Resident Evil Requiem is finally here, and whether you’re a newcomer or a series veteran, Capcom’s latest horror title will certainly throw you in the deep end after easing you in with its opening hour.
Requiem does a solid job of teaching players the basics, but it also has plenty of subtle mechanics and secret advantages it never explains. Here, accessibility settings can double as survival tools, and obscure resource management tricks can help you stay one step ahead of the terrors that await. Having spent lots of quality time with the game, I’ve put together 10 helpful tricks that you won’t want to miss.
Closed captions help identify nearby threats and Mr. Raccoon figures
All manner of deadly creatures await wherever you go in Requiem, and this entry’s zombies are more aggressive and unpredictable than ever. You’re always prone to getting grabbed when you least expect it, whether you’re cutting around tight hallways or dashing through open areas.
To prevent yourself from running right into a creature’s clutches, the closed captioning option, of all things, can be incredibly useful. Press the + button to enter the pause menu, and select “Options.” Use the R button to scroll to the “Language” tab. Here, go down to “Closed Captions,” and select “On.”
With this setting enabled, you’ll now see “[growling]” appear whenever a zombie is nearby, or a similar verb depending on which enemy type is within your proximity. It also indicates when a zombie has spotted you and is about to start pursuit when “[frenzied growling]” pops up.
This setting can also help you locate the collectible Mr. Raccoon toys, and with 25 to find across the campaign, you may need that bit of extra guidance. When you’re near one, you should see “[toy clacking]” pop up on the screen. Closed captions are especially useful in situations where you can’t hear the audio cues, such as when you’re playing the game on a low volume or playing portably in a noisy area.
Use third-person if you’re struggling with Grace
When you first boot the game, it will recommend you choose first-person for Grace and third-person for Leon. There’s a good reason for this, as viewing the horror directly from Grace’s point of view can make the experience more immersive. Meanwhile, a wider perspective of your surroundings can be helpful for Leon’s segments, given he’s often fending off enemies from all angles.
Still, there are certainly times when that wider peripheral view can help you out of a jam with Grace as well. If you’re struggling to evade one of the relentless stalker enemies, or find yourself repeatedly surrounded by zombies, there’s no shame in switching to third-person to help get your bearings and spot any threats coming behind you before they get too close.
Conveniently, you can toggle between the first- and third-person view at any time for either character from the settings menu, so you never have to go through the hassle of quitting your game and potentially losing progress. You can switch views within seconds!
Aim for zombies’ heads and legs
When facing a regular zombie as either Grace or Leon, always aim for either its head or leg. Enough shots to these areas will stun it and leave it open for a melee attack. Leon’s close-quarters moves may be more powerful than Grace’s feeble shoves, but this is a worthwhile tactic for her too, as fallen zombies allow for more well-placed headshots, knife slashes, or an opening to run past.
You can close doors and peek around corners to avoid being spotted
A wise (if slightly genocidal) man once said: “Stop it! Don’t open that door!” Well, you’ll have to open doors eventually in Requiem, but it’s certainly smart to be careful when doing so.
Before entering a new room, push the door gently to peer through the crack. You can avoid enemies clocking your position or running headfirst into perilous situations with one simple but unapparent mechanic: Tap the A button in front of an open door to quickly close it.
Another handy trick is to peer around corners or doorframes. To do this, simply stand directly in front of a corner and press ZL to aim. Grace or Leon will intuitively lean around it, allowing you a full view of the area ahead without the risk of flaunting your presence to any flesh-hungry foes.
Don’t waste ammo on the first stalker enemy
It doesn’t take long at all before Grace is face-to-face with one of the game’s many pursuer-type monsters. It’s the one you’ve likely seen pop up regularly in promotional footage – the huge, hag-like abomination known as The Girl.
Grace won’t have a weapon in the first encounter, but will be sufficiently armed when she next crosses paths with the beast. The Girl is invincible, and with ammunition being such a scarce and precious resource in Requiem, you should resist the urge to shoot it. Doing so will stun it temporarily, so it can be a viable option if you’re cornered and low on health, but otherwise, you’re better off saving your bullets for other threats – at least until you reach a point in the story when you can make The Girl vulnerable.
Do use ammo on the other pursuers
The Girl’s resilience to firepower may not be a surprise to those who have collided with Jack Baker, Mr. X, Nemesis, and more in other recent Resident Evil titles, but surprisingly, other stalkers in the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center can indeed be put down! You won’t be able to do so right away, as you’ll need to gather a fairly substantial amount of firepower first, but with enough patience and keen exploration, you should be able to find enough resources for the task.
