This spoiler-free guide will help if you get stuck! It also includes all 25 Steam achievements and the locations of the game’s optional collectibles. Check the appendix at the end if you want to get through the game on your own and are just concerned about missables.

Intro

Hello! I really enjoyed The Sundew, so I decided to write a guide for it. This is a full walkthrough of the game, but I have kept it as spoiler-free as possible. The puzzles in The Sundew all make a lot of sense, with the possible exception of one that may be a little strange, but I definitely encourage you to try to get through on your own.

The Sundew has 25 Steam achievements, and they can all be gotten in one playthrough with minimal reloading of saves.

• 14 of these achievements are unmissable and will be unlocked as a part of the story.
• 5 achievements are associated with optional collectibles scattered throughout the game.
• About halfway through the game, you make a binary choice, each associated with an achievement. One of these options can lock you out of one of the endings later in the game, but the other allows all three endings to be seen in that same playthrough.
• There are three endings, each with its own achievement.
• There is one other achievement early in the game that is technically missable, but it’s hard to miss.

The Sundew has two types of optional collectibles. There are six bits of graffiti spread across three locations that you can clean if you have the correct items. There are also thirty-six small hidden space invader sprites. With very few exceptions, there is one in each scene, but there are one or two places that have no invaders, and one room does have two of them.

If you’re here for just the missables, you can skip the walkthrough and hit up the appendix of missables that I’ve included at the end of the guide.

Part 1: Going to Work

Check the window for INVADER 1/36. These guys are optional Easter eggs hidden in most scenes throughout the game.

Check Rick’s coat for a MEDI-PASS and RICK’S BADGE. The conspiracy has already begun! Touch the vine on the edge of the balcony, and something weird happens.

Chat with the robot butler to learn about taxis.

Grab the GLASS by the floor and the MESSY CLOTHES from the windowsill. Hit the lights in the bathroom and check the shelves; you will find NAIL CLIPPERS and some MEDICINE. Fill the glass in the sink, pop in the pill, and drink it by dragging it from the inventory directly onto Anna.

Try to use the device by the balcony, but it’s broken; we will need to fix it. Interact with the panel that has a note to uncover the fusebox, and Anna will turn off the power. Now, use your NAIL CLIPPERS on the small hotspot on Rick’s head for SILVER FILAMENT. Then, use the clippers on the terminal to s*rip the wires, and add the filament to complete the circuit. Interact with the fuses a second time to restore power, and then use your phone (Eye icon in upper left) to call a taxi.

Hop in, and it’s off to work.

Part 2: Another Day at the Office

INVADER 2/36 is on the green building just behind you as you land, on the right hand edge.

Pick up the HAIRPIN and PLASTIC BAG; head in.

INVADER 3/36 is visible on the wall behind Anna just through the transparent glass door.

Interact with the security door to go through it, and then go into the door labelled IT DEPARTMENT on this floor. INVADER 4/36 is right next to the entrance to this room on the wall.

Talk to Jimmy about everything and take the MARKERS on the table. You should have both regular markers and a yellow marker. In the back of this room, there’s a locked cabinet that can be picked with the hairpin. Once it’s unlocked, take your PAYMENT BADGE.

Go upstairs to the lab and talk to the robot behind the glass to the far left about everything.

Go back downstairs and back to the main entrance. Use the black markers on the red letters here to clean up GRAFFITI 1/6 and GRAFFITI 2/6.

Go downstairs. Examine all of the flyers here for INVADER 5/36 as well as an achievement: WINNER OF THE DAY. Use the yellow marker on the green N on the vending machine for GRAFFITI 3/6.

Anna is feeling hungry, so select whichever food you want from the vending machine and pay with a bill. No matter what you pick, you get rice balls. Eat your rice balls by dragging them onto Anna. She’s still hungry, so select another food and pay with card this time. More rice balls; oh boy. Eat them.

