Resident Evil
44 Achievements
1,000
25-30h
The Survival Horror
Finish the game in Real Survival mode. Details for this achievement will be revealed once unlocked
30
0.69%
How to unlock the The Survival Horror achievement in Resident Evil - Definitive Guide
-Hard mode
-No storage boxes linked (meaning you have to go back to get the items you placed in a specific box)
-Auto aim disabled (most annoying thing of this mode)
Jill run is recommended (more inventory slots)
I used one of Carcinogen's speedrun videos to achieve this one, might be boring to some people but what I did was watch every step he took and try to follow it the same way. He never saves the game on his world record run but I advise you to always do it before big boss fights (Snake, Plant, etc). He also ignores in the first video, a lot of health items on his way through but I made sure to grab em (in most of the cases I needed them)
Another thing you should note, don't try to save Barry, when you get to Lisa's fight make sure you choose not to give him the magnum back (which will be useful on the Tyrant's first fight), if you do give it back, you will be forced to fight the Tyrant in the roof at the very end, you want to avoid that fight to make things easier. Also don't bother saving Chris either, in the video he grabs all 3 disks to unlock the prison, just ignore those and save some space to take extra health.
This should be your 3rd or 4th run of the game so you should be familiar where the ink ribbons are and when you are ready to save the game each time (even though you have the video for reference making sure you don't enter the boss room without saving)
Might not be a really specific guide but the video is enough to help you get this one, it is challenging but not impossible, I even managed to be in the top 50 worldwide without even trying to finish it really fast, but you don't need to rush, just take your time and be patient on every step, good luck to everyone going for this
Update: First video is a world record video to finish the game the quickest way possible. (He avoids picking up a lot of ammo and health that might be necessary if you aren't a pro player like him)
Two "no damage" playthrough playlists are also posted for those who want to take their time and pick up all the ammo needed to finish (Thanks for the links Raezie).
Special thanks to Carcinogen for the videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D6tdH009Jc Jill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfrclTxigc8 Chris
Below are the notes I took and with them I achieved a time of 2 hours and 17 mins with minimal frustration. The beginning of the game where you need to acquire the 4 death masks is the hardest due to having to manage a lot of key items at once and lots of zombies to dodge. After killing the Crimson Elder and heading to the residence it gets substantially easier
If you need a visual reference, here is the video I made the notes off of. I did modify some things as the player here does some unnecessary stuff like trying to get the dagger in the short hall of the Mansion 1F map room. You'll likely just lose it to the zombie that spawns and waste time.
I prioritized safety over speed in some areas. So I dealt with Plant 42 by making V JOLT instead of fighting it, even though that's faster. There's a lot of breathing room and you just need to get it done in 3 hours, we're not trying for world record times here. Make sure you skip all cutscenes and try to read up on what to do next while going through doors to minimize time in the pause menu. Take a few moments in the save rooms to make sure you have the right items before saving and leaving.
Real Survivor/Speed Run Notes
Golden Arrow & Shotgun
-Pickup ink ribbons in dining room
-Go to Kenneth hall and activate scene.
-Return to dining room
-Return to main hall. Go up the stairs to outside exit and back down stairs for next scene.
-Back to Kenneth Hall, past his body and through door
-Grab herb and go upstairs and through door
-Go left past the mirror, hug the corner to avoid zombie, grab the golden arrow at end of hall
-Continue forward, past zombie, enter door right of mirror
-Return to main hall and exit to cemetary
-Run on right hand side towards golden arrow crypt. Place the arrow, grab book of curses, examine for key
-Return to main hall and enter map room. Continue through to next hall
-Move second cabinet on left for dagger. Continue down hall and exit. Enter first metal door on the left
-Pick up plant killer, heal if needed. Take a red+green herb mix and exit.
-Enter first door on right straight in front of Jill
-Drain tub, get dagger, exit.
-Continue on and enter next door, will be on Jill's right after camera changes
-Enter shotgun room, grab dagger and shotgun, exit
-Try to open far door first, then the other door, Barry saves us
-After scene continue down hall and exit via double doors
-Enter first door on left for East Save Room hall.
-Enter save room and deposit pistol, knife, excess healing items.
-SAVE EAST SAVE ROOM. DEPOSIT RIBBONS
Dog Collar, Key Puzzle, Richard
-Exit and go up stairs and to the right, enter door at end of hall.
-Go right and enter door.
-Grab dog whistle near door and lighter on desk. Exit out same door.
-Continue to the end of hall and exit.
