Dark Ruins

⚠️ **Spoiler Warning!** ⚠️
**This page contains spoilers for the main story or a gameplay feature of Cattails: Wildwood Story.**

**This page's content relates to Cattails's newly-released sequel, Cattails: Wildwood Story.**
Because Wildwood Story has just been released, parts of this page may be lacking information. Please be patient, or help out if you'd like!

**Dark Ruins** are a set of four dungeons in Cattails: Wildwood Story that progress the main plot of the game when completed. Each one contains its own challenges, including puzzles, enemies, and a boss fight against the Wildwood Champion. The four Dark Ruins can be found a short distance east, south, west, and north from the player's colony town, and are opened by recruiting more cats to the Player's Colony.

Defeating the boss in each Dark Ruins "purifies" the building, turning it white and locking its doors for good. Purifying all four Dark Ruins unlocks the final dungeon at the heart of the Forest Guardian's temple, the Temple of the Wildwood Champion.

Dark Ruins are meant to be completed in a set order, progressing both in difficulty and in story revelations: the one in East Forest is first, then South Glade, then West Woodland, then West Meadow. However, they can technically be completed in any order if the player waits after unlocking them.

## Ruins of Loss

This is the first Dark Ruins, located two tiles east of the player's colony in East Forest. It is unlocked once the player's colony has a total of 9 cats.

### Challenges

* **Puzzle: Water streams.** Four cat statues are placed in corners of the room, with streams of water leading up to them. The player must move three sliding blocks to cut off the water supply to each statue, causing them to disappear.
* **Battle: Void Slimes.** The player must fight one Void Slime, then two, then three.
* **Puzzle: Path tracing.** A 7x7 grid of squares is seen on the ground. By interacting with the nearby information stone (!), a path through the grid will be shown for a couple seconds before disappearing. Then, the player must walk that exact path from memory. Making a mistake here has no consequences and simply allows the player to retry. Three paths must be completed this way to unlock the door.

### Dialogue

* *"Once there were many. Now there are none. The Wildwood has gone silent. / The secrets of the Dark Ruins shall not be revealed to those who have not proved their worth. Solve the puzzle if you wish to venture further."* **(First carving)**
* *"Nothing remains but the memories of their presence... I have failed them all. / The haunted feeling will not go away. It must go away! They have all gone away... / I will make it end."* **(Second carving)**
* *"They are gone... Each and every one of them... They have all been lost. How can a path forward be found now? / It is a winding, dangerous road..."* **(Third carving)**

### Boss (Spider)

In this first boss battle with the Wildwood Champion, they assume the form of a spider. The Champion stays stationary on a platform at the top of the room, protected by a shield, while projectiles fly around the entire area. The player must destroy several egg sacs around the arena in order to make the boss vulnerable, then hit as much as possible before the shield regenerates, and repeat the process with breaking down the next shield. As the fight goes on, more egg sacs must be broken to disable the shield.

## Ruins of Sorrow

This is the second Dark Ruins, located two tiles south of the player's colony in South Glade. It is unlocked once the player's colony has a total of 12 cats. This dungeon is water-themed, with scattered water pools and statues of anglerfish.

### Challenges

* **Puzzle: Four-symbol lock.** Four stones in the room each display a symbol: star, circle, diamond, or paw. The stones can be interacted with to change the symbol displayed on them, and the correct sequence must be formed in order to open the door ahead. Interacting with the nearby information stone (!) gives the player clues as to the correct order. The solution to this puzzle is **Diamond, Star, Paw, Circle**.
* **Puzzle: Path tracing.** Similar to the path tracing puzzle from the Ruins of Loss, a 7x10 grid is seen on the ground, and interacting with the information stone (!) reveals a path that the player must follow through the grid from memory. Making a mistake here has no consequences and simply allows the player to retry. Three paths must be completed this way to unlock the door.
* **Puzzle: Sun and water sigils.** Many winding streams of water fill the area, leading to eight large stones with either a sun or water drop symbol on them. Three movable blocks can be used to cut off the flow of water in different locations. To solve the puzzle, the player must cut off the flow of water to any stones with a sun on them, while allowing water to flow to any stones with a water drop on them.

### Dialogue

* *"Now I am alone... My very existence is puzzling. / I cannot put the pieces in order. Will I ever be able to do so?"* **(First carving)**
* *"TBA"* **(Second carving)**
* *"TBA"* **(Third carving)**

### Boss (Octopus)

In the second boss battle with the Wildwood Champion, they assume the form of an octopus. The boss moves to the center of the water-filled arena, then extends eight tentacles outward, touching the walls of the arena. The tentacles spin in a circular pattern and must be dodged by the player while projectiles also fly around the room. After a short while, the tentacles retract and the boss retreats to one of the platforms in the arena, where it is then vulnerable to attack until it moves back towards the center.

## Ruins of Reclusion

This is the third Dark Ruins, located two tiles west of the player's colony in West Woodland. It is unlocked once the player's colony has a total of 15 cats. This dungeon is poison-themed, filled with green gas vents that inflict poison on the player. A Beaky mask can be used to protect the player from the gas vents.

