Here's the 60-second pitch for why you should play Heartworm this weekend: Haunted by the past, Sam sets out to contact the dead with only a camera at her side. An abandoned house leads her on a path through surreal, liminal spaces haunted by memory, which her camera flash can dispel as she puzzles her way to the heart of a strange cathedral. Retro-style survival horror feels slick to control here with fresh twists like the camera adding to the action, while feeling a love letter to the genre.

Why play it today?

• Heartworm is now out on consoles, bringing its slick take on classic survival horror action to players outside of PC, and it's been a long time coming

Heartworm has finally jumped off the PC to come to all platforms, and publisher DreadXP mean it – coming to PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch 2, but also the older generation as well. A love letter to PS1-era survival horror, plenty of options allow you to decide how hardcore you want that to be, including the choice to go with tank controls or to turn them off.

With a tremendous horror atmosphere, early hours of the game are tense as you explore with just a camera at your side, able to hit the flash to temporarily light some otherwise pitch black spaces. From there, the game opens up across distinct and surreal environments, each area changing up the style of play slightly, and feeling like they nod towards different survival horror games of the past.

There's a Silent Hill 4: The Room vibe to how Sam navigates the strange, liminal realm she's ended up in to explore these vastly different spaces, from tight hallways in suburban houses to a forest full of its own creeping terrors. Rather than being completely lost in recreating classic survival horror, the moments where Heartworm does its own thing shine, with its TV-static unifying aesthetic being striking, as well as the constant use of your camera.

Time commitment:

Heartworm takes about about 4-6 hours to beat depending on how anxious you get about needing to save your game, how long puzzles stump you, and whether you grab every collectible. Each area is clearly delineated as well, meaning there's easy points to take a break.

Play Heartworm if you love:

Skip Heartworm if you want:

One thing to know:

There are a handful moments in Heartworm that can be a bit too referential, with the final act's breadth of environments sometimes nodding quite directly to survival horror classics in a way that can pull me out. Even so, they're not overbearing, and you're not missing anything if they pass you by, either.

A moment you'll remember:

Like the best horror, Heartworm has a fantastic opening as you explore an abandoned house and the tension rises for just when you'll be thrown into danger for the first time. Thanks to the camera flash mechanic allowing brief bursts of light, Heartworm can make the most of some truly dark locations. These become less prominent later, but it makes for a really memorable beginning.

The final verdict:

In my Heartworm horror spotlight when it launched on PC last year I said that "if, like me, you love retro survival horror from the '90s and '00s, you owe it to yourself to make an evening out of this one" and I stand by that. But, I'll also accept if you need to make it a few evenings rather than binge this snappy adventure in one go. In the time since launch, my fondness for this blend of modern ideas with retro concepts has only grown, and I look forward to seeing more from developer Vincent Adinolfi in the future.

So, where can you play it?

Heartworm has just launched across all major platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, and Nintendo Switch, joining its original PC release. Across them all it's about $15 making this well worth picking up as a budget release.

Have your say:

Check out our best survival horror games list for more!

"Currently, 'Resident Evil' operates on a two-pronged approach: the numbered titles allow players to experience the ongoing drama of the series, while the remake series lets them experience the past," Takeuchi says in a Japanese magazine special published for the series' 30th anniversary.

"Eventually, the remake series will catch up to the era of the numbered titles, and the mechanisms for that are already being considered. In fact, preparations for this have been gradually underway since 'Resident Evil Village,' including the appearance of names like Umbrella and Spencer, and the reappearance of Raccoon City in 'Requiem.' This is all in preparation for a crossover."

At least, that's one version of what Takeuchi has to say, as presented by the Resident Evil Wiki. You'll find it translated slightly differently from other sources, whether that's RENEWS on Twitter or a DeepL or Google Translate rendering of the Japanese text. The gist seems to be the same in every case, though – Capcom's been preparing for the remakes to catch up to the newer numbered games, and it's been seeding references to the OG lore in preparation for a future "crossover."

Naturally, some fans are already taking this as confirmation that remakes of Resident Evil 5 and 6 are in development, but you should probably hold back your excitement for now. Given the success of the previous Resident Evil remakes and the fact that Resident Evil Veronica is currently on the way, it's a pretty safe bet that more remakes will follow, but this quote stops several steps shy of actually confirming that.

Personally, I'm much more interested in what this "crossover" is. In a way, Requiem already served as a crossover between old and new Resident Evil games, pulling elements from all the games that had come before into an expansive blend that brought Umbrella Corporation and Raccoon City back to the forefront of the story.

"'Resident Evil RE:2' was a title we decided to make if '7' was successful. The 'Resident Evil' series, which began on PlayStation, didn't have easy access to its early titles at the time, and even if people could play them, they were decades old. So, it also embodies the meaning of 'reboot' and 'response,'" Takeuchi explains, seemingly referring to the "RE" in both "remake" and "Resident Evil."

"You should understand the meaning of the crossover before the 'Resident Evil' series celebrates its 40th anniversary," Takeuchi continues. "Since we're on the subject, let me give you a hint: 'Requiem' isn't just a title chosen for its meaning of 'requiem.' The spelling of Requiem (REQUIEM) contains not only the 'RE (response)' mentioned earlier, but also a 'Q (question).' In other words, this 'Requiem' presents both an 'answer' and a 'question.' I will explain the meaning of that at some point in the future."

I think Takeuchi is saying that we'll see this crossover bear fruit by 2036, though I don't even want to try to start unpacking all this "question" and "answer" business. I believe we can be confident on one count, at least: Capcom definitely wants to give us another decade of Resident Evil.

These are the best Resident Evil games of all time.

The distant camera and smoky darkness may well put you in mind of Little Nightmares (studio Section 9 is made up of former Tarsier devs), but a better comparison would be classic Resident Evil. Partly this is down to the (great) monster design – many of End of Abyss' creepy horrors wouldn't be out of place for Leon Kennedy and friends to face, with dashes of the sort of abominations that haunt The Last of Us and indeed Little NIghtmares. But, End of Abyss feels built in the Resident Evil mold right down to the gameplay.

Abyss of a problem

Though you can sprint, avoiding the lumbering pace of old-school Resident Evil (the controls are, thankfully, significantly tighter too), one survival horror element End of Abyss channels excellently is teaching you to be wary of, and respect, uncharted territory. There could be an enemy just off screen at any time, and you don't want to run in for a hug. Especially not when most of the beasties can delete a huge dollop of your health with one hit.

Your scanner also serves to reward more careful exploration, but with mixed results. Although it can provide useful info, such as what notes say or which keycard is required for which door, it's nothing that a simple button tap wouldn't achieve faster with equal efficiency. The only unique use it really has is for a bit of classic 'follow power lines through the walls' in order to find door-opening nodes to shoot.

The Resident Evil comparison comes in not just through keycard use, but intentionally imperfect combat against resilient enemies. There are also safe rooms, though saving works differently to the Capcom classics. When you die, you retain any items you picked up, and any opened doors or extended bridges stay as you left them. However, all enemies – apart from bosses and ambush setpieces – respawn. Any expended ammo, however, does not.

Combat while exploring is usually tough, just the right level of awkward, and manageable (make sure you upgrade your weapons, though). Unfortunately, End of Abyss has a nasty habit of cheaply synthesizing challenge by forcing you into a tiny arena. This is especially true of the boss fights, most of which are awful. When facing multiple enemies, this results in silly situations where you're leading monstrosities in circles like a Benny Hill chase, occasionally stopping to take potshots at them until it's over.

Bugs aside – I have a few instances of enemies hitting me through walls, an elevator that doesn't load properly, and a soft lock that loses me progress in the final area – my journey to the end of End of Abyss is frequently marred by small but cumulatively annoying gripes, a different kind of horror to where the game shines. Gloomy environs, for example, contribute to the great atmosphere, but it does mean that levers and other objects can sometimes be hard to see. At one point, I completely miss a progress-crucial destructible section of floor because the subtle pale coloring melts out of view.

My greatest nemesis is a radiated area where, without the correct (and missable) suit mod, you take minor but constant damage while exploring. Once I eventually get hold of the mod, I find that it requires four energy points to activate… and my suit only has three! Cue hours of aimless wandering until I finally stumble across what I need – wait for it – deep into the area I need it for. Doubtless I missed at least one of these energy pickups somewhere earlier, but it shouldn't have been possible for me to find myself in that situation. While there's a touch of Metroidvania – I regularly encounter doors and devices before I'm able to make use of them – the fact that there's only one piece of traversal gear to find (a grappling hook) brings me back to Resident Evil as a reference point.

A combination of darkened corners and missable items means that I spend a lot of hours wandering around in this way, and I often yearn for fast travel between safe rooms. It doesn't help that information from the scanner isn't very useful for many doors, cheerily informing me that they're locked without any indication of how I might remedy the situation.

That said, End of Abyss does hold some juicy rewards for those willing (or, in my case, forced) to stray off the main path. Not only crafting materials and snippets of lore, but meaty weapons and entire boss fights that you can otherwise roll credits without seeing. There's even a way (it seems) to soften the difficulty of the final boss by finding certain items scattered across the game, but by then I've had more than enough of running around overfamiliar areas to even consider the idea.

I spend way, way longer than I'd like doing laps of the shuttle system trying to find something to help me progress, and I'm not a huge fan of the fact that, if you run out of crafting materials for ammo by repeatedly failing a boss fight, the only way to get more is to revisit areas you've already rinsed to kill enemies you've already killed. It was bad back when Bloodborne did it, and it hasn't suddenly become good now.

However, there are enough sprints of enjoyment between the swamps of frustration to just about hold End of Abyss together. There's lots to enjoy if you live for immersing yourself in a complex environment to explore backwards and forwards with little consideration of plot; but if you're after something where you can follow the story path with relative ease, expect to make plentiful use of guides.

End of Abyss was reviewed on PS5, with a code provided by the publisher.

This isn't where your gaming journey ends. If you want more like this, check out our best survival horror games ranking, or keep an eye on our upcoming horror games list!

Some people think of Abandoned as "The Survival Horror Game That Never Existed," because, well, it doesn't exist. Blue Box delayed the game indefinitely in 2022, saying, "We will continue to work on the game and we will notify you when we are ready." That hasn't happened yet. So, while the game's latest PlayStation store listing carries what should be an intriguing 2027 release window, its game description is still too sparse to inspire new confidence: "Abandoned is a horror survival shooter with the focus on realism."

All Abandoned is really doing by returning to the PlayStation Store is confirming it was not a shared delusion. I can't go any further than that and say it's becoming The Survival Horror Game That May Exist, since the game's history is already defined by so much conspiracy and controversy.

Many people were convinced in 2021 that Abandoned was secretly a Hideo Kojima project, thinking the gray woods and sparse trees that show up in its announcement teaser would fit into a Silent Hill revival by way of Metal Gear, iron-colored realism. Remember, "Abandoned is a horror survival shooter with the focus on realism."

Other theorists in the half-joking subreddit r/TheBlueBoxConspiracy decided Blue Box itself was actually a Death Stranding reference since both Kojima Productions and Blue Box are indie studios, and Death Stranding protagonist Sam sometimes heaves blue boxes, and, one time, Sam dropped a box of oranges (orange box), and the complementary color for an orange box would be a blue box.

"This takes us straight to the Blue Box Studios, the game studios that is widely considered to be just a cover for Kojima's next big project," decides one tin-foil hat owner. "Does it sound crazy? Yeah, maybe. But the sudden Box/Box connection and the Orange/Blue as opposite colors may be too much for a coincidence while talking about such a suspicious topic."

Unfortunately, Blue Box outright denied the connection, and it took a while, but people finally internalized it. That's around when Abandoned started to seem truly… abandoned. Its playable Prologue never materialized. Blue Box stopped using social media, and now its YouTube page doesn't even display Abandoned's existing trailers. People started calling the game a scam, with one Reddit comment from four years ago saying, "It's unbelievable that so many people thought this was Kojima just a year ago. [...]

"The alternative was simply thinking the game was vaporware and/or a scam. And sure enough that's exactly what it was in the end."

So, I don't think Abandoned's vague, new 2027 release window is enough to change this perception. But it's something.

Hideo Kojima's Physint isn't costing Xbox $400 million after all, with new reports suggesting the Metal Gear successor's actual budget is "significantly less."

Alinea head of market analysis Rhys Elliott explains in a September 25 Substack post, Cregger's perfectly obscene Resident Evil movie about a medical courier (Abrams) stupidly getting stuck in Raccoon City after dark had "the biggest opening in the 24-year history of Resi films." It's also the most successful video game movie yet with 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, and its biohazardous blockbuster effect is spreading to the Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 remakes.

When ignoring Capcom's franchise-wide discounts, data suggests Cregger's movie directly influenced a 64% and 54% uptick in PS5 sales for RE2 and RE4, respectively.

"On Steam, the same movie effect is a much milder +11% to +14%," says Elliott.

In terms of pure player count, which would also include people who own the game jumping back in after the movie's release, "Resident Evil 2's remake jumped +48%" in daily players across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, says Elliott, as the game went from about 78,000 daily active users to nearly 116,000. Its price was chopped into bits, from $39.99 to lucky $7.99.

Cregger told GamesRadar+ his Resident Evil movie – which doesn't feature any characters from the games – unfolds "on the periphery" of Resident Evil 2's t-Virus outbreak, so it also makes sense that Resident Evil 2 benefits from it most. The 2019 remake's sales "nearly doubled on PS5," Elliott adds.

Meanwhile, Resident Evil 3 remake's daily players are up 25%, and Resident Evil 4 remake's player count lifted 24%. The new Resident Evil Requiem got a tinier bump with only a 20% daily player increase after Cregger's movie and Capcom discounts, but it didn't necessarily need the help – Elliott says, "Revenue-wise, [Requiem is] outpacing every other game in the franchise and will certainly leapfrog the Resident Evil 4 remake's $600M+ when all is said and done."

"Almost all the copy movement was on PlayStation," Elliott reminds us. Resident Evil players don't care about their Steam points, or maybe it's just that the franchise has been associated with PlayStation since its macabre beginning in 1998. But now that the Resident Evil franchise finally has a film that made me laugh and white-knuckle my popcorn bucket with equal intensity, there's no telling where it goes next.

Resident Evil has some other movie gems – just see our list of the best Resident Evil movies ranked.

Where to find all blood bags in Silent Hill Townfall

There are five blood bags to find in all, but two of these are just to open other doors to reach more areas, leaving three you need for the final puzzle. Getting all of them is a long, tough stealth section that I won't even attempt to walkthrough step by step as it involves so, so much running away and hiding, it will be impossible for you to keep track of easily.

Instead, here's the short version in a bullet point list, with a completed map showing you all the things you need to do and find, in the order to do them:

1. You'll find the Alan Duncan blood bag here which opens the SW door.
2. Here you'll get the Sarah Watson blood bag.
3. This is the location of the Ward W Master key, which you then use next in 4.
4. Use the Ward W Master key to open the door here and use the ladder to reach 5.
5. Now you can reach this room to get the Lesley Greer blood bag, which opens the DP door.
6. The drop down here will let you get the George McEwan blood bag and the Ward P Master Key.
7. Here you can interact with the Matthew Clark blood bag in a lift which will cause it to drop down a level.
8. This is where the Matthew Clark blood bag ends up. However, collecting it will cause some gates to close, meaning you'll need to turn two manual releases at 9 and 10 to escape.
9. There's one of two release wheels here you need to turn.
10. There's another release wheel here. When both are turned you can leave the way you came in.

Once you've completed this, and have all the blood bags, it's time to head back to the Blood Transfusion Door you found when you first entered this area.

How to open the blood transfusion door in Silent Hill Townfall

When you have escaped back to the transfusion room you'll have George McEwen, Mathew Clark and Sarah Watson's bags left in your inventory. Each one has a short note about their condition, which will match one of the patient notes on the wall. To open the door you need to first join up these clues and names to place each blood bag in the right gap:

• 2nd/3rd - George McEwen
• Verbal - confused and motor / reaction - obeys commands - Mathew Clark
• Regular pulse and head wound - Sarah Watson

Once they're all in place you can trigger the switch by the transfusion door to open it and proceed to the final puzzle.

How to solve the blood type puzzle in Silent Hill Townfall

Once the blood bag door is open you'll find a small chamber with a large dial full of sections you can rotate, and various plaques explaining what blood types can be combined.

If you check Simon's bracelet in your inventory you'll see he's A+, which can use blood types O-, O+, A- and A+. That means you need to rotate the dial so that only those blood types reach the center. Thomas Fergusson, Hannah McGregor, and Sarah Watson have either O or A types, so rotate the rings so that only the TF, HM and SW lines reach the center, like this:

Once the lines are arranged as in the picture above, select and use the central 'Ordell' section to pump the blood in and open the door. You're now free to move on to the next part of the story.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The objective to find the infusion drugs begins after you've found the blood pressure, pulse, and O2 in Townfall and then solved the Silent Hill Townfall X-ray puzzle. That will open up the room you're in, and update the map with the dosage and names of three drugs:

• 3mg Hydroxalene
• 11mg Tensobromide
• 2.5mg Dextracyclate

These are eventually found throughout the entire St Amelia medical center, requiring that you explore almost all of it to find everything you need. There are copious enemies to avoid and numerous drugs you can find, as well as a range of doses, meaning finding the three you actually need can be a laborious process.

All Silent Hill Townfall infusion drug locations

Finding all three of the infusion drugs you need in Townfall means sifting through plenty of the wrong drugs you can also find, while avoiding several enemies, to get what you need. Without any idea where to look this can be a long, dangerous search. However, having done it myself, I can point you directly to the location you need, starting with the floor you initially gain access to once the doors open:

You start in the Surgery room marked 'Patient', where you dealt with all the vital signs and X-Rays, and the first drug you can find is 11mg Tensobromide in the pharmacy store directly to your left as you come out the surgery.

Technically the Hydroxalene is in the Records Room on the other side of the floor but that's locked. The code is 2605, which you can try now to get the Hydroxalene, but you'll need to head upstairs anyway to find the Dextracyclate. So, once you have the Tensobromide, take the stairs to the next floor.

When you head up the stairs you'll see a reception desk on your left. There's a computer there with a 'Dailies - Infusion Status' email you can read, which will mark all the drugs that have been given out on to the map. That tells you places you can look, but that's for everything, not just the two you need at this point - all the circles with a cross through on the maps here are incorrect drug locations I've already checked.

At this point head to bay 6 to find the Dextracyclate, and then across to the office where you'll find the Record Room code, 2605, pinned to a noticeboard. Now you can head back down the stairs to get the Hydroxalene, if you haven't already.

Once you have all the drugs, it's time to dose the patient...

How to set the drug dosage in Silent Hill Townfall

Once you have all the drugs, you'll need to head back to the surgery and place them in the infusion pumps around the bed, as shown above. It doesn't matter which ones you place them in, as the the important thing is getting the infusion rate right.

