This short horror story follows the premise of a boy searching for his missing brother, Ethan. As you venture out in the darkness, following the path you know that your brother took towards the Red Mountain, you stop at a Gas Station. The first sign in a Horror Game that something bad is about to come. But its climax of course, does not arrive here. As you speak to citizens in and surrounding the Station, you come to the conclusion that the Red Mountain is not a safe area to rest at. But you proceed on, exiting your vehicle and going on foot into the endless forest. With a flashlight in hand and the determination to locate your brother, what conclusion will you arrive at? These are the Missing Hiker endings explained.
How to Get All Endings in Missing Hiker
There are a total of 2 endings to obtain in Missing Hiker. The canon and main ending is achieved simply by playing the game and seeing it through to the end. Missing Hiker is a very short horror experience, lasting a total of 15 minutes. This short, definitely not sweet, but intense experience will leave you with a question: who was that in the forest? You may be wondering who we are referring to. Perhaps it is the man residing in his tent, near the Red Mountain entrance sign, or the standoffish man inside the Gas Station, unwilling to help you find your brother. The ending of Missing Hiker is a downer for sure, with very little room for a positive interpretation for both the protagonist’s fate and your brother.#
When unlocking the bonus ending however, the task is a lot simpler. In fact, players may have found this before getting to the Gas Station. The bonus ending is obtained through crashing your car on the road. You start the game on the other side of the road, with a car heading right for you. It is your job to slam right into this car which will unlock the second ending.
Missing Hiker Endings Explained
Car Accident Ending
The Car Accident Ending is simple to understand for the fact that this head on collision results in your protagonist dying in the accident. Your brother is never found as too much time has passed to do anything. The man at the Gas Station reveals that there have been multiple missing person cases in the area, implying that none have been found. He also suggests that people go missing from animal attacks, unless this is a lie so that we think we are dealing with animals and not people.
Canon Ending
It is the canon ending which is a lot more interesting. The route you take in finding Ethan is linear, meaning that there is only one way to go.
What is weird is the fact that the staff at the Gas Station warns you that multiple people have gone missing within Red Mountain and yet does not stop you from venturing out there yourself. It is not delivered as a warning, rather he implies that the real danger is with the animals of the forest and not of other humans. But going into the forest with a flashlight as your survival kit does not say much for your survival against “dangerous wildlife” so him letting you go into the darkness along is a bizarre one. Perhaps he knows more than what he initially implies?
The next man you see is hiking himself, just like your brother. Could he be the next victim? Or is he part of the reason your brother went missing in the first place? He does however, advise that you should be carrying a weapon and that there are strange wailing noises at night within the Red Mountain path. But he could be acting as friendly face in the woods as he is safely hiking in the Mountain, simply shown by him being there.
Finding What Remains of Ethan
As you awake from the sounds of screams within the dense forest, you leave the tent and search for the only signs of life in the nearby area, the lights from a house. As you approach you find your brother’s backpack at the barbed wire fence, its contents emptied. Inside the house, polaroid photos of both your tent and car can be found on a table, with a plate of what looks like raw meat. In another room, a table with blood, butcher tools and a chain with a hook on the end, dangling from the ceiling can be found. It is clear that those who live here are butchers. But what they are butchering is the stuff of nightmares. With Ethan’s emptied backpack found outside on the wired fence, you fear the worst.
But as you try to leave the house realising the seriousness of the situation, it is too late. With only one entry point, you try to leave but get caught by a man with a knife. The game ends with the words “your body was never found.” But this is not the only person who ambushes you. In the back, between the fences and next to Ethan’s backpack is another man. You cannot make any details out but you know that your demise was planned.
My interpretation of the Missing Hiker Ending is that the backpack was planted by the men. This means that they knew that the protagonist was the brother of Ethan. It was likely a part of his body that we saw on the table too as Ethan had not been missing for more than 48 hours when we started looking for him. Because the backpack was planted it means that the killers is someone we spoke to from the Gas Station to Red Mountain.
Who Killed the Protagonist?
The question is who was it? My guess is that it was the man at the Gas Station, he would have time to go out into the Gas Station and take a photo of your car as he knew which one is yours. This would be a more likely choice as opposed to the man at the tent who was trying to warn you about going into the Mountain. He also asks too many questions such as “have you contacted the police yet?” and claims that he saw Ethan with little to no description. This makes him the most likely suspect to being the killer.
But placing the man in the background is interesting as another question could arise, was it your brother? The ending does not address your brother’s demise, only yours. Maybe it was your brother who lured you out here, who recognised your car and who stood far away so that the protagonist would not recognise him. The ending is left ambiguous, with no clue as to who committed the crime. However I put my money on it being the man at the Gas Station working with his brother (who is the one who attacked you), as he tells you earlier that people have been going missing in the last decade. Who does not love a good old family tradition of cannibalism?
That is both how to get the Missing Hiker Endings and our explanation of the short Horror Game. For more Indie Horror Game content, we have Midnight Scenes: From the Woods, Cannibal Abduction, The Karaoke and many more available at Gamer Journalist.
