Shadows Over Loathing Endings Guide

A guide to all known endings in Shadows Over Loathing.

Read Before

No information in this guide has been or will be spoiler tagged, due to the nature of the topic. If you’re reading a guide on different endings for the game, then be prepared to see stuff that’s going to appear at the end of the game. Additionally:

All companion endings will be marked with a (C) to clarify that they are companion endings. This is due to the unique nature they have of being both achievement endings and also pretty simple to get. I would put them all in one section but steam apparently has a character limit for guide sections so I have to separate the parts. Stupid I know, but at least you can click and scroll straight to the ending you want now.

Please give this guide a thumbs up, solely because it will attract more attention and have more people input their knowledge of the endings. This game is incredibly diverse and complicated, and it’ll take a lot of community involvement to find all the endings. I get no actual benefit from the rating so don’t think this is some dumb “remember to like and subscribe” thing.

Shadow taint is a mechanic that effects some endings. Most notably, having a shadow taint of 3 or above will lock out every single companion ending, even Alphonse. Ironically, having a shadow taint of 5 is required to get the Shadow Ending, So pick and choose your battles. Your shadow taint level is the bottom stat on your character sheet, and can be raised by eating shadow foods or shoving your hand in rifts and stuff. If you can’t see your shadow taint, it’s level 0.

Companion endings all require going through both your companion’s vignettes, and then performing the necessary action at the final location in the game. For some of these, this could require something like having a level of shadow taint, for others this could require having a certain item ready for them to use. The universal requirement for all these companions is that you fully complete all their vignettes, and then interact with them in the final area. All these endings reward you with an achievement, so you actually do have a reason to go through with all this.

Finally, this guide is W.I.P.

Any information you read in it is accurate, but the companion endings section isn’t complete, and there is a significant chance there are endings I’m unaware of. This will be changed when I get to it relatively soon, but please if you know of any endings not on this list currently feel free to comment or message me about them.

The lack of information will be remedied A.S.A.P., the only real reason I’ve put it up publicly is so people can help inform me about possible endings they’ve discovered. Do not think this is in any way a complete guide as of yet.

Wormwood Ending

The Wormwood ending isn’t too difficult to get, just requires a little back and forth. To begin, just play as you would normally through the game until you reach S.I.T Campus. At that point, head into the college to begin. Sign up to attend picking whatever classes you want, and note the painting on the right of the sign up desk. This is a painting of Dean Wormwood, the mysterious leader of the school. Head into the library and search up “Wormwood” in the faculty log. What should appear is as follows:

“Lucian Wormwood, Dean of Students 1777-1808. Presided over Galtz Prize ceremony, Feb. 17,1788. Disappeared after the Black Fire Incident, presumed dead.”

Now that you know the topic of your research, time to do some digging. Take the date listed and head to The Watchful Eye in Ocean City, There should be an article in the archives from 1800-1819, specifically for the date Mar. 25, 1808. It details the death of an “Assistant Dean Benward Jiffy,” and the disappearance of Dean Wormwood. Lovely stuff, not your problem. Head to S.I.T. Campus and to the library, and toss the surname “Jeffy” into the faculty log. It should read:

“Benward Jeffy, Adjunct Professor (Astronomy) 1770-1785. Research Chair (Astronomy) 1785-1795. Awarded Galtz Prize on Feb. 17, 1788.”

Glad to see he had such a rich career, now you get the chance to learn more about it. Note the date he was awarded the Galtz Prize and head back to The Watchful Eye in Ocean City. Open up the archives from 1783-1799, and read the new article from Feb 17, 1788. It mentions four Professors at S.I.T. including Jeffy, our postmortem pal. Professors Gregory, Howe, and Milkwood all have entries in the faculty log but they’re not necessary for the ending.

Great, so now we know that Dean Wormwood and Assistant Dean Jeffy were doing something they probably shouldn’t of, messed up, and it ended with Jeffy being killed and Wormwood disappearing. Finding Jeffy’s corpse would be too difficult, so instead let’s just undisappear Wormwood. To find the missing Dean, first you’ll have to complete your education at S.I.T. which shouldn’t be too difficult. Solve the puzzles, beat the enemies to pulp, and pass the stat checks to graduate, which will allow you to squeeze past Ted and get into the Stacks.

