In the new remake of the original House of the Dead, Thomas Rogan and Agent G showed up a little undergunned for their run at Curien’s estate. In your first few runs through the game, your biggest enemy is the size of your pistol’s clip.
Fortunately, there are four other weapons you can unlock over the course of the game, but doing so takes a bit of work. You’re going to need to clear the campaign at least once before you can start cracking into The House of the Dead Remake’s additional firepower, but if you’re up for this kind of old-school arcade challenge, it’s worth the effort.
How to Unlock Every Weapon in House of the Dead Remake
The first step is to get the Saviour achievement, by rescuing all the surviving scientists in the first three chapters of the game. These scientists will all show up in your path no matter what route you take, although some of them may end up in different kinds of danger.
You must not let them die or shoot them yourself. Your goal is to hit the end of chapter 3 and see no red X’s over the faces of the scientists in the group photo on the results screen (below). Scientists who die in cutscenes, such as the two that the Hanged Man kills before you fight him in Chapter 2, don’t count against this total. I guess they didn’t show up for photo day or something.
Somewhat unfortunately, there are no real shortcuts for Saviour besides patience, memorization, and reflexes. If you lose a scientist, you can quit out of the game to the main menu and continue the campaign to restart your current level from the beginning; you don’t have to save all the scientists as part of a single, unbroken play session for the achievement to fire.
While you don’t actually get credit for Saviour until the end of the game, you do earn an immediate reward for it. If you enter Chapter 4 with every scientist alive, you’ll be taken to a special area full of rewards after your second match against the Hanged Man. This unlocks the Secret room achievement, lets you heal up before the final boss fight, and opens the Armory in the in-game Gallery.
You can now gradually unlock the rest of the available weapons in House of the Dead Remake, by finding and shooting specific treasure chests. There’s one hidden in each chapter, and only the first two are a little tricky to find.
It’s important to note that these chests do not show up until you have the Saviour achievement. They simply do not appear.
Once you’ve unlocked a new gun, it’s immediately available for use in both your current campaign and any further games you play on that profile. On PC, new guns are bound by default to the 2-5 number keys; on console, you rotate between guns with the D-pad.
For high score hunters, the weapon chests are worth an extra 1,000 points if you shoot them again on subsequent runs.
Chapter 1: Crossbow
The Crossbow is the most complicated weapon to find. It can show up in a couple of different places depending on the route you take through Chapter 1.
The easiest way to get the Crossbow is to take the most direct route through the level. First, save the scientist on the bridge in front of the mansion, as below. It may take a couple of tries, as the zombie holding him can soak up a few rounds before dying.
When you enter the front hall–and I feel as if my entire career has been leading up to the opportunity to write this–kill the monkey on the left first. This is the trigger for a route where you’ll go through the doors ahead of you, rather than climbing the stairs to the second floor.
Once you do, your character ends up blocked by a hole in the floor. You’ll spin around and have to deal with two monkeys, then one of the big bruisers (below). Don’t let the latter reach you, or he’ll body-tackle you through the hole and force you into a different route.
At this point, you’ll proceed through a side door into what looks like a break room. Keep an eye on roughly the center of the screen, and you should see a chest on the right, behind a pillar (below), where it’s initially blocked by the appearance of a zombie.
You’ve got a narrow window in which to shoot and loot that chest. If you’re in good shape, it may be worth taking a hit from the zombies just to make sure you’ve got time to get a bead on the Crossbow.
The Crossbow is a single-shot weapon with a five-bolt magazine that fires more slowly than the default Gun but inflicts more damage per shot. If you’ve got the patience and reflexes for it, it’s very good at exploiting weak points like the tiny gap in the Chariot’s armor. However, the Crossbow is much worse than the Gun for fast-reaction moves like shooting enemy projectiles out of the air, particularly oil drums.
Chapter 2: Pitter
At the start of Chapter 2, dispatch the barrel-thrower zombie and shoot open the trap door he was standing on. This will start a route through the level that leads you into the mansion’s kitchen.
When the big hammer zombie smashes through the kitchen wall, look behind him and on the lower right for the chest you need, which is only visible for a split-second. Again, you’ve got a narrow window in which to shoot the chest, but you can extend that window if you’re willing to take a hit.
The “Pitter” is essentially a handheld ballista, and works much like the Crossbow. It inflicts heavy damage per shot, fires slowly, and pins dead zombies to the nearest wall like they’re museum moths. It’s not very practical, but it is entertaining.
You can get the Dance Macabre achievement by hitting the Hermit in its exposed head with a shot from the Pitter. Other enemies may work for the same purpose, but the Hermit’s got the biggest, juiciest head, so you might as well use it.
Chapter 3: Grenade Launcher
Compared to the last two, this is a gimme. The chest that contains the Grenade Launcher is near the start of the level, on the right side of the back wall of the room where you find the security card. You have a very forgiving window in which to shoot it.
The Launcher has a three-round magazine and inflicts heavy area-of-effect damage per shot. Its primary intended use seems to be Horde mode, where the standard campaign is spiced up with dozens of additional zombies.
Chapter 4: Assault Rifle
Again, this is right at the start of the level. Fight the first two zombies you see. When you reach the next two, the chest you need is on the ground on the right side of your screen (below).
The Assault Rifle arguably should’ve been the default weapon, if for no other reason than minimizing carpal tunnel syndrome. It inflicts lower damage per shot than the Gun, but can be fired on full automatic and has a 30-round magazine. Just hold down the trigger and watch your problems (and the occasional hapless scientist, if you aren’t careful) go away.
You’re now equipped to deal with the tougher challenges in the House of the Dead Remake. There’s still a lot to discover about the game, though, especially as you explore its more obscure routes.
