Resident Evil 2 guide: Every Key Item location

Resident Evil 2 is a game full of puzzles and locked doors. Thankfully, the world is also full of keys and key-like things that will unlock those doors. This guide is here to help you find every Key and Key Item in the remake.

We’re going to break them up into sections based on when they occur in the game — the Police Station, then the Parking Garage, then the Sewers, and then the NEST Laboratory. We’ll break those down into two broad categories:

• Keys, which are actual physical keys and things you’d recognize as a key
• Key Items, which are things like handles that open or unlock things but aren’t technically keys

Police Station Key locations

One key that specific to each character, and that key is here in the Police Station — the Club Key for Leon and the Heart Key for Claire. There are a couple others — the Power Panel Parts — that are in different locations for each character. We’ll call out the character-specific keys in the headings below.

Gas Station Key location — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

We’re including this one just for completion’s sake. This key is in the back room of the Gas Station you encounter in the game’s prologue.

You’ll use it to get back into the Gas Station’s main room.

Spade Key location — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

The first of the playing card-themed keys you’ll find is the Spade Key. It’s on the third floor (3F) on the west side of the Police Station. You’ll go through a hole in the wall next to a very clever human shadow fake out.

You’ll use the Spade Key several times throughout the game — in the Waiting Room to unlock the door to the Art Room and the Main Hall for the doors to the Library and the West Office, for example.

Weapons Locker Key Card location — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

You’ll find the Weapons Locker Key Card in the Art Room on the east side of the second floor (2F) of the Police Station. You’ll need the Spade Key to get here and you’ll probably visit the room while trying to retrieve the Red Jewel (above).

The Weapons Locker Key Card unlocks the locker at the back of the Safety Deposit Room on the west side of the first floor (1F). Leon picks up the Shotgun here and Claire gets her Grenade Launcher.

Police Station Key Item locations

The Police Station is the highest concentration of locked doors and lockers that you’ll find in Resident Evil 2, so it fits that there are a ton of Key Items here, too.

Spare Key 1 location — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

The first Spare Key you find is in the second floor Locker Room (2F) on the west side of the Police Station. It’s in a Portable Safe. Portable Safes have eight buttons, each associated with one of the lights above. Your job is to press buttons to light up the lights in order counterclockwise. It doesn’t matter where you start, you just have to keep lighting the lights in order.

The Spare Key fits on the Lockers Terminal in the Safety Deposit Room on the first floor (1F). We recommend placing the first one in the 2 position.

Capcom via Polygon

Red Book, Scepter, and Red Jewel location — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

You’ll find the Red Book in the Library right next to the Spade Key door back to the Main Hall. After you unlock the Spade Key door in the Waiting Room and get to the Art Room, the Red Book gets combined with the Statue’s Left Arm and placed on the statue to get the Scepter.

Examining the Scepter lets you remove the Red Jewel. The Jewel fits onto the Bejeweled Box (below).

Bolt Cutter location — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

The Bolt Cutter is at the bottom of the Fire Escape on the far east side of the Police Station’s second floor (2F) near the helicopter crash. You’ll find them in a wheelbarrow at the base of the stairs.

The Bolt Cutter is necessary to get through any doors that are chained closed — like the door right next to where you pick it up, the door to the East Office, and the door in the Operations Room.

Main Hall Fuse location — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

During your first run, this Electrical Part is on one of the desks in the East Office. When you examine it, you’ll identify it as the Main Hall Fuse.

The panel it goes into is next to the shutter that you first crawled under to investigate the east hallway. Place it in the panel to open the shutter to the Main Hall.

Valve Handle location — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

The Valve Handle is on the desk in the office-within-an-office inside the East Office (1F).

Take it to the Locker Room on the second floor’s (2F) west side to turn off the steam pipe blocking access to the Shower Room — this ultimately gets you to the STARS Office.

Electronic Gadget, Battery, and Detonator location — Claire and Leon

When you use the Bolt Cutter (above) to open the door in the Operations Room on the first floor (1F) of the Police Station’s west side, you’ll find a small, unnamed room. The Electronic Gadget is on the desk there. When you combine it with the Battery from the office-within-an-office in the STARS Office on the west side of the second floor (2F), you’ll end up with a Detonator.

You’ll need the Detonator to blow the C4 inside the East Storage Room and open the cell and find the Maiden Medallion.

