Resident Evil Zero is old-school survival horror, so you won’t be able get away with mindlessly gunning down zombies and other T-Virus infected creatures without so much as a care in the world. Survival horror requires methodical thinking, careful planning, and a healthy dollop of patience to truly appreciate and get the best out of the game. With Resident Evil Zero receiving the high-definition treatment this week, we put our experience with the game (and the GameCube version some 14 years ago) to provide five handy tips on how to survive the horrors of July 1998 in Raccoon Forest.
Here’s 5 top tips on how to survive Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster.
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1) Stay together, save ammo
Resident Evil Zero lets you switch between Rebecca and Billy at any time, and aside from a few instances, allows you to split up and go solo if you wish. However, we recommend sticking together wherever possible. Not only is this handy as you’ll have two character inventories to take advantage of, but you’ll be able to team up against enemies, thus save ammunition. Taking down hordes of zombies with backup is far safer and easier than going up against them on your own, especially if you don’t have much ammo to begin with as you can evenly split your attack up between Rebecca and Billy.
2) Find a base camp to dump most of your items
Dropping items is a key component in Resident Evil Zero, as you no longer have access to the ubiquitous item boxes of past games. As such, the last thing you want to do is drop items all over the place and end up having to backtrack to multiple rooms in order to reclaim precious healing items and ammo. We recommend picking a safe haven to store some of your spare key items until you have the room to take them with you; the training facility’s main hall works best, specifically at the bottom of the stairs, near the typewriter. In fact, we stockpiled some healing items and a few boxes of ammo here for most of the game, only coming back towards the end of the adventure (don’t worry, you’ll soon find the areas are all connected via a handy elevator later on in the game). Do this, and you’ll find that item management far less stressful.
3) Save Molotov Cocktails for Mimicry Marcus
Molotov Cocktails are handy weapons you can construct by combining an empty bottle with a fuel can, before being lobbed at an enemy causing wide-area damage. Nothing like crispy zombie to get you through a night of horrors, eh? While it’s fun using these things, it’s best to save them for use almost exclusively against the Mimicry Marcus foes; that is, the humanoid leech monsters that pop up when you least expect them to. These foes are incredibly tough and resilient to bullets, with only the Magnum and Grenade Launcher having any real effect against them. They are, however, highly susceptible to fire, thus making the Molotov Cocktail the most efficient means of dispatching them; three direct hits will do the trick, and you won’t have to worry about them exploding afterwards. Failing that, the Napalm Grenades are your best bet.
4) Billy should be your primary go-to guy for combat
Billy Coen is Zero’s version of Chris Redfield, in the sense he’s able to take more damage from enemies and is highly-skilled with firearms. Rebecca, being an 18-year-old rookie member of S.T.A.R.S., can’t take the same punishment as her partner, and as such shouldn’t be at the front lines during a firefight. Instead, we’ve found a good rhythm that involves us controlling Billy with our main arsenal of weapons, and having Becky sit just behind with her handgun acting as backup and medic. Sure, you can do whatever you want, as there’s technically no character that is better with one weapon over another. However, given their individual attributes, it makes sense that Billy, being the tougher of the two, is out in front in case he takes a battering—Rebecca won’t last long if she ends up a zombie’s lunch-time snack.
5) Don’t fight everything you see
If you can avoid something, then do it. There’s absolutely no need to get into a tussle with an enemy if you can safely circumvent the need to do battle. That much is true of any Resident Evil game, and it hasn’t changed with Resident Evil Zero. Mimicry Marcus’s are slow and lumbering until they shift into their more leech-like state, and thus can be avoided if you quickly run past them. Giant Spiders stick to the walls and can be evaded if you’re quick, while zombies are only really deadly if they manage to corner you, or you face them in enclosed spaces. Remember, you have bosses to fight which you can’t avoid, so save those precious grenades and magnum rounds for when you need them. Also, save ammo by dispatching zombies with a Shotgun blast to the head, or taking them down in pairs with one-two well-placed blasts in close quarters. If necessary, leave one character outside of an infested room and take them past any threats one at a time to avoid combat; that way, you won’t get jumped on and don’t need to worry about mothering a second character.
Got any more tips for Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster? Share them in the comments section below!