Guide

Default scheme per the official Switch 2 manual (Type A, the RE7 layout):

• Left stick: move. Press: run.
• Right stick: look. Press: crouch or stand.
• ZL: aim. ZR: attack or fire. ZL + ZR: quick Knife slash.
• L: guard; L again right after a block: shove.
• R: quick heal (uses a First Aid Med).
• Y: reload. X: inventory. A: interact. B: cancel.
• Left stick down + B: 180° turn. ZL + A: change ammo type (also reloads).
• D-pad: quick-slot weapons. −: map and journal. +: pause.

Some of the manual's button pictures show A and B swapped; its Joy-Con 2 diagram says A = interact. If the first "pick up" prompt shows B, swap A and B throughout this list.

• Options > Controls: 4 schemes. A is RE7's; B is the older Resident Evil layout (aim with L, guard with ZL, fire with R, heal with ZR); C and D swap buttons and sticks. Run Type: hold or toggle.
• Gyro: supported, but the camera only turns left and right by rotating the console. The Pro Controller uses the same buttons.
• Motion sickness: set Camera Wobble to Off or play in Third Person Mode (switched from the main menu). Raise the brightness if you cannot see in dark areas.
• Performance: docked, about 720p upscaled to 1080p with DLSS, targeting 60 fps; it holds indoors (the castle, House Beneviento) and drops into the 40s outdoors (the village, the reservoir). Handheld, about 432p, with more stutter in open areas.

• Typewriters: 20 manual slots, shared by every difficulty. Each shows the location, objective, difficulty and play time. There are no ribbons and no save limit on any difficulty.
• Autosave: a single slot overwritten at every checkpoint. Continue loads whichever is newest, manual or auto.
• With the Trauma Pack (included) you can swap typewriters for RE7 tape recorders and play "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" in safe rooms: Options > Special tab.
• When you die you go back to the last checkpoint, sometimes in the red. Load your manual save if it suits you better.
• Pausing stops the play-time clock: reading the guide does not count against the 3-hour challenge.
• Do not switch off while the saving icon shows.

You pick it at New Game and cannot change it later, with one exception.

• Casual: wider aim assist; enemies go down faster and hit softer.
• Standard (this guide's): after a death the game over screen offers to drop you to Casual, with no way back.
• Hardcore: available from the start; tougher, more aggressive enemies.
• Village of Shadows: open from the first run on Switch 2 (the Trauma Pack unlocks it). Enemies take far more shots, hit much harder, move faster and show up earlier and in greater numbers (for example 2 Moroaică in the Bela fight). They drop up to 5,000 Lei (about 150-300 on Casual and Standard) and the Duke stocks 99 First Aid Meds.

Typewriters, autosaves and items are in the same places on every difficulty; Village of Shadows only changes some enemy drops and a few ammo boxes.

The game keeps a hidden rank that scales your damage. Enemy max health is the same on every difficulty: what changes is how much you take off.

• Casual: you deal ×1.00 to ×0.85 (starts at ×0.85).
• Standard: starts at ×0.50; playing badly raises it up to ×0.75, playing well lowers it down to ×0.375.
• Hardcore: starts at ×0.325.
• Village of Shadows: fixed at ×0.20: everything takes 2.5 times the shots of Standard's start.

Example on Standard: a Lycan has 700 health. The LEMI (Power 100) to the head does 120: 6 shots. One M1897 blast to the head drops it. A Flashbang stuns for over 10 seconds on the normal difficulties and 1-2 on Village of Shadows.

What moves the rank is not known. The data were read from game memory on PC (2021) and have not been checked on Switch 2.

Same data as the hidden difficulty (game memory on PC):

• Lycan: head ×2.4 with a handgun (×3.0 with a shotgun), legs ×1.5, torso ×1.0. Explosives do ×2.0 anywhere.
• Armored Lycan: legs ×2.0; head ×3.0 once the helmet is off.
• Moroaică: head ×4.0 with the F2 Rifle (one shot kills at Standard's start); explosives only ×0.67.
• Soldat: core ×2.0; armour only ×0.4. Always shoot the core.
• Uriaș Drac: the back, ×3.0; better than the head (×2.4).
• Mother Miranda: no head bonus (the body is just as good); avoid the wings and spider legs (×0.16-0.32). The Knife does ×4.0 on her.
• M1851 Wolfsbane: its real damage is double what the Duke shows.

