Resident Evil 2 Quick Tips Before Playing

The Resident Evil 2 remake is now available and so far it’s nothing but praise for this survival horror. It stays faithful to the 1998 classic in ways that would keep fans of the series happy while enticing new players to the franchise. Even on the standard difficulty, it can be tough if you don’t properly manage your arsenal and plan ahead to reach the next room unscathed. This game is all about preparation and picking your fights, so before you revisit Raccoon City’s police department, here’s a few tips that will help you through your first visit in Raccoon City.

You can upgrade your inventory slots

How much you can hold at the start of the game can be troublesome. You start with 8 and it’s not enough, even during the first few minutes of the game, which is why you should aim to pick up some hip pouches as early as possible to lessen backtracking. For every hip pouch you pick up, it increases your inventory space by two slots. The first hip pouch you can find is in the west storage room at the 3rd floor, so best you work your way to that area after talking to Marvin. (hip pouch locations will change when you play scenario B)

Use wooden boards in areas you will likely revisit

When exploring the police department, you’ll be picking up a few wooden boards. These are used to barricade windows previously opened by a zombie. Don’t randomly close off a random window. Pick windows that are close to doors or areas that you might revisit as it makes it easier to backtrack if needed. The last thing you want is to finally get the key for that locked door, return to it, and have a few zombies to worry about before unlocking it. There’s a limited amount of wooden boards available, so choose wisely.

Fight if only necessary (SAVE AMMO)

If you’ve played previous Resident Evil classics, then you should be good. But for those unfamiliar - it’s mostly better to just run past the walking dead than killing them. Every weapon in the game - even the combat knife - has limited use. Only kill a zombie if there’s no way to go past them, or if you are cornered.

Unlock Leon’s work desk

Apparently, Leon’s would-be co-workers was planning a welcoming party for the young rookie, and thought it was a good idea to lock his desk with two padlocks. It’s easy to unlock (not going to tell and spoil the fun) and inside is your first weapon upgrade for either Leon or Claire’s first weapon. Leon gets more ammo space while Claire’s snub pistol gets faster reload times.

Stop shooting Mr. X

You’ll eventually meet Mr. X - the tyrant who will chase after you endlessly, interrupting you from solving puzzles and exploring the area. Just run and try to not use any ammo as he cannot be killed.

If you have no choice and is cornered by him, 10 shots to the head will keep him down for only 30 seconds, and that’s pretty much all you can do. Other weapons like Leon’s magnum can stagger the creature, but only for a few seconds, so do it if you need to run past him.

Discard key items to save space

Items that help you progress in the game such as keys are only for certain doors. Once you unlock all the doors for that particular item, a red check will be beside the item in your inventory. When you see that, it’s safe to discard the item to save inventory space.

Blue means cleared

When you enter a new room and open the game’s map, you’ll notice the area you’re in is highlighted in red. That means that there are still items that you can pick up. Picking up all the items in the room/area will change it from red to blue, which is a good indicator that it’s probably time to move on.

Check your notes for codes

In Resident Evil 2, you’ll encounter safes or locked lockers. Where do you get the combinations? It’s most likely in your notes. All the notes you can pick up might contain what you need to open one, while some combinations are just visibly shown in the game world, like in a whiteboard or a photo. Keep your eyes peeled, as most of the contents in these locked containers are worth the effort.

There’s more after the end

2nd run scenarios unlock once you finish the game with one character. 2nd run -which is also known as scenario B - is you playing the game all over again but this time as the other character (if you finish the game with Leon, you unlock 2nd run and play it as Claire). Puzzles are different, the order of progressing is now jumbled up, and consumables and ammo are a tad bit more scarce. If you were able to complete this version of the game, you unlock more content and a little surprise.

These tips will likely give you a fighting chance. Resident Evil 2 is available on PS4, Xbox one, and PC.

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