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8 Resident Evil 7 tips to guide you to survival
Get out of the horror house alive with these top tips.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard launches this week, and it’s easily one of the most terrifying entries in the series to date, with a story that feels like a mix between The Evil Dead and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
With an all-new first-person viewpoint it may take a while to get used to it, so we’ve put together these tips to ensure you won’t lose your head when you're starting out. Literally.
1. Take notes
Take notes of what you need to complete puzzles
© Capcom
The house in Resident Evil 7 may be much smaller than the original game's mansion, but it's still packed with puzzles.
Often these puzzles require you to do a lot of backtracking – ‘you can’t open this until you get a certain object’, that sort of thing. Sometimes, though, you won’t get the object you need for a while so you may forget where it’s supposed to go once you do. If you come across something that clearly needs an object that you don’t have yet, use a notebook (or your phone’s Notes app) to mark what object it needs and where it’s located so you can find it again.
Taking actual notes may sound like unnecessary work but it’ll make things so much easier when you finally pick up a statue of a dog’s head and think: 'argh, I can’t remember where I have to take this'.
2. Take your time
Don't rush or you may miss something
© Capcom
Being able to sprint is useful when you’re being chased but you should try to resist sprinting whenever you’re on your own.
Each of the house’s rooms is packed with tiny pick-ups, many of which are useful: herbs, bullets and the like. The icon to pick up these common items only starts to show up when you’re quite close to them, so if you just run through the room you might miss a lot of goodies. Take your time and investigate every corner of every room. It’ll be worth it in the long run.
3. Your block is better than you think
Block standard attacks with your hands
© Capcom
Holding the L1 / LT button raises your arms above your head to block enemy attacks. Although this seems like it would be a massive waste of time, it can actually be pretty effective depending on the attack.
Naturally, if someone’s coming at you with a large weapon or a chainsaw, blocking isn’t going to do much good and you’re still going to take massive amounts of damage. But if it’s a standard attack, even from something that looks nasty like a Molded, you should be able to shrug it off with minimal (if any) harm.
This even means that – if you’ve got the nerves for it – you can go face-to-face with a basic Molded using just a knife and defeat it fairly easily by blocking its attack then slashing constantly at its weak head as it staggers back.
4. Keep your distance when using guns
Keep back when shooting enemies
© Capcom
Using the knife may work against Molded but for other enemies, like those with big weapons, it makes sense to keep your distance and use a gun to take them out.
When you’re using a gun, bear in mind that this is a Resident Evil game (even if it doesn’t look like one) and so shooting can be clunky. Since you’re dealing with human enemies (well, human-like) who sometimes try to dodge your shots, you don’t want to end up in a situation where you have to reload or even change weapons while someone’s breathing down your neck.
Keep your distance and don’t be afraid to use the Quick Turn move and run away to get more space if you need it.
5. Keep checking your objectives
If you're stuck, remember to check your objectives
© Capcom
This is an extremely simple one but you’d be surprised how long it took us to notice it. Resi 7 has a constant objective list running in the background which tells you what you need to do next.
It just doesn’t flash those objectives up on the screen like other games do. If you’re stuck at any point, just open up the menu screen and in the corner you’ll see a message telling you what you’re supposed to be doing next. Keep your eye on these objectives and moving from puzzle to puzzle will be a lot more straightforward.
6. Combine items based on your play style
Combine chemical fluid with herbs to heal
© Capcom
Combining items is part of Resident Evil’s DNA and it’s no different here. There are different types of possible combinations you can use, though.
Be sure to make item combinations based on the way you play the game. If you’re the sort who takes a lot of damage regularly you may want to combine chemical fluid with a herb to get a more powerful first aid med. However, if you generally don’t get hurt much in the game you can take the chemical fluid and combine it with gunpowder instead to get more ammo.
7. Use stealth to avoid some fights
Sneak about the mansion
© Capcom
At various points in the game, while you’re exploring the house, members of the family will be looking for you at the same time. Sometimes they’ll attack you in a scripted moment (sort of like the Nemesis in Resi 3), but most of the time they act more like the alien in Alien Isolation.
This means that they’re freely wandering around the house, so if you can stay out of their way without them spotting you, you can explore the house and continue solving puzzles without getting into too many fights and using up precious ammo.
Slowly inspect each room and hallway and make sure it’s clear before you enter, and you might be able to get away with completing decent chunks of the game without getting into trouble.
8. Gather your thoughts in safe rooms
Escape from enemies in safe rooms
© Capcom
There are a few safe rooms in the house, the first of which you’ll find is the Laundry Room. These rooms guarantee you won’t be attacked, and often provide extra ammo or health pick-ups. Each also has a famous Resident Evil ‘teleporting chest’, which lets you put items in one and somehow retrieve them from the other.
Oddly, the safe rooms also work almost like forcefields when you’re being chased by one of the evil family members in the house. Run away, get to a safe room and they’ll give up the chase, even if they were literally running down the corridor behind you. It’s odd, but make the most of it.
