Reboot

Reboot is a main story quest in Prey (2017).

Overview
I can't destroy Talos I without Alex's Arming Key, but I'm stuck down here. Rebooting the station reactor will remove the lockdown Alex placed on the main lift and airlocks. Then I could move freely around the station.

Objectives

 * Access the Reactor Control Room
 * Eliminate the Technopath disrupting the entrance to Power Plant
 * Reboot Talos Power Plant
 * Fix or replace the damaged reactor divertor
 * Complete the reboot sequence

Walkthrough
After surviving the Cargo Bay Battle, you'll now have only one route out of the Cargo Bay - through Life Support, and an old friend may have the scheme needed to fight back against Alex Yu's lockdown.

As you enter the abandoned halls of Life Support, Sarah Elazar will call out over the PA system to Mikhaila Ilyushin who is somewhere further down - and she’ll contact you via her TranScribe to clue you in on how to regain access to the rest of Talos I. It won’t be easy though - you’ll need to get to the Reactor Control Room first.

In Life Support, the first hall may have an Etheric Phantom patrolling the hall, and some Corrupted Operators may come up from below to investigate. There’s also another Etheric Phantom patrolling the stairway up above leading back to the Talos I Lobby. Straight ahead lies Atmosphere Control, and the path on the left goes towards the Reactor, but take a quick detour and go up the stairs to the Security Office

Security Office
Heading up the stairs, take a quick right to the Med Bay which is blocked by some easily passable debris - and toss some junk inside to get the Cystoid Nest exploding. Inside you can find an Operator Dispenser (the cook has tripwired the console). There’s also more supplies here, like a Neuromod in some shelves, and an Anti-Rad Pharma Fabrication Plan in another.

At the hall to the Lobby, to the left of a broken turret is a blocked up bathroom you can tear down and explore. Alton Weber lies dead inside with his GLOO Cannon, as well as a Shotgun Shells Fabrication Plan, and a note about a stash in the hall by the escape pods. At the end of the bathroom is a large grate where you can spy a Security Office Keycard at the bottom. It’s too narrow to slip through - so you can either pick it up with Leverage, Remote Manipulation, or use Mimesis to slip through.

Don’t worry about getting stuck down here, the vent leads back up to the hall outside.

Out in the hall, check the bodies of Carol Sikes, Augusto Vera, Ari Liudnarht, and Erica Teague - who carries a Silenced Pistol, TranScribe Audiolog: Remmer isn’t Remmer, and note with the Security Booth Safe Keycode. Open the Security Office door (watch for traps), and inside you’ll find an Engineering Operator, a turret, and lockers full of ammo. Look around to find the Security Station Safe and the Weapon Upgrade Kit above it, and open it to grab a Silenced Pistol Fabrication Plan and 2 Neuromods. Finally, use the terminal in the corner to download the map of the place.

Heading back down towards the grav shaft, you’ll find a broken outlet is raining electricity everywhere. You can climb up into the rafters to avoid it - or repair it after GLOOing it up, then checking the nearby body of Penny Tennyson. Don’t forget to break the window and enter the nearby Service Requests office, as they have a Suit Repair Kit Fabrication Plan, supply crate with EMP Charges and a Weapon Upgrade Kit, and a note stating that Max has a fabrication plan for Air Mixture Regulators. There’s also a Supply Depot terminal stating some people have failed to return equipment like a GLOO Cannon.

Before heading down to the reactor, we can check out Atmosphere Control - even if we don’t have the key for a particular control room just yet

Atmosphere Control
As you head down the hall, be sure to check along the right for a locker room area. The showers hide a hatch blocked by debris you can Leverage or toss a Recycler Charge at - and leads to another part of the Atmosphere Control room (useful to avoid some of the wandering Thermal Phantoms and Corrupted Operators).