To do that you need to check the Medication Dosage Table on the laptop, which will give you this chart:

Using this you can match the drug names and dosages to get the flow rates, using the patient weight of 88Kg, which is written on the whiteboard. That gets you this:

• 3mg Hydroxalene - 7
• 11mg Tensobromide - 8
• 2.5mg Dextracyclate - 15

Now place the drugs in the machines, set the rate to the appropriate number, and then press the Ready Pump button. When all three are ready to go, you'll then need turn on all three pumps using the small white machine on the tray by the noticeboard.

If it's all done correctly, you'll stabilize the patient and then have to head to the basement to get an intubation kit. Fortunately, this a much easier job and just involves sneaking past a single enemy using a radio to distract them, to reach the storage room at the end of the corridor.

Once you've found the kit and intubated the patient that's about it for this section. The next big puzzle you'll have to face is the Silent Hill Townfall blood puzzle, which is going to make this look easy by comparison.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Whether that's the gory heights of Outlast or the psychological hauntings in Amnesia: The Dark Descent, I nope out nearly instantly. In our Silent Hill Townfall review, we praised how it's "full of real fear, impeccable atmosphere, and a distressing story of remorse and penance". So, when I found my first cupboard with a 'hide' prompt, foreshadowing the hiding mechanics that loom large from start to finish, I began to get worried. That was until I got used to Simon Ordell's CRTV, the chunky, almost Game Boy-like device he clutches throughout the nightmare trip that is Silent Hill: Townfall.

Screen time

At its core, it functions like the iconic Silent Hill radio, with bursts of static noise alerting you to when enemies are hiding in nearby fog. But, by holding up the screen and tuning it to available signals, you won't just get clues on how to progress, but can pick out the shape of specific monsters.

Zeroing in on one, the screen turns red and a darker outline of the creature can be seen through any object. You can keep tabs on a zoomie foe with an axe head running back and forth as you slink through the neighboring alleyway. A maze of gardens and sheds behind blocks of flats could spell doom with one wrong turn, unless I fiddle that dial enough to get an early look at the crouched shapes of enemies writhing on the ground.

Even with the guidance, enemies in Silent Hill: Townfall patrol enough around relatively tight spaces that I still have to put effort into avoiding detection. Sometimes I can use the cover mechanic to anchor myself to the spot and peek around corners, abandoned three-door cars, or the waist-high stone wall of a bungalow front garden. Holding down while peeking allows Simon to flatten himself even further. All the while, I'm clutching my CRTV to add a clearer silhouette to supplement the edge of the enemy I can otherwise barely see. It's the kind of tension I've not felt since Alien: Isolation, where I'm likewise moments away from death at any time.

Often, that can also mean tracking their movements until they look like they're about to double-back, then quickly dipping into the half-open door of a nearby house to 'hide', able to peer through only a small slit with my normal vision.

It's hard to outrun enemies, but Townfall's St Amelia is so full of hiding places that you can usually take a corner and find a spot to duck into. Early on, a monster chases me and continues just beyond where I'm cowered in the dark, instead knocking its head repeatedly on a nearby locked gate, the clanging constantly making me afraid it's about to turn its attention to the doors I'm right behind (make no mistake, they can pull you out if they see you). I soon learn there's an achievement – Isolating Experience – for staying in one hiding spot for at least 60 seconds.

As well as the CRTV you have a map, which roots you to the space – vulnerable – while you peruse it. It's telling, though, that the CRTV can be gripped while still walking around, and, also unlike the map, can be pulled out while in a hiding space. This is the stronger navigational tool you should be relying upon rather than burying your head in a map. The whole world is tinted red, haunted by ghost-like visions of your regret no matter where you are. Can you turn your inner eye away from what you have done before it consumes you? Certainly not. If you do, you're already dead.

Silent Hill Townfall's CRTV is empowering in that it allows you to see your doom coming. In theory, it's not that much more useful than peeking around walls, but it does keep the action pacier, and even encourages moments where I feel like I can step up and bring the danger rather than be hunted.

By tuning into each enemy in a zone one at a time, I can sometimes tell when outlines are trapped behind walls that can't reach me, leaving another vulnerable and alone, its back turned. I could hide, but why not take this destructible plank of wood and get the jump on them?

Sure, in a fair match-up, I'm likely to get my weapon smashed and take deadly hits, but just maybe the screen in my hands can tempt me to be successful with my violence. I'm not always sure the CRTV is a good thing. But this is Silent Hill. What good is left? Here in the fog, we take what we can get.

I'm reminded of another horror game that plays with giving the player some slack in the pursuer-pursued relationship – Forbidden Siren. There, Sightjacking can be used to see through the eyes of enemies as you can see yourself illuminated at a distance. Here, the benefit of knowing exactly where an enemy is off-set by the disorientation of the perspective shift. The vulnerability that comes from losing sight of your own body creates an ethereal feeling to the folkloric horror, while also giving me just a touch more control to staying one step ahead of death.

There's a scene in Jane Schoenbrun's Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma – a satirical, tongue-in-cheek deconstruction of slasher movies, which is more along the lines of what I can handle when it comes to horror cinema – where a character describes an out-of-body, disassociative experience that walks a line between terror and reclamation of power, control by way of a lack of control. It's a part of how audiences can enjoy horror movies, but becomes part of Camp Miasma's own text – uncomfortable and validating in equal measure.

In gaming, we're always at a remove. We might be immersed, but we always control a character. It's a framing trick; thinking about Camp Miasma while playing Townfall, I'm conscious that I'm watching through a screen as someone else watches a screen displaying their impending doom. By their nature, games have a lot more room to play with this feeling of distance, to shrug off cinematic ambitions that lock us to one viewpoint, and instead take these complete digital spaces and allow us to look within. A gaming character peering out of reality is, in a way, no different than the player experience often is. Townfall's CRTV outlines are, in a way, an underpowered form of Detective Vision common in the likes of Batman: Arkham Knight or even The Witcher 3.

Yet, conjured and grounded in the reality of this Scottish town that seems completely normal until the nightmare becomes apparent, the simple shorthand of an enhanced vision mechanic is rendered hellish, wrong, yet still no less valuable and necessary for survival. This is the kind of playful horror that reminds me why I always felt so drawn to Silent Hill in the first place. Between Townfall and Silent Hill f, these recent years of genuine reinvention for the series has me incredibly excited for its future, and the horror games it'll inspire.

Shrug off the silence and check out our best Silent Hill games and best Japanese horror games rankings for more!

How to take the skull X-Ray in Silent Hill Townfall

You'll need to turn the computer on in the X-Ray room before you do anything else and then move the image upwards to find the skull, as shown above. You won't see the head as it's under the cloth but you'll notice some small white squares you can line up with the camera image. You'll know you're in the right place when it says "Patient Skull - Aligned."

Now you need to turn the X-Ray machine on using the power switch on the control panel but before you can actually take the picture you'll need to check the X-Ray Dosage Table on the laptop in the other room. That will give you these figures:

To X-Ray the skull you now need to set the dials on the control panel to these values:

• Site: Skull
• kV: 3
• Time: 1
• mA: 7

That should look like this on the panel itself:

If you've got it all set up right you can then press the green X-Ray button to take the picture and trigger the next stage.

How to take the chest X-Ray in Silent Hill Townfall

With the skull X-Ray taken you'll now have to take a picture of the chest. Use the camera again first to move the view down and align with the lower set of white squares around the cloth panel with the wire going in, as shown above. It'll say 'Patient Chest - aligned' when you're in position.

Now, using the X-Ray Dosage Table from the laptop again, you want to set the dials to these values:

• Site - Chest
• kV - 7
• Time - 1.2
• mA - 3

That should look like this on the instrument panel:

Get all the dials in the right place, then press the green button to take the shot and if it's all set up right you'll be able to collect hard copies of the pictures from a printer at the back of the room. You can now place these on the light box on the wall in the other room to relay what they show to the doctor on the intercom.

Once that's done you'll now have to find the infusion drugs in Silent Hill Townfall. This is a lengthy and dangerous stealth heavy section, where you'll have to explore several floors of a large building to find what you need.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

What is the scales puzzle in Townfall?

The scales puzzle is found in the Clinic, specifically in the Z Ellis office, where you get the Townfall clinic reception door code. There are three scales on boxes directly in front of the door as you enter, and the note you see above just to the left.

The key bits in the note are the underlined sections:

• I didn't listen closely enough
• I made mistakes and couldn't focus on the task at hand
• I'm not fit to work in this role any longer

The last underlined phrase, 'Please show me you understand' is your call to action, telling you to show Zoe you know what these three clues mean by eventually placing relevant objects in each scale. However, you need to find everything first...

How to get the items you need for the scales puzzle in Townfall

When you find the scale puzzle, the only thing you will have is Zoe's ID card, from solving the Silent Hill Townfall organ box puzzle. That is the answer to the 'I'm not fit to work in this role any longer' clue and can go in the third and final scale.

The two other items you need relate to locations you can get in the clinic and are shown above on the map. Firstly, when you check the computer in the room with the scales and read the 'Where are you' email you'll have Jess's flat added to your map. Then, secondly, you'll get the Pharmacy added to the map when you check the reception answerphone.

You can do these new objectives in any order. If you go to the pharmacy you'll find the Silent Hill Townfall pharmacy locker code. I have that guide to cover things in more detail there, but you basically need to get numbers off posters you can find, while using a TV signal to put them in order for the combination. That will get you an incorrect prescription for 'I made mistakes'.

Going to Jess's flat is more or less a fetch quest to get a broken stethoscope you can find on a bed for 'I didn't listen'. You'll need to use the scalpel to open the gate to St Amelia's Park, and you'll have to stop off at number 16 (below) to get Jess's backdoor key along the way:

The back door key can be found on the table by the window in the upstairs flat at number 16. Once you have the key, you can get in to Jess's Flat around the back.

There is also a lock box in the ground floor flat at No 16, but the key is in the kitchen drawer at Jess's flat - so remember to pick up the key and open the box on the way back.

Where to place items in the scales in Townfall

Once you have the stethoscope and the prescription to go with the ID card, you can solve the scales puzzle using the information on the note to put each one in the right place:

1. I didn't listen closely enough / stethoscope
2. I made mistakes / incorrect prescription
3. I'm not fit to work in this role / Zoe's ID

As soon as you place the final item, a short cutscene will play and then you'll progress to the next part of the game. I won't say any more than that so as not to spoil anything but you will face a couple more puzzles fairly soon after, including trying to open Jane's Shed and a patient puzzle in Townfall.

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How to get the blood pressure in Townfall

Key to finding the patient blood pressure, and any other readings you need, is to check the laptop in the corner. Go there and into the Equipment Overview menu and read the Valentudo View S-100 option.

This is the instruction manual for the vital signs machine and it will tell you to 'disregard values outside of 70/100 mmHg' for blood pressure. These are the green systolic and diastolic figures on the lefthand side of the display, so look for anything that fits that range and interact with that machine. It was the values shown above for me, although they seem to alternate between 71/39 and 70/40.

How to find the pulse in Silent Hill Townfall

When the doctor asks for the heart rate or pulse you'll see that the Valentudo View S-100 details on the laptop say that 'Heart Rate (BPM) values outside of 40 to 160 BPM are often inaccurate'. So you'll have to find a machine with a yellow number for the pulse that fits outside those values. For me that was the machine showing a 161, although it changed to 162 when I reported it. That is technic ally outside the range in the instructions, but also the closest to it by comparision.

How to get the O2 in Townfall

If you check the Valentudo View S-100 option in Equipment Overview on the laptop for blood oxygen it says that 'SpO2 (%) values under 75% are unreliable', so you need to find a machine with a red SpO2 (%) number to fit that. I used the machine showing at 81%, which changed to 80% when I reported it.

Once you've reported all three values you'll then open up the next room, and have to move on to solve the rest of the patient puzzle which starts with the Silent Hill Townfall X-ray puzzle, and then needing to find the infusion drugs in Silent Hill Townfall, which is a whole other thing but still involves reading instructions to work out what to do.

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How to get through the gardens in Townfall

There are two locked doors in the community gardens - Jane's shed, and a gate that apparently 'isn't usually locked'. The two are obviously related and key to it all is actually Jane herself.

If you look around the gardens you'll be able to check various plaques on all the different planting beds. Each one will name various different people, dates, achievements and other bits of info, but the one you want can be found here, near the bird table:

If you examine this bed in particular you'll find a plaque for the eponymous Jane herself, saying she was the winner of the 'Community Spirit Award' in 1993:

Unsurprisingly, 1993 is the four digit code you need to open Jane's shed. Enter that code into the padlock to get inside, and you'll be able to find some alcohol, a note about Jane and, most importantly the Community Garden Key. That will open the gate and allow you to carry on to the St Amelia Medical Center.

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Starting from $36.99 at Amazon, you can secure your copy of the 4K release, a standard Blu-ray, or even a DVD copy. Amazon US and UK have all three versions available, though I'd recommend sticking with the 4K release if you've got a PS5 or compatible player around. While its extras have yet to be confirmed, it includes a digital copy of the film, and the Walmart listing reveals a swanky limited edition steelbook, which is sure to look the part amongst any horror movie collection.

As a warning, this itchy tasty release has yet to receive an official release date or have its final look confirmed. While the live Walmart listing shows off Bryan running through the snowy and bloody streets of Raccoon City, the Amazon listing is different, so just be prepared for any changes going forward and availability of the steelbook to differ from retailer to retailer. As 4K Blu-ray releases have a tendency to sell out, I personally pre-ordered it regardless, and I've included the best places for you to do the same for both the 4K and standard Blu-ray copy down below.

Are you building a physical movie collection? Check out our Spider-Man Brand New Day Blu-ray pre-order page and our thoughts on the Rings of Power Seasons 1 and 2 4K Blu-ray while you're here.

How to get the pharmacy locker code in Townfall

The Townfall pharmacy locker code is 6539, which can be found from a series of posters around the building. The TV signal is actually showing you zoomed in, blurry shots of each poster in a sequence, with the number you can find on each giving you a single combination digit.

The video shows these posters:

• Washing my hands (in the bathroom) - 6
• Prescription drugs and you (in the hallway to the right of the phone) - 5
• Blood pressure (near the front window) - 3
• Taking Antibiotics (on the noticeboard by the lockers) - 9

Basically, each code digit comes from the number you can find on the posters - the number of fingers, the five steps, the 3 on the blood pressure machine and the nine pills still in the packet. It's not the most obvious collection of clues, especially as there's no real coherence between each of them. You've just got to trust the process to use the video order, and the numerals you can find, to get the info from the posters.

Once you have the code, use it to open up the locker and you'll find the prescription mentioned on the answering machine when you opened the Townfall reception door in the clinic. It's actually one of the items you need for the three scales puzzles in the same location and crucial to progress the plot.

At this point, if you haven't been to Jess' flat after getting the address from reading the emails on the computer in the clinic, it's time to do that for the final part of the scales puzzle.

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The Townfall clinic reception code

There are a few rooms to search in the clinic but the reception code is 2869 and found on a post note on a computer in Zoe Ellis office, which is the last room you can search as you explore. You don't even need to interact with it to use it, you can just plug it straight into the door when you get there (unlike the Silent Hill Townfall organ box puzzle, which will make you go through the steps even if you know it in advance). You will need to interact with the computer to get an address you need to continue, so even if you have the code from here, make sure you check out the PC as well.

Overall you can miss it as you look around, because it's the last room and the computer is tucked away in a dark corner, plus there's a far more interesting thing to look at in the shape of the Silent Hill Townfall scales puzzle, that dominates the room. However, that will take a fair bit of time to solve and it can only be completed using what you learn from the computer when you get the code, and the answer phone once you've used it to get inside the reception.

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Silent Hill Townfall length

As a starter reference it took me 18 hours to finish Silent Hill Townfall the first time for my review so it's not a hugely lengthy game. That said, I was playing it fairly thoroughly, and exploring all the corners for collectible and extra things (for example I found 82 out of 84 notes). If you're less fastidious, and take less time soaking it all up you'll probably clear it quicker, but I'd say 20 hours tops is probably the upper end of the scale for completion.

Here's a few completion lengths for Silent Hill Townfall, depending how much you want to put in:

• 12-15 - If you focus just on puzzles and getting through areas you should clear the game in this sort of time. It'll be a bit of a rush though.
• 15-20 hours - This is the most common time based on my playthrough.
• 20+ - If you want to do some new game plus runs and see multiple endings.

I'd say 15-20 hours is going to be the sweet spot for almost everyone first time round. It is worth pointing out though that there's an achievement for doing it in under four hours so that's technically possible, but you're definitely in new game plus territory at that point. Speaking of that there are five endings, so that completion time could easily be more like 60+ hours if you want to see them all. I won't say it's 5x20 specifically to see all the endings though, as NG+ rewards you with an insta-kill axe that radically changes how long it takes to clear areas. Not to mention you won't be needing to work things out anymore and you can use most of the codes and solutions for things you already know. The one exception I know of so far there is the Silent Hill Townfall organ box, which can't be opened without completing the steps, even when you know the code.

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Silent Hill Townfall house location

Where to find the house and route that flickers past on the TV is shown on the map above. The image show things like a tree, an alley and so on but all you need to really locate is the phone box you used a little earlier, here:

If you head down the road to the left of that phone box you'll then be able to look for an alley to the right, just by some fluttering bunting and just before Peter's Newsagents. This is part of what makes it all a little tricky - the house itself is tucked away and out of sight from the main roads you can explore so it's not obviously visible at first.

Head down that alley and turn right at the end to see the entrance to the house you need at the top of some small stairs. Now all you need to do is head up those stairs and go in to carry on with the story. You'll be spending a while here now you've found it, especially as there's a puzzle involving a Silent Hill Townfall electricity meter and organ box that involves several steps (including the newsagents you passed to get here, that will keep you busy for a while.

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Silent Hill Townfall door dial solution

The door dial solution is 18 January 1996. While it's not immediately clear, you can get this from the two images that flash up on your TV once you've learned how to tune it to a signal, and the Haldane Hotel menu on the table.

When you first arrive at this puzzle you'll be trapped in the room with two doors - one wants an item to open it, and the other has the mysterious dial mounted on it to interact with. Once you've got past a short tutorial you'll be able to get the video with the date and month, which you can then add to the year on the room service menu to get the 18th of January 1996 date.

Once you have that, all you need to do now to open the door is turn the relevant parts of the dial to show each value. That will get you into a bathroom, where you'll find a cryptic note and a key that will open the other door so you can leave. For reasons, you will end up with the Haldane Hotel Room 204 key in your inventory for most of the game, so don't worry about it being there.

With the door open you'll be able to carry on exploring deeper into the town, and start to work out what's going on...

