Resident Evil 2 Remake: S Rank and 14,000 Steps Guide

Resident Evil 2 Remake features several particularly troublesome challenges, achievements, and trophies. Two of them require you to earn an S Rank with both Leon and Claire on Standard or Hardcore difficulty. Another requires you to complete the game in fewer than 14,000 steps. Does that sound impossible? Not at all, which is why we have prepared this guide to help you accomplish both objectives.

Bear in mind that this guide is intended for players who have already completed the game at least once. We will not explain every single detail, as we assume you are familiar with the basic mechanics and understand what we mean when we tell you to "go to point X," and so on.

First, here are all the important points to consider:

• This guide is designed around the trophy for completing the game in fewer than 14,000 steps. This means the route has been optimized to finish as quickly as possible while minimizing unnecessary movement.
• The guide is designed to be followed during Claire’s 2nd Run, although the differences when playing as Leon are minimal.
• You can therefore use this guide as a reference for earning an S Rank on Standard, as it focuses on taking you directly to the main objectives. However, bear in mind that you will need to collect ammunition more frequently. If you are playing as Leon, we recommend spending a little extra time obtaining the Magnum.
• The guide allows for a margin of error of 45 minutes and 4,000 steps. While preparing it, we finished the game in 2 hours and 15 minutes after taking approximately 10,000 steps. Keep this in mind if you want to risk making detours to collect additional supplies.
• The sections in which we indicate that "you should have taken X steps" account for the worst-case scenario. As a general rule, you should have taken at least 300 to 500 fewer steps than the number we recommend, but we have deliberately allowed plenty of leeway.
• Bear in mind that turning while aiming your weapon counts as taking steps, even if you do not move from the spot. Try to position yourself properly before opening fire on any zombies.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THE 14,000-STEP CHALLENGE: this guide is intended to be used for this trophy AFTER earning an S Rank on Standard and therefore unlocking the handgun with infinite ammunition. As mentioned above, you can also follow this guide to earn an S Rank on Standard, as long as you remember that you will need to collect handgun ammunition. If you are having too much trouble, the 14,000-step trophy can be obtained on Assisted difficulty.

Whatever you decide to do, remember that Scenario B (2nd Run) is generally faster to complete than Scenario A, also known as a 1st Run.

Is everything clear? Then let’s begin.

Finding the Three Medallions

• Collect the Bolt Cutter, return to the stairs, open the door, and collect the key.
• Collect the Wooden Boards on the Fire Escape.
• Use the Fire Escape to reach the east hallway, enter the Art Room, and collect the Weapons Locker Key Card. Pick up the Wooden Boards in the hallway.
• Go down to the east wing, enter the Break Room, and collect everything. Store the supplies in the Item Box. Take only the handgun, Bolt Cutter, Weapons Locker Key Card, Fuse, and both sets of Wooden Boards.
• Kill the zombie beside the chained door in the east wing and board up the window.
• Use the Bolt Cutter to open the chained door leading to the West Office. Go to the southern wall and board up the window before the zombie gets inside.
• Collect ALL the items, including the Round Handle, as we will not be returning here.
• Collect the Hip Pouch in the Main Hall, but do not go up to the Lion Statue yet.
• Leave through the western hallway and reach the Operations Room. If you WALK past the Licker, it will not become alerted, even if it appears otherwise.
• Use the Bolt Cutter on the southern door, after which you can discard it.
• Collect the Electronic Gadget and Flash Grenade, then leave through the eastern door.
• Kill both zombies while standing in the doorway.
• Enter the Safety Deposit Room and use the key card to collect the Grenade Launcher.
• Kill the zombie entering through the window in the Darkroom hallway. Reach the intersection and kill the female zombie that falls over the railing before entering the Darkroom. Without moving, wait for the other zombie to come down the stairs and knock it down.
• Enter the Darkroom and collect the Gunpowder from the lockers and the Red Herb at the back.

