Annihilated Endings Guide: How They Are Decided
How Annihilated's multiple endings work: the partner route, the trust, doubt and dependence axis, and how to steer a first run toward one outcome.
Quick answer: Annihilated has multiple endings across four partner routes. The ending depends on two layers: which partner you carry, and whether your relationship grows into trust, doubt or dependence. The store frames that bond as something shaped by how you feel, not by a single visible meter.
There are no confirmed ending names, no confirmed ending count and no confirmed "true ending". What is confirmed is the structure, and the structure is enough to plan a first run without spoiling it.
What decides the ending in Annihilated?
Two layers:
- The route. You carry one of four partners out of the dungeon. Each route is a complete story with its own ending material.
- The relationship. The store says trust, doubt or dependence grows between you depending on how you feel, and that this shapes the ending.
The phrasing is unusual. It does not say "depending on your choices" in the usual points-based way. It says the relationship depends on how you feel, which suggests the game is asking for a stance rather than an approval score.
That is why ending guides for this game are more about consistency than about a hidden optimal path. The story wants to know what you believe about your partner, and it will follow the answer you commit to.
Does the partner choice lock the ending?
Yes and no. The partner choice locks the route, and the route locks the set of endings available. Within that set, the relationship axis decides which one you reach.
So the practical answer is: choose the partner whose ending you want to see, then play the relationship in the direction you want. You cannot get a Priest ending on the Hero route, and you cannot get every ending in one run.
How many endings does Annihilated have?
The store says "multiple endings" and does not give a number. Any specific count you see elsewhere is either a datamine, a spoiler or a guess. Treat the number as unconfirmed until the game is out and the credits are mapped.
What is safe to say:
- There is more than one ending per route, based on the relationship axis.
- The four routes are complete stories, not fragments of one true ending.
- The 200,000+ word script is spread across four routes, so the endings are route-specific rather than a single final choice.
How do you get a specific ending?
Without confirmed flags, the reliable method is behavioral consistency:
- Decide what your character feels about the partner early.
- Answer conversations in line with that feeling, even when a kinder or crueler option is available.
- Do not optimize for approval. The game is not confirmed to reward a single "best" answer.
- Keep a save before the final act if the game allows manual saves, so you can compare outcomes without a full replay.
The last point is practical, not confirmed. If the game uses autosaves only, plan for a second run; each route is about six hours.
What do trust, doubt and dependence mean?
They are the three shapes the relationship can take, according to the store. They are not good, neutral and bad.
- Trust suggests a bond built on belief in the partner.
- Doubt suggests a bond built on suspicion, which may be the honest response to what you learn.
- Dependence suggests a bond built on need, which the dungeon makes very easy to justify.
A route can end on any of the three, and the ending that follows is the story's answer to that stance. The game is not telling you which is correct.
Should you look up the endings before playing?
No, for a first run. The routes are six hours each and the relationship axis is the main dramatic engine. Knowing the ending removes the only decision that is genuinely yours.
Look up a specific ending only if you have finished a route and want to see a different version without replaying all of it. Even then, be careful with guides that invent ending names; the store has not published them.
This guide deliberately avoids naming endings. Any list with named endings is working from leaks, datamines or invention, not from official material.
Official source: Annihilated on Steam ↗
Does the demo ending matter?
The demo ends at The Outcast with a teaser, not a route ending. It shows the four survivors and the one-exit problem, then stops. Nothing in the demo locks your full-game ending.
If you cleared the demo and carry the save over, you still make the partner choice in the full game.
How should you plan a second run?
Pick the partner you did not carry, and deliberately play the relationship in a different direction. That gives you a new route and a new relationship axis in one run, which is more efficient than replaying the same route for a variant.
The four routes are:
- Hero route→: silence, survivability, the leader's guilt.
- Mage route→: knowledge without magic, the information route.
- Warrior route→: a soul in a doll, dark comedy and identity.
- Priest route→: faith moved to the Great One, the sustain route.
The partners guide→ explains what each survivor lost, and the walkthrough→ covers the route split.
FAQ
How many endings are in Annihilated?
Unconfirmed. The store says multiple endings but does not publish a number.
Can you get every ending in one playthrough?
No. The partner choice locks the route, and the relationship axis decides the ending within it.
Is there a true ending?
None has been announced. The store describes four complete stories, not one canonical path.
Does the ending depend on combat performance?
No connection is confirmed. The stated axis is the relationship, not how well you fought.