The love triangle of Eric, Nick, and Rachel make up a good part of The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes. Eric, the husband, finally gets to see his wife again after a year of being separated because of work. Nick, the side-man, has been seeing Rachel behind Eric’s back. It’s time to solve their relationship problems to earn the Climbing Out of Hell achievement.
Like most achievements in the game, you will need to perform certain actions to get this achievement.
Have a poor relationship with Eric and Nick
It is important to make the relationship with both of the men as bad as possible. Choose options that would upset them and decrease their relationship with Rachel. There are many ways to decrease Rachel’s standing with Eric. Mainly choosing rational decisions works instead of emotional decisions. Nick has far fewer opportunities to ruin his relationship with Rachel, but a good start is having Rachel put their relationship on ice at the beginning of the game.
Prevent the characters from dying
There are many opportunities for the characters to die before reaching the part of the game where the love triangle is resolved. Do this to keep Eric alive:
- Cut the rope when Rachel is dangling. This will keep them both alive.
- Send Jason instead of Eric when searching for Joey. Alternatively, you can send Eric if you tell Salim to run off instead of staying.
- Abandon Clarice in the blood-filled pit when playing as Rachel. This will prevent Eric from getting killed by Clarice when she turns.
- During the Assault chapter, either choose to have Rachel use the machine gun or remember where the explosives are planted, so she and Eric don’t get killed.
Nick has much fewer chances to die throughout the game. The good news is that he is protected by plot armor until after the love triangle scene.
Rachel must survive
To obtain the achievement, you must do more than have Rachel decide to be single during the love triangle scene. She must survive the rest of the game. You can do this in a few ways.
- If Rachel gets infected, Eric can use the UV wand on her to cure her infection.
- During the Assault chapter, when Balathu/Kurum is attacking Eric, choose to run instead of saving him. This will prevent Rachel from getting infected.
- After the survivors escape the caves, don’t fail the QTEs, and Rachel will survive.
Love triangle
Once the scene arrives where Rachel talks to the two men about her feelings, have Eric say that she is choosing Nick. This selection will help solidify that she won’t choose anyone. After the love triangle scene, Nick and Eric will be allowed to die, but Rachel must live to get the achievement.