Parking Garage Key locations

The Parking Garage overlaps with the Police Station quite a bit, but your goal is different when you return. This will also be your chance to unlock the rest of the doors in the Police Station.

Diamond Key location — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

The Diamond Key is in the Morgue in the southeast corner of the basement (B1). It’s in the second drawer from the left on the left side of the room.

You’ll have to fight a zombie for it, and then you can use it to open the office in the Firing Range (B1) and the Linen Room (2F).

Heart Key location — Claire only

Capcom via Polygon

When Claire makes it to the Chief’s Office, she’ll be able to get to the Private Collection Room (2F). There, she’ll find the Lover’s Relief and retrieve the Heart Key from it.

The Heart Key opens the door out of the Chief’s Office, the Interrogation Room (1F), and a door in the East Storage Room (3F).

Club Key location — Leon only

Capcom via Polygon

Leon can find the Club Key in the Boiler Room (1F). He’ll visit this room while he’s out on the Balcony (3F) and Roof (2F) while putting out the helicopter fire. This room is boarded up and inaccessible in Claire’s campaign.

The Club Key opens the Observation Room (1F) and the Records Room (2F).

Parking Garage Key Card location — Claire and Leon

After finding both Power Panel Parts, Claire and Leon each have to place them in different Power Panels — Leon’s in the Jail (B1) and Claire’s in the Chief’s Office (2F).

Solving the puzzle on those Power Panels will get you the Parking Garage Key Card.

You’ll only need to use the Key Card to open the gate in the Parking Garage.

Parking Garage Key Item locations

The Key Items in the Parking Garage section are mostly used to unlock new areas and new weapons. And there’s the two Power Panel Parts that you need to collect to leave the Parking Garage.

Square Crank location — Leon only

Capcom via Polygon

The Square Crank is on the table next to the Jail (B1) cell where you meet the reporter with the Parking Garage Key Card.

You’ll need the Square Crank to open the shutter between the Art Room and the Chief’s Office on the second floor of the Police Station (2F) and the shutter between the Morgue and the Generator Room.

Car Key location — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

Both Claire and Leon will find the Car Key in a Tin Storage Box in the Firing Range (B1).

Take the Car Key back out to the Parking Garage to open the trunk of one of the cruisers. Leon will get the Gun Stock (Matilda) for his handgun and Claire will get the JMB Hp3 handgun.

Power Panel Part 1 location — Leon only

Capcom via Polygon

Leon will pick up his first Power Panel Part in the Generator Room (B1). You’ll need to use the Crank Handle (above) to get back there. The Part is in a Boxed Electronic Part box on a cart right when you walk in.

This Part goes in the panel next to the Jail cell.

Break Room Hallway Fuse location — Leon only

Capcom via Polygon

Leon will pick up the Break Room Hallway Fuse in the Break Room (2F) once he gets back into the Police Station from the Parking Garage.

The Fuse will open the shutter that cut Officer Elliot in half in the Watchman’s Room (1F).

Bejeweled Box and STARS Badge/USB Dongle Key location — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

Leon can enter the Observation Room (1F) with the Club Key, and Claire’s Heart Key gets her into the Interrogation Room. You can cross between these rooms, though, so we’re lumping them together. Both characters will find the Bejeweled Box in the Observation Room.

Combine it with the Red Jewel (above) to find the STARS Badge.

Capcom via Polygon

If you examine the STARS Badge, you can turn it into a USB Dongle Key. Take that to the STARS Office (2F) to unlock the Armory. Here, Leon will get the Lightning Hawk and Claire will pick up the MQ 11 Submachine Gun.

Capcom via Polygon

Turn the USB Dongle Key back into the Badge by examining it again, then take it to the Special Weapons Locker in the Underground Stairs (B1). Use the Badge to unlock it, and Leon will get the Long Barrel (Lightning Hawk) and Claire will pick up the Suppressor (MQ 11).

Spare Key 2 — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

The second Spare Key is in the Linen Room (2F) just south of the STARS Office. It’s inside another Portable Safe.

Take this Spare Key down to the Safety Deposit Room (1F)’s Lockers Terminal and put it in the 3 position to open the rest of the lockers. (Importantly, 203 will get you a Hip Pouch.)

