Tides of Tomorrow — All Endings Guide

1. Endings Overview

Tides of Tomorrow features 6 distinct endings, though the exact ending you reach is a spectrum result of dozens of decisions across the game's three acts. Endings are not binary switches — they are the culmination of your faction reputation scores, your Story-Link inherited world state, key decision points at specific moments, and whether you have collected the 7 Pre-Flood Lore Fragments required for the True Ending.

2. How Endings Are Determined

Tides of Tomorrow calculates your ending at the Point of No Return — a moment in late Act 3 where the game reads your current state and determines which ending cutscene triggers. The calculation uses four inputs:

1. Faction Reputation Scores — Your Marauder, Reclaimer, and Mystic scores (0–100 each)
2. Lore Fragment Count — How many of the 7 Pre-Flood Lore Fragments you collected
3. Plastemia Meter State — Whether you are in Critical State at the Point of No Return
4. Act 3 Choice: The Council Vote — A single major branching decision approximately 80% through the game

The Council Vote (occurring at Elynd's floating capital, Apex Platform) is the single most consequential decision point. You must choose which faction governs the post-game world. This vote has a multiplier effect on your existing reputation scores — choosing a faction you've neglected results in a narrative contradiction that typically leads to the Compromise Ending regardless of other stats.

3. 🤝 The Reclaimer Ending — "Seeds in Salt Water"

Requirements: Reclaimer reputation ≥70 at the Point of No Return, Marauder reputation below 50, Council Vote cast for Eyla and the Reclaimers.

In this ending, the Reclaimers successfully establish a new governance structure for Elynd. Eyla uses the Tidewalker's connections to broker a fragile peace between the remaining factions. The Plastemia threat is not cured — but Reclaimer engineers successfully deploy atmospheric filtration towers across the six main island chains, slowing the disease's spread for the first time in a century. The ending is explicitly hopeful but acknowledges the long road ahead.

How to Achieve the Reclaimer Ending

• Complete all three of Eyla's main questline missions (The Supply Chain, The Children of Driftholm, The Filtration Accord)
• Repair the East Reach Bridge (mandatory for Eyla's Act 2 quest)
• Do NOT accept Obin's offer in the Act 2 Medicine Bargain sequence — accepting locks you into Marauder path
• Maintain Reclaimer rep above 70 before entering Apex Platform for the Council Vote
• Vote for Eyla at the Council

4. ⚔️ The Marauder Ending — "Iron Tide"

Requirements: Marauder reputation ≥70, Reclaimer reputation below 50, Council Vote cast for Obin and the Marauders.

The Marauders seize governance of Apex Platform and impose martial law across Elynd. Obin establishes a controlled medicine distribution system that effectively cures Plastemia for those within the Marauder hierarchy — but leaves dissidents, Reclaimers, and Mystics without access. The ending is grim and ordered: Elynd survives, but at the cost of freedom for the majority of its population.

How to Achieve the Marauder Ending

• Complete all three of Obin's main questline missions (The Enforcement Run, The Cache Seizure, The Apex Lockdown)
• Accept Obin's offer in the Act 2 Medicine Bargain — gives +15 Marauder rep instantly
• Destroy the Reclaimer Filtration Tower in Act 2 when given the option (optional but boosts Marauder rep to meet threshold more easily)
• Vote for Obin at the Council

5. 🔮 The Mystic Ending — "The Memory of Water"

Requirements: Mystic reputation ≥60, at least 4 of 7 Lore Fragments collected, Voot survived Act 2 (his survival depends on the player defending him during the Marauder raid on the Lore Vault), Council Vote cast for Voot or abstained.

The Mystics reveal that Elynd's Plastemia is not irreversible — it is a transformation the planet itself is undergoing, and the Mystics have been safeguarding the knowledge of how to guide it. The ending is ambiguous and philosophical: Elynd changes, but into something perhaps better than it was. NPCs who fully trusted the Mystics begin showing early signs of a cure. The fate of the majority is left uncertain.

How to Achieve the Mystic Ending

• Begin Voot's questline in Act 1 by finding the Pre-Flood Journal lore document
• Protect Voot during the Marauder Lore Vault Raid (stealth or dialogue approach — combat fails)
• Collect at least 4 of the 7 Pre-Flood Lore Fragments before Act 3
• Abstain from or vote for Voot at the Council Vote

6. 🤝⚔️ The Compromise Ending — "Between the Waves"

Requirements: No faction at or above 70 reputation, all three factions at or above 40 reputation, Council Vote results in a split (abstain, or the vote is contested by all three factions simultaneously).

