Paranormasight: The Mermaid's Curse Achievement Guide: How to Survive Kameshima
Square Enix turned a supernatural murder mystery into a brutal scavenger hunt, and I absolutely lost my mind tracking down every last piece of it.
Getting the full completion in The Mermaid's Curse is a massive undertaking. The game actively forces you to replay miserable timelines, memorize obscure star constellations, and grind out an arcade diving simulator just to pop a few digital trophies. You are looking at exactly thirty distinct achievements. While a good chunk of them are handed to you for simply reading the story, the final handful will severely test your patience and your puzzle solving skills.
I spent an ungodly amount of hours throwing my characters into horrible situations just to see what the timeline would do. If you want to grab the platinum trophy without endlessly clicking through the exact same dialogue boxes trying to guess the right trigger, you need a structured roadmap. I broke down every single missable achievement, alternate ending, and arbitrary high score you need to conquer Kameshima.
The Unmissable Story Milestones
You will unlock several achievements naturally just by pushing through the narrative. I am grouping these together because you literally cannot miss them unless you quit playing the game.
Progression and Story Trophies
As you clear chapters and unravel the mystery, you will automatically unlock Deep Sea Apparition, Idol of Kameshima, and Immortal Girl. Once you finally roll the credits on the main narrative, you will pop The Tale of the Ise Mermaids. If you are following the steps to unlock the true ending, you will also automatically receive Discoverer of Ryugu and Legend of the Kameshima Twin Gods.
The Alternate Timelines and Bad Endings
You have to actively make terrible decisions to get these specific trophies. Do not worry about ruining your save file. The game is built around a timeline menu that lets you jump right back to where you made the mistake and fix it.
The Tale of Neverending Youth
This is Arnav Barnum's good ending. Go to the chapter titled "Possessions". When Kikuko hands you the mirror, you need to throw it away. Open your items menu and click on the mirror directly to discard it. To secure this ending, you also must throw away the business card. This removes the curse trigger completely and keeps Kikuko alive.
Whereabouts of the Missing Author
This is Arnav Barnum's bad ending. Load up the exact same "Possessions" chapter. Follow the steps above to throw away the mirror, but this time, keep the business card in your inventory. Arnav will inevitably murder Kikuko, ruining his entire life and popping your achievement.
Unforgivable Decision
You earn this by intentionally ruining Sato's life. Load up the chapter called "Real Name". When the prompt finally appears on screen, simply choose the "Obey Tomoshige" option. Sit back and watch the disaster unfold.
A Wish to Bind the Heart
To get this depressing outcome, you need to finish Sato's "Conclusion" chapter without having the Mermaid's meat in your possession. You have to ignore the hidden meta puzzle on the main menu entirely to trigger this variant.
A Hopeless Outcome
This is Yuza Minakuchi's bad ending. You will get this achievement simply by finishing the "Accepted Fate" chapter on his failure route.
(Need more info? check out our in-depth All Endings Guide)
Puzzles and Dialogue Triggers
The game loves to test if you are actually paying attention to the text files. A few trophies require you to input exact text answers or perform highly specific actions during dialogue sequences.
Phone Alone
During the "Confession" chapter, a phone will start ringing in the background. Do not answer it. Ignore your instincts and just keep clicking the dialogue options to talk to Tsukasa while the phone rings itself out.
Devious Adults
You need Sodo Kiryu and Yumeko Shiki to win a curse battle. Click through all the available dialogue options until you completely exhaust the conversation tree. Once you have nothing left to say, choose the "Give Up" option. Immediately after giving up, use your curse.
Avi's a Genius
The game will occasionally ask you to manually type out answers based on files you read. To get this achievement, you have to solve the map mystery while playing as Arnav. The clue tells you to search the 95th. This refers to the Altair star mentioned in your files. When prompted with a text box, type the name "Hikoboshi" to solve the riddle.
Twinkle of the North Star
Later in the story, you need to physically locate the North Star. The game gives you an image of a constellation map. Look for Deneb, which is the star located at the very bottom of the initial image. The North Star you need to click on is located to the bottom left of Deneb.
The Diving Mini Game Nightmare
For a game primarily about reading text and solving logic puzzles, the developers decided to throw in an arcade underwater gathering simulator just to torture completionists. You have to grind this mode heavily to get everything.
Master Diver and Diving Enthusiast
These two achievements are tied entirely to your rank. You need to reach Diver Rank 5 for the first trophy and Diver Rank 17 for the second. There is no shortcut here. It just requires pure repetition. Keep playing the mini game and grinding out dives until the rank pops.
Terrifying Experience at Sea
Do not forget to intentionally drown yourself at least once. Simply stay underwater until you run out of air and die in the mini game to trigger this morbid achievement.
Local Delicacy Haul (And Score Thresholds)
You get trophies for hitting 1000 points, 1500 points, and finally 2000 points. You cannot hit 2000 points just by grabbing random fish. You need to understand the scoring math and manipulate the multiplier system perfectly.
A Rare Delicacy
You get this achievement simply for catching your first Ise Lobster during a dive. Since you need them for the high score anyway, you will grab this one naturally while grinding for the 2000 point mark.
The Collectible Grind
The final hurdle standing between you and the platinum is finding every single sticker and completing the database files.
Kameshima Gossiper and Kameshima Expert
To unlock Kameshima Gossiper, you need to complete all character profiles. For Kameshima Expert, you must find and read all the files. My advice is to simply click on every single person you meet and exhaust every dialogue tree until they start repeating themselves. Check every background object to ensure no file goes unread.
Legend of Aves Academy (The Sticker Hunt)
This achievement requires you to collect all 15 Mocking Bird stickers. You will unlock tier trophies at 5, 10, and 15 stickers. Most of these are hidden in the background art of the environments. Check your files after every single chapter. If a sticker file updates with a hint, it means you completely missed one in the previous scene. Jump back through the timeline and scan the background art.
There are four specific stickers that are an absolute nightmare to find. Three of them are hidden inside the diving mini game. They appear randomly as question marks while you are swimming. The last hidden sticker requires you to talk to Kikuko in the "Cursed" chapter. You must have already achieved the 2000 point high score in the diving game before this conversation. If you have the score, a new dialogue option appears reading "Working as an ama diver". Select it to get the final sticker.
The Mermaid's Curse
Once you mop up the last sticker, finish the final file, and wrap up your diving career, the final platinum achievement will trigger. You have officially seen every horrific thing this island has to offer.
