Xeno Crisis

Getting an S Rank means that you can only get hit 0 or 1 time during the entire level. The Forest and HQ were the most difficult of the S Ranks for me. The Forest due to difficulty of the boss (as Healtti mentions, it seems like the boss is almost always able to hit you once, and I agree), and HQ because of how long the level is.

I personally used Seed 5 for this if you want the exact same map layout.

Here is my run through of the Forest S Rank. Remember to use the debug and backer menus.


First of all, you will want to bring up the debug menu. On the main menu highlight Options and then hold down , , , and then . Make sure to turn on infinite ammo and infinite grenades. I personally believe that it is best to not put infinite health so you can tell when you get hit. Also change the level to The Forest. If you want the same map layout as me pick seed 5.

Next you will need to bring up the Backer menu. Go back to the main menu and highlight Options again and then hold down , , , and then and choose backer 7 Jacqui. Also select The Forest as the starting area.

Make sure to change your difficulty to easy on the options menu.

Co-Op: I personally found that using the second controller trick that I used for my S Rank run through of HQ made the boss battle harder since the boss had double the health. If you wish to still use the second controller co-op trick below is a short explanation.


Some tips to make a successful S run.
- An S rank run means that you can only get hit once. Your second controller can get hit an unlimited number of times.
- When going through rooms always go up when you can get a chance. Side rooms tend to only have survivors and will have a dead end.
- If you use Seed 5 you will get the same map layout.
- To get quick kills against any enemy throw your grenade directly at the enemy. A direct hit will instantly detonate the grenade to kill the enemy quickly.
- Prioritize the enemies that shoot out poison on the ground. The poison will stay on the ground for a few seconds and will hurt you if you walk over them. You can roll over them with . Throwing a grenade at them and getting a direct hit will instantly kill the turret. There is a cooldown period between grande throws. So instead of always spamming grenade use them wisely and wait for a gun turret to spawn, for there will be a lot of them in this level. In the event that you cannot throw a grenade you do have enough time to kill it with your gun, but you must start shooting it immediately. If you have a second delay you have the potential to get hit.
- After the gun turrets I found the flying enemies to be the second hardest enemy. I mainly used grenades to kill them.
- Always look at the floor to see any shadows. A shadow indicates that an enemy will spawn there. I had many failed runs because an enemy dropped on top of me.
- You can roll with , so if you are about to get shot try rolling away. Please be aware that if you are shooting it will have a second delay before you can roll.

Boss Battle
This boss is difficult and can teleport to any corner of the map and shoot you. You will have to constantly spam grenades while also rolling away from the boss and his shooting.

First off access the cheat menu by highlighting options and holding LT+Y+left+start. This allows you to turn on infinite ammo/grenades as well as using stage select to retry the level as much as needed.

Tip from Bastian Reader is to play with 2 controllers as the ranks are separate and the 2nd player can help to distract enemies off of you. Although I believe the bosses have double the health in 2 player so it may not be worth the trade off without an active 2nd player to help you out on the harder bosses.

This level was the 2nd hardest for me next to HQ. I went with seed 4 on this clip I believe which seemed a little shorter than the first few but that could just be me. Basic strategy for all levels is spam grenades with LT while trying to keep your back to a wall without a door on it as there is virtually zero spawn protection with enemies popping up or jumping right on you if you're anywhere off the wall. This level in particular is hard to stick to that with the plants that shoot acid clouds at you that were a little difficult for my partially colorblind self to see.

Always go up when available and try to find the shortest route to the end. Again S rank has nothing to do with score so don't even bother going for extra grenades/health/rescuing hostages if it remotely puts you in danger. I typically would go right for the hostages if possible just to clear them off the screen and have one less distraction but if they're right next to a spawn door then I wouldn't bother.

This took me well over an hour of retrying and you can see in the clip I came very close to rolling right into a couple bullets on the boss. You can roll through them which is probably a safer bet than trying to dodge them up close. You can also practice the boss fight in the boss rush mode which is unlocked after beating the game on hard.

So this is far from a perfect guide with some kind of cheese method and more just some guidance on what exactly the requirements are. The game still has a very easy 750gs with the cheat menu that requires no skill but the S ranks still require a fair amount of skill and time to get the completion. Good luck and if you find yourself not making any headway, might be best to try different seeds in the cheat menu and see if the layout treats you a little better.

Also, one final tip for all levels would be to avoid the BFG gun if possible. Thing is way too slow and has some kickback on it resulting in me getting hit nearly every time I picked it up. The rocket launcher gun is by far the best gun imo but they all only last 20 seconds so you can't save them up.