Austin Mall

The Austin Mall is a location in Dead State. It is a dungeon (or instance), accessible from the courtyard area of Austin Outskirts.

Mall
The mall consists of two levels, occupied by heavily armed Mercs. The exit to Austin Outskirts is located on the lower level, while the entrance to the hotel can be found on the upper level.

Enemies in the square on the lower level

 * Merc Sniper(Sniper Rifle, Combat Knife, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc (MS4, Tactical Vest)
 * Merc Assault(Combat Shotgun, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc Axeman (Fire Axe, Riot Gear)
 * Merc Axeman (Fire Axe, Riot Gear)
 * Merc Sharpshooter(MS4 Rifle, Kukri, Tactical Arm Guard, Combat Boots)
 * Merc (AKA7, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc (AKA7, Tactical Vest Advanced)

Enemies in the shops on level 1

 * Merc Commando(Bowie Knife, Sawed-off Shotgun)
 * Merc (MS4, Tactical Vest)

Looting the mall
Two levels of mall shops.Luxuries, foods and tidbits.

Hotel
The hotel is accessible from either the upper level of the mall or a ladder in the alley next to Gillian DeVries (a Negotiation skill of 8 or higher is needed, in order for Gillian to reveal the location of the ladder in the alley).

The hotel consists of six levels. Each level is occupied by heavily armed Mercs. Each level is an area of the same size and consists of an corridors, run around all the way making a kind of rectangular zero. The are rooms inside the zero and on the outside. To each side of the map is a staircase the connects all six levels, but part stairs and doors to the other levels have been blocked as to force the group to the other staircase to continue upwards and thus having to deal with the heavily armed soldiers.

This is about as tough as it gets.

Note: for the sake of convenience the below list of mercs only summarizes their gear, a more detailed list can be found at the mercenary page.

Enemies

 * Merc ( AKA7, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc (AKA7, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc (MS4, Tactical Vest)
 * Merc Axeman (Crash Axe, Buckler, Riot Gear)
 * Merc Axeman (Fire Axe, Riot Gear)
 * Merc Axeman (Fire Axe, Riot Gear)
 * Merc Torturer(Stun Gun, Swat Gear)

Loot level 1
Lots of luxuries, parts and food. Some antibiotics/ At least three data items. And of course the gear of the mercs.

Level 2
This is another level with a handful of tough enemies that are pretty easy to deal with at later stages of the game. Lots of loot.

Enemies

 * Merc Assault(Combat Shotgun, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc Medic(MS4, Tactical Vest)
 * Merc (AKA7, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc Axeman (Crash Axe, Buckler, Riot Gear)
 * Merc Sharpshooter(MS4 Rifle, Kukri, Tactical Arm Guard, Combat Boots)

Loot level 2
Lots of luxuries, parts and food. Dumbbell. And of course the gear of the mercs.

Notable Loot


 * 1) Fishing Pole in the training area(Gym Bag)
 * 2) Dumbbells in the training area(weight set)
 * 3) Crossbows

Level 3
Level 3 can only be entered via level 5. There is an industructable door that requires a special card to be opened.


 * Merc Assault(Combat Shotgun, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc Assault(Combat Shotgun, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc Commando (Bowie Knife, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc Axeman (Crash Axe, Buckler, Riot Gear
 * Merc Heavy (Crash Axe, 357 Magnum, Riot Shield, Riot gear, Riot Helmet)

Loot level 3
Lots of luxuries, parts and food. And of course the gear of the mercs.

Notable Loot

 * 1) Riot Shield
 * 2) Guns, armor. ammo and projectiles in the locked room

Level 4
Level 4 is an immediate level that is just a primer for level 5 where things get tough.

Enemies

 * Merc ( AKA7, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc Medic(MS4, Tactical Vest)
 * Merc (MS4, Tactical Vest)
 * Merc Axeman (Crash Axe, Buckler, Riot Gear)
 * Merc Torturer(Stun Gun, Swat Gear)
 * Merc Assault(Combat Shotgun, Tactical Vest Advanced)

Loot level 4
Lots of luxuries, parts and food. And of course the gear of the mercs.

Notable Loot

 * 1) DVD Player

Level 5
Breaching this level needs some planning otherwise this will be hugely frustrating.

Your main challenge it the cramped staircase, the locked staircase door and the fact that the hostiles have an almost unobstructed view on that door.


 * 1) Be sure to make a hard save on level 4 before you climb the stairs with your party.
 * 2) (Quick)save as often as possible when fighting on level 5.
 * 3) When you enter level 5 one of your companions will be in the locked staircase door.  If he or she is not detected you can then move through it to the other side! If you have your companions set to follow you, they will move through the door as well!  You can even get up to three of your group through the door before combat mode sets in, if you are lucky. This means you might have three on the level before the fight starts and all hell breaks loose.
 * 4) You could try and move your character out of the way and then pick the lock, however this door has quite a good lock. At skill 7 the door could be picked. You would still have to rush the level, but you might be able to pick off the enemy from afar, preveting them to block the way(see 5).
 * 5) If you try to shoot the door or break the lock, combat mode will ensue and the enemy will rush in, blocking the doorway. While this can be used to your advantage I ran into the problem that I could not get past the bodies of the soldiers because one of them was ko-ed and I could not kill him because others were on top of him. This made progress impossible.
 * 6) One of your enemies has a grenade and will throw it when two or more of your characters are bunched together.

