M1 - Shutting Down Darrow's Signal is the final mission in Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
Primary objectives[]
Get inside the tower and disengage the lockdown[]
Jensen begins on a helicopter deck outside the main entrance to Panchaea; there are no enemies in this area. Exploring the deck reveals several open shipping containers holding weapons, ammunition and beer. Some containers are only accessible with the Jump Enhancement augmentation. It also allows for quick entry to the building via a pipe, accessible from on top of the left containers.
The main entrance to the hangar is barricaded from the inside, so if you do not have the Jump Enhancement, take a ladder down into the tunnels below the deck. The tunnels are flooded with electrified water. While it is possible to get through by walking across elevated pipes, the Dermal Armor's EMP Shielding augmentation is highly recommended. There are also several mines along the way.
Getting through the tunnels leads to a large empty hangar. From the hangar, take an elevator up to the main broadcast area. Proceed through the still empty hallways. There is one active turret, which can be shut down using a security computer in a nearby room. Otherwise, there are no enemies besides a single deranged worker which can be heard and even seen (from the right angle), inside a barricaded room. The door is smashed beyond repair and cannot be opened. Therefore, the only entrance to this room is in a neighboring storage room: a vent hidden behind a refrigerator. You will need the strength augment to move it. The hallways lead to the broadcast center, which can only be entered from a smashed window, and right to Hugh Darrow.
Confronting Darrow leads to the game's final dialogue challenge. Winning the challenge results in Darrow surrendering the shutdown codes.
Reach the broadcast center[]
After the confrontation with Darrow, retrace your steps to the elevator. The rooms around the elevator are now filled with insane workers. If you wish to leave the insane workers alive, it is at this point that the P.E.P.S. is extremely useful. The workers can be avoided, but due to the cramped corridors and the fact that they usually attack in larger groups, cornering and trapping the player, the P.E.P.S. is exceptionally valuable. Gas grenades and gas mines will also allow non-lethal incapacitation of groups.
For the more patient players, even a stun gun or tranquilizer rifle can function well, since conscious crazed workers will make no attempt to awaken unconscious crazed workers; however, one must bring sufficient ammunition since there is not much for either of those weapons within Panchaea itself. Alternatively, make sure to get the double takedown augmentation, and you can eventually wade through them all without too much trouble. It is worth noting that these insane workers are basically in a temporary "zombie-like" state. As such, they will not think to climb over obstacles. You can use this for pacifist crowd control. Jump over, knock out one or two, then jump back.
Since there is no XP reward for killing or disabling any of the workers and most of their loot is hardly worth mentioning, the main priority should just be to get through this part as quickly as possible.
Notable Exception: At the first encounter with the crazed workers, there's a guard in the corridor to the left. Even players avoiding the others should take down and loot him - doing so will net 20 slugs for the Plasma Rifle.
Whichever style you choose, take the elevator back down. At the bottom of the elevator, you return to the hangar seen earlier. The hangar is now filled with more insane workers. There are several ways to get through:
- Use weapons and augments to kill or disable the workers.
- Sneak to the far side. The silenced footsteps augmentation comes in handy here since most of the workers stand with their backs turned to the player.
- Activate the 80-X Boxguard on the hangar floor. At the bottom of the stairs down to the hangar floor, turn left. In the room next to the stairs is a security computer that, when hacked, allows you to activate the Boxguard. It is safer to activate the bot before going to the top and speaking with Darrow.
- Vents. There are a series of vents running through the walls of the hangar. The first is at the far end of alcove at the bottom of the stairs leading from the elevator to the hangar floor.
- Ceiling. After getting out of the elevator, go to the far end of that room and look up. There is a hole there that provides access to a ceiling crawl space. Go through the crawl space to the crane gantry running above the hangar. On the far side is another crawl space in which is a dead worker and a rocket launcher.
After getting through the hangar, proceed through another room with more insane workers. After that are hallways off of which can be found a locker room with one insane worker and, a little later on, Panchaea's LIMB clinic. The door to the LIMB clinic is blocked by a vending machine, so you must have the Move/Throw Heavy Object augment in order to access it.
As you continue, you will overhear calls for help from William Taggart and David Sarif. More on these calls is contained in secondary objectives below.
