Of all of the boss fights in Resident Evil Village, the longest is the one with Moreau. It has three distinct stages and can take over an hour for players who get lost, lack firepower, or have a hard time puzzle-solving under pressure. Watch streamers do the fight for the first time live usually results in the host asking for help from their audience on more than one occasion.
For those interested in mastering the complexities of this prolonged encounter, this guide will go over each stage step-by-step. Everybody can use a little bit of guidance and Moreau is more complex than his counterparts. With a bit of knowledge and some big guns, this fight can be a snap.
Running Away
- Get the Boat Key.
- Get on the boat.
- Sail to the cave.
The first part of the fight is actually to run away back to the direction Ethan came from. This part is not too dangerous, but it's easy to get lost. Do not spend any ammunition shooting at the slime. Most of this slime is completely harmless. There is some slime that is in the way, but a few swings of the knife will do the trick just as well as using bullets. Moreau himself takes quite a few bullets, so any that are wasted at this stage will be sorely missed later.
Eventually, Ethan will be forced to take a turn away from the initial entry. Swing at some wood with yellow tape on the left side to lower a bridge into place and cross.
This will lead to an area where a group of zombies will ambush Ethan. They aren't anything special and are quite easy to dispatch or run away from, but they are acting as guardians for something extremely special. Find the Boat Key in the shack next to the tree, hanging on a keyring next to the door. Players that don't grab this now will be forced to backtrack later via an in-game hint. Save Ethan a trip and grab it now.
Exit this mine and find the boat by the dock. Hop on and start it up with the Boat Key. The Boat Key can be used on other boats, so keep this in mind after exiting this area.
While Moreau's fishy friend will make attacks at Ethan during this stage, it's all for show; players can't be killed by the fish while on the boat. There is only one path forward, so keep sailing and disembark at a short cave.
After a few steps, a cutscene will trigger. The giant fish isn't done yet and will interrupt the conversation to kick off stage number two.
Platforming To The Windmill And Back
- Go to the Gatehouse.
- Platform to the second windmill.
- Turn on the electricity.
- Go back to the Gatehouse.
- Drain the lake.
Unlike the last area, there is only one way forward, so it's harder to get lost, but it's very easy to get eaten alive. Go to the Gatehouse and attempt to restore power. Ethan will find out that there isn't enough power and will have to restore electricity by visiting the windmill in the middle of the lake.
As luck would have it, the Duke has set up shop in the middle of this pandemonium. Buy as much ammunition as possible at this time. Prioritize buying rounds that do extreme bursts of damage like the shotgun or the revolver.
After attempting to power up the first windmill (don't worry, the crank will always break), get going across the lake toward the second one. Wait for the fish to attack before crossing the makeshift floating bridges. Much like when driving across train tracks, it's better safe than sorry. The giant fish will instantly kill anything it hits.
At various points, the player will have the option to chop down wood, activate levers, and push carts to make bridges. There is no wrong way to form a bridge, so go ahead and make these bridges whenever prompted.
There is a section here that involves flicking on switches that raise segments of blue, orange, and white-taped bridges for very short amounts of time. To get to the white switch, pull the blue lever, cross one segment, pull the orange level, cross one segment, then pull the newly-created blue lever, and cross completely.
This next part can have expert gamers struggling for long stretches of time. The white bridge stays up for much longer than the blue and white bridges, so don't feel too rushed by that segment, but do hurry on the other two. Pull all three levers on the small island with the white lever. Pull the blue and orange levers in the opposite order from how Ethan arrived at this island; think of it like working backward. When back across, pull the blue and orange levers one final time and run across the complete bridge with the white segment.
This will get players in position to push a final cart into the water. Cross, slice through slime, climb a ladder, pull another lever, and raise a ship from the depth of the water. Cut through some more slime and this will finally lead to the second windmill. Use the crank on this windmill and it will power up properly this time.
Mercifully, the map has a zipline on top of the windmill that goes back to the first windmill. Power this one on with the crank as well and head back to the Gatehouse.
There is one final puzzle before doing combat with Moreau in his final form. To power on the sluice gate and drain the lake, the lights have to match the paper on the left. The problem is that the permanently black light is in a different location. To solve this puzzle, imagine that the picture has shifted 90 degrees to the left and then copy that pattern.
Drain the lake and gear up for a fight.
Combat With Moreau
- Kill Moreau.
Finally, it's time for a straight-up fight with Moreau and his giant fish. Keep in mind that Moreau can only take damage while he is partially expelled from the mouth of the fish. That's why having a weapon with solid burst is important so that Ethan can take advantage of these brief windows of time.
For his attack, Moreau will spew acid directly in front of him. During this attack, go around the corner of one of the now unsubmerged buildings.
About halfway through the fight, Moreau will climb on top of a building and spit acid into the sky. This creates acid rain and will damage everything that doesn't have a roof over it. Most of these buildings have a porch area with a small roof that can be used to stay safe. As soon as Moreau begins to climb, seek safety. On harder difficulties, being outside for more than a few seconds will kill poor Ethan.
After the acid rain, he returns to the ground and goes back to the same strategy as before. Shoot him while he's exposed and, eventually, he'll explode. Congratulations on getting through Moreau. Hopefully, Ethan's hands didn't get too scalded by vomit.