Health has no number on screen: the inventory shows it as green, yellow or red, the screen fills with blood and throbs when you are close to death. Near death you also walk slower, but that wears off if you wait.

• First Aid Med: a full heal. 1 Herb + 1 Chem Fluid, or 1,000 Lei from the Duke. It cannot be used at full health. Takes 2 slots.
• A Herb does not heal on its own: it is a crafting material.
• R heals at once without opening the menu; you can also use it from the inventory.
• You cannot heal while driving the tank against Heisenberg.
• The Duke's dishes raise max health for good.
• Chris (chapter 12) heals with the Med Injector; Rose with First Aid Meds (White Sage refills her power, not her health).

• L raises the arms: it cuts damage, but you cannot run and you see less.
• Immune to grabs while guarding. As Chris you can guard and run past the first Lycan groups.
• Shove: after blocking a hit, press L again. It stuns briefly. It does not work on most bosses.
• Lycan counter: shoot its head before its attack lands; it flinches and lunges to grab you: guard and Ethan kicks it away. It fails if you stand higher than the Lycan or on uneven ground.
• Unblockable: the Soldat drill. Lady Dimitrescu's claw sweeps hit very hard if you do not guard them. Miranda's orbs can be blocked or shot down.
• The Bird and Beast Pilaf and the Ciorba de Porc permanently cut the damage you take while guarding.

The case is a grid you arrange yourself (Y moves, ZL/ZR rotates). Opening it pauses the game, and so does the map. L/R switch tabs: items, crafting, Key Items and treasures.

• Take space: weapons, parts, ammo, explosives, First Aid Meds, Lockpicks and hunted ingredients. Take none: key items, files, treasures and crafting materials.
• Stacks: Handgun Ammo 30, Shotgun Ammo 15, Sniper Rifle Ammo 15, Rifle Ammo 30, Magnum Ammo 10; Pipe Bomb, Mine, Explosive Rounds, Flashbang and Lockpick 5. The number turns blue at the cap; − merges stacks.
• New pickups go into temporary slots on the right. If a purchase does not fit, whatever you discard is sold to the Duke.
• Extra Baggage (S) 10,000 (77 slots), (M) 30,000 after the castle (104) and (L) 50,000 on entering the Factory (126).
• Map: red room = items left, blue = empty, grey = unexplored. Red door = cannot open yet; blue = you can; key icon = needs a specific key. On the map, L/R move to the journal (Diary, Files, Tips).

Open the inventory (X) and tab with L/R to the crafting screen.

• From the start: First Aid Med (1 Herb + 1 Chem Fluid) and Handgun Ammo ×15 (2 Gunpowder + 2 Rusted Scrap).
• Vineyard, chapter 3: Shotgun Ammo ×3 (3,000 Lei), Sniper Rifle Ammo ×4 (4,000) and Mine (3,500; 1 Metal Scrap + 1 Rusted Scrap).
• Altar, chapter 5: Pipe Bomb (2,500; 1 Gunpowder + 1 Metal Scrap).
• Altar, chapter 7: Explosive Rounds ×2 and Flashbang ×2 for the GM 79 (3,000 each).
• After finishing the game: Magnum Ammo ×3, Rifle Ammo ×20 (with the WCX or the Dragoon) and Rocket Pistol Ammo ×5 (10,000 each).

Metal Scrap only lies in the world: keep it for explosives. Lycans and Moroaică drop Gunpowder and Rusted Scrap; Moroaică and Haulers drop Chem Fluid; Samcă and Haulers drop Herbs.

He has four menus: Supplies (buy), The Duke's Purse (sell), Gunsmithy (upgrades) and The Duke's Kitchen (cooking, from chapter 5). He cannot be hurt.

• Where he is: the Vineyard (chapter 3), the castle's Merchant's Room (4), the village Altar (5, 7, 9 and 10), the reservoir's sluice-gate building (8), a freight elevator in the Factory (11) and one last stop before Miranda (12). There is no Duke in House Beneviento.
• Upgrades: Power, Rate of Fire, Reload Speed and Ammo Capacity, one level at a time. Rate of Fire and Reload Speed are seconds: lower is better. Parts add a flat bonus.
• There is no RE4-style "exclusive upgrade": the reward for maxing every level and fitting every part is being able to buy that gun's Infinite Ammo with CP.
• Weapons and parts sell for half; ammo sells for next to nothing.

