It’s not easy being Village’s protagonist, Ethan Winters. The game actively tries to kill you at every turn, but that doesn’t mean you can’t overcome Village’s challenges. All that’s required is patience, forethought, determination, and a little bit of help from us. We’ve put together this handy guide to help you survive the terrors of Resident Evil Village.
Refer to your map
Healing herbs, ammo and craftable materials are in short supply. As such, you’ll need to scour the map for these essential items. The game’s map helps guide you toward supplies with its simple use of colors. Red areas and buildings have items you haven’t yet acquired while blue areas are item-free. This is useful for knowing which places to visit and which to skip. The map also displays locked doors and interactable elements like switches. Though this is Resident Evil, it’s best to play it like a Metroidvania when it comes to exploration. The map is your best friend.
Leave no stone unturned
Piggybacking on the last point, you’ll want to thoroughly search each location. Desks and lockers almost always have useful items. Beyond that, you’ll also want to search under tables and beds. Some items rest on ceiling rafters and other hard-to-reach high areas. Again, if anything on your map is red, search high and low until you find everything. This exploratory process also applies to boss fights. For obvious reasons, it takes a lot of firepower to kill bosses. You’ll find ammo and health items scattered across boss areas. While your main focus should be on staying out of a boss’ attack range while peppering it with bullets, you should always keep an eye out for hidden ammo and health. You should also be on the lookout for anything yellow. Yellow crates and barrels contain items while yellow ladders and ropes often lead to hidden areas filled with goodies. Walls marked with yellow tape or paint also lead to secret areas and loot.
Mobility and ammo preservation
Most of Resident Evil Village’s monsters are highly mobile. As such, you’ll need to constantly stay on the move. This doesn’t mean you should play like it’s Call of Duty. Running into the middle of a horde of Lycans will result in a swift demise. It’s best to keep your distance, get some headshots, then move to another location. When facing mini bosses or main bosses, it’s best to stay within the perimeter of the area (if possible), and hit them with your most powerful weapons and explosives. On that note, it’s best to save weapons like pipe bombs, mines and grenade launchers for the big baddies. The game will sometimes place you in a confined space with one or more powerful bosses. Your standard handgun simply won’t be as effective as a bomb. If you’re surrounded by a mob of Lycans, you may have to resort to the heavier ordinance. But generally, you’ll want to save the big damage-dealing stuff for enemies that don’t go down easily.
Retreat is an option
Although there are instances where you must confront monsters before you, there are other times when you can simply run away. This is especially handy if you’re running low on ammo. The game does a great job of showing you which enemies you can run away from. If 10 Lycans charge at you when you only have 20 bullets, you better haul ass. In most instances, you can return to a previously visited area and take care of foes once you have better weapons. If you’re up to your neck in baddies, there’s no shame in making a run for it.
Fight strategically
Ammo conservation and mobility are only two aspects of surviving encounters. There are times when enemies get too close for comfort. You can minimize damage by blocking. To make things sweeter, you can also push enemies away after a successful block. This action causes enemies to stagger, thus making it easier to land a killing shot on them. If you’re using a one-handed weapon like a handgun, you’re able to shoot while blocking. Shooting an enemy’s legs to slow them down is an effective way to give yourself breathing room. You can also shoot their hands to make them drop whatever melee weapons they’re holding. That last trick doesn’t work on most bosses, but it’s handy for Lycans and zombies wielding axes or knives. As Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith taught us, having the higher ground gives you a tremendous advantage in battles. Not only will you have a clearer shot at foes, but they make themselves vulnerable trying to reach your location. At the risk of contradicting our previous statement about remaining mobile, it’s sometimes good to find a staircase to hunker down at and let enemies come to you. Funneling baddies into a tight space like the movie 300 can mitigate otherwise tough encounters.
Watch for boss “tells”
Resident Evil Village features some of the fiercest bosses in the series’ history (we’re looking at you, Lady Dimitrescu). While bosses appear insurmountable, most have weak spots you can exploit to deal greater damage. As with many video games, if you see anything orange or red on a boss, it’s best to concentrate your fire on that area. Bosses love to rush or spit some kind of nasty gunk at you. They always telegraph these moves by roaring, wailing, or cursing you out. When that happens, try to find a place to hide until you can resume attacking. Also, faces, whether human or inhuman, are always great areas to unload your ordinance on. Boss battles are a lot of fun, but they’re not impossible so long as you remain cool and focus your attacks on their Achilles heel.
Smart consumer
“The Duke” is Resident Evil Village’s answer to Resident Evil 4’s infamous merchant. You’ll find The Duke and his item shop at various points on the map (usually hub-ish locations). He’ll sell you ammo and health, along with weapon attachments and upgrades. He’ll also buy items from you. Duke even cooks meals that permanently boost your health, mobility and defensive capabilities. You’ll find money, crystals and other valuables as you progress. Mini and main bosses always drop valuable loot. You can sell these items to Duke for a tidy profit, meaning you can buy more and better items. There are some valuables you can combine to raise their value. For example, you can sell a found doll body, but if you find and attach its head and sell the complete doll, you’ll earn more money. As far as what you’ll want to buy, it’s best to purchase storage space upgrades whenever they become available. As stated above, there are many items to find and you don’t want to discard anything because you lack room in your inventory. Weapon upgrades that boost firepower and ammo capacity are a must, especially for your preferred guns. Recipes for crafting ammo and bombs are also a must-have.
Inventory management
Even with expanded storage space, inventory management is essential. Valuable and key items do not take up inventory space (thankfully), but animal meat certainly does. Instead of hoarding meat until you have the required amount to craft specific dishes, it’s best to give all food over to The Duke. Another great way to free up space is selling weapons. This may sound counterintuitive, but considering how you’ll obtain better iterations of certain weapon types, it makes no sense to hold on to their weaker variants. Plus, if you’ve upgraded a weapon to its max and sell it, you’ll rake in a nice profit. Always upgrade to better weapons whenever possible.
