A Criminal Past walkthrough

This page contains information regarding the progress sequence of A Criminal Past expansion for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. It also contains lists of collectibles and achievements.

Objectives & XP Rewards
Note that there are no Ghost and Smooth Operator bonuses in A Criminal Past.
 * Completing this objective cancels the quest chain to bring the biocell to Flossy and Red Shoes.


 * Only if Adam fails to convince Guerrero.


 * Optional objective if The Fixer survives the events on the landing pad.

The Death of Wilburg
To get this POI, go to Cell Block A's yard and talk to the guy near the cool-off cage. To complete the POI, get to Cell Block B, go to the first level and search the broken drone to find a hacking device. The POI can still be completed after the riot.

Secret Stash / Maintenance Mystery
This POI is started by reading a pocket secretary in the left security office on level 3 of Cell Block A. The safest way to get there is through the vents - go to the supply room on the first floor (door code 6014), follow the vent to the ceiling area, then find another vent on the opposite side to reach the security office. The office is unoccupied. Duck down and press the EG switch to the right of the window to black out the window so you cannot be seen.

Read the pocket secretary on the desk to learn the location of the stash (maintenance room between the cell blocks) and its door code (3499). Search the drawers to get a General Access Keycard that lets you reach that area. Here you can also hack the security hub (level 2) to disable some cameras in the A-block.

Go to level 2 of the A-block and use the keycard to open the door to the security area. The area is patrolled by guards and monitored by security cameras. Get to the maintenance room in any way you prefer (e.g. by hiding behind the environment objects).

Once you are in the maintenance room, check the lockers in the back to complete the POI. Here you also find the yellow jumpsuit for the Dressed for the Occasion achievement.

Roll Call
While you are still in the area between Cell Blocks A and B, get to the security office there and take down the guard inside. Read the pocket secretary on the desk that contains the inmate registry for Cell Block B. It says Hector Guerrero is in cell B-116.

To complete the POI, get to cell B-116 and read the note you find there.

The Primrose Path
To complete the POI, activate the button underneath the computer. Doing so will switch the computer from its original mode to one that controls opening of the door.

Vanishing Act
To get this POI, you must have been witness to at least one ghost story/rumor before the riots start (B-block yard loves talking about this). Apparently, solitary cell number 6 is impossible to escape from, and guarantees death for all in there - or so they say. Once you make your way to Solitary confinement, the POI will start blinking. To get the 750 EXP, step into #6, and move the floor grate. If you plan on falling down, you need icarus landing system to survive, but doing so is worth another 300 experience points, and there's a quest item, two oddly upgraded machinepistols, some typhoon ammo, and a praxis kit. No reason not to take a leap of faith, really, with that kind of reward waiting for you.

The Head of the Snake
After you disable the transport security system in the Warden's office and watch the cutscene, go to the Infirmary. Search Stenger's body to get his keycard and the POI. Go to Stenger's office on third floor (level 4) of the Administration building and press the button under the desk to open a secret wall compartment. Use Stenger's keycard to open the safe and read the pocket secretary found inside.

Achievements
For a list of A Criminal Past achievements and how to get them, see A Criminal Past Achievements.

Tips

 * Ammo is not rare, but it is not exactly common, either. The most abundant ammo types are 5.56mm of both types, .357 AP (yes, really), both variants of shotgun shells, and 7.62mm, but once the enemies start to wear armor, the shotgun and standard 5.56mm both go from a handful of shots needed to kill, to buckets upon buckets, thus largely becoming obsolete.


 * A Criminal Past, like System Rift, features super sturdy helmets. It is not enough to hit a guy in the head once, twice, or even three times, and more often than not, you are looking at 5+ standard bullets to break the helmet, each connecting hit awarding Piece by Piece XP points. If you only have weaksauce weapons on hand like the shotgun, the pistol, and the machine pistol, it is typically more economical to aim for exposed throats, the stomach, or even limbs rather than heads, because a burst shot from the shotgun to a bad guy's gut will typically take him down no matter how elite the game says he is, while the same burst to the head might break the helmet, if you are very lucky, which still means you need to shoot him cleanly in the face to put him down.


