Resident Evil 4 Remake: Tips on How to Survive the Village

The village encounter at the start of the 2005 classic Resident Evil 4 is a sequence that is engraved in the memories of everyone who has played it and is one of the most iconic title drops ever. Now 18 years followings the original title’s release, the village has been brought back in Resident Evil 4 Remake and still stands as a challenging early game encounter to really set the tone for the game going forward. Both new and returning fans might be looking for some help on how to survive the Ganado attack around the burning pyre, so allow me to be of assistance. This guide will provide players with some useful tips and tricks on how to survive the village fight found at the start of Resident Evil 4 Remake.

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How To Survive The Village In Resident Evil 4 Remake

The village is the first real combat test in Resident Evil 4 Remake and aims to truly overwhelm the player. You can’t kill every enemy in the area as they will simply continue to spawn. The sequence is on a timer meaning that the test isn’t to defeat all of the Ganados but rather to simply survive long enough that the church’s bell rings to call the horde away. The time that you need to survive for is around 5 minutes if you decide to take the fight, to the Ganados since getting kills can lower the time of the sequence, so it’s important to pick and choose how you want to engage enemies so that you can lower the time in the encounter while also saving as much ammo and resources as possible.

One of the best opening moves you can do in this sequence is to enter the barn, which is the first structure on the right when you enter the village, and lead a large number of Ganados inside. Shoot the lamp hanging from the roof and it will ignite the entire structure, killing any enemy inside. This will also cause the cow inside to go into a frenzy and will attack any Ganados that gets near it as long as it remains alive.

The main strategy that I would suggest you use here is to attempt to stagger Ganados by shooting them in the head or leg or even parrying their incoming attacks. A classic strategy from the original Resident Evil 4 that allowed you to save a ton of ammo is to knock down enemies and slash at them with your knife until they are dead. This strategy is still very effective, just be aware of your knife’s durability so that you don’t suddenly find yourself without a defensive option.

The next tip is to explore the village in the early part of the sequence and collect as many resources as you can find, including extra ammo and healing herbs. These can be found in all the houses and in the alleys between and behind those houses. Once you feel like you are well-equipped, head into the house next to the tower to start a small cutscene that sees Leon barricade himself inside. If he hadn’t spawned already, the chainsaw-wielding Dr. Salvador will now be in the village. You can defend this house for some time by blocking off some of the entrances as well as finding more resources and even a shotgun and frag grenade on the second floor. With all of the equipment, you can now return to running around the village with your arsenal being used to take care of any threats that either get too close if you simply want to run around the area or can be used to thin the horde of enemies to get the sequence to end sooner.

When it comes to Salvador, I would suggest simply staying away from him since that chainsaw will instantly kill you if you are hit and even though you can parry it, it will do a large amount of damage to its durability so be cautious. While avoiding him is optimal, killing him see him drop a Treasure that you can sell to the Merchant later on for some cash, so confront the Doctor at your own risk.

It was also discovered that there is a way to skip this entire sequence, though it isn’t possible to do it on a first playthrough. If you get on the rooftop of the shotgun building by jumping through the window to the right of the weapon’s wall mount, you can look to the southeast of the village to see a tower in the distance. This is where the bell that calls the villagers away is located. If you shoot the bell, you will instantly end the village sequence. This is a hard shot as it is and is made even more difficult when using anything that doesn’t have a sniper scope, but it isn’t impossible. If you want to attempt a speedrun of the game or simply want to skip this section, you can give this test of long-range accuracy a go! It is important to note that the starting pistol simply doesn’t have enough range to hit the bell, so you won’t be able to do this with that weapon or on a first playthrough.