Jumpship’s debut Sci-Fi Adventure game is here. Released November 15th, 2022, Somerville is an emotional and intense story of a man searching for his wife and son in the midst of an alien invasion. Traverse through the Massachusetts city, evade the hostile aliens, solve puzzles and find your family. Just getting started on Somerville? See our first guide on beating the game at: Somerville Guide: Chapters 1-2 The House. With a total of 11 Achievements to unlock, (5 of them being Endings) this is our guide on how to achieve every Somerville Ending.
Somerville Ending Titles
- Resignation – Accepted Fate on the First Offer
- Resignation Reprise – Accepted Fate on the Second Offer
- War of the Worlds – Chose the Path of Violence
- Family First – Put Family Above All Else
- Understanding – Chose Diplomacy
Resignation
The ‘Resignation’ Somerville Ending can be achieved in two separate instances in Chapter 12. The first time you can get this ending is after you regain your two powers, the melt and stone abilities operated by the controller triggers. After getting the stone power and the flare, you can melt the wall away. Head north until you come to a clearing where at the end of the room is your wife and son sitting on a couch.
To get the ‘Resignation’ Ending, sit on the couch next to your wife and stay there. After approximately 10 seconds pass, the screen will turn black into a loading screen.
A new scene loads in, with our protagonist alone on the couch, in a seemingly endless room, surrounded by the pixelated waters. An illusion crafted by the aliens as your first offer.
The second time you can achieve this ending is when the aliens offer you the exact same illusion. This time it is when you drop into water after interacting with the giant alien ball showing a scene of a little girl in her bedroom.
After this part, a purple spotlight appears above you. The protagonist will sink into the floor and fall, landing into a place reminiscent of Chapter 4. Swim to the right and you will see another illusion of your wife and son, this time your son walks off to the right. Once again, sit down on the couch and wait. The same ending as shown above will play.
An important note with this Somerville Ending is that it does not actually end the game. There is no title screen or credits. The Resignation Ending takes you back to the last checkpoint for you to continue the game once more.
Resignation Reprise
This Somerville Ending is the third illusion that the aliens offer to you. This is the Ending that most players will achieve as it is the most obvious one to get. At the end of the game, in Chapter 13, we meet face to face with the aliens on board of the mothership. Now with the ability to control all 3 powers, you can communicate with these beings. The aliens communicate in sequences of 3. You need to copy these sequences by pressing the corresponding trigger. The first sequence is Blue, Orange, Blue. Hold and let go the triggers in this order – Left trigger, Right trigger, Left trigger. You know you have got it right when the there is a pulse around the alien’s heads and the camera will zoom in.
If you input it wrong, the aliens will look at each other. Simply repeat this sequence until the camera zooms in on the aliens and they give you a new sequence to copy.
The new sequence is Blue, Blue, Orange. You can either input this by using the triggers in the order of – Left trigger, Left trigger and Right trigger. But this may require multiple repeats of the sequence for something to happen. The quicker method of getting this Ending is by inputting the sequence – Purple, Purple, Purple. On the controller this is – hold and let go of both triggers, both triggers, both triggers. This will automatically give you the ‘Reprise’ Ending.
After you have correctly input either sequence, the aliens will offer you a house. The family house, a replica crafted by the aliens. Walk across, the path will crumble away behind you, leaving the house as a floating island. You wife and son are at the door. Head on inside. This Ending similar to that of the Resignation Ending is of the aliens tricking you into believing that you are home and at peace with your family. Instead, our protagonist has been placed inside a simulation, similar to that of the children that we saved earlier in Chapter 12.
In the ‘Resignation Reprise’ Ending, our protagonist gives up, falling for the illusion. Leaving humanity to suffer and fall at the hands of the aliens. They have won. After walking through the doors of your fake house, you will see the Somerville title screen and the credits.