The hallways end in a large, three-story turbine site filled with insane workers. Proceed through this area either by sneaking past or disabling the workers. The workers will be in groups and it is easy to avoid them by jumping over the railings to the lower floors. Once through this turbine area, move along a hallway that leads to a bridge filled with insane workers and a few explosive barrels. It is possible to sneak past these workers using small catwalks on either side of the bridge. Alternatively, if you do not mind killing them, the last group of workers is positioned near a ceiling-mounted turret. The security console that operates the turret is located in a gas-filled room accessible via a vent (there is no way to empty the gas from the room, the implanted rebreather augment is required). Setting the turret to 'ENEMIES' will result in the rapid deaths of the workers.
Boss Battle Four: Zhao Yun Ru and The Hyron Project[]
Getting through all the workers brings you to an open freight elevator. Activate the elevator to descend to a final hallway and then the Hyron Project. Entering the Hyron Project triggers a cut scene in which Jensen discovers the nature of the Project and confronts Zhao Yun Ru. After the cut scene is over, the final battle begins.
This fight has two phases. In the first phase, the Hyron Project will be active and three turrets will rotate around the center on a central ring. These turrets cannot be hacked but they can be destroyed (the easiest way is with the rocket launcher: three rockets, one minute immediately after the end of the video sequence, no injuries), they can also be avoided by using cover. There will be three security terminals in the room - hacking all of them will disable the security system, exposing the Hyron Project's female drones. However, the player will need to act fast, as the turrets can and will shoot Jensen while he is attempting to hack, which will knock him out of hacking.
Alternately, Jensen can run straight for the life support systems and hit manual unseal switches; these will expose each life support pod just briefly, giving Jensen some time to sprint over and kill them. Finally, and most simply, Jensen can go to the master control terminal in front of Zhao and use it - this requires either fully upgraded Hacking: Capture augmentation, or the master code given to Jensen by Hugh Darrow if Jensen was successful in persuading him earlier on at the top level of Panchaea. In the Explosive Mission preorder pack and Director's Cut edition, an AUD (Automatic Unlocking Device) could instantly unlocked the master control terminal.
The player can also use EMP grenades to unseal the life support pods from a distance. Jensen only needs to break cover long enough to throw the grenade so when it detonates the life support pod is caught in the blast. Then the pod will open the same way it does when the unseal switches are pressed. A heavy weapon like the plasma rifle can then be used to kill the drone with a few shots.
Each time a drone is killed using this tactic, three insane guards are released. The guards can then be picked off from cover. If this approach is used, only the robots have to be dealt with after all of the pods are destroyed.
Whatever method is chosen, the Hyron Project's security turrets will be shut down, moving onto the second phase of the fight. Now security shutters will be unsealed, releasing both security robots and insane augmented people. As there are no combat portions after this, the player should feel free to unload with their weapon of choice.
The security robots can be easily disabled with EMP grenades, or else destroyed easily with the rocket launcher or plasma rifle. The insane humans can be dealt with nearly any weapon, though mines and gas grenades are perhaps most efficient. There is also another way - parts of the floor here are soaked with coolant, and exposed wiring is causing electrical discharges. The shocking floor will automatically kill the insane humans, but will also damage Jensen unless he has the EMP Shielding augmentation. However if the player has the high jump augmentation this part can be made extremely easy, jumping onto a platform near the edge of the room will take the player out of sight from any insane humans and turrets, whilst also protecting the player from the electricity surges.
Alternatively, the player can simply run up to roughly where you started, hide, and all the human enemies will eventually get electrocuted.
The second half of the fight lasts for about 2.5 minutes after the third drone is killed. The floors start to electrify by sections, and the first robot is released. Once the first robot is destroyed, the second one will be released, etc. Only the first bot patrols; the others will just sit in their bay unless they detect you or see downed soldiers.
Over time, more and more segments of the room will electrify at the same time. The best way to avoid being shocked to death is to be atop the high dividing walls (over the storage rooms) between each section, or be hiding inside the passages at the end of two of the high walls (weakened walls that you can punch through, or destroy with the Typhoon, weapons or explosives). Also, if the player is immune to EMP, through the Rhino armor augmentation, Jensen does not need to worry about the electricity at all, and focus on the bots and Zhao.
Once the 2.5 minutes are up (regardless of whether any or all bots have been killed), the glass enclosure protecting Zhao shatters and she is vulnerable. Jensen then merely needs to kill her with any weapon to finish the encounter. The Hyron Project's systems will overload, frying Zhao and exposing the main control hub.