-Get acid shells from Barry and exit to dining room 2nd floor
-Enter left side door toward medic save room
-Enter first metal door to the outside
-Equip shotgun, use whistle, kill dog, grab collar, exit.
-Examine dog collar, examine coin by turning around, get fake armor key
-Continue around the banister and exit through door at the end of the hall
-Go right and over the body and exit at end of hall
-Go forward and swap the keys, exit back out
-Go straight ahead and exit
-Go down the stairs and exit to Kenneth Hall past bird cage
-Exit to dining room floor 1
-Exit to main hall and go up the stairs and to the right
-Enter left side single door
-Enter first room (Richard room)
-After the scene head to medic save room through dining room floor 2
-Go past the medic save room and down the hall, dodge the zombie.
-Enter single door to the right
-Grab the ink ribbons in the desk, exit
-RETURN TO MEDIC SAVE ROOM. DEPOSIT GOLD KEY, GRAB SERUM AND SAVE. DEPOSIT RIBBONS
Death Mask 1, Piano Room, Grenade Launcher Death Mask 2 & 3
-Exit and follow hall straight to end and enter double doors
-Follow hall straight to end and exit around corner
-Use plant killer, yes to pump water and red. Grab mask, heal up if needed, exit
-Follow hall and turn left, exit at end into Kenneth Hall
-Exit through dining room to main hall, up the stairs, left side door
-Return to Richard and give serum
-NOTE: If you were too slow and Richard died, reload the medic room save. You cannot have the serum wasting an inventory slot. Depending on your pace you may need to leave the serum behind. If that is the case just sore it in the medic room item box. Saving Richard doesn't matter, we're just trying to be efficient and avoid waiting outside his door for him to die.
-Exit out towards Yawn and go left down the hall, dodge zombie, enter door
-Light the candles and move the cabinet
-Enter hall a little and lure out the zombie, Kite them away and grab the music score and exit
-Return to dining room 1st floor
-Take the emblem above the fireplace and exit to Kenneth Hall
-Go right past the zombie and in the door on the left for Piano room
-Go around and push cabinet in the back, grab music score and combine with other one
-Use on piano, swap emblems, exit
-Replace emblem over fire place in dining room, go to clock and turn large gear left 2 times, get key
-Exit to main hall, up the stairs, enter right side door on the far right
-Follow the path, get the grenade launcher and grab dagger on the bench next to the body, exit
-Go to Yawn's room and get the mask, exit
-Exit back to the hall and follow the path around to the metal door statue puzzle room
-Puzzle: Far right statue > Close left statue > Close Right statue
-Hit the switch, grab the jewelary box, examine for mask (one button on each side), exit
-Go left down the hall and enter first door by plank
-Head towards stairs and unlock the first door left of the stairs, then go down to the save room
-EAST SAVE ROOM. DEPOSIT GRENADE LAUNCHER, SHELLS and LIGHTER. LEAVE WITH ALL MASKS, SHOTGUN, and SAVE AND DEPOSIT RIBBONS
Death Mask 4, Crimson Elder, Enter Residence
-Exit and wrap around to the door towards 4th mask
-Exit through door across dark hall
-Use 1st glass, skip next 2, then use first 2 on other side
-Get 4th mask and go down to the crimson elder
-4 shotgun shells for the kill
-Grab the Stone & Metal object from coffin and exit
-Get shotgun ammo in graves on left side
-Exit through glass hall and go straight past zombie
-Place Stone object to unlock shed and enter
-Grab battery pack and first aid spray, exit via lower door
-Red rooster face west, blue face north
-Run all the way to the cabin and get the crank. Get hit by Lisa
-Run back to shed and go out double doors
-Go straight and up the stairs to the gate
-Drain the pool, exit out to elevator
-Go straight past waterfall to gate
-Follow the path and enter residence
-Heal up straight ahead if needed, otherwise go past save room and enter double doors
-Pass the spider and go to the lower bar area. Grab red book and first aid kit for a spray and exit
-Push the crate into position
-Exit and head for room 002
-Skip scenes and move the rear bookcases. Left one back and right one to the right
-Enter bathroom and grab key near toilet
-Go back to save room hall and enter opposite door using key
-Enter bathroom, drain tub, grab key, exit
--ENTER SAVE ROOM. GET BATTERY PACK FROM SHELF. DEPOSIT CRANK AND ALL BUT ONE HEALING ITEM. SHOULD HAVE SHOTGUN AND RED BOOK. GRAB INK RIBBONS AND SAVE THEN DEPOSIT THEM.
