A remake of one of the most popular and coolest games in the entire Capcom franchise, Resident Evil 4, has been released. Like the original, it turned out to be fantastic. There are many interesting changes and additions that will appeal to fans of the original Resident Evil 4, while maintaining the overall atmosphere and spirit of the game.
We have prepared a guide that will be useful for both newcomers to the series, people who have never played the original, and fans, along and across the past Resident Evil 4, first released in 2005. Here’s a damn dozen tips for you!
Council number 1. Shoot at the opponent’s throwing weapons
Throughout the tense journey through the quaint Spanish village, castle, caves and laboratories, you will encounter hundreds of enemies. One part of the enemies will use standard melee attacks in an attempt to grab Leon (or Ashley) in addition, and almost the same number of enemies will use thrown or conventional weapons. Crazy Spanish villagers can throw axes, burning torches, Molotov cocktails, sticks of dynamite and more. Avoid getting hit by these projectiles (for example, axes can be parried, just like a melee attack), and the best way to achieve this is to finish the enemy before they even have a chance to throw a projectile.
You need to act quickly, and killing the enemy with one shot even with a headshot on normal difficulty is difficult. In this case, try to shoot at the throwing weapon itself. In the case of Molotovs and Dynamite, this will cause an instantaneous explosion, dealing damage to both the opponent holding the item and all enemies around it.
Council number 2. Follow all orders of the merchant (you can buy important items)
New to the Resident Evil 4 remake are special merchant quests, which you take on not by talking to this NPC, but by interacting with blue sheets of paper, usually stuck to walls and found in almost every chapter. Pick up such a sheet to study the essence of the assignment and at the same time begin to implement it. This is optional, but as a rule, we are talking about simple and quick tasks. For example, about three quests are related to the destruction of 3-4 rats in a certain area. Usually this is not far from you, and the area is indicated in the assignment, and it is also necessarily signed on the map. In other assignments, you will be asked to shoot down several blue medallions, again hung in a certain location. Try to complete all the quests you can find, because for them you will receive spinels – pink gems. Some spinels can be found as you progress through the game, but most can only be obtained by completing quests. They are important as they can be exchanged at the Mystery Merchant for unique (although there are common) items.
So, for spinels you can buy items of two extremely important categories – location cards and upgrade tickets. Location cards are a must-buy item and cost only 5 spinels each. When you purchase this item, treasure markers, blue medallions for active area quests, and more will appear on the regular map. Buy them as soon as possible! Upgrade tickets are much more expensive, but they are also extremely useful, as they allow you to apply an exclusive upgrade to a weapon.
To purchase this exclusive upgrade, you must fully upgrade it. At the same time, if you buy such a ticket, then you can install an exclusive improvement much earlier. For example, an exclusive upgrade for a pistol or shotgun could be a 1.5x increase in power.
Council number 3. Don’t see the treasure? Look up or down!
If you followed my advice above, you may be trying to find the treasure marked on the purchased map right now (or at some point later). You may even be standing right on the treasure marker and not see anything like it around you. This is because it is probably hanging over you. Listen closely and if you hear metal squeaks, it will signal that you need to look up. You should notice what looks like a metal lamp or bell hanging overhead – knock it down to get to the treasure. As an example, such a metal bell hangs from a rotating weather vane (a round wooden board) over a well on a farm, where you will be taken immediately after surviving in the village square.
Council number 4. Learn Parry and Dodge ASAP
For the most part, the Resident Evil 4 remake lacks the quick QTEs that the original featured. However, prompts will appear on the screen in the form of buttons / keys that must be quickly pressed at certain, completely random (sometimes not) moments of combat scenarios. Leon has a knife, later you can find other types of knives. It can be used to parry any melee attack. You can hold the block key, but in this case you will just block the blow. But if you click on it just before the enemy’s hand / weapon reaches Leon, then your hero will parry the attack. After that, the enemy will be temporarily stunned and open for melee attacks or finishing moves.
I highly recommend learning the timing of this parry as soon as possible, and do it on earlier enemies. The same goes for evasion. Some attacks cannot be parried, and then a prompt will appear on the screen with a suggestion to press the corresponding key / button. Fortunately, this will always happen. There will also be hints about the ability to parry an enemy attack. This will make it easier to learn both mechanics.
Council number 5. Don’t Ignore Shooting Ranges – Farm Trinkets
The shooting range in the remake is slightly different from what it was in the original game. Several times during your journey through the game world, you will find an elevator near the merchant. Go inside to be at the shooting range. The merchant has prepared unique mini-games for you. Try to score as many points as possible by shooting exclusively at the pirate figures. Do not hit ordinary sailors, otherwise for each such shot you will receive a penalty in the form of deducting 500 points. Also, if you see a pirate figurine with a silver skull token, aim directly at the token for a bonus 300 points. This is important to do if you are trying to complete S rank games. Completing these tasks will earn silver and gold tokens that can be used in the machine near the elevator.
This device will reward you with special decorations that can be hung on the case (inventory). You can hang up to three charms, and each of them will give a special bonus. For example, improving the crafting of ammunition, discounts on repairing knives, and much more. Using gold tokens on the machine increases the chances of getting rarer trinkets, so try to complete the shooting range tasks for the gold reward.
