Although most entries in the series are short, Resident Evil games often do a good job at tucking away easter eggs, secrets, and even hidden mechanics into its DNA. Not everything is explained, but that just lends actually learning to play through a new Resident Evil game its charm. The latest entry in Capcom’s horror franchise, there’s more to do in the Resident Evil 3 remake than players realize.
Raccoon City may not have been brought to life how fans of the original imagined, but the level design is strong, the core combat is tighter than ever, and Resident Evil 3 (2020) is filled with unlockables. One playthrough isn’t enough to experience everything RE3R has to offer.
10 Take Out Nemesis With A Single Grenade
In the original Resident Evil 3, running into Nemesis was a matter of life and death– fighting him more so. While Nemesis often dropped more than enough goodies to make fighting him worthwhile, doing so would deplete Jill’s resources considerably and players would need to consider the pros and cons of fighting Nemesis.
Not so in the remake! This time around, a single grenade is all it takes to knock out Nemesis on a Standard playthrough. He’s sturdier on higher difficulties, of course, but he can be a complete pushover on a fresh playthrough. As grenades are almost always available at the ready, there’s no real reason not to take Nemesis out every time he appears.
9 Avoid The Majority Of Nemesis’ Stalker Phase
Nemesis’ presence is an incredibly important part of Resident Evil 3’s identity, to the point where the international release was subtitled “Nemesis,” as opposed to the Japanese Biohazard 3: Last Escape. He’s quite the intimidating presence, and might be enough to put people off the game entirely, but he’s surprisingly easy to avoid.
Nemesis’ stalker phase only lasts during the Raccoon City Streets portion of the game. Not just that, Jill gains access to the Lockpick and Bolt Cutters before triggering Nemesis, allowing players to loot all of Raccoon City without having to deal with Nemesis. Cosnidering how generous the remake is with ammo, Jill can even kill all the zombies for safer traveling.
8 Get The Assault Rifle As Jill
The Assault Rifle stands out as Carlos’ signature weapon of sorts. Although he has access to a handgun, it’s his Assault Rifle that he holds onto most often, and it’s his Assault Rifle that gets fed the most ammo across his two gameplay sections. Believe it or not, it’s actually possible to use the Assault Rifle as Jill– but it requires playing Assisted.
In a nod to the original Resident Evil 3’s easy mode starting out Jill with a full armory, the remake’s Assisted mode starts Jill out with an Assault Rifle and some extra Hip Pouches to boot. It does make an already easy mode even easier, but that’s what easy modes are for.
7 Perfect Dodge Anything And Everything
On Assisted and Standard, dodging is quite the useful skill, but it’s not necessary for beating the game. It’ll make escaping from Nemesis an easier task, but he’s not so aggressive where just running and turning Jill intelligently won’t get the job done. That said, it’s smart to use the lower difficulties to practice perfect dodging.
By the time players unlock Nightmare, dodging is all but mandatory. It’s basically impossible to defeat the final boss on Inferno without knowing how to perfect dodge in succession. On that token, there’s nothing Jill can’t dodge. So long as players have the right timing, Jill has a counter to everything. Especially useful since dodges can be weaved into headshots.
6 Kill Enemies With Carlos’ Punch
Carlos’ punch is downright insane. Where Jill sensibly dodges any enemies who come near her, Carlos either shoves them or clocks them right in the face. The crazy thing is, while Jill naturally doesn’t do any damage with a perfect dodge, Carlos’ perfect punch can actually kill enemies outright. With the right timing, Carlos can save a massive amount of ammo for the horde.
What’s even more nuts about the punch, is that it can even be used to trigger generators. The timing between Jill’s dodge and Carlos’ punch is a bit different, so it won’t be a 1:1 switch in gameplay feel, but if you can perfect dodge with Jill, you can perfect punch with Carlos.
5 Leave Items And Enemies For Jill In The Hospital
Resident Evil 2 (2019) will undeniably go down as one of the greatest remakes of all time– a wonderful reinterpretation of a survival horror classic. But it’s just that: a reinterpretation. In turn, the remake loses something very important to the original’s identity: Zapping. A system which allowed the two player characters to influence each others’ playthroughs, Zapping defined RE2.
While it’s absent from the remake, Resident Evil 3 does feature some centralized Zapping in the hospital between Carlos and Jill. Carlos can actually leave items behind for when Jill wakes up. It’ll make the hospital hoard harder, but Jill’s final chunk of the game potentially easier. Worth noting, Carlos can also leave enemies behind for Jill so make sure to clear the halls for her.
4 Unlock The Shop
The original Resident Evil 3 had the best replay value of the original set of games, in large part due to its host of unlockables. New epilogues would be revealed every time the player beat the campaign (up to 10 times,) Jill could unlock multiple outfits, Live Scenario varied up the story, and Operation: Mad Jackal introduced Mercenaries mode to the series.
Resident Evil 3 (2020) does away with all that, but it does make one very notable and important addition: the shop. Upon completing the game once, players will unlock a shop where they can buy some incredible items for the campaign. Points are earned via challenges, and there are just enough to buy everything, so spend accordingly.
3 Unlock Nightmare And Inferno
Resident Evil 2 (2019) notably had three difficulty modes: Assisted, Standard, and Hardcore. While Assisted mainly speaks for itself, Standard offered a fair challenge and Hardcore more or less refined the difficulty curve. Resident Evil 3 (2020) brings back all three difficulty modes, albeit with two new additions.
Nightmare and Inferno makes the game even harder, remixing enemy placement, making enemies hit harder, and turning Nemesis into the aggressive monster he was always destined to be. Upon completing Hardcore, players will unlock Nightmare. From there, completing Nightmare will unlock the hardest difficulty in the game, Inferno.
2 Fail The Scripted Nemesis Encounters
One of the biggest disappointments with the Resident Evil 3 remake has to be how scripted Nemesis has become in the transition from the PS1 original to the 2020 update. While he still pops out to play via gameplay every now and again, a good chunk of his encounters are either cutscenes, or pseudo-cutscenes with minimal player input.
Interestingly, while said pseudo-cutscenes are pitifully easy (requiring players to the bare minimum or button pressing/holding,) it’s actually possible to fail them. Better yet, failing these sections tend to lead to gruesome death scenes for Jill– something that would have more impact if Nemesis was as relentless during the actual gameplay.
1 Get Stalked By Brad
Upon arriving at the RPD as Carlos, players will have the opportunity to kill a recently turned Brad Vickers. Should they do so on most difficulties, Brad will (naturally) stay dead and Carlos will be able to loot his body. On higher difficulties, however, even is Brad is “killed,” he’ll rise back up over time and begin stalking Carlos outside the RPD.
Brad can actually be seen through the windows, slowly following Carlos. Eventually, though, he’ll crash through and assault the player yet again. As this is a harder variant of the RPD, as well, it’s more than likely that players will have a much harder time with the rematch. If nothing else, this super aggressive Brad is a nice nod to Forest’s One Dangerous zombie variant in Resident Evil (2002.)