Inside the pointlessly difficult to enter room should be a creepy cultist man doing scary things around a book. Despite your first instinct being to put your foot through his face, don’t bully him for his inadiquate dance moves or shoddy circle drawing, and instead talk to him about Jeffy. There should be a skill check to prove your worth, and upon passing it, Wormwood will reveal that he’s actually not an insane cultist and actually doing his best effort to stop the shadow from consuming everybody. Crazy. Anyway, he should let you through to get the book you need, but be aware that you don’t want the one he was just dancing around. Remove that and all this work’ll be for nothing.

instead, walk past the cool cultist section, and grab the cursed book from the bottom row of book shelves. As you head to exit the room, once again ignoring the book in the centre of the cultist circle, Dean Wormwood should hand you a little scroll. He’ll warn you to only use it when you need it most. Smile, wave, and moonwalk out of the Stacks. Congratulations partner, you’ve successfully gotten through the hard part. All that’s left now is to head to the end of the game.

Once you’re inside the Black House, get your uncle to toss the bomb, leaving you in the epilogue area with Madame President, a giant all-knowing deity, and, most importantly, a funny portal structure. interact with the portal, and you should be given the opportunity to read out the scroll. Do so, and congratulations, you just saved the universe. Well more accurately Dean Wormwood did most of the work but don’t let that get you down he probably evaporated the second you read the scroll. Anyway, congrats, you’ve completed the Wormwood Ending!

Yecchian Ending

Surprisingly, this is one of the easiest endings to get, and also grants the achievement “Somebody Else’s Problem.”

What you’re going to need to do is probably start a new run, since most people lock themselves out of this ending relatively early. Complete the prologue as you usually would, go to sleep, and when you wake up head to the Fridge Factory. Ask the gang where you could get some meat to pay the toll, and they’ll direct you to the Goldthweit Park. Chat with the park groundskeeper, pass the stat check to convince him you’re a government worker, and then accept the job the clear the roaches out of the butterfly zoo. Note that if you’re doing a pacifist run you won’t be able to accept this side quest, but unchecking the pacifist option in the settings, accepting the quest, and then rechecking the pacifist option won’t bar you from getting the pacifist achievement or anything.

Now, walk into the butterfly zoo and you’ll notice that you only have the option to attack the roaches. DO NOT DO IT. Even just attacking one group of them will lock you out of the ending. instead, you’re going to progress through the game and come back to this later. What you’ll be doing in the meantime is raising your mysticality stat. I recommend changing your difficulty to easy for this so the stat requirement is relatively low. Once you have 8 mysticality (more or less depending on your difficulty,) you should have the option to communicate with the roaches.

When communicating with these featherless bipeds, they shall reveal that they are actually an alien race known as Yecchians. You will proceed to have your brain, freaky friday style, swapped into the body of a Yecchian in a galaxy far, far away. Once you inhabit a fleshy slimy body, talk with the other Yecchians and they will reveal that the shadow that threatens your world is threatening their planet as well. They will give you a crystal, that will allow you to direct this great evil to a different planet called Gobulon Prime. Sucks to be those guys I guess.

Anyway, accept the crystal, get beamed back into your (now oddly more moist) stick-person body, and go accept your tiny insignificant amount of meat from the park groundskeeper. Continue to progress through the game, being careful not to raise your shadow taint as with almost every other run, and finally enter the Black House. Have your uncle toss the bomb, and head through the portal. Inside the infinite and undying void should be a big monument kind of machine. Interacting with it should give you the option to use the crystal on it. Doing so will save the entire universe, besides Gobulon Prime, which will die horrifically killing all of it’s inhabitants including their children and destroying their fully developed cure for space cancer that was seconds away from being shared across the universe.

Still Earth is fine and you got rid of those pesky giant roaches so congrats, you saved both Earth, and wherever the Yecchians live! Enjoy your achievement and the blood on your hands.

Fight Ending

Hop through the portal to the endgame area, walk over to the final boss, and choose the fight option. You’ll have all your companions to help you though, and we all know how powerful they are and how they certainly won’t all be one shot on even easy mode, right? Anyway, use all those combat items you’ve saved until now, and target the eyes and mouth. The President needs to charge her attacks so hopefully you can take out the eyes and mouth before she gets to attack even once.

Beat them into submission, and you’ve gotten the Fight Ending! Not particularly special, no achievements or anything, which is odd considering it’s the only ending that requires you kill a god by hand.

Die Horrifically Ending

To attain this ending, have Uncle Murray throw the bomb, head through the portal, and walk over to the final boss, what the shadow is the shadow of. Select the “Fight it” option, and enter combat. Lose due to the fact that you are a random person with a goblin lady and you can’t really kill a god with a spatula.

