Resident Evil 4/Chapter 2-1

Lake

There is a cutscene where some creature is taking over your body. You wake up to realize you were having a nightmare. You then check in with Hunnigan; six hours have elapsed and it is now dark and raining outside. You are in a house at the far end of the lake.

Look around the house to find a box next to the stove, a Flash Grenade on a shelf, and Handgun Amo on the table. Save at the typewriter if you want. You'll find “Anonymous Letter” on the bed. It seems to be from someone trying to help you and tells you to go to the waterfall for the church key. The writer also knows about something going on in your body but is unable to do anything about it.

Before going on, get back on the dock. There are bass nearby if you want to refresh your health, you can even harpoon them from the boat if you don’t feel like shooting at them.

Jump into the boat, then follow the blue flames you can see in the distance. They mark a cave so go inside.

Cave

This is a cave that the Merchant has taken over for his own use. Before you start shopping, get the three barrels to the right of his stall, then shoot the lamp behind them a few times to get a Spinel. Now get another barrel to the left of the stall and push the crate there out of the way. Break the barrels behind it to complete a path to a ladder. Climb up to the roof of the Merchant's stall and start pushing the crates here, Link style, to find yet more barrels. One of these has the Green Gem which is an attachment for the Elegant Mask.

There is a hole here where you can drop down behind the Merchants counter. Get the Rifle Ammo here (he doesn't mind) and go back. Head back to the house where you woke up

Do some shopping at the front of the store it you want to, then get back on the boat to exit. Head back to where you woke up; there is a big torch burning near the dock. (If you go to the right instead then you'll end up where you were before fighting Del Lago. You can actually get new items here, but there are new enemies here as well.) Save at the house if you want, then go through the gate on the left..

Waterfall

Almost immediately there is a cutscene where a villager is walking toward you as normal when his head explodes and writhing tentacles come out of his neck. Some of the tentacles have sharp blades on them and will hurt you if they strike, so it's best to keep your distance from them. The creature at the base of the tentacles is the weak point; kill it and the villager dies as well. The creature's main weakness is light, so a Flash Grenade will kill it instantly.

So keep firing at the base of tentacles or toss a Flash Grenade to kill it, then collect you reward which, in this case, is a hefty 5000 PTAS. From now on, some of the villagers won’t die when you kill them but will sprout these tentacles instead.

The most common belief is that shooting a villager in the head will weaken it and make it more likely that the tentacles will pop out. So you should now go for the body or legs instead of the head. But there are those who maintain that whether the tentacles come out is determined beforehand, so it doesn't matter what you aim for.

Deal with another villager down the path, and continue. There is a place where you need to hop over gaps in a dam to cross the river. Follow the bank to get a barrel, then go back a bit and hop some stepping stones to cross the river again. Follow this side of the bank to the top of the waterfall. You may want to look around up here to get an idea of the layout below. Now climb down the rope.

Shoot the sparkling object to the right of the rope to get a Spinel. There is a villager in a tower nearby, he should be easy to defeat though. Climb up yourself to find Handgun Ammo and a barrel.

Check out the water-powered machinery here, you must solve a little puzzle to get across the river. First shoot the chain holding up the large crate above the water. The crate will fall in and create a stepping stone for you to reach a boardwalk in the center of the river.

Explore a bit here, there seems to be a cave behind the waterfall but the water is blocking the way. Shoot the sparkling object on the beam in front of the waterfall to get the Amber Ring. There is also a barrel at the top of a ladder on the left.

You need to do the crate trick two more times to reach the far bank. One is close to the water and the other is higher up so climb the ladder to get it.

Cross to the far side of the river and get the barrel at the end of the path. Then climb the ladder and operate the lever there. This diverts the flow of the waterfall.

Go back, as soon as you reach the center a crowd of villagers comes out of the cave and a few more come from across the first crate bridge. If you have a spare grenade then toss it at the main group and mop up any survivors. If things start to get crazy, you can always use the crate bridges to your advantage. Jump across them to slow the villagers down.

