Hiya!

Well, Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 Remake has been out for a good while now. I’m currently on my 2nd playthrough on Hardcore mode. Although I have finished the story campaign on Standard already, I opted to play a totally brand new game on Hardcore mode. This means no carried over weapons, equipment or anything like that. I did this as I wanted to test my mettle against the game just to see if some of the tips and tricks I developed while playing on Standard also works on Hardcore.

I have watched a few expert playthroughs of the game, both the casual just to see their reactions as well as the “hardcore” gamers just to see some more professional tips and tricks on how to get through the game as fast as possible. I got to hand it to Capcom for making Resident Evil 4 Remake intentionally or unintentionally very speedrunner friendly. Maybe I’ll try some of these pro tips so I can finally get an S+ rank! Hopefully, Capcom doesn’t patch this because I really want the infinite ammo cat ears!

Even after watching so many videos, there are some tips and tricks I developed myself to get through Resident Evil 4 Remake. They are more general purpose strategies I discovered and have implemented. They won’t make the game super easy to complete but they might give the struggling newbie a better chance of finishing the game. So let’s go through them!

#1 Find places where you can funnel enemies safely

Capcom really went above and beyond with the number of enemies Leon Kennedy has to take on at a time. You can easily get overwhelmed by the tidal wave of enemies coming after him. Exacerbating the problem are the plethora of assailants with projectile weapons like hatchets, molotov cocktails and, the bane of my existence, dynamite. Even in the first village encounter, Leon Kennedy will have to keep his head on a swivel to make sure no one sneaks behind him.

However, there are actually some places you can hunker down and safely pick out baddies one at a time. I’ve discovered several places, which may be helpful. The first one would be at the top of the tower in the village section. It would crumble if you move away from the ladder. However, if you stay relatively close to the edge, you can shoot down enemies as they’re climbing up, sending them plummeting to the floor below. In the Farm, you can lead them through the ladder that accesses the gear lever which opens up the gate and pick them off as they’re climbing up the ladder as well.

In the Valley, you can jump through the window in the house on the left. As long as you don’t break down the lock on the door and keep your back towards the inner wall, all the enemies will have to funnel through the window you climbed through, making them easy pickings. In fact, the dynamite throwers will help you out by blowing up his fellow villagers for you! The last place I found is during the Chainsaw Sisters fight. Make your way to the elevated platform that has the Wayshrine and they’ll have no choice but to try to get to you through the only bridge leading to that area. If you start to get overwhelmed, you can jump down to the ground floor to escape. There are probably a lot more areas like this but these are the ones I noted as they really helped me a lot in Hardcore mode.

#2 Look at all the stats for each weapon

Leon Kennedy sure can pack an arsenal in that invisible briefcase of his! Not only can he pack several handguns in it, he can also stuff in things like sniper rifles, shotguns, grenades, flashbangs and even a rocket launcher just in case! Of course, most newcomers will pick the weapon which does the most amount of damage. So the usual weapon of choice would be the Red 9 if they can find it as it boasts the most damage output for handguns.

However, I personally love me the Punisher, which you can get from the Merchant for 5 spinels. While it doesn’t do as much damage as the Red 9, it has something which the Red 9 lacks: penetration power. The Punisher can go through enemies with shields and can even go through other enemies if they’re all lined up in a row! This is especially useful when Leon and Ashley make it to the Castle as this is when shield carrying enemies start to appear.

It’s not just perks you have to look out for but how the weapon handles as well. For example, the standard sniper rifle may do the most damage but you can’t rapid fire it because of the bold action. For that, you might want to get the Assault Rifle. The Striker shotgun may hold more rounds, leading to Leon not having to reload as often, but the Riot shotgun has a tighter grouping, making it easier to concentrate your firepower. It’s mostly up to your playstyle so don’t go too laser focused on just damage output.

#3 Traps can be your friend

We’ve all had it happen to us. You’re running through a field, maybe being chased by a mob of villagers or simply going to an area to search for treasure now that you’ve cleared the area of enemies. You’re just running along and bam! Leon’s leg gets stuck in a bear trap. You vow to be more careful next time and really look where you’re going. It doesn’t prevent you from getting your leg caught in another bear trap down the road. Thank god these don’t take off any life. If it did, I would’ve been dead dozens of times more.

