*SPOILERS* Rambling about the ending

[Squl]

Obviously according to the achievements there's just two endings, but was anyone else convinced there was some kind of variation on the bad/artficat ending? There was so much alluding to the antique lighthouse being able to ward off the evil I was convinced there was an ending where the artifacts are dropped in the water, but the antique lighthouse stops the evil from rising. I assumed the stone tablet sidequest in devil's spine would lead to it, but instead it's just the light for the boat and the stairs to the lighthouse are broken.

I tried a few things while having the light equipped from the sidequest, but couldn't find anything. During the bad ending, the Collector mentions in red something along the lines of "not to tarry" when heading west, when the good/throw-it-back ending doesn't have this same dialogue. To me, that opened the door to the possibility of doing SOMETHING during that period to trigger a different version of the bad ending. Deep down inside, I feel like I knew it was a two ending game, but I still couldn't help myself from experimenting.

What do people think? Is all the lore about the old lighthouse just meant to indicate how the evil was defeated previously, but now that it's out the evil is free to roam? Is there actually a way to trigger a third ending that we haven't figured out yet? Is a hopeless search for a happy ending perfectly in line with the game?

[Janky Nose Hair Guy]

Originally posted by lucmobz:

And the guy who hate the slimey fish at Little Marrow is still standing there motionless...

Still standing there. I want to put a basket on his head like you could to the merchants in Skyrim.

[Janky Nose Hair Guy]

I stumbled on the fish ending. I was like WTH? Hey, MY BOAT! Dammit.

Although my boat was loaded with explosives because I wasn't sure how it was going to play out. So...just wanted an animation of BOOM. I'm taking you with me!

If we can mod the game, I want to change the ending so if you're loaded with rotten fish your ship gets ejected. :)

[Cocofang]

We don't even know if there is anything else in the world going on or if these are the last remnants of human civilization on the planet.

Maybe it was the very last bastion with the corruption slowly seeping in. But the main character wipes it all out in a selfish quest for his dead wife. Who probably turned up as some eldritch abomination anyway. Not that there was any time to enjoy the reunion with Cthulhu wiping everyone out.

Also, everyone asking for clearly spelled out answers missed the entire point of lovecraftian stories. It being outside the realm of human comprehension and sanity. The game gives a lot of hints anyway.

[Quincy_Morris]

Originally posted by Steinar:

I'll be honest, I don't understand either ending or the story.

The bad ending shows me throwing the relics into the ocean. Some lady (my wife?) rises out of the ocean along with a big ominous kraken, and then it just plays the end credits whilst Greater Marrow is burning. Why? What happened? Who am I, and what happened before the game started?

The good ending shows me throwing the book into the ocean. Some big fish eats me, and then it just plays the end credits (again), but this time Greater Marrow isn't burning. So I died to the fish? That's good? Where's the lady (my wife)?

Seems I'm left to imagine myself what happens, which I'm not a fan of. I just don't understand what all of this nonsense about the book is, and what those relics are, and who my character or that lady is, and what happened leading up to the start of the game.

Clearly the good ending is the one where you are eaten by the Blood Cod.

Blood for the Blood Cod

[phaoray]

Originally posted by RobOda:

Anyone thinking they've 'won' by getting their wife back and destroying 'only the towns' are being stupid tbh.

That bloody thing isn't going to be sated with a few obscure fishing towns lol.

Sated? If it's hungry it can just leave the map and eat things that can swallow my boat. Not like the three or four towns in this lil area is gonna feed anything that size, if it even cares to eat people or bother with the towns after waking up.

Originally posted by markuswolfe:

People are really out here thinking that the ending where you awaken Cthulhu is the good ending.

Survive by awakening a giant octopus thing and get your wife back, or die. I know my choice. : D

[Cocofang]

Originally posted by phaoray:

Survive by awakening a giant octopus thing and get your wife back, or die. I know my choice. : D

What makes you think the fisherman survived while a reality-warping cosmic entity got summoned out of the abyss? What are the odds of the wife, being pulled up from the depths she drowned in, is in any way the same she was before?

[phaoray]

Originally posted by Count Cocofang:

Originally posted by phaoray:

Survive by awakening a giant octopus thing and get your wife back, or die. I know my choice. : D

What makes you think the fisherman survived while a reality-warping cosmic entity got summoned out of the abyss? What are the odds of the wife, being pulled up from the depths she drowned in, is in any way the same she was before?

You are assuming a lot of things. I may have missed it while playing, but not a single mention of Cthuhlu was in the game. It could just be a giant octopus kaiju or something. I know the game is meant to be a horror style game, but it wasn't really scary, even being out most of the night eventually means little. I really doubt that tossing a few items over a ship to perform a ritual to bring your wife back to life is all part of a grand plan to bring a cosmic entity out of a void. That just seems...silly to be the requirement for a ritual like that.

I can be wrong, but in the end, we do not know. The ending doesn't show you or your wife die, and your character seems to have read and understood the book more than enough to protect themself with it, I really doubt if he knew that a giant cosmic entity would be summoned by this ritual that he also didn't take steps to keep him and his newly revived wife safe from just being instantly killed after their reunion.

