You play as Chris and Sheva, down through the Pyramid and into the Underground Garden, the entrance to a lab hidden under the ruins: Umbrella’s old facility where the Progenitor virus was studied, now in Tricell’s hands. They’re looking for Jill. The chapter is short and has two faces: first a garden and some labs with no enemies, full of treasure and files (9, the most in the game); then the Licker β, which hunt by sound, in some animal pens, a corridor of glass tanks and an elevator wait. It ends with the U-8 on a revolving platform.
Chapter order: Underground Garden (no enemies): Ruby (Square), emblem 23, Jewel Beetle, Emerald (Pear), 3 files → Progenitor Virus House: labs (6 files) → lever-and-glass room → animal pens → first 2 Licker β → monitor room (AK-74, safe) → twin-button door → caged corridor (stealth) → kicked door → elevator wait → Experimental Facility: U-8.
Before you start
Shop (the 5-1 Item Management screen).
- Sell the 4-2 treasures: about ₦25,000. That’s the Diamond (Trilliant) (₦4,000), the Beetle (Gold) (₦3,000), the Idol (Gold) (₦3,000), the 2 Blue Enigmas (₦3,000 each) and the pear and square gems (₦1,000 each).
- Bulletproof Vest (₦10,000), if you didn’t buy it in 4-2 (depending on the source, it enters the shop at 4-2 or now, at 5-1): you don’t need it in this chapter, but it’s essential before 5-2, where the gun-toting Majini show up. Buy it now so you don’t forget.
- Ithaca M37: capacity 16 (₦2,000, on sale since 4-2) and 17 (₦3,000, new in 5-1). If it isn’t at full firepower yet (400, on sale since 3-3), that comes first. The shotgun is this chapter’s weapon.
- 1 pack of Acid Rounds (₦2,400) for the Grenade Launcher: they’re very good against Lickers.
- New stock: the SIG P226 (₦4,000, shop only) and the AK-74 (₦4,000, though you find one here for free). Don’t put money into either on a first run: they arrive too late for the investment to pay off. On a replay with money to spare, it doesn’t matter.
What to bring. A shotgun and a magnum for the Licker β, and 5 Hand Grenades: they’re the quick way to kill the U-8 (you feed them into its mouth). A sniper rifle in your partner’s hands helps during the elevator wait. On a replay, Nitrogen Rounds (on sale only after finishing 6-3) work too. There are no armed Majini yet.
Difficulty.
- On every difficulty these are instant deaths: the Licker β pounce that tears your throat out (there’s a single counter prompt), the U-8’s pincer grab and the dodge QTE in the cutscene before the U-8.
- On Veteran and Professional, more Lickers come during the elevator wait (no source gives the number).
- No source found HP figures for the U-8 or the Licker β by difficulty.
- On Professional the money you find is worth double, but many fixed ammo and grenade pickups are gone (Fandom says all of them) and enemies no longer drop herbs: bring your own Hand Grenades for the U-8 rather than counting on the one in the Experimental Facility.
What you can miss this run: the elevator is a point of no return. Once you ride down, you leave behind the garden treasures, emblem 23, the 9 files, the AK-74, the safe and the last Lion Heart, which the stragglers of the elevator wait drop. The only way back is to replay 5-1 from Chapter Select.
S rank on Normal: accuracy ≥70%, ≥7 kills, 0 deaths and ≤12:00 (A up to 16:00). Treasures: 3 fixed (₦4,000) + about 4 random Lion Hearts (₦2,500 each), plus ₦3,000 in Gold bars from the safe. It’s a good farming chapter: a 6–7 minute run nets ₦7,000–10,000 in Lion Hearts.
The Licker β
Lickers refined with the Progenitor virus: nearly blind, they hunt by hearing and smell and cling to walls and ceilings. If you walk (don’t run), holster your weapon and don’t shoot, they don’t notice you. Attacks: tongue lash (QTE), claw swipes and the dangerous one: they pounce on you and tear your throat out = instant death. A counter prompt appears; if you miss it, only your partner can save you.
- Against one or two: a handgun shot to the exposed brain makes it coil back and show its weak point; another shot knocks it back, and sometimes it stays on its back: walk up and use the melee prompt to stab its heart (a one-hit kill and the Heart Stopper achievement).
