Quick Links
- How To Survive The Second Village Square Battle
Chapter Three in Resident Evil 4 Remake pits Leon against bigger, tougher monsters – in particular, ferocious animals empowered by the cultists’ mysterious benefactor! There’s a lot of combat in this chapter, so stay sharp and keep an eye on your ammo as you explore new areas and revisit old ones.
If you’re having trouble with the many fights between the Village Chief’s house and the lake, this guide has all the strategies you need to come out on top. Are you ready to face the Lord of the Lake?
This guide contains minor spoilers.
Updated April 15, 2023: We’ve added a video walkthrough to this guide so you can breeze through Chapter Three with all the information you need.
How To Survive The Second Village Square Battle
When the chapter begins, you’ll have a brief conversation with Hunnigan. Afterward, examine the photograph hanging on the wall to the left of the bed. Behind it is a lever, which reveals a ladder to the attic. The ladder is still too high to reach, so remember it for later.
Go downstairs and unlock the front door to leave the house. From the right, you’ll hear a dog whining – follow the trail around the house to free the dog from the trap it’s caught in.
Gather any remaining loot in the area, then use the Insignia Key to open the gate across from the house’s main entrance. Along the path beyond, you can find some money in the lit shed to the right by smashing the barrel inside.
When you emerge from the caves, you’ll see a Ganado fleeing in the distance – you could theoretically take him out with the rifle if you’re exceptionally quick and accurate, but it’s better to save the bullet.
Open the gate at the end of the trail to return to the village’s main square. You can shoot the crow in the middle of the main plaza for some extra cash. Be careful as you walk down the street, though – while you’ve been gone, the villagers have rigged the watchtower to explode. Pull back to avoid the collapsing building, and be ready to fight a pack of infected wolves.
The wolves can take a lot of damage, so shotgun blasts are your best bet. Two of the four wolves will resurrect, so you’ll need to perform knife finishers on them to save yourself a lot of trouble.
If you’re low on shotgun shells, try shooting the wolves as they charge. This will usually stop them momentarily, giving you a chance to move and prepare your next shot.
Hiding in the houses seems like a good tactic at first, but the cultists have been busy – they’ve padlocked many of the doors, forcing you to break in. Worse, many of the houses are now booby-trapped with tripwires. Be extremely careful if you decide to go inside any of the buildings!
Once the wolves are dispatched, you can use the small key from Mendez’s dining room to open the locked drawer from before. Inside is a Vintage Compass that you can sell to the Merchant for eight thousand pesetas.
Go through the building immediately to the right of the tower rubble; there’s a tripwire immediately to the right of the door that you’ll need to disarm once inside, and an enemy hiding in the back room. Climb through the back window to get to the town hall beyond the destroyed tower.
Behind the town hall, you’ll find a damaged well guarded by a single Ganada. Inside the well is a hidden tunnel with several barrels full of ammo and supplies – take everything before entering the town hall!
How To Reach The Church
Use the Insignia Key to unlock the town hall door. Inside, the crate to the left contains a nasty surprise – a viper that will lunge at you if you break the crate! Killing the snake allows you to add it to your inventory, but you can’t do anything useful with it yet – the Merchant, however, will reward you if you sell a total of three vipers to him.
Check the cabinet next to the shelves for a Kitchen Knife, then the one to the left of the painting for some ammo. In the next room, shoot the cask hanging from the ceiling for a gem, and open the box on the table for a First Aid Spray.
There’s an open book of Los Illuminados verses on the left side of the table, near an enormous humanoid skull. Examine both, then leave through the door on the far side of the room.
On the back porch, the Merchant has set up shop. This chapter’s deal is twenty percent off the Bolt Thrower, so if you’re planning to use it now is the time to buy. You can also pick up a recipe for crafting Flash Grenades and, of course, repair your knife.
When you’re ready, follow the path to reach the churchyard. A Ganado is digging a grave just past the fence, and you can easily sneak up and eliminate him without much fuss.
To the right, you can get some extra ammo and resources in the coffin-maker’s workshop, but watch out for the Ganado crouched in the corner to the left of the door.
Open the church gate, then walk around the building to the right. At the rear of the building, you’ll find an Elegant Headdress and a ladder leading to a Flash Grenade. You’ll also find a Merchant Request to deface the graves of the “Traitorous Twins.” Return to the cemetery and look for a pair of matching headstones to the left of where you saw the gravedigger. Destroy the symbols on each headstone to complete the Request.
Once that’s done, go back to the right side of the church and enter the side door. Examine the map pinned to the wall and save at the typewriter, then open the trapdoor in the floor and climb down. Walk through the crypt and turn right at the end; from there, you can open the locked gate back to the church for an easy escape if needed.
How Reach The Lake
Once the gate is open, turn around and explore the new path, leading to the left of the crypt. On the other side of the bridge, be ready for an ambush from the left; a Ganado on the roof of the nearby building will throw a Molotov cocktail at you as you round the corner.
Once they’re aware of your presence, you’ll be attacked by about a half-dozen Ganados, one of whom will resurrect. There’s a crate with another viper inside the building, but try to avoid letting the snake out until the cultists are defeated.
