You've been grinding through the final act, your gear is peaked, and you think you’ve seen everything the game has to offer. Then someone on a Discord server mentions the Reckoning easter egg and suddenly your 100% completion badge feels like a lie. It's frustrating. Gaming is full of these "blink and you'll miss it" moments, but this one is particularly nasty because it requires a level of precision that feels almost accidental.
Most players stumble through the campaign, beat the boss, and watch the credits roll. They’re happy. But they missed the actual ending. Honestly, the way the developers hid this is kind of brilliant, even if it’s a total pain to pull off. It isn't just a cosmetic change or a funny voice line. It's a fundamental shift in the narrative that changes how you view the entire protagonist's journey.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Reckoning Easter Egg
There’s a lot of misinformation floating around Reddit. People claim you need to be at a certain level or have a specific DLC installed. That's mostly nonsense. The Reckoning easter egg is less about your stats and more about your sequence of operations. You can’t just brute-force your way into it by being overpowered.
First off, let’s clear up the "Mercy" myth. A common theory suggests that you have to spare every single mini-boss leading up to the final encounter. While that’s a cool way to play, it’s not the trigger. The trigger is much more localized. It's about the interaction with the environment in the final chamber before the "Point of No Return" warning pops up on your screen.
Think back to the statues. You probably walked right past them. Most players do. They're just set dressing, right? Wrong. Those three weathered figures are the key. If you don't interact with them in the correct chronological order based on the lore notes found in the second act, the final sequence stays locked. If you've been skipping the flavor text on those dusty old books, you're going to have a hard time.
The Specific Steps to Trigger the Secret
To get the Reckoning easter egg to fire, you need to arrive at the Inner Sanctum with the "Broken Sigil" still in your inventory. Most people trade this in for the "Radiant Blade" upgrade earlier in the game because, well, the blade is awesome. But the blade is a trap. It’s a literal narrative distraction. Keeping the Broken Sigil is the only way to activate the pedestal hidden behind the waterfall in the courtyard.
Once you’re there, do not—and I cannot stress this enough—do not engage the guards immediately.
Wait.
Literally just stand there for about two minutes. The guards will eventually cycle their patrol and leave a three-second window where the back of the altar is exposed. This is where you use the Sigil. You’ll hear a low-frequency hum. If your controller vibrates, you’ve done it. If not, you’re just standing in a puddle for no reason.
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The complexity here is what makes it a "Reckoning." It's the game's way of asking if you were actually paying attention to the world-building or if you were just clicking heads. It's meta-commentary at its most annoying, but also its most rewarding.
Why This Ending Changes Everything
When the secret sequence begins, the dialogue changes. The villain doesn't give their standard "join me or die" speech. Instead, they acknowledge the Sigil. This opens up a third dialogue branch that usually doesn't exist. You learn that the "Great Cataclysm" mentioned in the intro wasn't an accident. It was a choice.
The Reckoning easter egg reveals that the faction you’ve been fighting for—the "Protectors"—actually started the war to consolidate power. You’ve been the bad guy’s errand boy the whole time. It's a gut-punch. It makes those early-game missions where you burned "rebel" supplies feel a lot darker.
The Visual Differences
- The skybox shifts from a standard sunset orange to a deep, unsettling violet.
- The music drops the orchestral swell for a lone, distorted cello.
- Your character's armor starts to show a subtle black mist, reflecting the "Taint of the Sigil."
Some players hate this. They want the hero’s journey to be pure. They want to save the world and get the gold medal. But the Reckoning easter egg is for the players who want the truth, however messy it is. It’s the "True Ending" in every sense of the word, even if it leaves you feeling a bit greasy.
Technical Requirements and Potential Bugs
You need to be on the latest patch. Earlier versions of the game had a bug where the Sigil would disappear from the inventory during the "Escape the Collapse" sequence. If you’re playing on an unpatched physical disc, you might be out of luck.
Also, check your frame rate. Believe it or not, the trigger for the waterfall pedestal is tied to the internal tick rate of the physics engine. If you're running the game at an uncapped 144Hz, the prompt might flicker too fast to hit. Capping it at 60Hz for this specific section is a known "fix" in the speedrunning community. It’s a weird technical quirk, but that’s the reality of modern game dev.
How to Prepare for the Final Reveal
If you're going for this, make a manual save right before entering the Temple of Ash. Don't rely on the autosave. The game has a habit of overwriting your progress the moment you cross the threshold, and if you miss the pedestal timing, you'll have to restart the entire six-hour final act. Nobody wants that.
Make sure you’ve read all four "Scrolls of the Ancients." You don't technically need them to click the buttons, but the dialogue won't make any sense without the context they provide. They explain why the Sigil was broken in the first place. Hint: It wasn't broken by an enemy; it was broken by the hero's mentor to hide the truth.
Actionable Next Steps
- Check your inventory: If you already have the Radiant Blade, you need to reload a save from before the "Smithy's Choice" quest. You cannot have both.
- Locate the Temple of Ash: Head to the northernmost point of the map. Look for the three statues of the Weeping Sisters.
- The Sequence: Interact with them in the order of Left, Right, then Center. You'll hear a chime.
- The Wait: At the waterfall, stay hidden. Wait for the patrol to reset. Do not get spotted or the altar locks for that playthrough.
- The Pedestal: Insert the Sigil and proceed to the final boss.
Don't rush the final dialogue. Let it play out. The Reckoning easter egg concludes with a unique post-credits scene that sets up the inevitable sequel in a way that the standard ending completely ignores. It's the only way to understand the teaser trailer that's been circulating online. Once you see it, you'll realize the "standard" ending was basically just a dream sequence. This is the real story.