Guide

The Switch version follows the PS4 layout: aim and fire on the triggers. With a Pro Controller or two Joy-Con:

• ZL aim and take cover · ZR strike; with ZL, fire · ZL + ZR Quick Shot · ZR right as you're attacked: counter.
• B action, scenes and QTEs · A partner action · Y reload and pick up · X inventory · X with ZL switches the weapon's function (thermal scope, burst, dual Wing Shooters, Bear Commander grenades).
• L route guide · R eat a tablet · R + Y turn herbs into tablets.
• Stick forward + B sprint · stick back + B quick turn · sprint then ZL slide · ZL + stick + B dodge (backwards drops you onto your back) · ZL + B crouch · B just before falling: roll instead of falling · right-stick click: switch shoulder.
• D-pad left/right: weapon · up/down: item (grenades, spray) · − COMs Device and skip scenes · + pause (offline only).

Gyro aiming arrived in a patch and works together with the stick. There's no native Switch 2 version: there you play the Switch version through backward compatibility, with these same controls (its performance on Switch 2 is unconfirmed).

Getting started: connect both controllers, pick Screen Mode: Split on the difficulty screen and have the second player join on character select. Split screen only works in the campaign and The Mercenaries.

Before you play, in System Settings: Friendly Fire: Don't Allow (otherwise you'll hurt each other) and Network Selection set to Offline so you can pause.

Controllers: with a single sideways Joy-Con, the one stick both moves and aims (SL + stick), and there's no Quick Shot, counter, slide or dodge. For a first run, give each player a Pro Controller or a Joy-Con pair.

Commands (A + D-pad): down "come", left "wait", up "go", right "follow". A + L thanks and A + R praises (both earn Skill Points). ZL + A on an enemy tags it. Holding A shows where your partner is.

In split screen, player 2 (Helena, Piers or Sherry) gets their own route or their own role in several chapters. If they don't do these, it doesn't happen on that pass (Chapter Select gets it back):

• Leon Chapter 3: Helena (or Leon backtracking along her path) opens the 5,000 SP coffin in the catacombs and breaks Serpent Emblem #12 in the Brzak channel.
• Chris Chapter 2: Piers breaks Serpent Emblem #6 on the bridge. Bring the Heat (Piers only, thermal scope) is at the very start of the chapter.
• Chris Chapter 4: Piers breaks Serpent Emblem #16 during the timed run across the deck.
• Jake Chapter 1: Sherry breaks Serpent Emblem #3 above the restroom and takes the 2,000 SP chest and the Red Herb. This is also where you farm High Voltage (Sherry only, Stun Rod).
• Jake Chapter 4: Sherry breaks Serpent Emblem #13 during the tanker slow-mo, from the motorcycle.
• Stuntman is Helena's: the Hydra is her shotgun.

Player 1 only: Serpent Emblem #9 (Jake Chapter 3, through the gun camera), Hard Choice (Jake Chapter 4, as Jake), Flying Ace (Chris Chapter 4, Chris only per PowerPyx), the 5,000 SP suitcase behind Door D in Jake Chapter 5 and the fist fight with the Ustanak in the same chapter.

Emblems and containers: in split screen, an emblem player 2 breaks counts for player 1 (per the wiki; unconfirmed on Switch). What comes out of a container, though, only one of you can take.

Ada's campaign has no split routes: Agent can't open doors or pick up key items, so Ada does it all.

• No manual save: the game saves by itself. Continuing after a Game Over puts you at the last checkpoint (pin icon) with full health, except on No Hope. If you quit, you come back at the last main ("typewriter") checkpoint.
• COMs Device (−) → Return to the latest checkpoint restarts the checkpoint without dying. Every farming trick in this guide uses it.
• Chapter Select opens every cleared chapter, and inside it you pick the exact checkpoint (left/right): 86 of them, plus the Prelude. Use it to collect emblems or replay a challenge. Starting from Chapter Select or joining another game erases unsaved progress. Careful (single source): starting from Chapter Select resets that run's rank stats (accuracy, deaths, kills and time); for an S rank, play the whole chapter in one go.
• Inventory per campaign: each character keeps weapons and items from chapter to chapter. It only resets if you pick New Game at the start of the campaign.
• Difficulty is chosen per chapter.

