This is the original guide, in English only.

Uma tradução em português deste guia pode ser encontrada aqui.

Una traducción al español de esta guía se puede encontrar aquí.

The purpose of this guide is to assist other people in obtaining 100% completion in Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I have personally followed and confirmed that ALL of these methods work.

For each achievement, I will provide the given description of the achievement, and how to obtain it. Many of these achievements are straightforward and/or plot essential, meaning you cannot miss them.

None of these achievements require the Remember Me DLC. If you don't know what that is, don't worry about it, because it's not required anyways. (For those of you that love lore, Remember Me is a short collection of stories taking place in the Dark Descent universe. You can find it on the left side of the Amnesia launcher, across from Justine.)

I will not be holding ANY information back in the name of spoilers. If you haven't completed the game at least once before, DON'T USE THIS GUIDE!

Good luck, and happy achievement hunting!

A simple achievement, and the first you can get in the entire game.

To obtain this achievement, start a new game and wait through the beginning "drunk Daniel flashback" scenes. The instant you gain full control over your character (When Daniel gets his drunk butt off the floor and you can walk around freely), quit the game. You don't have to quit to desktop, just the main menu. The achievement should pop up right after you get to the menu screen.

The first of five unmissable story achievements in the Dark Descent. This unlocks once you use the acid compound on the fleshy wall in the first hub area.

I don't even really need to have this achievement here, but I'm listing ALL of them for completion's sake.

The second unmissable story achievement in the game. This is obtained after escaping the water lurker section and arriving in the second hub area, the Back Hall.

The third unmissable story achievement. This one is achieved after the elevator crashes on its trip down from the Back Hall to the Prison.

(Amnesia Plot Hole: If the elevator crashed on its way down to the prison, and the ladder broke when climbing up from the sewers, Daniel cannot physically escape Brennenburg Castle as it is shown in the good ending of the game.)

The fourth unmissable achievement in the game. This is achieved after turning the final valve in the Cistern.

(In-Game Warning: If you visited and completed the Morgue before this area (The Brute breaks down the door) the Shadow will block off the normal path to the exit and a water lurker will appear in the middle of the area.)

The fifth and final unmissable achievement in The Dark Descent. This final one is gotten when Daniel fixes the orb outside the inner sanctum.

Can be obtained when Daniel is captured by the three grunts in the Chancel after obtaining all the orb pieces.

To have the Shadow consume you, you must remain in your cell for a substantial amount of time (Over 5 minutes). If you even open the cell or break the wall, the Shadow will not attempt to consume you. It is easiest to browse your phone or watch Youtube on the steam overlay while AFK in the cell, as it will take some time for the Shadow to kill you and opening the overlay does not pause the game (Unless you hit Tab first, which will bring up the inventory.)

While this method of death shares the same ending as letting Alexander escape in the Inner Sanctum (Including the same voice lines and secret code), it does not count for the Sacrifice achievement.

Getting this achievement this way WILL end your game. Make sure you Save and Exit before going for it unless you want to lose some progress.

Instead of waiting the ten or so minutes for the Shadow to consume you inside of the cell, exit the cell as you normally would, and start the Shadow chase sequence. However, instead of running from the Shadow, just let it kill you immediately. This restarts the chase instead of ending your game, potentially saving time or simply removing the need to save and exit beforehand.

This method has been verified by multiple people, and by all means should work as well. However, if it does not work for you for some reason, use the primary method, which is 100% guaranteed to work.

One of the three ending achievements for Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
Make sure to save your game before entering the chamber with the portal to allow back-to-back achievements. (You don't need to play an entire new game for each ending achievement.)

To get this achievement, simply wait until the portal is fully opened and Alexander starts talking. Ignore him entirely and use Agrippa's Head on the portal. This will kill both you and Alexander, getting you the achievement.

(If you don't have Agrippa's Head, you're crap out of luck. You can still backtrack and get his head, but only if you don't enter the Inner Sanctum without it. Once you enter the Inner Sanctum, you'll be forced to close the door behind you to keep the Shadow out, making it impossible to backtrack.)

The second ending achievement for the Dark Descent.

This is the standard ending for Amnesia. All you have to do is sit around lazily until Alexander eventually enters the portal and the Shadow kills you. Feel free to go AFK like you did in Quitter, because it takes a few minutes.

The third and final ending achievement for the Dark Descent.

To get this ending, you must knock over all three pillars in the portal room. To do this, grab one of the pillars and pull / push on it until it falls over. Each pillar only falls in one specific direction, so keep trying directions until it falls. When all three are toppled, the Shadow will kill Alexander, but spare Daniel.

This ending has a unique ending cinematic with a voice-over by Daniel, so you will recognize it on sight.

This achievement is one of the three ending achievements for Amnesia: Justine. You must kill all three prisoners in Justine to get this one.


The first prisoner is killed by pulling the lever next to his cell down three times. This releases the ladder to the next area. (I've been told Alois can spawn if you wait too long before climbing the ladder. I have not confirmed this personally, but climb the ladder fast anyways.)

The second prisoner can also be killed by pulling the lever in front of his prison a few times, until you hear him clearly die and the bookshelf to the next area moving out of the way. No slides are needed to kill him, simply pull the lever and proceed.

The third prisoner is "killed" by not sealing his cell in the Malo de Vigny chase sequence. Even though Malo doesn't actually attack the prisoner in many cases, the game still treats him as killed and will give you the achievement regardless.