Once you've cleared the area, go into the cave and get the Round Insignia at the end. There are no enemies in here to worry about. The door behind it opens and you check in with Hunnigan. Continue through to a gate into the next area.

Underground Dock

This area should look familiar, as you were just here in the last chapter. Head straight to the shop and sell anything that you don't need. If you don't have any healing items, then you need some now. Buy a few, and make sure that you are at full health. Use the typewriter and save the game. Head up the ladder and out the door.

The Holding Area

Go up the small flight of stairs, and destroy the barrels for more items. Then turn left. Go right through the opening, and a cutscene will play.

Boss: El Gigante

As this battle begins, El Gigante will take large steps in your direction and try to grab, kick, or squash you. Just stay as far away as possible and you should be fine. Try not to go into the cabins as well; El Gigante will most likely try to destroy them with you inside of it.

Equip your most powerful weapon, and let him have it. If you saved the white wolf at the beginning of the game, it will come and help distract El Gigante's attention. This is a great time to inflict as much damage as you can, before El Gigante turns its attention back onto you.

Once you've dealt a certain amount of damage, a cutscene will play, showing El Gigante scream in pain. Then the Las Plagas parasite will break out of El Gigante's back. That parasite is what you need to attack. You can either shoot at it, or climb on El Gigante to attack it with your knife (run up to El Gigante while it is crouched down and press the action button to climb, then follow the on-screen cues to attack it). After taking some damage, the parasite will retract, and you'll have to attack El Gigante to make it come out again. It is possible to inflict more damage by first shooting the parasite with a quick shotgun blast, and then climbing aboard. This allows you do much more damage, and can take the El Gigante down in two cycles.

El Gigante will now use a few new attacks. It can now charge at you, but you can avoid this by pressing the buttons displayed on-screen. There are also rocks it can pick up and throw at you, so make sure you dodge those. It'll also grab trees and swing them around in attempt to hit you.

Dodge it's attacks, while firing at it. Then when the parasite appears, make sure to attack that as much as possible. Repeat this for a few cycles, and El Gigante will fall hard.

Grab the items around the area, including the load of cash that the fallen boss has left behind. If you check the walls of the boss arena, you'll find a few other items scattered around. Once you've got the items, head through the only other gate (not the one you came through). Then head out the nearby door.

Cemetery

Navigate along the wooden platforms, and stop to check the small cabin for a few items. Continue along the platforms. As you head up the sloped hill that leads into the cemetery, there will be 3 dogs infected with the parasite. Obviously that means that you should kill them before they kill you.

Once you have disposed of the dogs, head straight to the front door of the church. You can now open the door by placing the 'Round Insignia' on it. Go inside...

Church

Turn and go right, then look left for a small corridor that contains a few barrels to destroy. Head back to the front door, then head straight down the middle of the aisle. If you look around the front of the church, you should find a stash of cash for the taking. Once again, head back to the front door, but this time, head to the left. You'll find another small corridor, except with a ladder at the end. Head up the ladder.

Up in this area, walk forward. You should reach an opening off the balcony with a chandelier hanging. Walk toward the edge of the balcony, and you'll find that you can jump across on to the chandelier. Do that, and when the chandelier swings closer to the other side, jump across again.

Turn right, and you'll find a small panel that starts a puzzle when activated. You need to rotate the lights so that they match the design in the middle.

• Turn the RED spotlight 2 times.
• Turn the GREEN spotlight 3 times.
• Turn the BLUE spotlight 1 time.
• Choose COMBINE.

The spotlights will combine to form the symbol in the middle. The gates on the right will open up. Head in that direction. When you get there, you'll only find a single door, waiting to be opened. Open it and a cutscene will play...

Now Ashley joins you. You'll receive a manual on how to give commands to Ashley; take a look at it. Now look around the room, and you'll find quite a few items to take. Once you've grabbed them all, head out the door, go right, and go down the ladder. Ashley won't climb down, so once you reach the bottom, you'll need to catch her as she jumps down. Head toward the front door and a cutscene will play...