As I sat there, controller in hand, thinking I'd seen everything the Living Lands had to offer, a bombshell dropped that made my completionist heart skip a beat. Venus Theory, the composer for Obsidian's latest epic Avowed, casually mentioned in an interview that there's an ending so rare, so hidden, it might as well be a unicorn wearing an invisibility cloak. My fellow gamers, we have a new white whale, and it's not swimming in any ocean you can chart. This isn't just another branching path; it's a narrative easter egg hidden deeper than a dragon's hoard in a mountain of musical notes.
The Composer's Cryptic Confession
Picture this: you've battled through the game, made your choices, and watched the credits roll. You feel satisfied. Then you learn from the person who scored your entire adventure that you missed the real finale. Venus Theory described this Avowed ending as "exceptionally rare" and "likely not canon," but a "fun one" nonetheless. For me, this was like finding out the symphony I just listened to had a secret movement only playable on a piano hidden in the conductor's attic. He teased that designing the music for this conclusion was "really challenging and interesting," which suggests the audio itself might be a clue—a siren's song leading to a narrative shore few will ever see.
The Path Less (Never?) Traveled
So, how does one stumble upon this gaming grail? According to the maestro, it's not about sheer difficulty, but about a series of "very specific," potentially "counter-intuitive decisions" made from start to finish. This isn't your standard good/evil binary. We're talking about choices that might make your character look like a bumbling fool or a chaotic neutral trickster. The final key is a speech check—but here's the twist: you have to fail it. That's right. Succeed, and you get a standard ending. Fail spectacularly, and the rare variant unfolds. It’s a design choice as beautifully perverse as a lock that only opens when you break the key inside it.
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The Counter-Intuitive Core: Make decisions that seem wrong, unhelpful, or bizarre.
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The Final Hurdle: Purposefully botch a crucial final dialogue check.
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The Reward: An ending so obscure, the game's own director might have forgotten it exists.
An Even Deeper Mystery? 🕵️♂️
Just when you think the rabbit hole can't get deeper, Venus Theory hinted at something even more tantalizing. He suggested Avowed might harbor an ending "even more obscure" that could take "weeks or even months" for the community to unearth. This isn't just rare; it's archeological. It implies layers of secrets, triggers, or conditions so complex that discovering them will be a communal effort akin to deciphering an alien language broadcast through static. My theory? It might involve actions spread across multiple playthroughs, specific in-game time triggers, or interactions with seemingly mundane objects.
To Save-Scum or Not to Save-Scum?
Ah, the eternal ethical dilemma of the RPG player. The "age-old tactic" of save scumming—saving before big decisions and reloading—is the fastest way to map every branch. For a secret this convoluted, it's practically a necessity. However, part of me feels that brute-forcing this ending with save states is like using a bulldozer to find a hidden garden. It gets the job done, but destroys the magic of the stumble. Obsidian games are built for replayability, and this secret feels like their ultimate love letter to those who live in their worlds across multiple characters and ideologies.
The Case For Scumming:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ⏱️ Saves Time | 🎭 Breaks Immersion |
| 🗺️ Maps All Possibilities | 😴 Can Feel Like a Chore |
| 🧩 Solves the Puzzle | 🙈 Spoils the Surprise |
The Case Against: Playing organically, making those weird choices on a dedicated "Chaos" playthrough, and genuinely experiencing the failure that leads to triumph... that's the stuff of legendary gaming stories.
The Hunt is On!
As of 2026, the gaming community is on high alert. Forums are buzzing, wikis have blank pages waiting to be filled, and YouTube guides titled "HOW TO GET THE ULTRA RARE ENDING" are inevitably being recorded. Venus Theory has thrown down a gauntlet woven from musical staves and narrative threads. Will we find it? Absolutely. The collective mind of the internet is more relentless than a golem with a single programming directive. But the journey to find it—the theories, the dead ends, the triumphant post from a player who stumbled upon it by accident—that's going to be the real treasure. For now, I'm starting a new game. I'm going to be the most unhelpful, speech-failing hero the Living Lands has ever seen. Wish me luck, or rather, wish me glorious, spectacular failure. After all, in the world of Avowed, sometimes losing is the only way to win big.
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