After the failed attempt to rescue Sherry or find Annette, depending on whether you are playing as Claire or Leon, you will find yourself in the Sewers.
Take the elevator to the northeast, which will bring you to a typewriter and an Item Box, then continue along the only available route. After dropping into the water, collect the Handgun Ammo from the pile of trash in front of you.
When you reach the Upper Waterway, you will only be able to continue east. At the northeastern opening of the tunnel—the dead end—you will find some Shotgun Shells. Continue east, climb onto the platform, and go up the stairs. You can collect the U.S.S. Digital Video Cassette from a corpse before continuing upward.
All the doors are locked, so cross the bridge toward the stairs leading down. You will find a Combat Knife on a barrel when you reach the bottom. Jump into the water and head east to drop into the Lower Waterway.
Before the path forces you to turn north, you will find some High-Grade Gunpowder (Yellow) on a pile of trash. A little farther ahead, you will be attacked by an enormous mass of... pure filth. If you have a powerful weapon, get it out of the way. Otherwise... well, these creatures are difficult to avoid, and you need to cross the tunnel.
Follow the only available route and climb the stairs to the Control Room. Here you can collect some Shotgun Shells, read the Email to Umbrella HQ, and open a locker using the SZF code. Inside, you will find Submachine Gun Ammo or MAG Ammo. Then drop through the elevator shaft to locate Ada.
To continue, collect the items in this room, especially the map in one of the corners, and skip ahead to Save Your Partner.
Begin by collecting the Submachine Gun Ammo on top of a white box in the starting room. You will then need to drop from one side of the platform—a contextual prompt will appear—and descend through a tunnel until you reach the Lower Waterway, the river running through the Sewers.
After taking a few steps, you will see a platform to the south. There is a slot for a valve handle here, but ignore it for now and continue northwest. Just before the gate forces you to head north, you will find some High-Grade Gunpowder (White).
Follow the only available route until you reach the Control Room. Be careful, as there are several zombies here. Beside the door, you will find the Email to Umbrella HQ file. There are some Flame Rounds in one of the corners. Pick them up, as you are going to need them.
There is a locker with the code SZF in one corner. Inside, you will find some Submachine Gun Ammo. Now drop through the opening beside the lockers. A cutscene will begin when you reach the next safe room. You will find the Sewers Map in one of the corners, which will prove very useful.
There is some Handgun Ammo on a table opposite the yellow console. Beside the Item Box, you will find the Company Pamphlet and a video player, although you do not have any tapes to play yet. Continue to the far end of the room, where you will see six sockets. Do not touch them yet. Read the documents on the wall for clues about how the puzzle works, then collect the Unlocking the U-Area Door file.
For now, do not remove the plugs from the boxes on the walls, as you cannot solve the puzzle yet. Leave through the eastern door. Activate the switch in front of you to move the bridge, then cross it. Leave through the northern side and head toward the Cable Car Platform to find the T-Bar Valve Handle on a small table.
Go down the nearby stairs to find the Delivery Receipt, then return to the bridge. In addition to a Red Herb and a Blue Herb, you will find a safe. Its combination is left 2, right 12, left 8. Inside, you will find the Reinforced Frame (SLS 60)/Shotgun Stock (W-870).
Leave through the southeastern door and go down the stairs, watching out for the zombies. You will find a Green Herb and a lever that opens a path to the Lower Waterway. Drop into the water and look to your left before continuing to find a Hand Grenade.
Head east through the Lower Waterway and run as soon as that damned creature appears. Climb onto the platform against the southern wall and use the T-Bar Valve Handle to clear the way. In this small room, you will find High-Powered Rounds for the handgun—or Shotgun Shells when playing as Leon—and an elevator you can use.
In the room above, you will find a Roll Film, some Handgun Ammo, another Hip Pouch, and a door that you can unlock to continue. You will emerge onto a walkway. Be careful, as the area is full of zombies, and you need the Rook Plug from the panel in the corner opposite the bridge. However, do not take it yet.
Do not cross the bridge yet. Instead, head south and walk past the Workers’ Break Room. Go down the stairs and collect the U.S.S. Digital Video Cassette beside the second corpse. Continue along the only available route. A gigantic monster may attack you while you are in the water. If you have Hand Grenades, the best way to kill it is to let it grab you. You will then be able to shove a grenade into its mouth. Two or three should be enough to kill it.
Continue along the only available route. When you reach the Upper Waterway, head west and climb onto another platform where you can use the T-Bar Valve Handle.
Go down the stairs to find the Sewer Key hanging on the wall above the desk. If you continue west, you will find another place to use the T-Bar Valve Handle, opening a shortcut to the Treatment Pool Room, where the bridge and safe room are located.
Do not climb down the ladder opposite the desk. This is the final area you should visit. Turn around and go back the way you came. When you return to the Upper Waterway, where the monster attacked you, you will find some High-Powered Rounds in the northeastern tunnel. If you are playing as Leon, you have already done this.
Return to the bridge where you found the Rook Plug. You can use the key you just collected to open the door to the Workers’ Break Room. On the table, you will find the Jazz Festival Flyer. There is also some Gunpowder on the table and Handgun Ammo inside a locker.
