Resident Evil 3 Remake is a very different game to the original. If you’re about to start playing it, there are some things you should bear in mind to make your life easier, and your first playthrough more fulfilling. Luckily, I’ve got 7 tips for you that are completely spoiler-free, unless you didn’t know that Nemesis was in the game.
1) Explore Every Area Thoroughly
Secrets are hiding in wait everywhere
From the start of your latest horror story in Raccoon City until your very last moments in its embrace, you should be exploring every nook and cranny you can find. Every street, shop, and corridor is packed with secrets to find, whether they’re interactable items or not. Sometimes you’ll find an easter egg, others a Mr. Charlie Doll, and occasionally you’ll pick up something useful that might save your ass in a pinch later on.Â
You might be tempted to ignore the corners of each area as you get more immersed into the story. Doing this will make you miss important notes or ammo, and even health items that could be placed for your next dreadful encounter.Â
2) You Don’t Need To Kill Every Enemy
There are almost too many zombies to kill
At this point in the Resident Evil timeline, Raccoon City is filled with zombies. Everywhere you go, you’ll be at risk from having your neck chewed on by some undead creature or another. There’s a temptation to kill each and every one of these enemies. It comes from games such as DOOM (2016), which won’t allow you to leave a room until every demon is dead.Â
This isn’t DOOM (2016) though, it’s Resident Evil 3 Remake. Often there will be too many enemies to take on at once, and there simply aren’t enough bullets in your inventory to kill them all. Take your time, plan your routes, and use the new dodge ability to avoid getting nicked by those nasty biters. Exploration is key, but there’s no point in killing every single zombie out there.Â
3) Red Barrels Are Your Friends
What a beautiful sight
Red barrels are an age old trope, as old as video games themselves. Everyone knows that if you shoot one, it’ll explode. In Resident Evil 3 Remake, they behave in exactly the same way, but they can’t be moved. Unfortunately, that means that you’ll have to take some risks if you want to make the most of them.
Sometimes you’ll come into an area, and you’ll see a red barrel immediately. There might be one or two zombies near it, but you can see others scattered around the place, and the barrel’s explosion won’t hurt them. You need to move around the area, annoying the undead morons banging their heads against walls, drawing them all towards you. When they’re all moving in a rough group, guide them towards that red barrel. When you shoot it, the explosions should take out most of your enemies. The explosions are powerful; I’ve never had a zombie survive one.
4) Knife Every Zombie On The Floor
Never trust a zombie on the floor
Zombies are the worst pranksters. Even if you shoot them five times in the head, and they drop down in what you think is a second death, they could still surprise you by grabbing your foot and taking a bite out of your leg. Treat every fallen zombie as an undead zombie, until you’ve walked up to it and used your knife to stab it at least four times. Then you can call it dead.Â
This might sound overcautious, and a pain in the ass, but it’s far less frustrating than three zombies that you thought were dead suddenly leaping up to kill you. Especially if you’re on the more challenging difficulty settings.Â
5) Kill The First Zombie At Raccoon City Police Department
Not this one, the zombie I’m talking about is a little more familiar
When you get to Raccoon City Police Department (RCPD), there’s a special zombie, and it’s the first one that you’ll meet in the area. If you kill said zombie, you get an item that will make your life much easier moving forward. You may feel differently when you actually meet this zombie, and that’s fine. However, if this is going to be your first playthrough of Resident Evil 3 Remake, I suggest that you kill this zombie.
6) Watch Nemesis In every Encounter Before Wasting Your Ammo
Bag head here will make you burn through ammo faster than the fires around Raccoon City
Nemesis is a boss in Resident Evil 3 Remake; in fact he’s a couple of bosses. This monster will make your life a living hell for the entire game, and there’s no easy way to put him down. Each encounter is different, and without spoiling the solution to stopping him at each step, I’ll say this: watch Nemesis before you fight him. There are clues to how to defeat Nemesis with each fight you have, but you need to observe him to figure them out. Don’t waste your ammo by blindly firing at him with everything you have. He’s a tank, and you can’t penetrate his armour, so watch for the weak spot.
7) Expect To Be Surprised
Nothing is ever what it seems
Resident Evil 3 Remake is a superbly made game. Every moment is special, and will constantly subvert your expectations. Rooms filled with dead bodies may not be a situation that will see them all rise from the floor the moment you open a door. Likewise, a room with horrific noises behind a banging door may be something else entirely. Expect to be surprised, and you’ll be one step ahead of your enemies. I’ve had plenty of moments that took me by surprise, because I was expecting something else to be the surprise. Think around what your surroundings are telling you, and you’ll be prepared for what comes next.
I hope these tips help you with Resident Evil 3 Remake, whether it’s your first playthrough or not. It’s a fantastic game that you should experience for yourself first—don’t let anyone spoil it for you. Let us know if these tips helped you in the comments.
