How to get Dredge’s good and bad endings

Explore the depths of the earth Dredge, you’ll come across a series of different people to aid you — or not — on your journey. The Collector is one of these people. He lives in an abandoned mansion alone and asks the player to collect items that are thought to have been lost at sea. He’s key to the game’s mysterious story, and he’ll usher the fisherman toward the end of the game.

[Ed. note: This guide has spoilers for Dredge’s two endings.]

Dredge’s “bad” ending is essentially the default, the one that most players will stumble upon without knowing there’s any other option. Are you looking to forcibly choose one of these endings. Here’s how you’ll do it.

Image: Black Salt Games/Team17

How to get the “bad” — or default — ending in Dredge

To get Dredge’s bad ending, you’ll simply have to do as the Collector says: Take the five lost relics you have found to your friend.You will find them scattered all over the ocean and among its many archipelagos.

Once you’ve got them all, you’ll have to return to the Collector (who lives on Blackstone Island in the mansion). He’ll give you the option to move forward to the end of the game; there’s a warning that there’s no turning back from it. If you choose to move forward, he’ll mark a location on the map, but you should be able to see a red pillar of light emerging from the depths on the sea, too. You can steer the ship towards the spot and then interact with that pillar of light.

How to get the “good,” secret ending in Dredge

The good ending still requires you to grab all five relics at the Collector’s request, but instead of bringing the last one to him, you’ll keep it and take the red book from him. (You can skip the Old Mayor, by the way, and just start resisting the Collector, but it’s harder to understand the story.) Here’s what to do to understand the whole story:

1. You’ll sail to an unnamed island near Devil’s Spine, at the northeastern side of the map. The small island is south of Devil’s Spine at the P10 coordinates on the map.
2. You can sail around the island until your reach a dock. There’s a guy there, the old mayor of The Marrows.
3. Talk to him And he’ll start revealing the truth of the matter, and he tells you to go to the Lighthouse Keeper.
4. Go back to Greater Marrow to see her and she’ll tell you about the book andThe secrets of the Collector
5. The Collector will give you the book if you return to him. He’ll resist a few times, but keep asking for the book.
6. Press the Step Closer button to open the book.
7. Then return to the Lighthouse Keeper who will guide you to a different spot, G8, on the map — the lighthouse is illuminating the spot.

Dredge’s endings, explained

In the bad “default” ending, the Collector and the fisherman are using the relics to bring the dead wife back to life, which sort of happens, but a horrible monster is also revived — probably the Collector’s actual goal. The world ends, the islands surrounding it go up in flames, and all people die. Whoops!

In the good “secret” ending, you throw the book back when prompted, wait a bit And you and The sea monster will eat the entire book.

Wait, what?

Are you confused? Let me explain. It all begins with the fisherman arriving at Greater Marrow without any memory. That’s because his memory was wiped, maybe by the power of the book. But the events that led up to that moment was what you uncover throughout the game: The fisherman’s wife and him were sailing the seas together and found the red book. The boat was attacked by a monster when it was discovered. It was so horrifying that the Old Mayor ran to the abandoned island, while the Lighthouse Keeper remained.

The book created the Collector to point the fisherman toward the relics and unlocking the evil powers of the ocean — that huge monster that sets flames upon the area. You will see that the Collector is an image of the fisherman. The bad ending shows that the woman above the water is the fisherman’s wife. She has been brought back to life by the sea monster. My theory is that the fisherman Doesn’t realize the Collector is a reflection of his own mind in the “bad” ending.

The “good” ending is when the fisherman does realize it and understands the power of the book — which is why he throws it back.