Blacksad: Under the Skin
39 Achievements
The Reaper
Contribute to as many deaths as possible.
0.4%
How to unlock the The Reaper achievement in Blacksad: Under the Skin - Definitive Guide
Mary: Mary’s death has the largest impact on The End(s) as half of the endings require her to be dead while the other’s require her to be alive. There are two conversations that lead to her death and both are made in the first quarter of the story which can lead to needing to replay most of the game again if you do not make the correct choices. The first is telling Mary that she should continue to work as the cleaning lady at the Boxing gym during her conversation at Sam’s Diner after exhausting all dialogue options asking her about her jobs. The second is not telling Sonia about Mary’s relationship with her father following opening the safe in Dunn’s office. This will lead to Mary's death half-way through the game.
Jimmy: Blacksad must not attempt to save Jimmy. This death is required to progress the story as attempting to save Jimmy will lead to Blacksad’s immediately death.
Colbert: Blacksad will need to use his knowledge about Colbert’s infidelity to avoid getting executed by O'Leary following the death of Jimmy. Out right telling O’Leary about Colbert’s affair will condemn Colbert to death. Your previous choices regarding Colbert’s infidelity does not have any impact on this choice. Going for this trophy makes prevents earning Niagara Falls on the same playthrough.
Quince: When Blacksad is at a poker game, Quince will reveal a disturbing aspect of his business. When you get a dialogue option, use Blacksad’s cat senses to spot a card up Quince’s sleeve and choose to rat him out to everyone at the table. Going for this trophy prevents earning Zero tolerance on the same playthrough; even though the result is the same, Blacksad’s dialogue did not directly lead to Quince’s death.
O’Leary: Following the events at Pier 36, Blacksad will have conversations Stone and Yale. Advice Stone to not throw the fight against Yale (I appealed to his integrity) and Yale to not take the drugs (I told him his father wouldn’t have taken drugs).
Sonia: Do not complete the final QTE when Blacksad is picking up his payment following the conclusion of his investigation.
I should mention that there are additional deaths that Blacksad can contribute to and would appear to be part of this trophy’s requirements however they will lead to a failure state which will effect Immortal:
Weekly: When Blacksad finds Weekly spying on Sonia, you must successfully complete the QTE’s to prevent Weekly from falling through the skylight. Failing the QTE’s will lead to a failure state.
Yale: When Blacksad suspects where Yale is hiding, you must be successful at completing the QTE for for grabbing the knife from Mary or Yale will get killed. Blacksad will also need to preform chest compressions on Yale when he eventually finds him. Failing to complete enough QTE’s will lead to a failure state.
Farnham: During Blacksad’s flashback to remember how many children Farnham has, choosing to let Farnham choke on his vomit or failing the QTE to move him will lead to a failure state.As an additional note, I’m not sure if actively not doing the chest compressions on Spannow counts for this trophy as result is the same either way but I did avoid doing those QTE’s just to be sure. When you get a chance to save an anteater on a rooftop trying to kill Blacksad, either option will have the same result and does not have an effect on this Achievement
The people who you will contribute to their demise in order are: Mary, Colbert, Quince, O'Leary and Sonia.
So try not to form any attachment to them...
Mary: 1) When first interrogating Mary at the diner the conversation of future jobs will come up. Chose "stay to work at the gym" 2) After opening the safe in Dunn's office don't tell Sonia about Mary's relationship with Dunn. (Mary plays an important role in the story and directly effects all the endings on whether she is alive or dead)
Colbert: Regardless of what interactions you make with him before sneaking into O'Leary's office all you have to do is rat out Colbert that he was cheating with O'Leary's wife. (stops you from getting the Niagara falls achievement)
Quince: When playing poker with Cassidy, towards the end you have the option to use your cat sense on Quince. Use it to rat out that he was cheating the entire time. This is the only dialogue option with quince that makes you an active contributor to his death. (stops you from getting the Zero Tolerance achievement)
O'Leary: After pier 36 you get to talk with both Yale and Stone. Tell Yale to not take the drugs and Stone to not hold back and throw the fight. a surprisingly easy one to miss.