War of the Worlds
To achieve the ‘War of the Worlds’ Somerville Ending, you do not need to input any sequences or attempt to communicate with the aliens. Instead, what you need to do here is press and hold both triggers for roughly 10-15 seconds. As you hold, the room will begin to shake. Holes will appear, with debris blasting through the room. Keep holding until an explosion appears before you. The screen turns black, and the Achievement ‘War of the Worlds’ will be unlocked.
Family First
The final Somerville Ending, titled ‘Family First’ is achieved by first inputting the sequence Blue, Orange, Blue or Left trigger, Right trigger, Left trigger. After they communicate the next sequence of Blue, Blue, Orange, input the sequence Blue, Blue, Blue instead. Do this on the controller by holding and releasing Left trigger three times. The aliens will offer you something new this time.
Go over to the ball. Inside is the protagonist’s family in one of those alien mechanical balls that resemble an eye. What you need to do here is as follows:
- Interact with the left device first (glowing blue).
- When your melting power is drained from you, go to the other side and interact with the right device (glowing orange).
- Your stone power will be drained. The same device will change to purple. Interact with the device once more to use your third and final ability
The eye breaks, your wife and son now freed. The protagonist collapses, his wife holds him in her arms. Similar to the Somerville opening but this time, our protagonist gives his life to save his family. Whether this is a reincarnation/replica of his wife and son is uncertain. But my interpretation is that every person has been abducted by the aliens and held in confinement, simulating experiences as a form of energy source for the aliens. Therefore, in my eyes, this is our real family who have been freed. This is the ‘Family First’ Somerville Achievement. The screen turns black, and the title screen appears.
Understanding
The final Somerville Ending is titled ‘Understanding’. This is the best Ending you can get in the game and for this reason, it is the hardest Achievement to unlock. In order to get this Ending, return to the aliens in the Mothership. If you have not completed the game yet and are looking to get this Ending as your first, then look no further than right here. After many attempts, I have finally solved how to get the ‘Understanding’ Ending.
Firstly, what you need to do is the same as when you are going for the ‘Resignation Reprise’, ‘War of the Worlds’ and ‘Family First’ Endings. Input the sequence: Blue, Orange, Blue or Left trigger, Right trigger, Left trigger after the aliens say Blue, Orange, Blue.
The second sequence that they say is Blue, Blue, Orange. Respond with the sequence: Blue, Blue, Blue, Purple, Purple, Purple or Left trigger, Left trigger, Left trigger, Both triggers, Both triggers, Both triggers.
After inputting this sequence, the aliens say Blue, Blue, Blue, Blue, Purple, Purple. Respond to this by inputting the sequence: Blue, Blue, Blue, Orange, Purple, Purple or Left trigger, Left trigger, Left trigger, Right trigger, Both triggers, Both triggers.
The final colour order you need to put in, in response to their last sequence of Purple, Purple, Purple, Orange, Purple, Purple, Orange, Orange, Orange is: Purple, Purple, Purple, Blue, Purple, Purple or Both triggers, Both triggers, Both triggers, Left trigger, Both triggers, Both triggers.
After putting in this last sequence the aliens will offer us our family, no tricks, no illusions. Our protagonist falls to his knees in disbelief to see his wife and son, who he has lost time and time again prior to this moment. It is emotional and heart-warming, especially after seeing all previous endings. Upon being reunited with your family once more, a door to the outside world appears, letting you and your family go. Freedom awaits you. You see in the background multiple doors appearing, someone running in the distance towards an exit. Is everyone free? The Ending has the words ‘Chose Diplomacy’ under the Achievement title after all.
That is our full guide on how to achieve every Somerville Ending. Whilst, Somerville has its cons, being a shorter game filled with bugs as of the Beta version and its initial release. The storytelling of Somerville is one I will definitely remember, being up there with the narrative of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. The final Chapters are complex and intriguing, with various interpretations on what is happening onboard the alien spacecrafts. But I will save the conversation on the meaning of these endings and Somerville’s final chapters for another day. Interested in seeing more Somerville content? See our related article: Somerville Review: Family is Hope.
