House Of Ashes: How To Save Everyone (Best Ending Guide)

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The relationships you form in The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes may determine what ending you get and who you can save from the story's events. Keeping everyone alive can be pretty difficult with all the quick-time events and important choices you have to make, and several significant events may lead to a character's death.

***Warning: This article contains spoilers for the end of House of Ashes***

Throughout the game, you'll control up to 5 characters, each with complex relationships that can evolve based on your choices. As they get trapped in a Sumerian Temple, they must work together to survive the dangers inside. Special premonitions in House of Ashes may give you clues to avoid dangerous choices or situations, but these can be hard to decipher.

How to Save Everyone (Steps 1–5)

Form Strong Connections Between Characters

To get the best ending in House of Ashes, you need to strengthen the relationships between characters at every opportunity during your playthrough. The first steps you should take should be to establish positive connections between characters rather than adversity. For example, choosing the kind, honest, or hopeful dialogue options early will help you foster strong bonds and unlock new choices later in the story.

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There are various notable actors featured in the Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes, including Clare McConnell, Ashley Tisdale, and Pip Torrens.

Without a proper guide, saving everyone can be nearly impossible, even if you have a general idea of the best choices. For this reason, it's recommended you follow the steps below for your best chance at rescuing each character:

Step

Correct Choice(s)

Air Support	At the beginning of the story, Eric should call in air support, as Jason suggests, for added safety. Doing this can help kill the creatures near the end of the story and protect survivors.
The Farmer	Do not shoot the farmer as Jason when the facility is raided. This prevents Salim from shooting Jason later and allows them to help each other in House of Ashes through a stronger bond.
Merwin	Merwin is a non-playable character you need to keep alive throughout the story. Fail Nick's quick-time event when Jason is giving Merwin morphine and take the safe route when escaping the monsters so that this character can survive and call in air support later.
The Rope	When Dar is chasing Rachel and Eric, choose to let Rachel fall when holding on to the rope. Eric holding on will cause both characters to fall and Eric to die, while letting Rachel go will let her survive the fall and move on.
Salim's QTE	While Salim is running from the monster, complete the quick-time event. This causes Salim to learn about the creature's weakness to sunlight, which will open up new options later.

There are over 60 unique deaths in House of Ashes, making it hard to keep everyone alive despite the game showing some leniency with failed quick-time events that have little impact.

How To Save Everyone (Steps 6–10)

Be Supportive, Not Combative

As you can see in the above video by YouTube creator 100% Guides, the next steps you must take to save everyone are determined by how you dictate character interactions. Despite the dire situation of the story, you can form supportive relationships that unlock new choices if you stay calm.

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The Dark Pictures Anthology Will Delve Into Sci-Fi Horror Next

The next installment in the Dark Pictures Anthology, titled Directive 8020, will launch the cinematic survival series into the sci-fi horror genre.

The process behaves similarly to how you keep everyone alive in A Little Hope and other games from The Dark Pictures Anthology. From this point, the next steps you need to take as the story continues into the next arc are depicted below:

Step

Correct Choice(s)

Medical Kit	Nick will hear Joey crying out at one point, but you need to send Jason to watch Merwin and bring Eric to look for Joey. While you search for Joey, walk down the darker path to your left to find the medical kit. This item lets you heal Salim before entering the vault, allowing him to save Nick later.
Nick and Salim	Strengthen the bond between Nick and Salim by choosing supportive dialogue options when Salim is explaining info about the monster to Nick.
Sneak By The Monster	Succeed on many quick-time events as you are sneaking past the monster later in the story.
Clarice	When Clarice meets up with Rachel, be emotionally supportive of her as she explains that the creatures implanted a parasite within her. Despite her impending transformation, have Rachel tell Clarice she isn't looking well. Rachel must abandon Clarice so that she doesn't kill Eric, but you need to succeed at a QTE event to save Rachel and Eric when Clarice shows up as a monster.
The Stake	When Nick and Jason enter the chamber from the prologue, have Jason grab a stake from a body to the right of the area's entrance. This allows him to defend himself against Joey.

As long as you have followed every step up to this point, it would be best if you were well on your way to saving everyone. However, the last section of decisions is the most vital, so just because you've done everything right up to this point doesn't mean you can slack off and hope for the best. Most importantly, one final brutal QTE event in the last section for each character could revert all your hard work up to that point.

How To Save Everyone (Final Steps)

Make Your Last Choices Count, It All Comes Down To This

Like many games in The Dark Pictures Anthology, the culmination of your choices will boil down to the last hour or two of the story, where chaos erupts in a desperate final sequence. House of Ashes takes this to an extreme, forcing you into scenarios where you have to act fast to get the best results. Stay patient and ready for anything as you tackle these last few steps:

Step

Correct Choice(s)

Machine Gun	Rachel needs to stay behind and shoot the machine gun when the opportunity arises. A successful QTE will give the team time to escape as they recall the location of the mines in the catacombs.
Crucifix	When Kurum approaches Nick in the Assault, you should choose to pick up the Crucifix, not the rifle, when facing off against him.
Salim's Shot	Salim has a chance during the Assault to shoot the monster coming after him or the one attacking Rachel. Keep Rachel alive by shooting the creature attacking her.
Saving Eric	When playing as Rachel, choose to save Eric instead of retreating during the Assault to rescue him.
The White Phosphorus	As Rachel raises her knife to slash the white phosphorus, choose to wait out the QTE and do nothing instead. This act of desperation has untold consequences, so it's best to just wait it out.
Going Back For Salim	While playing as Jason, go back to Salim as he calls for help on the radio. Both can survive if you succeed on a QTE during the rescue attempt, but Salim will die if you don't go back for him.
The Final Stand	During the last mission, you must succeed during a QTE for each playable character. Failing any one of these will result in that character's death, so pass every check, otherwise all your hard work up to this point will be for nothing.

Completing each sequence correctly during The Final Stand will allow everyone to live following the game's events. Finishing the story with every character alive unlocks "The Golden Path" trophy/achievement, a rare testament to the relationships you made. Following a plan and listening to premonitions will give you the best chance to save everyone in The Dark Picture Anthology: House of Ashes.

Source: 100% Guides/YouTube