Here’s what you unlock when you finish Resident Evil 7

The Resident Evil series has always been known for having replayability in the form of many unlockables. Despite some changes to the franchise formula, Resident Evil 7 keeps this tradition going strong.

Before we let you know what you can look forward to unlocking and playing with after you complete RE7, a minor spoiler warning. Since we’re discussing some late-game stuff, there will be a few tiny bits of information that some players could consider to be spoilers. If you’re worried, don’t read on.

And just to show you we’re serious, here’s an image to break up the text before we get into the real information.

Image: Capcom

Still with us? Great! There are two big unlockable bonuses you get for beating Resident Evil 7 on either the easy or normal difficulty settings.

First, you unlock the new Madhouse difficulty option. In this harder mode, enemies do more damage and there is no health regeneration to speak of. Item locations have changed, and resources are generally sparser. Enemies will also appear in greater numbers, and they move a lot faster too. To top it all off, the game will auto-save far less often, and you’ll need to collect and carry cassette tapes in order to use the save rooms — reminiscent of the ink ribbons from older Resident Evil games.

Alongside Madhouse mode, finishing the game places the Albert-01R handgun into your item box. This is the weapon that’s featured in the final boss battle. It has extremely limited ammunition but can do huge damage against most enemies.

Both of the above rewards can be yours even for finishing on easy, but you’ll need to complete the game on normal difficulty to unlock The Secrets of Defense. This scroll will reduce the damage enemies do to you while guarding, but you need to have it in your inventory for it to work. Inventory space is precious, of course, but this still seems like a pretty smart idea to carry around if you want to play in Madhouse mode.

While we haven’t managed to pull it off ourselves yet, we’ve also read reports that you can unlock Running Shoes by finishing the whole game in under four hours, a feat that also earns you an achievement/trophy. Carrying the Running Shoes in your inventory will increase Ethan’s walking speed, making this a must-have item for speedrunners.

Those are all the unlockables that we know of so far, but it’s worth noting that there are almost certain to be more. The game likely offers a reward if you’re able to finish it on Madhouse difficulty, and there are also a few trophies we suspect will unlock other bonuses. The game offers trophies for finishing it without opening the item box more than three times, and for using three or less first aid items through the whole game.

Those are, uh, pretty big challenges, but it will be exciting to see how the game rewards you for pulling through on them.

For more on Resident Evil 7, you can read our full review or watch the first 90 minutes of the game in the video below.