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Silent Hill Townfall organ box solution

This is the quick version of how to open the organ box in Townfall:

1. Get the flashlight from the drawer to the left of the organ box.
2. Get the batteries from a drawer in the left hand room at the top of the stairs.
3. Get the Human Transplant Card from the bathroom in Zoe's bedroom.
4. Combine the torch and batteries, and use the working flashlight to examine the electricity meter under the stairs.
5. Go to the newsagent now marked on your map and get in through the back door (there will be an enemy here).
6. Get the Electricity Card from the cash register.
7. Return to Zoe's flat and use the card to charge the electricity meter.
8. With the power on, read the emails on the computer to get the info that the combination comes from the first three and last three numbers on the right hand ET-No on the Human Transplant Card.
9. Open the box.

The Organ Box code is 956 133 once you've done all this but, as I mentioned earlier, you can't just use the code - part of this puzzle involves a tutorial introduction to combat, so it seems like you have to go through the steps before you can open the box, even if you know the number already.

With that in mind, let's go through the steps in more detail below.

How to get the electricity meter working in Townfall

To get the code, you must first get the power back on so you can check Zoe's emails. When you have the flashlight working - from combining the torch found in the kitchen drawer and the batteries in the first upstairs room on the left - you'll be able to investigate the cupboard under the stairs and the electricity meter inside.

This will add the newsagent to your map, so head there next:

This will introduce you to your first enemy, so fight or avoid them as you see fit and then head into the newsagent via the open door around the back. Inside you'll find the electricity card in the cash till. Grab it, then go back to Zoe's either by unlocking the front door or heading out the back again, depending on what's safest.

When you get back to the electricity meter, use L1/LB to follow the instructions on the Electricard Credit Guide you're holding:

1. Insert Electricard in slot
2. Cycle option to Card Credit using button A
3. Press button B to apply credit
4. Push Master Power switch

With the power back on you'll now be able to use the computer and read Zoe's emails to proceed.

How to get the Silent Hill Townfall organ box code

Once the power is back on, you'll be able to use the computer and read the emails on there. The email you want is FW: For Attending SURG04GE_+ON, as shown above.

While it looks corrupted, the important bits are where it says 'set using the first and last 3 digits of the corresponding ET code', and the 'HFS-OPCS-Y015' at the end.

If you haven't got the Organ Transplant Card from the upstairs bathroom floor at this point, grab it now. If you read it you'll see two numbers are highlighted in red:

The email said to use the 'first and last 3 digits of the corresponding ET code' and, if we apply that to the ET-No shown in red, we get the Organ Box code 956 133. You can now use the first three numbers on the left combination, and the last three on the right to open it.

Enter those codes and choose 'yes' when the option to open the box appears. You'll get Zoe's ID card from inside, which is needed for the Silent Hill Townfall scales puzzle you'll encounter later on, so you can't say no.

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Silent Hill Townfall pre-orders are nearing ever closer as this week's September 24 (Thursday) release date is just days away - but that still leaves plenty of time to pick up a copy for your physical horror collection.

Pre-orders are available digitally for $49.99 / £44.98 (via Steam) and physically on the PS5 for $49.99 / £49.99, and there's even a collectible steelbook available, though its stock is looking pretty foggy right now. If you're based in the US your best option is to pick up your pre-order straight from GameStop as it's just $44.99 which is the cheapest price you'll find it. Equally, if saving cash if you're biggest priority, UK horror fans will want to stick with Very, where it's down to £41.99, which is £8 off. Of course, collectors may be far more intrigued by the steelbook, but it's exclusive to European retailers, and Amazon UK is currently sold out for now.

I managed to swap my Day One Edition copy for the steelbook release just last night, so there's every chance that more stock could be on its way. In the meantime, I've gathered all the best US and UK retailers to grab your copy down below to ensure there are no scary shopping experiences, and that the only scares you'll experience this week will be as you explore the dreary Scottish streets of St. Amelia. Don't worry, as a fellow Scot, it surely can't be that terrifying...

Silent Hill Townfall pre-orders in the US

Silent Hill Townfall pre-orders in the UK

FAQ

Love physical games? Check out our Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time remake pre-order and Tomb Raider Legacy of Atlantis pre-order pages while you're here.

Silent Hill: Townfall almost certainly isn't going to be for everyone. It's an incredible slow burn mechanically and narratively; very stealth heavy with lots of hiding and ruthless punishment for being found; and the story, once it reveals itself, is a much more difficult beast to wrestle with than birthing gods or manifesting murderous sexual repression. But, while there's a few missteps and at least one late game puzzle I hated with a white hot fury, the overall experience has stuck with me in a way few things have. There are moments, ideas and entire levels worthy of discussion in their own right, as well as events, themes, and topics I'd rather weren't in my head anymore. I'm going to keep this as spoiler free as possible going forward though, so if anything seems vague it's to keep those secrets for you to discover.

I see that town

It all starts with you arriving in the tiny Scottish coastal town of St Amelia, in the early '90s, as a character called Simon Odell. He doesn't know why he's there, or where even there is, which works well setting him up as a cipher for your joint investigations into what the hell is going on. These early few hours – as you poke around the foggy streets and hide behind dumpsters from gnarly, skinned-flesh things skipping along the cobbles – are about as perfect as horror gaming gets.

The key mechanic the stealth hangs on is an old retro CRTV, a pocket television that replaces a Silent hill staple, the radio, in helping you detect monsters. Instead of just having a warning crackle when danger's near, you can now tune the TV into threats to get an interference laden X-ray view of danger through obstacles. The twist that stops this becoming too overpowered is that each individual creature is tuned separately, leaving you jumping between signals one at a time to check where everyone is as you creep around. There's also a peek mechanic to peer around or over things that I clung to like a liferaft for a long time, sparing nothing but the barest of pixels to glimpse fleeting shapes around corners.

While it's very effective in building fear, this stealth does dominate everything. Combat is tough as you swing planks that quickly fall apart (and, later, pipes that fall apart a little more slowly). Firepower is also limited by incredibly scarce ammo, and the fact that gunfire often attracts every monster within earshot. As a result, most of the game is spent cowering behind walls and darting between gaps in monsters' paths, terrified you'll hear a 'found you' scream.

Getting caught either leads to a messy, dangerous fight or a desperate run to escape and hide. In open areas like town streets the latter isn't too bad, leading to heart in your mouth sprints away from danger. However, in more claustrophobic interior areas your options become limited, leading to several arduous levels where you're just stuck hiding with no clear route ahead, or fleeing with nowhere to go to end up torn apart in a corner. The copious abundance of healing items and a resurrecting IV bag mechanic seems to be in place partly to counter this, and prevent you being murdered all the way back to your last save too often.

The dark side

A few of these overly harsh moments really can push Townfall from terrifying to a bit of a chore – one section takes away your ability to fight or resurrect, for example, while hampering your detection of threats, and is immediately followed by an almost as harsh section of a similar length, making for a grinding few hours after an excellent opening. There's also a particular special enemy, capable of insta-kills, that appears occasionally and seems stuck on you, even when it doesn't know where you are. That creates irritating moments where you're just sort of trapped in a room while it patrols endlessly outside, often giving you little choice than to take a hail mary dash hoping it won't see you. You can throw distracting bottles and bricks to buy a gap to get away in, but somehow it always ends up wandering right outside wherever you are.

Those moments can be grueling, and largely responsible for this just missing a perfect score. Partly because it pushes the tense stealth past the point of being fun, clags up the pacing and, whenever the insta-kill creature appears, you just know the next bit is going to be horrible and take forever.

But, for every annoyance, Silent Hill Townfall has many more moments of pure horror magic. In particular a late game level pulls a deliciously subversive power flip with a shotgun and some cat and mouse scares. Then there's just a list of puzzles, reveals, character, or story developments and more that had me scribbling 'Oh my God' repeatedly in my notes.

There are some areas where nothing's happening, but just taking it all in is just amazing – the atmosphere and vibes of just existing are incredible. The foggy town streets are flawlessly eerie and forlorn, creating an isolated and foreboding pressure as you explore. I swear I could smell the cold, briney sea mist I was wandering through. It's specifically set in Scotland, but the amazing recreation of its '90s streets, estates, and shopping centers will resonate with anyone who can remember the UK of that era.

The Otherworld on the other hand takes on a weighty, cinematic, concrete brutalism, harshly lit in monotone slabs of colour. I've taken more pictures of Townfall than any other game recently, and it doesn't even have a photo mode, it just looks that good. Wherever you are, the warbling, drowning piano, shimmering skeezy guitar, and honking synths build an edgy tension as metal clangs in the distance and as yet unlocated wet skinned breathing shreds your nerves. I haven't played anything that looked, sounded, or felt this good in years.

As you explore you'll uncover puzzles which, for the most part, ditch cryptic poems and ornately overengineered door mechanisms in favor of more realism – an early challenge has you getting a pre-paid card for the electricity meter from the newsagent. There are some way out there puzzles there, especially in the Otherworld when they tie explicitly into the story, and the CRTV even comes into play – letting you tune into disjointed videos that tease clues and locations – but most of it feels grounded and practical. There's a much more investigative feel and plenty of satisfying 'it can't be?!' moments when it all clicks. A couple of sequences are basically overly long fetch quests that feel like a chore, and there's one puzzle at the end that seems to just involve guessing symbols that drove me mad, but the majority of it is all very satisfying.

Through all this, the story takes its time to reveal anything, and you'll be a good ten hours in before you have anything more than half-guesses and assumptions that I guarantee will be wrong. All you'll know for almost three quarters of the game is that something truly awful happened, and letting your mind run rampant with that is far more effective than telling you anything (although the reveal is a worthy pay off). There's only a handful of characters but they're all fascinating as you learn more about them and why they're there. One in particular is extremely interesting, for reasons, given the state of the world right now, and how they deal with what's happening.

The narrative weaves through the substance of the game as you make connections and join the dots. There were so many 'OH. Oh. Ohhhhh' moments making connections; realizing things, like what a certain monster was using as a weapon, or why one of the first 'keys' you get is a scalpel. A new game plus playthrough is just this times a million, as things you didn't really register before are reframed with what you now know.

This is an astonishing horror experience, full of the sort of fear and unease I haven't felt from a game in a long time. The world and atmosphere Screen Burn Interactive has created here really feels like it's set a new bar, and it's done it in a way that feels utterly Silent Hill – reimagining what it can be, while staying utterly true to what it is. It's not perfect and I suspect a few people will struggle with how unrelenting it can be. But even with its flaws it's about as good as horror gaming gets.

Silent Hill Townfall was reviewed on PC, with code provided by the publisher.

Don't go quiet, check out our best Silent Hill games and best Japanese horror games rankings for more!

But before you dive into this ranking, first a disclaimer: even as a massive fan of these flicks and of the Resident Evil games, I will say that these aren't masterpieces in the traditional sense. I've seen every single Resi movie and can honestly tell you that only a few are coherent. Most only reference the best Resident Evil games, and none adapt them faithfully. However, they are a ton of fun, and at this point, iconic in the realm of video game movies in general. Whenever I'm looking for a B-Movie that I know is going to be wild and action heavy I still go back to the Resident Evil movies, and still recommend them (well, at least some) wholeheartedly.

So, if you want to take a trip down memory lane or want your Umbrella Corporation fix while avoiding the truly bad zombies of the bunch, then read on to find out what I believe are the best Resident Evil movies to watch right now and what are the worst. And if you are also a massive fan, let me know your personal rankings in the comment section below.

The best Resident Evil movies, ranked from worst to best

8. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

Year: 2021
Director: Johannes Roberts

Before the 2026 Resident Evil movie, in 2021, they tried to reboot the Resi franchise with Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. Now, I will say that there are a lot of game tidbits added in this movie as it draws on the first and second Capcom games. But, even with zombies and iconic characters trying to survive, it's for the most part pretty boring and just not that scary.

The script feels painfully generic, the characters' dialogue is corny, and even when you spot scenes from the game, instead of being excited, I was often disappointed because the games simply did it so much better. Also, as a Leon S. Kennedy fangirl, I will admit I have a bias against the film because of its portrayal of the agent. Seeing a version of Leon who is supposedly an incompetent cop, paired with bad CGI and a surprising lack of pacing and stakes, cements Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City as the worst Resi movie to date.

7. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

Year: 2017
Director: Paul W. S. Anderson

The final Paul W. S. Anderson Resident Evil movie wraps up Alice's story and is the director's worst one. The story has pretty much been abandoned at this point, and instead the film is filled with action scenes and an eyebrow-raising amount of jump scares that, because of their frequency, become annoying instead of scary very quickly. I will also say that if you get motion sick easily, this isn't going to be the Resident Evil movie for you since its editing is wild and so frantic you can't tell what is going on at times.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is full of Easter eggs and fan service, but another reason why it's ranked so low on my list is that it completely takes the wind out of the ending of Retribution. We were set to see the fight to protect the White House, and the movie opens up with it already having happened off-screen…great. All in all, it's not fun enough to indulge in, and as a send-off to the franchise, it just underdelivers.

6. Resident Evil: Retribution

Year: 2012
Director: Paul W. S. Anderson

Resident Evil: Retribution's story is again another mess; however, it is at least very wacky and a lot more enjoyable than its successor, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. My main issue with this film is that the characters lack clear goals beyond simply trying to survive, and after four movies, that simply feels overdone at this point. Sure, there are also some clone storylines going on, but that isn't really explored in any kind of depth either.

However, despite my gripes, I have to give praise to some great choreographed action scenes here that really make Milla Jovovich shine. Also, I personally love the Umbrella Corporation training facility moments in terms of striking visuals and memorable action set pieces we get in the entire franchise. Also, its opening sequence is one of the most successful and original moments in the films. Still, I can't in good faith rank it higher because there really is no story structure here, and at some points it's even incomprehensible.

5. Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Year: 2004
Director: Alexander Witt

Resident Evil: Apocalypse is personally my favorite Resident Evil movie and has become a cult classic and fan favorite film in recent years. It does technically suffer from the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score out of all the films, but that was a case of bad timing since we only had the first film to judge it by. In retrospect, it is miles better and more enjoyable than the majority of its predecessors by an undead landslide.

Structurally, it is the most successful sequel as its story (while generic) actually makes sense. It also introduces Jill Valentine and Nemesis for game fans. Jill is one of the most charismatic characters in the franchise by far, and from the moment we see Nemesis firing a mini machine gun, we know we are in for a good time. Resident Evil: Apocalypse is wacky, and it takes big, smile-inducing action swings. If you are after just a silly good time in Raccoon City, I highly recommend this one. But be warned, you aren't going to get a narrative masterpiece here either.

4. Resident Evil: Extinction

Year: 2007
Director: Russell Mulcahy

OK, so firstly let's get one thing out of the way: Resident Evil: Extinction has some very clear Mad Max vibes going on with its Mojave Desert setting, and seems to be channeling Day of the Dead more than Resident Evil. However, it also has some amazing action scenes, choreography, and features the Tyrant from the games, so you have to give it credit. It is also one of the few Resi movies that really manage to capture the B-movie charm that makes these fun at the end of the day.

The movie's script is still a mess; the characters (especially the game characters) are disappointingly hollow and generic, but all the creative kills and fights make this movie feel punchy by the time the credits start to roll. It is silly, but it isn't boring, and Alice really shines as a character in this flick. It's a great reminder as to why Milla Jovovich was chosen as the face of the series; she has the charisma and skills of an action hero in spades.

3. Resident Evil: Afterlife

Year: 2010
Director: Paul W. S. Anderson

Out of all the Resident Evil movies, Resident Evil: Afterlife feels the most like a traditional zombie movie as we follow Alice still navigating a wasteland of a world following Extinction, so it has a special place in my heart. While it does suffer from the same plot issues as the rest of the flicks in this franchise, it does manage to capture that feeling of dread that will keep your eyes hooked on the screen. This is largely thanks to some amazing fight sequences that are the best in the franchise and keep you on your toes.

Now I will say, the reason why Afterlife is ranked so high here is because of how entertaining it is. Similarly to Apocalypse, it gives enough for action movie fans to love and enough game tidbits for Resi fans to gush over as well. Albert Wesker is the best version of himself in this movie, with Shawn Roberts giving us the most dedicated and gleeful rendition of the baddie to date. If you are a game fan, witnessing Wesker in this flick is a must; trust me.

2. Resident Evil

Year: 2002
Director: Paul W. S. Anderson

The movie that started it all, the 2002 Resident Evil movie, at this point is a pop culture icon and still the most enjoyable of all the Paul W. S. Anderson-directed films in the franchise. This is also the only Resi movie (apart from the new 2026 reboot) that is a horror movie first and an action flick second, as its setting of the underground facility called the Hive successfully builds up feelings of dread and the sense that something will pop out to attack our heroes at any moment.

It's a lot smaller and more contained than the sequels, but that is what makes it work so well, as the feeling of claustrophobia adds to the terror. It also captures what we all love about the Resident Evil games: feeling constantly on edge whenever you walk into a confined space, not knowing what bizarre mutant will jump out of the shadows. Alice is also at her most interesting in this film, with Milla Jovovich giving a great performance. And, lastly, that laser corridor death scene is still one of the best kills in cinema, so gotta show some respect.

1. Resident Evil (2026)

Year: 2026
Director: Zach Cregger

The latest Resident Evil movie is also the very best (as we mentioned in our Resident Evil movie review). Director Zach Cregger (Weapons) is a self-proclaimed Resident Evil superfan, and despite the controversial absence of game characters like Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, Cregger's back-to-basics survival horror reboot is a more authentic Resident Evil experience than any previous installment, as hapless hero Bryan encounters all manner of horrid, T-Virus-infected creatures across Raccoon City. Best of all, it's a taut, unrelenting 95-minute thrill-ride that's paced to perfection.

Prioritizing horror over action, it's a movie that wants you to feel the tension and fear of pressing ahead with only three bullets in the clip, as the groan of some unseen BOW echoes from the shadows. It's also very funny; Bryan is hopelessly out of his depth and spends as much time screaming as he does shooting. Cregger incorporates the language of the games in some cool ways too: the camera frequently flips between a third and first-person perspective, Bryan is constantly coming up against environmental obstacles like padlocks and treacherous ledges that need to be shimmied across, and, of course, it all builds to a climax in a sterile white Umbrella lab. Cregger gets it.

Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie is currently out in cinemas. If you want more spooky fun, be sure to check out our list of the best horror movies of all time and the best zombie movies to watch today.

Cregger is a self-proclaimed Resident Evil superfan, and among the most exciting filmmakers working today following his arresting debut Barbarian and horror sensation Weapons – a film so undeniable even the horror-averse Academy recognized it with an Oscar for Amy Madigan's Gladys. Cregger's first foray into franchise filmmaking is just as singular and fuelled by invention as his original work, telling a new story in a recognizable world that feels wholly authentic to the spirit and ethos of the games. It's among the more invigorating pieces of IP moviemaking in recent memory, and the first to accurately translate the immersive feeling of playing video games to film.