If you look closely, you can push the cabinet beside you, revealing an elevator that takes you back to the Police Station.
This section is entirely optional, and you can skip it if you wish. If you decide to do so, go directly to Back to the Sewers.
Simply retrace your steps and climb the stairs to the elevator that returns you to the Secret Room beneath the Goddess Statue. Use the T-Bar Valve Handle and you will be able to enter the Main Hall. This time, there is no Tyrant!
First of all, this is the perfect opportunity to collect any items you may have left behind the last time you were here, while fleeing from that damned creature. Bear in mind, however, that there are now Lickers in the hallways. In the Darkroom, you can develop the Roll Film you collected earlier to obtain the Hiding Place file.
You can now return to the S.T.A.R.S. Office and find a wooden box in the small office to the left of the entrance. Examine it to obtain the Extended Mag (MQ 11)/Red Dot Sight (Lightning Hawk). Take the USB Dongle Key with you as well. Examine it, turn it over, and press the button to transform it back into the S.T.A.R.S. Badge.
Next, go to the Press Room on the ground floor of the eastern wing. Look for a small table with a boombox in the northwestern corner of the room, where you can collect Needle Cartridges or Fuel.
Return to the Main Hall, enter the Secret Room beneath the statue, and take the elevator down. Descend the stairs and look to the right of the door leading back to the Sewers to find a display case. Use the badge to collect the Suppressor (MQ 11)/Long Barrel (Lightning Hawk).
Use the elevator again to return to the Sewers. You should now be much better equipped. Use the Sewer Key to open the door to the Water Injection Chamber. Inside, you will find something important: a container of Large Gunpowder and another of High-Grade Gunpowder (White). The choice is yours, but combining them will give you plenty of ammunition for your special weapon—the Grenade Launcher or Shotgun—which will come in very handy soon.
You will find a Combat Knife if you go down the stairs beside the room’s entrance. Now the fun begins. Make sure that you have at least five free inventory slots and at least one Blue Herb. Cross the bridge, collect the Rook Plug, and go down the stairs beyond the Workers’ Break Room. Cross the Upper Waterway and return to the desk where you found the Sewer Key.
Now climb down the ladder that we previously told you to avoid. Quickly cross the water, climb onto the platform, and continue a little farther until a prompt tells you to drop down. The area is crawling with those gigantic monsters. Keep heading west whenever possible until you reach the Supplies Storage Room. Do not stop to fight.
When you reach your destination, climb down the ladder. You will see an empty plug socket in front of you. Turn left and, after going through the door, turn around to find the Queen Plug. Use it a little farther ahead to open a door leading to a staircase.
At the top of the stairs, you can collect the King Plug. A zombie will have appeared below, so be careful when dropping down. Before removing the Queen Plug, cross back over and use the King Plug beside the stairs you just climbed. This will allow you to collect the Spark Shot/Chemical Flamethrower, which are ideal weapons for dealing with the gigantic creatures.
Turn around and collect both the King and Queen Plugs. Use the Queen Plug to return to the ladder you climbed down at the beginning, then use the King Plug to open the gate in front of it. This will allow you to retrieve the Queen Plug, return to the ladder, and collect the King Plug. You now have all the plugs!
Now that you have all the plugs—the other three are already in the puzzle area—you need to head back. To avoid the monsters in the Bottom Waterway, remain close to the northern wall. You will eventually reach a safe platform. Now return to the Monitor Room.
If you wish, you can play the U.S.S. Digital Video Cassette on the monitor. You will see a famous scene from the original RE2. Make sure the three plugs you collected are in your inventory, then prepare to solve the Chess Plug Puzzle. Simply arrange the plugs as follows:
In the panels on the left:
And in the panels on the right:
Note: Bear in mind that this puzzle is different during a 2nd Run. You can find the alternate solution here.
Go down the stairs and continue to the far end of the area, into the Main Power Room. In addition to a Red Herb, you will find another puzzle—an electrical panel—in the southwestern corner. Simply turn on switches 1, 2, and 4.
You can now use the lever to reach the Garbage Collection Room and finally rescue Sherry... or perhaps not. When you attempt to leave, a claw will tear through the ceiling and a fire will break out. Avoid the claw while keeping an eye on the ceiling.
As soon as the monster tears down the metal door, run down the hallway, as it will need a few seconds before it can attack you after entering. When you drop down from the ledge, turn around and prepare yourself.
This time, before doing anything else, look to your right to find the crane controls and press the left-arrow button. This will move the container out of the way and give you more room to maneuver.
You now need to shoot Birkin with your most powerful weapons until he drops to one knee. His weak points are the eye on his right shoulder and the one on his back. Then press the container’s right-arrow button to strike him with tremendous force. If you deal enough damage—stunning him three times should be sufficient—you can knock him off the platform with a single hit from the container.
There is a small trick you can use: throw a Flash Grenade at him to temporarily immobilize him. The problem is that he will recover fairly quickly. To make this work, press the right-arrow button, run to the opposite side, and throw the grenade to paralyze him so that the container strikes him.
Once you have defeated him, finally head to the Garbage Collection Room. After the cutscene, make your way to the Cable Car Platform to complete this extremely long section and reach the Laboratory. You will unlock the A Great Need for a Shower Achievement/Trophy.