[Possum Pope]

My understanding is that the protagonist is a portion of the sorcerer (or vice versa) who lives on Blackstone Isle. At some point in the past, their spouse was lost due to their dabbling in dark magic; trapped in a dimensional rift after the sorcerer opened it and tried to steal the powers of the god within. Now full of regret and loneliness, they're trying to reopen the portal and retrieve their spouse, even though doing so will release the god hiding within.

By returning the book to the sea, the protagonist accepts the wrath of the ocean that is increasingly angry at them for their theft of the book. Returning it and accepting their punishment undoes the curse and means the evil they nearly brought up is gone forever.

[Cocofang]

The entire point of the personal story was that the fisherman, whose mind was already deteriorating from the occult influence, was driven completely mad with grief. He abandoned all common sense and reason for the sole purpose of reviving his drowned wife, consequences be damned. Returning his wife to him was the shortsighted goal.

He was the one that spilled corruption into the sea when he took the book out of the casket. The assumption that a horrific influence that turns fish into monstrosities, creates all sorts of maddening hazards everywhere and makes people go insane would show any care at all towards any humanity is far fetched.

What isn't directly stated is the connection between the unholy resurrection of the wife and the summoning of the demonic entity. My interpretation is that in order to complete the summoning a human would have to turn its back on the entire world and tear open the veil that's holding the entity back through abusing the powers for selfish needs. By channeling the dark magic to bring an abomination into existence, in the form of his drowned wife, he gave way for its source to manifest.

It's a story of selfish, human hubris, meddling with the uncontrollable and unfathomable. You do not get what you want in that kind of story. The powers do not bend to your will, they bend you until you have fulfilled your purpose. In the "good" ending, he ends up accepting death and in faint clarity forsakes the corrupting allure of the book. Which the book tries to fight against, yet he overcomes it. The sea ends up claiming him anyway but in a twist of irony he is now truly reunited with his wife, dying in the same spot she did. Not in the ending where he tore her drowned corpse from the depth.

It is also heavily implied that she became afflicted by proxy and tried to wrestle him back from insanity, yet ultimately failed. Maybe she even drowned herself, wanting to escape the nightmare her newlywed life became.

[markuswolfe]

Originally posted by phaoray:

Survive by awakening a giant octopus thing and get your wife back, or die. I know my choice. : D

One, bold of you to assume Cthulhu will let you live, and that your resurrected wife is really herself. Two, "I'll kill multiple people to bring back the one I love" is literally how supervillains think.

[D-rad]

This game has no "good" ending. Its a classic lovecraft style horror. On one hand you give in to madness and try to bring your wife back waking the ancient one. On the other hand you throw the book back and get eaten by one of the horrors. The ancient one still sleeps and continues to corrupt and twist the surrounding area. These stories don't have happy endings their about unimaginable force we can't hope to stand against. I'm sure if they do a Dredge 2 it will be about someone else finding the book and using it. If it's not just a whole new area/world.

[Gambit]

The ruins were just for lore and give a glimpse into what may have happened. The tl;dr is there was an ancient civilization that guarded against the evil and locked it away using the lighthouse.

From what seemed to be cultist activity, a volcano suddenly appears under the town and destroys just about everything about the civilization. This allows the evil to slowly creep back into the world.

The book your character finds includes instructions for how to do certain things, including fully releasing the great evil locked away, and since the lighthouse no longer protects the area is can be released. Your character makes a deal with the great evil that if you release it your lost wife will be returned.

It would have been cool if we could somehow repair the lighthouse and banish the evil, but it was just there for a lore book.

[Alf]

I've just thought of another reason why saving your wife and releasing Cthulhu is the good ending: It'll set the stage for Dredge 2

So not only can you life happily ever after with your wife, there will be more interesting abominations to find, places to explore etc. instead of just a boring world with regular fish.

It is like how Xcom 2 assumes that the player failed in Xcom 1. Letting the aliens win was the good ending, because it sets up a kickass sequel with some new aliens to battle.

[Jacq]

I don't think so. I think the lighthouse is basically seen as a beacon in the darkness (representing light, warmth and hope), and the abominations wandering around seem to prefer the darkness. Notice they never come in close to the docks (the one at the volcanoes will actually swing away as soon as you enter the radius of light, however it doesn't completely stop them from being out and about during the day either). Your own lights on the boat iluminate hidden rocks and the like that would otherwise crash your boat, but they do nothing for the abominations that chase you, they're just not strong enough. But although it seems strong focused light is a deterrent, if that light were to go out, or not be powerful enough to repel something bad enough that's trying to get through, then you're out of luck. (If you touch some of the stones it really sounds like something cataclysmic went down and likely toppled the light house in the process.)

I'm also kinda surprised to head a lot of people talking about good and bad endings. It's kind of a choice between a very bad ending and a worse one which is a very lovecraftian mindset.

[SnugSnug]

Shame there wasn't a way to unite the researcher, gunner and builder to restore the original lighthouse. A little redemption and salvation for the relic holders focusing on the people rather than the artefacts.