Clocking in at a refreshingly taut and unrelenting 95 minutes, Resident Evil is stripped back to the point its plot beats could be sketched out on a coaster. Austin Abrams' Bryan is a medical courier about to clock off when he's hired to transport a mysterious biological cargo from the sticks to Raccoon City General Hospital. Unfortunately for Bryan, this happens to be the night of the Raccoon City incident, during which the Umbrella Corporation's DNA-altering t-Virus transforms the population of the city into your garden-variety living dead, and even gnarlier BOWs (Bio-Organic Weapons), which Bryan has to haphazardly fight his way through en route to his final destination.

Don't hate the player

Cregger's movie may take place in parallel with Resident Evil 2, but don't expect any crossover with the games; it's better to think of the movie as a separate and distinct Raccoon City story that is simultaneously taking place on the fringes of what happens to be going on elsewhere in the city. Neither is it totally consistent with established Resi lore: some BOWs exhibit traits of the Las Plagas parasite, for example, which doesn't show up till Resident Evil 4, and the precise way the t-Virus escapes the lab contradicts what we know.

Does any of this matter? Not in the slightest. What matters is that Cregger understands far better than previous stewards of Resident Evil on screen what makes the series tick. Gone is the daft post-Matrix gun-fu; here it's replaced by bullet-counting, resource-scrounging and cautious tiptoeing around dark corners.

Cregger also incorporates the grammar of video games in subtle but effective ways: the camera is frequently hovering over Bryan's shoulder in third-person fashion, he 'upgrades' his firearms across the night, and is constantly coming up against familiar obstacles, like padlocked gates and treacherous ledges that need to be shimmied across.

Bryan, in fact, is a very different protagonist for Resident Evil. While the movies (in Alice) and the games (in Leon, Chris, Claire, and co.) have typically featured very capable leads who take out the undead with ease, Bryan is a doofus with commitment issues whose only experience shooting guns is, amusingly, in video games. This makes every encounter a major life-or-death situation, the movie ramping up the peril with some devilishly effective jump scares and gloriously horrid creature design.

It's scary, no question, but marketing materials to date have majorly undersold how funny Resident Evil is. Despite stripping out many of the jokes after test screening audiences reacted negatively, Resident Evil remains a no-bones horror-comedy where the extremity of the situations Bryan finds himself in elicits nervous laughs and screams in equal measure.

A standout among the Weapons ensemble as addict James, Abrams is at the center of every frame here. The character and performance are reminiscent of Bruce Campbell's slapstick Ash in Evil Dead II, mixing out-of-his-depth everyman with a Wile E. Coyote-style streak of bad luck as the ill-equipped-for-action Bryan screams, panics, and dissociates his way through one hellishly terrible situation after another.

The running joke of the film is that if something can go wrong for poor Bryan, it does, and Cregger seems to take endless pleasure in tormenting his unlikely lead. It can teeter on sadistic, with gruesome moments involving both mutated children and even babies. Somehow, it never feels exploitative. Instead, it adds to the outrageously gonzo, anything-goes nightmare of it all.

Undead nightmare

There are a handful of supporting characters – Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis, and Zach Cherry all pop up – but their appearances are so fleeting they barely register as Bryan is pursued across Raccoon City, Nemesis-style, by a relentless multi-limbed monstrosity. It's a movie that doesn't stop for a moment; even the cursory (and mercifully brief) mid-movie exposition dump is delivered on the move. The Fury Road comparisons are apt: Resident Evil is paced to perfection, moving from one environment and grisly encounter to the next at a thrilling clip.

There are some deleterious consequences to this approach. Character development and plot are so bare-bones they're practically non-existent, and don't even think about trying to identify themes. Before it all kicks off, Bryan reacts indecisively to a call from his girlfriend that she may be pregnant, and this regret weighs on him as the film goes on. But this exact character motivation was utilized far more effectively mere months ago in Exit 8, another video game adaptation.

Clearly, Cregger's priority here is experiential. Resident Evil is a gloriously gnarly film. Heads explode (in more ways than one), distended stomachs erupt with rats, and there's a very memorable evolution of the way the t-Virus operates that will no doubt irk die-hard fans. Some may question the choice not to utilize the many iconic creatures we know are roaming the streets of Raccoon City at this time, but Cregger is far more interested in putting his own twist on the world than creating a live-action facsimile. It's arguably the smartest way to approach an adaptation like this when a Last of Us-style faithful rendering doesn't make sense.

Resident Evil might not match Barbarian or Weapons for sheer formal inventiveness, and perhaps won't live as long in the memory as a result. Nor is it likely to replicate Weapons' Awards-season-crashing success. But unless you're a stickler who can't live with the idea of Cregger failing to adhere to the letter of Resident Evil lore, it's hard to imagine anyone with a tolerance for the grisly not having a blast watching this. After 24 years, the big screen finally has a Resident Evil that lives up to the legacy of the games.

Resident Evil releases in theaters on September 18. For more, check out our rankings of the best video game movies, and the best Resident Evil games.

The new take on the iconic game franchise tells the story of Bryan (Austin Abrams), a hospital courier charged with making a delivery to Racoon City General Hospital. However, on his way he gets caught up in a horrifying outbreak, leaving him fighting for his life.

Rather than focussing on game characters, the new take on the IP is set instead on the periphery of Resident Evil 2. According to Cregger, it's more focused on translating the feeling of playing video games than being a direct adaptation. It seems like the risk has paid off based on the movie's first reactions.

Collider's Perri Nemiroff calls it "one of the best video game adaptations I’ve ever seen" She adds that it's "also one of the best horror comedies I've ever seen. Cannot believe how many hilarious beats this movie has without ever diminishing the stakes or sheer terror of the situation."

According to Fandango's Erik Davis, the movie is "less an adaptation of a game and more a movie that makes you feel like you're playing one." He adds: "Don’t get stuck on what is or isn’t in the Resident Evil games. This is a film that takes the spirit of playing those games and runs wild with it."

"Zach Cregger is cookin' with napalm," writes Variety's Courtney Howard. "It's a wild, hilarious, unpredictably bonkers thrill ride from start to finish. Kinetic action leans heavily on demented body horror. Mutant mayhem galore! Austin Abrams is perfect as our doofy, hapless hero."

Film critic Mark Cassidy wrote on Twitter: "#ResidentEvil may not feature recognizable characters/storylines, but by tapping into the relentless tension of the games, Zach Cregger has actually delivered the most faithful take yet."

Check out some more below.

Resident Evil arrives in theaters on September 18. For more, check out our guides to upcoming horror movies and all the upcoming video game adaptations you need to know about.

For me, Leon being an absolute himbo genuinely breaks up the tension I feel while playing a Resident Evil game, and this contrast was put to especially good use in this year's Resident Evil Requiem, which features some of the scariest sequences I've ever experienced in my 30-plus years playing horror games. But as it turns out, some of Leon's funniest lines were actually left on the chopping block, as proven by newly leaked cut voice lines from Requiem and Resident Evil 4 Remake.

Two separate videos, one that lets you hear close to 400 cut voice lines from Resident Evil Requiem, and another with more than 600 cut lines from Resident Evil 4 Remake, were recently posted to YouTube by prominent modder Keff0 (via PC Gamer). As a longtime Resident Evil diehard, it was fascinating hearing all of Leon's bad puns, Grace Ashcroft's panicked breathing, and even lines from less central characters like RE4's Merchant and Requiem's Chef Zombie, that Capcom for whatever reason decided didn't cut the mustard. As for the Leon one-liners, I'm disappointed they were left out, because some of them sound like they could've been genuinely great in the right context.

"Shucks, no time for an encore."

"Someone needs to work on their parallel parking."

"Eight legs, no brains."

"That again? You're a bit of a one-trick spider."

Naturally, longtime Leon actor Nick Apostolides delivers his lines beautifully, but I would love to see the exact scenarios onscreen that would've triggered them. Unfortunately we'll probably never know, and Leon's not the only one with some gems in the vault. I mentioned RE4's Merchant, and he's another that had some lines cut that I would've loved to see in the actual game.

"This'll perk you up," he says in one cut line. "Relax mate – it's not that kind of herb." I think all Resident Evil fans can imagine the exact situation that would've prompted that line, and I can understand why Capcom ultimately decided against including it, but man, what a loss.

"It's important to stay young at 'eart. Especially at times like these," is another line from the Merchant I would've smiled at in the game.

At this point, I feel like I'm spoiling these gems for fans, so I'll leave the rest for you to uncover on your own. There's even a cut line from RE4 Remake that seems to reference Resident Evil Village, which is completely unnecessary but fun nonetheless.

Lies of P director says Resident Evil Requiem is one of the games he enjoyed most this year because Leon is "still as cool and tough as ever."

"Never even went on a single date w/ a lady," he says. "I sacrificed my days off & slept on cardboards spread out on the floor, but I never in my wildest dreams imagined I'd end up like this on X."

That is... incredibly sad. Ito is a horror icon and should be eternally proud of the work he's done for its unparalleled influence on the genre. That said, as a married man who wouldn't trade my family for the world, it's fair for him to long for love.

"To be honest, lately, I've been thinking that if I hadn't sacrificed my personal life, found a girlfriend, and gotten married early on, I probably would have been happier."

Ito's comments section is filled with encouraging words from his adoring fans, so he doesn't need my advice, but I agree with one commenter that "hindsight is a bitch." Not much is known about Ito's personal life, but professionally he's had an undeniably successful career. If he had never worked on Silent Hill and instead chose to pursue a wife and family, who knows how that would've turned out? One thing's for sure, horror would've lost one of its all-time great bad guys, and I'm selfishly glad he stuck to games.

Silent Hill Townfall's atmosphere is spot-on, but slow-burn terrors leave a tepid first impression

The interactive drama game is out 12 years after the Supermassive original about beautiful teens getting their necks snapped on Blackwood Mountain, and it'll carry on some of that game's haunted history with a trip to the nearby Blackwood Sanatorium. The team of unscrupulous YouTubers and fake paranormal investigators Dead True eventually make their way to the abandoned Akishima Island on the other side of the world, where they're confronted with the same tough questions: slit your palm, or a chicken's soft throat?

Fargo actor Peter Stormare will reprise his role as the sinister psychoanalyst Dr. Hill, while Baldur's Gate 3 star Neil Newbon joins the cast as Sebastian, who Until Dawn 2's new pre-order trailer depicts as a cruel network executive. He urges the Dead True team – led by obnoxiously blond host Owen (Stranger Things' Dacre Montgomery) – to turn the fragile supernatural into an on-screen spectacle. This is a path that ends in nosebleeds, cracked jaws, and, shown by the pre-order trailer in fleshy detail, leeches that latch onto Owen's chest like milk-fed babies.

Dispatch developer AdHoc Studio is assisting with production, Firesprite creative director Stu Tilley says in a PlayStation blog, so I'm hoping Until Dawn 2 will have more of the mean sense of humor the disappointing Until Dawn movie left in Supermassive's game.

Supermassive is in a painful spot right now, having recently laid off up to 75 employees in its third round of layoffs in three years, and it's been squeezing out middling dramas since the flabby Dead by Daylight spinoff The Casting of Frank Stone in 2024. Now it's Sony who owns the Until Dawn IP, not Supermassive, but I'm still hoping Until Dawn 2 might help repair the horror studio's reputation by association. I love what it used to be: an expert at crafting tense survival situations that make you yell at your screen and imagine yourself in the survivor's place – imagine yourself as a survivor.

Helpfully, Tilley writes in his blog that AdHoc's contributions make Until Dawn 2 a game "packed with rich characters, razor-sharp dialogue, fraught relationships, tough decisions, and yes… more than a few gruesome deaths. Every choice, every interaction can ripple with dramatic consequences."

Until Dawn 2 could be a real homage to found footage movies like 2018's Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum and 2011's Grave Encounters, which lampoon ghost hunters' half-hearted search for proof with the wry suggestion that people can only handle tragedy if it's entertainment. It's horror that makes me judge and understand myself, and after so many years since the first Until Dawn game from Supermassive, that's still what I want.

Pre-orders begin September 10 and include cosmetics and in-game Dr. Hill bobblehead collectibles to see when you close your eyes.

Until Dawn 2 has sold me with its campy teen slasher vibes, and it proves there's nothing like old-school scares.

Yes, indeed, Kamiya finds games like Capcom's more recent Resident Evil entries a tad too spooky for his tastes, as per a recent interview with VGC.

First declaring that "this is not a joke," the Devil May Cry mastermind says he's "being one hundred percent serious when I say that I wish they would make it so that their games can also be enjoyed by people like me, who can't handle scary games at all." And… honestly, I get it.

Look, even Resident Evil 7 director Koshi Nakanishi admitted his game was "possibly too scary" and "some people couldn't handle it" last year (and as somebody who loves the seventh entry, I'd most certainly agree).

Requiem, according to Kamiya, isn't any better. "Just recently this year we had Resident Evil Requiem and the big return of Leon Kennedy, and he went back to Raccoon City… reliving all of those memories and all of those experiences."

He then states that, "As somebody who directed that original game, Resident Evil 2, I was curious to know how that panned out for him." Unfortunately though, the horror-adjacent side of Requiem made that impossible for Kamiya.

"I wanted to experience that myself as a player," as he says, "but the game was way too scary, and I couldn't." So, what's the solution, then, so that all flavors of player can enjoy Capcom's stories? Apparently, a less scary game mode.

"It's not a joke," Kamiya explains. "I legitimately wished it would include some kind of non-horror mode for people like me." He outlines how he's spoken to "folks who are on the Resident Evil teams at Capcom" and admitted as much to the devs.

"I tell them that their games are way too scary, and they're like, 'What, come on, they're not that scary,'" the Resident Evil 2 legend recalls.

Kamiya concludes that the devs "seriously seem to have no awareness of how scary the things they make actually are, so I really hope they address that at some point" – even if that means just making it "so that the zombies' faces aren't so scary."

You know, "Why not have a mode that just puts, like, brown paper bags on all of their heads, or instead of having these dark, dingy rooms everywhere, they could have really pleasant mood lighting" – which I'm not too sure I agree with...

These are horror games, after all, and this isn't the first time he's brought the topic up. Earlier this year, Kamiya said Capcom "should make a 'non-scary' mode" because "look, I just want to enjoy the puzzles."

So, there you have it – Resident Evil has become too frightening for the very folks who helped mark its name amid other survival horror giants.

If you're yet to play it, be sure to check out our Resident Evil Requiem review to find out if it's worth your time, or our Resident Evil Requiem safe codes guide to help you through it.

The first thing that strikes me about Silent Hill Townfall is how deserted it is. That, and how choppy the animations get when you climb or descend stairs. You've got smudgy grey fog. You've got empty streets with lights still flickering in vacant apartments, as if the town's inhabitants vanished on the spot mere moments ago. You've got an amnesiac protagonist wearing a hospital bracelet. Let's go, am I right?

Pacing through the town center from a first-person perspective – a series-first for a mainline game, as seen in PS5 freebie Silent Hill: The Short Message – I expect some sort of glimpse of an enemy. An early warning that I'm not as alone as I feel, just like in Silent Hill 2.

But even after getting curiously turned around while picking through St Amelia's detritus, I don't come across a single bad guy. This wouldn't be a problem if the rest of my hands-on demo session had more to show for itself than 70 minutes of walking and cutscenes, always keeping me at arm's length as I experimentally press against its edges, getting little in return

These dark times

Don't get me wrong. Silent Hill Townfall is a gorgeously rendered nightmare. Developer Screen Burn has clearly put a lot of love for its Scottish roots into this place, which is as immersive and spooky as you'd expect from one of the best horror game franchises that built its name specifically off creating oppressive vibes from the get-go. But I feel more like a ghost haunting the streets than a character inhabiting the world, because there's very little to actually interact with.

I spend most of my session inspecting things. Leaflets on the ground, hand-scrawled notes left in the local doctor's window. Information boards at viewpoints dotted along the boardwalk, looking out upon the murky waters encircling St Amelia.

By the time I reach the telephone box – ringing, of course, with no one on the other end when I go to pick it up – I feel like a local historian. One who fails to clock that I have to type in a specific number, listed on the short telephone directory as "save yourself", in order to save my game and trigger a cutscene. So I instead go back out into St Amelia to see if I missed anything. Spoiler alert: I have not missed a single thing, and lose another 10 minutes retracing my steps.

The above is entirely my fault, but it does mean that after being rescued from my predicament by a fellow demo player, the frustration gets compounded by having to sit through a lengthy cinematic that teleports me to a brand new location: a hotel room.

Here is where the radio mechanics and minigames come into play. For all the distance I feel is being put between myself and the game world, Screen Burn incorporates analog technologies in a beautifully on-theme way, tying back to Townfall's setting in the mid-'90s. I have to tune my device to individual frequencies, picking up either echoes of the past (or present? Who knows) that give me hints to solve puzzles or the staticky outlines of nearby enemies projected on the palm-sized screen.

Except I don't actually see any before my eyes. Delaying the moment we first lay eyes on a monster is a clever way to build up tension in any horror game or film – fear of the unknown, the unseen – and suggest the ephemeral manifestation of the character's guilt and trauma. But by this point in my hands-on demo, I am desperate for something a bit faster paced. I've just spent ages wandering barren streets only to be met with the winding basement of an abandoned hotel. Enemies seem so far away that I couldn't stumble into one if I tried.

Silent Hill Townfall has the makings of a brooding horror game. It just fails to communicate that in a vertical slice demo by virtue of its slow-build horrors being so excruciatingly slow. Here's hoping that I'm able to get a bit more absorbed in it from the comfort of my own home than I was on the bustling show floor of Gamescom 2026.

Konami wants Silent Hill to have "an annual release of new games," and it's already working on "many" unannounced projects

Cronos: The New Dawn – Bloober Team's time-bending sci-fi scarefest – puts you in the role of the Traveler, as you explore a desolate Poland, investigating an apocalyptic event, intermittently traveling back to the 1980s to rescue select individuals. As you carve your path, you encounter Orphans, body-horror entities that were once people but now resemble something out of Dead Space.

Stand your ground

Cronos: The New Dawn's base game asks you to think about when to pull the trigger, as ammo is precious and foes are capable of swallowing bullets like a blue whale with a magnet in its ass, meaning the Traveler is a protagonist that's meant to survive the survival horror. Cronos: Lazarus focuses on the second word in the genre name, putting you in the role of the Warden and their delicious arsenal of firearms.

Playing as the Warden at Gamescom 2026, I spend much of my time in a behind-closed-doors build of the Lazarus exploring worn-out halls in the style of the original. Dark corners intimidate while twisted cadavers remind me of the vicious abominations that could catch me off guard at a moment's notice, if I wasn't aware what I'm up against. After all, I'm no stranger to the world of Cronos, so I fancy myself to handle what lies ahead.

