Resident Evil 7 walkthrough part 1: the nightmare begins
Your nightmare begins, but we're here to help.
Resident Evil 7 Guide: Walkthrough #1 - Entering the Baker's Farm
When the game starts, you'll be in a car. It's driven automatically, but you can look around manually. There's nothing to worry about here, so just soak in the scenery.
When the car stops you'll get out and gain control. There's only one way to go, so follow the path and approach the ominous-looking house. Approach the gate: It's locked. Damn. To the left is an alternative path - your only option.
Eventually you'll find a van. If you open the door to the van you'll find a world-building book to examine: Sewer Gators 17. The game calls items like this 'Files'. These are optional, but investigate it: Picking up and examining all the items like this in a single play-through is worth a trophy/achievement, so this is well worth doing.
Once you're done there, go through the gate. Welp. Keep going and just follow the path in front of you. When you reach some dead animal body parts being pecked at by crows, the actual path is behind you, through the ritualistic gate. You'll have to crouch to get through.
Eventually you'll approach a ledge. Drop down. There's a pile of garbage in front of you with a red hangbag in it. Interact with the bag. Spin it around to find the driver's license. Finding the driver's license will award you a trophy/achievement - 'Ah-ha'!
Inside the Guest House
This chapter remains pretty linear, so head into the house and follow the only available path. This is the GUEST HOUSE. You might be familiar with this house thanks to various trailers and demos but don't expect it to be the same.
Past the chained cupboard there's a kitchen; inside there's a good amount you can interact with. Meander around investigating things like the pot, the drawers with photos in them, the fridge and so on. Get used to this sort of flow: searching everything you can. None of this is vital, but some will contribute towards item-investigating trophies/achievements and you never know what you're going to find.
Once you leave the kitchen you'll quickly find some stairs. Upstairs is a save point that in this game comes in the form of old-school Tape Recorders, which I suppose are to the present day what typewriters were to the 90s. Make sure you save here and remember its location for later.
To the right of the save point is a VHS video tape: 'Derelict House Footage'. Grab it. Don't worry about the button marked 'stairs' in here for now - it's broken.
Take the tape downstairs and deeper into the guest house. In the living room style room there's a bunch more world-building stuff you can investigate (do it! Some of it offers clues to the deeper story of the game) and, unmissable, a TV and a VHS player.
Now - if you want to sequence break, you can skip the tape entirely. Just skip to the next section. Resi 7 does something quite clever where tapes teach you things about the house that protagonist Ethan can then use to his own advantage. So... Slot the VHS into the TV. It's going to teach you where to find a secret door in order to progress.
VHS tape: Derelict House Footage
Honestly, this tape doesn't really need a walkthrough - it's really simple. However... I want you all to get used to the format of this guide, so let's list it all the same.
There is one key optional thing you can do in this tape: turn around and look on the ground in the starting area and before entering the house find a lockpick. When you enter the kitchen, use the lockpick on the drawer on your right. Inside is merely a picture, but don't worry: this will lead to something good and optional in a little while.
In the tape you're part of a group of three guys making a documentary about abandoned houses, and they've picked the Baker farm guest house as their latest conquest. The trio walk around and things rather predictably end up going south. You'll basically be guided through this experience by NPCs, but the important thing to note is the location of the lever that opens up a secret passageway in the living room - right by the VHS player, in fact. So... make a note of that, and enjoy the tape. If enjoy is the right term...
Back in the Guest House: Secret Passageways and where to find the bolt cutters
As soon as you're out of the tape, head back to the kitchen. Look in the drawer you unlocked in the safe that was locked before. By unlocking it in the tape you've unlocked it in the present - time paradox! Inside now is an antique coin. Grab it.
While playing through the Derelict House Footage tape you will have seen the secret lever in the fireplace, right nearby the tape player. You know what to do. Go pull it, then head through the passageway that opens on your right.
Head through the tunnels. You'll need to crough to get through. There are mysterious photos and dossiers that are pinned up, and you eventually arrive into a set of rooms that look a little like a prison. You eventually approach a lit cell, and there's visibly somebody inside.
On your left here are some more things you can look at - more files and world-building clues. On the table are the BOLT CUTTERS. Grab this item.
There's no point in going any further just yet, so use your newly-grabbed bolt cutters to cut your way into the cell and to meet its occupant. After a brief story sequence, follow them as they talk and yammer on about what's going on and who took them prisoner.
When your partner freaks out about the lack of a door, have a look around. There's a photo of an old lady here. Through the only available passageway there's some other stuff to pick up and investigate. Dolls?
You'll know when you're done exploring. Follow the newly opened passageway. There's a phone, but it's dead. Just past the phone on the left of the hallway there's a dresser with a lamp on it. Open the dresser and pick up the GUEST HOUSE MAP inside. There's also a bathroom on the left as you go down the hall. Inside there's two first-aid kits: one in plain sight and one inside a drawer. Take them.
Keep exploring. Eventually you're going to suddenly end up in a different, all-new room. When you regain your senses (and control), pick up the handaxe. Combat! This encounter isn't hard to beat - just remember that you can block with L1/LB and attack with R2/RT.
After events unfold, the phone rings. Go answer. it. If you want, you can grab the axe you were forced to drop again after the phone call.
Into the attic: time to escape
A door has been opened now and this wing of the guest house is now fully linked to the first area you were in. Head back upstairs to the save point if you want. Next up: remember that chained-up cupboard before the kitchen? We have bolt-cutters now. Go open it to get your hands on a FUSE item.
Back in the living room, where the TV is, there's a fuse box. It's opposite the TV and VHS player. The fuse box is, predictably, missing a fuse. Put the fuse you just got into that box.
Placing that fuse gives you access to a new area, the attic. In the room on your right you'll find a PISTOL and some ammo. You're going to need it. Head deeper into the attic. If you look around there's some extra ammo here to grab. Make the last thing you do to climb the ladder.
Now you're in a boss fight, of sorts. Really this is rather easy: just shoot until it's over. You should've been given more than enough bullets, and there's no worry about ammo conservation: none of this carries over anyway.
With that fight completed, explore the attic a little. It'll soon be time to head to part two - part one is as good as over. Enjoy the show.