• Keep the handgun, Round Handle, Electronic Gadget, and Flash Grenade in your inventory. Do not take the Grenade Launcher yet.
• Leave the room and collect the Wooden Boards and Green Herb, combining the herb with the Red Herb. Then go up to 2F.
• In the Shower Room, collect the Flame Rounds from the locker on the right and open the locked locker using the combination CAP to obtain more Flame Rounds. Do not collect the box.
• Use the Round Handle to pass through the showers and collect the Gunpowder at the end.
• There are more Flame Rounds in the S.T.A.R.S. hallway, but DO NOT GO TO THE END OF THE HALLWAY. Doing so will trigger the Tyrant’s appearance. Enter the S.T.A.R.S. Office instead.
• There is High-Grade Gunpowder at the back on the right. You can combine it with regular Gunpowder to make Acid Rounds.
• Collect the Flash Grenade and Flame Rounds directly ahead of you after entering the office.
• Collect the Battery and combine it with the Electronic Gadget.
• Leave the office, but do not head south through the hallway. Return to the stairs instead and go up to 3F.
• Kill the zombie, collect the Spade Key, enter the West Storage Room, and place the explosive. After it detonates, move the cabinet blocking the route to the Library, collect the Maiden Medallion, and run like hell into the Library.
• If the Tyrant has not appeared yet, the explosion will trigger his arrival, so you must move quickly and not waste a single second.
• Enter the room containing the Unicorn Statue and collect the Unicorn Medallion.
• Run to the Main Hall without collecting the Red Book or killing the zombies for now, then collect the Lion Medallion.
• Go down to the Goddess Statue, enter the passageway, and prepare your inventory for the battle against Birkin. You can store the Spade Key for now.
• You should have taken approximately 1,600 steps.

Birkin and the Parking Garage

• As soon as Birkin appears, do not move. Draw your handgun and shoot him in the head until the eye appears on his shoulder.
• If you can continue hitting the eye, you may be able to stagger him several times, although sooner or later you will need to retreat.
• Shoot him with the Grenade Launcher as many times as possible until he falls.
• Go up the stairs—you cannot afford to spend time collecting the supplies—and follow Sherry to the next safe room.
• Collect the Hip Pouch and make sure you have at least two powerful healing items in your inventory, such as a First Aid Spray and a Green and Red Herb mixture.
• After the cutscene with Irons, enter the eastern hallway and proceed into the Kennel.
• Very carefully walk through the room and try not to attract the Licker’s attention. If it spots you, run like mad toward the southeastern exit. Do not worry if it hits you, as this is why you brought the healing items.
• In the Morgue, kill the seated zombie on your left as soon as you close the door. Stay close to the right-hand wall, open the last morgue drawer, and collect the Flash Grenade.
• Then go to the opposite row, open the second-to-last drawer, collect the Diamond Key, and leave the Morgue.
• You now need to pass through the room containing the Lickers again. Do not worry if they spot you, although you can even walk directly beneath them without any trouble if you move VERY slowly.
• The Licker in the hallway will probably leap at you regardless of what you do. Fortunately, you brought at least one Flash Grenade, right?
• Leave through the northeastern door of the Parking Garage, use the Diamond Key, activate the elevator—you can also collect the Grenade Launcher upgrade and High-Grade Gunpowder—and go up to the Chief’s Office.
• Store the Diamond Key in the Item Box. Make sure you have the Grenade Launcher with at least three rounds, preferably Acid Rounds, as you can combine High-Grade Gunpowder and regular Gunpowder to free up space and make more, as well as the Spade Key.
• Save the game if you have taken fewer than 2,300 steps.

The Clock Tower

• Go to the Private Collection Room and collect the High-Grade Gunpowder and Heart Key.
• Return to the Chief’s Office, go up to 3F, and enter the East Storage Room, but collect only the Large Gear and do not continue any farther.
• If possible, kill the zombie that should appear through the door leading back to the landing before leaving.
• Go out onto the Balcony and climb down the ladder toward the burning helicopter. Then go down the stairs and quickly move the lever beside the Boiler Room before returning upstairs and extinguishing the flames.
• You must move very quickly when the Tyrant appears. As soon as the animation ends and he begins walking, shoot him with an Acid Round and run to the Waiting Room.
• Go down the stairs in the Main Hall and use the Spade Key to enter the West Office.
• Run into the small office before the zombie gets up and open the safe—left 9, right 15, left 7—to collect a Hip Pouch.
• Enter the hallway. If the Tyrant is not there, walk to the western room and open the door with the Heart Key.

• Once inside, collect the Jack Handle, wait for the Tyrant to appear, circle around the shelves, and return to the Main Hall.
• Consider saving the game, as this next section is difficult. We had taken exactly 2,822 steps at this point. Do not store the Heart Key yet.
• Make sure you have the Jack Handle and Large Gear.
• If you previously hit the Tyrant with an Acid Round, shoot him with two more to incapacitate him.
• Go up the stairs and take the western door to reach the Library.
• Once again, you must move extremely quickly. You need to move all the bookshelves to the right, while the room is full of zombies, before the Tyrant appears again. If one of the zombies gets too close, use an Acid Round.
• As soon as the shelves are in position, climb the ladder, reach the Clock Tower, and solve the puzzle to obtain the Electronic Part.
• Without leaving the doorway, kill both zombies. Then run to the end of the hallway, open the door, and enter the East Storage Room.
• If you followed our previous instructions, you can go straight ahead—do not turn right immediately after entering—and then turn right, open the door with the Heart Key, and collect the second Electronic Part.
• Run down to the Chief’s Office, enter the Private Collection Room, and solve the puzzle.
• You should still be below 3,500 steps.

