Resident Evil Village is available now and many are preparing to start their journey as Ethan Winters. For those getting ready to take on the latest Capcom horror adventure, there are a few things you need to know before diving in. Luckily, we’re here to help. Here are our Resident Evil Village tips and tricks!
What you need to know before playing Resident Evil Village
If you’re familiar with Resident Evil, then you already know there will be puzzles to solve and enemies to slay. We’ve got a few helpful puzzle guides here and here, but what about more generalized tips? The good news is that there really is no “wrong” way to play, but there are a few pointers on how to make your time in this creepy journey a little more efficient and fully optimized.
Pay attention to your map
Whether you’re in the village, in the castle, or in the later parts of the story, you’ll see certain areas on your map that are either blue or red. Red means there are parts of a certain area that you haven’t explored completely. This is great to pay attention to, because some of the items found can be a little hidden. You might need to crouch down to find it, or break glass to get to it, but the goal should be to turn all of the red areas blue. Once blue, you’ll know you’ve cleared it and you’re good to move on.
Make nice with Duke
Duke is a helpful lad, much like the Merchant in Resident Evil 4. He’s also much more talkative and gives you critical information about important story quests to find Rose and uncover the mystery behind what happens with Mia. Duke will pop up everywhere, including places you would swear up and down that he couldn’t fit. Talk to him every time. You can buy from him, sell to him, and this is where you will also level your weapons and increase your inventory space. He is also going to point you in the direction you need to go once you’ve cleared Castle Dimitrescu. Very helpful dude, show him some love.
Increase your inventory
The first chance you get, increase your inventory with Duke. Trust me, if you don’t? You’re going to miss out on some seriously powerful weapons later on in the game, as well as important story items.
Level, level, level
Don’t just stick with vanilla weapons, upgrade them! Through Duke, you can upgrade aspects of your weaponry such as power and ammo. Do this to your unique play style and you’re going to make your arsenal something Lady D and co. wish they never messed with. If you don’t, you’re going to find your damage against foes significantly lacking.
Craft, craft, craft
While you can absolutely buy ammo from Duke, why waste the money? All around you in this world are materials that can be used to craft ammo and craft ways to heal. This will help you when you’re in between visits with Duke and will ensure that you’re never in a tight spot where you end up bringing a knife to a gun fight. The crafting in Village is incredibly easy to use, so use it! It’ll tell you how much material you have and what you still need, and then poof! More goods. Just, uh, you can’t craft your wife suddenly into existence. Sorry, pal.
Tailor your tools
You can slot your weapons in whatever slot you want for your gear wheel. Do that. Playing on PS5, I always had my shotgun in my top slot for my D-pad because that was my go-to. Slot your melee and your firepower accordingly. Know where you’ve placed them too, that way you can be more strategic with your combat: shotgun, pistol, knife – DEAD. You’re welcome.
Block for your life
You can parry attacks by kicking a foe back. This will also help you with reloading your weapon when you’re in a tight spot. If you’re trying to be conservative with your ammo, or need an additional second to switch weapons, kick ’em back and make them pay.
Sometimes, you do want to bring a knife to a gun fight
If you can, save your ammo. Knives are pretty powerful, so use them. Between that and blocking, it’s easy to be more strategic with how you take to combating the various enemies you’ll face when looking for Rose.
Don’t be afraid to be a chicken
Sometimes the best offense is a defense. And by that, I mean don’t be afraid to be a weenie. Since you can’t save outside of typewriters, you want to be careful that you’re not putting yourself in unnecessary danger. If you start to feel the tides of battle turn out of your favor, there’s no shame in turning tail and running for your life. Even if it means just temporarily escaping to regroup.
Enjoy the story
If you find yourself bogged down by trying to find anything and everything, just enjoy the story. A lot of the side quests (the few that there are) and little tokens can be found simply by playing through the campaign. But pay attention. There are a lot of clues in the dialogue, especially from Duke. If you’re feeling a little lost, just go to the next part of the story.
And that’s it! Those are our Resident Evil Village tips and tricks! To see how our own Ben Reeves felt about this time fighting the ooglie booglies of Village, you can read his full review right here. Happy hunting!
