Returnal – Where to find Scout Logs 9 and 10

Where to find Scout Log 9 and Scout Log 10 in Returnal’s Overgrown Ruins

Returnal’s long and arduous Trophy Journey is lengthened further by the Survey Trophies present in the trophy list. These trophies ask you to find all Scout Logs, Xeno Ciphers, Xeno-Archives, and Challenge rooms in each of the 6 explorable areas of the game.

To make matters worse, many players have been unable to collect the Survey Trophy for the game’s first region, The Overgrown Ruins. The reason for this is two Scout Logs which can be very difficult to find.

In this short guide, I’ll be telling you everything I know about Scout Log 9 and Scout Log 10, which should help you track them down and obtain them for yourself!

Where to Find Scout Log 9 in Returnal’s Overgrown Ruins

Scout Log 9 is the hardest of the two to find. The specific room that it spawns in can be challenging to locate because of its meager spawn rate. There are two ways to get this Scout Log if you are struggling to find it, but I don’t think you’ll like either of them.

Scout Log 9 Method 1: Farming

Scout Log 9’s room is rare but is not impossible to find. The low spawn rate means that you will need to play the Overgrown Ruins hundreds of times to get a chance of spawning it. That being said, there’s some helpful information I can give you to speed things up!

Firstly, the room that Scout Log 9 spawns in is very specific. The following information can help you determine quickly if your map contains the room or not, letting you restart the cycle as soon as you know it hasn’t spawned.

There will always be two blue side doors in the Overgrown Ruins, which lead to a room containing another blue side door, never more or less than two. One of these two doors is always locked and requires a key to gain entry; the Scout Log is never behind the locked one.

That leaves the unlocked one. This room will always spawn on every map and always leads to another blue door, but there is just a handful of configurations this branching room can have.

One of these configurations (the least common one) contains Scout Log 9.

With this information, you now know that if you enter a room behind an unlocked blue side-door, which contains another blue side-door, and Scout Log 9 isn’t in there, then it isn’t on this map at all, and you can restart the cycle.

To make these runs quicker, you can speed-run them. Run past all enemies, dodge any projectiles, and make a beeline for any blue side-door you can find. Once you find that branching side-room, restart (or collect the Scout Log if it is there).

Even though it is possible, with a lot of patience, to find Scout Log 9 this way, it can take over 100 attempts to get lucky enough to find it. Because of that, the second option may be preferable…

Scout Log 9 Method 2: Start a New Game

In Returnal, up until you collect the Melee weapon at the start of the game, the map is not as randomly generated as usual. In this short window where the map is pre-determined, there will definitely be one side door that contains Scout Log 9.

This is the method I used (though, against my will due to save corruption) and it has worked for many others too.

Unfortunately, if you start a new game, you will lose any progress you’ve made towards your Overgrown Ruins survey, and you will need to not only find Scout Log 9 but every other Survey collectible too. Which means you will need every possible traversal tool.

This also means you will need to experience the first 5 House Sequences and beat all 5 bosses again to ensure all collectibles are available to acquire.

The reason this may be preferable, however, is that a seasoned veteran of Returnal who has already beat the game can easily do it again in 4-6 hours, which may well be many hours quicker than if you were to use Method 1 due to the random nature of that other method.

Where to Find Scout Log 10 in Returnal’s Overgrown Ruins

Scout Log 10 is much easier to find than Scout Log 9, so count yourself lucky if this is the last one you need.

If you’re struggling to find Scout Log 10 then there’s just one very simple thing you need to do which will cause the log to spawn. It’s going to require you to have 6 Ether, though, so be sure to have that ready.

Scout Log 10 is related to some devices in the game called “Reconstructors”. There is one Reconstructor in all 6 areas, guaranteed. When you interact with this device and pay the 6 Ether, you will be able to respawn at that Reconstructor when you die, preserving your progress.

To get Scout Log 10 to spawn, you will need to activate a Reconstructor and then allow yourself to be killed. When this happens, Scout Log 10 will be in the room with you when you respawn there.

Additionally, even though this Scout Log is one of the logs required for the Overgrown Ruins Survey, it can actually be found in any region. Whichever Reconstructor you first respawn at will have the Scout Log near it when you wake up.

Therefore, if you have successfully died and respawned at a Reconstructor in the Overgrown Ruins, but the Scout Log isn’t there when you respawn, it must be at one of the other Reconstructors in the other regions. Try to remember which one you used first, it’s likely to be waiting for you there!

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