Golden rules
what to know before you startHold L: blocking fixes almost everything
Holding L cuts every hit to 1/4 and you stagger less. Almost every hit you take in RE7 could have been blocked.
Mia's chainsaw charge in the attic does no damage at all if you block it, and it stuns her. Grabs can't be blocked: for those, back off or shoot first.
Go for the head, then walk away
A Molded takes +200% damage to the head and −40% to arms and legs. With a shotgun, a full blast to the head kills it.
You can't kill Jack or Marguerite while they are hunting you: knock them down with headshots and leave. Ammo spent on them outside their fights is ammo thrown away.
Close doors and use safe rooms
Molded can't open doors. Close the door behind you (face it and press A) and they either bang on it or give up.
Jack and Marguerite do open doors and break walls: only a safe room (Tape Recorder and usually an Item Box) stops them. When you step into one, Molded despawn and stalkers give up.
Don't sprint next to a Molded
Sprinting (click the left stick) near a Molded triggers a very fast counter you can't dodge. They also counter if you aim at them for a long time or make them flinch up close.
Go past walking or guarding, and back-pedal between shots.
Save at every Tape Recorder
There is no chapter select, and the autosave is a single separate file. Anything you pick up after your last save is lost if you die.
On Normal the recorders are unlimited: use them. Keep a manual save of your own on reaching the Old House, before the Greenhouse, before the Boat House and before the ship. They let you replay a boss or a challenge without redoing hours.
Chem Fluid is your currency
Every Chem Fluid is a First Aid Med or 10 Handgun Ammo or Burner Fuel or Psychostimulants. Decide each time what you are short of.
Strong Chem Fluid is scarce. Priority on Normal: Strong First Aid Med for bosses, then Enhanced Handgun Ammo (triple damage), then Neuro Rounds and Flame Rounds. Shotgun Shells, 44 MAG Ammo, Machine Gun Ammo and Remote Bombs can't be crafted: ration them.
Spend your Antique Coins, Steroids first
The birdcages in Zoe's Trailer sell Steroids (3 coins), Stabilizer (5) and the 44 MAG (9). Easy and Normal have 18 coins: enough for all three, with one to spare.
Buy the Steroids as soon as you reach the Trailer. Spending coins doesn't cost you the collect-them-all challenge. Cages you don't open show up one more time in the Swamp Mine Office (chapter 7): that is your last chance.
Examine, rotate, and watch the tapes
Turn items over in the inventory: Mia's bag hides the Driver's License, and a photo frame in the Garage hides the Ox Statuette. Many keys and codes turn up that way.
Watch every videotape. The chapter 1 "Derelict House Footage" has a Lock Pick that only exists during the tape: it is the only way to get Antique Coin #1.
R doesn't use Herbs
Quick heal (R) uses the weakest healing item you carry first: a First Aid Med. Herbs can't be used with R: take them from the inventory (X) or combine them with Chem Fluid.
If all you carry is a Strong First Aid Med, R burns it even when you are only missing a sliver of health. Before a boss, carry a First Aid Med too.
First run on Normal, not Madhouse
On Switch 2 the Survival Pack unlocks Madhouse from the start. Don't pick it the first time.
Finishing on Normal gives you The Secrets of Defense and the Albert-01R for later runs. Madhouse moves enemies, items and coins around, so this guide doesn't apply the same way there. Difficulty can't be changed mid-game.
The story so far
saga context, no spoilers for this gameBefore you play: what you need to know
RE7 is built to be played knowing nothing about the series. A new protagonist (Ethan Winters, a civilian who can't fight), a new family, a new threat (the Mold), first person and a single location. Capcom went back to survival horror after the action of Resident Evil 6.
It is July 2017 in Dulvey Parish, Louisiana. Ethan comes after a message from his wife Mia, missing for 3 years. Everything happens on the Baker estate and around it.
The series threads that show up
Almost everything is new, but familiar pieces turn up at the end:
- Chris Redfield, a veteran since the first Resident Evil, now a BSAA captain.
- Umbrella, the company behind the 1998 Raccoon City disaster (RE1 to RE3), is back as Blue Umbrella: a private military company re-formed in 2007 from Umbrella U.S.A.'s assets under a blue logo, which says it wants to "atone" for its past.
- The BSAA, the anti-bioterrorism alliance.
- The Albert-01 handgun Ethan receives is based on Albert Wesker's design (per tie-in material; the game doesn't say so).
The organization behind it all, The Connections, is revealed during the story.
Demos and episodes that expand the story
- The Beginning Hour demo (2016, PS4) is not in the Gold Edition. Its TV crew is the Sewer Gators team, the same as in the "Derelict House Footage" tape.
- The Lantern demo became the "Mia" tape in chapter 2.
- Daughters (Banned Footage Vol. 2) shows the night in October 2014 when it all began, with Zoe as the lead.
- Not a Hero and End of Zoe take place weeks after the campaign (End of Zoe in August 2017).
What it sets up (light spoilers)
The canon ending is giving the serum to Mia (Ending 1). End of Zoe starts from that ending.
Resident Evil Village (2021) continues a few years later with Ethan and Mia. After the incident a quarantine wall goes up across the bayou: it is the setting of End of Zoe's Blue Umbrella bases. Resident Evil Requiem returns to The Connections.
This game’s story in the lore
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