On the surface, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dredge is a single-player fishing game with a dark slimy secret floating just under the surface. This warped🤡 tale of eldritch terror culminates in two endings straight out of the Lovecraftian playbook.

Like those twisted tales of old, Dredge's finales also leave quite a little bit to the imagination. One of the endings is also locked behind some extra steps that are easily missed, so you can often mistake the results you get as all there is. So to fill in the blanks and bring these dark story beats into the light, here's the endings in Dredge explained.

Updated August 30, 2024 By Matthew Mckeown: Whilst it seems like Dredge was a one-and-done type of game, your adventures through those Eldritch waters were substantially expanded upon with new content. After a stellar reception, the devs behind Dredge were able to pump out not one, but two pieces of story-based DLC.

Dubbed Pale Reach and Iron Rig, these new expansions were released several months apart and took your fishing boat to brand-new locations. There we met new NPCs, pulled up weirder and mutated fish, and enjoyed a brief but interesting side-story distraction for a few hours. For those catching up on everyone's favorite Captain, here are the endings to the Dredge DLCs explained.

Warning: Spoilers For The Ending Of Dredge Below

The Point Of No Return

Before diving straight into the murky waters surrounding the story, it's worth highlighting the point of no return. For those who don't know, this is the moment where a game locks you into a specific ending path, and Dredge does signpost that exact moment particularly well. Plus, the game saves before each ending begins, so you can still unlock both in one run.

The point of no return is the moment you give the last lost relic to the Collector on Blackstone Island. A warning will flash, and at this point, you can choose to either do the default "bad ending" or go on an adventure for a little while to unlock the "good ending" instead.

The Two Endings

There are 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:two endings, and getting them is pretty easy as you just have to return the lost relics, which you'll naturally do anyway as the game progresses.

They're also a little similar in their overall theme, but there is enough of a difference between the two to make the process of unlocking them worthwhile. For those going for the 100 percent completionist run, here are both endings broken down.

The Bad Ending In Dredge, Explained

To get the basic "bad ending," return to Collector with the last relic. When you do, he'll warn you that you're approaching the end of the game. If you choose to continue, he'll mark a special spot on your map to visit. A red pillar of light will mark this area, so it's pretty easy to spot.

Sail your vessel towards this spot and interact with it to trigger a cutscene and the end of the game.The Collector is onboard and remarks that this is the spot where the Fisherman's wife died and also where she can be resurrected. The Collector then performs a ritual, tossing the items overboard as he intones some str♏ange script.

Then the power on the boat cuts out, and everything darkens as a ghostly figure of a woman floats up from the depths. In the background, a gigantic red-eyed tentacle monstrosity rises out of the ocean as the screen cuts to black and the credits roll over apocalyptic scenes.

Dark blood-red skies, vicious thunderstorms, and the mansion that was so previously frequented now ablaze. Implying that although the Fisherman got his wife back, it was at a high price, as the world is now 𒈔being destroyed by a gigantic sea blob.

The Good Ending In Dredge, Explained

If the default "bad end" was a little too grim, the alternate is a little more positive but just as dark. To trigger this finale, first collect all the lost relics. Instead of tossing them all at the Collector this time as part of your normal fishing routine, go speak to the Old Mayor over at the Greater Marrow after you hand each one in.

The Mayor is found on an unmarked island that you might sail past a few times, but it's found on P10 on your map grid. There's a small dock on this abandoned archipelago.

The Old Mayor will tell you to go to the Lighthouse Keeper in the Greater Marrow as they have a few things that will add some extra context to what's going on. He'll also explain why the waters surrounding these isles are mutating the fish and making everything look so Eldritch and evil around the coastlines, as well as the secret of the Book of The Deep.

After this lovely and disconcerting discussion, hop back on your boat and go see The Collector again. This time, ask for the book. They will refuse a few times but remain adamant, and eventually a prompt will appear saying, "Step Closer." Accepting the prompt locks you into the "good" ending as you𝔉 take the book from the Collector, who was your reflection in a mirror. After this, return to the Lighthouse 💦Keeper again and speak to them.

They'll ask you to go to another point on the map. It's illuminated, so it's not hard to miss. But, if you're struggling, the map grid is G8. Sailing to this spot and interacting with it will bring up the prompt "Throw it back." This can be canceled twice if you still have things to do. But accepting it will cause the Fisherman to dramatically toss the evil book into the ocean. Something the book is not very happy about.

The cursed tome sinks beneath the waves; the camera slowly pans out; everything is serene and calm. Then a giant sea monster surfaces, swallows the ship and the Fisherman whole, then swims off as the game ends and the credits roll. Though this time, the Mansion is not on fire, and everything seems normal on the island again.

What Does It All Mean?

If you're still left scratching your head by this point, don't worry, here's a breakdown. In the beginning, you are a Fisherman who starts at the Greater Marrow with amnesia. He doesn't remember who he is, why he's there, or what's going on, only that he has to fish. It's revealed that this was caused by the Book of The Deep.

Prior to arriving at these cursed isles, the same Fisherman was on his boat with his wife. The two sailed the seas happily together until, one day, they pulled up the book. Unfortunately, doing so causes a massive sea monster to attack the small and vulnerable vessel.

Our protagonist survives, but sadly his wife does not. These events were witnessed by the remaining islanders, but it was so terrible that the Old Mayor decided to flee to his hermit isle to avoid it all. The Collector wasn't a real person, he was created by the book to be your guide to reviving your dead wife.

