Hello gamers, how's everyone doing? Hope you're all doing great. I'm still pushing forward in my adventure through DEATHLOOP and this time around I ran into one of those missions that looks straightforward on paper but turns into something completely different once you're actually in it. The mission is set inside The Complex — which at this point is a place I know reasonably well after all the time I spent hunting down Wenjie — and the objective sounds simple enough: the Eternalists have blown open the door to the Artillery Depot somewhere in that district, and the idea is to get in there and see what weapons and loot we can pull out of it. Sounds like a solid plan. It was not a solid plan.
Exploring The Complex Again
So back into The Complex we go. And look, I'll say this — even going back to a district you've already spent serious time in, DEATHLOOP always manages to make it feel like there's something new to find. The layout is familiar at this point, I know the general flow of the place and where the main paths lead, but the Eternalists never quite behave the same way twice and the mission-specific objectives change what you're actually looking for when you move through the space. So the familiarity is comforting without ever making the whole thing feel repetitive.
Getting through the Eternalists on the way to the Artillery Depot was the most straightforward part of this whole session, which in hindsight should have been a sign that the real challenge was still coming. I moved through the district aggressively, taking out Eternalists as I went without being particularly subtle about it. At this stage of my playthrough I've got a decent enough loadout that engaging in open combat isn't the terrifying prospect it was in the early loops, and clearing through groups of them while pushing deeper into The Complex felt good. Satisfying even. The weapons are hitting harder, the infused gear is holding up, and Colt is starting to feel like the dangerous, capable operative he's supposed to be rather than a confused guy just trying to survive.
I cut through corridor after corridor, building after building, taking out anyone in my way and collecting whatever Residuum and supplies I could find along the route. By the time I reached the general area of the Artillery Depot I felt good about where things were going. And then I hit the doors.
A Battery Problem That Derails the Entire Plan
Here's where DEATHLOOP decided to remind me that nothing on this island is ever as simple as it looks. The Artillery Depot is locked. Not just locked with a regular door you can hack or shoot your way through — locked with a power system that requires batteries to get the doors open. Multiple batteries. And they are absolutely not sitting conveniently next to the entrance waiting for you to grab them and slot them in. Of course they're not.
What this battery problem actually means in practice is that the mission transforms from a straightforward depot raid into a full traversal puzzle that sends you back out into The Complex to hunt down the power sources needed to get those doors open. And The Complex, as I've mentioned before, is not a small area. It spreads across multiple buildings, multiple levels, outdoor stretches, interconnected corridors and rooms — and the batteries could be anywhere within that whole space. Some of them are reasonably findable once you start looking carefully and following the environmental clues the game leaves around. Others are tucked away in spots that require going through additional enemies, solving small environmental puzzles, or accessing areas you might not have explored fully yet.
What I'll give the game credit for is that this battery hunt isn't just padding. As you search, you're finding new rooms you hadn't been in before, discovering new pockets of loot and Residuum deposits, running into enemy configurations that push you into combat in spaces with different layouts and challenges. New clues about the broader story and the island's history show up in notes and audio logs tucked into corners you only reach because the battery hunt forced you there. So even when the search starts to feel long, it's genuinely filling in the world in ways that matter. It's annoying and rewarding at the same time, which is honestly a very DEATHLOOP way to feel about something.
I Can't Find the Last Battery and I Don't Get Into the Depot
And here is where the honest truth of this session comes out. After everything — after fighting through the Eternalists, after tracking down battery after battery across the spread of The Complex, after going through rooms and buildings and outdoor sections I hadn't fully explored before — I could not find the last battery. The final one. The one that would have completed the power circuit, opened those depot doors, and made all of that effort pay off.
I looked everywhere I could think of. I retraced paths I'd already covered, checked rooms a second time, pushed into corners of the map I'd been avoiding because they looked empty. Nothing. The last battery simply did not reveal itself no matter how long I kept at it. What I did get out of all that searching was a solid pile of Residuum collected along the way, a handful of new clues about various things happening in Blackreef, and a growing collection of dead Eternalists scattered across The Complex. Not nothing, but also not what I came for.
After spending way too long on it I made the call that most gamers eventually have to make with a problem they can't crack in a single session — I put it down. The depot will be there next time. The battery is somewhere in that district waiting to be found, and going in fresh with a clear head is going to be a lot more productive than grinding the same search pattern for another hour on the chance that I somehow missed it in the same spots I've already checked three times. DEATHLOOP rewards patience and a fresh perspective more than it rewards stubbornness, and I've learned that lesson enough times at this point to actually apply it.
So gamers, the Artillery Depot remains unconquered for now but that's going to change. See you in the next post!