’s attack after the bus crash
- Drop your weapon when confronted by the Holts near the pool
- Get out of the Holts’ car when Sharon and Tyler are arguing outside
With Jay you must:
- Save Bear from his suicide attempt
- Save Tyler when he’s slipping from the tree
- Be honest with Vanessa as much as possible, but do not be possessive of her during the party
- Jump into the water with Vanessa at the National Park
With Ash you must:
- Not tell Dante about the Holts’ cabin
With Zoe you must:
- Make amends with Jay when he escapes to Canada
With Paul you must:
- Choose to flee with Sharon and help her do so
If you follow this path, you will have saved all lives possible, while keeping all characters out of prison, too. If that’s not enough justice for you, then feel free to adjust according to your moral code, but if you’re looking for the ending that brings the most amount of happiness to as many characters as possible, this is it.
In total, all of this adds up to 48 possible endings for the game’s 13 major and secondary characters–Dante is not shown here as he survives no matter what and has just one ending. This includes eight characters who may live or die based on your actions. We hope this breakdown helps make sense of As Dusk Falls’ complex story tree and its many branches. For more on Interior Night’s debut, check out our As Dusk Falls review.
GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