 * Other than biocells, there are generally very few resources available. If you do not have the Micro-Assembler augmentation (DLC/day one deal), then this is a challenge all on its own, as you keep retiring weapons as you progress, and find that you only really get enough crafting material by the game itself to upgrade one or two weapons. Fortunately, the developers put in quite a good haul of semi- to fully upgraded firearms for you to find, including oddities, like faster than default firing machine pistols, and magnum revolvers that actually have not been upgraded, yet have 8 or 10 round capacity regardless.


 * If you have a revolver fetish, A Criminal Past is the DLC adventure you have been waiting for. Not only is AP .357 ammo one of the most common ammunitions, but a single damage upgrade pushes you over the instant kill limit on the helmeted bad guys, making the Classic Diamondback .357 a very economical and useful weapon for this mission. Even if you do not have access to that one, fear not, because there is plenty of regular revolvers you can splurge your limited crafting material on, but it does take two damage upgrades to equal the classic's one in raw power - which is not that big of a deal, really. Also you will have a use for the 30~ or so regular .357 rounds you come across.


 * One can easily maximize XP before the riot by unlocking the Quicksilver implant and getting every guard to swarm the same area. The best spots are A-block's command center, A-block's shower, and assuming you have Klipspringer, the narrow path leading into B-block. Simply do repeated double non-lethal takedowns, and make sure you do the same to the EXO-suit guys. While you cannot perform a double EXO-suit takedown, they are worth quite a lot of XP individually. There are also robots and turrets a plenty, so investing in Typhoon to maximize the Piece by Piece bonus can be a good idea. The Typhoon aug is a lifesaver in the last third of the DLC, anyway, and your allies (should you side with the inmates) do not really care all that much when you blow up 10 of them in a single go.


 * A Criminal Past is hard. People who can effortlessly run through the main game on Give me Deus Ex will find that A Criminal Past actually puts up some resistance. Meanwhile, players who are only barely surviving the main game on such a difficulty would find it extremely punishing to play A Criminal Past on GMDX. These players, who are almost universally stealth focused, receive a double whammy. A Criminal Past does not award any Ghost or Smooth Operator bonuses at all, and most mechanical enemies can see you when you are cloaked. If you do not disable the choke with the Fixer's fix, this extends to every enemy, so if you are planning on going in without taking the Fixer's pills, skip the stealth completely.


 * Stealth, in general, is not really an option in A Criminal Past because of the ever-present cameras, reinforced turrets, robots, drone sentries, and tight patrol routes that seem designed to flush the average ninja player out of his hiding spots. If you are using stealth, it is to setup ambushes and devastating traps, not to try and move through an area without causing a disturbance. Key places reinforce as you progress, so if you were successful in getting past, say, Observation early on, you will find that when you return, there are now EXO-suits and helmeted elite soldiers with AP assault rifles waiting for you, alongside all the enemies you did not kill on your first way through. This gets even worse if you do not venture into Administration early on, and let it sit undisturbed until the game tells you to go there.


 * While it is indeed true that this is merely DLC, it puts a big emphasis on choice and consequences. You are free to do whatever you want, with the exception of pulling weapons down in the Fixer's hideout, but everything you do early on will have consequences for later.
 * Get the altered bioocell, then use it on yourself? Now the inmates are reduced by about 4/5ths, and the remaining ones are weak and poorly equipped. Flossy also hates you, and will not help you out unless you play your cards right.
 * Give the cell to Red Shoes, as instructed, and now the guards are the ones that are heavily reduced in population. The inmates, who are fighting on your side, by the way, are better armed, have better augs, and are veterans as baseline.
 * Do not take the fix? Quite a lot of dialogue changes if you do not, and Flossy provides a key card to the prison's base security doors for free.
 * Killing certain characters before the riot removes them during the riot part. For instance, the inmate who trades alcohol for a multi-tool. If you keep him alive, you will find him looting a large number dead COs in the A-block shower during the riot, and if you knock him out, the treasure is yours. If you kill him before the riot starts, then there is no way to get any of his riches.
 * The riot itself can also be quite a bit harder if you mind your own business, and don't take out any of the guards or their assets. Someone who plays completely augless will also find that Jensen is denied from the best ending, because the best ending requires all clues, several pieces of evidence, and a CASIE social challenge.