Sharks and Plant 42
-Enter room 002 and go down ladder
-Follow hall and push crates into water. Start with the crate closest to water
-Cross and exit
-Go down towards the screen and follow all the way around to double doors
-Go down the ladder
-Puzzle: Check and note the correct valve on the table on left. Hit middle panel, right panel, left panel, then around the wall to the pipes and use correct valve #, right panel, left panel, middle panel.
-Go down the stairs in the back and exit
-Go the right and out the double doors
-Trigger shark scene, push console into water, pull lever to kill shark, grab key, exit
-Go left and through double doors
-Go up the ladder and exit
-Back to residence, dodge zombie best you can, exit
-Go to the room 003 common area
-Go down the hall to the body, get the spray
-Go the map spot and use spray
-Go back and get key from dead bee hive
-Enter room 003 and solve red book puzzle
-Back out of this room and go to V Jolt room
-Door code is one of these:
365
356
536
563
635
653
-V JOLT PUZZLE: Grab 2 bottles. Fill 1 with water. Fill 1 with red, combine with water for purple. Get yellow, combine with purple. Grab another jar, fill with water and combine with a yellow. Add green to orange. Add red to final mixture for V JOLT
-Go back to room 002 and down the ladder
-Exit through side door before crate bridge
-Down the ladder and around the corner to the double doors
-Enter single door and up the ladder through control room
-Go down the small steps to the right and enter first door on left
-Use V JOLT on vines and exit
-Return to room 003
-Enter Plant 42 room and skip scene. Get key at fireplace
-Return to save room hall and grab a blue herb
-ENTER SAVE ROOM. DUMP BOTTLES AND TAKE CRANK. SAVE AND KEEP INK RIBBONS.
Back to the Mansion, Yawn, Wolf & Eagle Medals
-Exit out of the residence and head back to the elevator just past the waterfall
-Return to the shed (try to avoid snakes)
-Inside shed grab all shotgun ammo and dagger
-Head toward mansion (hunter scene)
-After hunters appear, go into single door on left toward east save room
-Kill 2 hunters with shotgun outside east save room
-Deposit the crank, any blue herbs, extra healing items, and ink ribbons in save room. Take out grenade launcher and load with acid shells. Have 1 healing item on hand.
-Exit and go up the stairs and left, follow to end of the hall
-Proceed through the next room and exit
-Statue room puzzle. Go down hole when its done
-Grab the book on the ground and press the switch at the grave. Go down ladder.
-Go past the spider, left at the fork and around the corner, pass another spider and exit
-Go forward and grab dagger where water meets dry land
-Enter the water dodging zombies and activate the generator at the end
-Leave water area and proceed down the hall to the right
-In the kitchen, just exit out via elevator. Watch out for zombie.
-Exit out to the right, avoid zombie, enter first door straight ahead
-Grab shotgun ammo, battery pack, and big battery, exit
-Head right and exit
-Head down the hall and try to avoid zombies. Exit out to armor key puzzle
-Proceed to Yawn
-Go down the ladder and kill Yawn with grenade launcher acid shells
-Grab book in the back after Yawn is dead
-Up the ladder and exit. Head to medic save room via busted door near crimson head.
-If needed, go down to medic save room and free up 1 slot
-Enter eagle eye room
-Grab dagger in back left area of room
-Get red gem (the one near exit) and leave
-Unequip weapon. Wrap around the bannister and exit out brown door at end to dining room.
-Exit out to main hall, avoid hunter.
-Go down to floor 1 and enter left side art room
-Go through door at end of hall
-Grab dagger on floor and jewelary box. Avoid zombie and exit
-Combine red gem with box and complete puzzle
()
-Grab ink ribbons in night stand opposite this door and exit
-Exit out to graveyard and take the glass hall shortcut
-Go through the emblem door, dodge hunter
-Turn on lamp and grab metal object, exit
-Go left and through single door for east save room.
