Resident Evil HD Remaster – Beginner’s survival guide

Play as Jill first

He may be stronger, but playing as Chris is a far harder experience when all is considered. This is mainly due to the fact that he’s not as intelligent as Jill, with no knowledge of how to pick locks. This means you have to find extra keys to open crucial doors, and rely on Rebecca to come and solve one of the game’s early puzzles for you. Oh: he also can’t carry as many items, doesn’t have access to the grenade launcher, and you’ll have to save your support character at a vital stage, rather than the other way around. He also doesn’t even start with a gun, the silly boy.

Use Barry wisely

So, you’ve picked Jill. Congratulations. But knowing when and how to trigger the arrival of support character Barry Burton can help immensely, while also saving a lot of time. As an example: beginners should head straight to the east wing drawing room as soon as they have the Sword key (it’s the room with the shotgun on the wall). Doing so will enable you to take the shotgun without having to replace it with the Broken Shotgun – Barry will save you from the crushing ceiling. If you get the key, enter the east wing and then leave it, however, another cutscene will trigger and Barry will not save you in the trap room later on. He’s a good lad, Barry.

Know your enemy, save your ammo

Sometimes it’s better to run and save those precious bullets than to stand and fight. Learning your enemy’s attack patterns is vital: when zombies lurch, when spiders spit acid, and when Hunters leap can and will save your life. There will also be times when you’ll be overwhelmed by a handful of enemies, and that’s when you’ll really need all the ammunition you can carry.

Burn ’em all

Kill a zombie without decapitating it and you create a potential problem down the line in the form of Crimson Head, re-re-animated z’s that boast sharp claws, a faster running speed, and the sort of temper that would shame a toddler. The only way to prevent the return of the living dead is to burn the bodies via a canteen and lighter combo. You won’t need to burn them all – as mentioned above, you shouldn’t be killing everything you meet – and zombies won’t immediately turn into Crimson Heads. However, returning to their resting place three or more times increases the likelihood they’ll be back, so if you’ve killed a z on a well-trodden path, best to burn it.

Save Richard

Poor Richard. Not content with getting his arm ruined by Yawn, the mansion’s first boss, he’s also poisoned. The game will show you where to get the serum, and it’s well worth doing because a) it means he’ll help you fight Yawn (as Jill) or Neptune (as Chris) and b) he’s got a secret item associated with him. I’ll leave it to you to find out what that is, but it’s worth the effort.

Take only what you need, and plan ahead

While it may seem like a good idea to grab all the green herbs you see, it leaves you at a severe disadvantage when you find key mission items on your travels. It’s better to take only the essentials, and remember the locations of items you spot along the way, making a mental note of them or writing down where they were.

When you find the safe rooms which contain an item box, be sure to grab items and drop them here. This way, they will become available at every item box in the game, rather than be stuck at a single location.

Save your saves

Resident Evil isn’t the type of game you can pop top for ten minutes or so at a time. Thanks to its limited saves, in the form of ink ribbons, it’s best to dedicate a solid amount of time in order to spread saves and make sure you aren’t left without an ink ribbon at the end of your session.

It’s also important to remember that if you die, you revert to your last save, not simply the room before where you died or some other form of checkpointing.

With classic controls, up is forward

Some people seem to be having trouble reverting to the classic ‘tank control’ scheme of Resident Evil. Once you remember that up on the analogue stick is always forward, things become much easier.

It’s also important to remember how to quick-turn. In tricky situations, turning by simply rotating the left stick doesn’t suffice, so the 180-degree spin is vital.

Aim for the head

Trying to land a headshot with a pistol is both risky and tricky (essentially, the game dice-rolls it), but once you grab yourself the shotgun, it’s a great way to conserve ammo and get quick kills. Once a zombie starts approaching you, ready the gun and aim up. Right before they grab you and start chomping, pull the trigger and watch their little head explode.

Find the Wind Crest

One of the game’s most important weapons is also the easiest to miss. To acquire it, you’ll need to find the Wind Crest, which is hidden away in the east wing’s second floor, in the room to the immediate left of the stairs you take up from the save room. Once there, take the door to the left of your character (as the camera faces them) and solve a simple puzzle to get the crest. From there, take it with you when you head to the cemetery, and use it to solve another puzzle. Your reward? A magnum revolver that can drop most non-boss enemies in one.

‘Caution’ status is a death sentence later on

On your return to the mansion you’ll encounter a new enemy type, the Hunter. By far the game’s most dangerous non-boss foe, the Hunter is designed (as you may have guessed) to seriously ruin your day. Its most dangerous attack is a leaping decapitation, which it can perform any time the player’s health is at Caution or below. Make sure you’re healed before you fight these guys, or it could be game over.

Know your herb blends

You’ll know doubt be finding a lot of herbs during your time in the Spencer Mansion, so it’s important to know how to combine them. Here’s a list of all the possible mixtures and their effects:

One Green Herb – Restores a small amount of health.

Two Green Herbs – Restores a moderate amount of health.

Three Green Herbs – Restores a significant amount of health.

One Red Herb – Ineffective.

One Blue Herb – Cures poison.

One Red Herb + One Green Herb – Fully restores health.

One Green Herb + One Blue Herb – Restores a small amount of health and cures poison.

Two Green Herbs + One Blue Herb – Restores a moderate amount of health and cures poison.

One Green Herb + One Blue Herb + One Red Herb – Fully restores health and cures poison.

First Aid Spray – Fully restores health.