Resident Evil 7 walkthrough part 12: solve the Happy Birthday tape, survive Lucas' traps

Guide by Alex Donaldson Assistant Editor

Published on May 1, 2017

Lucas even baked a cake.

Resident Evil 7: biohazard walkthrough & guide hub

Resident Evil 7 Guide: Walkthrough #12 - Lucas says happy birthday

At the end of the last part of our walkthrough you grabbed the red and blue key cards. This is going to give you access to whatever Lucas is cooking up beyond the mysterious, electric-powered door in the garage, but... we have a new VHS tape.

Duck into the trailer and slam the Happy Birthday tape into the VHS. Do note: this is a strictly puzzle-based tape and will give you an idea of what to expect next. There's also a trophy for completing the tape in 5 minutes or less.

How to solve the VHS Tape: Happy Birthday

Doing this tape is pretty much optional, but like the previous tapes it'll give you a pressure-free (but still pretty unsettling) look at what's ahead, so it's useful research, of sorts.

The nature of this tape means that it's probably best formatted in bullet points, do these once after another:

When the tape starts, grab the CANDLE.
Head deeper into the rooms and you'll see a birthday cake, but as you approach it sprinklers put out your candle. The task is to light the cake candles - so, to get past the sprinkler.
Head out from the cake room and re-light the candle on the kitchen hob. Use the candle to burn the rope holding the door nearby closed and head through.
In here there's a lot of balloons, but if you crouch and search a cabinet deeper in the room you'll find a BALLOON.
Head back out from the balloon room. On your right you'll see a leaking pipe - put the balloon on it. Ouch... but - worth it. You need that item, the FOUNTAIN PEN.
Back in the starting room, if you flush the toilet you can get a DIRTY TELESCOPE item.
Stand in front of the hallway leading to the cake, take out and use the telescope and walk forwards into the sprinklers - it'll wash it clean.
While you're in the cake room, remove the CRANK KEY from the barrel in the room.
Head straight back out and use the newly cleaned telescope to look at the bank of TVs. A password! Memorize it.
Use this password on the locked box inside the cake room. You'll get a STRAW DOLL.
Take the straw doll out to the oven hob and burn it. That'll get you a DUMMY FINGER.
Assemble the doll near the entrance. Put the dummy finger into the doll's hand, then put the quill pen into its hand. Finally, put the crank into its chest, then turn it. The dummy will write out the password.
Go and type the password into the door lock in the balloon room. Grab the VALVE HANDLE inside.
Take the valve handle into the cake room and put it into the pipe to the immediate left of the entrance. Turn it to stop the sprinklers.
Go and light the candle, then walk through and light the cake candles. Well... I saw that one coming. Happy Birthday!

Okay. Tape done. You have an idea of what's coming. Things are about to get a little bit Jigsaw. Head to the right when you exit the trailer to find the place you use the keycards. Head in, head up. Time to play. Watch the TV.

How to survive Lucas' house of horrors

Once you've watched the tape, carry on through the newly opened entrance. At the end of the hallway don't miss the herb before ducking into the room on your right.

Break the box in the room for 2 shotgun shells. Watch out for and duck under the tripwire. Stay ducked, since there's a second tripwire. After that wire, you can find some handgun bullets on the shelf to your left.

Head through the door slowly - there's another tripwire on the other side. And another one after that. Keep moving, slow and steady. There is a much harder to see trip wire going from ceiling to floor next to the second one, so BEWARE. The only way to get past this I found was to shoot one of the trip wire triggers so you only have to navigate past one. Shooting trip wires becomes key from now on. Don't be silly and only use regular pistol ammo for this unless you have no other choice.

In the hallway - break the FIRST box you see for some burner fuel but NOT THE SECOND - it is booby trapped.

At the bottom of the stairs head PAST the door then turn around and hug the wall to see the trip wire trigger. Shoot it, and then crouch under the remaining trip wire to get through the door.

Lucas is here. He suggests three different passwords: 0814, 0621 and 0514. Enter one and you'll quickly learn he's messing with you - back up from the door! A giant battering ram will smash where you were just standing. There is a newly open door on the right, though. Time to track down the real deal: head on through.

Enter the door on your right. The box RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU has chem fluid while the other is a booby trap. Grab the fluid. Head back out into the hallway - the first box you encounter here is also safe, and contains burner fluid.

Head down the hallway very carefully - there are more hard-to-see trip wires. Careful of the enemy here, too, it'll appear behind you.

The door ahead leads to a small storage room. There are four trip wires in here, so disable some with carefully-placed shots and enter the room slowly. Inside there is:

An explosive yellow box inside a cabinet - leave it well alone
Steroids in the same cabinet - grab these
An antique coin in a drawer of the green table.

Head into the larger room now. There are three enemies in here, so be careful. Kill them. There's a herb hidden on the right from the room's entrance and some ammo hiding behind a bale of hay. With these grabbed, head upstairs.

The door straight ahead of the top of the stairs is a save room with a TV (in case you haven't done Happy Birthday yet - do it now), some solid fuel and all the other amenities.

There's some fights to come in the next part, so you might want to save and get yourself properly prepared with some inventory management. Keep on moving...