-Examine both books to get the Wolf and Eagle Medals
-EAST SAVE ROOM. DEPOSIT BOTH MEDALS, AND GRENADE LAUNCHER. TAKE OUT CRANK. LEAVE WITH SHOTGUN + AMMO, CRANK, BATTERY, METAL OBJECT, HEALING ITEM. SAVE AND DEPOSIT RIBBONS
Going Underground
-Exit save room and return to the hall leading to the courtyard, dodge hunter and exit
-Head to shed and exit out double doors
-Exit out to the pool and go to the elevator
-Place battery into the other elevator
-Take it back up and return to pool
-Refill pool and return to the previous repaired elevator
-Exit out where waterfall was and go down ladder
-Go forward to the item box and dump the crank
-Backtrack to metal door near ladder
-Go forward, left, exit
-Go around lift platform and exit out straight ahead
-Go forward, skip scene, get crank from body
-Exit back the way we came, avoid hunters
-Backtrack again to room we came from
-Left at the fork and dodge hunters, exit
-GRAB INK RIBBONS AT TYPE WRITER AND SAVE. KEEP RIBBONS
Spider Boss, Lisa
-Go past item box and use crank once, grab green herb and exit
-Go right and run up to the boulder, back track to flamethrower plate
-Go left and exit out double metal door
-Spider fight, grab knife from barrels in back right and slash webs to exit
-Heal if needed, blue herb in here if needed
-Exit via metal door opposite blue herb
-Go forward and left at the fork
-Use crank 3 times, then into the gap
-Exit via door in front of you
-Complete statue puzzle, get cylinder
-Exit out and go to where boulder was for first aid box, use if needed
-Return to spider boss room and exit straight ahead
-Go forward and right and exit
-Dump the crank and knife in the item box and exit out to door at ladder
-Go left, dodge hunters, exit
-Go to the console and get shaft, combine with cylinder. Use on console (no need to do the rotating portion)
-Code is 4231
-Go down lift and exit out white door
-Go left at fork and encounter Lisa, then go opposite way and wrap around
-Go down steps and pick up green herbs, combine, back up and exit left
-Push box onto lift and send it out. Exit
-Spawn Lisa at bottom of steps and exit back out to lift
-Down the ladder and crush the box. Get busted flamethrower
-Return to Lisa tunnels
-Go left and spawn Lisa, then to the right and pull the lever
-Go down the stairs, forward and place the flamethrower, exit
-Run across water and grab jewelary near bed. Examine for Stone Ring and combine with metal object
-Go up the ladder, head right and grab herbs if needed, then exit up other ladder
-Exit out cabin and go all the way back to the shed
-Exit out single door and grab the Stone object
-Exit to graveyard through glass hall shortcut. Re-enter Mansion and place the stone objects.
-Return to East Save room, take out Wolf & Eagle medals and Grenade Launcher + ammo and ribbons
-SAVE AT DOOR TO LISA TYPE WRITER. KEEP RIBBONS
Lisa Fight, Entering the Lab
-Head down all the stairs and exit to Lisa
-Go down the ladder
-Tell Barry to piss off and take care of Lisa
-Grab Barry's magnum and exit
-Place medals. Wolf on left, Eagle on right
-Go down to the lab.
-SAVE AT TYPE WRITER AND DEPOSIT RIBBONS
Lab Stuff
-Exit out double doors
-Go around the corner dodging zombies and down the stairs, exit
-Exit through double doors near tunnel, right side. Dodge zombie in tunnel
-Go to the computer: John > Ada
-Select B2F > Cell
-Select B3F, exit
-Exit back to the staircase and go up and through the door ahead
-Use keypad on right, code is 8462
-Go in secret room, grab key and exit
-Back down the stairs and exit
-Go to the back right corner and unlock the double doors, then the nearby single door to get rid of the key.
-Run straight ahead and enter the save room
-GRAB FIRST AID SPRAY AND LOAD GRENADE LAUNCHER WITH INCINDIERY ROUNDS. GRAB RIBBONS AND SAVE. DEPOSIT RIBBONS
Fuel Canister Walk
-Exit and kill both zombies in this room with the grenade launcher.
-Exit to fuel canister room
-SWITCH TO THE SHOTGUN AND KILL ALL 3 BUGS IN HERE
-Grab fuel canister and exit
-Kill the 2 zombies roaming in the next room with the grenade launcher, switching to shotgun if ammo runs out. They won't have time to go crimson, just put em down.
-Go to the fuel fill up room (through single door next to staircase double doors, then the single door near the 3 switches)
-Kill the zombie in this room and fill the canister
-Walk the canister back and place it
-Exit out to next fueling room
-Run through and exit out double doors
-Go left and around to the computer, turn on power
-RETURN TO SAVE ROOM AND SAVE. DEPOSIT RIBBONS. LEAVE WITH BARRY'S GUN, GRENADE LAUNCHER, AND FIRST AID SPRAY
Tyrant and End
-Equip Barry's gun
-Head to the elevator and enter Tyrant's room
-Blast Tyrant with Barry's gun, it's a one shot kill!