This just creates a strong urge to immediately disarm each and every bear trap you encounter. This also bleeds to removing every tripwire you find as well as you never know when you’ll carelessly run into one. I totally get it but I do suggest to employ some restraint as these very traps which can kill you also works on enemies as well. The best instance is near the end of Chapter 2 when a chainsaw wielding villager blocks you from reaching Village Chief’s house. If you’re quick enough, you can run past him and duck underneath the tripwire. The Chainsaw Villager will just run into it, taking a big chunk and, hopefully, some other enemies as well. If that doesn’t kill him, you can go the path through the side of the house and avoid the bear traps. More often than not, the Chainsaw Villager will get his foot caught in one, allowing you get a big melee attack in or pepper him with bullets. That’s using their own medicine against them!

#4 Start farming once the lake opens up

Herbs have been a staple in the diet of every Resident Evil character. They’re littered all over the place and mixing them in the right way can save your butt. Moreso in Resident Evil 4 Remake as the new yellow herb will increase Leon Kennedy’s maximum health value. A Leon with more vitality means a Leon that’s harder to kill.

Resident Evil 4 adds another way to heal yourself besides herbs and first aid sprays. Leon can now gather food found all over the village now. Chickens will lay eggs, which can be used as a weapon for hilarious results but it’s much better if you use the protein to heal Leon in a pinch. You can also hunt for fish and vipers, which can also fill your health meter.

What you may not know is the eggs, fish and vipers respawn after some time. I’m not sure but I believe it’s link to your current health, with the lower the health you have, the more frequently they’ll respawn. This does mean, however, you can simply farm for these items indefinitely once the lake opens up. You can gather eggs on “chicken island” which is where you can find the golden egg. The fishes usually respawn near the dock areas around the lake. Finally, vipers will reappear once in a while in the Fish Farm location.

The beauty of this is you can exploit this fact as long as your willing to spend the time and effort bouncing around the lake area. Once an area is deplete of resources, go to a new location and try your luck there. You can then either stockpile on these foodstuffs for later in the game or, if you’re really willing to spend hours on this endeavor, you can gather as much eggs, fish and vipers and sell them to the Merchant for a measly amount. However, that measly amount does pile up and, who knows? You might even have enough money to buy that one-time use rocket launcher you had your eye on, huh?

#5 Turn on all subtitles to alert you to the Clockwork Castellans

Capcom seems to have this obsession of destroying mechanical toys in their remakes of Resident Evil. In Resident Evil 4 Remake, Leon can shoot out things called the Clockwork Castellans, little wind up dolls which resemble the adorable Ramon Salazar. There’s no real in-game story reason for Leon to want to destroy them. However, the player does have one as wrecking all of the Clockwork Castellans (there’s 1 in each chapter) will reward you with the Primal Knife, the only indestructible melee weapon in the game.

These little buggers can be hard to find as they’re usually tucked away in some hidden area and the only hint there’s one close by if you hear a little mechanical rhythmic ding. Trying to find all of them without a walkthrough can be difficult.

If you are a purist, however, and you don’t want to go through a guide to find all of the Clockwork Castellans, you can improve your chances by going to the Options menu and turning all All Subtitles. Doing so will add subtitles to a whole lot of things you didn’t know had subtitles. Besides mentioning who’s talking, there will also be subtitles for some sound effects, including one for the Clockwork Castellans! It’ll pop on the screen, signaling you to look around for those creepy wind-up dolls!

BONUS: Don’t sleep on the Bolt Gun

I already mentioned to look at the weapons and find the ones which fit your playstyle. However, I believe the Bolt Gun deserves special mention because a lot of gamers seem to be ignoring it because it seems like a bad weapon. It almost unusable during furious firefights because of its very slow fire rate and pretty weak damage output. So I understand why most players ignore it. I think they’re wrong because it definitely has its uses, even in furious firefights.

The thing about the Bolt Gun is it’s only bad when it’s not upgraded. Capcom seemingly knew this so it’s actually pretty cheap to upgrade all the weapon’s stats to Level 3. It’s much cheaper than most of the later weapons anyway. Once you do, however, the Bolt Gun can be a monster workhorse as it can stun enemies ever so slightly during heavy battles. The ability to attach mines is also good at pre-emptively setting the scene to your advantage.

I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but try giving a Bolt Gun a chance. It honestly became one of my main go-to weapons when I knew I could take out enemies one on one.

Byee!

What other tips and tricks have you discovered in Resident Evil 4 Remake? Let me know in the comments section below!