Paranormasight: The Mermaid's Curse Guide: How to Unlock Every Ending
Square Enix hid the absolute best conclusion to this visual novel behind a massive wall of corrupted save files and menu puzzles, but I finally mapped out the exact route.
Navigating a standard visual novel is usually a straightforward affair. You click through dialogue, make a few binary choices, and watch the consequences unfold. Paranormasight completely throws that logic out the window. You play as an omnipresent force manipulating a non linear narrative. You have to actively break the fourth wall, hop between different character timelines, and carry information from one timeline to alter the events of another.
I spent days replaying the exact same tragic events on Kameshima just to figure out how to manipulate these curses. The trial and error approach is heavily baked into the core experience. You will see characters meet gruesome ends repeatedly. To save you the frustration of aimlessly clicking through dialogue boxes hoping for a different result, I documented exactly what actions trigger all six unique conclusions.
The Foundation of Failure
Before you can even think about saving everyone, you have to watch them fail. The game locks the more complex narrative branches behind the initial tragic outcomes. You need to gather intel from the bad endings to understand the mechanics of the curses.
Ending 1: The Tragedy of Kameshima
This is the baseline outcome. Unlocking this disaster is required to access the rest of the game. You need to focus almost entirely on the chapters featuring Yuza and Sato, completely ignoring Arnav and Yumeko for now.
Push through Yuza's timeline until you hit a hard dead end in the "Time to Meet Up" chapter. The only crucial action here is during the "Tomokazuki" chapter, where you must tell Azami about the clone. Once you hit Yuza's wall, switch over to Sato. Play through her episodes until you reach the lighthouse in "The Tragedy of Kameshima" chapter. When the culprit behind the curse echo is revealed, you have no choice but to make Sato surrender to Kikuko Tsutsui. Yuza dies, the villain corners the survivors, and you learn absolutely nothing about the island's true history. It is a miserable starting point.
Ending 2: The Glory of Arnav Barnum
Once you have the first ending logged in your system, you can start messing with Arnav's timeline. This ending completely sidelines the main plot to focus on Arnav becoming an immortal celebrity.
Load up his "Possessions" chapter. When you speak with Kikuko, refuse the hand mirror. Then, throw away Ikoma's business card. This specific action allows Arnav to steal the Curse of Tomoshige while keeping Kikuko alive. Switch to Sato's "Claim" chapter and actively fail to convince Arnav to hand over the tamatebako. Pick the options "Deny" and "I want to thank one" to ensure he keeps it. Finally, play through Arnav's "An Exciting Ise-Shima Adventure" to wrap it up. Arnav lives for eight hundred years and becomes a bestselling fantasy author, but the island is basically left to rot.
Ending 3: The Fall of Arnav Barnum
This is the darker mirror to the previous outcome. Load Arnav's "Possessions" chapter again. Refuse the hand mirror from Kikuko, but this time, do not throw away Ikoma's business card. Keeping that card forces Arnav to murder Kikuko to take her curse.
Go back to Sato's "Claim" chapter and fail the conversation again by choosing "Deny" and "I want to thank one". Finish Arnav's adventure chapter one more time. He still becomes immortal, but because he killed Kikuko, he gets framed for a different curse murder and vanishes entirely.
Breaking the Cycle
Now that the side stories are out of the way, you can focus on actually fixing the mess on the island. These next two outcomes get you much closer to the truth but still demand a heavy sacrifice.
Ending 4: Taira no Tomoshige's Desire
You are going to need the tamatebako for this one. Start in Arnav's "Possessions" chapter. Refuse the mirror and throw away the business card. Jump to Sato's "Claim" chapter and successfully convince Arnav to give you the box. Be completely honest with him by choosing "Admit", then "Please, I need it", and finally "Tell the truth".
Switch over to Yuza's "To the Sanctuary" chapter and successfully break the Curse of Raging Waves. Ignore the chapter called "We Need a Plan" completely. Head straight into Sato's "Real Name" chapter and choose the option to "Obey Tomoshige". You save the island, but Sato is forced to die alongside Tomoshige to appease his eight hundred year old grudge.
Ending 5: Sato Shiranami's Curse
This is the bittersweet hurdle you must clear before the final puzzle. Follow the exact same setup as Ending 4. Refuse the mirror, throw the card, convince Arnav to give you the box, and break the curse in the sanctuary.
The changes start in Sato's "Real Name" chapter. When confronting Tomoshige, choose "Refuse". Now you have to formulate a winning strategy in the "We Need a Plan" chapter. Select Circe with Shikigami and Sodo with Feast of Shadows to counter Ikoma. Finally, load the "Conclusion" chapter with Yuza. When the group asks if there is any way to stop Sato from dying, select the ellipses option "...". You stop the villain and save the island, but Sato only has one day left to live.
Unlocking the True Ending
If you want the actual happy ending, you have to get weird with it. You must have Endings 1 and 5 unlocked before you even attempt this sequence. The developers hid the final steps inside the user interface itself.
This sequence is absolute bullshit to figure out without a guide, but pulling it off feels like cracking a master safe. Tapping the mermaid on the actual title screen to summon her into the narrative is a fantastic trick. Choosing that final dialogue option unlocks "An Eternal Conclusion". You successfully acquire the mermaid flesh, granting Sato another eight hundred years of life to spend with Yuza.
It takes some serious legwork to untangle the timelines of Kameshima, but finally outsmarting the curses is incredibly satisfying.
