Fleeing from the wreckage of the village, in Chapter 7 of Resident Evil 4, Leon and Ashley must navigate a treacherous castle, avoiding the wrath of a certain Spanish aristocrat while increasingly feeling the effects of the Las Plagas parasite that inhabits them. Facing threats both within and without, the pair must overcome the obstacles before them to have any hope of escaping.
This guide will help players through the critical path of Chapter 7 of the Resident Evil 4 remake.
Chapel
As Leon and Ashley cross the drawbridge, Luis will give them a call. Head forward past the burning rubble and toward the Merchant stall ahead. Walk up the steps to the left and climb up and around, entering an archway at the summit. This will lead down into a yard where a group of Castle Ganados will pass by beyond a gate. Take a right through a door into a hallway, at the end of which is the Chapel with a lone Ganados, from whose head will emerge a parasite. Kill him and head through the door to the right of the altar.
Travel down the corridor and exit out onto the battlements, taking the stairs up where a short scene will play, starting a fight. Five Archer Ganados with crossbows will attack Leon on the battlements, but they can be swiftly dispatched from a distance with a rifle. Once the fighting is over, take the stairs up to the right, where a pavilion will explode in front of them, and a scene will play.
Castle Gate
During this segment, Leon and Ashley will be attacked by a catapult, forcing them to run between cover to avoid being hit. Throughout this section, it’s best to order Ashley to stay close. Don’t run straight ahead, or Ashley will likely be incapacitated and killed. Instead, run to the corner behind the destroyed pavilion and wait for the catapult to fire on the path ahead. Once the fires are out, make a sprint for the next area.
On the stairs to the next level, a Castle Ganado will be waiting, while another will come from behind to try and kidnap Ashley. Deal with them both and press forward. As before, wait for the catapult to fire and then make a run for it around to the right. Wait for the catapult to fire again and run across the bridge to the left. At the end, take another left and drop down the ledge into the room with the cannon.
In this room, round the corner and break a counterweight to raise the cannon to the roof. Exiting the room, head outside and take a ladder up to the battlements. Here, wait once more for the catapult to fire and drop down to unlock a door leading back to the bridge Leon crossed earlier. In this room is a Ganados waiting to attack, but be careful entering, as the catapult will fire on this room.
Crossing the bridge again, a large number of Ganados will attack as the catapults fire on from above. Find a safe space, like the pavilion on the roof, to kill the Ganados from and then use the cannon to take out the catapults on each battlement. Once that’s done, use the cannon on the Courtyard gate to blast it open.
Head through the destroyed Castle Gate and into the Castle proper, where players can find a typewriter and Merchant stall leading into the Audience Chamber.
Audience Chamber
After a cutscene introducing Resident Evil 4’s iconic aristocrat, a group of Ganados will attack Leon and Ashley, including two with shields 2. To take them out, attempt to parry their Morningstar flails or damage their shields with a gun or melee attack.
Once everyone is down, boost Ashley up through the gap in the wall on the left side of the Chamber. Next, head through the crevice in the wall to receive a new objective. Take a right through the gap and head down into the Dungeons.
Dungeons
Directly ahead is a locked gate that Leon cannot yet progress through. Go right instead and follow the trail of blood deeper into the Dungeon. Pass through the broken cells and walk towards the bloodied corpse to retrieve the Dungeon Key.
Turn around and head back to the gate. At this point, the floor below Leon will break, and a cutscene will play introducing the Garrador. Bound to the wall, this abomination can’t see Leon but can hear him. Walking out of the cell, the player will be forced through some chains, causing the Garrador to tear itself from the wall and pursue Leon.
Players will exit out into an arena with plenty of chains hanging around. Here, players can choose to take on the Garrador in stealth or combat. Should players have enough knife durability, the simplest thing to do is to quietly approach the creature from behind and stealth attack it.
The Garrador quickly loses track of Leon if he goes back into stealth, so provided that players avoid hitting the chains around the arena and don’t make too much noise, this fight should pose too much of a problem. For players tackling the Garrador in open combat, aim for the parasite on its back to deal massive damage and avoid its charging and swinging attacks.
Once the fight ends, interact with the crank at the far end of the room to open an exit. Head up the ladder in the corridor and open the door decorated with the corpse to rejoin Ashley in the main torture chamber. Here, use the Dungeon Key on the gate ahead and take another ladder up to escape.
Treasury
Exit out of the storage room to enter the Treasury proper. On the large gate is an inlay depicting a bird, a snake, an elk, and some scales. To the left is a chain that Leon can pull to ring a going, highlighting the elk on the gate. Next, shoot the snake and bird gongs seen on the other side of the gate on the right-hand wall. With the gate now open, head inside to grab the Bloodied Sword from the statue.
Now, turning attention to the reliefs on the wall, players must take each of the mismatched swords and place them in the correct diorama. The correct order, left to right, is the Iron Sword, the Golden Sword, the Bloodied Sword, and the Rusted Sword.
Head through the now-opened gate and follow the corridor around to exit out onto the Audience Chamber balcony, near where Leon last saw Ramon Salazar.
Audience Chamber
To the left as Leon enters is another gate depicting a shrimp and a snake. As with before, pull the chain beside the gate to light up one of the emblems. Now, turn around and take the first left, pressing the interact button to leap onto the chandelier and cross to the other side of the balcony, taking another left once they land to pull the snake chain and open the gates.
Finally reaching Ramon Salazar's last known location, head through the double doors at the top of the stairs and head down to the left, where a cutscene will trigger. From the stairs, head right to reach a typewriter in a room with a locked door. To progress, follow the trail of blood leading beneath the archways outside, approaching a large gate through which is the Water Hall.
Water Hall
At the center of this elaborate hall is an unusable contraption. Proceeding forward, a large group of Ganados will attack Leon and Ashley. As always, prioritize Ashley’s safety while fighting through the hordes. To progress, walk along the leftmost path and drop down to the floor below, where many more Plaga Guadaña await. Once all the Ganados are dealt with, retrieve the Halo Wheel from the central statue.
The Halo Wheel can be used throughout the Water Hall to activate a number of contraptions that make traversal easier. First, use it on the Pedestal to the right to lower the stairs and return to the upper floor. Here, another Ganados group will attack, with some taking on Leon with crossbows from the floor above. Kill them all and use the Halo Wheel on the central Pedestal to lower another set of stairs.
Continuing straight ahead, interact with the Halo Wheel in front of the water-spewing statues; this will raise one-third of the bridge needed to cross the gulch. From here, head back and to the left to boost Ashley up to the next floor.
Now begins a battle where Leon must cover Ashley as she raises the bridge while multiple castellans bear down on them both. Luckily, most of the Ganados heading toward Ashley move at a rather slow pace, allowing the player to line up plenty of headshots if they have a rifle handy. For the Ganados attacking Leon, it’s best to take them out quickly with a shotgun in order to focus attention on covering Ashley.
Once both the platforms are raised, cross the bridge and climb the stairs to enter the Courtyard. Follow the fountain around to the right and lift Ashely up through a gap in the wall. Pass through the gate she opens and follow the path around to the right, starting a cutscene and ending this Resident Evil 4 chapter.
The Resident Evil 4 remake is currently available for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.