If Shadow of The Colossus taught us anything, these kinds of deals never work out how you intend. Sure enough, it's the same here. The Collector turns out to be a manifestation of the dark part of the Fisherman brought about by the machinations of the book and the dark entity it's linked to. Its purpose is to release the blob demon lurking beneath the wav𝓰es so that the apocalypse can begin.

The giant sea beast in the "good ending" is the same one that attacked the boat in the beginning, implying that it's linked to the book. Whether it's another manifestation of the jellyfish-esque Star God or is just a massive fish that's under its influence is honestly up to your own interpretation.

But the instant reaction to the rejection of the mission to recover the relics being death by big sea monster means that the two are definitely linked. There’s also a bit of sub-text about grief, with each ending corresponding to the Fisherman's own rejection or acceptance that his wife is gone, and the following the requests of his dark part is his꧑ denial, driving♕ him in futility to bring her back.

There are also some interesting implications around time. How time in the game seems to pass, how the ritual to summon the Blancmange from Hell has the line "release a lost one frozen in time," implying that perhaps time has stopped for the Fisherman, and he's in a never-ending loop.

Plus, the pages shown onscreen have a solar cycle on them. There's also how the town itself seems to be frozen in time with its architecture. Finally, there are big Shadow Over Innsmouth vibes with how the Presence seems to only affect the town, the fish💯, and any🔯one that gets too close, in this case, the Fisherman and his wife.

Pale Reach Ending, Explained

Dredge’s approach to DLC has been an interesting one. Instead of loading you into a new area or requiring a full restart, it just adds a new location to the map. You can sail to there at your leisure and then take part in the tasks you🃏 find.

As it plays out you’ll start to notice there are large chunks of a gigantic Narwhal-type monster encased in ice scattered around the frozen island. 🍨The spooky thing about that is the💛 the islands are the remains of a monster.

It turns out a very, very long time ago the gigantic Narwhal fought with the Leviathan that capsized your boat at the start of the game. The Leviathan won that brawl and ripped the Narwhal into pieces. But because it’s an unkillable Eldritch monster, it instead froze its parts in ice to preserve them and has been tryin൩g to reconstitu🧔te itself ever since.

The frozen crew you find were lured in and encouraged to dig up the beast with the promise of valuable crystals and other treasures locked within the ice.

At some point a fishing crew stumbled upon it and over time it whispered into their minds and turned them mad. The Captain of the doomed vessel sacrificed his crew one by one in an attempt to resurrect the Narwhal, but unfortunately there was 𓂃a mistake in the ritual.

Three sacrifices were required with the Captain set to be the third. But before that could happen a fourth person was frozen, either after or at the same time and this threw a wrench in the ritual.

Instead of resurrection, all were encased in ice.

The Fisherman appears at some point and through completing tasks around the isle we’re able to lift the curse and free the trapped souls of the long-dead crew that arrived before you. As each soul is freed the giant, still alive Narwhal, slowly closes eye after multiple eye.

When the last one closes, the beast finally goes into what’s assumed to be either an eternal slumber or final death as its golden horn crumbles and falls into the ocean. Then the Fisherman can leave or continue to explore the area.

The Iron Rig Ending, Explained

Just like the Pale Reach, the Iron Rig pops up on your gameworld and you can sail straight to it whenever you like during the main story. It’s a relatively short distance to the North and you&rsquo🌼;ll see it once you get near The Marrows.

The side story surrounding the Rig is one of extinct creatures, corruption and capitalism gone wild. In this tale, the Fisherman comes across a Rig owned by the Ironhaven Company, a large wrought iron and rusting struc꧙ture ✃looming in the ocean to the North.

It's run by a skeleton crew and a few NPCs, primarily the Foreman and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the Scientist. The Foreman tasks the Fisherman with finding lost Ironhaven Company boxes left around the area that can be used to upgrade the Iron Rig, whilst the Scientist requests samples from the local spooky fish population.

After the Iron Rig is fully upgraded the Foreman and his crew proceed to drill into the sea floor beneath them. But because things are never that simple in this land, the drilling causes massive fissures all across the ocean floor, whilst a strange black goop begins to emer꧋ge and pollute🦩 the surrounding sea life.

This strange oil not only mutates the local wildlife, but it also revives the corpses of long-dead species. the Fisherman continues to collect samples for the Scientist, but unfortunately exposure to the goop within these samples mutates the Scientist into a Fishman and he escapes the Rig into the Ocean.

The Foreman on the other hand wants to stop drilling, but with the arrival of The Executive, a representative of Ironhaven, they’re forced to continue excavating. The Foreman wants to abort the drilling as the goop is creating some very dangerous monsters🎃, but his hands are tied because he doesn’t want to get fired.

Things escalate as the Fisherman is asked by the Foreman to sabotage 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the Iron Rigs defense system to allow the monsters in as an attempt to persuade the Executive to abandon the site. The defenses are turned off, and a massive tentacle monster attacks the Rig and starts tearing it apart.

However, this new interloper, like the Narwhal from Pale Reach, is ripped to shreds by the Leviathan as the Iron Rig starts to crumble into the sea. The Executive escapes on a helicopter, whilst the Foreman stays behind to make sure all of hi🌃s crew can escape first before he leaves along with them.

Pale Reach and Iron Rig can be tackled before or after the main game, they have no major impact💯 on the plot of the main story.