Leon S. Kennedy may have brushed up on his Spanish, but that won’t help him when it comes to ducking and weaving through disgruntled villagers, chickens, and cows. Luckily enough, should you have John Wick-esque aim, you can avoid Resident Evil 4’s opening village fight.
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Back in the day, RE4 players used to avoid the village fight by pigeon-holing themselves at the top of a giant watchtower. So long as you don’t stand near the platform by the ladder, you can take refuge until the church bell tower sounds, signaling the end to the villagers’ aggressive hunt for Leon for roughly two-to-four minutes, according to GamesRadar. This trick still works in the RE4 remake but if you want to avoid confrontation like a cool guy, you can sidestep this whole ordeal and conserve ammo and health in the process with one well-aimed shot.
Saved by the Bell starring Leon S. Kennedy
Two days ago, redditor Tactical_Banter, who was already on their professional difficulty playthrough of RE4 remake, discovered that there was a way to avoid the village fight altogether. According to their post on the r/ResidentEvil subreddit, if you shoot the church bell from the rooftop of the main house (the one Leon barricades), you can trigger the end of the village fight early.
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Be warned, this feat is tricky to pull off without a long-range rifle, but if you use the steeple of the church as a guide, you can fire off a few rounds at the base of the belfry to be saved by the bell. The allotted two to four minutes you’ll save from avoiding villagers putting you in a full nelson for Chainsaw Man’s hungry blades should give you enough time to scour the village for ammo, herbs, and other key items before “Bingo” adjourns. Consequentially, this RE4 lifehack should also save the life of that cow in the barn that burns to a crisp during Leon’s “safety dance” with Chainsaw Man and company.
Resident Evil 4 is available to play on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.