The Orphanage and Finding Sherry

• During Sherry’s section, go directly to the western hallway on 1F without approaching the front door.
• There is only one possible route when going upstairs to the Nursery, so there is no way to shorten this section.
• Once you have the key, do not waste steps by approaching the front door. Go directly to the western hallway and continue until control returns to Claire.
• You should still be below 3,900 steps.
• As Claire, return to the Chief’s Office, store the Heart Key, and take a Flash Grenade if you have one.
• The Tyrant appears when you use the Parking Garage Key Card. What you do depends on how much Grenade Launcher ammunition you have: three Acid Rounds will bring him to his knees and allow you to escape.
• When you reach the opposite end of the walkway, before going down the stairs, you can kill two of the dogs and the zombie. Then go downstairs, kill another dog, pass through the door, and eliminate the dog that leaps at you from the right.
• As soon as you enter the Basketball Court, without moving from the spot, kill the dogs attempting to jump over the fence to the northwest.
• This section is tricky: you need to pass through the bus, killing only the zombie inside, and then run to the Orphanage. You will most likely be bitten at least once.
• After the elevator accident, do not waste time collecting items. Drop through the opening, proceed along the waterway, and collect the High-Grade Gunpowder (Yellow).
• In the office above the Monitor Room, collect the Flame Rounds and quickly open the locker to obtain Submachine Gun Ammo before the zombies reach you.
• Drop down to reach the Monitor Room.
• If you are below 4,700 steps, store EVERYTHING except the handgun in the Item Box and save the game.

Finding the Chess Plugs

• Activate the bridge.
• Collect the T-Bar Valve Handle and Red Herb.
• Go through the door leading to the stairs that descend into the Lower Waterway.
• Do not go all the way down the stairs. Instead, shoot the zombies below as soon as you have a clear shot. Descend gradually as they come into view so you can eliminate them without changing position too much.
• Once you reach the bottom, go left, continue ahead, open the door with the T-Bar Valve Handle, cross the walkway, and collect the Sewers Key.
• Climb down the ladder toward the Bottom Waterway.
• Make sure you collect the Green Herb. When you climb onto the platform to continue, do not move: one of the zombies lying on the ground is still "alive," so finish it off to avoid trouble later.
• As you can probably imagine, this section is extremely dangerous. You need to follow the entire path until you reach the platform outside the Supplies Storage Room.
• Obviously, if a G-Adult attacks you, it will poison you, but do not worry about that yet.
• After climbing onto the platform, make sure you kill the zombie. If there is a G-Adult in the water, take the opportunity to shoot it.
• If you have been poisoned, this is why we collected the Red and Green Herbs earlier. Combine them with the Blue Herb located in front of the socket where you insert the Queen Plug to access the stairs, then heal yourself.
• Kill the zombie that drops from the walkway before going up to collect the King Plug. You can then kill the other one without much trouble.
• If you are below 5,500 steps after killing the second zombie, collect the Spark Shot before leaving.
• Make sure you have both the Queen Plug and King Plug, then return to the Bottom Waterway.
• If the following section does not go well, load your latest autosave, which should have been made immediately before leaving the Supplies Storage Room.
• Jump into the water and move along the northern wall. If you see the G-Adults while they are far enough away, remain still and shoot them until they fall. If you cannot see any, run. If a G-Adult attacks, grabs, and poisons you, reload the game. They are not always in the same place. You should not use the Spark Shot yet.

• When you reach dry land again, another G-Adult will appear before you climb the ladder to the walkway where you found the Sewers Key. Quickly climb onto the platform on the right, where the dead zombies were located. If you killed the zombie as instructed earlier, wait for the G-Adult to submerge and then climb the ladder.
• Backtrack along your original route and head toward the Lower Waterway.
• Collect the Green Herb before pulling the lever and the Hand Grenade in the waterway before passing through the opened gate.
• As usual when passing through this area, continue to the end, avoid the G-Adult, open the locked door with the T-Bar Valve Handle at the southeastern end of the Lower Waterway, and take the elevator up to the Workroom.
• Without leaving the elevator, kill the zombie before collecting the Hip Pouch. Open the door and kill the other zombies before leaving.
• Cross the bridge to the north and collect the Large Gunpowder and High-Grade Gunpowder from the Water Injection Chamber.
• This time, collect the Rook Plug while crossing the bridge.
• You can enter the Workers’ Break Room and collect the Gunpowder, combining it with the High-Grade Gunpowder you just collected to make Acid Rounds, but we will not be returning to the Police Station.
• All that remains is to pass through the Upper Waterway while watching out for the G-Adult. You can afford to take a few extra steps by climbing onto the platform and gradually luring it over so you can kill it with the handgun. Then return to the Monitor Room.
• Solve the Chess Plug puzzle.
• Save the game if you are below 6,500 steps.
• Now use the Item Box. This is where one of the two difficult sections begins: take all your Flame Rounds except for three. We also recommend taking every Hand Grenade you have collected. If you want to play it safe, take the Spark Shot and anything else that may help you.
• Continue until you reach the battle against Birkin.
• Here, you are on your own and entirely dependent on your ability to fight the creature. Remember that if you throw a Flash Grenade in an attempt to hit him with the shipping container, he will run toward you before you can succeed. If you want to use this strategy, activate the container first, lure him into the impact area, and THEN throw the grenade.
• Flame Rounds will deal continuous damage and are more effective than Acid Rounds. If you hit one of his eyes with the Spark Shot, keep aiming at it until the dart explodes.
• If you are below 7,000 steps after defeating him, collect the items and continue until you reach the Laboratory. You should arrive in fewer than 9,000 steps. Save the game in Reception.