Sonia: Fail the final QTE to push the gun away after exposing Tim and refusing to sympathise with him.
Note that Jimmy (dog that O'Leary shoots in his office), Randal Leigh (Anteater), and Craig Spannow (ex-Baseball player monkey) are all unavoidable deaths that happen regardless of options you choose and are not counted. If you try to save Jimmy, Blacksad will be killed. Randal will fall regardless of whether you try and help him and Craig will die despite your efforts to save him.
All other deaths that Blacksad can contribute to will fail the game, not counting towards the achievement.
Missable!
Some of Blacksad's dialogue choices and actions (or lack thereof) lead to the deaths of six characters. During the same playthrough, Blacksad must make the choices that will lead to all of them getting killed.
Listed in order of set up:
- Mary: Mary's death has the largest impact on The End(s) as half of the endings require her to be dead while the other's require her to be alive. There are two conversations that lead to her death and both are made in the first quarter of the story which can lead to needing to replay most of the game again if you do not make the correct choices. The first is telling Mary that she should continue to work as the cleaning lady at the Boxing gym during her conversation at Sam's Diner after exhausting all dialogue options asking her about her jobs. The second is not telling Sonia about Mary's relationship with her father following opening the safe in Dunn's office. This will lead to Mary's death half-way through the game.
- Jimmy: Blacksad must not attempt to save Jimmy. This death is required to progress the story as attempting to save Jimmy will lead to Blacksad's immediately death.
- Colbert: Blacksad will need to use his knowledge about Colbert's infidelity to avoid getting executed by O'Leary following the death of Jimmy. Outright telling O'Leary about Colbert's affair will condemn Colbert to death. Your previous choices regarding Colbert's infidelity does not have any impact on this choice. Going for this trophy makes prevents earning Niagara Falls on the same playthrough.
- Quince: When Blacksad is at a poker game, Quince will reveal a disturbing aspect of his business. When you get a dialogue option, use Blacksad's cat senses to spot a card up Quince's sleeve and choose to rat him out to everyone at the table. Going for this trophy prevents earning Zero tolerance on the same playthrough; even though the result is the same, Blacksad's dialogue did not directly lead to Quince's death.
- O'Leary: Following the events at Pier 36, Blacksad will have conversations with Stone and Yale. Advice Yale to not take the drugs and that his father would not done so; leading Blacksad to tell Yale about what he knows about Avenarius' disappearance.
- Sonia: Do not complete the final QTE when Blacksad is picking up his payment following the conclusion of his investigation.
I should mention that there are additional deaths that Blacksad can contribute to and would appear to be part of this trophy's requirements however they will lead to a failure state which will effect Immortal:
- Weekly: When Blacksad finds Weekly spying on Sonia, you must successfully complete the QTE's to prevent Weekly from falling through the skylight. Failing the QTE's will lead to a failure state.
- Yale: When Blacksad suspects where Yale is hiding, you must be successful at completing the QTE for grabbing the knife from Mary or Yale will get killed. Blacksad will also need to preform chest compressions on Yale when he eventually finds him. Failing to complete enough QTE's will lead to a failure state.
- Farnham: During Blacksad's flashback to remember how many children Farnham has, choosing to let Farnham choke on his vomit or failing the QTE to move him will lead to a failure state.
- Smirnov: Failing to push Smirnov out of the way during the interrogation of the anteater at the hospital will lead to a failure state.
As an additional note, I'm not sure if actively not doing the chest compressions on Spannow counts for this trophy as result is the same either way, but I did avoid doing those QTE's just to be sure. When you get a chance to save an anteater on a rooftop trying to kill Blacksad, either option will have the same result and does not have an effect on this trophy.