- Against groups: Hand Grenades, shotgun, magnum or Acid Rounds.
- Kill them on the ground, not on a wall or ceiling: otherwise their drops can’t be picked up. They drop plenty of ammo (usually more than you spend) and, at random, a Lion Heart (₦2,500).
Underground Garden
No enemies here: just flowers (the “Stairway of the Sun”) and treasure. Take everything before you leave:
- Ruby (Square) (₦1,000): right at the start, climb the stairs, turn around and look up: it’s in the crevice in the rock above the entrance you came through. Shoot it and pick it up from the floor.
- BSAA Emblem 23/30 (5-1): from the start, go round the circular garden to the right along the outer ring to the dead end. Look under the small metal bridge that leads to the concrete tunnel and the red door: the emblem leans on a pipe. It’s only visible from the right-hand side. A handgun does it.
- Jewel Beetle (₦2,000): on the floor on the west (left) side, down the steps next to the water-purification tanks.
- Emerald (Pear) (₦1,000): high on the rock face on the north side of the garden, above the exit. Aim up before you leave. One source describes it as “in the ceiling above the exit from the first room”: same spot.
- Administrator’s Log and Construction Supervisor’s Log: both on the same clipboard, on the stack of crates by the passage to the facility, past the irrigation tank and under the rusty sign.
- From Chief Researcher Brandon’s Journal - No. 1: inside that passage, on a cabinet just before the door to the Progenitor Virus House.
The exit is the red door at the end of the concrete tunnel.
Progenitor Virus House: the labs
Checkpoint on arrival (RE5 has no typewriters: it saves only at checkpoints, and the shop opens whenever you continue or restart). Still no enemies. In the corridor:
- Invoice Copy: on the corridor shelves, on the right-hand wall past three crates.
- South-west corner room (the first small lab on the left): handgun ammo, machine-gun ammo and 1 Incendiary Grenade. Three files here: From Chief Researcher Brandon’s Journal - No. 2 (on the desk on the south side), Research Center Director Brandon’s Journal (on that desk’s computer) and Telegram from James Marcus (in the filing cabinet in the north-west corner).
- A crate in the corridor holds a Herb (Green).
The flower lab (the hydroponic tanks): a box of shotgun shells and two computers with files. Tricell Researcher Miguel’s Journal - No. 1 is on the computer in the north-west corner (the one nearest the doorway) and An E-mail to an aquaintance on the one in the north-east corner, by the door to the pens. That makes the chapter’s 9 files; none is lost for good, but if you miss one you’ll have to replay the chapter.
Bloody corridor and the lever room
There’s a breakable crate (random item). The door at the end leads to a room full of gore: pull the lever on the wall to raise the blast shutters, shoot the glass windows on the right and step through.
Animal pens and the first Licker β
Cages of giant rats, goats and painted dogs: they’re harmless (you can kill them, but there’s no need). Herb (Green) in the far right corner, among the cages.
Turn left after the cages and 2 Licker β appear. It’s your first contact: shotgun or magnum up close, or a grenade if they bunch up, and aim for the exposed brain. One of the two may drop the first Lion Heart (random). Afterwards the scene sighs “Thank God there weren’t more of ‘em.” Go through the chamber they broke out of, past the vault door and along the corridor; by the stairs there’s a crate with handgun ammo.
Monitor room
It’s the door on the right before the stairs. Inside:
- Herb (Red).
- AK-74: in a silver weapon case. Machine gun: buy ₦4,000 / sell ₦400; firepower 90 up to 250 maxed, magazine 30 up to 50 rounds, reload 2.83 s down to 2.55 s. It eats bullets fast and reloads slowly, but it’s a step up from your earlier machine guns. If you skip it, it’s added to the shop when you finish the chapter anyway.
- Safe with Gold bars worth ₦3,000 (cash, not counted as a treasure; added automatically).
The twin-button door and the caged corridor
Climb the stairs. In the short corridor at the top, pull the lever on the left wall to power the two-button door and open it together.
