Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree is a new Soulslike, Metroidvania from the developers over at Primal Game Studio. It’s a fun game (you can check out our full review here), and given the genre, there are more than a few optional bosses hidden around the world of Faelduum.
One of the more elusive ones is the Queen of Smiles – a horrific blade -wielding monstrosity located at the base of a tower very close to The End of the Road. Follow this guide to net both the All Smiles achievement and The End of the Road achievement.
The End of the Road
Before you venture forth, you’re going to want to pick up a few Insomnium Elixirs from Alannah! Both “The End of the Road” and the Queen of Smiles can be found in the same rough area.
In order to access the area with both achievements, you’ll need the grapple hook and have cleared the second major dungeon of the game Braer Castle. Once you leave the Castle and move through the gardens, you’ll be met with an Entropic rift that takes you to the next area of the game, but we’re going to ignore that and keep heading right.
Shortly after the rift, you’ll come to a gate that seems to lead into the ocean – don’t let that stop you though, just head straight on into the sea.
You’re character will protest, and even claim they are going to die, but keep going and you’ll reach the lakeshore on the other side of the water.
Once you rebuild the Witch Stone, you can head through the tower and out the other side. This is where you’ll need those Insomnium Elixirs. The purple flowers here will fill up a sleep bar, which will kill you if it reaches full, so down an Elixir and start running. There are no enemies to fight; you just need to get to the other side.
Smack bang in the middle of the run is a Naceaia, which Alannah can use to upgrade how much your flask heals, so don’t forget to grab it on the way.
Once you get to the other side, there’s another Witch stone and a tower full of traps. You don’t need to go up the tower to fight the Queen of Smiles and get the All Smiles achievement, but you do need to scale the tower to open the door for “The End of The Road” Achievement, so just time you’re jumps and be careful. Once you pull the lever, the traps are disabled, so don’t worry about the way back down.
Go through the door and run all the way to the right to unlock “The End of The Road”.
All Smiles
Turn back into the tower and use you’re floor smash ability on the floor of the room.
Keep going down and to the left, fighting off some Entropic monsters until you can’t go down anymore. Head straight right and you’ll find yourself in the Queen of Smiles Boss Fight. She isn’t overly difficult if you’re appropriately levelled and geared up. Watch out for where she’s firing her circle of swords, and beware that she can do a back slash follow-up to any of her front attacks, so watch your stamina!
Once she’s down, you’ll pop the achievement, and if you disable the traps in the Tower first, you should have both “All Smiles” and “The End of the Road” on your profile!