Alternatively, instead of fighting the end all of existance, you can simply surrender. It has the same effect as losing the fight, since in both instances you are murdered horrifically.

Congratulations, the universe is damned and you’ve been vaporised from existence.

(C) Adams Ending

To coerce Adams to become your companion you’ll need to select Alchemy as your major in S.I.T. when signing up. Head to the chemicals lab and do everything your teacher asks of you (throw a heap of rocks off of a bridge) and you’ll then be allowed to use the chemical mixer. You’ll need to clean up the chemical book to your right (2, 1, 1, 2,) and then you’ll need to gather arsenic (under a kid’s pillow in Hilbert House,) and *then* you’ll be able to make Bronze Revivifying Juice (3, 1, 3, 2.) Use the healthy little liquid on the statue just outside of the classroom to unlock Adams as a companion. (Then get lithium from the Soda House in Ocean City and go 4, 1, 2, 3 to pass Chemistry.)

Great, you’ve now got an old man on your side, let’s get ready to kill a god. Walk around S.I.T. Campus until Adams calls you over to chat. Start the vignette so Adams can make a quick jog through the infinite hallway until he gets to his office. Search his office for stuff, until you’re certain you’ve fully looted the place, and then head back to your player character.

Next up, head to Crystaldream Lake and wander around until Adams calls you over, where he’ll confess he just ass blasted the general area. He’ll pretend it was actually a stinky tree nearby, which will be the topic of his vignette. Inspect the stinky tree, upgrade one of Adams’ abilities, and then head back to your player character. Now, surprisingly, you’re not ready to head to the final boss. You’re actually gonna wanna head to the Chemical Lab at S.I.T. and make an “Umbraline Annihilation solution. You should know how to make that since you graduated alchemy, right? Oh? You don’t? Well neither did I, since the alchemy class is utter BS and 90% trial and error. Anyway, if you don’t feel like mixing chemicals together for an hour, the order is 1, 2, 3, 4. Same as my pin number.

Grab the Umbraline Annihilation solution (the game will act like it’s unimportant, keep it anyway,) and head to the end of the game. Get uncle dearest to toss the bomb, and head on through the portal. Converse with Adams, and he’ll mention that the horrifying mass of eyes and mouths is comprised of Umbraline. Toss the Umbraline Annihilation solution you conveniently knew to bring because you’re just that smart, and watch as an undying deity falls to it’s knees because of a little chemical spill.

Congrats, you’ve gotten the Adams Ending. Alchemy saves the Universe.

(C) Alphonse Ending

First, to have Alphonse become your companion, you must carry a cursed item around The Big Moist. There’s some debate as to the exact requirements, but to be safe just don’t uncurse the items you get at the end of each chapter, have Alphonse eventually join your party, and only then begin purifying your items. (Or just keep them cursed, there’s no real consequences.)

Once you’ve gotten Alphonse, just travel around The Big Moist for a while, until he calls you over to chat. Start his first vignette where you’ll have to fight three enemy alligator-people. The fight is really easy, don’t worry, but (incredibly) annoyingly, there’s no pacifist option. So if you’re doing a pacifist run, I recommend beating the game for the achievement, and then coming back to continue, when fighting becomes an availability for you again. If you’re not doing a pacifist run though, then just kick their asses and finish the first vignette.

The second vignette is actually still in The Big Moist. Convenient. Just walk around until Alphonse calls you over for a chat again, then go ahead and start the second vignette. For this one, all you have to do is chat with Alphonse’s family. After talking with his son, daughter, and wife, finding out why Alphonse seems so violent all the time (he has a hard domestic life,) return to the player character.

Now, finally, head to the end of the game. Once you’re in the area before you enter the portal, eat a heap of shadow foods until you have level 1 shadow taint. You should have plenty from Alphonse giving it to you in random encounters. To check your shadow taint level, it’s at the bottom of your character sheet. Make sure it’s only level 1, max level 2. Any higher will lock you out of the ending.

Once you’re level one shadow taint, Alphonse has finished both of his vignettes, and you’re ready, have you uncle toss the bomb and go through the portal. Once there, talk to Alphonse and allow him to eat the President. Once he’s stuffed, interact with the console and press the red button. You’ll get the “Alphonse Ending” and destroy the entire Universe. Hope it was worth it. Apparently this ending grants the (current) rarest achievement in the game, so congrats.

