100% or Bust #3: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Resident Evil 7 is unique amongst the series for having a range of DLC – two story based DLC and two Mini game DLC's comprised of several different tasks. The two story DLC – End of Zoe and Not a Hero I should be able to do fine. I'm less sure about the two editions of Banned Footage. Comprising them are: Bedroom, Nightmare, Ethan Must Die, 21, Daughters and Jack's 55th Birthday. Bedroom, 21 and Daughters should be okay, Nightmare and Ethan Must Die are going to be quite the challenge and admittedly I don't know much about J55B. Let's see how it goes!
Stage 1: Nightmare and Night Terrors
First up on Clancy’s trip to Hell is Nightmare which has you locked in the processing area beneath the Main House, trapped in a wave based horde mode. By activating scrap processors, Clancy can collect scrap to spend on Weapons, Weapon Upgrades and Skills to help him survive as well as things like tripwire bombs and turrets around the environment. The mode is Spread over 5 waves comprised of normal enemies and a special boss fight against Fat Molded and even Jack.
My first attempt, I made it to Round 5 before kicking the bucket. Second attempt I got to the boss of Round 5, which is against Jack with his mechanical scissors. All was going well on this run until I run out of ammo in all of my weapons and since the scrap processors turn off in boss waves, I was forced to use a knife which just wasn’t going to (pardon me), cut it.
There is a meta progression with the points earned leading to permanent progression such as spawning with more scrap or with healing but those two attempts took a combined 1 hour 10 minutes (0:30 and 0:40) and don’t offer much variation and I had other modes to try out. Consequently, I didn’t unlock Night Terrors, the harder version of Nightmare.
Stage 2: Bedroom
After Nightmare comes Bedroom, a puzzle escape room. Trapped in the master bedroom of the Main House, the gimmick here is that Clancy isn’t supposed to be out of bed so anytime he makes too loud of a noise, Marg comes back to check on him. The double whammy here is that everything has to be exactly where it was found, no matter how minuscule the change. Noise only happens when making progress so there’s a fair balance here.
It’s quite an interesting scenario, an escape room that requires you to remember the order of events as they happen. I do think perhaps it’d be more interesting if Marg returned randomly (with the warning still). There’s a point in which you just complete the rest of the room and Marg does return but maybe this bit could be timed? When I originally played back on PS4, I failed at this bit and never completed it. Doing it properly earns us ‘Like Mama Used to Make’ (Referencing the food Marg brings that I didn’t actually mention).
There’s also a kind of collectible in this mode - dead rats. You don’t really collect them, rather there’s three that you have to inspect. One of which is hidden in the food Marg serves, requiring the player to take damage. If you had been caught by Marg once or twice then tried this, you’d actually die, which is a bit of a naff way to go. ‘Ratcatcher’ is rewarded for finding and inspecting all 3.
Stage 3: 21 (& 21: Survival, Survival+)
Also known as Blackjack, the idea here is simple - draw cards in hopes of reaching a numerical total of 21 or closest to without going over to win. Clancy isn’t in a casino but instead is trapped by Lucas Baker and the bets are Fingers
There are a couple of interesting twists here - the first is that your opponent isn’t perfect and will lock in card amounts that aren’t even close to winning so there’s definite mind games here. The second more obvious feature are the Trump Cards. These special cards are dealt at the same time as the number cards and have special abilities like raising your opponents bet, preventing your own from being raised, card returns and summoning specific cards. Knowing what to use when is important.
Somewhere in the middle you’ll get given a trump card that only seems to benefit your opponent but it’s your key to beating the challenge when Lucas starts cheating in the 11th hour of the game. Beating your opponent and Lucas’ games prove that you must have an ‘Eye in the Sky’.
Beating 21 unlocks the aptly named 21: Survial.
Stage 4: Daughters
A prequel to the events of the game, set on the night Eveline arrived at the Baker household. Playing as Zoe, you get to see Hell come to Louisiana in real time and it’s quite sad surprisingly. The DLC plays similarly to Mia’s tape from the base game in the way that it’s all stealth based (After infection, there’s an uneasy calm before the storm to begin with).
There’s two endings to the DLC and the first one you’ll find naturally is actually the bad one. Reaching the garage with the car keys, Jack and Marge catch up with you and you’re taken away. If only you had made a decision, some kind of ‘Butterfly Effect’ might occur…
The good ending is a touch more obscure but your one hint at the end of the band ending being to ‘Find Mia’. You have to use the free timeyou have before things kick off to find your way. The lockpick you find underneath the house can be used on a drawer in the living room to find a broken bottle for defense, it can be also be used on a locked drawer in the bathroom to unlock a gadget that can be used to get into the attic. Here is a locked laptop, the password of which is the same as Lucas’ phone. This is the one thing that annoys me as this is the only puzzle that would require you to reset and start again. Regardless, the hint you find on Lucas’ laptop lets you open a box to find one of the dog heads. Using it on the front door and making it to the trailer in the yard is the good ending, proving that you have ‘One Instinct: Survival’.