Mechanic Jack Handle — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

The Mechanic Jack Handle is in the Record’s Room (1F) in the southeast of the Police Station. Leon gets in through a Club Key door in the hallway, while Claire will get here through a Heart Key door in the Operations Room.

The Mechanic Jack Handle is required to move the jack in the Library (2F).

Power Panel Part 1 — Claire only

Capcom via Polygon

There is a Heart Key door inside the East Storage Room (3F) of the Police Station. Inside that attached room, Claire will find her first Power Panel Part inside a Boxed Electronic Part box.

Large Gear, Small Gear, and Power Panel Part 2 — Claire and Leon

You’ll pick up the Large Gear in the middle of the East Storage Room (3F).

Take it from there to the Clock Tower (3F). Use it on the machinery inside along with the Small Gear — that’s already there — to retrieve the second Boxed Electronic Part and the Power Panel Part 2 inside.

Sewers Key and Key Item locations

We’re including the brief sections of game where you play as Ada (in Leon’s campaign) and Sherry (in Claire’s campaign) here, since they happen around the same time. We’re also lumping the two groups together because there’s only one Key and it only opens two nearby doors.

ID Wristband — Leon only

Capcom via Polygon

You’ll pick up the ID Wristband in Leon’s campaign during section of the Sewers that you play as Ada. The Wristband is in the Incinerator — you can’t miss it since you need it to complete Ada’s part of the game.

Once she hands it over to Leon, he’ll use the Wristband throughout the rest of the game.

Claire also gets the ID Wristband, but it’s part of her story instead of an item to be found so we’re not including it here.

Stuffed Doll, Picture Block, and Scissors — Claire only

Sherry will pick up these three items in the Orphanage during her part of Claire’s playthrough. The Stuffed Doll is in Sherry’s room.

Examining the doll will let you find the Picture Block hidden inside. Place the Block in the puzzle (and solve the puzzle) on the other side of the room to get the Scissors.

You’ll only use those Scissors once to get you out of the room and into the rest of the Orphanage.

Orphanage Key — Claire only

You’ll find the Orphanage Key during Sherry’s (horrifying) escape from Chief Irons. You’ll actually find it twice.

The first time is in the Director’s Room, then, during the encounter in the Nursery, Sherry will be able to swipe the key and use it to escape the Orphanage.

T-Bar Handle — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

Both Claire and Leon will find the T-Bar Handle in the Cable Car Platform area of the Sewers.

You’ll use it throughout the Sewers to open the T-Bar Valve doors like the one outside of the Workroom Lift and, during your first playthrough, open the secret passage beneath the Goddess Statue in the Secret Room.

Sewers Key — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

The Sewers Key is in an unnamed room (above) at the west end of the Upper Waterway. You’ll need the T-Bar Handle to get there.

This Key will unlock the two locked Treatment Facility doors here in the Sewers.

King, Queen, Bishop, Rook, Knight, and Pawn Plugs — Claire and Leon

The major puzzle you need to solve in the Sewers opens the door in the U-Area of the Monitor Room. The Knight, Pawn, and Bishop Plugs are already here, just not in the right place. The Rook Plug is in a panel between the Workroom and the Workers’ Break Room. The King and Queen Plugs are in the Supplies Storage Area at the west end of the Bottom Waterway.

NEST Laboratory Key Item locations

The last few Key Items are mostly just upgrades to the ID Wristband so you can finish the game.

Electronic Chip (General Staff) — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

There are two Electronic Chips for the ID Wristband — one for General Staff and one for Senior Staff — that our heroes need to find in the NEST Laboratory. The first is in the Nap Room near the Cafeteria and Kitchen shortly after you enter the NEST Laboratory.

Signal Modulator — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

While exploring the the NEST Laboratory, you’ll find the Signal Modulator in an unnamed storage room at the top of the Stairwell near the Lounge in the East Area.

You’ll need it to unlock three panels in the NEST — one in the Nap Room, one in the Lounge, and the final one in the Biotesting Lab.

Electronic Chip (Senior Staff) — Claire and Leon

Capcom via Polygon

The second Electronic Chip is in the Greenhouse in the East Area of the NEST — you just have to defeat Plant 43 to retrieve it. You’ll need the General Staff chip to get to the Senior Staff chip, and you’ll need the Senior Staff chip to finish the game.