-Grab key near Wesker's body
-Go around to the panels in the back and turn off the lock
-Exit back up elevator
-Return to the first save room. Just run past the bugs in the next room and blast zombies in your way with Barry's gun.
-Go up the ladder and use the key at the double doors at the top
-Head down the hall and grab the fuse, place fuse and enter elevator
-Use signal rockets
-DONE!
To first have access to Real Survival mode you must clear the game as either character using the “Once again…” feature on at least Normal difficulty. To earn the trophy, you must clear the game on Real Survival mode with Chris or Jill; I recommend Jill for this playthrough. There are several things to know about Real Survival mode:
- The game difficulty is set to Hard so enemies are strong.
- Auto-Aim is disabled so you must manually aim at all enemies.
- Item boxes are not linked, so what you stash in one is only accessible from there.
- If you achieved the special weapons, they’re not available to you.
See Gameplay Helps/Hints for additional details.
Special Weapons do NOT work on this mode. That includes the Rocket Launcher and Samurai Edge.
Real Survival is unlocked after completing a normal runthrough as one character. For me personally, I unlocked it after my first run as Jill. In the original Gamecube release, you needed to complete the game in Once Again mode for it to unlock. Then again I was playing as BSAA Jill so I'm not sure if that had any factor in it unlocking on one playthrough.
Real Survival is the hardest difficulty in the game, having access to even less items than hard mode with the added problem of the item boxes NOT BEING LINKED. This means if you place something in an item box, it will only be in that item box, and you must backtrack to get that item. Auto-Aim is also removed, so you will have to manually aim your weapon at the enemy. A neat bonus though is that the broken doorhandle near the East-Wing save-room was always working for me, never once got warned about it being broken.
While ammo and other resources are scarce, I found that I was able to (and to make my run more comfortable, NEEDED to) kill a number of enemies regardless of that fact. Be sure to search most of the rooms your first trip to the mansion for ammo. There is not a great deal of shotgun ammo but be sure to use up all six shots in the first shotgun before relying on the assault. The handgun is useful at the beginning but can be forgotten once you kill necessary zombies. Do not go for the shotgun ammo outside Crimson Elder's crypt until you have all four death masks, that way the two zombies out there will have disappeared.
I highly, highly, highly recommend playing Jill's story for this. Due to the easier time you'll have in certain areas (Plant 42 and having Barry's Magnum). Chris's "higher health" doesn't seem to matter at all in Real Survival so there is no benefit to playing as him aside from challenge.
Here are the monsters I killed as well as some special notes and methods to help you in Real Survival. (note: I always made sure to burn the zombie bodies after if I didn't decapitate with a head shot, there's enough uses for 12 burns in the mansion area alone):
- Zombie above East-Wing Save room, in the small hallway leading to the U-Corridor. I used the length of the hallway up here to shoot him but it took 13 shots to defeat the zombie. Burned after.
- Zombie above Serum Save room stairs on the West-Wing, he always starts near the Balcony rather than the tiny hallway leading to the Sword Corridor. This one I shotgunned in the head with one blast (that left me five of six shots in the original shotgun)
- Two zombies near the Serum Room on the stairs and one who breaks through the door later. I didn't kill the first one until later but removing him lessened the stress passing through this area. Because later on a zombie will break through the metal door upstairs and take the place of the zombie I killed earlier. Luring both to the stairs, I killed both with one clip of the handgun with bullets to spare. Burned both the bodies after.
- Zombie on Balcony above Dining Room. He'll eventually move from the side with the statue to between the two doors, making him a nuisance. Burned him after (wasted a shotgun blast thinking it'd take his head off, did not)
- Two zombies in U-Corridor outside the Armor Puzzle Room. These guys would be extremely annoying to constantly dodge so I used my handgun to kill one and blew off the other's head with my shotgun. Burned the former.
- A SPECIAL NOTE! Going back to the Serum Room, the next corridor leading to a Death Mask behind some vines has two zombies that bust through the glass on your way back. As long as you NEVER exit to the Kenneth Hallway, that zombie will not try to break through the door later on (he will attempt on your second run-through of the mansion after Hunters arrive but that might actually be a Hunter trying to bust through, I didn't stick around long enough to find out). So as soon as they bust through the glass, head back towards the Serum Room and go around to avoid that issue.
- One Cerberus for the Dog Collar, required. Shotgunned then stabbed off me with a dagger. Ignore the other one.
