House of Ashes guide: How to get all achievements in the game

The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes has several achievements that you can earn. However, many of them can’t be obtained in a single playthrough. Instead, you’re going to have to replay a few chapters or try other modes. Try to have backup saves at all times to speed up the process. Anyway, here’s our House of Ashes guide to help you get all the achievements or trophies so you can reach 100% completion.

Note: For more information, check out our guides and features hub for The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes. Likewise, please be reminded that this guide contains spoilers.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes guide – How to get all achievements and trophies for 100% completion

Mode completion and overall progress

• Full House – Collect all trophies or achievements in House of Ashes.
• There is Always Hope – Complete the game in solo mode. You can take a look at our Theatrical Cut walkthrough to help you with everything you need to know about the campaign.
• We Are Not Alone – Complete the Cursed prologue in Movie Night (online co-op) mode.

Collectibles

• The Statement of Randolph Hodgson – Collect all Randolph’s Journal entries.
• Portents and Casualties of War – These achievements in House of Ashes refer to the white-framed and dark-framed pictures respectively. You can take a look at our premonitions guide for more info.
• Scratching at the Past – Find all secrets. You can check our secrets/collectibles guide for anything that you may have missed.

Endings

The walkthrough contains all the info you need for a full run. But, you’ll also want to take note of the possible outcomes in the Daylight finale and endings. Likewise, some of these are related to the bearings/important decisions that you’ll make. Lastly, if you need characters to get killed off intentionally, you can read our character deaths/Dumb Ways to Die guide.

• Golden Path – All five main characters survived the finale.
• Six Minutes of Night – Everyone died in the finale. You can either fail the QTEs against the vampires or fail the QTEs against Balathu/Kurum if he’s still around (this will cause the vampires to automatically kill the other characters).

• Final Girl – Have only one survivor at the end of the game.I can’t confirm if this has to be Rachel. What I can say is that I didn’t get this achievement when I intentionally killed the rest and only kept Salim alive.
• Into the Sunset – Salim returned home to his son. Do not call for air support during The Briefing and ensure that Merwin dies early (he must not repair the radio). Continue the campaign and make sure that Salim stays alive. Because there’s no air support after the Daylight finale, Salim will walk away without being captured.
• Climbing Out of Hell – Rachel survives after rejecting both her lovers. Rachel, Eric, and Nick are in a love triangle. Whenever you control these characters, make sure that you pick the negative/hostile/mean responses. During The Ancient One, Rachel will choose either Eric or Nick. But, if relations are too low, she’ll dump both of them. Keep her alive until the end.
• Lost In Time – Rachel wasn’t rescued and she remains trapped in the cocoon. This House of Ashes achievement is a bit more complicated:
  • Ensure that Eric is dead before you reach the Strange Aeons chapter.
  • Ensure that Rachel remains alive; she’ll get bitten and infected during The Horror, but that’s okay.
  • In The City, have Jason examine the mummified corpse that’s still alive.
  • In Strange Aeons, Rachel will scream in pain due to the parasite. Avoid dialogue options that will get her killed.
  • Salim will talk about the corpse and the rejuvenating goop in the cocoon. Agree to this plan and the group will place Rachel inside the cocoon. Again, Eric has to be dead before this point. Otherwise, he’ll use the UV wand to make the parasite leave Rachel’s body.
  • In the next chapters/finale, ensure that your other teammates die.
  • When the mid-credits scene plays, you’re told that Rachel was left behind and her body was never found.

Additional deaths

• Double Tap – Eric and Rachel died to the same explosion.
  • Make sure that Rachel and Eric remain alive for a while.
  • In The Truce – Bloodbath, Jason will tell Nick to place C4 explosives (either in the middle or off to the sides).
  • In The Assault, have Rachel run instead of firing the machine gun. When Nick is prompted, tell the squad to run down the path where the C4 charges were planted. Rachel and Eric will both die.
• Full Clearance – Clarice kills Eric after she gets infected.
  • Ensure that Eric remains alive for a while.
  • In The Truce – Bloodbath, help Clarice across the gap.
  • In The Assault and The Horror, choose the worried or compassionate replies to keep her with the group.
  • During the vampire encounter in The Horror, Clarice will die and reanimate. If Eric survives, he’ll get killed by Clarice at the end of this sequence.