Council number 6. Try to be stealthy
One of the main innovations of the Resident Evil 4 remake is that now Leon can sneak behind the backs of enemies and instantly kill them using a knife. Most of the locations will not allow you to use this mechanic too often. Yes, and to clean up vast territories without raising the alarm, it simply will not work. However, if you see that the enemies are not aware of your presence, duck down and try to kill them by stealth. As much as possible to make future open combat easier. It is especially useful to look for crossbowmen and other enemies with weapons, which are extremely unpleasant to face in open combat. Therefore, try to kill them stealthily.
Council number 7. Use flashbang grenades
Flashbang grenades are an important weapon in the Resident Evil 4 Remake. They not only stun normal enemies, allowing them to attack them with melee takedowns, but also instantly kill any mutated enemy (with tentacles on their heads). We are talking about the moments (it will start a little later in the game) when, after killing an enemy or earlier, his head is torn, and a disgusting bloodied tentacle crawls out of his neck.
Such enemies are not easy to defeat, and they deal a lot of damage. On normal difficulty, you will have to spend 3-4 precious shotgun shells on them, or you can simply throw a flashbang grenade in their direction, which will instantly kill each such enemy. On the other hand, there aren’t many flash grenades in the game (although you can create more), so we recommend using them against groups of two or more mutated humans.
Tip #8. Don’t use herbs alone
By picking green (restor health), red (increase other herbs) and yellow (increase maximum health) herbs, you might be tempted to use them immediately if you’re low on HP. In an emergency, this is completely normal and understandable, but if possible, it is better to use a spray instead.
This is because the herbs in the Resident Evil 4 Remake become much more effective when combined with each other. Ideally, you should hold them until you can create concoctions that restore three times the health of green herbs alone, as well as increase maximum health. Use herbs individually if necessary, but try to combine them whenever possible.
Tip #9. Hold treasures with empty slots and gems
Throughout the passage of Resident Evil 4 Remake, you will find various valuables and treasures. Some treasures, such as crowns and jugs, have empty slots. You can place gems in them, which will significantly increase the cost of the lot from the merchant. It’s even better if you can put gems of the same color into these slots. In this case, you will receive an additional bonus to the cost of the goods (there are bonuses for gems of different colors).
For example, if you have a crown with four gem slots, try to fit four gems of the same color into them to maximize the cost. This is a great way to get more profit, which in turn will allow you to unlock more upgrades from the merchant. Of course, if the situation requires it, you can sell 1-2 stones to buy weapons, upgrades or ammo, but while you can, save them until you get the next treasure with empty slots. Likewise, do not try to sell treasures until you have installed the maximum number of at least multi-colored stones in them.
Tip number 10. Crits are a difficult but worthwhile thing.
Sometimes critical hits happen on their own, as is inherent in the nature of the very essence of this aspect. Therefore, try to aim at the head of most enemies. But there is a way to increase the chance of dealing critical damage. While aiming, the crosshair will expand in all four directions. This is enough to aim, however, if you wait 2-3 seconds without moving the sight (cursor), the crosshair will narrow significantly. If you move, the crosshair will expand again. So, if you shoot at the enemy with a narrowed crosshair, then the probability of inflicting critical damage will increase significantly. During mass confrontations, doing this with every shot is incredibly difficult, but if there is a chance to quickly kill one of the enemies, use this crosshair scaling tactic.
Tip #11. Deadly finishing moves
The best way to know that the enemy is finally defeated is to see that loot has flown out of it, highlighted in blue, red, yellow or green. If you see prey, you are safe – the enemy is completely dead. But if nothing fell out of the enemy, then he will either resurrect or turn into a mutant with a tentacle instead of a head.
Therefore, it is important to finish off each enemy. Sometimes after the enemy falls to the ground, he begins to writhe, indicating that the mutation process has activated. If you see this, quickly run up and press the indicated key / button to stick the knife in the throat of the enemy. This is how you can prevent ordinary mobs from turning into dangerous mutants.
Tip #12. Shoot the crow
Perhaps it didn’t even occur to you. A simple action that is useful throughout the walkthrough of Resident Evil 4 Remake. If you see a crow, shoot it. Usually, for killing her, you will receive about 300 pesos. Do this throughout the game and you’ll collect thousands of coins, making it easier to upgrade Leon. In addition, crows make characteristic cries, and you will understand when one, two or more are nearby. If you get too close, you’ll scare them away, so shoot from a safe distance.
Tip #13. Upgrade any weapon as soon as possible!
There are many varieties of weapons in Resident Evil 4 Remake, and as you progress through the game, you will find different versions of pistols, shotguns, and so on. It might be a good idea to be wary of upgrading starting weapons to save money for upgrading other weapons. For example, there are only five different models of pistols in the game. But it’s really not worth saving! Any upgraded weapon can be subsequently sold to a merchant, and he will pay you both for the weapon itself and for all upgrades almost in full. So feel free to upgrade any weapon you want, and when you’re ready to part with it, get back almost all the money you spent. This is not a 100% return on investment, but very close to this indicator!