 * Theoretically useful abilities like robot and turret domination are extremely practical in A Criminal Past, as are the upgraded radar, and even a level of LiDAR might serve you well for the harder battles. Old standbys like the nanoblade, TESLA, and Glass Shield Cloak... less so. The Typhoon is a legitimate lifesaver in many later battles, and if you go heavy on the energy tree, getting TITAN is much better for your health and praxis balance than investing in the HP augs and rhino. How? Because there are so many biocells everywhere, especially if you deliver the altered biocell to Red Shoes. When you are being attacked by 5 machinegun drones, two EXO-suits, and a squad of elite classed infantry, while a heavy turret is filling the air around you with lead, you are going to wish you could just click that one button and become invincible for the duration of the battle. Of course, the devs thought of everything, and gave you the option to play lore accurate, that is to say without the experimental augs, or with all augs. Regardless, if you have access to the Micro Assembler, you retain it no matter your selection, but the chaff eye aug seems to disappear if you play lore accurate. As you will figure out pretty quickly, there are tons of praxis available precisely because you will need it, but the majority of it is hidden in out of the way areas.


 * Hacking is not that important, and the designers knew it. The max level common barrier is a level 3 lock. Even at the very end, lots of terminals and optional hacks remain at level 1, but sometimes 2. There is a grand total of 3 level 5 hacks, and a single level 4 hack in all of A Criminal Past. Administration is the most heavily secured, having almost exclusively level 3 locks, while the actual prison and processing facilities themselves rarely go above 2. If you keep the altered biocell for yourself, you will find plenty of multi-tools on dead inmates scattered throughout the place. If you cooperate with them, you will be forced to invest in minimal hacking, use firepower and grenades to destroy doors, or turn crafting resources into multi-tools. Despite the low level of the hacks, not many of them are what could be called "easy." Level 2 hacks in A Criminal Past can be as difficult and nailbiting as level 4s in the base game, and many of them do reward huge XP and software drops, should you have the skills needed to get through them properly. The key hacking attribute here is Fortify, and the backup plan should be stealth software to position yourself. Still, hack 2, even 3, is cheap, and maxing Fortify is not that expensive either. If you want to hack, do it. Throw in a pinch of stealth, and there you go.


 * Adam does not know what Adam has not read or talked about. Even if you totally think that something fishy is going on, Adam will not be given the choice of even asking unless you explored properly beforehand. There is a lot more showing than telling going on, and much like finding every praxis, you are going to have to dig deep to find all the clues.

