Dredge is an exciting game that will take you on a journey through the waters surrounding Greater Marrow, exploring cosmic horrors and strange corners of humanity. It’s a journey you never want to end, but at some point it will. This guide explains how many endings there are in Dredge and explains what each means. front spoiler.
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Does Dredge have multiple endings?
Yes, Dredge has two endings. While some players call them good and bad, it’s hard to tell which is which. It all depends on your perception of the journey that the protagonist has made. We’ve outlined how to get each ending below.
How to Get the Bad Ending in Dredge
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To get the bad ending on Dredge, you need to collect all the relics for The Collector. Once you’ve done that, he’ll tell you that you can now take him out to sea to make the final voyage. The game will prompt you at this stage, informing you that this is the final stage of the game and nothing will be saved after this stage. Accept this because it means you can come back to complete any quests you still have open later.
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The Collector will have you waiting until the middle of the night before heading out to sea, but there are no aberrations or horrors to speak of. You need to navigate to the bright red dot in the distance. When you arrive, The Collector will throw all the relics into the sea. This will summon a woman from the depths. However, in the background, you will also see a colossal monster rising from the depths.
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The credits will roll over a destroyed Upper Marrow, implying that the beast it spawned went mad and consumed the world.
How to Get the Good Ending in Dredge
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The good ending on Dredge is much harder to pull off. Collect all the relics as you would for the bad ending, but don’t go out with The Collector. Instead, return to Twisted Strand and find a campfire somewhere in the mangroves. You will need packaged explosives to access it. As you approach the campfire, you’ll encounter The Old Mayor, a character alluded to in Greater Marrow.
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He’ll talk about the book The Collector is holding, but he won’t come with you. You then need to return to Greater Marrow and speak to the lighthouse keeper. Ask him what he knows about the Crimson and Silver Book, and he’ll tell you a haunting story. It is clear that you have to go get it at The Collector.
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When you ask the collector for the book, he will refuse several times before you touch it. It is then revealed that the protagonist is actually The Collector. In their madness, they forgot who they were. With the book in hand, you can return to the lighthouse keeper once more.
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The lighthouse keeper will tell you that you need to put the book back into the sea. She shines a light on the sea for you to follow. Once there, after throwing the book overboard, a huge monster will devour the ship. The protagonist, and therefore The Collector, is dead.
Explanation of dredge terminations
Now that you know how to get each ending, you might be wondering what they mean. We’ve explained each one below, so you won’t be left in the dark.
Dredge’s Bad Ending Explained
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Dredge’s bad ending is simple enough to understand if you’ve collected the messages in bottles around the sea. These tell the story of a couple who set out to live on a ship at sea, but been tormented by bad luck. The wife kept an item with the old name of the ship and the husband desperately wanted to get rid of all of them before leaving because it’s bad luck to keep these items. The woman did not take him seriously. The posts tell how the husband slowly went crazy, throwing all sorts of things into the boat. Before long, he also dumped his wife. The final score shows that his madness is complete. The ancient gods that lurk beneath the surface of the water forced their way into his mind and took him over.
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When you throw all the items overboard where the wife spawns, you return the items originally thrown when the husband went mad. The woman then comes back, sort of, because she’s the only thing that’s been thrown away and hasn’t been returned yet. However, the Elder God in the background, who also rises from the depths, knew this. He used the madness he inflicted and the wish of a loved one to convince The Collector to continue this search for knowledge and relics. The final piece of the puzzle with this ending is revealed by the good ending. Spoilers ahead if you haven’t figured out this ending yet..
The good ending reveals that the protagonist and the collector are the same people. Therefore, when you see The Collector resurrect this woman, his wife, from the depths, it’s actually the protagonist who does it. That’s because the protagonist is the man who went crazy in the sea. That’s why at the beginning of Dredge, you see the boat crashing into the rocks near the lighthouse. You, the captain, are mad, but you were cast ashore because the Old God had work for you. With this ending you have succeeded, but at what cost?
Dredge’s Good Ending Explained
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There’s a lot going on in Dredge’s good ending. The old mayor went mad when he saw a book that a group of people saw in the sea. He found himself stranded on an island, while the lighthouse keeper managed to get back to Greater Marrow. Everyone in town says the former mayor was a little angry anyway, so maybe he had already been exposed to the book. Or he was weakened by the power of the Old God through him.
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When you encounter The Old Mayor, a callback to this character is generated, which is why most players ask the Lighthouse Keeper about him. The lighthouse keeper knows you and your true identity from the start. That’s why he sends you to the Collector. When you meet him and pick up the book, revealing that you are, in fact, the collector, everything falls into place.
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When you started the game and crashed into the rocks, the lighthouse keeper recognized you. It’s because she was there when everyone saw the book. She survived, Old Major went mad, and somehow you were transported or reborn in a ship and sent to Greater Marrow by the Old God. The Collector is the will of the Old God working through you, giving you strange powers and trying to be set free. When you throw the book into the sea, a giant fish kills you because the Elder God is displeased with you. He knows he lost his hook on you, so might as well kill you because you’re no longer worth to him. The reason this is the good ending is because the town of Greater Marrow survives the ending, indicating that the Old God is still locked away.
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