Don’t Sleep With The Fishes is a survival point-and-click horror game in which you manage food, boat health, items, and crew. In this article, I will tell you how to unlock all endings and achievements.
Some events are RNG-based, so the exact day given in this article may change in your gameplay. You may need several runs to get every ending, but if you know which items to keep and which events to follow, you’ll complete 100% of this game.
Which Difficulty Should You Play?
The game has three difficulty modes.
Adventure
Adventure can be the best choice for your first run. It allows you to learn how the boat works, how special items are used, and what each crewmate can do.
Use this run to learn the basic survival mechanics before going for the harder achievements.
Calm
You can choose Calm as your main difficulty for most achievements and ending runs.
Your health regenerates every night, and hunger builds up more slowly. This makes it much easier to survive for a long time and reach Day 50 for the A Long Sail achievement.
Drowning
You can choose the Drowning mode for the Still Standing achievement.
It is the hardest difficulty, so save it for your final run after you understand the game’s mechanics.
What To Grab At The Start?
When you start the game, you get a short amount of time to look around the ship before Dorothy sinks.
You will get roughly 45 seconds to collect useful items and bring a crewmate if you want one.
Try to collect these items:
- 3–4 cans of food
- At least 2 Baits
- Flashlight or Flare Gun
- Anchor, Bucket, Umbrella, or Fishnet
- Compass or Map
- Scuba Diving Kit
The Flashlight and Flare Gun are especially important for the rescue endings. They can also help during dangerous encounters.
A Compass or Map is useful because it stops you from going into dangerous seas.
The Scuba Diving Kit is important for the true ending and also gives you a good way to find Baits and chests.
Items such as the Telescope, First Aid Kit, Swim Ring, Bottle, Duct Tape, and Harpoon are easier to find later or can be crafted by crew members.
Survival Tips
Bait is just as important as food. Fish and scuba dive whenever you get a safe opportunity, especially during the first few days.
Try to skip eating during the first 4–5 days if possible. This gives you more time to build up resources.
Don’t eat simply because food is available. Wait until your hunger is getting close to starvation, but don’t actually let yourself starve. The same rule applies to your crewmates.
If your Scuba Diving Kit breaks, you can return to the main menu and reload your save to try for a better result.
Also, save your one-use items whenever another option can solve the problem. For example, if your boat gets a hole, use a Bucket instead of wasting Duct Tape.
Crewmates and Their Bonuses
Laurel
Laurel is a survival-focused crewmate with a passive morale bonus.
Her main advantages are:
- Adds sea salt to food, making it more filling.
- Can turn food into Bait.
- Can find and craft Fishnets.
Her downside is a penalty to decrease luck while fishing.
Row
Row is one of the most useful companions, especially for the true ending.
He can repair broken items and the boat without using Energy. He can also use his gun to catch three fish, guard you while sleeping, and provide the Heart of the Sea.
If you are preparing for a true-ending run, make sure to add Row in your crew.
Frederik
Frederik has many useful survival abilities.
His support ability costs 1 Energy and makes your remaining Bait guarantee a fish catch. He can also turn food into Bait, find and craft items, and fish for food.
He is a strong choice for resource-focused runs.
Captain Whiskers
Captain Whiskers provides a passive 1% fishing luck bonus.
You may find the bonus is small, but it can still help when you are fishing regularly.
Don’t Sleep With The Fishes Achievements
Sleeping With Scraps
Achievement: Sink with Dorothy.
This is one of the easiest achievements. After starting the game, just stand still where you are, and do not collect any items. Let the timer run out, and sink with Dorothy.
Sleeping With The Fishes
Achievement: Get killed.
For this achievement, stop repairing the boat and continue surviving until a night event eventually destroys it.
You don’t have to maintain the boat. Just let its condition deteriorate until you die.
Eating With The Fishes
Achievement: Die of starvation.
Start a run and stop eating food.
Continue skipping days and make sure to keep the boat repaired so you don’t die from another cause. After several days without food, your character will eventually become sick and die of starvation.
Catch a Swordfish
Achievement: Three for one!
This achievement can be unlocked from fishing.
Keep using Bait and fishing until you catch a Swordfish. The achievement is luck-based, so it may take a few attempts.
Rescue Ending Achievements
The rescue events are tied to specific night encounters. Their exact timing can vary because of RNG, but the following events generally appear around these days.
Back to the Company – Airplane
The Airplane event can start appearing around Day 20+.
During the night, you will see an airplane in the distance.
Use the Flare Gun to signal it. This will start the rescue sequence, which can take several more days.
You can also use a Flashlight to signal the aeroplane. But it may take more time or can also fail to start the rescue sequence. The Flare Gun is the best option if you are specifically going for this ending.
Later, a company helicopter will arrive. Use the Flashlight when the helicopter appears.
This will unlock:
Back to the Company
Get rescued.
Sailing to Safety – Cargo Ship
The Cargo Ship event can appear around Day 18+.
When you see the large ship in the distance, use either the Flashlight or Flare Gun to signal it.
After roughly 10–15 days, another ship will approach. Signal it again with the Flashlight or Flare Gun.
If you successfully finish this sequence, it will unlock:
Sailing to Safety
Get taken aboard.
Other Endings
For the other endings, don’t signal either the Airplane or the Cargo Ship.
Continue sleeping through the nights and focus on surviving for as long as possible. For these endings, you can choose the Calm difficulty. This ending should unlock around Day 50 or later.
Bloody Moon – Heart of the Sea (True Ending)
The Bloody Moon event can appear around Day 12+.
When this event triggers, you see the moon and the sea turn red.
Use either the Bucket or Fishnet in the sea to obtain the Heart of the Sea.
The Heart of the Sea is required for the true ending, so don’t miss this event if you are working toward 100% completion.
Because event timing is RNG-based, keep fishing and surviving until you see the bloody moon.