### Challenges

* **Battle: Void Beetles.** The player must defeat one Void Beetle, then three, then another three.
* **Puzzle: Six-symbol lock.** Similar to the four-symbol lock from the Ruins of Sorrow, but with six symbols instead. The nearby information stone (!) gives clues as to the correct order of symbols. The solution to this puzzle is **Paw, Diamond, Diamond, Circle, Star, Circle.**
* **Battle: Void Ghosts.** The player must defeat two Void Ghosts, then another two, then three, then four.

### Dialogue

* *"TBA"* **(First carving)**
* *"TBA"* **(Second carving)**
* *"TBA"* **(Third carving)**

### Boss (Bat Swarm)

In the third boss battle against the Wildwood Champion, they assume the form of a swarm of bats. Three bats fly around the arena, each with a different color aura: white, purple, and green. The white bat creates damaging shockwaves, the purple bat shoots projectiles similar to that of a Darkcandle, and the green bat creates vents of poisonous gas. Additionally, Voidlings continuously spawn during the battle. The player must destroy all of the bats, causing them to reform into the now-vulnerable Wildwood Champion for a few seconds before dispersing into bats once more.

## Ruins of Anger

This is the fourth and final Dark Ruins, located two tiles north of the player's colony in West Meadow. It is unlocked once the player's colony has a total of 18 cats. This dungeon is fire-themed, filled with lava pools and fiery gas vents that damage the player.

### Challenges

* **Battle: Void Ghosts.** The player must defeat two Void Ghosts, then another two, then three. The room here is filled with lava except for a few safe islands that can be jumped between.
* **Battle: Void Beetles.** The player must defeat two Void Beetles, then another two, then three, and then another three. The room here has scattered fire vents that damage the player if walked on.
* **Battle: Void Slimes.** The player must defeat two Void Slimes, then three, then another three.

### Dialogue

* *"TBA"* **(First carving)**
* *"TBA"* **(Second carving)**
* *"TBA"* **(Third carving)**

### Boss (Dragon)

In the fourth boss battle against the Wildwood Champion, they assume the form of a dragon. Though vulnerable at first, the boss soon pushes the player back with beats of its wings and creates an impenetrable barrier in front of it. The player must dodge fire attacks for a short time until the barrier is disabled, then attack the Champion at the top of the room until they are pushed back again.

## Temple of the Wildwood Champion

Once all four Dark Ruins have been purified, the doorway to the final dungeon is opened in the Forest Guardian's temple. This former temple of the Wildwood Champion has a left half and right half that both must be completed to unlock the door to the final boss; the left half contains three puzzle challenges, and the right half contains three battle challenges.

### Challenges (left half)

* **Puzzle: Simon Says.** Five cat statues are placed in this room, each a different color. Interacting with the information stone (!) will show the statues flashing in a particular order, then the player must repeat the sequence by attacking the statues. With each success, the sequence becomes longer, up until the final sequence of **Blue, Green, Red, Green, Yellow, Black**. Making a mistake spawns a Voidling in the room.
* **Puzzle: X and O switches.** Nine stones appear in a grid, each with either a red X or a blue O shown on top. Interacting with a stone switches the symbols of it and the four stones surrounding it. All the stones must be turned to Os to complete the puzzle.
* **Puzzle: Spinning wheels.** Three spinning wheels are placed at the top of the room, each with four different colors and symbols on them. Three switches at the bottom of the room allow the player to stop or resume the wheels' turning. To complete the puzzle, the wheels must be stopped so that matching symbols are facing each other (the yellow paw sections facing each other on the left two wheels, and the green tree sections facing each other on the right two wheels.)

### Challenges (right half)

* **Battle: Voidcandles.** The player must defeat one Voidcandle (a special black type of Darkcandle with homing bullets), then two, then three.
* **Battle: Mixed.** The player must defeat a Void Slime and Void Ghost, then a Void Beetle and Void Ghost, and finally all three enemy types at once.
* **Battle: Spear Ghosts.** In a room with a large lava pool, the player must defeat one Spear Ghost (a different type of Void Ghost that points its spear in a direction before charging at the player), then two, then three.

### Dialogue

* *"TBA"* **(First carving, left half)**
* TBA

### Boss

This is the final boss battle against the Wildwood Champion, and completing it will finish the main story of the game. This boss fight has three distinct phases.

In the first phase, the Champion uses their regular form with a few extra tentacles on their back that spin around them. Unlike in the other boss battles against them, here they are constantly able to be attacked. Voidling cats also spawn in the arena as well as many flying projectiles.

In the second phase, the Champion takes the form of a corrupted Forest Guardian. They create an electrical shield around themself and shoot lightning in four directions, while an additional bout of lightning attempts to home onto the player. After a short time, the shield temporarily falls, and the Champion can be attacked.

In the third and final phase, the Champion takes the form of an even darker version of their regular self. They sit in the center of the arena and shoot fire projectiles, while chains extend from their body and spin in a circle. Each chain must be deactivated by colliding with the paw-shaped circle on the end of it; when all chains are deactivated, the boss will stop attacking for a short time. As the battle progresses, more chains must be deactivated to make the Wildwood Champion vulnerable.

## Trivia

* The boss rooms in each of the four Dark Ruins contain murals depicting events in the Wildwood Champion's past. The first shows the cats of the Wildwood dying out, the second shows the Wildwood Champion in mourning, the third shows the Wildwood Champion with an army of Voidlings, and the fourth shows lighting striking the original temple of the Forest Guardian.