So imagine my surprise when Cronos: Lazarus throws gangs of enemies at me all at once. As vile as they are voluminous, I unleash shotgun rounds and handgun pistols with speed and precision, determined to pulverize any and everything that dare charge towards me. It's at this point I forget to incinerate the fallen, with corpses on the ground merging with those that remain in motion to form wretched chimeras. However that doesn't save them from my firepower as I hold my nerve, stand and shoot, albeit the stress of them requiring more ammunition to disintegrate being a lot.

A developer then switches my build over to the demo available to the public at this year's Gamescom, and the momentum only increases from here. Once again playing as the Warden, I pull out my handgun and set about exploring a different but equally depressing area of cataclysm-stricken Poland. Once again I'm outnumbered by grotesque entities, but I'm moving through the crowds and dropping them like they're the opposite of frozen.

It's at this point I'm formally introduced to two of the Warden's abilities: Decoy and Teleport. The former allows me to throw out a holographic replica of the protagonist, distracting enemies while I run by or surprise them with gunshots (I prefer the latter). For larger enemies, this strategy is borderline vital, as they can make up the distance between us quickly no matter how much I keep moving away.

Teleport is less relevant to the combat encounters in this demo, presented as a means to cross gaps when the path is missing or obstructed. It's easy to use at the drop of a hat, so I can imagine there'll be encounters that benefit from its use, but the demo is short and there's only one serious challenge which comes at the very end.

An enormous Orphan, roughly twice the Warden's height, spews acid and runs at me while I spend every bit of ammo in their dome. I begin to wonder if I've misread the situation, as there are no signs of my lead's lethal intent registering. I take a firm strike and go on the run, zig-zagging my way around a relatively tight area.

Nothing presents itself as a better course of action than simply shooting this behemoth more, so that's what I do, sending every shotgun shell I have to get acquainted with its body. Torso, head, anything within range is pelted as the thing finally starts to stagger and wail. With only two shells left, the boss keels over, and the demo ends with a teaser trailer for the DLC, which is yet to have an official release date, but should arrive in 2026.

Cronos: The New Dawn won me over with its ability to induce fear, but Lazaus appeals to the primal, violent-loving side of my horror-soaked brain. Teeming with enemies all begging to be blown away by satisfying weaponry, the Warden is exactly the character I want to play as next in this terrifying world.

Make like Lazarus and rise again for your next scary adventure with our best survival horror games recommendations!

Early tracking (h/t IGN) has put Resident Evil's opening weekend figure at some $40-50 million in the US. Even at the lower end of predictions, that's far higher than any movie in the Milla Jovovich-starring series, the biggest of which, Resident Evil: Afterlife, opened to $26.6 million in 2010. The most recent Resident Evil movie, Welcome to Raccoon City, opened to just over $5 million in November 2021. Even factoring in that more faithful adaptation's pandemic-era handicap, this is a big improvement.

Cregger's Resident Evil movie seems to be resonating for a few reasons. The fact that it's telling an original story that anyone can jump into is certainly one. Cregger himself is becoming something of an event filmmaker after his original horror-thriller Weapons opened to a massive $43 million last summer. And the self-proclaimed Resident Evil superfan seems to have learnt all the right lessons about video game adaptations, in that he's staying true to the "spirit and tone" of the games (and even the power progression) rather than simply re-telling one of the games' stories on screen.

Even a bumper box office is unlikely to result in more Resident Evil movies from Cregger, however, as the writer-director is set to helm original sci-fi The Flood next. He's also penning Weapons prequel, Gladys, centred on that movie's twiggy witch, and he's reportedly scripting a Siren Head movie for director Brian Duffield. So Cregger is booked for years to come. But given how lucrative adaptations of the Resident Evil series have proven to be over the years (some seven live-action movies and an ill-fated Netflix TV show have been made to date), it's unlikely to be the last.

Resident Evil stars Austin Abrams as a medical courier tasked with transporting biological materials across a zombie-infected Raccoon City. Late last year, we visited the Resident Evil set in Prague, where Cregger, Abrams and the team took us through their full-throttle vision for the movie.

Resident Evil opens on September 18. For more scares, check out our guide to upcoming horror movies and our list of all the new video game adaptations on the way in 2026 and beyond.

GamesRadar+ sat down with Sopikova during Gamescom 2026, and we asked about Creative Assembly's approach to balancing tension so that players feel appropriately oppressed but not consistently panicked to the point of risking a cardiovascular event. Basically, how scary is too scary? As a horror geek with the unfortunate affliction of being a total wuss, this is important information.

"My advice for all the people who are too scared is just honestly to turn the music down," Sopikova says. "Many people don't realize how much music plays in building that tension. And actually the alien might not even be there, but it's just a dark corridor, and this very low-key scary music is playing, and instantly you're paralyzed, and you just can't move anywhere."

Sopikova says things like music, lighting, and of course gameplay all go into crafting a tense atmosphere that can be dialed up and down as needed to strike a balance somewhere between boring and "on the verge of having a heart attack."

"We don't want players to constantly be on the peak of horror, on the verge of having a heart attack, because then they just get used to it, and it's not scary anymore," says Sopikova. "Obviously, it's a narrative game. There is a story to follow. So you see, we take in all the elements, both visual and audio, how everything comes together, animation, and gameplay, and we're just trying to build that experience with all the different moving parts to really support the peaks and valleys."

Alien: Isolation, along with Resident Evil 7, is one of very few games that I can admit were a little too scary for me at times. As much as I applaud Creative Assembly and Capcom for having the chops to make a seasoned horror veteran as stressed out as I was playing those games, I remember having genuinely unpleasant reactions to certain scenes, to the point where I had to take breaks to catch my breath.

I think Capcom's decision to break up the tension with Grace and Leon chapters in Resident Evil Requiem was brilliant, and I hope Creative Assembly has something in mind for the perpetually anxious in Alien: Isolation 2.

15 years after the first game made horror history, Alien Isolation 2 unleashes a smarter, meaner Xenomorph

"Some are narrative," McKellan continues, referencing the state of small, working class towns in Scotland during the post-Margaret Thatcher '90s. By 1996, consequences of Thatcher-driven class tension were still covering the UK like a cloud, and Townfall siphons that animosity for its story about the unhappy Scottish town St. Amelia, which McKellan reminds us is riddled with protest signs lamenting the missing "heart" of the community. Developer Screen Burn also wants players to feel awkward in a more physical sense – by taking away their iPhones.

"It's almost like the perfect time for horror," McKellan says about the '90s, "where you don't quite have enough technology to help you. You don't have a smartphone. You don't have maps on your device to help you get around, but it's also not so far back that you don't have anything at all."

"Especially, like, Screen Burn's history" – gameplay in developer's 2017 game Stories Untold utilizes '80s hardware – "our games are quite, you know, dealing with archaic technology and old computers, and we were able to bring some of that into Townfall by setting it in a period where that kind of tech is new for Silent Hill, but not too modern." The earliest Silent Hill games, which were shipped only a few years after real-life 1996, hardly get more tech-heavy than a twitchy flashlight and a rusted steel pipe.

"It feels like the right time period for that," McKellan concludes. "A couple of different factors all made the '90s feel like the right time for horror."

Silent Hill: Townfall is out on September 24.

After Silent Hill f combat discourse, Silent Hill Townfall goes all-in on stealth as "evasion is your only option" sometimes.

Admittedly, the 2023 remake also makes Ashley a lot less prone to being captured and restarting your mission, which is nice, but stronger writing and a convincing performance from voice actor Genevieve Buechner help endear her even further. Point is, Ashley Graham doesn't deserve the hate, and she definitely didn't deserve to have her prologue scene from Resident Evil 4 Remake cut during development, but that's reportedly what happened. And now, you can play that prologue mission thanks to a newly released mod.

As spotted by RENews on Twitter, the Chapter 0 Restoration mod (via NexusMods) does precisely what it says on the box: "Restores the cut Chapter 0, a playable prologue as Ashley, seamlessly integrated into the New Game flow as a real chapter that runs before Chapter 1."

According to modder Keff0, Ashley was originally going to be the first playable character in Resident Evil 4 Remake before transitioning to Leon in the infamous village scene, which as an aside is also a lot less punishing than it was in the original game.

"A Chapter 0 existed at some point during development, but it was cut before the game's release: a short prologue played as Ashley, at night, ending in her capture," reads the mod's description.

The modder says the scene takes place on a path that's not in the final release but was dug out of the game files with "most of its details and collision removed." In it, Ashley stumbles upon some murderous cultists whose victim is the woman from the very first cutscene in the official game. Apparently, that cutscene goes back even further, showing a shocked Ashley turning and running, leading into the playable chapter, which ends with her capture.

Going full circle, the only downside to more Resident Evil 4 Remake is having to see Ashley tortured even more than what she's already endured both in the game and in Resident Evil communities everywhere. I'm not even an Ashley stan and never thought I'd say this, but at this point I think we need an Ashley Graham spinoff, or at least her own DLC at some point in the future, but I think it's safe to say that's unlikely to happen in the current timeline. Justice for Ashley.

The 1998 horror game that haunted my dreams even more than Resident Evil 2 is back, "modernized," and available on consoles for the first time.

The Fish Market locker room safe code

The locker room safe code in Sinking City 2 is 1496.

You can use that on its own, without ever having to worry about the obtuse and unclear way it's worked out. However, if you want to know where that number came from then here's what's going on...

There are two notes you can find - the Sacrifice (and Safe!) note found next to the safe itself, and the Surprise in the Safe note you can only get once you've opened up Salt Storage. The two clues they give you are:

• 'The last number can't be 16! It's 6' from Sacrifice (and Safe!)
• 'Possibly the same as the door' from Surprise in the Safe?

While it's not entirely clear, the 'same as the door' bit, which you can only get inside the Salt Storage room once you've cracked that, means it's the same code you used to open that door. That code was I-IV-IX-XVI or 1-4-9-16 and the 'it's not 16 it's 6' changes the last number to fit into the 1-9 range of the safe. So it's not inaccurate information, just a very odd clue that, to me, lacks enough clarity to really lock it down.

Anyway, despite my opinions of it, it's very worth opening the safe as you'll get Pyre's Ocularum, an upgrade for the grenade launcher that deals more damage if multiple enemies are caught in the explosion. That's a very useful thing to have as the monster count starts to ramp up.

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How to open the salt storage door in Sinking City 2

The Sinking City 2 salt storage code is I-IV-IX-XVI in roman numerals, or 1-4-9-16 in normal speak. So press those squares as shown above to unlock it.

To get the Salt Storage code properly you'll need three notes: the 16 Punishments of a Sailor note from the large brass wall plaque in the Bar, the Instructions to Sybil note, which you can find just before the Old Shop with the Ward, the Warning for Sybil note in the Jeweller's area.

The Instructions to Sybil note lists four punishments which you can cross-reference with the 16 Punishments of a Sailor to get the numbers you need:

• Confined to ship I (1)
• Deprived o' beer IV (4)
• Tarred an' feathered IX (9)
• Keelhauled (XVI) 16

So, to open the door you just need to press the squares with those roman numerals on.

Inside you'll find a woman turned to Dream Essence you can smash for some upgrade points, a Surprise in the Safe? note (which is a clue for the locker room safe code) and the Pyre's Squid Barrel, an upgrade for the grenade launcher which will stagger enemies if multiple opponents are caught in the blast.

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"Our aim is to, hopefully, have an annual release of new games," Silent Hill franchise producer Motoi Okamoto tells GamesRadar+ through an interpreter at Gamescom 2026. This plan also motivates Konami to keep moving Silent Hill far away from its original home in fall-apart Maine, as Okamoto says, "If we stay laser-focused on the same American setting, that would exhaust [narrative] possibilities, and also potentially cause fatigue for the playerbase."

Okamoto wants anyone working on a Silent Hill game to tailor the IP, so keeping it flying around the world lets developers "work within the types of environments and the types of storytelling that works best for them." Every main Silent Hill game released or announced this decade was made by a developer that wasn't Konami, so it sounds like the publisher will continue to experiment with who gets to define Silent Hill.

The days of Konami's adored, defunct in-house Team Silent are past sunset and well into the misty night – but Konami's loyal to Bloober when it comes to remakes, ensuring there's at least one developer out there who cares about Silent Hill for longer than one development cycle.

OK, yes, I'm a bit worried about Okamoto's dream of having yearly Silent Hill releases. I worry having so many games will dilute the series I love so much. But Okamoto seems confident fans will be pleased with the apparently "many" secret projects Konami is working on right now.

He says, "There are still many projects that are still under the works and very unannounced titles. So obviously, we can't go into specifics. But there are still many projects that we are currently exploring and working on as we speak."

"We would like to let players know," Okamoto continues, "that we have more experiences coming up, and many types of games that, we believe, will be able to provide positive kinds of surprises for players waiting for this for the series." As more new, spiritually pristine details come out about Silent Hill: Townfall – I mean that in a negative way, I want spiritual orange slime in my horror games and no soap – due September 24, I grow more skeptical of Okamoto's pledge to positive surprises.

But my bad feelings about Silent Hill: Townfall might just be the fog in me talking. I better keep an open mind if I don't want to end up with a James Sunderland body pillow.

Silent Hill: Townfall goes Until Dawn mode with celebrity cameos from The Odyssey and Lost actors.

The Sinking City 2 storage code

The Sinking City 2 storage code is 1308.

Once you've used the acid on the rusty handle to reach it, you can just enter that and get inside. However, if you want know why, then it involves finding four notes in various locations that eventually give you all the numbers you need, as well as the order they should appear in:

• Note with digit 3 - '3 is the second digit' (Found in the 2f Outpatient Room)
• Letter with digit 1 - 'one comes first' (Found on a table outside the Observation Ward door near the band stand)
• Note with digit 0 - This ends up third as the only one with out a place (Found in the room you access immediately after reassembling the two face halves)
• Memo with digit 8 - 'eight comes last' (Found in the Nurses Station accessed via the Head Surgeon's Office on 2f)

Finding all the notes will let you complete an investigation by joining them all up, and give you the order of the code needed to open the combination lock. As I said above, you can just enter the code if you know it but, if you want the upgrade point you'll earn from completing the investigation, it's worth finding all the bits - as is completing investigations generally.

However you open the lock, inside you'll find a bunch of items and the Doyle's Cold Blood attachment for the Submachine gun that lets continuous fire slow enemies. That's a useful attachment for crowd control, and makes the SMG especially powerful when teamed up with the Doyle's Hot Streak magazine that increases damage with sustained fire. You'll get that later in the game when you open up the Sinking City 2 locked buoy.

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Until now, main Silent Hill games have only ever gotten close to Hollywood by stealing Christina Aguilera's 1999 Teen Choice Awards outfit for hot pink fantasy girl Maria. The cast of Silent Hill: Townfall, then, is another example of how Screen Burn is preparing to overturn Silent Hill convention.

Townfall is the first full Silent Hill title to be in first-person perspective, and the game set in 1996 features a handheld CRTV for navigating the miasmic Scottish island town St. Amelia, instead of the Silent Hill franchise's usual hissing radio that reacts to skinless monsters nearby.

I was a little annoyed by some of these franchise firsts' arbitrariness when I previewed a live demonstration of Silent Hill: Townfall earlier this summer – and, really, the game's new Gamescom trailer doesn't do much to talk me down. But there's an almost visible cloud of anxiety surrounding protagonist Simon that I want to understand better.

Simon, who wakes up in St. Amelia confused, with a cannula embedded in his hand, doesn't seem aware that he's in danger.

The Gamescom trailer shows us Terry O'Quinn's character calling Simon on the phone, instructing him breathlessly "to come back to the town and put some things to rest." A press release explains that O'Quinn plays "Richard, the enigmatic man who summons Simon back to St. Amelia and sets in motion the events of SILENT HILL: Townfall. As Simon's journey unfolds, Richard's connection to both the town and its troubled past becomes increasingly difficult to ignore."

Mewgenics and Final Fantasy Tactics actor Kezia Burrows then stars as "Zoe, a compassionate nurse whose voice reaches out to Simon through layers of static on the CRTV, urging him to 'come back to her,'" the press release continues. In the Townfall Gamescom trailer, Zoe warns that "we're all so angry," which probably isn't what Simon wants to hear as spider-legged kaiju creature emerges from the mist and thuds toward him.

Even more unlucky for Simon, voiced by Jovan Adepo, he is haunted by "fragments of a past he can barely remember," and he feels drawn to St. Amelia without knowing why.

But I'm in the opposite position: I'm feeling repelled by Screen Burn's take on a franchise I fell in love with for its outlandish, freakish sexual energy and occult mayhem. Silent Hill: Townfall – especially now that it has some fancy cast members – seems a lot more proper than that, like a rabbit rather than the roadkill I like.

But O'Quinn's performance in the underrated thriller The Stepfather (1987) and Adepo in Welcome to Derry make me hopeful that Screen Burn is hiding something more uncontrollable under Townfall's (relatively) stable-looking surface, and I want to know what it is. I will know once the game is out September 24.

The 1998 horror game that haunted my dreams even more than Resident Evil 2 is back, "modernized," and available on consoles for the first time.

The Sinking City 2 locked buoy solution

The solution to the locked buoy comes from two notes you can find: From Ezekiel's Wife, which you'll find on the shop counter not long after leaving the first Safe Room at the Fish Market, and About Ezekiel, which you can find in the Guard Post once you have a Leyden Jar to unlock it.

The important bit from these two notes are the mention of fish:

• The eel and the lantern come first
• The Coelacanth
• The angler has the last word

Scattered around the shop and the office behind the counter are various fish with symbols attached to them. Those fish mentioned above give you these symbols:

So that's lantern fish/lighthouse, gulper eel/ropes, coelacanth/starfish and Anglerfish/octopus.

These match the code symbols on the buoy lock. While it's not entirely clear, the note explains the eel and lantern fish are first, although not in what order, while the angler is last. That leaves the coelacanth third, as the only position left unclaimed.

With a little trial and error you can discover that the eel and lantern fish actually go in the reverse of the order mentioned, giving you this combination as a solution for the locked buoy - Lighthouse, Ropes, Starfish, Octopus:

Open it up and you'll get Doyle's Hot Streak, a magazine for the submachine gun that increases damage with continuous fire. That's actually a really useful upgrade against tougher enemies that can take a pounding, especially if you have enough ammo to just keep peppering them increasingly damaging bullets.

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You will need to find out where to use it though, as it will get you a vital item to progress the main story, as well as tie into the Sinking City 2 Printing Press side quest. But if you didn't clock the Graveyard gate when you passed it you could be a fair way beyond it in time and distance, making it tricky to work out where you should be heading.

Good job I've played the game extensively for my Sinking City 2 walkthrough and can tell you where to take the key, and what to do with it. It won't take long...

What to do with the Graveyard key

You'll find the Graveyard key at the Saloon just after you trigger a new objective to Move the Whale. At this point if you've been skimming through the game you might have missed the locked Graveyard gate back at the Church while you were there, along with things like the Sinking City 2 Trident.

