Bury the Hatchet

Mission start places Jason in or near North Leonida. Before you touch the first objective marker, open the full map and note police stations, hospitals, garages, and any water routes - Bury the Hatchet punishes players who improvise without geography.

Read every line of the phone, corkboard, or in-person brief. Rockstar-style Leonida missions often hide soft fail conditions in dialogue: do not kill a contact, do not leave the district, keep a vehicle intact, or protect a VIP. Jason confronts a ghost from his Army and family past. Remapped Bury the Hatchet before the endgame.

Recommended opening routine: repair or replace your vehicle, buy armor and snacks if a shop is available, set a waypoint to the primary pin, and approach without sideswiping traffic. Early wanted stars almost never help a gold medal run.

Sparse memorial and rural roads. Ambush density is scripted - scout ridges before the emotional cutscene trigger.

Quick reference walkthrough: Quiet drive, sudden fight, long cutscene. Choice changes The Third Way banter.

Rewards on completion: Character resolution · $5,000. Unlocks tied to this mission: Finale dialogue variants.

This mission follows a single primary path. How loud you play and which dialogue choices you pick can still alter later banter, relationship flags, and optional contacts.

Objective 1 of 4: Travel to the memorial site.

This opens Bury the Hatchet. Travel to the marker without farming wanted stars. Use the approach roads around North Leonida that keep you off camera clusters and police stations. If a cutscene plays on arrival, your loadout and vehicle state carry through - arrive prepared.

Stay oriented on the mini-map. Story missions in Act III often spawn secondary markers (escape vehicles, allies, or optional loot) that are easy to miss under fire.

Sparse memorial and rural roads. Ambush density is scripted - scout ridges before the emotional cutscene trigger.

Objective 2 of 4: Survive an ambush.

Mid-mission objective in North Leonida. Expect the resistance level to rise compared to the previous pin. Clear the immediate area, complete the interaction or combat beat, then reassess ammo and armor before moving on.

Gameplay tip: this is often where Bury the Hatchet teaches or stresses a mechanic - hacking, trailing, intimidation, boat handling, or protagonist switching. Failures commonly restart at a mid-checkpoint rather than the mission start.

Sparse memorial and rural roads. Ambush density is scripted - scout ridges before the emotional cutscene trigger.

Objective 3 of 4: Choose forgiveness or revenge.

Mid-mission objective in North Leonida. Expect the resistance level to rise compared to the previous pin. Clear the immediate area, complete the interaction or combat beat, then reassess ammo and armor before moving on.

Complication tip: plans break here on purpose. Prioritize the objective over perfect cleanup. Civilians and side enemies only matter if a gold criterion calls them out.

Sparse memorial and rural roads. Ambush density is scripted - scout ridges before the emotional cutscene trigger.

Objective 4 of 4: Call Lucia with the truth.

This is the closing beat. Quiet drive, sudden fight, long cutscene. Choice changes The Third Way banter. Confirm gold-sensitive conditions before you trigger the end marker: vehicle health, VIP health, wanted level, and any cargo integrity. Once the final cutscene starts, you usually cannot reverse a failed criterion.

Stay oriented on the mini-map. Story missions in Act III often spawn secondary markers (escape vehicles, allies, or optional loot) that are easy to miss under fire.

Sparse memorial and rural roads. Ambush density is scripted - scout ridges before the emotional cutscene trigger.

When the last combat or interaction objective clears, Bury the Hatchet still requires a clean handoff. Lose heat with tunnels, public garages, mangrove blinds, district borders, or chop shops depending on where North Leonida sits in Leonida.

Deliver cargo, intel, cash, or VIPs to the final marker with integrity intact. Damaged vehicles and bleeding allies can fail gold after an otherwise perfect shootout.

Do not skip the debrief cutscene on a first playthrough - Finale dialogue variants often appear as map icons or phone contacts immediately afterward. Save manually if you are about to chain heist prep.

Common fail states in Bury the Hatchet include death of a required character, destruction of a mission-critical vehicle, abandoning the mission area for too long, or killing a contact the brief told you to keep alive.

Wanted-level soft fails appear on stealth-leaning medals even when the story continues. If you are hunting gold, treat stars as a fail and checkpoint-restart rather than fighting the whole district.

On dual-character missions, letting the idle partner die in the world while you play the other can still fail the mission - watch both health bars when the UI shows them.

Gold medal checklist for Bury the Hatchet:

• 1. Ambush cleared
• 2. Choice made
• 3. Phone call completed

Strategy: run a learning attempt to memorize routes, spawn points, and fail triggers. Then replay specifically for medals with cutscenes skipped and a pre-staged loadout.

If a criterion conflicts with another (speed vs stealth, for example), prioritize the harder one on a dedicated replay - many players unlock gold across two focused attempts rather than one perfect run.

After gold pops, you can freely replay for fun or collectibles without worrying about medal state.