Behind it is the caged corridor: glass pens full of Licker β on both sides. Cross it walking, weapon holstered, without shooting, and they don’t react. If you want money, fight: there are about 10 and they usually give 2 Lion Hearts and lots of ammo; a well-upgraded M3 or grenades in the narrow corridor do the job. Either way, the door at the end must be kicked open (partner action), the noise wakes them all and they break the glass. Funnel them down the corridor and greet them with grenades.
The elevator wait
Getting there. Go through the door you kicked open at the end of the caged corridor, to the left, then take the door on your right. From there it’s a straight run to the elevator panel; break the crates on the way before you call it.
The wait. Call the elevator: it takes about 1 minute to arrive, and in the meantime every remaining Licker converges on you round the corner. How many attack depends on the difficulty (more on Veteran and Professional). Put your backs to a wall: rifle while they approach along the walls, shotgun or handgun once they’re on the floor. In solo, Sheva covers this stretch well if you give her the rifle.
Point of no return. You can board as soon as the elevator arrives, but the last Lion Heart comes from the stragglers: board before killing them and you lose that ₦2,500 for this run. Riding down also cuts off the garden, emblem 23, the 9 files, the AK-74 and the safe; the only way back is replaying 5-1 from Chapter Select. If you’re not in a hurry, kill them all before you board.
Lion Heart farming
The whole chapter plays in 6–7 minutes and nets ₦7,000–10,000, depending on what the Lickers drop. Remember: only the ones killed on the ground count.
Experimental Facility
Checkpoint on arrival. In front of you: handgun and machine-gun ammo, a Hand Grenade and shotgun shells: take it all. Then head right into the huge room. In the cutscene Chris looks for Jill’s name on the capsule computer, and a dodge QTE follows: fail it and you die. Then the U-8 appears and the revolving platform starts to rise.
Boss — U-8
A Tricell B.O.W. made from several arthropods, with a shell that withstood direct anti-tank rocket hits in testing. The arena is the circular platform of the revolving elevator, and the U-8 clings to its edge. Weak points: the red or orange fleshy parts of the front legs, near the joints, and its mouth when open. Hit detection is poor: aim at the upper part of the exposed flesh, because the lower part sometimes soaks shots as if armoured. There’s a Herb (Green) and shotgun shells on the platform.
- Keep moving. Circle the outside of the platform (or go round the central pole) and stay out of its front: almost all its attacks are frontal. Its ram into the platform stuns you and its pincer grab is instant death on every difficulty.
- The legs. When it pauses, shoot the orange joints: a shotgun or machine gun works, and so do a magnum or rifle. Shots into the open mouth count too.
- The grenade. After enough damage it collapses onto the platform with its mouth open. Run to its head and press the action prompt to drop a Hand Grenade into its mouth (you must be carrying one). It blows off part of the shell over the brain. Keep shooting the head just above the mouth. No grenade? Shoot into the mouth and the exposed head with a shotgun, magnum or machine gun.
- The drones. It releases flying bugs from its abdomen. They die easily (the shotgun is good) and drop ammo, herbs and grenades: if you’re out of Hand Grenades, wait for a swarm and get one.
- Repeat. One guide says 3 grenades in the mouth kill it; others say “several times”. With a fully upgraded M3 the fight lasts about 60 seconds and grenades are optional.
- In co-op or with Sheva: one draws its attention from one side while the other shoots the legs from the flank; whoever is nearest the head when it drops feeds it the grenade.
- Reward: it drops nothing. In the closing cutscene Jill’s pod is empty and Excella appears on screen. Completed Chapter 5-1 achievement and the U-8 Library file.
Before you leave you should have: the Bulletproof Vest (or ₦10,000 to buy it at the start of 5-2), a shotgun, magnum and rifle with ammo, and healing. At the 5-2 shop: sell the 5-1 treasures and Lion Hearts, and upgrade the M92F.
Don’t leave without: BSAA Emblem 23 under the small bridge (only visible from the right) · the garden’s Ruby (Square), Jewel Beetle and Emerald (Pear) · the 3 garden files and the 6 in the labs · the AK-74 and the monitor room safe · the Lickers’ Lion Hearts (kill them on the ground, the elevator stragglers included).