Enemies
There are a lot of enemies. Here is the list:


 * Bridge Sharpshooter (AS4(20 bullets), kukri, Tactical Vest Advanced, Combat Boots, Tactical Arm Guard) This one might also have a grenade.
 * Merc Assault(Combat shotgun, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc Axeman (Fire Axe, Riot Gear)
 * Merc Axeman (Crash Axe, Buckler, Riot Gear)
 * Merc Commando(Sawed-Off Shotgun(2), Bowie Knife,Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc Medic(MS4, Tactical Vest)
 * Merc (MS4, Tactical Vest)
 * Merc Axeman (Fire Axe, Riot Gear)
 * Merc (AKA7, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc Sniper(Sniper Rifle, Combat Knife, Tactical Vest Advanced)

Loot level 5
This place has a plethora of containers with loots ranging from food, luxuries, medicine to ammo. Weapons and gear can be gotten from the dead. Possibly enough stuff for one haul.

Notable Loot

 * Sniper Rifle(it is unlikely that you haven't got it already)

Level 6
Another level where one of your companions will emerge in a door, which is locked, has cramped space and enemies that see that character. The game goes immediately into combat mode and for fun, the Merc Lieutenant down the haul draws first with his 357 magnum. Feel the pain.

Enemies

 * Merc Sniper(Sniper Rifle, Combat Knife, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc Axeman (Crash Axe, Buckler, Riot Gear)
 * Merc Axeman (Fire Axe, Riot Gear)
 * Merc Heavy (Crash Axe, 357 Magnum, Riot Shield, Riot gear, Riot Helmet)
 * And your special friend: the Merc Lieutenant(Long Barrel Magnum, Grenade, Riot Shield, Tactical Vest Advanced, Incendiary Grenade)

Loot Level 6
More and more loot. You will be going back and forth a lot, even with the car.

Roof and helipad
Welcome to the roof. You are set for the final confrontation with Keyes. Well done!

Access
The roof is accessible from level 6 of the hotel. The indestructible door is only accessible with the Helipad Keycard, carried by the Merc Lieutenant on Lv6 of the hotel. The keycard is used by interacting with the "Door Mechanism" near to the door and must be equipped by your main character to work(it doesn't work with your companions).

Keyes can be found near the helipad, past the "Indestructible" door near the stairwell.

Keyes carries the Antique Lighter requested by Gillian DeVries, who can be recruited as an ally when she sees the lighter.

Enemies

 * Merc Commando (Bowie Knife, Tactical Vest Advanced)
 * Merc Torturer(Stun Gun, Swat Gear)
 * Merc Medic(MS4, Tactical Vest)
 * Merc Heavy (Crash Axe, 357 Magnum, Riot Shield, Riot gear, Riot Helmet)
 * Keyes (Laser sighted MS4(20 bullets), 6 more bullets for the ms4, 357 Magnum(6 bullets), 6 more bullets for the magnum, Crash Axe, Incendiary Grenade, Tactical Vest Advanced, Riot Helmet, Hard Knuckle Gloves, Construction Boots,  Box of Military Rations, Sleeping Pills, Deodorant,  Fine Bourbon, Data Item, 5 Antibiotics, Antique Lighter, Stash Keycard)

Trivia

 * Depending on which area of the instance you're in, the game's save files will be displayed as "UNQTheCityMallInterior", "UNQTheCityHotelLvx", or "UNQTheCityRoof".
 * The helicopter on the roof used to have an interaction icon in previous versions of the game, but could not be used. In Dead State: Reanimated, there is no interaction icon. The helicopter serves no purpose.

Remarks
My remarks(Merit). This is one of the most exhaustive and toughest locations in the game, and rightly so(read on). So kuddos to you if you got to the roof. And tons of kuddos if you cleaned out the whole mall,hotel and surrounding area. You should get a steam reward.

I, however, want to add some remarks in the hope game developers might consider this. Not that I am some kind of authority.

My main beef with this area is that in order to get Gillian as companion you have do a game end battle. One of the optional endings for the game is fighting your way up the roof and escape with the helicopter. And that is what you have to do to get Gillian. Not only are the requirements to get her nonsensical, the entire story gets unhinged this way because when it comes up, you have a stroll in the park as you already cleared the way. It would have made sense if you just needed to fight your way into one of the lower levels. Say killing a sergeant in the mall. You still got a taste for the toughest of locations, but not for the final deal. My personal observation is that they should have placed Gillian elsewhere. Perhaps at the bunker in the Old Army Base or at the Soldier Encampment.