Mechanics

what the game never explains: hidden rank, real damage, instant deaths, drops, saving

Dynamic rank (the hidden difficulty)

What it is

A hidden 1-to-10 rank that moves during the run and adjusts the real difficulty on top of the one you picked: at a high rank your shots do less, hits take more, specific areas spawn more enemies, they close in faster, dodge or block more, and Regenerators carry more Plagas. On Professional it is pinned at the maximum. Source: kaitaishinsho (pp. 24-25).

Goes up with

Killing enemies (★★, more for strong ones) · landing shots or hitting their gear (★) · evading attacks (★★; counts even if the enemy could not have hit you). Hitting several at once raises it more; missing 3-4 grouped enemies with a shotgun lowers it.

Goes down with

Getting hit (★★★★, more for bigger hits) · missing shots (★; knife, Chicago Typewriter, incendiaries and flashes do not count) · pressing "Continue" (★★★★★: the rank drops from what you had when you passed that checkpoint).

In numbers

A 1,000 HP soldier with a maxed Punisher: Normal 6 shots at the start, 5 at minimum rank, 10 at maximum. Easy 5 / 4 / 8. Professional always 10. A grenade next to you (base 1,200) on 1,560 HP: Normal 960 at the start, 720 at minimum, 1,800 (death) at maximum; Professional always death.

How to use it

Play well and the game hardens on its own: do not be surprised when the castle hits harder than expected. If a stretch keeps beating you, dying and continuing genuinely softens it (the strongest lever there is). Reloading from a typewriter leaves the rank alone. On Professional none of this applies.

Instant deaths and QTEs

Chainsaws (Dr. Salvador, Bella sisters, giant chainsaw man)

In chainsaw range they decapitate you at any health. Shotgun to the face to floor them, then distance.

Del Lago

Shooting the water from the pier before the fight gets you eaten (the "Do Not Shoot the Water!" achievement). In the fight, if it throws you off the boat and you do not swim back in time (or your health is too low), it swallows you.

Boulders (1-1 slope past the farm, 1-3 swamp, 5-1 passage past the laser door)

QTE: in the village, mash run and then press both dodge buttons together; in 5-1 you only have to press the dodge buttons in time. On the 60 fps version (PC 2014) you must mash twice as fast.

Jaw Plaga (zealots and some Armaduras)

The mouthed Plaga that bursts out on decapitation: if it reaches you it bites your head off. Flash or distance.

El Gigante (4-2, furnace)

The one you drop into the lava through the trapdoor can grab you and drag you down with it as it sinks. Stay away from the edge of the pit until it is gone.

Salazar

The new head turns and swallows you if you stand in the middle of the upper platform. Stay to one side and shoot the tentacle on your side.

U-3

Grabs your head with its arm or drops from the ceiling among the containers: both have an escape prompt, and even when grabbed you can struggle free by rotating the stick.

Krauser (knife duel and ruins, 5-3)

Failing the duel QTEs gets you stabbed, dropped off the ledge as he stomps your hands, or crushed by his claws. Keep your thumb over the action buttons before it starts.

Salazar statue (4-4) and laser corridor (5-3)

Chained-QTE runs: shoot the lock of the far door before crossing the 4-4 bridge; in the laser corridor the prompts speed up.

Ashley

If an enemy carries her out of the loaded area, or she is killed, it is game over: kidnappers are the absolute priority.

Enemy hit points

kaitaishinsho values via the RE Wiki; ranges depend on the dynamic rank and the difficulty

Ganado (villager, zealot, soldier)

~1,000 HP: 7 base Handgun shots without criticals. Villagers and soldiers are "category A".

Dr. Salvador

3,000 to 6,000 HP by rank and difficulty; the TMP does 30% less to him.

Bella sisters

4,000 HP each.

Colmillos

800 to 3,000 HP; the TMP does 40% more to them.

Armadura

1,000 HP (silver); category B: almost everything does a tenth of its damage.

Garrador

3,500-4,000 HP normal, 5,000 armoured; category D: only the Plaga on its back is vulnerable.

Regenerator

2,000 to 5,000 HP depending on the Plagas it carries (a high rank adds more); category C.

Del Lago

1,000 HP of harpoons.

El Gigante

Category C with exceptions: the knife does 120, a blast 1,200, a rocket 2,500 and every other weapon triples the chart.

Verdugo

20,000 HP; category E: nearly immune unless frozen. Frozen by the nitrogen it takes triple damage, and a direct rocket kills it outright.

U-3

4,500 HP; category B.

J.J. (Gatling)

1,600 HP; category A.

Damage chart by weapon

Damage per shot by enemy category (Famitsu's kaitaishinsho guide). A: Ganados, Plagas, Colmillos, Novistadors. B: Armaduras, Mendez, Queen Plaga, U-3, Krauser, Saddler. C: Regenerators, Iron Maidens, El Gigante. D: Garradors. E: Verdugo. Shotguns read "close/far". A 1,000 HP Ganado falls to 7 base Handgun shots without criticals.