Quick finish to the boss battle[]
If Jensen has the laser rifle, he can kill Zhao as soon as the fight begins (after seeking cover from the turrets), as the rifle's beam passes through glass walls, including the glass-like wall put up to "protect" Zhao. About 4 to 5 seconds of sustained laser fire will defeat her on any difficulty level. This tactic effectively allows Jensen to bypass nearly the entire boss fight. It should also be noted that the laser rifle also makes dealing with the turrets much easier, as it can be used for highly accurate blind fire.
For players with both the laser and upgraded cloaking this battle can be trivially simple, assuming a good battery charge to sustain the cloak: activate the cloak, get a line of sight on Zhao from anywhere in the room, and fire. However, if you use the override code, you don't even need the cloak once you are in front of the override panel.
In summary, run straight down to the override control panel (which is the side facing Zhao) and put in the code. Then either use laser rifle from there, once the special glass replaces her invulnerability... or a little slower but just as easy, b) run for cover, (in a place with line-of-sight to Zhao over your cover barrier) and wait for the system to slowly overload itself without you having to fire a shot. The shield will come down by itself, and you can then safely and easily take a few pot shots at Zhao with a sniper rifle or similar, to finish her off.
Decide which 'truth' to broadcast[]
Once Zhao is dead, proceed to the broadcast center. Eliza contacts and asks Jensen to select one of the four buttons to push. Three buttons transmit world-wide various messages regarding the events that have just occurred. The fourth button (which is down a hallway to the left of the initial three) leads to the destruction of Panchaea with no message sent at all. Note that Sarif's and/or Taggart's buttons will be unavailable if Jensen decided not to rescue them.
There are a total of 12 endings, across each of the 4 buttons, and each button will play a different video. Also, each button has a "Good", "Neutral", and "Bad" ending, which leads to slight differences in Jensen's monologue. The differences are described below.
It is not sure what exactly determines a "Good" or "Bad" ending, but if it is related to how many people the player kills, they do not have to leave every non-boss character alive to get the "Good" ending, and at the same time do not have to kill every character to get the "Bad" ending.
*Note*
Regardless of how you played the game (i.e. pacifist, weapons, or both) you can earn the Achievement Deus Ex Machina by simply selecting one of the buttons and watching or skipping the credits. (Make sure you talk to Taggart and Sarif first or you will not get access to their "buttons.") After watching, or skipping, you can continue (you will start at the opening to the control room) and choose another ending. Do this until you have watched, or skipped through, all four endings and you will unlock the Deus Ex Machina Achievement.
Darrow Endings[]
- "Good" Darrow Ending - Despite keeping a compassionate attitude toward people, Adam realized how dangerous technological advancement and centralized power could be. Adam chooses to expose the Illuminati and Augmentation technology.
- "Neutral" Darrow Ending - Seeing technology as a simple tool, not a way to make choices simpler and easier, Adam realizes the danger in technological advancement and centralized power. He chooses to expose the Illuminati and Augmentation technology.
- "Evil" Darrow Ending - Seeing how augmentations kept him from helping other humans in need, and knowing the power that they give to individuals, Adam realizes how dangerous technological advancement and centralized power could be. Adam chooses to expose the Illuminati and Augmentation technology.
Sarif Endings[]
- "Good" Sarif Ending - Seeing how he was compassionate to other people out of sheer necessity, not just moral boundaries, Adam sees more danger in a technology-fearing future than a morally questionable one. Hoping for a future where technological advances will make morality obsolete, he blames the hallucinations on Humanity Front.
- "Neutral" Sarif Ending - Hoping that Humanity will someday overcome selfishness through technological advancement, Adam sees more danger in a technology-fearing future than a morally questionable one. Hoping for a future where technological advances will make morality obsolete, he blames the hallucinations on Humanity Front.
- "Evil" Sarif Ending - Although he was inconsiderate to other human beings, Adam sees more danger in a technology-fearing future than a morally questionable one. Hoping for a future where technological advances will make morality obsolete, he blames the hallucinations on Humanity Front.
Taggart Endings[]
- "Good" Taggart Ending - Although he kept a sense of morality, Adam knows the danger of a society bound only by morals. He puts the Illuminati in a position of power by blaming the hallucinations on VersaLife's supposedly contaminated Neuropozyne.
- "Neutral" Taggart Ending - Seeing how morality is not a reliable constraint to all people, Adam knows the danger of a society bound only by morals. He puts the Illuminati in a position of power by blaming the hallucinations on VersaLife's supposedly contaminated Neuropozyne.