A fragile coalition government forms at Apex Platform. All three faction leaders are forced to cooperate on medicine distribution and filtration research. The result is chaotic and slow — but uniquely, all three faction storylines reach partial resolution. Many players consider this the most "realistic" ending. Elynd muddles forward without a clear answer, but without catastrophe.

How to Achieve the Compromise Ending

• Keep all three faction reputations between 40–69 throughout the game (balance is the challenge)
• Complete at least one main quest for each faction
• When the Council Vote triggers, choose "Propose Coalition" — only available if all three factions are between 40–69

7. 🌟 The True Ending — "The Tide Turns" (Major Spoilers)

Requirements: Mystic reputation ≥70, ALL 7 Pre-Flood Lore Fragments collected, Voot alive in Act 3, Plastemia meter below 75% at the Point of No Return, and the hidden "Echo Resonance" item obtained by interacting with all Gold Echoes in the game.

The True Ending reveals that Elynd is not merely a flooded planet — it is a planet that has been slowly becoming conscious. The Plastemia disease is not pollution: it is the planet's immune system responding to millennia of human harm, and the Mystics have known this for generations. Voot reveals that the Tidewalker's unique biology (explained via the Echo Resonance item) allows them to become a bridge between human survivors and Elynd's awakening consciousness.

In the True Ending, the Tidewalker undergoes a voluntary partial Plastemia transformation — not as a death, but as a transcendence — becoming the first person to communicate directly with Elynd. The ending sequence shows all three factions receiving a simultaneous cure signal from the planet itself, and the final image is the world ocean receding as Elynd — healed and awake — begins to breathe again.

All 7 Pre-Flood Lore Fragment Locations

1. Pre-Flood Journal — Driftholm collapsed school, ground floor, eastern room
2. Engineer's Manifesto — Sunken Factory, underwater level (requires diving gear from Reclaimer vendor)
3. The Plastemia Report (2087) — Marauder checkpoint archive, bribe or stealth to access (destroyed if Marauder Story-Link attacked this area)
4. Child's Drawing — NPC Orla's clinic (she must be alive — requires helping her in Act 1)
5. The Last Broadcast — Radio tower ruin, northwest island cluster, requires Navigator trait or Power Cell to unlock
6. Voot's Personal Notes — Given by Voot after reaching Mystic rep ≥50 (requires completing his Act 2 questline)
7. The Origin Tablet — Mystic Vault deepest level, only accessible after collecting Fragments 1–6 and returning to Voot

8. 💀 The Plastemia Ending — "Plastic Shore"

Trigger: Your Plastemia meter reaches 100% at any point during Act 3. This ending can also trigger if you reach the Point of No Return in Critical State without receiving medicine within the final chapter's time window.

The Plastemia Ending is the game's tragedy outcome. Your Tidewalker succumbs to the disease — not violently, but slowly. The final hour of the game plays out in a deteriorating haze as the Tidewalker's consciousness fragments. NPC interactions become surreal and disjointed. The final image is the Tidewalker standing on a beach at dawn, half-transformed, watching the ocean as Echoes of all the people they helped flicker past — then stillness.

While considered a "bad ending," many players find the Plastemia Ending narratively powerful. The game awards a special achievement for completing it deliberately. After this ending, Chapter Select is unlocked for the entire game.

9. Key Branching Decision Points

These are the specific choices that have the largest impact on your final ending. Listed in chronological order:

1. Act 1 — The Bridge (Driftholm): Repair it (Reclaimer +12) vs. Destroy it for Obin (Marauder +15, Reclaimer -20). This single choice has the largest early-game faction impact of any decision.
2. Act 1 — Orla's Clinic: Give medicine to Orla's patients (Reclaimer +8, Orla survives for Fragment #4) vs. sell it to the Marauder vendor (Marauder +6, Orla leaves, Fragment #4 permanently missable).
3. Act 2 — The Medicine Bargain: Accept Obin's offer (Marauder +15, locks Reclaimer ending) vs. refuse (Marauder -10, Reclaimer +5).
4. Act 2 — The Lore Vault Raid: Defend Voot (Mystic +20, Voot survives) vs. stand aside (Voot dies, True Ending and Mystic Ending both locked permanently).
5. Act 2 — The Filtration Tower: Protect it (Reclaimer +18) vs. destroy it for Obin (Marauder +20, Reclaimer -25, heavy Plastemia fog increases in Act 3).
6. Act 3 — The Council Vote: Vote Reclaimer / Marauder / Mystic / Propose Coalition / Abstain. The master branching point. See Section 2 above.

10. Endings FAQ