Stalker 2 Cost of Hope: The Destructive Power of the Mind Walkthrough

The Destructive Power of the Mind is the main mission where the faction leaders finally move to stop Nord from using the technology inside Laboratory X16. It runs across several locations before funneling you into one long assault, and it contains the single choice that decides which ending the Cost of Hope DLC gives you.

Quick answer: Finish Shadows of the Past and To the Origins of Freedom, wait for Mavka’s radio call, and meet the allies at the secret camp. Pick Mavka’s stealth plan or Zulu’s assault, gather the key card or the C4, break into X16, and reach the central rooms. When Mavka and Zulu argue over the mutant, choose “Zulu, you’re wrong” for the Freedom ending or “Mavka, back off” for the Duty ending. Then kill Nord, shoot the spinning yellow fuses and cables to stop the Brain, talk to your leader, and repel the ambush to finish.

Prerequisites and where the mission starts

The mission unlocks only after you complete both Shadows of the Past and To the Origins of Freedom. Once those are done, wait for Mavka’s radio call. She will direct you to a rendezvous point marked on your map.

The secret camp sits southwest of Rostok Base, roughly 1.8 km from where the previous mission ends and north of the Chemical Plant point of interest. The camp is ringed by a brick wall, but there is a broken section you can walk through. From there, head east toward a lower garage and enter the metal door framed by orange bricks, then continue into the basement to find Zulu and Suslov. Mavka arrives shortly after.

Choose your approach: Mavka’s stealth or Zulu’s assault

At the camp, the two leaders lay out separate plans for hitting X16. This first choice decides how you get inside and which unique weapon you receive early. It does not lock your ending, so pick whichever style you prefer.

Approach	Dialogue	Prep task	Early reward
Mavka (stealth)	“I’ll roll with Mavka”	Steal a mercenary key card	Clapper (unique M860)
Zulu (loud)	“I’ll roll with Zulu”	Secure C4 explosives	Warszawa (unique ARev)

Mavka route: take the key card

Travel to the Tunnel Under Lake point of interest, far west of the secret camp. Several mercenaries are inside, but you do not need to kill all of them to get what you came for.

Find Fire’s body among the dead mercenaries and loot the side entrance key card along with his PDA. Clearing the remaining mercenaries is optional and changes nothing.

Go to the Agricultural Workshop and find Mavka inside a first-floor room in the south building, marked by a mural on the entrance wall. She tells you to breach X16 first while her team follows.

Zulu route: buy the explosives

Head to the old barracks marked north of the camp. Enter through the front and look for Lyokha Spade (with Vitalya Garage) in a room on the southeast side.

Buy the explosives for 5,000 coupons, or attack the bandits instead. Killing them turns the whole building hostile but saves the money, and the C4 then sits in a blue chest in the same room. If you paid, open that blue chest to collect the explosives.

Return to Zulu at the Agricultural Center for the attack briefing. He hands you the Warszawa and asks if you are ready. You can delay to restock supplies, or tell him to proceed.

Breaking into Laboratory X16

The way in changes with your approach. On Mavka’s plan you slip through the back and use the key card. On Zulu’s plan you fight through the front and blow open walls.

Stealth entry (Mavka)

Go to the Yantar Production Complex and use the back entrance of the marked building. Follow the stairs down to a locked metal door and swipe the key card on the reader beside it.

Climb down the ladders to the bottom level. Zen radios in and tells you to restore power. Follow the path to the fuse box at the dead end and switch the power on.

Head back through the blue-lit corridor to the keypad-locked door and enter the code 1408. Continue past the cafeteria, kitchen, morgue, and projection room, then up to level 04 to meet Mavka and Zulu and trigger the cutscene.

Loud assault (Zulu)

With both factions ready, travel to X16 and clear the mercenaries around the central area. Enter through the main door and plant a C4 charge on the cracked wall to the right, then step well back and shoot it to open a path.

Take the stairs down and go through the doorway. Turn left into the room with a control panel and press the red button to open the large hermetic door. Push through, round the corner, kill the guards, and ride the elevator down.

Clear the cafeteria full of mercenaries, then plant a charge on the exposed wall on the west side and shoot it. Move through the hole and the double doors, take the door on the right to a staircase, climb up, and blow the next exposed wall.

Push through the shelf room and the hallway beyond into the dimly lit lab, where mercenaries ambush you. Wipe them out before moving on.

Reaching the central rooms and the optional safe

The route into the central rooms is largely linear. Head to the lobby with the staircase and climb toward the third level and the metal gate. Mercenaries pour from the side rooms in an ambush, so use the rooms as cover. Once they are dead, Zen opens the gate for you.

Continue to the operating room, climb the stairs, and press the red switch in the control room to open the cage holding a skeleton. Before you blow the final wall behind the cage, you can grab a strong optional reward from a nearby safe.

In the room on the south side of the surgery area, a safe is wired to a keypad on the left. Enter the code 171008 to open it and take the Brummbar Exoskeleton. There is also an exposed wall in an earlier barracks that hides an RPG-7U and a PG-7V round if you want to detour for it.

When you are done looting, blow the wall behind the cage, work up to the top floor, and shoot the green padlock on the sealed door. Enter to find Mavka and Zulu and start the confrontation cutscene.

The choice that locks your ending

At the technology, Mavka and Zulu disagree over the mutant. Mavka wants to keep and use it; Zulu wants it destroyed. This is a point of no return, so make a manual save first if you plan to see both outcomes. The Cost of Hope DLC has exactly two endings, and this single decision selects which one you get.

Ending	Side with	Dialogue option
Freedom (Contra Spem Spero)	Mavka	“Zulu, you’re wrong”
Duty (Battle On and Win Your Battle)	Zulu	“Mavka, back off”

Choosing one locks you out of the other for that playthrough, and the leader you side with tags along in the missions that follow. The Freedom route runs through Status Quo, Dangerous Way, Uninvited Guests, and on to the final mission. The Duty route runs through In Memory of the Fallen, Gunpowder, Sweat, and Blood, and its own path to the same finale.

Escape, find Suslov, and stop the Brain

After the cutscene, escape the rubble by jumping through the hole and following the tunnels. Fight off the mutants along the way. The path is linear and the game marks where to go.

Regroup with Suslov. Take the stairs up and follow the hallway to a large chamber with a machine crackling with electricity. Walk along the balcony to your left into the control room to trigger a cutscene that reflects the side you chose.

Defeat Nord and shut down the Brain. To stop the Brain, shoot the yellow fuses spinning at the center of the machine on each floor, then use the stairs and elevator to reach the next level and repeat, working up to the fourth floor.

Enter the control room on the top floor to trigger the cutscene where Nord dies. After his death, shoot the remaining fuses, move to the next floor, and shoot the yellow cables. Once every cable is destroyed, the Brain is stopped and the objective completes.

Repel the ambush to finish the mission

Talk to your chosen leader after the Brain shuts down. Speak to Zulu if you sided with him, or Mavka if you sided with her, then leave the facility.

As you exit, the opposing faction ambushes the site. Siding with Zulu means killing Mavka’s men; siding with Mavka means killing Duty officers. The D4 treaty was already dissolved during Distant Mirage, so the losing faction turns hostile from here on. Wipe out the attackers to complete The Destructive Power of the Mind.

You will know the mission is done when the ambush clears and the quest updates to the next objective on your chosen route. From that point the DLC follows the Freedom or Duty missions until you reach the final mission and its ending cutscene.