Tenebris Somnia Ending 1 Guide: How to Get the Good Ending and Beat Lacuna

What Tenebris Somnia Ending 1 Actually Is

Tenebris Somnia ending 1 is the one most players accidentally lock themselves out of with a single swing of a knife. If you have been carving up every Relicta ghost that drifts past you after picking up the Aurifer, you have already disqualified this run — the game has quietly routed you toward the other finale.

The numbering comes from community walkthroughs rather than an in-game menu. Guide writers label the Lacuna confrontation as Ending #1 and the Hermes confrontation as Ending #2, while the game's own achievement-style names for the pair are Solve Et Coagula (the good ending) and Magnum Opus (the bad ending). Same two finales, two naming conventions — worth knowing before you go hunting for a "missing" ending.

Because both routes run through the same final stretch in the Septimo Arte building, the only thing separating them is your behavior in the minutes before you walk through the front door. That is the entire decision point.

How to Unlock Tenebris Somnia Ending 1

The rule is short: once the Aurifer is in your hands, do not kill a single Relicta ghost. Not one. Per Destructoid's ending breakdown, published October 18, 2026, the ghosts will actively shy away from you once you are carrying the finished blade, so keeping your record clean is mostly a matter of not chasing them.

Where the Relicta ghosts show up

• The first one appears in a hotel room after you leave the room where the Viridis knife is bathed in moonlight.
• More of them line the path between the hotel and the street outside the bar.
• They flee rather than attack, which makes them tempting targets — and that temptation is the trap.

Striking even one with the Aurifer flips the run permanently into the Magnum Opus route. As Into Indie Games' walkthrough puts it plainly: killing just one is enough for the bad ending. There is no undo option and no late-game redemption step.

Get the Aurifer first

You cannot make this choice until the knife exists, and the knife takes three separate infusions to finish:

1. Melanosis knife — use the Lapis Fictus knife at the fuse box in the kitchen passage off the stairwell.
2. Viridis knife — carry the Melanosis knife to the puddle of mercury near the TV in the small room below the elevator shaft.
3. Aurifer — bathe the Viridis knife in moonlight at the symbol-marked door in the hotel, using the Lead Key to get there first.

Complete all three and you are holding the only weapon capable of ending Relicta ghosts — and the only thing standing between you and Tenebris Somnia ending 1.

Before the Lacuna Fight: Loot and Loadout

The single most important thing to know about this battle is that you will not have the Aurifer. The knife that carried you through the back half of the game stays out of the arena, so every point of damage has to come from firearms. If you have been hoarding ammo, this is the moment to stop.

Stock up on Shotgun and Revolver ammunition before entering the Septimo Arte building. Ranged combat is not just viable here — it is the recommended approach for nearly the whole encounter, because staying mobile and far away is how you avoid Lacuna's instant-kill slam. Melee range offers nothing except a faster death.

Once you inspect the symbol-marked door at the end of the Septimo Arte hallway, backtrack to the entrance to meet Vitria. Her dialogue triggers the cutscene, and the arena opens with both Hermes and Lacuna standing in front of you. Which one steps forward depends entirely on whether your Relicta record is clean.

How to Beat Lacuna and Finish Tenebris Somnia Ending 1

Phase 1: keep your distance

Lacuna roams the arena and lashes out with her tendrils. Because her swipes are short-ranged, a ranged weapon lets you pepper her from a safe distance while the attacks whiff harmlessly. Chip away and stay patient.

Two attacks demand specific responses:

• The vanishing slam. She disappears from the arena entirely. Keep moving — she drops back down after a delay, and getting caught underneath is an instant kill. No health bar saves you.
• The fly swarm. She spits a stream of flies from her mouth. Counterintuitively, you want to close the gap during this attack rather than retreat, because the swarm spreads outward and leaves space close to her body.

Enough damage pushes the fight into phase two.

Phase 2: watch the movie screen

The second phase opens with the screen showing you standing outside the Septimo Arte building, and a crowd of Julia clones rushes in. They are invisible in the room itself, so you have to read the screen to track them and fire accordingly. Clear them all, and Lacuna returns to the arena proper.

From here she leaves a damaging trail as she moves, so reposition constantly and keep firing. She also summons flies that leap out of the movie screen, though each dies to a single hit from any weapon. Her final trick is a hurled beam of flies, which is slow enough to sidestep comfortably.

Bring her down, and the final cutscene of Tenebris Somnia ending 1 plays out. That is the good ending complete.

What About the Other Tenebris Somnia Endings?

Ending 1 is only half the picture — the game has four documented finales, and the last two are locked behind the first two. Here is the short version.

Ending 3 is the fiddly one. According to Destructoid's guide, you grab the Bible from the desk, use it on the second floor of the apartment, start on the Man/Mars symbol and run counterclockwise six times (before solving the TV puzzle), then enter 6666 into the lock on the Community Center's first floor. After that, use the Bible behind the green door on Floor 0, hook the yellow RCA cable to the camera and cycle channels until enemies spawn — all before opening the Copper Key door. Finally, insert three Iron Crosses into the blue door left of the elevator on the third floor.

Ending 4 is Renuntiatio. After unlocking endings 1 and 2, start a new game and use the Apartment Key on the building's front entrance in the ground-floor lobby; Julia leaves immediately and the ending triggers.

If you want to verify the game's own store details or track updates before your next run, the official Tenebris Somnia Steam page is the place to start.

FAQ

Does Tenebris Somnia ending 1 require a second playthrough? No. You can reach it on a first run as long as you never kill a Relicta ghost with the Aurifer. The advanced endings (Vivus Ex Mortibus and Renuntiatio) are the ones that require completed runs.

Can I fix a bad-ending run and still get Tenebris Somnia ending 1? Not in the same save. Killing one Relicta ghost locks the run into Magnum Opus, so your options are reloading an earlier save or starting fresh. Save before the hotel section to keep the choice open.

Which boss do I fight for ending 1? Lacuna. Hermes only appears if you killed at least one Relicta ghost and triggered the bad ending. The two bosses also play very differently: Hermes can be damaged with the Aurifer, while Lacuna cannot.

Is the good ending the "true" ending? The game treats Solve Et Coagula as the good outcome, but all four endings are legitimate completions. If you are chasing full completion, unlock the first two before attempting the Bible sequence, since that is a hard requirement for ending 3.