Praxis Kits

 * The altered biocell found in the laundry of Cell Block A, if you choose to use it yourself, will give you 5 praxis points and the A Just Cause achievement. Remember that this counts as satisfying a critical mission, so it's very likely that you'll end up with 6 praxis. Just keep in mind that the energycell itself only provides 5 of them - still a huge boon, but using it on yourself like this means you'll practically be soloing the entire DLC, as well as dealing with how displeased characters like Flossy are at you.
 * Inside the fox toy in the narrow tunnel under the walkway between Cell Block A yard and Cell Block B yard.
 * Block B: secret path to storage room (silencer and some minor loot) behind a false wall in 204. Straight to the left as you enter the passage is a grating with a praxis kit behind it, revolver with 6 standard rounds, 2 AP rounds, and a cylinder of 10 AP .357 rounds behind a false wall in 319, praxis hidden in ceiling storage in 108, secret path to the maintenance corridor under the fence behind fake wall in 116, laundry room has a vent that leads into the shower maintenance corridor, which contains crafting components, and conveniently can be opened from inside, thus making a zero pill, zero boosted powercell playthrough possible.
 * Block A: praxis in the ceiling storage of cell 307, empty stun gun in 301 behind a false panel in the wall (needs some fiddling unless you have super strength, but is very doable. Patience is key), gyroscopic stabilizer and a STOP! hack software (behind the towels above the mirror, top shelf) in 315, 5 stun gun darts in 203 in a door frame stash, praxis in 204, as well as a not so secret passage to the turret guarding A-block entrance, and a split in the road to the veteran level sniper providing cover fire for said turret, behind a low res wall painting, nupoz in 320, in one of the 'secret' stashes close to the door frames. Various other bits of alcohol and crafting components can be found in A-block as well, plus painkillers in some rooms. Look behind the handful of hygiene products the inmates are allowed to possess.
 * After you meet Guerrero in the showers, wait for the cutscenes to end and you'll find the kit on the table on front of you.
 * Another kit is in the adjacent security office, on the floor near the lockers.
 * Return to the Shower Room in Cell Block B after the riots start, and circle around the showers. You'll find a Praxit Kit on the body of a dead inmate, with a biocell lying nearby.
 * In the security office near the Processing Area, on a shelf to the left of the weapons cabinet.
 * In an unlocked safe in the Automatic Security section on level 5 of the Tower.
 * In the Solitary Confinement cell S-01, on the floor.
 * In the cell S-06, jump through the hatch in the floor (you will need the Icarus Landing System to survive) and walk through the corridor to find a fenced area. The kit is inside the fox toy. Here you also find the story item "Augmented Heart".
 * Exit the building past the fenced area. Keep following the path outside and head right around the building. The praxis kit is behind a rock on the valley floor next to a fragmentation mine.
 * Another praxis kit can be found to the far west. It's hidden under some grass, in a rocky, mine free area, almost at the very western corner of the map.
 * 4 kits are in green containers labelled A38, C??, F21 and F24 in the Storage area on level 2 of the Administration building.
 * In the elevator shaft on level 1 of the Administration building, in a toy fox hidden in a box. Crawl space entry at the front of elevator in the cafeteria.
 * Starting from the administrator level, head down the horribly messed up stairs right next to the south-western most meeting room, towards the cafeteria. At the bottom of the stairs is quite a lot of debris, most of it heavy classed. If you have superstrength, you can move the soda machines out of the way (one green, one yellow), and you'll find a praxis kit hidden underneath them, somewhat vedged close to yet more debris. For even easier identification, this is also the stairs that has a leather sofa and a bunch of new age masterpiece potted plants. Depending on how you approached the first part of the DLC, resistance down here might be anything from fortified veteran guards with shotguns and armor piercing combat rifles, to various mines. Don't forget to loot the booze. Every bit helps, especially on GMDX difficulty.
 * In Stenger's office, in a secret wall compartment accessed via a button under his desk.
 * On the balcony area outside the corridor where Stenger's office is, behind the red fence.
 * In Warden's office, use the security hub to open the vault door and check the safe inside. (This is the same place where you disable the transport tracking system.)
 * On Flossy's body if you take him out in the Warden's office.
 * On D-Town's body when he blocks access to the West Wing elevator.
 * On the roof where you disable one of the anti-aircraft turrets, on a shelf below the security hub located on the north-side raised platform.
 * On teddy, where you find the 80 reload pistol. Refer to the relevant section below.

Weapons Upgraded with Weapon Mods

 * In the A-block showers, a fully modded combat rifle (capacity, silencer, holosight, silencer, laser, 4x scope, damage), minus rate of fire upgrades, but conveniently loaded with 48 rounds of standard and armor piercing.
 * In the safe in Stenger's office, a fully modded revolver (laser), with fully upgraded rate of fire, damage, and ammo capacity. This safe cannot be opened until Stenger is found in the infirmary. Due to bugs, normal ammo fired from this revolver inflict the same damage as it would from an unupgraded revolver, but AP rounds for some reason don't suffer this effect.
 * Ride the Automated Security elevator all the way up, then look towards the ceiling. Open the hatch, and jump up. Now crawl to the edge of the elevator, and you'll see a) a steep fall, and b) some boxes and a teddy. Fall all the way down to the 'top' floor of the fenced in area, then make your way down another level. Here you'll find the customary 80 reload, max ammo capacity pistol, with both laser and silencer equipped. Getting this item requires both the klipspringer leg aug and icarus landing.
 * While not technically a pre-modded weapon, there is indeed a single grenade launcher in criminal past. It can be found in the guard shack between A and B's security doors, and comes stock with 2 frag, and 2 gas grenades. You can find an additional frag grenade on a robber in A-block shower (only if you don't kill him before the riot), and 2 more frag and gas grenades in the administration storage room, alongside a revolver with one level of reload speed and a single AP round loaded. If you want to use this weapon, you have to claim it before the riot, because it disappears once the riot phase begins.
 * Several generic .357 revolvers have 8 to 10 capacity, without the relevant upgrades. They're everywhere.
 * After Adam meets up with his Interpol contact in Solitary confinement, and they formulate a plan, the desk right outside Stenger's office - located in the security offices wing of administration - will now curiously hold a max upgraded stun gun, with a cute 80 base reload. Fully upgraded, including a laser.

eBooks
Note: DLC eBooks give XP but do not count towards Tablet Collector.