The Laboratory

• Collect the Flame Rounds from Sherry’s room.
• Use the Item Box before continuing. Keep only the handgun, ID Wristband, and Grenade Launcher loaded with at least three Flame Rounds.
• In the Cafeteria, kill all the zombies from the doorway and make sure you collect at least the Hand Grenade from the corpse immediately to your right after entering.
• Continue to the Nap Room, collect the Electronic Chip, and head to the Main Shaft to obtain the Signal Modulator. Return to the Nap Room, collect the Flame Rounds from the table and the Spark Shot High Voltage Condenser from the locker, activate the Circuit Breaker, collect the Hip Pouch, and run out before the zombie gets up. Continue to the safe room in the East Area.
• If you are below 8,000 steps, everything is going perfectly. Keep only the Signal Modulator, handgun, Grenade Launcher, ID Wristband, and Flame Rounds in your inventory.

• When you reach the hallway containing the two Ivies, neutralize them with the handgun and then shoot each one with a Flame Round to kill them permanently and prevent any unpleasant surprises later.
• Do not forget to collect the High-Grade Gunpowder before continuing to the Greenhouse Control Room.
• Collect the Flash Grenade, enter both codes into the terminal, and obtain the Dispersal Cartridge for the herbicide.
• Go to the Drug Testing Lab east of the Greenhouse and prepare the herbicide. Collect the Hand Grenade and Large Gunpowder before returning to the Greenhouse and climbing down. Collect the other container of Large Gunpowder from the opening before continuing.
• In the Lounge, position yourself before restoring the power so you can kill all the zombies lying on the floor without moving too much.
• Collect the Flame Rounds, restore the power, and proceed to the safe room in the northern hallway.
• Collect all the items and store them in the Item Box, except for the Grenade Launcher and at least two Flame Rounds. Obviously, you should also keep the ID Wristband, herbicide, handgun, and Signal Modulator in your inventory.

• WALK along the hallway until the Licker appears, then enter the Low-Temp Testing Lab, kill the zombie, finish preparing the herbicide, and collect the Gunpowder.
• Return to the hallway, leave through the western door, and go up the stairs. Watch out for the zombie immediately after entering the area, followed by another zombie and an Ivy halfway along the route—one Flame Round will take care of them. Go upstairs, collect the High-Grade Gunpowder, kill the zombie, and return to the Greenhouse Control Room to activate the herbicide dispersal system.
• Activate the machine, enter the Greenhouse, and collect the Electronic Chip. As you leave the area, use a Flame Round to get an Ivy out of your way, then return to the Main Shaft.
• You should still be comfortably below 10,000 steps.

• After entering the West Area, collect the Hand Grenade from the dead U.S.S. soldier.
• Restore the power and continue toward the vaccine, collecting the Blue Herb and High-Grade Gunpowder from the room containing the yellow protective suits along the way.
• Go to the safe room and arm yourself to the teeth with everything you have. Remember that High-Grade Gunpowder (Yellow) can be combined with regular Gunpowder to create Acid Rounds. Do not leave any weapons or ammunition in the Item Box, as you will obtain different weapons for the final boss.
• If you are below 11,000 steps, you are doing extremely well. Save the game.
• Although Acid Rounds will not destroy Birkin’s eyes, they will immediately force him to his knees, giving you time to avoid him or destroy the eyes.
• We cannot offer much more help with the battle against Birkin. At this point, you must rely on your own skill to defeat him. As long as you are below 12,500 steps after killing him, you should have enough room to finish the challenge.

• If you are below the number of steps indicated above, you can afford to collect the supplies before continuing toward the end of the game. In the worst-case scenario, you have 1,500 steps remaining to collect the minigun, defeat Birkin one final time, and complete the train section.