Endings

Once you obtain the Sampo and (optionally) defeat Kolmisilmä, Noita has four possible endings. All of the following endings are activated by 'completing the work' with the Sampo in your possession, and they lead to a credits screen once you die. The ending you achieve depends on the location you do this in and the number of Orbs of True Knowledge you have acquired to this point. Each of the endings will unlock a piece in the Achievement Pillars.

The Greed Ending
Defeating Kolmisilmä will open a portal to The Work (End), although the area can also be accessed by digging past the brickwork, extremely dense rock, and the lava in the Volcanic Lake. Completing the work here will turn the world into gold, including the player.

The Toxic Ending
Completing the work can also be done at the Mountain Altar on the surface; If you lack more powerful spells such as Black Hole or Luminous Drill to backtrack, you can head backwards through The Tower as long as you have something capable of digging through dense rock.

If you have between 0-4 or between 12-31 Orbs of True Knowledge (in NG, NG+1-5), completing the work here will turn the world into toxic gold, but will leave the player alive. Toxic gold quickly kills the player unless they have Toxic Immunity; additionally, all potions and magical liquids are transmuted, so surviving the damage with Ambrosia is not feasible.

The Pure Ending
If you complete the work at the Mountain Altar with exactly 11 Orbs of True Knowledge, the world instead turns into normal gold without harming the player. Many particle effects are given a gold version, all potions are transmuted into gold, powders, liquids, and rigid body objects are turned into the powdery 'gold' material, and solid objects are turned into solid 'gold veins'. Corpses are turned into gold veins, but any new enemies killed don't drop a corpse.

Spells that create materials, such as Cement, Blood Cloud, and Acid Ball, produce powdered gold, while explosive spells and Ground to Sand will turn gold veins into powdered gold.

Although rigid body objects are collected quickly when touched, they retain many of their typical properties; for example, light fixtures and explosive objects still explode if you collect the powder they are made of, and the Worm Crystal will similarly give the 'you feel less safe' notification. Spells that create rigid body objects such as Rock and Hollow Egg create gold versions of themselves, but similarly retain their usual properties. One exception to the rule are the green crystals in the Temple of the Art; although the red and purple ones yield their usual effects, the green ones no longer produce cursed rock.

The Curse of Greed can still be picked up, but the white circular transmutation waves it produces do not transmute any material. As a result, you can easily head through The Tower and unlock the Divide by 10 spell without risk.

The cursed rock that separates parallel worlds retains the curse if you walk into the space it used to be, and the lack of Ambrosia or other magical liquids makes travel into parallel worlds more difficult.

The Peaceful Ending
Completing the work at the Mountain Altar with 33 orbs is only possible in a New Game Plus world, because it requires the two missing Lava Lake orbs from the east and west parallel worlds. Doing this will cause a day to pass, before the screen cuts to black. After this, enemies will no longer attack you, the world's terrain will be regenerated, and the message "The world has been restored - and everyone is much happier" will display. No additional orbs can be collected at this point.

See the Peaceful Ending Guide for many additional details.

New Game Plus and changes to orb requirements
In a standard run of the game, completing the work at the Mountain Altar with between 5 to 10 orbs will trigger New Game Plus, causing many terrain changes and an increased difficulty. In addition, it will change the orb requirements for each ending; in general, you need an additional orb for each level of New Game Plus to reach the next level. The full chart of orb requirements is as follows:

Trivia

 * Orbs of Corrupted Knowledge count in the calculation of which ending is achieved. If you have the tools to reach a parallel world you can avoid the more dangerous Orbs such as the one in The Work (Hell).