It opens when you get the Four-Winged Key (chapter 5). Each dish is cooked once, and its effect lasts the whole run and carries into New Game+:

• Herbed Fish: 3 Fish + 2 Poultry. Slightly more health.
• Bird and Beast Pilaf: 4 Poultry + 1 Meat. Less damage while guarding.
• Three-Flavored Mititei: 4 Fish + 2 Poultry + 3 Meat. More health.
• Tochitura de Pui: 4 Poultry + 3 Meat + 1 Juicy Game. Much more health.
• Ciorba de Porc: 1 Fish + 5 Meat + 1 Quality Meat. Much less damage while guarding.
• Sarmale de Peste: 6 Fish + 1 Finest Fish. You move faster.

Sources disagree on two recipes (one lists 3 Poultry for the Herbed Fish and 4 Fish for the Tochitura): the Duke shows you the real one. Nobody has published how much the dishes raise health or defence. Hunt every chicken: Poultry is the scarcest ingredient.

Lei comes from crates, enemies (about 150-300 each on Standard), the world and, above all, from selling treasures. CP (Completion Points) is a separate currency: earned from challenges and spent in the Extra Content Shop.

• Almost every monster crystallises on death, and each type has its own crystal (it does not always drop). Boss crystals are worth a lot: the Crystal Dimitrescu 25,000; Moreau's 40,000; Heisenberg's 70,000.
• The Duke marks 8 marked treasures on the map (chests with weapons, parts or jewels).
• Some treasures combine into a piece worth more than twice as much: Azure Eye + Silver Ring = Azure Eye Ring (12,000).
• Each spare Lockpick sells for 1,000: after the Factory there are no locks left.
• Enemy drops are random; Lycans and Moroaică never drop ammo or healing.

During the final assault you play Chris with a fixed kit: Dragoon, USM-AI, Karambit Knife, Target Locator, Hand Grenades, Flash Grenades and 1 Med Injector (5 more lie on the weapon crates by the signal flares and in the Maiden of War crater: 6 in the whole mission). No Duke and no upgrades.

• Target Locator: hold the laser on the target until the gauge fills. Getting hit resets it. It takes about a minute to recharge.
• Enemies in the Maiden of War square respawn endlessly until you bring down the mould construct (3 Target Locator strikes).
• Guarding protects you from grabs: you can run past the first Lycan groups.
• Against Uriaș Străjer, one Target Locator strike takes 74,000 of his 75,000 health.
• Flash Grenades stop a Vârcolac's sprint.

• They come in groups. A shot alerts the rest; the ones that have not seen you can be skirted.
• They duck and dodge when you aim, climb through windows and onto roofs and smash whatever blocks them.
• Head to kill (one M1897 blast early on), legs to slow them if you miss.
• The Stronghold archers fall to the F2 Rifle; if you close in, they drop the bow.
• Shoot flour sacks for a dust cloud and gunpowder barrels when they bunch up.
• In the chapter 2 ambush, barricade yourself in a house or climb a ladder: halfway up they cannot reach you. It ends after about 4:30, or sooner if you run down the watery path between the houses once Uriaș has appeared (sources do not say which one rules).

• Armored Lycan: most have 4,000 health. A Pipe Bomb or a Mine strips its helmet in one go; then the head (×3.0) or the legs (×2.0). It charges head-on: step aside and shoot. Drops the Perfect Crystal Skull (10,000).
• Vârcolac: 7,000 health; weak to shotguns, explosives and magnums. The M1851 Wolfsbane drops it in 2 shots. It cannot enter houses: it only swipes from the doorway, so lead it from door to door. If you are short on ammo, avoid it.

• Moroaică: slow, in groups; do not let them corner you. With the F2 Rifle one head shot kills; explosives knock them down but do little damage. Some play dead or crawl out of wall holes and blood pools. When one staggers back snarling, it takes a few Knife hits. Shoot the weapon arm to make it drop the weapon (challenge Butter Fingers). Often the best move is to walk past.
• Samcă: only 500 health; one rifle or magnum body shot kills. You can also knock them down with a handgun or shotgun and finish them on the ground with the Knife. If they die past the roof edge, you lose the drop. Take them one at a time.

