Final secret guide and writeup (Biggest spoilers possible)

[Austellus]

Before I write anything else, let it be known none of this is my work. This was found by a dedicated group of spaders, head over to their thread (Hunt for the Secret Ending) to thank them. This is just a consolidated post.

This is a quick guide to the secret ending, plus explanations of the logic at each step.

First, the part most people manage: Fishing with Chandrelle in SoL will find half a locket, and potentially a message in a bottle. If you use the various walk out of bounds exploits, you can find Carla's computer. Cloning the message in a bottle changes its message to S@XXXX@R177A|XXXXXXXXX|@XXXX$XXX$$@d051

During Waste World, you can walk off the normal path by going right from the entrance to the irradiated city. Doing so lets you get into a fight to save Wizarro.

During Lazarus' chapter, you can fish up the second locket half. You can then walk out of bounds in the lava section to find Wizarro if he was saved in Waste World. Talking to him with the locket has him offer to translate, but he says he needs a cipher.

While mods are loading in Waste World, the text "cipher.cipher?" appears.

Creating a file called cipher.cipher and dropping it in the \SaveData folder will change Wizarro's dialogue. Placing the bottle message text in that is the start, now the missing parts (indicated by Xs) need to be found.

The first part simply says Sarsaparilla in l337 speak, S@rsap@R177A.

The second part is given first through the PUBG section. Going left at the start makes you fight a black player model with a sword, who drops a box with FPPalcon Kick!== Backstage Pass written on it. Using the Down + B command from Combat Arena while in the backstage area of Walk makes you fall through the floor, entering a mysterious area with CRSHACHVS written on the wall. The achievements for crashing the game spell 092X57333 if lined up in the order the games were published.

The third part is given partly through waste world and partly through walk. Both come up in the general loading text jumbles, and are LGIN and DVL. Using these directly won't work, LGIN must be changed to 2734 (The Login password from pony island) and DVL to 666. The final part of the third code just says sado51, Sado being Carla's character (Username Carla51)

(side-note: 2734 is also the answer to one of the sphinx's questions, presumably as a callback)

The total cipher therefore is S@rsap@R177A|092X57333|@2734$666$$@d051

Entering this cipher into cipher.cipher will translate the locket when you talk to Wizzaro.

L: Hey I know things haven't been too great between us lately.
C: ...
L: I don't have any other friends OK? I need a favor.
C: ...
L: If something ever happens to me. Can you make sure this gets into a game? Maybe one of your own?
L: You always wanted to make that fishing game.
L: (.zip file send progress complete)
C: What the hell is this Lionel?
L: Just, please
L: Promise me
L: Remember when we were kids?
L: You used to swing on that swing and yell over to me every time you got above the fence?
C: Ok, ok. Enough of that.
C: I'll hide your creepy files somewhere.
C: I've gotta go.
C: And I'm blocking you.

From here you need to go outside the game. Beneath the Surface is a free fishing game on steam published by Carla51. While playing through it reveals a lot of easter eggs relating to The Hex, the locket that can be fished up is the important one. If cipher.cipher is placed in Beneath the Surface's files, it will be translated to "Type Lionel.exe"

Typing this while playing Beneath the Surface will reveal the final secret.

Edited, thanks to MrInvizible for correcting a mistake in the translated dialogue.

[Aumires]

Originally posted by Imago:

so now is the time to record this and put it on youtube. When i posted pony island true ending i goot owhelrwhelming amount of people saying it is fake. Lets see if i get any "this is fake " on this ending. I am also spooked by sado.exe.

Well, the extra ending IS quite sudden. And then like... nothing. It's not even like Pony Island, where you are either asked to stop or a game loop if you figure out the out of bounds, or see the results of delving with the PI2:PC's screen, with Sado just going "installed!" and then... nothing else?

It feels like a "fake ending". Even if it IS the end of the extras. It ties the Lionel plot together before Sado's "ta-da" though - which is what was important to us. But to anyone not invested, they may feel like "wait, that's it? and the community didn't search further after a demonic virus alert?" and call it fake.

[LitteralFish]

Originally posted by Aumires:

Originally posted by Imago:

so now is the time to record this and put it on youtube. When i posted pony island true ending i goot owhelrwhelming amount of people saying it is fake. Lets see if i get any "this is fake " on this ending. I am also spooked by sado.exe.

Well, the extra ending IS quite sudden. And then like... nothing. It's not even like Pony Island, where you are either asked to stop or a game loop if you figure out the out of bounds, or see the results of delving with the PI2:PC's screen, with Sado just going "installed!" and then... nothing else?