Weapon	A base	A maxed	A exclusive	B	C	D	E
Knife	200	200	—	30	60	224	50
Handgun	150	300	—	15 → 30	20 → 40	168 → 334	25 → 50
Red9	240	555	975	24 → 56	32 → 74	268 → 618	40 → 93
Punisher	135	285	—	14 → 29	18 → 38	152 → 318	23 → 48
Blacktail	240	480	675	24 → 48	32 → 64	268 → 534	40 → 80
Matilda	225	375	—	23 → 38	30 → 50	252 → 418	38 → 63
Broken Butterfly	1950	4200	7500	195 → 420	260 → 560	2168 → 4668	325 → 700
Killer7	3750	5250	—	375 → 525	500 → 700	4168 → 5834	625 → 875
Handcannon	4500	9000	14985	450 → 900	600 → 1200	5002 → 9999	750 → 1500
Shotgun	600/210	1200/450	1200/450	60/21 → 120/45	80/28 → 160/60	668/234 → 1334/502	100/35 → 200/75
Riot Gun	750/375	1200/600	1500/1200	75/38 → 120/60	100/50 → 160/80	834/418 → 1334/668	125/63 → 200/100
Striker	900/300	1800/600	—	90/30 → 180/60	120/40 → 240/80	1002/334 → 2002/668	150/50 → 300/100
Bolt-action rifle	600	1800	4500	60 → 180	80 → 240	668 → 2002	100 → 300
Semi-auto rifle	1050	2250	—	105 → 225	140 → 300	1168 → 2502	175 → 375
TMP	60	180	270	6 → 18	8 → 24	94 → 282	10 → 30
Hand grenade (blast)	2500	2500	—	250	500	2500	750
Incendiary grenade	510+10x49	510+10x49	—	500	1000	200	500
Chicago Typewriter	1500	1500	—	150	200	1668	250
Rocket Launcher	☠	☠	—	☠	☠	☠	9999
Krauser's bow	1500	1500	—	NA	NA	1668	NA

What enemies drop

What an enemy drops

Every kill rolls a die: 23% money, 77% item (and within that 77%, another 77% of nothing). The item comes from the weapons you carry and gets rarer for ammo you are stockpiling: hence the golden rule of carrying 3-4 weapons of different types.

How much money

Normal: villagers and village objects 500-1,500; zealots and soldiers 1,000-2,000; Colmillos and castle/island objects 500-2,000. 1.5% drop 3,300 and 0.1% drop the special pot: 9,900 in the village, 19,800 in the castle and island.

Saving, continuing and New Round

Saving

Typewriters with no ribbons: save as often as you like, 20 slots. There is no chapter select, so save each chapter in its own slot if you want to come back to one.

Continue versus load

"Continue" after dying puts you at the last checkpoint (and lowers the dynamic rank). Loading from the menu puts you at the typewriter, rank untouched.

New Round (New Game+)

Finish and save and the file becomes a "New Round": you restart at 1-1 with all your gear, money, case and upgrades, and the Merchant sells his full list from the start. Unlockables (PRL, Handcannon, costumes) live in a global save and apply to any new game.

Results screen

At the end of every chapter: accuracy, kills and deaths, with the running totals. Accuracy and deaths are exactly what moves the dynamic rank.

Melee, knife and actions

Stun and finish

Head (hands to the face) → roundhouse kick. Knee (kneels) → side kick in the village, suplex from the castle on. Handguns, the TMP and even a well-placed knife slash trigger it. The finisher costs no ammo and makes you invulnerable while it plays.

Knife

Takes no slot and has its own button. Deflects arrows and scythes in the air, opens crates and floors Ganados to the face. On a downed Ganado, 200 damage per slash; mutated Krauser dies to well-placed slashes.

Doors

One tap opens slowly; two taps kick it open: shoves and stuns whoever is behind it and does a little damage.

Climbing El Gigante

When it kneels, the action button puts you on its back: the number of presses decides how many slashes you land on the Plaga before it stands up.

Health

Max health

Grows with every mix that includes a yellow herb (green+yellow or green+red+yellow). Never use or sell a yellow herb alone: each one is a segment of bar for the rest of the run.

How much healing there is

On Normal, room by room, the game hands out on the order of 160 green herbs, 60 red, 27 yellow and 24 sprays, plus eggs and fish. That is plenty: sell sprays and spare green+red mixes when pesetas run short.

Game versions

what changes between platforms; this guide follows the Switch version

GameCube 2005	The original. No Separate Ways, Movie Browser or PRL 412; the Chicago Typewriter unlocks with Assignment Ada. The vest does nothing on Professional. Some weapon upgrades (Red9 exclusive 5.0) and item placements differ.
PlayStation 2 2005	Adds Separate Ways, Movie Browser, Special 2 costumes, PRL 412 and a typewriter by the clock tower bridge. Pre-rendered cutscenes (costumes do not show), worse graphics and sound.
PC (Ubisoft) 2007	Port of the PS2 version with all its content and downgrades; no lighting and very buggy.
Wii Edition 2007	Motion controls, better image. From here on Ada has a knife, Mercenaries outfits switch with buttons and the PRL charges faster and fires at everything in sight.
PS3 / Xbox 360 HD 2011	Wii-based without motion. First with achievements and trophies.
PC Ultimate HD (Steam) 2014	Optional 60 fps: at 60 fps QTEs need twice the tapping. Base for mods (RE4 HD Project).
PS4 / Xbox One (y PS5 / Series) 2016	HD remaster of the Wii port at 59.94 fps. Achievements. On PS5 auto HDR removes much of the brown filter.
Nintendo Switch 2019	The same HD version, with all the Wii content and no motion controls. No achievements. The version this guide's numbers are computed for.
Meta Quest 2 (VR) 2021	No Separate Ways or Assignment Ada: the Chicago Typewriter is earned with 40 Mercenaries medals. Several lines of dialogue cut.