Stage 5: Jack’s 55th Birthday
I didn’t spend much time on this mode but it is very amusing. Playing as Mia, you search around various stages looking for food to feed Jack. It’s kind of like Raid mode in a way and quite frankly I’ve done my time in Village’s Mercenary mode (which is more like Raid) and don’t want to do anymore.
I do appreciate the goofy vibe, hearing a happy Mia and seeing the Molded wearing silly hats made it time well spent. I got A/B/A on the first three stages and called it a day before trying the harder version of the stages. No trophies here.
Stage 6: Not a Hero
Free DLC acting as an epilogue to the main story, Not a Hero follows the man pretending to be Chris Redfield (it’s not that bad, he just looks a bit too different) as he hunts down the sole surviving Baker, Lucas.
I had already gotten the trophy for Not a Hero the first time around so instead of doing it again, I thought why not jump straight into Professional. Spawning with just a Knife and encountering White Mold enemies (More on those later) straight away, I just elected to do another Normal playthrough and sack off Professional completely.
The DLC is interesting in that it’s almost like a Metroidvania (In the sense you’re just swapping Keys for Items). Chris is tasked with finding three members of Umbrella who have gone missing. To find them, Chris needs Night Vision and an enhanced breathing filter for his suit which is kind of Metroidvania ish? Maybe I’m giving it too much credit.
The main new addition to this DLC is the White Molded who act like the Paleheads from the Resident Evil 3 Remake (I know NaH came first). These Molded require special ammo to weaken before they can be killed by normal means. There’s even a new boss fight against what the game calls a Molded Mama - a fat molded who can spit out baby crawler Molded. It’s an interesting idea that I wish the base game had but what can you do. The DLC is primarily combat with a final fight against Lucas who’s molded form kind of looks like G3 from the Resident Evil 2 Remake (Again I know the DLC predates).
While Ammo was never short in the DLC, I finished the boss fight against Lucas with half of my shotgun shells (Like 40), all of my pistol and special pistol ammo, 5 heals and a handful of grenades. It’s a little overkill. No trophy since I already beat it and no interest in doing Professional so that’s Not a Hero wrapped up.
Stage 7: End of Zoe
The other post story DLC is End of Zoe which stars Joe Baker, Jack’s brother and true outdoor survivalist. Stumbling across Zoe’s calcified body, he endeavours to find a cure for her while smacking the daylights out of the molded with his bare hands. That’s the main gimmick of the DLC that Joe is a boxer and 99% of enemies are dealt with via a one-two punch. Landing four successive punches on an enemy is ‘Queensberry Rules’
End of Zoe is certainly harder than I remember, with Molded being able to gang up on you quite easily. The Crawler Molded are an absolute nightmare but wooden throwing spears are a good solution for those. There’s also an elite Molded type I dubbed the Prince Molded thanks to the Crown like appendages on their head but they aren’t special like the White Molded of Not a Hero, they just require a few more punches. There’s also stealth in a very limited sense but you can sneak up and insta kill enemies. Do five of those and you’re really engaging in ‘Swamp Warfare’
I’m a little confused about the presence of the Extreme Challenges knocking about. I assume they’re for second runs but this is my first and I’m 99% sure I didn’t see them the first time I played. Regardless, the DLC is split into sections in which you have to beat a timer getting through. In a lot of cases it’s not as simple as just rushing as many areas require all enemies to be killed. I was ‘The Fastest Man in the Swamp’ in the second section as it didn’t have a barrier. Not really a conscious effort but a win is a win.
Beating the DLC should have earned me the final trophy, ‘Promises Kept’ but I think my Playstation lost connection to the internet or something because I didn’t get it. The final boss is also a massive pain so I wasn’t willing to try it again. Zoe was saved but there won’t ever be proof.
Stage 8: Ethan Must Die
I’ve saved the hardest for last and that is Ethan Must Die. The mode is a permadeath sort of roguelike that takes roughly half an hour and tasks you with getting from the Yard, through the Main House and finally returning to fight Marguerite. It takes roughly half an hour for a successful run. I don’t know how many runs I’m going to tolerate.
Turns out, after 6 attempts in 10 minutes was my limit - I get the appeal of this mode but it isn’t for me
Is this 100% or is it Bust? Well it’s obviously not 100% but I beat 2/4 DLC and within that 5 of 8 Modes. In terms of trophies, that’s 10/21 trophies.
Is it 100% or Bust? As much as I hate to say it, I think its a BUST.
I’m 1 for 3 (technically 0 for 3) at the minute so I really need a win for m next game. Not sure what it’s going to be but stay tuned!