- Original Zombie in Kenneth Hallway. I eventually decided to gun him down with the handgun to get him out of the way from the Piano Room, but because of the above tip I never had to deal with a second zombie bursting in here. It may change for you, all I know is he never tried to enter the hallway. Burned OZ.
- Fought Yawn (shot him twice with the shotgun, using up the last of the rounds) until he eats Richard. Lured him, grabbed assault shotgun (already picked up the Death Mask earlier) and left.
- Crimson Elder. Just shot him three times with the grenade launcher.
- SPECIAL NOTE! Lisa Trevor in the cabin, I had the assault shotgun with me and fired two shots at her. The reason for this is that after the second shot she'll spout out tentacles and be unable to do anything during this animation. That is when you run passed her, otherwise she will almost certainly smack you with her fused hands.
- Three Cerberus in Courtyard. These pups were annoying me so I ended up killing them later but you can do it now if you wish, you won't be using the shotgun any in the Residence (except for like one zombie, even then you could just use the self-defense gun). Try to kill two together in a blast to save ammo.
- Mother Neptune. Kill it with electricity, as per usual.
- Plant 42. V-Jolt it. That's all, Barry will take care of the rest.
- Hunter 1. The first Hunter that attacks you, turn around and shotgun it with the Assault Shotgun. I personally had it on me so I'd be able to take care of it.
- Hunter 2 and Hunter 3. These are the last hunters you will have to encounter here, if you follow the method below. Just kill them both with the shotgun, either before or after entering the save-room.
- To avoid all the remaining Hunters, head up from the save room to the fireplace room where a Helmet key door is. Kill or avoid the Spiders after you reach the basement (I personally ran passed them) and kill the two zombies in the next area. Go into the Kitchen and head to the elevator (just lure the zombie out and run around him).
- After reaching the second floor, kill the zombie just outside of the room with the battery and grab the battery. Go out the door here and gun down the Crimson Head in the sword hallway. Avoid the other zombies but if you need to, kill the one near the balcony exit. If you're running out of inventory space, head through the door near the mirrors so you can reach the save room on the first floor. Afterwards, head back up and go back to the sword Hallway, then up to where Yawn is.
- Kill Yawn (I personally used two remaining shots from a grenade launcher and six bullets from the magnum revolver. You won't need the magnum for Tyrant since you'll be using his Barry's), get the book and head back down to the area above the save room mentioned above.
- Unlock the one locked door here to grab the red gem, store the book downstairs then head back up and to the sword hallway again. Go towards the Crow Cage corridor and wrap around to Kenneth's Corridor. Shouldn't be any enemies here and the Hunter won't come at you.
- Run to the dining room, then to the final helmet key door to remove that and grab the box inside. Get the Spencer Key, head upstairs and use the U Corridor to get back to the East-Wing save room.
- Go out the door that's normally broken and into the Spencer room, get the object and store it in the box. Now you're ready to head back out to the Courtyard.
- Two Cerberus by the Waterfall Entrance. Annoying so I got rid of them with the assault shotgun.
- SPECIAL NOTE! I ran by every single Hunter that shows up in the Caves, it's relatively easy to do as whenever they show up they're more interested in screeching at you than immediately attacking. Use this opportunity to escape. This includes the area with two Hunters. On my way back through this room, one of them stupidly swiped at the wall while the other was too far away so I never had to fire a shot.
- Black Tiger. Because the Incendiary rounds aren't available yet, I had to use Acid Rounds that I picked up from Barry at the start of the game. About 2-3 hits will do him in. Make sure you immediately run to the left or right to avoid a charge. Manual aim can be a pain here and you might miss him with the grenades. Bring a secondary gun to ease the problem. Ignore the two spiders that climb on the ceiling.
- SPECIAL NOTE! After returning to the mansion, start backtracking while avoiding Hunter areas to bring all the items you have in the two item boxes to the item box below the stairs where you'll end up fighting Lisa. Ultimately the only things I brought with me into the labs were the assault shotgun, shotgun ammo (around 20 shells), the magnum revolver, magnum ammo and the fuel canteen/lighter. I doubled back after beating Lisa for the medals to place, then doubled back again to get the items I needed.
- Lisa. Avoid her as usual in the caves then at the Altar, you're going to NOT give Barry his gun back. Afterwards, just start pushing stones. She mostly just stood there while I did this and I didn't have to fire a single bullet. After all stones are down, pick up Barry's Magnum and continue on.
