Prey: Mooncrash DLC - How To Escape With The Volunteer

Revealed in a surprise E3 2018 announcement, the Mooncrash DLC is a very different beast compared to the original Prey.

Instead of a linear adventure, you’ll have to sneak through a deadly (and randomized) moon facility that’s crawling with Typhon monsters. Survival means carefully weighing your options and fighting to reach the end alive. There’s a lot of weird stuff you need to know before attempting your first escape.

The first playable character you have available in the Mooncrash DLC is the Volunteer — named Andrius Alekna, you’ll need to use psychic powers and your scavenging skills to escape the base with your life. The simulation changes every single time, but some constants remain the same.

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How To Escape With The Volunteer | Beginner’s Guide

For your first escape, you’ll want to escape via the Escape Pod. Before continuing, there are a few things you need to know about Mooncrash.

The Basics – How Mooncrash Works:
- You only have one life per character. If you have multiple characters, you can continue through the simulation if one dies — the next character will pick up where you left off.
- After all your characters have died (at the start, you only have one) the simulation will reset. When the simulation resets, the state of the moonbase will change. Items will spawn randomly, and so will enemies.
- To survive, you need to find weapons, healing items, and ability upgrades. You need to play smart, move carefully, and avoid difficult encounters.
- Every character has unique stats. If your character finds ability upgrades, those will remain between resets.
- Find fabrication blueprints and you can spend resources to bring more items into the start of a simulation. Once a blueprint is unlocked, you can keep it forever.

There’s more to know about Mooncrash, and we’ll discuss every aspect of the simulation as we progress. For now, you’ll want to jump into the simulation with the Volunteer. In the first tutorial, you’ll probably die — powerful Mimics will usually kill you.

Every character has two objectives — a main objective, and a story objective. Aim to complete the main objective first. Here, I’m going to explain how to complete the Main Objective “Escape the Moon”.

How To Escape The Moon

Recommended Equipment: Silenced Pistol

When you arrive in the simulation, collect the keycard and the Silenced Pistol fabrication plans from the dead body. These are always on this body. You’ll want to fabricate a pistol on your second playthrough.

In the second room, you’ll find your first Typhon Gate. These gates block progress as long as Typhon organisms are detected in an area. Use the gates and all typhon in the zone will become marked on your HUD — it’s usually a good idea to rush toward these gates before exploring. You’ll get a better idea where those mimics are hiding after using it.

As the Volunteer, you can enhance your typhon-based PSI abilities. If you upgrade them too much, you’ll be detected as typhon, and won’t be able to pass through the gate. Use EMP or electric-based weapons to disable the gates and get through. You can do that if you don’t want to hunt all the typhon in an area.

In the first exterior area, rush to the Typhon Gate in the back-left corner and scan the area. You probably don’t have EMP yet, so hunt to Typhon Mimics that are marked nearby to unlock the path to the crater. When the area is clear, you can safely search all the bodies.

Objective: Access the Security Workstation – At the Crater, you need to access the Security Workstation in the central building. You’ll find Phantoms and Corrupted Engineers in this zone. You’ll need a weapon — don’t engage Operators unless you have to, the Phantoms can be destroyed with the pistol alone, you’ll need more to deal with the Operators and especially the Harvesters.

There are a few weapons you’ll want to look for in the Crater — an EMP Charge, a Q-Beam, or a Charge Pistol. Take the Typhon Lure off the body near the Crater entrance. To help defeat the enemies at each outpost, search the rocky areas for turrets. They’ll help distract and destroy the groups of enemies that cluster around the towers.

Before going underground, you’ll also need to search for a Neuromod. Collect one, and use it unlock the PSI Blast ability. This powerful is incredibly useful for getting through the enemies in the underground. Travel to the back-left corner of the Crater to the Escape Pod Evacuation Route — there’s a Typhon Gate here. Clear them all out, or use Disruptor Stun Gun to disable the field later.

Underground, use PSI Blast to destroy the Cystoid Nests — they won’t pop and spawn tracking bugs. Grab a Shotgun and other useful items from the security desk, and then access the Utilities on the Security Workstation, then check the Escape Pod Status. You’ll find that there’s a Pod available in the Crater.

There’s a Fabricator and a Recycler in the Command Center up the lifts. Stop and use them if you want to stock up.

Return to the main Crater area and find the one accessible door — that’s the Typhon Gate in the back-left corner from the entrance, now visible on your map. The final room is guarded by two Operators and a Corrupted Harvester. You can sneak through the back and disable the Typhon Gate with an EMP / Stun Gun blast, or defeat the enemies.

The Harvester and the Operators are Corrupted, so they count as Typhon enemies. The Harvesters are usually friendly, but they’ll target you if they detect large amounts of Typhon in your system. If you don’t have a Q-Beam, these heavily-armored robots can be difficult to destroy.

Use PSI Blasts, or use the explosive barrels all over the room. EMP will only stun them, and if you only have ballistic weapons, you’ll need to target the exposed panel on the back of the robots — that’s the only place you can hurt them with the shotgun or pistol.

When you’ve cleared the room, go upstairs to the escape pod. Open the door with the button, then close it and use the terminal to take off. Congratulations! That’s one mission complete — about nine more to go.