When you climb the ladder to the next platform, there will be another three Ganados waiting for you, two of whom have Molotovs. Expect them to attack from both sides of the narrow walkway, and try shooting the lit Molotovs before they’re thrown. The Ganado on the right will resurrect.
When you drop down on the other side of the platform, two more Ganados will come from the left, and a third will drop from above on the right. Be extremely careful while shooting here, since there’s a red barrel and not much room to maneuver.
Beyond are some tunnels – go straight when you first enter to find a barrel with some ammo, then go back and take the side path. There’s a tripwire very low to the ground, so crouch as you advance and stay to the left so that you can disarm it.
The main path ahead is blocked, so take the right-hand passage after the tripwire.
When you come back outside, smash the barrel on your left and read the Merchant Request posted on the fence. As on the farm in Chapter One, there are five Blue Medallions hidden throughout the area to destroy – although this time, there’s a wider area to cover.
When you enter the wide area in front of you, shoot as many crows as you can before they fly away – as usual, they drop valuables. There are two infected wolves that you’ll have to fight here as well.
After dealing with the wolves, look up; where the two ropes spanning the quarry cross is a cask containing a Ruby. Shoot it and collect the gem, then leave through the exit to the right of the large, imposing doors.
At the very end of the next passage, take a quick detour to the right for some extra pesetas, then enter the room at the end of the path. Conduct any business you need with the Merchant and save your game, then open the chest across from his desk to get a Hexagon Piece. You can also take the elevator behind the Merchant to the Shooting Gallery, a minigame that lets you unlock Charms.
Drop down to the docks near the Merchant’s desk to collect some pesetas, and look in the far right corner for a wind-up doll to destroy. Once you’re done in the Merchant’s Hideout, climb the stairs across from the desk and open the door at the top. Use the vantage point on the clifftop to get your first glimpse of the upcoming boss, then climb down the ladder to the left.
How To Get The Boat Fuel
Read the note posted on the wall about fuel for the boat, then go through the crevasse in the wall to the left. The platform will collapse as you walk along it, dropping you into a fight with a Brute and several Ganados.
Once you’ve dealt with the enemies, climb the ramp that the Brute came down and check inside the shack for a Blue Medallion. To the left of the shack is a ladder leading to a vantage point for sniping and an escape route back to the lakeshore, though a pair of Ganados will follow you up the ladder. To the right of the shack is a Ganado with a crossbow firing from above.
There are a lot of snakes in the area, making this a great place to finish the Merchant Request for them. Keep an eye on the ground once the Ganados are eliminated!
Take the path to the right and stay in the water at first. Walk to the northern wall of the area and follow the path to a dead-end, where you can shoot a cask hanging from the back of the fence, on your left. Inside is an Antique Pipe.
Use the boardwalk to reach the back of the Fish Farm. Watch out for the tripwire about midway across. When you reach the supply shed, shoot the lock off of the door and take the gasoline inside. You can also find an egg on the table.
As you leave the shed, look to the right for a small building. The drawer inside contains a Small Key, which you can use to open a locked drawer of your choice. Next, take the left-hand path along the edge of the pond to find a chest containing the next Hexagon Piece. There’s also a Blue Medallion directly across from the chest.
Use the ladder across from the point where you dropped down from the boardwalk to find a raised path back to the Fish Farm’s entrance. A new group of Ganados will enter the area – if you still have ammo for your rifle, you can easily pick them off from up here before they become too much of a problem. Alternately, since they start out grouped together, a well-thrown grenade could also take them out.
Disarm the tripwire at the end of the platform and drop back to the main area from above. Finish collecting any items you’ve missed, then return to the lakeshore.
The Merchant is still in his Hideout, so be sure to stop by before moving on! You can also use the Small Key that you found at the Fish Farm to open the drawer on the lower level of the Hideout, which yields a Brass Pocket Watch worth eight thousand pesetas.
How To Defeat Del Lago
Climb down to the bottom of the scaffolding and take everything you find in the two shacks there. Between the buildings is an alter where you can either place both Hexagon Pieces on it now, or keep moving – either way, you need a third piece to start the second half of this puzzle.
Use the gasoline from the Fish Farm to fuel the boat at the end of the pier and hop in. This will trigger the battle with the monster, the Lord of the Lake (otherwise known as Del Lago).
The boss will pull your boat around the lake, attempting to smash you into debris floating in the water. Steer left and right to avoid collisions while throwing harpoons at the monster to damage him. You have an infinite supply of harpoons, so don’t worry about running out.
You can deal a lot of damage early in the fight by moving as far to the right as you can and throwing harpoons at Del Lago’s side. He’s much easier to hit from this angle than from behind!
Occasionally, the Lord of the Lake will leap out of the water at you. If that happens, pull hard to either side to get out of the way; this attack can’t be stopped and deals heavy damage if it hits.
When the monster dives deep, things will be quiet for a bit – watch for swells in the water and listen for Del Lago to surface. He always resumes the battle by charging straight at the boat, but you can stop him with a harpoon to the face just before impact. If you miss, and he catches the boat in his jaws, rapidly press the action button to escape.
The Lord of the Lake takes a lot of damage, and grows increasingly frantic as his health dwindles. Expect him to make frequent jump attacks toward the end of the fight, but that means you’ve almost won.
Once the beast is dead, a cutscene will play, ending the chapter.