Health is 6 blocks. A hit that doesn't empty a block leaves it blinking red: avoid damage for a few seconds and it refills by itself. Blocks lost completely only come back with tablets or spray.

• One tablet = 1 block + a full combat gauge. If a block is blinking, it first secures that one and then adds another. Mash R to eat several in a row.
• Tablets and the First Aid Spray also heal your partner if they're close. The spray fills everything, health and combat gauge.
• The case holds 17 tablets. With none left, pressing R + Y converts your herbs.
• There are no blue or yellow herbs, no max-health upgrades and no poison outside specific scenes.

• At zero health you collapse and a gauge appears. You can aim and fire the equipped weapon, and ZR kicks, but you can't reload, swap weapons or use items.
• If nothing hits you, you get up on your own when it fills: 15 s, or 10 s and 7 s with Recovery Lv1 and Lv2.
• Treatment (A) lifts your partner with no health. Revive (R) spends your tablets and lifts them healed.
• Game Over if you're hit while down, if you both go down at once, if you fail an objective or a deadly QTE.
• Continuing brings you back with full health, except on No Hope, where you keep the health you had when you passed the checkpoint.

Challenge Down, Not Out: kill an enemy while Dying and get up without help. In co-op your partner just has to leave you there; the cemetery at the start of Leon 2 has plenty of enemies.

It's the small bar under your health. It starts at 5 blocks and Combat Gauge Boost adds 3 or 5 (70,000 and 90,000 SP).

Spent by: the 2nd hit of the combo (the 1st is free), every Quick Shot (1 block; the dual Wing Shooter one costs 2 for a 5-shot chain) and special strikes on staggered enemies. Freeing a grabbed partner costs nothing.

Recovery per block:

• Standing still or crouched: 3 s.
• Walking or aiming: 6 s.
• Lying on the ground: 1 s.
• Sprinting (stick + B), striking or rolling: none. Opening doors or taking a hit also stops it.
• A tablet: fills it instantly.

Exhausted (red bar): you can't sprint, you only have a weak strike (good for breaking crates), you move 12.5 % slower and that block takes three times as long to come back.

What staggers: a headshot lets you throw them from the front or land a coup de grâce from the side. An arm or back shot is a medium stagger. A leg shot drops them to a knee. On a zombie, an arm shot turns it around.

Useful strikes:

• From behind: stronger, and no stagger needed if they haven't noticed you.
• With the environment: into a wall, over a railing or off a ledge (challenge Give a Little Push: 10 enemies off a height).
• Slide (sprint + ZL): knocks them down and breaks crates. Stomp a downed enemy; on the head it's a critical.
• A strike takes the weapon off a zombie holding a knife or shovel (you don't keep it).

Counter: press ZR just before the hit lands; a prompt flashes a moment earlier. Many counters kill outright or leave the enemy open, and you're invulnerable during the animation. Use them on the leapers: Bloodshot, Zombie Dog, Noga-Let and armed zombies. Sources disagree on whether it costs combat gauge.

Quick Shot (ZL + ZR): every weapon has its own. Handguns, shotguns and sniper rifles fire 1 shot; the assault rifles, the Ammo Box 50 and the Bear Commander, a 3-round burst. Dual Wing Shooters chain 5 shots across several targets; the Hydra does 3 acrobatic shots and reloads itself; the Crossbow does a back-flip shot that pins the enemy to the wall. Magnums send lesser enemies flying. It doesn't work with grenades, the Remote Bomb, the Grenade Launcher or the Rocket Launcher.

Trick: after a Quick Shot your reticle is left centre-mass on the enemy. Do it with the handgun and swap to the magnum or rifle for the next shot.

Dodging: ZL + direction + B rolls; backwards drops you onto your back, where you keep aiming and can roll sideways. ZL + B crouches under many attacks. When you stagger, press B to roll instead of falling, and hold B to get up faster.