Once you wake up after the walls close in on you in the final room, you will get the achievement. This applies to all Justine ending achievements. (I might be wrong about the timing of this, but it definitely happens either during or just after the walls close in on you.)

In this version of the Justine ending, at least one prisoner must live and at least one must die. I will explain the easiest way to do this.

Kill the first prisoner: In order to save the time that would be wasted stacking boxes, simply kill the first prisoner to drop the ladder.

Save the second prisoner: The second man can be saved with no effort whatsoever. Simply place the 4th slide in the top slot and the 3rd slide in the bottom slot, then pull the lever to save him. He will mention that "That demon Justine might still be around", signifying he was saved.

Kill the third prisoner: In the chase with Malo, allowing the third man to die will give you ample time to open the gate and run to the exit door.

This is the hardest ending achievement for Justine, due to the time it takes and the risk you take during Malo de Vigny's chase sequence.

First Prisoner: To save the first prisoner, you must grab a ladder piece from a dead end in the hallway you started in.
(Warning! If you entered Alois's cell before backtracking for the ladder, Alois will spawn directly in front of you when going back for the ladder. This happens very suddenly and can be incredibly startling, plus risking your life. On the bright side, dying this early in the game has no real consequence.)
In the room with the first prisoner, make a pile using the boxes and barrels lying around underneath the hatch to the ladder. Once it is high enough, open the latch and use the ladder on the tunnel above to enter it without killing the man.

Second Prisoner: The same method used in Vacillator is used here. After obtaining the 4th and 3rd slides, put the 4th one in the top slot and 3rd one in the bottom slot, then pull the lever. The man will mention "That demon Justine" again when he is saved.

Third Prisoner: This is the hardest prisoner to save, and is incredibly nerve-wracking if you are not dulled to the game's horror and pacing. In the third room during the Malo chase sequence (After the room you had to fix the gears in), off to the right side the prisoner is chained to a wall. In order to save him, you have to completely shut the door to his prison by turning the crank wheel IN THE MIDDLE. The left and right crank wheels do not move, and will waste valuable seconds by attempting to move them. Immediately after closing his door, run to the exit gate and open it enough to crawl under. Malo will bash down the previous gate at this point, so you will have to quickly crawl under the gap in the door then run to the exit before he catches you.

This achievement is a subtle reference to Valve's Portal 2, as this DLC was added just before Portal 2 released commercially.

In order to get this well-hidden achievement, you must get to the Library in the Justine DLC. In the back room of the library (The room with the projector), there are a few bookshelves off to the right side. In the bookshelf against the back right wall, there is a grabbable black book halfway up the shelves. Pull the book out, and behind it is a note regarding the A.S. (Aperture Science) Inc.'s Span-Space Device (Portal Gun). The achievement will be unlocked immediately upon reading the note.

A video with the location of the note can be found in the Master Archivist achievement section.

Rather than spam the rest of the guide with JPGs of the area maps, I will instead direct you to this fantastic video guide showing the locations of every tinderbox and note in the Dark Descent. The creator also included tips and advice during the guide, doing a much better job than I could ever do myself.

I used this video for my Illuminatus and Master Archivist run, I can confirm its legitimacy.


This is a link to the Youtube video by itself, in case you don't want the entire steam guide clogging up your screen.

All credit for this video guide goes to Youtuber PureRuby87. It is her video, and it is immensely useful.

One of the two hardest achievements in the game. To obtain this achievement, every note in both The Dark Descent and Justine must be read on one profile.


Once again, the person who made the video guide for the Illuminatus achievement made another for the notes in Justine. Some of these notes are surprisingly well hidden, and it does you no harm to use the video as a guide.


This is another link to the Youtube video on this achievement, in case you don't want the whole guide and just the video.

Once again, all credit goes to the Youtuber PureRuby87. This is her video, and I take no credit for it whatsoever.

This achievement is self-explanatory. Upon completion of your 16th achievement (Usually Master Archivist or Egotist / Altruist / Vacillitor) this achievement will unlock simultaneously, marking the end of your Amnesia achievement run.

I hope all of you reading this found this guide immensely helpful. While it didn't take very long, I was going into this achievement run practically blind, and barely found the tip for how to achieve NOPE on a Beta testing Amnesia achievement forum. I hope you can appreciate the time I took to confirm the methods of achieving for the sake others.

Once again, PureRuby87's Tinderbox and Note guides are fantastic. I probably never would have gotten Illuminatus or Master Archivist without their help. Check out her channel for other gaming content, as well as a guide for Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.

PureRuby87's Youtube Channel Homepage


Warning! Shameless self promotion incoming!

You might not have known, but I am also the author of the second third highest rated Amnesia: The Dark Descent guide on steam, Idiotic Monsters and You: A Guide for Outwitting the Grunts and Brutes. (It used to be second, then funnily enough this guide overtook it.) If you find yourself too overwhelmed by the oppressive atmosphere of Amnesia to efficiently achievement hunt, or you just want some general advice, go check it out! If not, then don't worry about it. I won't feel insulted if you don't. (Or if you talk sh*t about me in the comments for shameless self promotion.)


If you have anything you wish to say to me, ask me, or correct me about something (Like a grammar mistake, you f*cking grammar Nazis), feel free to leave a comment down below. I may not respond to it, but I can guarantee you I WILL read it. I will also probably answer if you ask a question, assuming you ask politely enough.