Enter the meeting room on the left, and speak to Arabella. Grab your BADGE from the table once she’s done chewing you out. INVADER 6/36 is on the chair to the right.

Leave, and enter the locker room to the right. Open Anna’s locker (to the right) with the badge. Take COAT and RIFLE. INVADER 7/36 is on a footlocker in the middle of the room.

Back upstairs, Ichiro is now here at the front desk. Speak to him for EMPTY DARTS. Pass him your coat and rifle through the slot.

Then head back through IT to the lab. Speak to Karin about everything. Take the FERTILIZER and the PLANT, then give her your Medi-Pass and step into the device to the right.

Some weird stuff happens! When you leave, be sure to grab INVADER 8/36on the wall to the left. Then speak to the robot to behind the glass to the left again to fill your empty darts. Head downstairs, grab another PLANT, and speak to Donna about everything.

Return to the front desk and hand over your darts. Call a cab and hop in. You may need to wander a bit while waiting for it to arrive. It’s time to get to work.

Part 3: The Contact

INVADER 9/36 is right below your feet as you get to town. Then, enter the dark alley right behind Anna for a short scene; this is needed to progress.

Continue left and enter the restaurant. INVADER 10/36 is on the wood partition, near the floor. Speak to the man in the booth on the right side of the room. If he’s not here yet, it’s because you haven’t seen the scene in the alley. After the conversation, Anna says she needs to use the bathroom, but visit the terrace first to grab a CORD, and then hit up the restroom. The next bit will not trigger unless you already have the cord.

The stall on the left is free, so use it. Some stuff happens, but after you are out, grab the CIGARETTES on the floor and don’t miss INVADER 11/36 on the wall above the toilet.

Grab a TOWEL. Turn on one of the faucets above the sinks, and moisten the towel. Scrub the GRAFFITI 4/6 on the mirror here, and use your marker to finish it off.

This puzzle a little tricky because it has to be done in a specific order. First, check the cigarettes in your inventory for some LOOSE CIGS and a LIGHTER. Then, use the plant nutrients on the plastic bag to soak it. Then, soak the cord in the fertilizer as well. Place the bag first in the azaleas by the window, and add the cord. Light your makeshift wick on fire to clear the obstruction.

Escape through the window and return to the motorcycle to proceed.

Part 4: The Ambush

INVADER 12/36 is on a second-floor window outside of the building in the new area.

Insert your badge into the small lock on the right side of the leftmost building and enter.

INVADER 13/36is hidden in a shadow on the ground.

Take the elevator up. INVADER 14/46 is in the foreground by the floor.

Exit to the far right. Don’t miss INVADER 15/36 embedded in the lit sign behind Anna. Look around and find a good spot to set up. Then return to the dark hall and enter a door in the foreground, walking towards camera, to find your gear.

A scene plays.

You are asked here to make a choice. Your choice here does not affect achievements, so do whatever you think is best.

Part 5: The Escape

When you next have control, speak to the flying robot and engage in dialogue until you have escaped. Perhaps some insult swordfighting will be able to free you? After you get up, don’t miss INVADER 16/36 right behind where Anna was sitting.

Next, grab the SCREWDRIVER and the NOTE.

If you click around the cabin and USE everything with everything, eventually a cutscene plays. Continue your exploration, and, like it or not, you will be freed eventually.

Once the dust settles, as soon as you get up, there is a VERY missable INVADER 17/36 hidden in the craters of the moon. Grab it now, because you can’t return. Then use the canister of liquid nitrogen and interact with the cold air to freeze your cuffs and break them off.

Speak with the man here about everything, drink the energy drink he gives you by dragging it onto Anna, and then leave the screen to the north.

Part 6: Buraku

This is by far the longest segment of the game.

On the screen with the angel, INVADER 18/36 is on the far right building. Then follow the footprints to the back, where the cursor shows a question mark.