Cover: aim next to a wall or a low wall. It's mostly for the gun-toting J'avo in Chris's and Jake's campaigns. You can walk slowly while firing.

• Weapons take no slot. Ammo, herbs, grenades and sprays do: about 9 slots (a single source). Tablets live in their own case.
• Each character only picks up ammo for their own weapons: only Helena takes 10-Gauge Shells, for example.
• Giving items: X → pick the item → give icon. Split screen only, and at any distance. Share herbs and ammo instead of letting one of you hoard.
• Shared crates: in split screen a crate's contents are one set for both of you, so don't both rush it (online each player gets their own; unconfirmed on Switch). Weapons in the level do appear for both.
• No shop, money, selling or weapon upgrades: only skills.
• On Professional enemies never drop Green Herbs and random crates only give Skill Points.

• Each set holds 3 skills. You start with 1 set and have 8 once you've cleared a campaign. The skill menu opens after you clear the first chapter.
• Buying: only on the end-of-chapter screen or from Play Game → Campaign → Skill Settings.
• Switching sets mid-game: − → Change skills. It runs in real time: do it somewhere quiet.
• Campaign skills and The Mercenaries skills are bought and equipped separately.
• Infinite ammo (Infinite Handgun, Infinite Magnum and the rest, 79,000 to 99,000 SP): on sale after clearing all four campaigns. They only work if the host sets Infinite Ammo: Allow in System Settings, and you still reload.
• On No Hope skills are disabled.

Sets for the pair: one for zombies (Zombie Hunter + Firearm + Defense) for Leon and Ada, one for J'avo (J'avo Killer + Firearm + Defense) for Chris and Jake, and the manual's boss set: Firearm + Critical Hit + Last Shot (the last round in the magazine does +300 %).

There are five: Amateur, Normal, Veteran, Professional and No Hope. On Switch they should all be open from the start (unconfirmed on hardware).

• Amateur: most deadly QTEs play themselves and mash meters fill faster. Per a single source, you take half damage and deal double.
• Normal: this guide's baseline.
• Veteran: between Normal and Professional (about 150 % damage taken; your damage 93 %).
• Professional: at least 2 blocks per clean hit; enemies get up faster and mutate more; they never drop Green Herbs.
• No Hope: at least 2.5 blocks per hit, skills disabled, you continue with the health you had, and Skill Points are worth double. In co-op, only with players on No Hope.

Higher difficulty also means faster, more frequent grabs, more accurate enemy fire and shorter staggers, even from the Flash Grenade. There's no documented hidden difficulty rank like RE4's.

At 9 points two campaigns share a scene and up to 4 players. Offline, the other pair is AI-controlled (online you need Partner Join: Allow; Switch has its own intersections menu).

• Leon 2-7 Altar Corridor ↔ Ada 2-2.
• Leon 4-2 Airplane Crash Site ↔ Jake 4-5.
• Leon 4-4 Medical Research Center ↔ Chris 3-5.
• Leon 5-3 Quad Tower Entrance ↔ Ada 5-2.
• Leon 5-4 Quad Tower ↔ Ada 5-4.
• Chris 2-3 In Front of City Hall ↔ Jake 1-4.
• Chris 3-2 Poisawan Courtyard ↔ Jake 4-2.
• Chris 5-2 Underwater Facility - Lower Levels ↔ Jake 5-2.
• Jake 4-6 Stilt Housing Area ↔ Ada 3-4.

No intersection holds a Serpent Emblem. There are medals for beating the other pair in a race (Leon 4, Chris 3) and for out-killing them (Chris 5, Jake 5, Ada 3).

Chapter rank: 4 criteria (accuracy, deaths, time and kills) are worth A 25, B 20, C 15 or D 10 points. 100 = S, 90-99 = A, 75-89 = B, 55-74 = C, 45-54 = D; below that, E. An A in accuracy needs 70 % in any chapter. The thresholds are the same on every difficulty. The rank gives no in-game reward. Chapter Select resets the current run's accuracy, deaths, time and kills.