There is a Soggy Note near the key that mentions you'll need to go to the Printing House 'via the Church Graveyard' but, again, if you're rushing through it's easy to miss that detail.

So, to use the Graveyard key you need to head here at the Church:

There'll probably be some enemies in the way when you arrive there, so try and be prepared for a fight, although you can probably run and dodge your way past and get through the gate quickly.

Once you're past the gate you'll be at the Printing House, which contains a gear you'll need to help move the whale, and the Printing Press that can get you a good upgrade when you find all the plates needed.

You'll find more details to all of that in the guides I mentioned up top. Once you're done here you'll be one step closer to completing this area, and won't be far off needing the Sinking City 2 Hospital walkthrough next.

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"I happen to worship these Resident Evil games and pull a lot of inspiration from the experience of playing them," he said in a new featurette, before listing some of the references he included. "I tried to keep the environment changing every seven or eight minutes, like the games. You're always moving into another level as it were."

Cregger went on to explain that he includes weapon progression in the movie, from pistol to machine gun, as well as including healing spray cans, typewriters, and herbs. He's even included a particularly niche frustration, which fans of the franchise will know all too well. "There's a lot of items from the games, he's constantly coming up against these padlocks that are stopping him from progressing," he added.

As Cregger puts it, while the new movie won't include Leon or adapt any particular story, "This is an opportunity for me to be loyal to the games in spirit and in tone and build a story that puts you in that scenario again and again, with increasing stakes."

Resident Evil stars Austin Abrams as a hospital delivery driver tasked with taking an important package to Raccoon City hospital. However, what follows is no ordinary night as a viral outbreak of infected monsters swarm him as he makes the perilous journey.

The horror movie opens on September 18, 2026. For more scares, check out our guide to upcoming horror movies as well as a breakdown of all the new video game adaptations on the way in 2026 and beyond.

It seems confusing at first, with some wooly clues about numbers and who's lying or telling the truth, but once you find the little bit of truth that cuts through it all, the answer can be found fairly quickly.

Here's how to find the frequencies you need and solve the wireless room puzzle. If you need more help around this then check out my Sinking City 2 Hospital walkthrough for a guide on the whole area this takes place in.

The brain puzzle solution

When you arrive at the Wireless Room you'll discover three brains in jars you can talk to, gaining you a note for each one you can then join to the Note about Wireless Rooms you got earlier in Investigations to get an upgrade point.

The clues in full are as follows:

• Testimony of Cornelius Wright - The secondary frequency is higher than the primary. The Primary? Well above 20 Hz. And whatever you do don't believe a word Pence says.
• Testimony of Ambrose Pence - The Primary Frequency is between 10 and 20 Hz and some say it brings bad luck, especially on Fridays. the Tertiary? It's exactly double the sum of the first two. Oh, and Dunwich... he is half-correct.
• Testimony of Silas Dunwich - Round the primary frequency to the nearest ten, cut it in half and you have got the secondary. The tertiary must be under 30 hZ. As for Wright - he's always wrong!

It's all a lot of very confusing info that gets in the way trying to work out what's going on. All you actually need to are these key bits of info:

1. Pence says the primary frequency is bad luck on Fridays, so 13.
2. Dunwich says to 'round the primary to the nearest ten and half it', giving you 5.
3. Ambrose says the tertiary is double the sum of the first two ((13+5)x2), giving us 36

That gives you the solution code: 13, 5, 36 for the brain puzzle.

To actually solve this you then need to set the dials to each number in turn, pressing the the big central button to enter them. Each time you enter one correctly a light will turn green and you can enter the next. When all three numbers have been entered the brains will start to chant and eventually explode.

When all that's done, a panel will pop open under the dials and you'll get some Dream Essence upgrade points.

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The Sinking City 2 statue puzzle solution

The solution to the statue puzzle is to shoot the arms in the right order, as shown in the image above. These limbs appear after placing the red Heart of Stone in the chest cavity, holding carvings that match the clues in the Cryptic Riddle you find in the safe, along with the Heart of Stone:

1. Woman on knees ('mother's prayer')
2. Octopus ('the sea')
3. Monster on Pedestal ('god to bend the knee')
4. Hourglass ('time')
5. Leyden Jar ('hold the spark')

So once you've placed the Heart of Stone in the Statue you'll need to shoot the arms/carvings they're holding in this order, one at a time - if you get it wrong at any point you'll take damage and the Statue will reset, regrowing all it's arms back. However, once you've shot all the carvings correctly, the remaining arms and the entire statue will crumble away, leaving behind a now blue Heart of Ice.

Once you have this new blue heart you'll need to take it all the way down down to the Cold Storage area on -1f that you should have explored earlier and already seen another version of the statue. You'll have to fight a Deep One that ambushes you when you reach the statue, so make sure you're ready for a fight when you go there. It won't follow you out of the Cold Storage door so you can kite it towards the exit and shoot it from just outside in relative safety.

When it's dead and the way ahead is clear, place the blue Heart of Ice in the statue's chest and you'll be able to take the final Leyden Jar you need to enter the ship.

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Developer Creative Assembly and publisher Sega are apparently not planning to unveil the long-awaited sequel's release date next week during the annual gaming event, as per their response to a fan's excitement over on Twitter.

The original post shows somebody exclaim that they "hope we get a release date next week," to which the official Alien: Isolation 2 account replies, "Hello, you won't get a release date next week."

It's short (not sweet, sadly), but it does provide all folks need to know, I suppose: there'll be no launch date reveal during Gamescom. Thankfully, the fan who initially posted in the first place is taking the news well, though.

They simply write, "Thank you for letting us know!" The Alien: Isolation 2 team says "you're welcome" in turn – so, all in all, it's not a bad interaction or anything… it's just disappointing.

As one fan jokes in the comments, it was "worth a try" regardless. That checks out, seeing as Alien: Isolation 2 has been in the works for at least a little while now, with its first footage having aired as part of the Summer Game Fest 2026 schedule earlier this summer.

It wouldn't be too surprising, then, to see people expecting a release date (or, at the least, a release window) to drop soon… but, alas, it won't be in August, anyway.

Here's hoping Creative Assembly and Sega give us another teaser of sorts, however – it's still possible, seeing as they only confirm they won't be showcasing a release date during this year's Gamescom.

Anything more than a quick sneak-peek at a xenomorph's mouth would be great at this point, as the original Alien: Isolation landed way back in 2014. I know I'll be keeping my own fingers crossed over the next few days.

Alien Isolation 2 uses Unreal Engine 5 instead of Creative Assembly's custom engine, and fans are starting to worry: "This completely ruins any enthusiasm I have for the game."

Here's the 60-second pitch for why you should play The Sinking City 2 this weekend: With the love of his life trapped in a Lovecraftian dream space, Calvin Rafferty must brave the flooded streets of Arkham as he tries to track down the occult tools to wake her, all as creatures from the deep surface and the city is plunged into chaos. Shambling enemies puppeted by the Slither are unpredictable, with shifting weak points, and maze-like, nightmarish maps are packed with arcane puzzles and tempting upgrades that'll have you constantly considering your dwindling resources.

Why play it today?

• The Sinking City 2 is a fresh twist on modern survival horror that feels just as good to play as recent Silent Hill and Resident Evil games, rather than a retro revival

A lot of recent survival horror games outside of the big names position themselves as throwbacks to retro sensibilities. While I still love that angle, it's interesting to see The Sinking City 2 take most of its cues from the likes of Resident Evil 2 remake rather than just the original Resident Evil 2.

Even so, The Sinking City 2 has a lot of its own ideas. Developer Frogwares is well-known for its detective games, including the first The Sinking City, and a whole catalog of Sherlock Holmes adventures. This means the bevy of survival horror puzzles required to progress or unlock upgrades are all smartly designed, and a detective mindmap allows you to sort and organize uncovered clues to arrive on solutions. It'll only tell you if evidence is related, never reveal a final solution. It's a light touch compared to their detective games, but adds a neat flavor to Calvin's adventure.

Lovecraftian eldritch horror is well utilized to make The Sinking City 2's stand out. Flooded streets and buildings allow for effective jump scares as monsters emerge. Twitchy movements, and shifting Slither on bodies mean you're never quite sure where to best aim. Down a foe, and escaping Slither can animate other corpses. It creates an uneasy atmosphere where you're never quite sure what the rules are, and are always weighing up when to stand and fight, and when to make a break for it.

Time commitment:

The Sinking City is about the same length as Resident Evil 2 remake, taking me about 10 hours to beat on my first playthrough. Post-game unlocks, as is often the case in the genre, makes for rewarding replays. With each area taking just a few hours, this is an adventure you can chip away at.

Play The Sinking City 2 if you love:

Skip The Sinking City 2 if you want:

One thing to know:

The Sinking City 2 has some great, forgiving difficulty options, but this is still a survival horror game. There are a lot of situations that can be quite stressful to get through with relentless swarm of enemies that'll turn you into fish food if you don't know when to cut and run. Even when backtracking, Frogwares takes the opportunity to add more pressure and challenge to catch you out. That's part of the fun. But, for those used to their more sedate detective games, this can be intense if you're not ready for it.

A moment you'll remember:

First feeling overwhelmed as you struggle to understand how the Slither work. Survival horror games are often at their best when they're unpredictable and you're learning a game for the first time, and The Sinking City 2 has enough strange foes that you'll find yourself unsure of the threat before you, and how to best deal with them. It doesn't get more horrifying or Lovecraftian than that. Even now, I don't fully understand how some systems work.

The final verdict:

In my The Sinking City 2 review, I said it's a "Lovecraftian fusion of Resident Evil and Silent Hill that boasts its own delightfully gruesome pleasures", and I meant it. Given the shift into the survival horror genre was such a departure for Frogwares, I was skeptical when this was announced, but the end result has blown me away. I like a lot of games in the genre, so it's great to see this in conversation with the modern big-hitters, and with plenty of fresh angles of its own.

So, where can you play it?

The Sinking City 2 is currently available on most major platforms: PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. It is not currently available on Xbox Game Pass or PS Plus. Launching at $49.99 for the base edition, the price is appealing, too.

How to get started with The Sinking City 2:

The Sinking City 2's horror works best when you don't know too much going in. But, if you get stuck, or just need some pointers, we've got plenty of guides already for where to start with The Sinking City 2 this weekend.

Have your say:

Check out our best survival horror games list for more!

I've solved it all already and have explained the process fully in my in-depth Sinking City 2 walkthrough covering the flooded city section. However, if you just want the short version, here it is.

Unlike the Sinking City 2 printing press puzzle, which involves several locations, this can actually be solved the first time you find it, as long as you know how.

What to do with the Trident?

You'll find the Trident in the Church behind the Star locked door, once you have the Star key. But it's not clear what you need to do with it.

You'll actually want to take the Trident and place it on the Obelisk to start things off. Once you've done that, you'll want to rotate the Obelisk symbols using the information found on the "Call Upon Believers" note which lists four gods (found on the altar when you first enter the Church), and the First Vision note which lists their symbols (found in the Star locked crypt in the graveyard).

Matching up the gods and symbols gives you the the order you need to arrange Obelisk sections, while the mention of 'from the depth to the heights' in one note means this order is from top to bottom and looks like this:

1. Yig: Serpent Form
2. Tsog-Nar: Crooked Cross
3. Gyrh: Spearhead
4. Cthylla: Splayed Womb

Once you have the symbols in the right place, lightning will start hitting the Trident at regular intervals so get clear. Some enemies will also appear, so have fun kiting them into the electricity. A tip will light up each time the Trident is hit, and when all three are lit, nip in and grab it.

Now take the Trident and place it back where you found it. When you leave this small room, you'll be in another dimension and the Church will be full of statues. Go to the altar and take the dagger from the statue right in front of it. Place the dagger into the slot in the altar and you'll be lowered into a basement area for a small boss fight. When that's done, you'll find some Dream Essence upgrade points on the altar as you leave.

You'll be at best about halfway through the flooded city area if you're dealing with this as you find it. However, you might be closer to the end if you're backtracking. Either way, my Sinking City 2 Hospital walkthrough is likely to be useful real soon.

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Where to find the Printing Press

The Printing Press is found in the Printing House near the Church. You can only access this once you reach the Saloon during the Move the Whale objective, where you'll find the Graveyard Key. This opens the locked gate in the Church area, and lets you reach the Printing House.

You'll have to work your way through most of the Printing House, as you'll only find the Printing Press itself once you find the secret room in the Director's Office by taking the APH Key. Unlike the Sinking City 2 Trident puzzle that can be solved there and then when you find it, this needs three other items - Printing Plate A, B and C - found in different places around the flooded city.

Where to find all Printing Plates

There are three printing plates to find in the flooded city area, which can be found in the following places, in the order you're most likely to find them:

1. Printing Plate C - found at the Church in the Star Locked tomb.
2. Printing Plate A - found in the Printing House as you pass through an apartment.
3. Printing Plate B - found in the Academic's Apartment next to the Fire Dept. Accessible only once you've taken the claw to move the Whale.

Getting all three plates will involve clearing most of the flooded city area and, by the time you have plate B from moving the whale, you'll only have one area left.

How to solve the printing press puzzle

To solve the Printing Press puzzle you need to place all three plates in it and then rotate the faces to make them all one color, depending on what reward you want:

• All Silver - Two Dream essence upgrade points
• All Gold - Cutter's Study Stock for the shotgun, which increases damage to enemies shot in the back

It's up to you what you pick, but personally I think the extra shotgun damage is the most valuable. You can only have one as the press will break after use.

Whichever one you want, the solution to solving the printing press puzzle is the same. Whenever you rotate a piece the pieces around it on the top, bottom, left and right also turn. The easiest way I've found to solve it is to get the corners the color you want first:

Dealing with just the corners reduces the bits that interfere with each other so should make it easier to get them where you want. When you've done that you just have to flip the middle pieces to get it all the same color.

Once you have the color you want, use the printing press to get your reward. And, as you're likely nearing the end of the flooded city by the time you complete this, you might be wanting the Sinking City 2 Hospital walkthrough next.

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When you first arrive in this new area, head up the path, checking the left fork for a view and some dialogue before carrying on to Akeley Memorial Hospital. Before you go in, look for an item box in a tent by a green bus. Now head into the Hospital and use the Safe Room where you'll also find an item box. Directly opposite when you come out of the Safe Room there will be an ERC crate to note for later.

Ignore the door with a floating head on it for now and take the other door, picking up the Eye Technology note from the notice board as you pass it. Inside you'll find a door with a medical symbol on the handle that you can't open yet, so take the stairs up instead.

Once a cutscene has played to reveal Faye's body, investigate the room to find an item box on a table and another floating head door, so take the corridor out and climb through the window outside instead.

When you go through the door outside to get back in you'll be attacked, so deal with that and then grab the item box around the corner, immediately as you came in, and one more near another floating head door.

There are some stairs down, but check the balcony through the door for an item box (and an ambush) before you go down. At the bottom you'll find an item box and map next to a door you can unlock for a shortcut back to the Safe Room area.

There's also a small locker room with an item in a locker and a Letter From Intern Dexter note. When you have everything, head through the double doors marked Anatomical Theater/Treatment room.

Go down the corridor until the door slams and then take the door you can use. Pick up the Station Manual + Occult Symbol note on the desk to get your first blue Symbol. You can't use the device here yet, so check the map on the wall nearby to get the Prism System Schematic note that mentions the Treatment Room, Chapel, and Basement.

Now duck under the partially opened shutter to find Faye's body and get a new objective.

Charge the Prism at Three Stations

You can't reach the Prism through the shield yet, so head through the open door by the body in the chair and read the Prism Station Reset Protocol note then connect it to the Prism System Schematic note in Investigations to complete the group and earn an upgrade point, then pull the lever in the room to disengage the shield around the Prism.

Grab the Prism and then run out of the open door to escape the ambush. A cutscene will play and you'll fall into the Lower Yard. Grab the item box by the truck and then go in through the white door.

Pick up the On Mirror Doors note and then turn away from the Mirror Door and head down the corridor to get a tease for a new monster, then head through the gate. You'll find a Rusted Lock here to come back to later and see a Prism station through a window.

Squeeze through the gap and follow the corridor around. You'll be attacked, including another version of the Lorelei boss with pustules and back eggs, so shoot them in the legs and stomp the eggs when they're down to save your ammo. Get past them and you'll reach the Morgue.

In the Morgue, pull out all the body trays for some items and then check the Morgue Worker's Memo note on the desk. There's also an ERC crate just around the corner, an item in the blue lockers, and some more body trays to pull out for more items and a face for the Mirror Doors. Pick it up and then rotate it around, finding various interaction points that will eventually open its case. Once it's open a cutscene will play.

After the cutscene you'll be attacked, so grab the face. You can run out of the door smashed open by one of the enemies, but it's probably better to deal with them now as you'll come back later. Whatever you choose, leave via the smashed open door to find a basement map, a Safe Room, and an item in the locker next to the Mirror Door you can't open.

Next to the Safe Room is a locked door, which you can open for a shortcut back to the Lower Yard you fell in before. Head through the white door there to find a Mirror Door matching the face you have, so open it and head upstairs.

In the first door you reach at the top of the stairs, you'll find a yellow item crate and an ERC crate pen in the toilet. Grab that and head back through the Lower Yard to open the crate in the Morgue quickly while it's so close, for an Inventory Upgrade and an item.

Go back up the stairs and towards the poster to interact with the shimmering light, to reveal a blue Symbol.

Now go up the stairs again, where you'll find an item in a chest of drawers near the windows. Go through the door surrounded by mannequins, then grab the items in the two yellow boxes and the Anti-Rust Acid.

Now go back down the stairs and head out of the door to the left of the poster where you saw the symbol. On the left outside you'll find items in a blue drawer and a yellow box on a wheelchair, grab them and then go right into a large yard called the Therapeutic Garden. You'll have to deal with enemies here before you do anything - lure them into the bear traps if you can.

At the far end of the yard you'll find a yellow item box and a glowing bear trap you can examine to find another blue Symbol. There's also an item in the blue drawers near the door. You can now connect all the blue Symbols in your Investigation tab for an upgrade point.

Find the white door up the stairs with the sign for the 'Central Staircase' and the rusted handle, and use the acid on it to open it. Save the acid for the other rusted handle you found earlier, but you'll need a combination for what's inside so don't go there yet.

Head straight ahead towards the Anatomical Theater with Faye's body inside. You can't get in through these doors, but to the left is the purple/blue Prism Charging Station.

How to use the Blue Prism Charging station

To charge the prism you need to rotate the three rings to display one of the three blue symbols you've found, so that they align between the blue arrow at the top of the machine and the one on the Prism, as shown in the images above. There doesn't seem to be any clear information as to which symbol goes where, but you'll only find one of each correct symbol per layer.

Once you have all the symbols lined up, you'll also need to hit 'validate' it to then charge it and receive a partially charged Prism.

