Resident Evil Village bombards you with spooky monsters, sprawling environments, and lots of mechanics that aren’t fully explained. To ease you into the latest survival-horror masterpiece from Capcom, we’re sharing some insights we’ve gleamed from hours (and hours) of gameplay. It’s still early in our journey through the very strange village of RE8, but there’s plenty of little bits of info you’ll really want to know.
RE8 dumps the protagonist of the previous big game into a mysterious Eastern-European village. It isn’t long before you’re being swarmed by werewolves, flying bat monsters, and a whole gaggle of insane cackling monster bosses. Your previous savior Chris Redfield and his army buddies have turned on you, killing your wife and kidnapping your kid — and now Ethan will face any hardship to get them back. There’s a lot of hardship in the first few hours of RE8. Here’s a few tips to make life (slightly) easier.
More Resident Evil Village guides:
Beginner’s Guide | Easter Eggs & References | All Boss Fights Tips & Tricks | How To Solve All Puzzles In Castle Dimitrescu | How To Solve The Doll Workshop Puzzle | Rare, Juicy & Quality Meat Locations | How To Complete The Necklace With Two Holes | All Treasure Chests Locations | All Labyrinth Ball Locations | All Goat Collectibles Locations
#1. Shoot Monsters In The Right Spots
Monsters are faster and deadlier in RE8, so if you want a better chance at surviving — and taking less damage — you’ll want to aim for the right spots. Shooting monsters in the legs will make them fall over, naturally. Shooting them in the head does the most damage, and increases your chances to stagger. And shooting their arms can cause them to drop whatever weapon they’re holding. Weapons are the deadliest weapons enemies use in melee range. Their bites aren’t nearly as scary, and don’t have as long reach. If you want to make a fight safer, start by shooting monsters right in the weapon arm.
Later you’ll encounter enemies shooting arrows at you or even throwing stuff. You can use your knife to deftly swat flying projectiles out of the sky — just like in RE4! But it’s probably best to just shoot that stuff out of their hands before they can even attack.
- NOTE: And don’t forget you can perform a Quick-Turn. Press [Back + Circle / B] to quickly perform a 180 degree turn. Very useful in almost any situation. Run away from an enemy, then spin around to give yourself the most time possible to react. It’s one of the most useful moves in the game, and the tutorials don’t even explain it!
#2. The Castle Is Packed With Hidden Items
RE8 has a useful new feature that lets you smash crates by pressing [Cross / A]. It saves you time, but you’ll still want to keep the knife handy. Castle Dimitrescu and other areas of the map are packed with bonus items. Look behind glass display cases, or smash smaller vases that don’t have prompts. There are plenty of items you can find by smashing everything in the environment! Some areas can even be destroyed with explosives. Keep your hands on Pipe Bombs to blast through walls.
#3. Don’t Sell All Valuables Right Away!
Valuables are a special class of item that you can sell to the Merchant for big payouts. Collecting valuables — and completing treasure hunts — is the best way to get the money you need for useful upgrades. Not all valuables are created equal. Items like Crystallized Skulls can be instantly sold, but certain items increase in value if you combine them. Before selling items, check your inventory with [Triangle / Y] and tab over to the Treasures list. If a valuable says [Combinable], that means you can combine it with another treasure. This always makes the treasure worth more than both valuables combined, and often by a very significant amount. Always hang onto these treasures as long as possible to combine them and get a huge reward.
#4. Your Own Explosives Don’t Hurt You
Here’s a lesson anyone that’s played RE4 knows already. Explosives in RE8 don’t hurt you. You can play a mine directly at your feet. The most you’ll get is a little knockback, but you won’t take damage. Only enemies are damaged by any of your explosive weapons. Pipe Bombs will nudge you, but they’ll blast enemies into chunks. If you’re being chased by a gang of enemies in a tight corridor, don’t be afraid to just plant a mine or throw a Pipe Bomb. Even if you’re easily in the blast radius, you’ll be fine. It takes some getting used to — really, no other FPS works like this. Normally throwing a grenade at your feet is very bad in Call of Duty. In RE8, we follow different rules.
#5. The Map Is Almost Too Useful
Your map is an incredibly powerful tool for finding items. Areas marked in red are ‘incomplete’ — you haven’t found everything in a room. If a room is marked blue, then you know there’s nothing left to find there. The map also marks rooms that require specific types of keys, making backtracking to potential treasure-filled rooms you might skip otherwise a lot easier. Backtracking is a powerful tool, and once you get your hands on more key items, you’ll want to return to previous areas for a second once-over. Some of the best treasures in the game are locked away in areas you normally don’t return to!
#6. Remember Outdoor Locations & Open Windows
Lady Dimitrescu employs a trio of killer daughters that chase you throughout the castle. These bug-infested ladies can’t be harmed with bullets, so there’s absolutely no reason to fight them. Just run when they appear — and especially make note of rooms in the castle that are exposed to the outside. The Courtyard, and the back room of the Kitchen, are both open to the cold air outside. The cold is the Daughter’s weakness, and they won’t follow you into cold areas. When they’re giving chase, just run immediately to the closest cold zone. They’ll disappear and won’t come back for a good amount of time.
Now you just have to deal with Dimitrescu herself. If she’s lumbering around, just stay out of her way.
#7. Don’t Fight When You Can Run!
Lady Dimitrescu isn’t the only constant threat in Castle Dimitrescu. Her daughters appear too. And then there’s the vampiric ghouls that appear everywhere once you’ve made enough progress. These creatures appear endlessly, and they very rarely give you rewards that are worth the ammo you’ll waste on them. If you don’t want to spend money on ammunition, I suggest just running by these ladies and ignoring them. They most often spawn in the Courtyard, where there are plenty of side-paths you can use to avoid them. Go ahead and take them down if they’re threatening you, but don’t worry about clearing out the room.
There’s a reason why you’ll want to watch out for fight-or-flight encounters. The game always gives you ammunition when you need it, so if you really need to fight, you’ll be stocked. If you’re meant to run — just take a quick look around. Is there no ammo? No supplies? Yeah, that means it’s time to start running and / or hiding. If you’re smart about running away from optional encounters and only engaging enemies when it’s requiring, you’ll save a lot more ammo… and a lot more health drinks.
#8. What To Buy From The Merchant First
The Merchant doesn’t just sell healing items and bullets. He also sells incredibly useful permenant upgrades like recipes. Recipes allow you to craft enhanced items like shotgun bullets, rifle bullets, and explosive mines. I recommend buying recipes as early as you can. They’re not very expensive, and the extra utility you get from crafting items is absolutely worth it. You never need to buy ammo from the vendor, especially if you can just create the type of ammo you want through crafting.
I don’t recommend buying the Inventory Upgrade until later in Castle Dimitrescu. You’ll acquire the Pistol, Shotgun, and Sniper Rifle as you explore — with a little re-arranging, you’ll be able to carry all three. After getting those, you’ll need that Case Upgrade ASAP. Save up 10,000 coins by completing the Treasure Hunts you find and buy it when you’re practically bursting at the seems with items. By then, you should have enough cash for the Pistol and Shotgun Damage Upgrades anyway! Get the recipes, the damage upgrades, and the extra inventory space when you can. There’s no weapon box to store stuff, so it’s your only option.