In this next area, there is a broken motorcycle to investigate. The cover is broken, and we will need keys and a battery. Take the BATTERY RACK, and also grab the nearby bottle of ACETONE. INVADER 19/36 is chilling on the window of the building in the background.

Return to screen with the angel and go right this time. You will notice some flying robots in the background; try to approach them for another another objective. We will have to get rid of these things.

Continue right and speak to the little girl about everything she has to say. Just behind her, there is a long object protruding from the snowdrift. Pick it up for a HORN. This horn belongs with the angel statue we just passed, so go back and give the statue its horn. This will pop open a cover in the side of the statue, which will open when you interact with it to reveal a DEAD CELL PHONE, a DEAD NINTENDO SWITCH, and some TOKENS.

Return to the little girl and enter the “dark room” behind her. It’s not actually a room, it’s a passage to the little community. The walls here have INVADERS 20/36 and 21/36. Exit west to a cozy Asian-style room and speak to the man here about everything he has to say. INVADER 22/36 is also just above the honey on the floor which we can’t take yet. Exit right and go south, down the stairs.

In this basement, speak to Nao about everything. There’s some scissors that we can’t grab, but note them. Next, go up the stairs here to the attic. INVADER 23/36 is on the wood, just above the three closets in the center of the room. Have a look around and note the code on the pillar nearby: 2731. Try to enter the bedroom to the right (we can’t do anything there yet), and then start looting the place. In this room, you can find CHLOROFORM, a MARKER, a BRUSH, and a SCRAMBLER that needs to be calibrated. In the dark room to the back, you can also find a BOOK that you should read, a VASE, and INVADER 24/36 on a green box in the upper-left.

Go back outside, to where the flowers are. Swap your vase for the JAR that holds the flowers. Then, click the balcony, and Anna will follow the staircase up to a new area.

In this weird loft area, watch the electronic screen in back, as INVADER 25/36 is in there somewhere. Speak to the teen boy here about everything, and ring the doorbell. Speak to the weird blob and mention the memory card you have, and hand it over when prompted.

It is a good idea to make a manual save here.

Ring the doorbell a second time and have a conversation about the card. You have a choice here. If you select the riskier option, it pays off. Playing it safe will lock you out what you might consider to be the game’s “good” ending later on, but the other choice will still let you see all three endings. You might want to take the safe option for the achievement, reload, and then proceed with the risky one.

Playing it safe unlocks the achievement: Reasonable and sensible person.

Throwing caution to the wind unlocks the achievement: Fiery and fearless person.

Ring the doorbell for a third and final time, and take your new card, souped-up or not, and you will also get a free GLOVE. Place the card in Anna’s head by dragging it onto her. Before you go, also ask about the pink card on the floor. You will be allowed to take it, and as it turns out, it’s a KEY to the motorcycle.

Return outside, through the dark hallway, back to the “main area”. There is a small snowman by the edge of a building with a little table next to him. This is the toughest puzzle in the game because this action isn’t super clear, but place your scrambler device on the table in order to test it.

Take the device back to the basement and show it to Nao, who asks for old electronic equipment in exchange for fixing it. Give her the phone and the switch, and then the scrambler a second time. She agrees to fix it if you meet her in her office in ten minutes. Wander around for a few screens, and Nao will disappear and eventually reappear in the little room where you found the vase. Speak to her for the SCRAMBLER.

On your way out, enter the code from earlier, 2731, into the key panel in the basement. A door opens, revealing a LID, a RING, and INVADER 26/36. Bring the ring to the man in the room just outside and to the left, and you can now take his HONEY. There is also some GREASE here that was not here before, grab that as well.

Return to the little table by the snowman and try your scrambler again. It will work this time, and you can proceed to a new area with a laundry machine and INVADER 27/36 just to the left of it. Ignore the machine for now, and enter the area to the right for a scene.

After the scene, grab INVADER 28/36 on the wall, and use the marker on GRAFFITI 5/6 and 6/6 for an achievement. Interact with the trunk, and use the grease on it to fix the hinges. Grab OLD CLOTHES and SHEETS.