Inside the main halls, take out the two Thermal Phantoms (preferably by locking them down with Nullwaves or Psychoshocks and following up with a shotgun. Over on the left is the Air Filtration area, with lots of open flames that need plugging up - especially the ones that are blocking the door to the Control Room. Inside you’ll likely find a Poltergeist skulking about (wait until he materialized to track him and then smash him with a wrench). Half of the control room needs the aforementioned keycard to continue - but you can still check Jean Faure’s terminal and her TranScribe audiolog: I Saw Something.

Note that trying to decontaminate the room triggers a malfunction in fan 3. Looking down you can see a pipe is clogging one of them - if you carefully remove it without getting chopped up you can trigger the decontamination - but it doesn’t do much… for now.

Moving around the back of the office along the walkways you can find a small crawlspace down below with fire all around - clear it out to grab some junk. Up above, you can find the body of Alan Bianchi next to a Fan Console - which allows you to shut the fans down temporarily if you need to unclog one of the fans without killing yourself.

At the Oxygen Flow Control Room, you’ll find the door has a level 4 lock - but you can bypass it either via the window near the entrance (use Mimesis) or look for a hatch near the back way up off the ground. There’s not much inside now beyond a Corrupted Operator and a note on one of the consoles with the Storage Room Keycode

Lower Levels
Be wary as you start heading down the grav shaft to the Power Plant - it’s likely a Nightmare is waiting down here for you - and the timer won’t begin until he spots you. Luckily, Nightmares are too big for grav shafts, so you can either wait him out up top - or try sniping him from the many pipes and use the nearby Fabricator to restore lost ammo. Be sure to also check among the large pipes near the grav shaft for the body of Max Weigel-Goetz draped over a large pipe, holding the Air Mixture Regulator Fabrication Plan and a Wrench. (If you have a lousy Repair Skill, we recommend fabricating an Air Mixture Regulator for later.)

While you’re near the grav shafts, look around for a Storage Room door and use the keycode you found upstairs to open the level 3 locked door and find a wealth of items. This includes 3 Neuromods, a Nullwave Transmitter, Medkit, piles of junk, a turret, and inside a shelf is a Nullwave Transmitter Fabrication Plan, a Weapon Upgrade Kit, and 2 Typhon Lures.

Escape Pods
Head behind the grav shafts to find a broken turret and the entrance to the Escape Pods room - where an Etheric Phantom still lurks, as well as the Phantom’d remains of Kirk Remmer. Check his body for his Tracking Bracelet, and his TranScribe audiolog: Escape Pod Failure. Check out the pods yourself and you’ll find that all of them are malfunctioning - leading to the deaths of everyone in the room. Look around and you’ll find many bodies: Umi Isaka lies on the center platform, while Anong Lao and Hank Majors are on the left platform - along with a Silenced Pistol.

Over on the far side of the bay, you can find an Escape Pod with a broken button that can be repaired to open where you’ll find the body of Angela Diaz holding a Recycler Charge and Psychoscope Chipset.

Water Treatment Facility
Before going down the path to the Reactor, we can take a brief interlude and explore the Water Treatment Facility on the left, passing the body of Raya Leiruat. The door is, of course, locked - so we’ll need another way in. Look above you to the crisscrossing beams and pipes to spot a small catwalk. You’ll need to boost up onto the pipes to climb up there, and you’ll find a hatch you can access to climb into the facility.

Beware of a patrolling Technopath here who will use any turrets lying around as its portable defense. Shut them down with an EMP Charge, and shut him down with a Nullwave or Psychoshock before loading the creature up with a Q-Beam.

Dropping down, the first thing we’ll need to do is turn the power back on - but before you do, go left of the main entrance under the stairs to the body of Roger Meir and his GLOO Cannon next to a broken junction. It will solve a lot of problems early if you repair the broken junction now. Then return to the front entrance and check the body of Cynthia Dringus for a Scope Chipset, and then look for the power switch.