- "Evil" Taggart Ending - Seeing himself how hard it was to put other people before himself, Adam knows the danger of a society bound only by morals. He puts the Illuminati in a position of power by blaming the hallucinations on VersaLife's supposedly contaminated Neuropozyne.
Eliza Endings[]
- "Good" Eliza Ending - Despite doing the right thing himself, Adam knows not to leave the choice to powerful individuals, himself included. He depressurizes Panchaea, killing everyone on board.
- "Neutral" Eliza Ending - Comparing himself, Darrow, Taggart, and Sarif to overly ambitious men with unrealistic beliefs of what is right for the world, Adam depressurizes Panchaea, killing everyone on board.
- "Evil" Eliza Ending - Seeing as how he rarely had other people's best interests in mind, Adam knows not to leave the choice to powerful individuals. He depressurizes Panchaea, killing everyone on board.
Secondary objectives[]
Find and speak with Taggart[]
While proceeding through Panchaea's hallways, you will overhear a call for help from William Taggart. Taggart and those with him are barricaded in a room accessible off the turbine site. The door leading to their area is on the upper level of the outside section. It has a diagonal barrier across it, but if you are crouched, you can get underneath this barricade.
The area leading to Taggart consists of a hallway partly filled by a piston, and off that hallway a server room filled with insane workers. The hallway with the piston is monitored by two cameras (avoid setting them off, unless you want to deal with a roving raging robot).
You can reach Taggart by:
- Going into the server room and:
- Fighting your way through, or
- Sneaking through by climbing onto the servers
- In the hallway with the piston, drop down onto a ledge just beneath the main walkway. Following this ledge will take you to a vent that opens up into Taggart's room.
Speak to Taggart to unlock his ending.
Find and speak with Sarif[]
While proceeding through Panchaea's hallways, you will overhear a call for help from David Sarif. Sarif and those with him are barricaded in a room several floors below. This area can be reached in two ways.
- Elevator. Almost immediately after leaving the turbine hall, there is an elevator that leads down to Sarif's area.
- Unfinished turbine. At the bottom floor of the turbine area is an unfinished turbine shaft. If you have the Icarus Landing System augment, you can drop down this shaft. Make sure to stun the three insane workers below.
Whichever method you choose, proceed through a series of rooms (most filled with insane workers) to where Sarif and his people have taken refuge in a machine room. There is access by vent as well as by door; the latter route has a number of fragmentation mines protecting it. Speak to Sarif to unlock his ending.
Notes[]
- While there are no arms dealers within Panchaea, there is a LIMB clinic available where you can expend your credits on the usual catalog. The entrance is barricaded by a vending machine.
- Weapons available within Panchaea include the P.E.P.S., fragmentation mines that you disarm, and a few grenades. There is a fair amount of ammunition available for the various lethal weapons, particularly the heavy and plasma rifles.
- During the final battle, if you decide not to use (or didn't get) the code from Darrow, the grid you will need to hack will be shaped after the Deus Ex logo.
- Amusingly, the encounters with Sarif and Taggart provide opportunities to perform a takedown (lethal or nonlethal) on both of them, with no real repercussions at this point in the game.
- In the room, where you can switch off the electricity, so you can pass the water safely, there is a PDA next to a dead worker. It contains a mail from "Pat Spinner" to "Brent Stuart". Obviously this is a reference to the actors Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner, both starring in "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
- A pacifist playthrough (so to speak. Any prologue enemies were killed but none afterwards) DID result in all 'good' versions of the endings. This may or may not suggest that constant murder will result in neutral or bad endings (this fact is even mentioned in all the endings, as Jensen remarks that he could've taken shortcuts but 'valued human lives' above doing so).
- It is possible to get the "good" variations while frequently using lethal combat, even with a killcount of 200+ (tested). This suggests that the endings are based more on dialogue and quest choices, such as rescuing hostages, putting tortured souls out of their misery, and sparing characters such as Ezekiel Sanders and Pieter Burke.
- It is possible to get the "good" variations after having killed every mortal NPC encountered, provided each have been stunned with non-lethal takedown first and then executed while unconscious. Hypothesis: maybe the overall good/bad assessment is based (although not necessarily solely at that) on the ratio of "merciful soul" bonuses awarded over "man down" total bonuses awarded (percentage enemies being dispatched in a non-lethal manner).
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