When you head out of the room you'll see the Doctor walk past and be attacked. Deal with the enemies and then follow the Doctor into Reception, where a cutscene will reveal a new enemy you can't fight so run to the nearby Mirror Door and use the face to escape. At this point the black creature will patrol, appear, and pursue you at random points, so be prepared run away and lose it from time to time.

Through the smashed open double doors to the right you'll find another Mirror Door you can't open, an item box near a wheelchair, and an open door you can go through to find a Memo: Repairing the Key note and half a new Face. You'll have to rotate its case around again to find interaction points to open it and take it. Once you have it you'll be attacked again, so fight or dodge through them and head upstairs where you'll find a new map.

Visit the Outpatient Room, where you'll find an item box and a Digit '3' note. Back out in the hall you'll find a Hasty Note note in the corner on the trolley that the 'Caduceus Key is in the West Wing'. This is the medical symbol you found on a door earlier and is also on the Isolation Wards door right by the note. Head out the open door that's hanging off its hinges to reach a small outside balcony.

Go though the open window to find a pink Symbol and an item box, before unbolting the door to get back to the hallway you were just in. You can either go through that door and back around to the little balcony area, or back through the window, and unbolt the door there for a shortcut back onto the Upper Hall.

At this point I was attacked by the black creature and had to run away, although I'm not sure if it was scripted or a random encounter. Whatever happens to you, head to the Prosthetics Workshop where you found the Anti-Rust Acid (the door with mannequins outside) and place the half face in the machine there.

Now go to the Staff Room on the 2F and get the Staff Memo Incursions note on a noticeboard, an item box on a chair, and a Folded Note note on a table. Pick them all up and head through the door onto the balcony to find the Caduceus Key, the medical symbol you've seen on a few doors. Predictably, you will be attacked, so run or fight as you see fit to get away.

Head to the Pharmacy on 1F and use the Caduceus Key to get in. Listen to the Radio and pick up an item, then look at the glowing book to get a new pink Symbol for the Prism.

Head out, take the stairs immediately on your left and make your way through the Founder's Hall, into the Upper Hall, and go through the Caduceus Key door you found earlier.

In the first room on the left you'll find a Lost Letters - the Coming Reign note on the wall and a yellow item box. In the door on the right you'll find a yellow item box and an item on a table. Further down the corridor is an open door to the left where you'll find a yellow item box and a glowing body you can interact with for a yellow Symbol.

At the end of the corridor you have a choice - you can either drop down a hole or go through the door and take a ladder down. Both more or less take you to the same place, just via slightly different routes. Take the hole for completion, take the ladder for a shortcut that misses a few important things. You can come back to either at any time, however.

If you drop through the hole you'll end up in the Observation Ward and have a pretty horrible fight against multiple enemies, but it's worth doing it while you're here just to get it done, and will save some time for a few things. When it's over you'll find an ERC crate, an item in a cupboard, a Torn Page From a Diary note, and an item in a yellow box. When you have everything, leave and turn right to find a Letter with Digit 1 note on a table, then go left to find two item boxes before a bandstand.

Check the bandstand to find a Radio, an item box, and an Inventory Expansion. You can also unlock a gate by the bandstand to open a shortcut back to the Therapeutic Gardens. For now, however, go back the way you came in to the bandstand and turn right, where you can unlock another gate past the benches to reach the Asylum Gate. Here you'll find a couple of item boxes, see a monster in the distance, and the ladder you could have taken instead of jumping into the hole.

Go through the open gate and grab the Lost Letters - Goodbye Maria note immediately on the left by a body in the wall, then carry on to trigger a boss fight.

To defeat this boss you'll need to avoid the yellow liquid it throws around, while shooting what look like red exposed lungs. The best time to land a hit is just as it's about to throw a ball of liquid, as even though you can't see the weak spot you'll still hit it. There are three regenerating item boxes that constantly refill around the area, so keep looping around to collect what's in them as you fight.

When it's dead, you'll get one last go on any unopened item boxes that will now no longer respawn. Then go through the Prosthetics Craft and Repair door to find an item box and the other side of the Face you already have. Interact with the case to get the face out, then unbolt the door and you'll be right at the bottom of the stairs you need to get back to where you left the other half of the face. Take the stairs up to the Prosthetic Workshop and fix the Face, and then use it on the Mirror Door nearby to leave, as the door you used to get in will lock.

Carry on into the next room and you'll find the Note with Digit 0 note and the Black Reef Longshot marksman rifle, as well as a yellow item box. Unbolt the door and leave, where you'll be attacked. Head down the stairs and out of the door straight ahead of you, dealing with or dodging enemies as you go. Turn right outside and then head through the Therapeutic Gardens so you can get back to Reception. You'll hear an announcement that will add the Wireless Room as an objective which, handily, is behind an Old Man Face lock.

Head to the Upper Hall and use the old man face on the Mirror Door to get into Medical Records. Grab the For Akeley's Widows, Questions Linger note and head through the hole. There will be an enemy in there to fight, and it's a tight space so be ready. When they're done, interact with the glowing spot for a new yellow Symbol.

Head out of the door, where you'll be right by a shortcut you can unlock back out into the balcony near the Upper Hall.

At this point you can skip the Wireless Room and go straight to the Chapel as it's an optional side objective. But you'll miss an ERC pen, and some Dream Essence upgrade points if you skip it.

Assuming you're heading to the Wireless Room, ignore the bolted shortcut door for now and instead go down around the corridor to it.

Inside there's an item in the drawers and an ERC pen on the desk and, obviously, three talking brains in a jar. Speak to all three brains in turn to get a clue and a note, then join up the notes you got from the brains to the Note about Wireless Room in Investigations to get an upgrade point.

Now it's for the wireless room brain puzzle.

How to solve the wireless room brain puzzle

Each of the brains have a confusing clue, and some info on if the others are telling the truth. However, to solve the Wireless brain puzzle you just need these three pieces of information:

1. Start with Pence who says the primary frequency is bad luck on Fridays, so 13.
2. Now use Dunwich's clue to 'round the primary to the nearest ten and half it', giving you 5.
3. Finally Ambrose says the tertiary is double the sum of the first two, giving us 36

That gives you the code: 13, 5, 36. Set the dials to each number in turn and press the central button to enter it and move on to the next. You'll see a green light each time you get it right, and when all three numbers are entered the brains will explode.

As a reward you'll get some Dream Essence.

Now unlock the shortcut or go back through Medical Records depending on which is safer, and go to Reception to open the ERC crate now you have the pen. Inside you'll find Cutter's Tomahawk, a melee upgrade for the shotgun.

Head towards the Waiting Area with the old man face Mirror door, and access the Chapel Courtyard. There are two item boxes on a bench to grab before you enter the Chapel.

Inside the Chapel you'll find a Lost Letters - Deja Vu note on the right next to some bodies and two item crates around to the left. There's another item box on the pulpit, as well as a glowing spot you can interact with to get another yellow Symbol. You can now join all the yellow Symbols in Investigations for an upgrade point.

Left of the pulpit is an item box on a bench to the right by the door. Go through the door and you'll find an Unsent Letter note, and another Prism charging station that you now have three yellow symbols for.

How to use the yellow Prism Charging station

For the yellow Prism Charging station solution, insert the Prism and rotate the dials so the symbols you've found appear between the two yellow triangles, as show in the image above. Then validate the answer to complete it.

This is the same process as for the previous station so, while there's no obvious clues, there's only one correct symbol per layer.

When you leave the room you'll see the Doctor go past and open up a new door. Head in to find a lot of brains and a Local Residents note on a shelf. Keep going, through the gap in the shelves, and you'll find the final Face and trigger a cutscene.

Once the cutscene has played out there's an Exceptional Specimens note, and two items to grab before you head out. When you get back to the Chapel you'll be ambushed by several enemies, including the black phantom creature. Don't try and fight anything, just smash any obstacles blocking the exit and run.

For now go to the Head Surgeon's Office on 2F, which you can now access with the final Face. Inside you'll find an item box just as you go in, a Diary of Thedus Lowe note, and the Vertebrae Key on the desk. Grab them and then look for a cupboard you can push away to access the next room.

Inside you'll find the Memo with Digit 8 note, which you can now connect to all the other number notes in Investigations to get an upgrade point and work out the combination for the lock in Storage. There's also the final ERC pen and an item in a cupboard.

Head to the ERC crate in the General Ward now you have the pen (the area where you dropped down the hole just before the boss fight) and you'll get some items and Dream Essence.

Now for the lock in Storage.

The storage lock code

The locked Hospital Storage code is 1308. The Letter With Digits notes you've been finding list numbers and most of them have positions, with the exception of 0, which just goes in the slot not listed explicitly:

• 'One comes first'
• '3 is the second digit'
• 0
• 'Eight comes last'

Inside you'll find a bunch of items and the Doyle's Cold Blood attachment for the Submachine gun that lets you continuous fire slow enemies.

Now it's time to get the final Symbols, so head back to the Locker Room near Reception and go down the stairs. Pick up the Access Restricted note near the door with the Vertebrae Lock that you now have the key for and go in. Just inside you'll see a glowing point on a pile of bodies that will now give you the final pink Symbol. Link them all up in Investigations for an upgrade point.

Head through the hole in the wall, where you'll have another mini-boss fight with the lung monster. Once he's dead make sure you check the room thoroughly for items, and then push the trolley out of the way to get into the next room. Grab what's in the item box and listen to the Radio, then use the pink Prism charger to charge your prism one last time:

How to use the pink Prism Charging station solution

As with the previous two charging stations, the solution to the pink Prism charging station is to line up the three symbols you've found inbetween the two pink triangles by rotating each ring. As before, there's only one symbol per layer so it's just a case of finding them. When they're lined up, press validate to complete the puzzle and fully charge the Prism.

Now it's time to use the fully charged Prism, so head to the final surgeon's Mirror Door on 1F that opens the way back to the Anatomical Theater where Faye's body is. When you place the prism a monster will take Faye's body, so chase it.

There will be some item boxes in the area you reach with cars and trucks, and some blue drawers to search - but don't take too long as there will also be lots of monsters. Otherwise head down the path, keeping an eye out for some more item boxes as the path turns, then head through the hole in the fence and drop down.

Eventually the slither will rise up and block the way ahead, and you'll have to survive attack waves while Faye tries to open a door. At this point keep moving, fighting, and dipping into the refilling item boxes. There are three waves, ending in the lung monster boss you've fought twice already. The final stage is the worst, as it keeps spawning the little jumpy Stygians monsters while you're trying to deal with the boss. Just keep looping the area and taking what you can from the respawning item boxes. They'll usually spit out health when you're in real trouble, so just try to stay alive.

When the fight is over, push on to trigger a cutscene and when that's done you can make your way back to the boat and complete the hospital area.

This guide is a work in progress and will continue.

This is a large open area that has you navigating between city locations via water to complete everything Once you've worked your way through this you'll need the Sinking City 2 hospital walkthrough, so let's get started.

Once the opening intro is over, you'll be able to walk through the apartment and collect some notes - Excerpt From The Dream Realm on one desk and About The Mask on the other. There's also a Final Warning! note in the kitchen and a Restricted Section Inventory note in the room with the painting.

There's a few other things to find here that fill out the story, but nothing essential, so take your time or carry on. It's up to you.

When you leave the flat you'll see the Miskatonic Library from the balcony. Now head down the fire escapes to a boat and travel until you reach a closed gate. Turn right to find a jetty you can dock at and a window with a white sheet you can climb in. Head through the building to find a bridge to the gate side.

If you try to open the gate now, it won't work and you'll see a Fuse Box to the left and the message that you don't have any items, so move on to your first Safe Room where you can save, store items and unlock abilities. Leave the safe room when you're done via the other door and go down the stairs into a shop with a Gate Switchboard note on the counter saying you need to head across the street to find Fuses in another shop. Place this in your Investigation space when the prompt tells you.

Head outside and you'll see the Allen Radio Store. Make a note of the 'Est 1908' bit, for later. You can't get in but trying will show you the Fuses you need. Leave them for now and instead head around the large hole in the road to reach an open white door.

Immediately inside you'll see an office on the right with a Map on the wall so grab that. There will be an item in the draw behind you.

Then head up the stairs and into Apartment 5 where you'll find a Safe with a To Martin note saying the combination is 'my proudest, most miraculous moment'. Technically the clue for this comes later but you can also just solve it now.

How to open the Safe in Apartment 5

The safe combination for Apartment 5 is 1908, the year the radio shop was established. You'll find in a note in the Radio Shop later but you can also just use it now to get some items. At this point some enemies appear but you can run away.

Now head into Apartment 6 where you'll find a hole into the room below. There's an item in the cupboard and a Gate Fuses and Wire note on a desk - connect that to the Gate Switchboard note in your Investigation space earn your first upgrade point and then pull the bolt on the white door to open a shortcut to the entrance you used to get in. Now head through the hole in the wall to reach the shop.

Once inside, grab the item in the yellow box, then head to the till and grab the "From a Sister" note and connect it to Martin in the Investigation space to complete it and get an upgrade point. When you grab the Fuses an enemy will appear near you and you'll have your first fight. Shoot the glowing parts for extra damage.

Once the enemy is dead, push the shelves blocking the door away to get out and deal with more enemies or, better, run away. Generally you get nothing for defeating monsters, so only do it you need to. If you haven't opened the Safe at this point go back to Apartment 5 where the safe is and use the 'proudest moment' as the combination - the date the store was established - 1908.

How to solve the Gate Fuse Box puzzle

Head back to the Gate Fuse Box and use the Fuses to connect the wires. Because there are different configurations you'll need to rotate some of the Fuses. This is the the Gate Fuse Box puzzle solution:

• Straight fuse: Join the two blue wires
• T-shaped Fuse: Join the three yellow and green wires
• Right-angle fuse: Join the two red and orange wires

Remember to 'validate' it once you're done or it won't work. Now pull the lever to open the gate.

Head back to the boat, dodging past the enemy that appears, and carry on until there's an explosion behind another gate. Dock on the jetty to the left and grab an item and the "Lost Letters - Death Awaits" note just to the right of the stairs , before heading into the building with a hole in it.

As you head up the stairs inside you'll trigger a chase, so run through the building until you jump and you'll be able to open the gate and carry on through it.

Travel a short distance until you reach another jetty, dock the boat and head towards the building, where you'll trigger a cutscene that ends this section.

Once docked, head towards the building and wait for the cutscene to play out. Then move on, getting an item from some drawers on the right by the 'Silence' noticeboard before heading through the door, and then through another door by the windows where you'll see the map in front of you. Behind you'll find an Emergency Relief Crate, or ERC, that you won't have a key for yet.

Leave the room via the partially-opened door into a corridor with a body hanging ahead of you. Head towards the body and, when you can, turn left to find a Lost Letters - Dominion note on a bench next to another body.

Turn right from the bench, look for another large Silence notice and go through the door next to it. You'll see a creature run away, which is a problem for another time . Read the blackboard for the "Manifesto" Note and open the cupboard for an item.

Go back out and follow the room left to reach the Restroom, go in and then through the red lit hole in the wall. You'll be attacked by an enemy, so kill them and then grab an item from the drawer at the back of the room, before you head out the other door into the main library annex.

There's an item in a drawer by the Gas Can. In the far right corner near the ramp up you'll find a door you can unbolt for shortcut back to the way in, while on a desk to the right just before the ramp you'll find the "Internal Memorandum" note and an item in a nearby cupboard.

Head up the ramp and follow the path to the back of the room where you'll find a handle you can turn. You'll be jumped by the creature you saw earlier and dropped back down to the floor below and attacked by more enemies. Now's a good time to use that Gas Can to take out multiple enemies at one.

Once the area is cleared go up the ramp again where you might be attacked by any leftovers. When everything is dead head to the back to find an item in some drawers. Now turn the second handle in the new area you've uncovered, and then turn the first wheel again to access the path you've just cleared to the Restricted Section.

Go inside the Restricted Section and take the impossible to miss glowing red evil book to trigger a cutscene. Once that's done you'll hear some screaming and get a new objective.

Find the Source of the Noise

Push the drawers aside to open a new door and keep going past some red painted doors until you reach a lit, partially open door. Go through to trigger a cutscene and meet Corentin.

Save the Woman at the Devil's Reef Hotel

Head past Corentin to find a Safe Room and an "ERC User Manual" note nearby with an ERC Activator Pen, which acts as a key. Unlock the other door and head back to the ERC Crates with the pen (now you have it) to get the Voss Compensator, which will make fully-focused shots slow enemies. It's probably best to deal with some of enemies you'll encounter now or they can easily bunch up on you.

Once you have the part, head back to the safe room and out the other exit to Corentin's boat, grabbing the item in a yellow box by the stairs.

The path on the boat looks like it diverges, but it's just a square, so either direction will eventually take you to a Church and the sub-objective to Open the Floodgate just beyond it.

Open the Floodgate

Dock at the church and grab the item in the yellow box immediately on your left and the Night Ore near the body right in front of you. When the time comes this is how you recharge the Nightshade Mask you took at the start, which can revive you when you die. There's also "A Balm for Flash and Relic" note that explains the ore.

Head to the Church, avoiding the traps so that A) they don't hurt you and B) you can use them on enemies later.

Go past the white door when you reach it, as it's locked. If you take the left turn you'll find an Obelisk to note for later. Head right instead where you'll find a flooded area.

Take the left turn in the water and you'll find a "Stained Note" that mentions a Trident and a Dagger, plus an item in a yellow box.

Take the turn to the right and you'll go past a locked Graveyard Gate and find your way to a statue covered in red vines, where you'll find the Church Key near a body. There are a lot of enemies here, so use the traps and the Gas Can to help take them out. There are also two yellow item boxes near the Statue with items in, and a Star Locked Door you can't do anything with yet.

Take the Church Key to the white door. Inside you'll find the a "Call Upon Believers" note on the altar, and "Origins of the Redemption Church" note at the back near a ladder. There's also an item in the cupboard in the corner and, up the ladder, you'll find a Radio you can listen to and another Star Door.

Now head into the Safe Room, where you'll find the "Look for Dream Essence!" note and some Dream Essence you can now use to upgrade Talents at the Talent Table. You can only equip one for now, so I'd recommend either Carapace of the Damned to reduce damage, or Profane Reload to reload quicker.

Head out the other door into a new area. Get the item in a yellow box on the coffins, then head past the big statue to the Gate Lever. However, the Gate Lever has a combination lock on it and there's a "Floodgate Lock" note by a body explaining the combination is the year of the bell.

The Floodgate Lock combination

The Floodgate lock can be opened with the code 1672.

The "Floodgate" Lock note explains the combination is the year of the bell, and while the "Origins of the Redemption Church" note you found earlier says the church was founded in 1667, the "Report on the Bell" note you'll find later says 'it took another half decade to craft and install the bell'. This gives you the combination 1672.

You can open the gate now, but there's a lot more to do at the Church before you go, DON'T LEAVE YET.