Bullets will do the trick, but for most stalkers, the most efficient method of disposal is sneaking up behind them and injecting them with a Hemolytic Injector, which will make them instantly explode just as regular zombies do. The one exception is Chunk, the particularly large, corridor-filling monstrosity which will take a total of three stabs (at least on Standard mode; this may vary for other difficulties). You can also use a mix of injectors and gunshots on him if you don’t want to use too much of one resource, with one Requiem bullet doing about as much damage as a Hemolytic jab.
Use the Requiem for crowd control
The Requiem revolver is insanely powerful, but its special rounds are very hard to come by. You want to make every pull of the trigger count, and while an obvious strategy would be to save its use for boss fights, you can also get a ton of value out of a shot by tearing through multiple zombies.
That’s because, on top of its monstrous firepower, Requiem rounds also have lethal penetration potential. In areas with multiple foes, such as the Care Center’s Bar & Lounge and Conference Room, a great strategy is luring as many of them as you can into nearby hallways, where there’s less space for them to spread out. Once they’re lined up, fire away.
If you feel you need some practice first, you can always save your game before heading to a crowded area. Remember, all enemies have a threshold they won’t cross, so if they don’t line up the way you want them to, you can always retreat far enough so they stop following, let them stumble back to their zone, and try again. If you manage to nail at least three with one shot, you’ll also complete the “Bang For Your Buck” challenge.
Save those Empty Bottles
Early in the game, you’ll find a number of Empty Bottles, which can be thrown to create a noisy distraction. This can be handy in a pinch when you want to encourage enemies to divert to a different path and create an opening to sneak past. Still, most of the time you can simply kite around enemies by applying some patience instead, so don’t be so quick to shatter all of your precious glass containers – especially as they can serve a greater purpose later on.
At a certain point, you’ll discover a crafting recipe that uses Empty Bottles to create a new type of throwable weapon. Spreading area-of-effect damage, these are ideal for crowd control, which you will certainly need as you progress further into the game.
Save Steroids for when Grace is damaged
At the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, you’ll eventually gain the ability to craft Stabilizers and Steroids, which give Grace permanent upgrades. The former improves her firepower and aiming stability, while the latter increases her maximum health. You’ll be tempted to pump these into Miss Ashcroft at the first chance you get, and with Stabilizers, you certainly might as well – but don’t be in a rush to use your Steroids, as timing their usage can give you a strategic edge.
As well as increasing your health cap, Steroids will also restore your health to its maximum. With this in mind, it’s always better to wait until Grace has taken damage before using one of these upgrades so you can get a free health recovery boost, and save dipping into your precious supply of herbs and Med Injectors.
Get free ammo for Leon with well-timed capacity upgrades
You can also apply a similar trick when playing as Leon to give everyone’s favorite anti-bioterrorism agent free bullets. If it’s your first playthrough, you’ll need to progress to the point in the campaign where you gain access to Supply Boxes, which will allow you to upgrade your guns via the “Tune Up” menu.
If you’re near a Supply Box and have enough Credits, don’t be in a rush to reload your weapon after a combat encounter, as you can gain free ammunition with a wisely timed capacity upgrade. See, when you apply one of these to a gun, it will refill your gun’s clip to the new maximum amount. For example, if your handgun clip is empty when you purchase an upgrade that boosts its capacity limit to 15, you’ll get 15 free handgun bullets! This is even better when done with more powerful weapons, such as shotguns and assault rifles, as ammo for these can be much more scarce.
Go forth with grace
There you have it: 10 little-known strategies to help prepare you in the latest desperate fight against evil. Best of luck, survivors!
If you’d like to know more about the game, you can also read our glowing review, which says: “Resident Evil may be revisiting the past with this latest entry, but for the most part, it manages to avoid its previous mistakes – and more importantly, capitalizes on what the series does best.”
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Written by Reece Heather
A veteran Zelda Universe editor and First-class journalism graduate, Reece emerged with a Nintendo 64 and a lifelong obsession after a narrow escape from Santa’s Naughty List in 1998. Outside of games, he’s reading Punisher comics, being bossed around by his cocker spaniel, and cornering innocent bystanders to rant about the importance of game preservation.