- With all items you need for the labs, I killed the first three zombies in the labs and burned those that didn't decapitate. I also killed the two zombies down on the next floor for the Fuel Capsule route.
- Kill all Chimera in the room where you'll be placing the Fuel Capsule, just to be safe. Ignore all the Chimera in the next area and simply run passed all of them but honestly, you can shoot them with whatever Shotgun/Magnum ammo you have left (do not use your Barry Magnum...at least save 1 shot in it).
- Shoot Tyrant with Barry's Magnum, run to the roof, escape. Don't worry about Chris.
Special Weapons do NOT work on this mode. That includes the Rocket Launcher and Samurai Edge.
Real Survival is unlocked after completing a normal runthrough as one character. For me personally, I unlocked it after my first run as Jill. In the original Gamecube release, you needed to complete the game in Once Again mode for it to unlock. Then again I was playing as BSAA Jill so I'm not sure if that had any factor in it unlocking on one playthrough.
Real Survival is the hardest difficulty in the game, having access to even less items than hard mode with the added problem of the item boxes NOT BEING LINKED. This means if you place something in an item box, it will only be in that item box, and you must backtrack to get that item. Auto-Aim is also removed, so you will have to manually aim your weapon at the enemy. A neat bonus though is that the broken doorhandle near the East-Wing save-room was always working for me, never once got warned about it being broken.
While ammo and other resources are scarce, I found that I was able to (and to make my run more comfortable, NEEDED to) kill a number of enemies regardless of that fact. Be sure to search most of the rooms your first trip to the mansion for ammo. There is not a great deal of shotgun ammo but be sure to use up all six shots in the first shotgun before relying on the assault. The handgun is useful at the beginning but can be forgotten once you kill necessary zombies. Do not go for the shotgun ammo outside Crimson Elder's crypt until you have all four death masks, that way the two zombies out there will have disappeared.
I highly, highly, highly recommend playing Jill's story for this. Due to the easier time you'll have in certain areas (Plant 42 and having Barry's Magnum). Chris's "higher health" doesn't seem to matter at all in Real Survival so there is no benefit to playing as him aside from challenge.
Here are the monsters I killed as well as some special notes and methods to help you in Real Survival. (note: I always made sure to burn the zombie bodies after if I didn't decapitate with a head shot, there's enough uses for 12 burns in the mansion area alone):
- Zombie above East-Wing Save room, in the small hallway leading to the U-Corridor. I used the length of the hallway up here to shoot him but it took 13 shots to defeat the zombie. Burned after.
- Zombie above Serum Save room stairs on the West-Wing, he always starts near the Balcony rather than the tiny hallway leading to the Sword Corridor. This one I shotgunned in the head with one blast (that left me five of six shots in the original shotgun)
- Two zombies near the Serum Room on the stairs and one who breaks through the door later. I didn't kill the first one until later but removing him lessened the stress passing through this area. Because later on a zombie will break through the metal door upstairs and take the place of the zombie I killed earlier. Luring both to the stairs, I killed both with one clip of the handgun with bullets to spare. Burned both the bodies after.
- Zombie on Balcony above Dining Room. He'll eventually move from the side with the statue to between the two doors, making him a nuisance. Burned him after (wasted a shotgun blast thinking it'd take his head off, did not)
- Two zombies in U-Corridor outside the Armor Puzzle Room. These guys would be extremely annoying to constantly dodge so I used my handgun to kill one and blew off the other's head with my shotgun. Burned the former.
- A SPECIAL NOTE! Going back to the Serum Room, the next corridor leading to a Death Mask behind some vines has two zombies that bust through the glass on your way back. As long as you NEVER exit to the Kenneth Hallway, that zombie will not try to break through the door later on (he will attempt on your second run-through of the mansion after Hunters arrive but that might actually be a Hunter trying to bust through, I didn't stick around long enough to find out). So as soon as they bust through the glass, head back towards the Serum Room and go around to avoid that issue.
- One Cerberus for the Dog Collar, required. Shotgunned then stabbed off me with a dagger. Ignore the other one.
- Original Zombie in Kenneth Hallway. I eventually decided to gun him down with the handgun to get him out of the way from the Piano Room, but because of the above tip I never had to deal with a second zombie bursting in here. It may change for you, all I know is he never tried to enter the hallway. Burned OZ.
- Fought Yawn (shot him twice with the shotgun, using up the last of the rounds) until he eats Richard. Lured him, grabbed assault shotgun (already picked up the Death Mask earlier) and left.
- Crimson Elder. Just shot him three times with the grenade launcher.
