The LA 24 News Building is an area where players who have made it to Ocean Avenue in Dead Island 2 will be spending a lot of time around but not inside. The perimeter of this building is where a couple of different Side Quests take place, the Warehouse at the end of The Search for Truth Story Quest (where players find out the truth of the Autophage) is directly behind this building, as well as a ton of different lootable items and objects.
But, there's a large percentage of Dead Island 2 players that didn't even know they could go inside this building until getting the 'Mayday' transmission from Esta through the News Van outside the building. So, let's go over the main Side Quest that takes place in this building, and what it entails.
Find The Basement Server Room
Once players figure out they can climb up on the outside scaffolding to get inside the LA 24 News Office, they'll make their way to the actual News Studio and accept the Scooped Side Quest from Esta. Getting here is no joke, as the News Station is actually quite large.
Players will need to find the LA 24 News Security Pass from the slain security guard at the top of the stairs just to get into the News Studio. Additionally, on a table near this Security Pass is the Thick-Skinned Autophage Survivor Card, which already makes the trip here worth the effort.
Esta and her crew have been getting by hidden in this Station for a while, but there's something in here with them that's been stealthily picking them off, and this is where the player character comes in. Esta sends the Slayer down to the Basement to restart the servers so that they can track down this monster using the Security Cameras. To get here, simply head out from the doorway the blue quest marker is marking, take a left down the hallway then another left, and players should see a broken-down vending machine immediately in front of them. To the right of this vending machine are the stairs that lead down to the Basement.
Reboot The Basements Servers
Once they make it to the Basement, they'll notice there are a lot of water puddles around thanks to the leaky pipes. Of course, this doesn't mix well with electrical components, and the path in front of them should be electrified. Simply power through or hop over the electric puddle, take care of the Electric Walker pounding on the door, and head through it to reach the Server Room. In here there should be three 'consoles' that are marked with the Quest markers, these are what players need to interact with to restart the servers.
Head to each one, holding the Interact input to restart them. But, be careful, as the game seems to spawn different Shocking variants of Runners and Walkers to come hunt the player down while they're doing this so that the Electrical explosion they do while alive and one last time when they die with electrify more of the puddles on the ground. After interacting with all three, Esta mentions the cameras are up before using them to notice that 'something has happened' in the second-floor conference room.
Investigate The Second Floor Conference Room & Head Back To The News Studio
She sends the player character up to the Second Floor Conference Room, which they'll reach by heading back up the stairs they came from and going up one more floor before following the Quest marker.
On the second floor, players will probably notice the trail of blood leading to the nearby vent, which will clue anyone who has already done the Story Quest, Blood Drive, or the Side Quest The Terror of Sound Stage 7 into exactly what this 'monster' is. After busting into the Conference Room, players will immediately notice that all of Esta's colleagues working up here were taken out by something.
While the Slayer comments on this misfortune, Esta radios in and mentions that the 'thing' is in there with them, with 'there' being the News Studio. Before heading to save Esta, however, players will want to grab the Server Room Safe Key from the female employee's corpse. It doesn't have anything to do with the objectives of the Side Quest, but players might as well grab it while they're here, right?
Kill The 'Thing' In The News Studio
Sprint on back to the News Studio and players will immediately notice the Butcher in the middle of the room feeding on a corpse. Fight this thing, making sure to use Perfect Blocks or Perfect Dodges to open it up, as this Apex Zombie likes to block often with its Blade Arms otherwise.
After killing it (which should be relatively easy since it's not even a Named Zombie), players will have a second to 'Catch Their Breath' before another Butcher hops out from the Vent in the wall next to the exit door. Turns out there wasn't just one thing in there with Esta and her coworkers...it was a pair of Butchers. Take out the second Butcher, following the same strategy as with the first.
Scooped Side Quest Completion & Rewards
Finally, after everything is all said and done, players can complete this Side Quest by interacting with Esta in the Sound Room of the News Studio. Talk to her and Esta will thank the player character before mentioning that they need to leave.
The Slayer then points them toward the Blue Crab safe zone, and the next time players load into Venice Beach, that's where they'll be. In any case, the rewards for this Side Quest are pretty minimal, it only gives 4,000 XP. But, while completing this Side Quest players also received:
- Thick Skinned: An Autophage Survivor Card that buffs the player's Toughness against Physical Attacks in exchange for less Resilience against Elemental Damage.
- Server Room Safe Key: Opens the Safe at the back of the Server Room with a bunch of extra Cash in it (about $1,100).
- SKOpe Console: Found in Second Floor Conference Room, will add towards the sKOpe Word Collectibles.
It's still not much compared to some other Side Quests in Dead Island 2, but the Quest itself is very atmospheric, there are a lot of basic materials in this building, and more XP is always a plus.
Dead Island 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X\S.