All other deaths in the story are unpreventable.
Only those deaths that do not stop progress in the plot are counted, so you don’t have to try to kill yourself or Bobby Yale (you can do it three or four times). You can't do all the deaths in one playthrough; there's a split plot.
1.1 Mary . This is where the storyline splits. When we communicate with her for the very first time, at the end of the dialogue you can choose the option from “Go back to the club” or “You shouldn’t come back.” In the first case, she will die later in the game, in the other case, her replacement is 1.2. Cleaning lady (I don’t remember her name, Clarissa Freeman or something).
2. Rhino Colbert - it doesn’t matter whether at the very beginning of the game they agreed to hide the facts about his affair from his wife or not, in the head of O’Leary’s office he can be turned in, saying that he was with Desmond’s wife. Bull Wilson will check Blacksad's pockets and find a photo to prove it. Desmond shoots quite accurately.
3.Sonya - in the final chapter after killing Thorpe, you don’t need to do anything, skipping the QTE, then she will commit suicide.
4. O'Leary - presumably killed by Bobby Yale, but there is no reliable information. To get this kill, you need to be attentive to all conversations. In one of the first chapters, talk to the gorilla Jake Ostiombe about Bobby Yale's family. When Yale is in the hospital, bring him out to talk about the father he barely knew. In O'Leary's office, find cabinets with secret information about athletes, where there will be a diary about a certain Avenarius (a boxer-poet, Jake will also talk about him). There, later, during O'Leary's monologue, pay attention to his words that when he was 14, he cheated and turned in his own, who disappeared without a trace. All this will lead to deductive guesses, but it is strange that there will be three of them, although four are needed for a complete chain. And as a result, in the final chapter, after killing Thorpe (this is important, since with false endings, there will be no necessary dialogue), talk to Stone, and then with Bobby. In a dialogue with Bobby, ask him “not to do this” (not to take drugs), to which he will answer that he must help the club, Sonya and Mary, then remind him that his father would not have done anything wrong. As a result, there will be a screen with a newspaper and a headline about the death of a bookmaker.
Plot deaths that will happen this way and that way:
1. Dunn - lynx, hanged
2. Jimmy the dog, Cassidy's spy, shot by O'Leary
3. Queens - Eagle at the poker table, killed by Cassidy's assistant for justifying child molestation
4. Lee the anteater is killed by a sniper in the hospital
5. Grün - rat doctor, burned alive by Mitchell in the laboratory
6. Brunhilda - the daughter of a doctor, burned alive along with her father
7. Mitchell - a lizard, suffocated in smoke
8. Spennow - a chimpanzee who died from drugs while saving Blacksad's life. There will be an attempt at resuscitation, but it is useless.
9. Thorpe - a lion, killed by Sonya Dunne if Blacksad blames him for the murder scheme at the end
Be sure to let Sonya shoot herself in the finale; in my case, I didn’t let her do this (as I did in the first playthrough), but the trigger didn’t work, so I had to replay it. The achievement came when they show the inconsolable John over her corpse.
I am sure that this is a mandatory list and there is no need to boost anyone else.
If suddenly for some reason you need to kill someone beyond this list, then (but these are all deaths that will be offered to go through the chapter again, they should not be counted):
1. John Blacksad - yes at every turn.
2. Weekly - ferret, reporter. Allow him to fall from the roof of the club into the hall through the glass ceiling when he spies on Sonya. Two chances to fail a QTE.
3. Bobby Yale - Rottweiler, boxer. possible several times. In Mary's apartment, if you do nothing while he is jumping from the box, he will run into a knife. Or no further resuscitation when he has a heart attack. Even later, you can let Sonya shoot him in the hospital.
4. Smirnov - dog, cop. Can be killed by a sniper in the hospital after killing the anteater Richard Lee.
5. Farnham - bison, casino owner. Allowing him to choke on his own vomit without using the QTE when trying to get his wallet, which contains information about his children.