- SPECIAL NOTE! Lisa Trevor in the cabin, I had the assault shotgun with me and fired two shots at her. The reason for this is that after the second shot she'll spout out tentacles and be unable to do anything during this animation. That is when you run passed her, otherwise she will almost certainly smack you with her fused hands.
- Three Cerberus in Courtyard. These pups were annoying me so I ended up killing them later but you can do it now if you wish, you won't be using the shotgun any in the Residence (except for like one zombie, even then you could just use the self-defense gun). Try to kill two together in a blast to save ammo.
- Mother Neptune. Kill it with electricity, as per usual.
- Plant 42. V-Jolt it. That's all, Barry will take care of the rest.
- Hunter 1. The first Hunter that attacks you, turn around and shotgun it with the Assault Shotgun. I personally had it on me so I'd be able to take care of it.
- Hunter 2 and Hunter 3. These are the last hunters you will have to encounter here, if you follow the method below. Just kill them both with the shotgun, either before or after entering the save-room.
- To avoid all the remaining Hunters, head up from the save room to the fireplace room where a Helmet key door is. Kill or avoid the Spiders after you reach the basement (I personally ran passed them) and kill the two zombies in the next area. Go into the Kitchen and head to the elevator (just lure the zombie out and run around him).
- After reaching the second floor, kill the zombie just outside of the room with the battery and grab the battery. Go out the door here and gun down the Crimson Head in the sword hallway. Avoid the other zombies but if you need to, kill the one near the balcony exit. If you're running out of inventory space, head through the door near the mirrors so you can reach the save room on the first floor. Afterwards, head back up and go back to the sword Hallway, then up to where Yawn is.
- Kill Yawn (I personally used two remaining shots from a grenade launcher and six bullets from the magnum revolver. You won't need the magnum for Tyrant since you'll be using his Barry's), get the book and head back down to the area above the save room mentioned above.
- Unlock the one locked door here to grab the red gem, store the book downstairs then head back up and to the sword hallway again. Go towards the Crow Cage corridor and wrap around to Kenneth's Corridor. Shouldn't be any enemies here and the Hunter won't come at you.
- Run to the dining room, then to the final helmet key door to remove that and grab the box inside. Get the Spencer Key, head upstairs and use the U Corridor to get back to the East-Wing save room.
- Go out the door that's normally broken and into the Spencer room, get the object and store it in the box. Now you're ready to head back out to the Courtyard.
- Two Cerberus by the Waterfall Entrance. Annoying so I got rid of them with the assault shotgun.
- SPECIAL NOTE! I ran by every single Hunter that shows up in the Caves, it's relatively easy to do as whenever they show up they're more interested in screeching at you than immediately attacking. Use this opportunity to escape. This includes the area with two Hunters. On my way back through this room, one of them stupidly swiped at the wall while the other was too far away so I never had to fire a shot.
- Black Tiger. Because the Incendiary rounds aren't available yet, I had to use Acid Rounds that I picked up from Barry at the start of the game. About 2-3 hits will do him in. Make sure you immediately run to the left or right to avoid a charge. Manual aim can be a pain here and you might miss him with the grenades. Bring a secondary gun to ease the problem. Ignore the two spiders that climb on the ceiling.
- SPECIAL NOTE! After returning to the mansion, start backtracking while avoiding Hunter areas to bring all the items you have in the two item boxes to the item box below the stairs where you'll end up fighting Lisa. Ultimately the only things I brought with me into the labs were the assault shotgun, shotgun ammo (around 20 shells), the magnum revolver, magnum ammo and the fuel canteen/lighter. I doubled back after beating Lisa for the medals to place, then doubled back again to get the items I needed.
- Lisa. Avoid her as usual in the caves then at the Altar, you're going to NOT give Barry his gun back. Afterwards, just start pushing stones. She mostly just stood there while I did this and I didn't have to fire a single bullet. After all stones are down, pick up Barry's Magnum and continue on.
- With all items you need for the labs, I killed the first three zombies in the labs and burned those that didn't decapitate. I also killed the two zombies down on the next floor for the Fuel Capsule route.
- Kill all Chimera in the room where you'll be placing the Fuel Capsule, just to be safe. Ignore all the Chimera in the next area and simply run passed all of them but honestly, you can shoot them with whatever Shotgun/Magnum ammo you have left (do not use your Barry Magnum...at least save 1 shot in it).
- Shoot Tyrant with Barry's Magnum, run to the roof, escape. Don't worry about Chris.