House of Ashes: All character deaths — Dumb ways to die

House of Ashes – Main character death scenes

Let’s talk about the myriad ways that your main/playable characters can die in House of Ashes. You can also take a look at our Daylight finale/endings guide since it discusses the actions that you need to take to avoid potential character deaths. Lastly, if Balathu survived in The Vault, make sure you pass the QTEs when he reappears in the finale. He will kill the characters that he’s fighting, then the vampires will automatically kill the others.

Eric

• Death by impalement – During the Breaking Up chapter, Rachel will fall down a cliff while she’s tied to Eric via a rope. Refuse to cut the rope twice and Eric will tumble down. He gets impaled on a stalagmite.
• Death by gunshot (Dar) and impalement – During the Breaking Up chapter, fail the earlier button-press QTE as you’re trying to cross a gap. This will alert Dar. Refusing to cut the rope will ensure that Dar spots Eric. If you fail the QTEs here, Eric gets shot and killed. He falls down the pit to get impaled by the same stalagmite.
• Death by gunshot (Salim) – This can occur due to a combination of factors, such as (a) Jason shoots the shepherd in The Raid, (b) you let Eric go through the tunnel in After the Fall, (c) Nick has negative/mean replies toward Salim in The Truce, and (d) Nick ends up failing the QTE in The Truce. The monster will attack Nick, leading to the arrival of Eric and Jason. The monster escapes, and the two other soldiers aim their guns at Salim. Because Salim doesn’t even remotely trust the Americans, he has no reason to believe that they’ll treat him well. The resulting firefight leads to Eric’s death.
• Death by explosion – During The Assault chapter, choose the path where the C4 explosives have been planted. This will lead to the deaths of several characters.
• Death by Clarice – As mentioned in the previous section, you could decide to keep Clarice with you even though she’s already infected. When she dies in The Horror, she’ll reanimate. The end of that scene shows her chasing Eric and killing him.
• Death by falling – During The Ancient One, Balathu will chase Eric, Rachel, and Nick. The undead general corners Nick, and you can choose to help him. Balathu tumbles down below and Eric slips. Help him get back up or he’ll fall and break his neck.
• Death during the finale – Similar to other main characters, failing two QTE prompts during the Daylight finale in House of Ashes will lead to the character’s death. The vampire that Eric is fighting will punch through his torso.

Rachel

• Death by vampire feast – During The Assault chapter, choose to fire using the machine gun. Then, fail the aim-and-shoot QTE. Rachel will get killed and infected by the vampires.
• Death by explosion – During The Assault chapter, choose the path where the C4 explosives have been planted. This will lead to the deaths of several characters.
• Death by immolation – During the Strange Aeons chapter, Rachel screams in pain because of a parasite in her body. If you brought the white phosphorous with you, Rachel sees a canister. If she stabs it, she’ll burn to death.
• Death by gunshot – During the Strange Aeons chapter, Rachel screams in pain because of a parasite in her body. Jason will try to put her out of her misery. If you agree, she’ll get shot in the head.
• Death and reanimation – During the Strange Aeons chapter, the group will say that Rachel can be placed inside a cocoon filled with rejuvenating goop. If Rachel runs away and the parasite isn’t removed, she’ll transform into a demon-zombie-vampire hybrid. Because the parasite has full control of her, she’s technically dead and reanimated. I’ll explain additional tidbits below.
• “Death” by abandonment – Similar to the above, but Rachel agrees to be placed inside a cocoon. If all other characters die, then no one will inform the shadowy government organization that Rachel is still in the caverns. The mid-credits scene lets you know that she was never rescued. The term “death” is in quotation marks because the cocoon’s goop is supposed to keep you alive. But, this is also a terrible fate for her.
• Death by Clarice – During Semper Fi, Eric and Rachel are surprised by a reanimated Clarice (if she wasn’t shot during The Assault). Failing the QTE here will cause Clarice to bite Rachel and drag her to the depths.
• Death during the finale – Similar to other main characters, failing two QTE prompts during the Daylight finale in House of Ashes will lead to the character’s death. The vampire that Rachel is fighting will rip apart her throat.

Note: If Rachel turns into a demon-zombie-vampire hybrid, she’ll reappear later during the Semper Fi chapter once the group reaches the waterfall. Similar to the Clarice encounter, there are QTE sequences here, too. Failure can lead to the deaths of the characters that she’s fighting. I didn’t include separate entries since her targets might be different depending on who else is alive by the time you reach that point.

Nick

• Death by vampire feast – During The Vault chapter, choose to approach the center of the cocoons. Fail the “Don’t Breathe” QTE here so the vampires gobble up Nick.
• Death by falling – During The Vault chapter, succeed in the “Don’t Breathe” QTEs. After the explosion, Balathu will emerge and choke Nick. If you fail the QTEs here, he’ll get his neck snapped.
• Death during the finale – Similar to other main characters, failing two QTE prompts during the Daylight finale in House of Ashes will lead to the character’s death. The vampire that Nick is fighting will rip open his stomach before gouging out his eyes.
  

Jason

• Death by vampire fatality – As Jason, decide to help Salim in the Semper Fi chapter. If you fail the QTEs here, Salim will get killed by a vampire. Jason thinks he’s in the clear, but there’s actually another creature behind him. He’ll get his face crushed.
• Death by impalement – As Jason, decide to help Salim in the Semper Fi chapter. Succeed in the initial QTEs against the vampire. Now, assuming Balathu is still alive, he’ll throw a spear. Fail the QTE here and the spear will impale Jason.
• Death during the finale (1) – During the Daylight finale, the squad makes its way inside the hut. A vampire will attempt to grab Jason through the ceiling. If you fail the QTE, the monster will toss him from a great height, turning his body into a contorted mess.
• Death during the finale (2) – Similar to other main characters, failing two QTE prompts during the Daylight finale in House of Ashes will lead to the character’s death. The vampire that Jason is fighting will squash his face.

Salim

• Death by vampire fatality – This occurs during the Semper Fi chapter. If Salim fails the QTE prompts, the vampire will crush his skull. If Jason decides to help him out, then their QTE failures will also lead to Salim’s death and, eventually, Jason’s as well.
• Death by abandonment – During the Semper Fi chapter, decide to leave Salim and go back up top using the elevator. Even if Salim succeeds in the QTEs, he’ll realize that he’s been left behind. He kneels and prays as the monsters appear from the shadows.
• Death during the finale – Similar to other main characters, failing two QTE prompts during the Daylight finale in House of Ashes will lead to the character’s death. The vampire that Salim is fighting will tear him apart.

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