Interact with the gate in the back and open the door. This leads to a rooftop where INVADER 29/36 is visible on the veeery far left edge of the screen. Check all of the fans here. There are many compartments, but three of them hide BATTERIES that you will need. You also need at least 3 of the PLEXIGLAS SHEETS.

Time for some combining. Load the chloroform, acetone, and Plexiglas sheets into the jar. We will still need heat to turn this into glue. Insert your batteries into the holder you are carrying as well. Then return to the laundry machine, insert some tokens, and wash your new clothes and the dirty sheets.

Back to Nao’s basement. Cut the sheets using the scissors. Place honey on one s*rip, and soak another using hot water. Put the glass jar with the glue mixture into the pot. Go upstairs and into the bedroom, and you will treat your wound and get changed. The glue may not be ready quite yet, so wander around for a few screens.

Once the glue is ready, and once you’re ready too, take it and head back to the bike. Insert the batteries, glue the compartment shut, activate the bike, and use the key. It’s off to the mysterious island!

Part 7: The Mysterious Island

As soon as you arrive, INVADER 30/36 is in green, near the peak of the mountain. Descend to the boat, and move to the hotspot labeled as “tangle of vegetation”; this will unlock a new area.

INVADER 31/36 is on the square rock to the right. Have a look around, and grab the BADGE, the ROCK, a SHARP STICK, a BIT OF FABRIC, and there’s some OLD PAPER hanging on the wall.

Use the paper in the light beams. Then, wrap the stick in fabric and use that in the light beams as well. Finally, use the glove in the light beams. After a short scene, you will become trapped in a virtual reality world, but simply use the eyeball icon in your menu interface to escape.

Leave this area and go to the castle entrance in your boat. In this new area, INVADER 32/36 is on a little bit of floor that is falling into the water. Use the badge and enter.

INVADER 33/36 is on the wall towards the right-hand side of this room. Then, interact with all of the poles on the floor to raise them. When that is done, use the eyeball icon to enter a VR word that is extremely Beneath a Steel Sky-inspired. In this area, there are seven letters to be collected from bouncing balls, 2 As, 2 Is, G, A, and S.

I am not sure if this puzzle is randomized or not, but once you have the letters, return to the real world and place the letters on the raised pedestals. If you interact with the keypad to the right, any correct letters lock into place, and you can mix the others around to try again. In my game, read from left to right, the correct placement was SAAOGII

NOTE: I did notice a slight bug with this puzzle that can save a few seconds. If you place a letter and then click into and out of the help menu, it will lock in place if correct without having to walk all the way to the keypad.

Once done, walk through the door. INVADER 34/36 is on a tree root. When ready, interact with the panel, and the story kicks into high gear.

Once back out, continue to the right. There’s a giant pool here where you can find INVADER 35/36 in the water hidden among the tangled roots.

Exit though the door in the back to uncover the final room in the game and the final INVADER 36/36on the wall to the right.

If you want to see the three endings the game has to offer, make a manual save here.

Part 8: Endings

The Sundew has three endings.

1)Merge with the program on its own terms

Unlocks achievement: Unconditional Believer In The Future

To unlock: Don’t fiddle with anything. Return to the tree and interact with the panel. Speak to the program and unconditionally accept its terms.

2)Go down swinging

Unlocks achievement: Extreme Fighter

To unlock: Thoroughly inspect the cooling tank, the pipes, the gauges. Eventually, once Anna understands the system, you will be able to interact with a discolored spot on one of the cooling pipes. The program tries to stop you, but tell it to go pound sand and jam the stick in anyway. Nothing like going out with a bang.

