Thoughts on the Endings?

[Roderick720]

I just beat the game. Dredge is a damn good game, but the endings have me a bit disappointed. They are both over quickly and don't have much, if any, explanation beyond educated guesses. I'm just curious what other people thought about the endings. Maybe I missed some important details?

[RCMidas]

They follow the fairly well-established procedure for this type of story. Either the protagonist succumbs to madness and unleashes a catastrophe beyond all mortal comprehension, or is tragically destroyed in preventing the ultimate horror from coming to pass. There are exceptions, but they are very rare.

[Psyringe]

What RCMidas said. :)

Additionally - it's one of the defining features of the "cosmic horror" genre that people are dabbling with dangerous forces that humans are incapable of understanding. That's the main feature that makes them horrifying - their immense power plus our inability to ever comprehed them. In most scenarios, even just _thinking_ about these things is enough to drive people mad. If you're expecting "explanation beyond educated guesses", then I wouldn't recommend playing games in the cosmic horror genre. ;)

[Cocofang]

It is ironic.

The fishermen was willing to sacrifice everything, even the entire world, to be with his drowned wife again. Yet what he ended up with was her rising from the depths as an unholy abomination accompanied by an unshackled elder god. The success of bringing something akin to his wife back ended with his ultimate failure.

In the Lighthouse-ending though he gives up the manic pursuit in a faint moment of clarity. Despite the struggles of the dark forces to keep his mind prisoner he forsakes the allure. Dying in the very spot his wife did as the sea claims him. So his failure to see the plan through ended with him being successfully reuniting with his wife.

Also, the wife herself played a vital role in strengthening the grip of madness onto the fisherman. She messed with the renaming ritual for the boat by keeping the keychain for herself instead of disposing of everything. A small, sentimental mistake that eventually spiraled into her own affliction and consequently the descent of the fisherman.

It is also hinted that some of the letters we see from the wife are written after she was already dead. We know from the Researcher and her sisters letters that she apparently wrote after her death that this is something that can happen. So the last two, undated letters from the wife are likely written by her after she was already dead.

The Leviathan that eats the fisherman in the Lighthouse-ending is probably a guardian against the dark forces. Which is why it also stalked the kurier with the infected package that ended up corrupting the Dockworker. And why it occasionally tried to stop the fisherman from seeing his plan through. Eventually devouring him.

[Roderick720]

It looks like I did miss some details. I'm very familiar with the cosmic horror genre, so I can't say I was expecting a happy ending. I guess I was looking for a more of a climax before the game ended. The endings just kinda happen, and then it's all over pretty fast. It also seems like there isn't much room left for a sequel, which I'd definitely like to see, but maybe I'm just being pessimistic. Thanks for the responses.

[Plastik20xx]

It's the journey that counts man, not the destination.