This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.
RefleX is by far the most story-driven and
darkest game in SITER SKAIN's
The Tale of ALLTYNEX series. Naturally, it's also the most depressing game in the trilogy.
- When the Phoenix and its pilot are destroyed in Area 7, to the tune of "Mortal Illness"
.- After completing the stage, thereby unlocking it for Area Select, go to Area Select and view the monologue for Area 7. It's the pilot's last words.
"The enemy ship spread wings of energy and launched a brutal attack. My dying sight was my own ship, the Phoenix, spreading energy wings of its own. Earth had been devastated, leaving only a few surviving humans."
- "End of Reflection". ZODIAC Ophiuchus's last words in the track's corresponding monologue is what drives it home:
"My fathers, Descendants of the
Yuda, I have fulfilled my objective and now
return to dust with the 12 souls. May peace reign forever, may mothers be loved and fathered be honored."
- Also the ending theme.
- The ending itself. ZODIAC Ophiuchus destroys itself to erase the ZODIAC cores and prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again. Meanwhile, a large majority of the Earth and its population have been totaled, to the point where it will be centuries before humanity can muster up the technology to reach the "Mechanized Temple" again.
- The entire game, really. No one side walked out of this entire conflict with any net gain. Valkyness fights a losing battle, and even after they join forces with the Global Unified Army, the united human front is overwhelmed by the Raiwat and the ZODIAC units. The Phoenix's pilot is killed, triggering its transformation into the menacing ZODIAC Ophiuchus, which destroys the other ZODIACs while unapologetically causing so much damage to the Earth and its population that humanity and its advancements are set back by millenia, and the Raiwat are forced to retreat, with its army's commander killing himself. ZODIAC Ophiuchus finishes the final remaining ZODIAC unit, but then sacrifices itself in order to prevent the ZODIAC tragedy from happening again.