3)Merge with the program while gaining the upper hand

Unlocks achievement: Chishiki no Kaze

To unlock: I hope you decided to trust Nate earlier in the game, because you can only get this if you have the souped-up chip. First, visit the digital room via the tree panel and interact with the glitchy text until Anna spots an odd word. Then, visit the heart room and read the small paper hanging on the wall. Using this info as login and password, access the terminal. Run COMMANDS -> Nateboost.exe followed by SETTINGS -> CONTROL MODE -> Connected User Control. If you do it right, Anna will remark that the three-headed lady is less cocky now. After that, return to speak to the AI and agree to merge with it.

No matter which ending you choose, congrats on getting through the game! What a wild ride. If you liked it, definitely consider dropping a positive review, which really helps the game’s visibility, and continuing to support independent adventures like this one.

Appendix: Checklist of Missables

In this spoiler-free section, I will list all the stuff you need for 100% with none of the walkthrough faff.

Before Work

1 invader

• Invader 1 (bedroom window)

 

Before Leaving Work

7 new invaders (total 8)

3 new grafitti (total 3)

1 missable achievement

• Missable achievement: Read the bulletin board post about being a lottery winner
• Invader 2: edge of green building outside station
• Invader 3: station main entrance, through glass door
• Invader 4: near entrance to room in IT department
• Invader 5: on bulletin board flyer downstairs
• Invader 6: in meeting room, on a chair to the right
• Invader 7: locker room, on a foot locker
• Invader 8: on a wall in the lab, only visible after your health checkup
• Graffiti 1: Main entrance (use black marker)
• Graffiti 2: Main entrance, just next to #1
• Graffiti 3: Easy to miss, on vending machine (use yellow marker)

 

Before Leaving Town

3 new invaders (total 11)

1 new graffiti (total 4)

• Invader 9: on pier outside where Anna starts
• Invader 10: inside restaurant, on wood partition near floor
• Invader 11: restroom, only visible after Anna uses it
• Graffiti 4: bathroom mirror, clean with a wet towel and clean up the edges with a marker.

 

The Mission

4 new invaders (total 15)

• Invader 12 is on a second floor window outside
• Invader 13 is in lobby, in a shadow on the floor
• Invader 14 is upstairs, in the foreground
• Invader 15 is outside on the balcony visible on a neon sign

 

The Escape

2 new invaders (total 17)

• Invader 16 is on the train, visible after Anna is able to move around.
• Invader 17 is in the scene where Anna meets the mysterious man, visible in the craters of the moon.

 

Buraku

12 new invaders (total 29)

2 new graffiti (total 6)

1 missable achievement

• Missable achievement: Save when encountering the hacker with the mysterious blob. When given a choice, select the safe option for an achievement. Then, reload, select the riskier option, and proceed with the game.
• Invader 18: In the room with the angel statue, on building to far right
• Invader 19: In room with motorcycle, lit window to far right
• Invader 20: At the crossroads with the flower, on a building to the back.
• Invader 21: Just below #20
• Invader 22: In Asian-style room to left of crossroads, near the floor.
• Invader 23: In the basement room where Nao is, only visible once you use locker code.
• Invader 24: In attic above Nao, on back wall, in the middle.
• Invader 25: Small office with computer, green box to upper left.
• Invader 26: Room where hacker lives, visible on scrolling electronic screen
• Invader 27: Area with laundry machine, just to the left of machine
• Invader 28: Dark alley, on wall to the left
• Invader 29: On the roof past the dark alley, to the very far left.
• Graffiti 5: In dark alley, use orange marker from Nao’s attic
• Grafitti 6: next to #5

 

Final area

7 new invaders (total 36)

3 missable ending achievements

• Missable ending achievements: refer to endings section of the guide.
• Invader 30: Mountaintop overlooking lake
• Invader 31: Jungle area with unfortunate people, on a rock sticking out of water
• Invader 32: Castle entrance, near water
• Invader 33: Massive room, on wall near exit to the right
• Invader 34: On the blooming tree
• Invader 35: Cooling tank, hidden among the roots in the water
• Invader 36: on the wall to the right of the final room

 

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