How to survive the villa encounter in the Resident Evil 4 remake

It’s a bit more intense than the original

The Resident Evil 4 remake has changed some aspects of the original game: some are better, some are worse. But in my mind one of the biggest upgrades is the villa encounter: that Thriller-esque showdown where you’re locked in the old house with Luis, fending off a horde of enemies. Here’s the best way to get through it in the remake.

Stage 1: Getting into the villa and boarding up the lower floor

After reaching the villa in Chapter 5, Luis will invite you in via a cutscene and the encounter will begin. To get through the villa encounter, you’ll need to survive for a period of time, separated by multiple stages:

• The lower floor
• Enemies start coming in upstairs via ladders
• The bull enemy appears

To start off, grab every single item you can on the lower floor and immediately put a plank up on the window that’s by itself. Push the cabinet on the next window in the sequence, and leave the other window open for now (it has an explosive barrel you can use to your advantage). When all that’s done, go upstairs briefly to grab some gear/items, and go back downstairs.

During this encounter, you’ll want to make use of what we call “the loop.” Start downstairs, run upstairs, then drop down where the ladder is. You’ll have plenty of room to separate yourself from the droves of enemies by doing this. With the planks in place and using the loop strategy, you’ll be able to fend off enemies without having things get too dicey.

While you’re in the villa, stay near Luis. He’s actually useful; as he can take down enemies or make them vulnerable to your melee attacks (look for the prompt above their heads). Another tip: you can “sneak” up on enemies and stealth kill them with your knife while they’re focused on Luis.

If you die, you’ll restart right outside of the villa with an auto-save. So if you’re ill-equipped, you can head back to The Merchant to stock up.

Stage 2: The upstairs

After a set period of time a cutscene will play, and Luis will suggest you head upstairs.

If you’re not already there, go up and kick down the ladder directly in front of the end of the stairwell, then veer right and kick down the ladder in the outside portion of the villa. You’ll want to keep doing this throughout the fight to ensure that too many enemies don’t get in the house and overwhelm you.

This portion of the villa encounter will be very similar to the first. Use the loop and keep kicking down the ladders. You may also earn more planks at this time: use them on the windows downstairs to keep the herd low.

Stage 3: The final holdout

After the bull head Ganado appears and smashes through a window, you’ll know you’re near the end. You don’t have to kill this enemy, but keeping him in check does help.

Once you’ve completed the encounter Ashley will appear via a cutscene and the villa fight will immediately end. You’ll be completely safe afterward and you’ll have the opportunity to save at the end of the chapter. Good luck!

Related: Resident Evil 4 Metacritic Score Revealed on PrimaGames