Search the rest of the Water Quality Labs to find 2 Neuromods, some organic materials, and the body of Johnny Brungen. Return outside and climb back up the stairs to the Waste Intake tank, and over to the Monitoring Station - being ready to take out a Voltaic Phantom lurking inside.

Power Plant
As you enter the Power Plant area, Mikhalia will request you meet up further into this area - but first you’ll need to clear out the Cystoid Nests up ahead. They are all locked in the Security Station - so try throwing some small debris inside to clear them out. If you can, unlock the level 2 Security Station terminal to download the map - and unlock the door ahead. If you can’t - look for a small crawlspace above the Operator Dispenser on the right to get you into the next hall.

Some mimics will run away as you enter, be sure to look for the body of Brenda Cabrera, and further up right you can find Lan Nguyen dead next to a breached door to the Engineering Offices. There’s also a broken Grounding Resistor nearby - and it’s worth it to repair it and replace it now to restore power to the doors beyond the breach.

Power Plant Monitoring
Carefully enter the open Power Plant Monitoring door next to the grav shaft. There’s electricity everywhere - but if you can quickly pivot and block the broken junction you can at least get rid of some of the hazards - however most of the area is flooded and extremely hazardous. Head down to Emmanuel Mendez’s terminal to spy some emails and his TranScribe audiolog: Big as Vegas. Across the electrified zone you can spot a body - as well as some Cystoid Nests and a Poltergeist who may try and and mess with you. You’ll need to get across carefully - either by using GLOO to make a bridge or float along the rafters to the other side.

If you’re feeling reckless, look along the balcony on this side to spot two supply crates near Duncan Krassikoff’s level 1 locked terminal. Carefully drop down to hack it to read a few emails.

If you manage to cross successfully, you’ll be rewarded with several items. You can find a Q-Beam Fabrication Plan on the ground near the body of Duncan Krassikoff. Duncan holds many things, from his GLOO Cannon and Silenced Pistol to a Typhon Lure Fabrication Plan, Neuromod, Scope Chipset, and TranScribe audiolog: Keycode Change: Parts Storage - which includes the Parts Storage Keycode, obviously. You can also check the nearby terminal of Matthew Connolly for several emails. Return across the gap to get moving down to the Coolant Chamber.

Coolant Chamber
In this large chamber, beware of several threats. Mimics run rampant among the many platforms, and down below you can spot Voltaic Phantom and lesser Phantoms wandering about. Try luring them up a little at a time - or throw a Recycler Grenade if they all clump up. Stay on the upper levels if you can so you don’t get ambushed - leaving the wall of flames on your left to ward off any other attacks.

Once the group of Typhon is dead, carefully explore the upper level, before making your way over to the Parts Storage Room on the right. Open the level 3 locked door using the keycode you got earlier, and be on high alert - the room is crawling with both Greater Mimics and regular Mimics. Advance cautiously until they have all been forced out of hiding, then explore the shelves to find a GLOO Cannon Fabrication Plan and a Wrench Fabrication Plan, Spare Parts, a Neuromod (if you see two - one is a Mimic), and lots of ammo. You can also grab a Grounding Resistor if you were unable to repair the one back in the upper hall.

Dropping down into the room below, you’ll find the remains of an underground Operator Fight Ring, Loot the broken machines, and grab the turret in the room. Near the door, look through a nearby floor grate to spot a Neuromod in the tunnel below. If you can’t move the debris, Mimesis through the gap, or remotely manipulate it - you can head to the center floor to find a passage to the tunnel.

There’s plenty of turrets on the bottom floor - if you have the materials to hack or repair and fortify them, they might help out later. At the door, you’ll find it’s locked - and Mikhaila will tell you to find Talia Brooks, who holds the keycard. The good news is she’s close by - the bad new is she’s covered in flames. GLOO down the raging fire near the door to find Talia Brooks and grab her Coolant Chamber Keycard, Neuromod, Q-Beam Cell Fabrication Plan, and her TranScribe audiolog: Unconventional Leak Plugger.

