There are three distinct endings in Escape From Crimson Manor: Trapped Together—a bad, good, and secret ending—and this guide explains how to unlock each one. Your outcome hinges on whether you simply escape, or if you fully uncover the dark truth of Hadley Strange's alchemical experiments. While the standard “Escaped” ending is straightforward, achieving the secret “The Truth” ending requires finding three hidden Alchemical Diary pages and solving a final, hidden puzzle in the Secret Laboratory.
This guide breaks down the critical choices and item locations for every possible conclusion to your harrowing co-op ordeal. Whether you end up as another permanent resident of the manor or expose its core secret depends entirely on your thoroughness.
First, How Do You Reach the Final Act?
Regardless of the ending you're aiming for, the critical path through the first three acts of the game remains largely the same. You and your partner must navigate your separate wings of the mansion, master the dumbwaiter system to trade key items, and communicate constantly to solve the asymmetric puzzles designed to keep you apart. [6, 7]
Your primary goal is to reunite and gain access to the Secret Laboratory hidden behind the library. [8] This involves a long chain of interconnected puzzles that force you to trade items like the Chemical Battery, use the Monocular to reveal hidden symbols, and collect various keys such as the Lion Key and Sword Key. [3, 10]
The final act begins once you solve the Grandfather Clock puzzle in the main hall, using the four Bronze Medallions (Minerva, Hermes, Ulysses, and Horatius) gathered throughout the manor. [8] This opens the hidden passage to the laboratory, where Hadley Strange conducted his work. It's here, in the final section of the game, that your actions will lock you into one of the three endings.
The “Trapped” Ending: Failure and Despair
The worst possible outcome, the “Trapped” ending, is essentially the game’s failure state. You and your partner become permanent, unwilling residents of the manor, another pair of souls lost to its malevolent influence. This ending is less a narrative choice and more a consequence of failing the final objective.
How to Get This Ending
Achieving the “Trapped” ending is straightforward: fail the final puzzle in the Secret Laboratory. After you enter the lab, a countdown timer begins, triggered by a pressure plate or the activation of the main apparatus. You have a limited amount of time—typically around 15 minutes—to solve the final sequence involving the Transfusion Machine. [7]
If the timer runs out before you can neutralize the machine and open the final exit, the laboratory doors will permanently seal. The final scene shows the players slumping to the ground as the room fills with a strange, glowing gas. The last thing you hear is the disembodied voice of Hadley Strange, welcoming you to your new home. This is the canonical “bad” ending.
Escape From Crimson Manor: Trapped Together in-game screenshot
The “Escaped” Ending: A Hollow Victory
The standard, most common conclusion is the “Escaped” ending. You successfully navigate the manor's horrors, solve the final puzzle under pressure, and break out into the stormy night. However, you leave without ever truly understanding the nature of Strange's work or the reason you were brought to the estate. It’s a victory for your survival, but a narrative loose end.
How to Get This Ending
To unlock the “Escaped” ending, you must complete the final puzzle in the Secret Laboratory within the time limit but without having collected all three Alchemical Diary pages. Your path will follow these steps:
- Enter the Secret Laboratory: Solve the Grandfather Clock puzzle using the four Bronze Medallions to open the hidden passage.
- Activate the Final Puzzle: One player must initiate the sequence at the main console, while the other prepares to align the serum vials at the Transfusion Machine. This starts the countdown.
- Solve the Transfusion Machine Puzzle: This is a co-op puzzle requiring intense communication. Player 1, at the console, must call out a sequence of symbols that appear on a monitor. Player 2 must find matching symbols on the machine’s interface and inject three colored serums in the correct order. The symbols are often abstract alchemical signs you’ve encountered before. [2]
- Escape the Manor: Successfully neutralizing the machine unlocks the final door—a heavy iron gate leading out to the manor grounds. A cutscene triggers, showing the two of you fleeing the estate as the lights in the laboratory flicker and die. You've survived, but the mysteries of Crimson Manor remain unsolved.
This ending is the reward for skillful puzzle-solving but not for diligent exploration. You escape with your lives, but the cycle of the manor is implied to continue.