• Hauler: slow. Aim for the head: the first hit knocks the headgear off and later shots do more. You can usually ignore them.
• Soldat Eins: shoot the red core in the chest when it rears back to attack.
• Soldat Zwei: the core is on its back. A heavy hit makes it kneel: circle round and shoot.
• Soldat Jet: a laser marks its dash line; step out of it. Explosive Rounds and Pipe Bombs stagger it; shoot the chest when it opens its arms.
• Soldat Panzer: nearly bulletproof. Mines, Pipe Bombs or Explosive Rounds strip its armour (without taking health), then go for the core. It follows you everywhere except into the Duke's room.
• Sturm: let it ram a wall and shoot the orange core; bullets on the propeller do nothing.
• Soldats explode when they die, and their drills cannot be guarded.

• Lady Dimitrescu while she stalks the castle: she cannot be hurt or truly stopped.
• The daughters (Bela, Cassandra and Daniela): invulnerable until cold air gets in. With Bela, break the second window; with Cassandra, move the shelf and blow the cracked wall with a Pipe Bomb as soon as you enter; with Daniela, pull the lever on a central pillar at once.
• Mutated Dimitrescu: invulnerable until she has broken both sides of the covered rooftop, and in phase 2 until she lands at the top of the tower.
• Mother Miranda: while she summons the fireball between the two root walls, shots do nothing.
• Soldat Panzer, Soldat armour, Sturm's propeller and drills: no damage or next to none.

• The Baby (chapter 6, no weapons): if it catches you, you die. Run, hide under the bed or in a closet, and loop it around the Doll Workshop table. It appears 3 times: after the Breaker Box Key, after the Fuse and at the elevator (press the button fast).
• Sturm in the chapter 11 chase: it cannot be fought; if it touches you, you die. Follow the route to the chute.
• Moreau rams the reservoir planks: cross only after he has gone by.
• Grinder and fan (chapter 11): shoot the orange weak points (the fan's in mid-air).
• Spike roller in the mines (chapter 3, handcuffed): stand in the right-hand corner facing the way you came; the roller breaks the cuffs.
• Moreau's acid rain: get under a roof.
• Angie's hide-and-seek: if you take too long, the dolls attack for heavy damage.

• Per Game8, ammo in the world only appears for guns you carry: selling a retired gun does not cost you useful rounds.
• M1851 Wolfsbane ammo is very scarce (about 14 placed rounds in the whole game): keep it for bosses and Vârcolacs.
• Metal Scrap only lies in the world: spend it on Pipe Bombs and Explosive Rounds, not on Mines you will not use.
• Craft your First Aid Meds: buying costs 1,000 and the materials drop free from enemies.
• There are 11 Lockpicks per run for 8 locks (plus 1 from the Survival Resources Pack). Sell the spares.
• If you are short on anything, go back to the red rooms on the map.

1. Leaving the castle with things undone: it closes for good after the mask door. 2. Entering the Factory with village business left. 3. Missing Beneviento's Treasure (it needs the Broken Slab from the crypt in time), or the fish and chickens in the reservoir's side cave and Gatehouse yard (chapter 8). 4. Selling Quality Meat, Juicy Game, Finest Fish or half of a treasure pair. 5. Relying on the autosave alone. 6. Buying the Extra Baggage (S) late. 7. Healing right before a free heal (castle entrance, House Beneviento). 8. Accepting the drop to Casual without knowing there is no way back. 9. Waking a Lycan pack you could have walked around. 10. Forgetting that guarding exists: nearly all early damage can be avoided with L.

• Pausing stops the clock but cutscenes count: skip them.
• Fastest castle mask order: Sorrow → Joy (the piano's Iron Insignia Key first, then Daniela and the 5 bells) → Rage (the rooftops) → Pleasure (Cassandra).
• In House Beneviento, loop the Baby around the workshop table.
• At the reservoir, get the Boat Key before the boathouse.
• In the Stronghold, run for the zipline and flatten the Armored Lycan group at the door with Pipe Bombs or the GM 79.
• In the Factory, ignore the Haulers. As Chris, grenade the groups.
• In New Game+, cook the Sarmale de Peste (movement speed) first.