(C) Gabby Ending

Probably the easiest companion ending to get, you’re pretty much handed it. Gabby, the codependent goblin, clings to you the second she sees you, no matter how grumpily or tiredly you sigh. Take her to Crystaldream Lake and walk around until she calls you over to chat, where she’ll ask for permission to leave you for a second (like I said, codependent.) She’ll head into a dark, damp, moist and warm cave where she’ll eat random mushrooms off of the ground, stand on a hot air vent, and then explode. Then one of the 17-ish babies that are born from her violently bursting will grow spectacularly fast, and walk out of the cave back to your player character. The original Gabby is dead and has been replaced by her child, and your character will never know.

Ignoring the fact that it’s possible for your friend to go to the toilet, die, and be replaced int he span of 10 seconds, walk around Crystaldream Lake for a while more until Gabby calls you over. She asks for permission to leave (codependency runs in the family,) and upon approving her second vignette will begin. She’ll head to the cave she was born in and find all of her siblings and all of their beautiful quirks. She’ll meet and greet a few of them, get stronger from shaking so many hands, and then head back out to you.

Now that Gabby’s finished doing… that, head to the Black House. Kiss uncle, have him toss the bomb, head through the portal, have Gabby follow whether you want her to or not, and then give her a chat. She’ll ask nicely to summon 17-ish copies of herself to an ethereal void and home of a god, and if you allow her to do so, she’ll do exactly as said. Somehow, 18-ish goblins in one place dancing awkwardly results in the destruction of a deity.

You, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby and Gabby have all worked together to save the universe. Congratulations! (What happens to all these clones now?)

(C) Obie Ending

Obie O’Brien the Oboe Hobo is a particularly perilous pal of hellsome happenings. Apparently.

Quite possibly the second companion you’ll find, he can be found in Goldthwait Park in Ocean City. The park manager will ask you to clear him out. Go up to him (he’ll be standing next to the fountain,) and convince him to leave. Don’t be rude, or use any skill checks, my advice is give him some meat and then ask nicely. He’ll skedaddle to the hobo camp, where he’ll play his oboe until you catch up with him. Once at the hobo camp, ask if he’s into the idea of adventuring with you, and he’ll tag along.

You’ll want to head to The Big Moist, where eventually Obie’ll ask to chat. Give him the clear to start his vignette. He’ll walk into a house, check every item and structure, and then leave mildly disappointed. Glad to see Obie’s having the time of his life.

Now, you’re gonna wanna head to S.I.T. and waltz around a little, until Obie calls you over. In Obie’s second vignette he’ll wander into a bar with the heating a little too high. Ignoring the succubi and the extremely touchable candles, have Obie converse with the bar tender. Obie shall reveal that he made a deal with the demon long ago to gain fantastical music abilities, but now he wants out. Challenge the demon to a duel and the fool’ll flounder and fall to the call of Obie’s oboe. But that isn’t the end, oh no. Obie may be free, but there’s more to accomplish in this dastardly devilish diner.

Walk to the right to find Walter White Denny Badman, jazz flautist extraordinaire. He’ll challenge you to a friendly game of Danny Says. Sit on the stool next to him and play the notes in the order and direction he does. Watch him play, the notes he uses will go in certain directions and in a certain order. Play them back in those same directions and orders. You can play a note at any point, you don’t have to wait for him to finish, so as soon as you see him play a note, copy him straight away. I also recommend using WASD, since it’ll just be so much faster. Once you succeed to at playing the forbidden tune, feel free to head back out to end the vignette.

Great, Obie’s free from the clutches of the demon underworld and can now play with a clear soul. Time to do so, in the epilogue area. Grab Obie and head to the Black House, getting Uncle Murray to toss the bomb. Get ready to give the Devil his due. Ask Obie to blow that horn, and the beautiful melody will rock the world to it’s core, baby.

Shadow Ending (W.I.P.)

Also known as the evil ending, this ending requires you raise your shadow taint to level 5, causing you to look particularly evil, while also having pretty much everyone hate your guts. The ending is also pretty much the same as the Die Horrifically Ending. It also locks you out of all companion endings on the run you do this with. Really this run is the game’s method of forcing you to waste 9-ish hours just so you can be kicked in the balls.

Basically just eat as many shadow foods as possible, don’t uncurse any items, stick your hand in any void holes, and once you get to the pillars near the Black House just absorb them instead of destroying them. Head to the epilogue area, absorb the president, get the evil ending. I’ll go into a more in-depth guide when I get to it but that should carry you along pretty well.

Forgive me for taking some time to finish this part. I’m not particularly excited for it.