Grab the Star Key on the body and the item in the yellow box. Leave and you'll be attacked by a couple of enemies.

Use the Star Key to open the Star Door above the ladder in the church, where you'll find and take the Trident and a "Report on the Bell" note that says 'it took another half decade to craft and install the bell. This finally gives you the Floodgate Lock combination: 1672, as I mentioned earlier.

Link the "Origins of the Redemption Church" note to the "Floodgate Lock" note and the "Report on the Bell" note in Investigations to complete it and get an upgrade point.

Go into the Safe Room, out the other side and around the corner where you'll find a "Lost Letters - The Conduit" note and an item near a red vine-covered wall. Follow the building around past an open window, where you'll be jumped by two enemies. Deal with them and you'll have opened up a shortcut back to the Obelisk. There's also an item in a yellow box. Now go back to the window you can climb in where you'll find a "Notes on the Path" note, an ERC pen and you can also unlock the door for a shortcut back to the Church.

Now go back to the Star lock in the Graveyard and open it to get the ERC crate for an inventory upgrade, grab the Printing Plate C for later, and a First Vision Note and a "Letter to Boss" note.

Go to Investigations to link the "The First Vision" note with the "A Call Upon Believers" note and the "Notes on the Path" note for an upgrade point. An enemy will appear when you leave but you can run past and get back to the church and the Obelisk.

How to solve the Obelisk puzzle at the church

This is the Obelisk puzzle solution, showing all the correct symbols. This comes from using the "Call Upon Believers" note which lists gods 'from the depth to the heights', while the First Vision note lists their symbols, giving you this:

• Cthylla: Splayed Womb
• Gyrh: Spearhead
• Tsog-Nar: Crooked Cross
• Yig: Serpent Form

With that info you need to rotate the Obelisk symbols to display these symbols in order starting from the bottom (the depths) and moving to the top (the heights).

When you get it right the Obelisk will start crackling and lightening will keep striking every few seconds, so get out the way. Each time the lightning hits, one of the Trident tips will light up, so wait for that while dodging or dealing with the enemies as you do. When all three tips are lit, grab the Trident between blasts to end the process.

Take this charged Trident back to the room you found it in and place it back on the stand. This will transport you to another dimension where you'll find the church full of statues worshipping a star-shaped god. Head to the altar, picking up the Dagger on the way, and place it in the altar slot. This will take you down to a basement where you'll have a small boss fight. When that's over there will be two pieces of Dream Essence on the alter when you go back up.

Now you can use the Floodgate combination 1672 to open the gate if you haven't already. You'll be attacked but you can just dodge past everyone and get back to the boat. Follow the water until you reach a whale and the new objective 'Move the Whale'.

Dock by the whale and move on to find a ladder up to some crane controls that aren't working yet. Follow the platform around where you'll see an engine that's missing gasoline and a gear. Interact with it to get the sub-objectives to fix the crane, and to find gasoline and a gear.

A creature will appear and smash a hole in the Saloon door you just passed, but before you go in keep going around the corner to get an item from a yellow box.

Head into the Saloon and pick up the "Soggy Note" and the Graveyard Key. There's also a Shotgun you can't reach yet and an item box on the far right as you go in. Go into Investigations and join the "Soggy Note" and the "Broken Crane" note for an upgrade point.

Head inside the Safe Room where's there's an item in a yellow box then head out the other door to get the Shotgun, listen to the Radio and then go back the way you came.

At this point you have choice: the Gear is at a Printing House, reached via the Church using the Graveyard Key, while the gasoline is ahead in the Fire Station. You can do them in any order. However, you'll get a Printing Plate from each location, which you can use back at the Printing House, when you have all three, for an upgrade.

I'm going to do the Printing House first and then the Fire Station, because at that point you can continue the story with no more backtracking. However, it's worth doubling back to the Printing House then to collect a useful upgrade.

How to get the gear in Sinking City 2

Head back to the Church and use the key at the locked gate in the Graveyard. Follow the path through a bus where you'll be attacked as you pass through. Take a left out of the bus to find two yellow item boxes on the back of a truck, then go back the other way and up the ramp.

Ignore the first turn up to find a yellow item box head, and then go back and up. Keep going until you duck under a hole and follow a fire escape to get inside a building. You'll fall through the floor as soon as you do.

Inside that room you fall into, you'll find a yellow item box and an ECR crate. Follow the room round, grabbing some items from a blue drawer near a white door, where you can see a Gear if you look through.

Keep going until you enter a large flooded room and see something move in the distance. There's a item in some blue drawers in the far right corner and a door on the right to the room where you saw the Gear with a knob marked APH that you can't open yet. To the left are some stairs that lead up to a locked door and a hole in the wall.

Head through the hole where you'll see something moving again. You'll be attacked by two enemies as soon as you start heading forward so take them out. There's another enemy around the corner before some stairs but before you take the stairs check the other side for an item in a yellow box.

As you head up the stairs you'll find a room on your right. Inside is the "Adventure Awaits for Arkham's Academics" note and a yellow box with an item inside. There's also a locked gate marked APH again.

Leave that for now and head up until you reach a window you can climb in. Inside there's a "Lost Letters - Staying With You" note and an item in a drawer in the next room, with an enemy. You'll also find a Printing Plate A on a desk and an "Incident During Study" note that explains the last plate is in a head librarian's apartment near the Fire Dept.

Once you have everything, head out the other window and down a blue pipe. At the end of the blue pipe you can head up to find an item and then back down and across to reach the next room.

The new room is actually where you first came in, before you fell through the floor, only with the hole now covered up. Inside you'll find the "Floodwaters Rise!" note on the desk and an item directly behind you after that. In front of the desk you'll find some items in some more drawers and a door you can unlock for a shortcut back to the large flooded room from before.

Through the white door you'll find an item in a cupboard, something in some drawers, a save room and the APH key on the wall. Taking that will cause a secret room to open. Inside you'll find a printing table where you can place the two printing tablets you currently have.

The window will take you back out to the bus and the way you came out but ignore that for now and go through the door you unlocked to get back to the large flooded room from before. When you go back down there are new enemies that shoot at you from glowing holes in their face. Shoot the glowing holes at the brightest for the most damage.

Deal with them, then head back to the Gear room and open it with the APH key to take it. When you leave a lot of enemies will appear, so run back up the stairs to the room you were just in.

If you take the window out the way you originally reached this room you can drop a ladder back down to the gate that was also marked APH and use the key to open it. Inside you'll find an item in a yellow box and an ERC pen key.

At this point you can head back to the big flooded room to try and get the ERC crate for an Inventory Increase. I'd dodge and run as best you can to avoid a fight or you'll likely use up all your ammo and health. Whether you do that or not you can leave via the window in this room to get to a fire escape that will lead you back to the Church.

How to get gasoline in Sinking City 2

Head out of the saloon towards the Fire Department and follow the path left. You'll be attacked by a Stygian once past the bus, and once that's dealt with then head up the stairs in the corner to find a 'Rescue Zone' and an item in a yellow box. You'll be attacked again by a Stygian on the way out.

Follow the path to the Fire Station entrance. There's an item in a yellow box by the red car (you'll be attacked by a Stygian) and a ladder you can't reach in the corner. Grab everything you can and and head through the white doors.

Inside there's an item in some blue drawers and another item in a yellow box hidden hidden around the side of the fire truck on the left and an item in the locker by the electrified floor. The gasoline is inside the room the electricity is blocking. Head up the stairs and grab two items from the lockers at the top. In the corner to the right of the lockers you'll find a switch you can pull to stop the alarm bell and electricity but don't do it yet, as it triggers a large attack.

There is also an ERC crate in this area and an item in a drawer on the other side of the room between some beds. When you're ready, pull the lever and then run into the middle of the room to use the fire pole to get down before the enemies overwhelm you. Run into the now non-Electrified room and grab the Fuel. An enemy will burst through the closed white door in the corner (there's an item in a drawer in the small space this opens up).

Get out of the fire station, as not only will more enemies attack you outside, but the ones inside will smash their way out as well. Run around the fire and back to the Safe Room in the Saloon. Save and get organised then run out and out the hole in the door.

Refuel the crane, fit the gear and use it - turn left first to find the big red claw (and open up a new path you'll use in a moment) then take the crane with the claw attached to the Whale to move it.

If you want the final Printing Plate, you're now going to want to head back into the Fire Station area to access the ladder you can now reach after moving the claw. If you don't the upgrade that gives you you can just carry on to the hotel.

If you want the Printing Plate, run and dodge your way to the ladder by the Fire Dept and grab the item in a yellow box before you head up. Deal with the enemy inside and on a desk you'll find Printing Plate B and the "About the Custom Red Franklin" note that explains the red printing press you placed the other plates in. We'll get to that later.

Go into your Investigations to link the "Red Franklin" note with the "Incident During Study" and the "Letter to Boss" note to complete it and get a upgrade point. Another zombie will attack you. In the other room you'll find an item and an ERC pen for the crate in the Fire Dept. If you go back into the fire station at this point you'll an item and some Dream Essence upgrade points from it.

Now you have to final Printing Plate it's time to head back to the Printing House and the red press. This is entirely optional, but the upgrade is useful.

The Sinking City 2 Printing Press puzzle solution

When you get to the red Printing Press in the Print House, place the final Printing Plate and you're ready to solve the puzzle.

You need to flip the plates until they're all silver or all gold, with each side unlocking a different reward when you use the press:

• Silver side - Two Dream essence
• Gold side - Cutter's Study Stock, which lets you shoot enemies in the back for more damage

You can only pick one, as the press breaks after you use it.

Rotating any tile flips all the tiles above, below, left and right of it. You'll want to get them in a position where flipping the last one makes everything the color you want.

The best way to solve the printing press puzzle is to get the corners to the color you want. That's fairly easy to do and, once you've done that, all you have to do is flip the middle one to get them all the same.

What's the best printing press reward?

It doesn't feel like too much of a choice here - two Dream Essence upgrade points won't really change that much, but a shotgun with a backstab/sneak damage boost, while situational, will be useful through out the rest of the game. Whatever you choose, you'll be ambushed on the way out but you don't gain anything from fighting so dodge past and escape best you can.

Once you've done the Printing Press you're done here so head to the Devil's Reef Hotel to carry on.

Now head towards the Devil's Reef Hotel. You'll hit another floodgate so dock and head in through the open window, grabbing the item in the yellow box you pass. Head through the white door inside and then through another door into the ruined interior of the building.

There's a "Lost Letters - Meet Me At Dawn" note on the bed to the right, and an item in the pram just as you enter the large open area with the piano. The piano will fall in the water as you approach it and you'll be attacked by two Slither zombies. Once they're gone then grab the item from the drawer near the white door and head through it and up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs you'll be attacked by a Slither Zombie and Glowing Head that you'll need to deal with. Grab the item in the cupboard on the other side of the big hole, the "Gerda Lost Her Head" note through the door on the dresser with the big mirror and the item from the drawer next to it.

Now head back the way you came and out of the open window, where you can open the floodgate and kick down the ladder to reach your boat and finally go to the Devil's Reef.

Head through the hotel and up the stairs to find Lorelei. Go around the balcony to trigger a cutscene. Once she's explained everything, head through the nearby doorway and down the stairs to find a Safe Room, a Radio you can listen to, an item in a yellow box by a luggage trolley in the middle of the room, and a map. There's also a "Hotel Ledger" note by the map explaining where to find a Staff Key to access some Tokens. You can also unbolt the double doors to make a shortcut back to the boat.

Go into the Safe Room and do whatever you need to do, then head out the other door. Grab the items from the cupboard and the desk. If you take the door on the left you'll find some stairs down to the Lorelei Lock that needs three keys to open. The door on the right is locked for now.

Once you're done, head back through the Safe Room and out, then up the red carpeted stairs to a blue corridor - ignore this first floor for now and keep going up the stairs again, where the door ahead will close as you approach.

Open it and head inside. Here you'll find a Staff Room that needs a key, and a chest of drawers you can push away to access room 301 where you'll find a safe, a "Run For Your Life" note, as well as some items in a cupboard and a drawer.

The Room 301 Safe code

The Room 301 safe combination is 2137, which you will find later from some notes but that should open it now and get you a Voss's Target Grip that will make perfectly timed shots deal more damage, as well as some ammo. Once the grip is equipped you'll see an extra marking on the crosshairs that will show the timing to deal more damage.

The combination comes from a "Safe Code Letter" note and a "Baby One More Tide" note you'll find later. They give you the clues that explain the safe combination from some song lyrics:

• Spread my wings like a bat: 2 (wings)
• Curl my tail in hate and spite: 1 (tail)
• Their octopus hearts beat in fear: 3 (hearts)
• As the tide makes all sins clear: 7 (deadly sins)

Leave Room 301 and carry on to the end of the corridor, where you'll find a yellow box at the end of the room with a item. Head through the door next to this to find a hanging body with a key on it.

Trying to take it will trigger a cutscene where the body falls to a lower level and you'll then be attacked. If you try to run you'll be attacked in the corridor and, given that you'll need to spend time around this area, it's best to face up and kill all the enemies.

In the room where you're initially attacked, the door that was originally blocked by a chair is also opened and you'll find some items in two yellow boxes when it's safe. Once you're done head down to the floor below you ignored previously.

On the lower floor you'll find another locked Staff Room door. Left of that is Room 202 which is locked and Room 201 you can enter. Inside 201 you'll find the "Your Last Game" note on a body. Go through the other door into a room full of bodies. Directly on your right is the "Lost Letter - An Artefact" note. Directly behind you is a drawer with an item in it and a door to a toilet with a yellow box containing an item.

The big Silver Box you can't do anything with yet so leave by the other door you haven't used yet and follow the path around to find another room, with a "Lorelei's Request" note on a desk as you enter. There's also an item in a drawer to the left of the desk.

Opening the door in here will get you ambushed by a enemy so be prepared. Once they're dead, use the crack in the wall past the door you just opened to reach the next room where there's a giant hole in the floor.

Unlock the door in here to make a shortcut to the blue corridor before you jump down.

When you jump down you'll be in the area next to the Safe Room you couldn't access before where the body landed, letting you pick up the Staff Key. There's another Silver Box you can't use yet and an item in the far corner in a drawer.

Go around past the reception desk towards the open door with the light spilling from it. Inside you'll find the "Baby One More Tide" note with a code clue, and an item in a drawer. Now head through the closed door into the kitchen and unlock the other door to get back to the Safe Room.

Now make your way up to the Staff Room on the top floor to find an item in a yellow box and a "Safe Code Letter" note. Join that to the "Baby One More Tide" note in Investigations to earn an upgrade point. You'll also now have all the clues that explain the safe combination you opened earlier.

Now head dawn a floor to the other Staff Room where you'll find an enemy waiting. Deal with them and you'll find an item in a cupboard, three Lorelei Tokens and a "Lorelei Chests" note that explain you need to use the tokens to open the silver chests you've been finding to get the keys for the Lorelei Lock in the basement.

You can now connect this "Lorelei Chests" note to the Hotel Ledger and "Lorelei Lock" note to complete that investigation and get an upgrade point.

Now it's time to use the Lorelei Tokens on the Silver Boxes to get the Lorelei Keys. Because the Lorelei Lock is in the basement I'm going to work from the top down. There's going to be a lot of enemies reanimating while you do this so I'd recommend avoiding them as best you can, as you'll likely be short on supplies at this point and you'll probably need some bullets for a trap on one of the boxes.

The top floor Silver Box you can just open and grab the Lorelei Tokens. However the middle floor Silver Box will trigger a several traps where gramophone-like devices play sound that damages you, and you'll need to break them all to stop it. Some you can stomp on but a couple need to be shot.

There are three traps in the room with you and one behind the closed door to the toilet. Once this box is done go to the hole in the floor, where you dropped down to reach the body before, to get to the final Silver Box. Grab the Lorelei Tokens here and run around to the Safe Room before you're attacked.

Now head to the basement and use the keys to open the Lorelei Lock. Through the door you'll find some growths on the wall that explode if you get too close, so don't, and be able to examine a door to see a Ventilation Machine.

Avoid the growths and move to the end of the corridor where you'll find a "Ventilation System Schematic" note and a white door you can head though. Follow the corridor, avoid the growths and you'll be attacked when you see some machines, so deal with them and you'll finds Carruthers The Crook note. Past that is a locker with an item in and door leading to the Ventilation Pump Room.

Inside the pump room you'll find a "Mustard Gas" note, a yellow item box, a locker with an item in and the Minuteman Submachine Gun. Grab all that first before you touch the pump.

Ventilation Pump puzzle solution

The Ventilation Pump Puzzle solution needs you to position four arrows to certain marks by pressing buttons, with the lever switching the buttons between moving things up or down.

The third button just moves the fourth arrow on its own, so just press that button while the lever is set to blue blue to get it in position. However, button one moves arrow one and two up and down, while button two moves arrows three and four up and down.

To get them all in position you'll need to use the lever to switch between up and down while using button two to move arrow two and three up, and using button one to pull arrow one and two down again. You're aiming to get arrow three in position while two is one notch below so that pressing button one in the up configuration will then move the final arrows into the correct position.

From the starting configuration Ventilation Pump Puzzle solution is this:

1. With the lever set to blue press the third button to move the forth arrow up, onto its mark.
2. With the lever still set to blue press the middle button so that second and third arrows move up to the top - placing the third arrow on its mark and the second above it.
3. Set the lever to red and press the first button to move the second down arrow so it's one notch below its mark (the first arrow won't move as it's as far down as it goes).
4. Set the lever to blue and press the first button to move the first and second arrows up position.

When the pump activates the gas will clear and you can now move ahead to reach an elevator but before you use it head back out the Lorelei Lock door to find a previously gas filled doorway now clear.

You'll find a door you can't open to Linen Storage, so keep going until you reach a wine cellar with a crack in the wall (you'll be attacked along the way). The crack will get you inside the Linen Storage where there are several yellow item boxes and other resources, making this a valuable detour. You will be attacked again on the way out but you can just dodge past and run back to the lift.

Now take the lift up and release Lorelei. She will now move incredibly slowly to the boat while a variety of enemies attack you. You'll need to find and pull sparking levers around the room to keep her moving. Fortunately, the yellow item boxes here keep refilling so you can top up as you run about.

You don't need to kill everyone yet, just kite them around until you see a sparking lever with a red light to pull. Keep grabbing item boxes as you pass them.

When Lorelei reaches the water a boss will appear who you will have to kill. Hit their pulsating weak points to knock them to the ground and then shoot/stomp the eggs on their back to kill them. When they're dead the boxes will stop respawning but you will get one last go on them, so sweep the room to grab what you can before you leave via the door that appears.

Once you have Lorelei in the boat (use the handle with a bow over it nearby to lower her in) you'll get a new sub-objective to Bring Lorelei to Corentin. Do that and some cutscenes will play to end this section.

Now it's time for the Sinking City 2 Hospital walkthrough.