Others:

• Critical Hit raises the firearm critical chance (+50 / 75 / 100 %). Melee head hits (stomps, back take-downs, wall smashes) are criticals.
• Helping or thanking your partner earns extra Skill Points, more the faster you react.
• J'avo mutate according to the body part you damage, and while mutating they're invulnerable: don't waste bullets then.
• Skill Point pieces are worth the same on every difficulty except No Hope, which doubles them.

Each player runs a character with their own weapons and tricks, and in many stretches the game splits you up with different jobs:

• Leon: Wing Shooter (dual-wielded with X + ZL) and Survival Knife. Helena: Picador and Hydra (a triple-barrel shotgun with an acrobatic Quick Shot).
• Chris: Assault Rifle for Special Tactics, Nine-Oh-Nine and Combat Knife. Piers: MP-AF and Anti-Materiel Rifle (thermal scope with X + ZL: sees invisible enemies).
• Jake: Nine-Oh-Nine and Hand-to-Hand: a 2-hit combo and elbow that cost no gauge; hold ZR to lock on and release to charge in with a palm strike; right-stick click switches targets. It's the best way to save ammo. Sherry: Triple Shot and Stun Rod (hold the strike to charge it: it stuns and kills weak enemies).
• Ada: Crossbow (normal and explosive bolts) and grappling hook. In co-op player 2 is Agent: he can't open doors or chests, pick up key items, flip switches or ride zip-lines, and vanishes during scenes.

Swap characters now and then: some challenges only work as Helena, Piers or Sherry.

• Stagger with 1 shot and finish with strikes. As Jake, use Hand-to-Hand on almost everything.
• Keep the Shotgun and the magnums for Shriekers, Bloodshots, Napads and bosses.
• Balance out: if one of you has spare 9mm Ammo and the other is short on shells, hand them over (X → give). Since each of you only picks up your own weapons' ammo, let whoever uses it grab it.
• Item Drop Increase (3,500 SP) makes enemies drop more items and Skill Points. In a lean chapter, the manual's "Always Low on Ammo" set: Item Drop Increase + AR Ammo Pickup Increase + Lock-On.
• Break crates by sliding or with the weak exhausted strike: don't spend bullets on them.

• Noise draws them, gunfire most of all. Shoot the leader in the leg to trip the whole group.
• Some carry a gas tank: one shot hurts everyone around it.
• Zombie Dog: counter its leap and it dies on the spot.
• Bloodshot: zombies with glowing pink eyes and red clothes turn into one when damaged. Counter its leap; its weak point is the chest.
• Shrieker: its scream stuns you and calls more zombies: kill it first, in the throat and the glowing chest sac, with the Shotgun.
• Whopper: very tough; shoot its legs to stagger it and use explosives, magnums or bolts.
• Armed zombies (shovel, knife, axe) are easy to counter.
• When surrounded: Quick Shot the nearest and strike, or drop onto your back and fire from the floor.

• They keep their training: they take cover, shoot and drive. Use cover yourself and aim for the head.
• They mutate where you hit them (head, arm, legs or torso), and they're invulnerable while mutating. Wait for it to finish and hit the weak point.
• A Chrysalid (cocoon) hatches into a Strelats, Napad, Mesets or Gnezdo. Breaking one costs a lot of ammo: the Stun Rod charge (electricity) works best.
• The Mesets is very weak to the Flash Grenade: one can kill several at once.
• Napad: the armour deflects shots; break it with explosives or a grenade and shoot the flesh on its back. As Ada, a pipe-bomb bolt always strips the armour.
• Strelats: shrugs off bullets but is very weak to melee: slide into it and strike.

