You play Leon S. Kennedy in the streets of Tatchi (Lanshiang, China) after a car crash, with Helena Harper so badly hurt she can’t walk. This is the game’s tutorial: it teaches you to mix herbs and hand out tablets, shoot and melee, use the route guide, sprint and handle QTEs (the on-screen button prompts). There’s nothing to lose and no collectibles, and it can’t be played in co-op: player 2 joins in Leon’s chapter 1. Use it to learn the controls in the list at the end, because in local co-op you’ll both need them.
Chapter order: Overturned car (drag Helena) → building (timed door prompt) → jeep: Green Herb → heal Helena → BSAA zombie → route guide → zombie-filled street → crashing plane: run → helicopter (QTEs, the pilot turns) → crash into the Quad Tower → the big chamber: the end.
Before you start: the Prelude starts on its own the first time you boot the game, before the main menu, and you play it as Leon only. There’s no shop: in RE6 upgrades are skills bought with Skill Points (SP) at the end of each chapter or from the main menu; your first SP come in Leon’s chapter 1. There are no Serpent Emblems or fixed pickups that matter either, so nothing is missable. It’s a remixed slice of Leon 5 (the Tatchi streets and the helicopter that ends in the Quad Tower), and what you learn about these streets pays off at the end of the campaign. Finishing it gives the The Longest Night achievement. Campaigns: since the December 2012 title update (PS3 and Xbox 360; the PC version shipped with it), Ada’s campaign is open from the start and supports co-op (player 2 is Agent). The PS4, Xbox One and Switch versions include it, so on Switch you have all four campaigns from the start. Only an unpatched launch-day copy makes you finish Leon, Chris and Jake first.
Overturned car and the building
Overturned car. Leon comes to next to the car after the crash. Look around with the right stick, then mash B (on Switch; A on Xbox) to drag Helena along. She’s too weak to walk and needs medical attention.
The building. Head for the lit bulb, following the button prompts. A door blocks the corridor and opens with a timed press: a pointer sweeps round a circle, and you press just as it crosses the glowing part. On Xbox the prompt is X, which is Y on Switch by position. The on-screen icon always shows the right button, so trust it. You’ll meet the same kind of QTE on many doors and levers in the campaign.
Healing Helena (the jeep)
Leon sets her down against the wall and Hunnigan talks you through it on the radio. The cure is in the wrecked jeep next to you:
- Break the window (B on Switch) and take the Green Herb (Y).
- Open the Item Slot (X), pick the herb and press A to store it as tablets in the case. You can also use the quick-mix, R + Y, which converts herbs without opening the menu.
- Close the menu and, next to Helena, press R (the tablet button; RB on Xbox) to give her the medicine. A tablet you take next to your partner heals them too: this holds for the whole game.
Remember the ratios: one Green Herb alone makes 1 tablet, two Greens make 3, and Green + Red make 6. A Red Herb on its own is useless. The case holds 17 tablets at most and the game refuses a mix that would take you past 17: with 12 on hand, a Green + Red (6) won’t go in, so take one first.
The BSAA zombie and the route guide
BSAA zombie. While you’re kneeling by Helena, the BSAA soldier from the car attacks from behind. Aim with ZL and fire with ZR. If it grabs you, rotate the left stick to fill the gauge and press the button shown; Leon finishes it with his knife.
Route guide. Hold L to show the path Hunnigan marks (LB on Xbox). Follow it out to the street. Whenever the two of you get lost in any chapter, this is the button.
The zombie street and the plane
The street. Run straight down the street. Go for headshots or use melee (ZR without aiming) and pick up the ammo they drop with Y. This is your first look at how RE6’s combat works: a shot to the head or legs staggers, and the blow that follows usually finishes. If you get surrounded, the quick shot (ZL + ZR together) fires at the nearest enemy and staggers it, even behind you, but it costs one block of the physical-combat gauge. The gauge refills on its own if you stop meleeing for a moment, and a tablet refills it too.
The plane. A burning plane comes down on the street. Sprint (left stick forward + hold B) away from the blast and jump into the helicopter.
The helicopter and the Quad Tower
Helicopter. A string of QTEs: mash or time the button shown. The pilot turns into a zombie and attacks Helena, and Leon kills him. The helicopter crashes into the Quad Tower.
The big chamber. After the crash, press the two buttons shown together to dodge and get up: X + A on Xbox, which is Y + B on Switch. Go to the door, open it and vault the railing. In a huge chamber something large appears in front of you and Leon says: “Back for more?”. The Prelude ends there. The real version of this stretch comes in Leon 5, with some changes (for example, Helena walks on her own there).
Controls worth learning now (Switch)
Combat and movement.
- ZL aims, and takes cover next to a wall; ZR fires while aiming and melees when you’re not aiming.
- ZL + ZR together: quick shot (costs 1 block of the physical-combat gauge).
- ZR just as an enemy attacks: counter. Against leapers (zombies, dogs, Bloodshots) it often kills outright.
- Y: reload and pick up items.
- B: action and QTEs. Left stick forward + B: sprint. Sprint, then ZL to slide.
- ZL + stick + B: dodge sideways; backwards dives you onto your back, and you can shoot lying down.
Weapons, items and healing.
- D-pad left/right: change weapon. D-pad up/down: change grenade or item. This is where you equip the First Aid Spray; then you use it with ZR. It restores full health and, next to your partner, heals both of you.
- X: Item Slot (the menu doesn’t pause the game). X while holding ZL: weapon function switch (for example, Leon’s dual Wing Shooters).
- R: one tablet per press. Taken next to your partner, it heals them too. R + Y: quick-mix herbs into tablets.
Partner.
- A: partner action (two-person doors, boosts, rescuing a grabbed partner). Hold A and press the D-pad to give orders (down: come; left: wait; up: go; right: follow).
- A while holding ZL: tag an enemy for your partner.
- Partner Dying (they collapse and their gauge appears): A next to them is Treatment, which lifts them up but doesn’t give back health; R next to them is Revival, which spends your tablets (one per press) and lifts them up with health. If you’re both Dying at once, it’s game over.
Menus.
- − button: COMs Device (options, change skills, skip cutscenes). + button: pause, only when playing offline.
Difficulty and assists
- Amateur: most of the story’s instant-death QTEs are done for you and mash meters fill faster. On Switch, picking Amateur asks “Set Action Button Assist to Auto?”.
- Action Button Assist: Auto (Options > Game Settings) does the same on any difficulty: it completes many timed and mash QTEs for you. It’s the best assist for a split-screen pair playing on Normal.
- The QTEs that cost the most runs come soon: the police car and the trains in Leon 1, and the mine cart in Leon 2.
Before Leon’s chapter 1:
- On the main menu go to Play Game > Dog Tags and change your tag’s template, emblem or title: that’s the Check Out My Dogs achievement, done in a minute.
- For co-op, pick Screen Mode: Split on the difficulty screen and make sure friendly fire is set to “Don’t Allow”.
- If the QTEs keep costing you runs, set Action Button Assist: Auto in the game settings.
- Know how to mix herbs (Green + Red), how to give tablets with R next to your partner and how to equip the First Aid Spray with the D-pad.
