Resident Evil Village is out everywhere as of Friday with horror aficionados and Lycan hunters able to delve into a new adventure this weekend. The game stars Ethan Winters once again, the protagonist from Resident Evil 7, but some significant changes have been made between the last mainline game and Village. To help players embrace the new systems at play in Village and to refresh players on consistently helpful Resident Evil advice, we’ve prepared a couple of tips to get you started.
Of course, it’s not too hard to get your footing in Village since the game itself isn’t too long at all. It only takes around 11 hours or so to beat if you’re being dutiful in your explorations and cautions in your movements, but there’s a good chance you can beat it quicker than that on your first playthrough and definitely on your second or third run through Village.
If you’re waiting to play Village until later in the weekend or are waiting on your game to download now, you can check out our review of the game here before reading through the tips below to make sure you’re prepped for your trip to Lady Dimitrescu’s castle and the other locales you’ll visit in Village.
Change Your Settings
As much as he tries, Ethan kind of moves like a slug in Resident Evil Village. That’s not all his fault since he’s not exactly a Leon S. Kennedy or Chris Redfield, but you’d expect him to be at least a bit more prepared considering how there are references in the beginning of the game to him now having military training to some degree.
The slug comparison might be dramatic, but compared to the Lycan enemies and others who dart around in Village, Ethan sure feels slow and unwieldy. A big part of that problem can be eased by going into the settings first thing and adjusting your sensitivities to create a better feel for your playthrough. That might be what you do first in any game, but if it’s not something you’re used to doing, consider starting that habit with Village.
Abuse the Quick Turn
Just as helpful in remedying Ethan’s weighty movements is the quick turn feature, a staple of any Resident Evil veteran’s arsenal. It’s used by pressing a combination of the backwards direction on the control stick and whatever your “cancel” button is – “B” on Xbox and “O” on PlayStation – to make Ethan snap around quickly to face behind him.
Pretty much every enemy in Village is quicker than you, a fact you’ll quickly have to come to terms with while playing. While they may move faster, they don’t turn faster than you can when using the quick turn move. Whether you’re running through enemies’ attacks or away from them, abusing the quick turn move will make Ethan feel much sprier.
Block, Push, Block, Push
While quick turning has been around in Resident Evil games for a while now, blocking attacks is a tactic people will likely be much less familiar with since it really was only introduced in Resident Evil 7. It’s a byproduct of closer environments, slower movements, and a much more in-your-face style of horror from that game, and while things have changed in Village, blocking remains just as useful.
Blocking an attack might not always be your first thought in Village, but it’s something you’ll have to do eventually when an attack is inevitable. Some should obviously be dodged since blocking won’t do much for you at times, but if the opportunity presents itself, keep those hands up for a block. Combo it with the pushback mechanic immediately afterwards to clear some space and line up a perfect headshot.
Scan the Ceilings for Treasure
Hunting for treasure has always been as much a part of Resident Evil games as slaying zombies, and the same is true for Village. Treasure is hidden in wells, in chests, on enemy corpses, and pretty much everywhere players can expect it to be in Village, and that includes on the ceiling.
Sticking things to the roof of environments isn’t new to Village, but the treasure is noticeably more difficult to spot in this gem whenever it’s stuck to the structure of buildings or caves. Ironically, the game’s better graphics and lighting makes it even more difficult to see the treasures on roofs since they’re easy to mistake for glints or reflections.
If you’re in a room that’s remained red on the map despite much searching, chances are the last treasure is somewhere on the roof or somewhere similar. Look above your normal gaze and see if there’s something hiding around you that you can sell for profit.
Prioritize Inventory Upgrades
Inventory upgrades are expensive in Resident Evil Village as they are in every other Resident Evil game that allows for them. As such, that means they’re probably something you should get before everything else, and after playing through the game, we can confirm that to once again be accurate.
You’ll be able to purchase the inventory upgrades from The Duke in Village over time, so don’t worry about when you’ll get them. The more important thing is to get them when they’re available and as soon as you can so that you don’t run into a situation where your eyes are bigger than your pockets and you run out of room for healing supplies, ammo, or other resources you’ll need.
Don’t Get Too Attached to Weapons
Investing a ton of money into upgrading a weapon and then finding one you might want to try instead is always a mixed bag of feelings in Resident Evil games. It’s great that you have a new toy to play with, but the gun you just put so much into now has to either sit in your case or be sold for profit to start the cycle over again.
Village thankfully makes it a bit less painful to give up those kinds of weapons you no longer need. The money you’ve put into weapons and the mods you’ve outfitted them with factor into the sell price, so you’ll make a decent profit from selling a worthwhile gun. You also have the option to buy them back from The Duke afterwards, so while we’d advise making multiple save files to get your weapons back if you find out one isn’t for you, you can always swap your weapons again without losing too much money.
Take Stat Upgrades as Soon as Possible
One of the newer systems in Village is a cooking feature where you can collect ingredients for The Duke to have him convert those resources into tasty meals. The food he prepares comes with stat buffs, but resources aren’t exactly plentiful, so it can be tough to decide which upgrades to go for first.
Our advice for that situation is to take whichever upgrades you can get as soon as you can get them. Words like “slightly” and “greatly” used to describe the potency of the upgrades might sway your opinions, but none of the upgrades ever feel truly rewarding to acquire and do more behind-the-scenes work than anything, so just take the upgrades where you can.
PSA: You don’t get the upgrades by selling your cooking resources. If you’ve got any and can’t cook yet, just proceed through the story like normal until you’re able to use them.
When In Doubt, Craft Handgun Ammo
Crafting stuff in Village will keep you alive in many situations, and as you progress through the game, you’ll be presented with new recipes after buying them that allow you to create more and more items on-the-go. While you’ll have plenty of options, you’ll only have a finite amount of resources to pull from, so what should you focus on making?
The perpetual answer to that is handgun ammo. The handgun – whichever one you may be using – is your best friend in Village in pretty much any situation. It can be used to stagger enemies and inhibit their advances, prod enemies into approaching you one or two at a time, and is the perfect tool for situations involving gimmicks and gadgets.
Other ammo types like shotgun shells are more powerful to be sure, but you don’t want to come across a situation where you can use a handgun round and are forced into using your shotgun or rifle because you’re out of handgun ammo. To make sure that doesn’t happen, just craft handgun ammo whenever you’re able to.
