The Saros secret ending is an alternate, slightly better fate for Arjun (depending on your interpretation) that can be achieved once you’ve rolled the credits once. It requires some extra steps though, and while the game does point you in the right direction, it’s not immediately obvious what to do, and the ending itself is quite ambiguous.
Here’s a guide on how to unlock the Saros secret ending, and exactly what happens in it.
[Ed. note: Spoilers for the main and secret endings in Saros follow, so read on at your own risk.]
How to unlock the secret ending in Saros
After defeating the King and then becoming the King in the main Saros ending, Arjun Devraj will return to Passage, just like he has throughout the entire game prior. Primary will be acting strangely, though, talking about detecting a signal in Shattered Descent, and your quest will update to “Change your path.”
Use the world dial to go to the Echelon III base in Shattered Descent, then head inside the main dome. You’ll find Kayla behind a door at the back, pointing a gun at Arjun. She explains she thought she was the only one left, and despite Arjun’s offer to help, she doesn’t trust him. Understandable.
Your objective will update to “Find the red tree in Blighted Marsh,” so guess where you’re off next? Go back to Passage, change the world dial to Blighted Marsh, then fight your way through the biome until you eventually find a massive tree with red leaves and grass all around the base. Approaching it will commence a cutscene where Arjun’s suit and an ethereal voice named Kiira become simultaneous.
Kiira eventually explains you need to go to Nitya’s lab in Cathedral, so head back to Passage at your earliest convenience, then use the world dial for a third time to go to Cathedral. Here, you’ll need to play through the entire biome, including both the left and right paths, until you’ve meleed both oversized tuning forks.
This will drop the bell in the middle of the room, just like last time, and you’ll be able to drop through the circular hole, found before the stairs ascending to the Priestess boss fight. This path takes you to Nitya’s lab. Watch the holo log to understand more about Nitya’s choice and why she came to Carcosa. The conversation between her and Kiira implies the two fell for each other, as she says Nitya “came here for peace” and that she found it with her.
After this, you must return to Passage once again, and enter the Banyan Tree. This is where Arjun discovers Sebastian, the herbalist that seemingly never existed for anyone else on Echelon IV, dying in an alleyway back on Earth. Arjun’s comment of “no one was supposed to get hurt, that wasn’t part of the plan,” and the fact this scene ends with flashing red-and-blue lights, leads us to believe he’s the reason Sebastian died.
It’s heavily implied throughout the full game that Arjun either cheated on Nitya with Sebastian, or looked to Sebastian for comfort once Nitya had left him to go to Carcosa. This is somewhat confirmed when Sebastian asks Arjun “What was I to you?” before he passed, and Arjun’s response was “You were nothing. That’s what I told myself. I didn’t deserve your trust.”
After this, you must go back to Yellow Shore and defeat the King again, but,when the King’s health bar is depleted and he’s bowed over at the end of the fight, do not punch him. Instead, ignore him and walk into the golden corridor beyond.
Saros ending, explained
A quick recap of the main ending before diving into the secret ending, for those who haven’t completed it, as it provides helpful context. Defeating the King results in Arjun punching him relentlessly, while the voice of Nitya encourages him to “take the crown.”
A huge golden corridor opens and a flashback scene begins, where Arjun walks into a hotel room with golden bedsheets and a huge window, with a yellow glow peering through. A figure appears on the other side of the window, and as Arjun approaches, it’s revealed to be himself. Other Arjun pulls our Arjun through the mirror, causing him to fall into an endless void.
He then starts transforming into the King, and as he glances behind him, Nitya emerges from, behind his throne, glitching erratically, like a malfunctioning hologram. He sits down and Nitya takes his hand, followed by the credits.
Saros secret ending, explained
As a result of not punching the King and taking the crown, Arjun begins the same transformation as in the main ending, but prevents it from completing by tearing his sun pendant off and throwing it into the shallow water on the beach.
The scene blinks to a beautiful sunrise, with the ominous glow of the Yellow Shore no longer there. Arjun is on his hands and knees on the beach. He says “Yesterday is a lie,” when the camera pans to reveal Nitya sat cross-legged behind him. The following exchange happens:
Nitya: “You shouldn’t have come here. This was my dream, not yours.”
Arjun: “I just didn’t want to lose what we had. I took things too far. I couldn’t stop.”
Nitya: “You can’t change what you’ve done, Arjun.”
[Long pause]
Nitya: “It’s a new day. I wonder what you’ll do with it?”
Nitya walks off into the sunset, leaving Arjun to solemnly contemplate his actions. Then the flashing sirens of the police come in from the side of the screen, followed by the credits for a second time. Arjun’s last words are: “I’m sorry, Nitya. I’m sorry.”
What does this mean? Well, it’s pretty clear throughout the game that Arjun wasn’t the best character, especially when visiting Nitya’s lab for the first time, prior to beating the Priestess in the main game. A flashback scene showed him giving into alcohol dependency, and when Nitya comments that the colleagues Arjun has been drinking with are “kind of like” his father, he tells her to never say that again, in a somewhat concerningly stern tone.
Other text logs in the scene show that Nitya wasn’t going to join Echelon I, but changed her mind due to Arjun’s behavior, so she wanted to leave the relationship. Before she leaves, he begs her to stay, ending with the final line, “I am nothing with you.”
So Arjun’s pursuit to find Nitya, throughout all of Saros, was a largely selfish one. Even though he doesn’t take the place of the King in the secret ending, Nitya’s comment about it being a new day implies he’s still doomed to continue exploring the land of Carcosa without her, because she found peace without him.