It feels like a "fake ending". Even if it IS the end of the extras. It ties the Lionel plot together before Sado's "ta-da" though - which is what was important to us. But to anyone not invested, they may feel like "wait, that's it? and the community didn't search further after a demonic virus alert?" and call it fake.

I didnt mean THAT secret ending , i meant panda circus :P but yeah i can see your point.

[darnok]

Originally posted by Imago:

Originally posted by Aumires:

Well, the extra ending IS quite sudden. And then like... nothing. It's not even like Pony Island, where you are either asked to stop or a game loop if you figure out the out of bounds, or see the results of delving with the PI2:PC's screen, with Sado just going "installed!" and then... nothing else?

It feels like a "fake ending". Even if it IS the end of the extras. It ties the Lionel plot together before Sado's "ta-da" though - which is what was important to us. But to anyone not invested, they may feel like "wait, that's it? and the community didn't search further after a demonic virus alert?" and call it fake.

I didnt mean THAT secret ending , i meant panda circus :P but yeah i can see your point.

Ok, I've finished the main game, and I've now seen the Under the Surface Ending... but what the heck is Panda Circus??

[LitteralFish]

Originally posted by konmiller:

Originally posted by Imago:

I didnt mean THAT secret ending , i meant panda circus :P but yeah i can see your point.

Ok, I've finished the main game, and I've now seen the Under the Surface Ending... but what the heck is Panda Circus??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgz9mgkIH_E

[LitteralFish]

ok done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSvSNYKnuOo&feature=youtu.be

[Darkedge]

Really amazing hunting... Hope I'd discover this game earlier

[mujie]

What are the out of bound exploits?

I... Also can't find Wizzaro in the lava section...

[Austellus]

There's a few out of bounds tricks. Either walk left through the trees one screen south of the start, followed by up, left, up, or alternately in the village press against the back of the bottom left house and walk left to get under the fence blocking the carrots. Walk south from there.

You need to be in pixel form to find him. Just keep walking into walls and you should reach him, he's pretty early in it.

[MrInvizible]

Originally posted by mujie:

What are the out of bound exploits?

I... Also can't find Wizzaro in the lava section...

Keep an eye on which walls you can walk though, and any identifying features that may help you out

[Aumires]

Originally posted by mujie:

What are the out of bound exploits?

I... Also can't find Wizzaro in the lava section...

If you can't find him, I will leave here where Bizarro is:

1. He is on the left side.
2. You will notice when you pass a point that the game will auto-save.
3. You need to backtrack from there a bit.
4 and definitely final: After the first decompressed enemy, use the device and go back right and then down. Straight down. There he is.

[Jigsawn]

Just wanted to say congratulations to the puzzle hunters on here. Thanks for making this thread to explain it to the rest of us and reveal the final ending. And thanks Dan for another brain twisting game, looking forward to what you do next!

[Jigsawn]

Oh one last thing, I noticed in Beneath the Surface in the cave section there's a wall which says "insert secret here". Is this a secret that's already been discovered in the caves in the main game? Is it one of the clues that leads to this secret ending?

[Aumires]

Originally posted by Jigsawn:

Is this a secret that's already been discovered in the caves in the main game?

Yeah, it's for The Inn card and the (kinda mocking) secret message. But not about endings.

[sirjomb]

I actually feel just a little bit disappointed here. I was expecting something a bit bigger, something to do with what exactly Sado is, beyond just a creation made by Carla. Like, why she has these weird game manipulating powers. That or what exactly the Game Works is. Like, is this all just a "what if game software were alternate universes" idea or was TGW its own special thing. What is the artifact? Who made it? Is there no way to let Reggie know about how Lionel really felt?

[MrInvizible]

Originally posted by sirjomb:

I actually feel just a little bit disappointed here. I was expecting something a bit bigger, something to do with what exactly Sado is, beyond just a creation made by Carla. Like, why she has these weird game manipulating powers. That or what exactly the Game Works is. Like, is this all just a "what if game software were alternate universes" idea or was TGW its own special thing. What is the artifact? Who made it? Is there no way to let Reggie know about how Lionel really felt?

I do like the way the story ended, and I do think fi you look deep enough, there are a lot of explanations for things that exist in the game. And not all of them have to do with the secret ending. You may look deeper into The Walk. Catarina has some secrets there that answer a few questoins. As for who made The Artifact, while that isn't totally explained, there is a secret hidden in Secret of Legendaria that might tell you something, and you can make your own conclusions from there. You could try to find it yourself, or if you look around the forums enough, you'll probably find some hints.