Resident Evil 2

1. Pick Leon or Claire — both campaigns cover the same Raccoon City Police Department layout but split on weapons, allies, and boss rosters. Leon finds the shotgun early; Claire starts with a weaker pistol but reaches the grenade launcher faster.

2. Grab the survival knife from the item box in the first safe room — infinite-use panic button for downed zombies. One head stab stops them from getting back up later. Don’t burn handgun rounds finishing bodies.

3. Ignore most zombies — ammunition is the real currency. If a hallway has one zombie and you can shoulder past, take the hit. Green herbs are everywhere early; 9mm rounds aren’t.

4. Combine items constantly — gunpowder + gunpowder makes more ammo, herbs stack into stronger heals, keys + tags reveal their purpose. Check the item screen often; combined items free up inventory slots.

5. Deposit excess items in any item box immediately — all item boxes share inventory (the series’ magic-chest system). Carry only the key/crank/valve for your current objective, healing items, and one gun with ammo. You backtrack constantly; travel light.

6. Save ink ribbons for boss fights and major progress gates — typewriter saves consume a finite resource. The first ribbon is in the east office desk; don’t waste it on your first zombie kill.

7. Examine key items by rotating them in the inventory — some objects have hidden switches or removable parts (film becomes developed photos, the lighter has fluid you can drain). The “Check” command is mandatory, not optional.

• Ink Ribbons are finite — save before you earn it. Don’t burn a ribbon after clearing two zombies. Learn the safe-room typewriters and save before bosses, multi-stage puzzles, or when you’re holding story-critical items. If you haven’t made 15–20 minutes of real progress, you haven’t earned the save.

• The Zapping System rewards A-scenario discipline. Items you skip in Leon A appear in Claire B’s world, and vice versa. Leave the Submachine Gun in the item box during Leon A if you know Claire needs it more than Leon needs a second Shotgun. Route with the B-scenario in mind.

• Knife-stun downed zombies instead of finishing them. When a zombie drops, close in and slash 3–4 times before it stands. This stun-locks it long enough to sprint past. Works best in narrow halls where you can’t sidestep. Save the handgun rounds for threats that won’t stay down.

• The Shotgun is a crowd-control tool, not a dueling weapon. One shell staggers 2–3 zombies if they’re bunched. Funnel groups into doorways, then fire when they align. Against lone zombies in open rooms, headshot with the handgun or just run — the Shotgun’s 4-round tube empties fast.

• Drop empty guns to reclaim inventory slots. Ammo tracks separately from weapons. Once a gun hits zero and you’re not carrying compatible rounds, stash it in an item box. You can retrieve it later if you find shells, and those two extra slots matter when you’re juggling key items in the lab.

• Lickers are blind — walk and they won’t hear you. They track sound, not sight. Hold X to walk in Licker corridors and they won’t aggro unless you collide. Running triggers the leap attack. If you fight, Shotgun the exposed brain or use Grenade Launcher Acid Rounds for guaranteed kills.

• Combine herbs before you need them. Green + Green heals 50% more than two singles used separately. Green + Red restores full health. Green + Blue cures poison, though poison is rare here. Mixing before storage saves space and maximizes output during boss fights.

• The Parking Garage is a one-way door — clear the Police Station first. Once you descend to fight the alligator, you can’t return to RPD until much later. Finish all station puzzles (Club/Heart/Diamond/Spade keys, weapon upgrades, Film rolls) before triggering the sewer. Missing the Magnum or Custom Parts here costs you the rest of the run.

Sherry’s Hiding Sequence (Claire A/Leon B)

The sewers section where you control Sherry has no combat and no inventory carry-over. Players circle the same rooms hunting for the next trigger. The exit: push the wooden crate near the waterfall room to create a stepping platform, climb up, and interact with the control panel to drain the water. The crate has no visual tell that it moves. If you’ve wandered more than five minutes, you missed it.

Valve Handle Puzzle (Water Purification Room)

Both scenarios require you to place valve handles on specific pipes to redirect steam and unlock the exit. The handles are scattered across multiple rooms, and the game never tells you which pipes are correct. Brute-force every combination or follow this: place handles on the pipes that visibly connect to the locked door’s mechanism. Check your map—rooms you haven’t fully explored show red; cleared rooms show blue. Missing a handle means backtracking to red zones.

G-Type 3 Boss (Sewers, Both Scenarios)

William Birkin’s third form has a one-hit-kill grab that ends runs. Players waste all their Magnum rounds trying to burn him down and die during the forced climbing sequence immediately after. The unblock: ignore the boss. Sprint in circles around the arena’s outer edge until the timer expires (roughly 90 seconds). He roars, the exit opens, you climb. Save your Magnum rounds for G-Type 4 and G-Type 5. If you already dumped your ammo, reload an earlier save—there’s no recovery path.

Laboratory Self-Destruct (Final 10 Minutes)

The timed escape gives you five minutes to navigate four floors with respawning enemies and a final boss. Players panic and fight everything. The optimal route: ignore all enemies, take the central elevator down, grab the platform key from the save room (if you didn’t already), activate the train, fight the final Tyrant with everything you saved. Stopping to shoot zombies during the countdown wastes time you don’t have. Ink Ribbons are in the save room—use one before the escape starts.