Resident Evil 3 can be a decently challenging game on its Standard difficulty, but once you’ve conquered that, you might want to consider moving up to its Hardcore difficulty next. Here are some Resident Evil 3 Hardcore tips to help you get started.
Learn How to Deal With Zombies
The zombies are by far the most dangerous aspect of your Hardcore run in Resident Evil 3. There are so many of them, and they can grab you easily. Because just one zombie bite can put you into Danger status, getting surrounded with no way of dealing with them will prove fatal.
To that end, you need to learn how to manage them effectively. The first tool at your disposal is the quickstep. Jill can completely avoid getting grabbed if you quickstep away from a zombie at the right moment, saving you precious ammo. It’s worth noting that this is a pretty risky maneuver, though, so only use it if you’re confident. Picking up Chris’ field manual from the in-game shop can help.
On the other hand, the handgun still proves to be one of the most useful weapons in the game. It can be used to dismember zombies, making them significantly less dangerous when you’re backtracking through areas. You can also use the handgun to shoot zombies until they flinch and get stunned for a few seconds, allowing you to run past unscathed.
Make sure to grab the dot sight early on to make things easier for yourself. With the dot sight, it’s also easier to snipe enemies from afar.
Save the Explosive Barrels for Nemesis
Early on in Resident Evil 3, while you’re exploring Raccoon City, you’ll notice that the streets are filled with red explosive barrels that you can shoot. It might be tempting to use those to kill the zombies, but I strongly recommend saving them for when Nemesis appears instead.
While it’s impossible to kill Nemesis at this point, you can stun him to make him drop Umbrella crates, which offer resources, and handgun upgrades. It’s definitely a waste to use your grenades on him (which will come in handy later on in the game), so consider using the explosive barrels instead.
Feel free to use the barrels on zombies in areas where you won’t spend much time with Nemesis, though, like the one on the rooftop for instance.
Rely on the Knife
One of the biggest Resident Evil 3 Hardcore tips we can give you is to make use of Jill’s knife. Unlike in Resident Evil 2, the knife doesn’t have a durability meter, which means that it can’t break. Because of this, the knife can end up being a pretty good way of finishing off downed zombies.
Whenever you shoot and stun a zombie, run behind them and start knifing them as much as you can to deal more damage. Knife damage isn’t very high, but it’ll at least let you save a bit more ammo if you’re trying to kill a zombie. It’s also good for checking if zombies are dead, even after they fall to the ground.
Craft Shotgun Shells
Similar to the RE2 remake from last year, once you get the shotgun, zombies become much less of a threat in Resident Evil 3. Because ammo is so scarce, building a healthy stock of shotgun shells will be much harder in Hardcore mode. On the flip side, while handgun ammo pickups will be scarcer as well, you’ll still end up with more of those in the long run.
With that in mind, whenever you get regular and high grade gunpowder, use those to craft shotgun shells instead. The shotgun is the most versatile weapon in the game, allowing you to decapitate zombies in a pinch, and they’re also capable of taking out the Hunters in the Sewers with four mouth shots if you want to save your grenade launcher rounds.
Speaking of the grenade launcher, you might want to save that one for emergencies, or for the Hospital and NEST 2 levels, when the Pale Heads start showing up.
And those are all the Resident Evil 3 Hardcore tips we have for now. Be sure to search for Twinfinite’s guide wiki for more tips and information on the game.
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