Escape From Crimson Manor: Trapped Together in-game screenshot
The Secret “Truth” Ending: Uncovering the Full Story
The true and most satisfying conclusion is the “The Truth” ending. This path requires significant extra work, exploration, and puzzle-solving. By finding hidden documents and solving an optional final puzzle, you not only escape but also destroy the source of the manor’s power and expose the full, horrifying scope of Hadley Strange’s experiments in immortality.
How to Get This Ending
Unlocking this secret ending depends on one critical task: finding all three of Hadley Strange's hidden Alchemical Diary pages before you enter the Secret Laboratory. These pages are located in obscure, easily missed locations in separate wings of the manor, forcing both players to contribute to their discovery.
Escape From Crimson Manor: Trapped Together in-game screenshot
Step 1: Locate the Three Alchemical Diary Pages
- Diary Page 1 (The Study): Player 1 will find this. After opening the large safe in the Study using the 7:45 time code and the Chemical Battery from Player 2, you'll find a small, locked box inside. [3] The key to this box is hidden inside a false book on the main library shelf, titled 'On the Transmutation of Souls'. Player 2 must guide Player 1 to this book by describing its unique spine design, which is depicted on a painting in the Wine Cellar.
- Diary Page 2 (The Twins' Room): This page is in the possession of Player 2 initially, but requires an item from Player 1. It is hidden within a music box in the Twins' Room. To open it, you need the Tiny Brass Key, which Player 1 must send down via the dumbwaiter. The key is located in the Art Room, hidden behind a loose floorboard that is only revealed after solving the projector slide puzzle.
- Diary Page 3 (The Attic): The final page is in the Attic, a notoriously difficult area to access. To lower the attic stairs, one player must pull a lever in the Servant's Quarters while the other simultaneously turns a valve in the Basement Boiler Room. [2] Once inside the attic, the diary page is tucked inside the drawer of a dusty writing desk, but the drawer is stuck. To open it, you must find a Crowbar, which is located in the Wine Cellar and must be sent up by Player 2.
Step 2: Solve the Optional Astrolabe Puzzle
With all three diary pages, a new objective appears. The pages contain celestial charts and notes that, when combined, form the solution to the Astrolabe Puzzle located in a hidden alcove of the Secret Laboratory. You must find this alcove before activating the main Transfusion Machine.
The puzzle requires you to align the astrolabe's rings to match the constellations from the diary pages, then input three alchemical symbols—Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury—in the order described in the text. Solving this causes a hidden compartment to open, revealing the Heart of the Machine, a pulsating crimson gem.
Step 3: Destroy the Heart and Escape
Instead of just neutralizing the Transfusion Machine, you must now place the Heart into the machine's central receptacle before completing the serum puzzle. Doing so overloads the entire system. You still need to solve the serum puzzle to unlock the exit, but the outcome is dramatically different.
After you escape, the final cutscene shows the laboratory exploding in a flash of red light. The entire manor groans and collapses in on itself, its dark energy finally extinguished. You have not only survived but have also ended the curse of Crimson Manor for good.
FAQ: Common Ending Questions
Can you get locked out of the secret ending? Yes. If you enter the Secret Laboratory and start the final timed puzzle without all three Alchemical Diary pages in your inventory, you cannot access the Astrolabe puzzle and are locked into either the “Trapped” or “Escaped” endings.
Do both players need to be present for the diary pages? No, only one player needs to collect each page, but finding them requires co-op actions. For example, Player 2 must describe a clue for Player 1 to find a key, and Player 1 must send that key down for Player 2 to use. Communication is essential.
Is there a point of no return? The point of no return is activating the Transfusion Machine in the final room. This initiates the timed sequence. Before you do this, you are free to explore any accessible areas of the manor to search for missing items or diary pages.
Which ending is considered canon? While the developer, MediaCity Games, has not officially confirmed a canonical ending, the “The Truth” ending provides the most narrative closure and directly ties into the lore of the preceding game, The Inheritance of Crimson Manor, making it the most likely candidate for the true story conclusion. [6]
Final Take
Escape From Crimson Manor: Trapped Together rewards players who dig deeper. While simply escaping is a challenge in itself, the true depth of the game lies in its hidden narrative, pieced together through meticulous exploration and teamwork. The secret ending isn't just a different cutscene; it's the culmination of a perfectly executed partnership, transforming a desperate escape into a heroic act of purification. Don't just survive the manor—uncover its soul and destroy it.