• Glava-Sluz (web spit): shoot the back of the head while it spits.
• Glava-Smech (mandibles): shoot the mouth or the glowing core; counterable.
• Glava-Begunats (split head): counter its charge and it dies.
• Glava-Dim (red smoke): only the red spheres on the back of the head; one player distracts, the other shoots from behind.
• Ruka-Srp (scythe) and Ruka-Bedem (shield): no weak spot; a strike to the face, then the finisher.
• Ruka-Khvatanje (tentacle): the tip; put a wall between you.
• Noga-Trchanje (spider): one stomp kills it on any difficulty.
• Noga-Let (moth): counter and stomp.
• Noga-Skakanje (grasshopper): 1-2 shots to the belly sac, or slide into it.
• Telo-Eksplozija: shoot its legs so it blows up away from you.
• Telo-Krljusht: the torso is bulletproof; head and legs.

• Failed QTEs in scenes: Game Over (Action Button Assist cuts most of them).
• Ubistvo (Jake 4, Ada 3): its chainsaw kills instantly wherever it hits. Keep your distance.
• Ustanak: being caught in a chase is certain death; in Jake 2 it's Game Over.
• Iluzija (Chris 3): failing the constrict QTE = a bite to the head.
• Haos (end of Chris 5): if it grabs you, it crushes you.
• Brzak (Leon 3): if it catches you in the water, it eats you.
• Deborah Harper (end of Leon 2): miss the glowing tentacle tip heading for Helena and it's Game Over.
• Rasklapanje and Noga-Let: failing their grab kills you.
• Vehicles: don't stand where the survivors stood at the Leon 1 gas station; on the Jake 4 motorbike, hitting a parked vehicle is Game Over.
• Mission failed: losing Carla in the Chris 3 chase, or being spotted by Chris in Ada 4.

• Always group up to heal: one tablet or spray heals both.
• Let a blinking block refill on its own: back off for a few seconds before spending a tablet.
• Mix Green + Red as soon as you have both (6 tablets). Don't save the Red "for later".
• Share: if one of you has 17 tablets and the other 3, give herbs to the one running low (X → give).
• Keep a First Aid Spray for bosses: it fills everything, for both of you.
• To lift a downed partner with enemies close, use R (Revive): A leaves them with no health and the next hit puts them down again.

Repeat a stretch with Chapter Select or − → Return to the latest checkpoint. Always wait for Saving... to disappear before quitting.

• Leon 4-4 Medical Research Center (the same from Chris 3-5): through the laser room, up the elevator, protect your partner from the moving mines while they hack, then open 3 crates: 5,000 + 5,000 + 4,000 SP. Follow Ada to the Simmons scene (it saves), quit and repeat. About 14,000 SP every 6-7 minutes.
• Jake 4-3 Poisawan - Shopping District: no enemies. One crate left of the roadblock you jump after the first yellow truck and another just before the second truck, by a green dumpster: about 7,000 SP in under a minute.
• Chris 5, the round timer room: each lever sends cocoons down the conveyor belts; up to 10 creatures that drop 1,500 or 2,500 SP each. About 20,000 SP per 8-10 minute loop.
• Ada 2-3 Underground Lab (single source): Whoppers and Napads at the start; about 24,500 SP per loop.

• Opening the inventory expecting a pause.
• Converting a lone Green Herb (1 tablet against 6 from a mix) or trying to go past 17 tablets.
• Draining the combat gauge until it turns red.
• Shooting a J'avo while it mutates.
• Quitting before "Saving..." disappears, or using Chapter Select with unsaved progress.
• Buying Team-Up, Field Medic or Lone Wolf for local co-op.
• Forgetting to spend Skill Points at the end of the chapter: afterwards you can only buy from the main menu.
• Both rushing the same crate: in split screen only one of you gets the contents.
• Leaving Friendly Fire on in split screen.
• Blasting through an area without checking the emblem map: Chapter Select lets you go back, but it costs time.

• − skips scenes; pressing the sprint button skips the loading-screen tips.
• Sprinting vaults low obstacles on its own, and sliding gets you under gaps.
• Serpent Emblems count the moment you break them: for one you missed, enter its checkpoint from Chapter Select, break it and quit without finishing.
• In split screen, an emblem one player breaks counts for both, per one source that's unconfirmed on Switch (online, each player has to break it).
• Hold L in every new room instead of exploring blind.
• Change skill sets before a boss, not during the fight.