• Until Death Do Us Part – Rachel gets infected and she kills Eric, or Eric kills her.
  • Ensure that Rachel and Eric remain alive for a while. Rachel gets bitten and infected during The Horror, but that’s okay.
  • In Strange Aeons, Rachel will scream in pain due to the parasite. Avoid dialogue options that will get her killed.
  • Salim will talk about the corpse and the rejuvenating goop in the cocoon. Disagree with this plan and pass the QTE so Rachel can run away.
  • At the end of Semper Fi, Rachel will attack the group (kinda like what Clarice usually does in this scenario). Eric can succeed or fail the QTEs to get the achievement.
  • If only Eric and one other teammate are alive at the end of Semper Fi, then vampire Rachel will try to grab them as they’re scaling up the rope. Eric will automatically cut the rope here and Rachel will fall down into the depths. I’m not sure if this will let you get this House of Ashes achievement since I had already obtained it using the aforementioned method.
• Ghost Signal – Eric ignores Nick’s radio signal.
  • In most interactions between Eric and Nick, always choose the negative responses. Also, in The Ancient One, choose not to help Nick (Rachel will save him instead).
  • In The Vault, choose to advance instead of retreating.
  • Pass the “Don’t Breathe” minigames to destroy the hive.
  • The group will think that Nick died. Eric will receive his distress call, but you can ignore it.
• Old Dog – Balathu made two kills with his spear.
  • During the Cursed prologue, make Balathu kill the woman (Spear kill #1). Ensure that Balathu is the last one to die in the prologue (choose the fight instead of the betray option) so that he’s the one to chasing your group throughout the campaign.
  • In The Vault, have Nick retreat. Balathu will follow your team.
  • In Semper Fi, have Jason rescue Salim. Pass the QTEs against the vampires. Afterward, Balathu will throw his spear at Jason. Fail the QTE here so Jason gets impaled (Spear kill #2).
  • If you didn’t kill the woman with the spear during the prologue, then perhaps you can just reload from Semper Fi. Balathu kills Jason there. Then, in the Daylight finale, he can kill two characters (eye-gouging, and a spear thrust followed by a bite to the neck).

Miscellaneous achievements in House of Ashes

• Start Thinking Like a Marine – Complete the campaign and choose only the Head decisions. Just play the game and pick the dialogue options with a “brain” icon.
• The Sword and the Shield – Kurum and Balathu chose to fight together. During the Cursed prologue, just pick the friendly/level-headed responses. Then, when prompted, choose to fight the monsters instead of betraying Balathu.
• Illuminating Evidence – Eric discovered the effects of the UV wand.
  • In After the Fall – Slayer, Salim will fight off a vampire. As he tries to escape, the vampire will reach for him and it’ll howl in pain due to sunlight.
  • In The Truce, make sure that Nick and Salim pass the QTEs so they can kill the vampire.
  • In The Truce – Bloodbath, Eric will attempt to perform an autopsy on the creature’s corpse. He’ll use the UV lamp which accidentally causes the body to burst into flames.
• Let Me Have a Go – Three characters need to use the UV wand.
  • This one actually has me stumped. Eric is the first one to use it (as mentioned in the Illuminated Evidence achievement). He’ll wave it around to burn Joey in The Truce – Bloodbath, and he’ll keep it with him throughout the game unless he’s killed.
  • I tried to get Eric killed in The Assault (C4 explosion), but I didn’t see anyone pick up the UV wand.
  • I also tried to get Eric killed in The Horror (death by Clarice), but I don’t think anyone grabbed the UV wand either.