Coolant Chamber Offices
As you open the next door, take out the Phantom glaring at Mikhaila and enter the offices to speak with her. She’s serious about shutting down the Reactor - and apparently one room down below will do it all for you.

While you’re in the offices, grab the 3 Neuromods near Mikhaila and the Typhon Lures, as well as the Disruptor Battery Fabrication Plan. You can also hack Lan Nguyen’s level 1 terminal. You can also open the Med Bay door for a spooky surprise - the body of Anthony Aquilante. Be sure to repair the operator inside and grab the Anti-Rad Pharma Fabrication Plan. Be careful when you approach the Grav Shaft that’s been plugged up - a few Mimics will rush out before you can tear down the other side.

Take note as you head down the shaft - there’s blood dripping on you as you exit. Look right up to spot the body of Ian Rolston carefully perched on some beams high up. Getting to him is a pain - so shoot him down instead to grab the EMP Charge and Typhon Lure he holds.

Reactor Room
The Reactor Room is very large, and it’s a long way down through many broken stairs and platforms - remember this when you’ll eventually be going back up. If you’ve spent too long getting here, you may also have to deal with a Nightmare at the very bottom. There’s a stairwell and Grav Shaft to the left - but the stairwell won’t stay intact for long and the Grav Shaft remains unpowered. There’s also a maintenance lift on the right - but it’s caged in and the door is locked.

Make your way carefully down and hide or eliminate the Nightmare once it spots you. Stick to the corners and use the pipes to block its attacks if you have to. Once you get down to the second to last level, you have two options to get a key. You can glide over to the central reactor catwalk to find the body of Guy Croal who has a GLOO Cannon and the Reactor Access Keycard. You can also look on the far side for the broken maintenance lift - along with the body of Nicholas Stillwater. Grab the Neuromod and Reactor Access Keycard he carries - and make note of the Divertor slabs stashed around him - it may be worth taking one if you have no Repair Skill.

As you reach the bottom floor, take note of the Reactor Security Cage in the far corner by the lift. If you have Hacking 3, we strongly recommend opening it to take the four Turrets inside - and breaking them (you’ll find out why soon enough), and help yourself to the Weapon Upgrade Kit and other items inside. You can also repair the nearby Recycler and Fabricator to prepare for what’s ahead.

Reactor Control Booth
If you got the keycard upstairs, open the door - otherwise you can slip through the hatch on the roof. Once inside, grab the loot on the shelves and look for the Reactor Console. Before engaging in shutting everything down, consult the book on the left for a primer: Once you begin the reboot you need to flip the switches in the order supplied. Do it wrong, and you’ll have to start all over.

Unfortunately, during the reboot process - a Divertor malfunctions. Luckily, you already know where to find a few - if not, you can repair the one inside the reactor, just beware of the Cystoid Nests inside the doorway to the Reactor Core. Be sure to have an Anti-Rad handy as being in there for too long will no doubt give you radiation poisoning. The broken Divertor lies in the back next to a TranScribe audiolog: Reactor Divertors Delivered.

When you’re done fixing the problem, exit the core and return to the control panel to finish the reboot. This comes with a price, as things are going to get knocked around badly, and a lot of the room’s walkways and stairs will collapse. Alex Yu will contact you and congratulate your clever plan, telling you he’s ready to talk back in his office at the Arboretum. Getting back, however, may prove a challenge, as two Technopaths spawn after the reboot. If you haven't destroyed the Turrets in the security cage, they will take control of them (even if you have locked the security cage upon leaving). The quickest way to leave the Power Plant is to repair the elevator shaft and use it since the stairs have collapsed. If you have no Repair skill available, use the GLOO canon to make your way up to the entrance of the power plant (it is recommended to do so in the elevator shaft to remain hidden from the Technopaths if you are unwilling to destroy them).