• Ain’t Got Time to Bleed – This is related to the Blood bearing where you pick up a medkit during After the Fall – Slayer, as well as avoiding injuries throughout your run.
  • In general, try to pass all possible QTEs to prevent deaths and injuries.
  • In The Horror, have Salim shoot the monster that’s lunging for him instead of the one that has Rachel pinned (he’ll get injured if you make the wrong choice).
  • In The Horror, Nick will fight Balathu. He’ll get automatically injured here, which means this is the only point in the game where an injury is allowed.
  • In Strange Aeons, Nick will use the medkit to treat his wounds.
  • Progress through The Vault normally. If all goes well and everyone’s alive, you’ll get this House of Ashes achievement.
• So You’re My Technician – Merwin fixed the radio. Keep Merwin alive from Underworld to The Temple (i.e., don’t suffocate him or leave him behind). Later in The Signal, he’ll repair the radio to call for air support, but he ends up getting shot by Dar.

• Chekhov’s Gun – Rachel used the machine gun. In The Assault, choose to fire the machine gun instead of running away. There are multiple QTEs/aim-and-shoot moments here, so just succeed in all of them to get this achievement in House of Ashes.
• Vision of the Past and The Thing – Both of these achievements in House of Ashes are related to the parasite gestating in Rachel’s body, as well as the UV lamp that Eric is using.
  • Keep Eric and Rachel alive. Rachel will get bitten and infected in The Horror, but that’s fine. As for Eric, you’ll need to get the Illuminating Evidence achievement mentioned above so that he continues to use the UV lamp.
  • In The City, Jason and Salim need to examine the mummified ancient fella who’s still alive.
  • In Strange Aeons, Rachel will see a memory of the creature. It shows the aliens crash-landing on Earth. This nets you the Vision of the Past achievement.
  • Shortly after that, she’ll scream in agony. Avoid options that will get her killed.
  • Once Salim mentions the cocoon/goop, agree to the plan. As the group moves her to that location, Eric will use the UV lamp. Rachel will vomit the parasite. You’ll receive The Thing achievement. Oh, and make sure to find and kill that little critter so you can obtain the Alien Parasite secret.

• Semper Fi – Jason went back for Salim and they both made it back to the elevator. During the Semper Fi chapter, choose to go back for Salim. Pass all the QTEs here so both Jason and Salim survive.
• Oorah! – Eric and Nick shared a moment in the elevator.
  • This achievement is fairly easy to get. First, just make sure that both Eric and Nick are alive.
  • Have Rachel die during Strange Aeons (i.e., gunshot or white phosphorous).
  • In Semper Fi, let Jason go back for Salim. Fail the QTEs so both of them die.
  • When Eric and Nick reach the elevator, they’ll have a chat.
• Heart to Heart – Nick killed the ancient warrior (Balathu) with a stake.
  • This one can be a little tricky. There are several instances when Balathu goes up against Nick, but only two moments when it’s possible to actually kill the Akkadian. First, follow the steps mentioned in Old Dog so that Balathu is the one chasing the group:
    • In The Vault, have Nick retreat. During the Daylight finale, Balathu will attack your team. There’s a chance that Nick will be the one who engages him. If you pass the QTE, he’ll impale Balathu with his own spear. You can try a scenario where only Nick and another teammate survive until the finale (i.e., getting the “Oorah!” achievement with him and Eric). This ensures that Nick will have the opportunity to impale Balathu.
    • An alternative scenario happens in The Vault. Have Nick advance and pass the QTE where he’s setting the C4 charges. After the explosion, it should lead to a confrontation against Balathu. The only issue here is that Nick will get grabbed, and it’s Salim who impales Balathu (as the team attempts to rescue Nick). There might be a way to get Nick to attack Balathu immediately and use his own weapon against him, but I haven’t figured that out yet.
    • There’s a third option that seems to be guaranteed, shared by Peter885 in the comments. In The Truce – Bloodbath, Jason will see a stake. Have him stick with his rifle, which means Nick will pick up the stake instead. Continue the campaign until you reach The Vault. Decide to advance further and pass the QTEs while planting the C4 charges. Later, when Balathu grabs Nick, pass the QTEs so Nick can stab him with the stake.
• Slayer – Salim killed five monsters with his spear. Salim has plot armor, which means there’s no way to kill him until much later in the game. He’ll have many opportunities to kill vampires as long as you pass the QTEs. Examples include sequences in The Truce, The Horror – Enemy of my Enemy, The Vault (rescue Nick and he’ll be the one to kill Balathu), and Semper Fi.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes is available via Steam. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.