Chapter 1-3

The Woman in Red

If you head back through the doorway you just stepped through, you'll be treated to what seems to be an optional cutscene. Afterward, you can start checking the rest of the house for goodies; there's a green herb in a cabinet just outside the door here, a brown egg in the oven, a grenade in a glass case, etc. Check everything for goodies, then save your game and head outside.

So long as you have enough shotgun ammo, you should be able to use this doorway to keep the chainsaw freak at bay.

As soon as you open the door near the typewriter, another chainsaw maniac will appear, but he'll have only a couple of friends. Using your shotgun and the door as a chokepoint, you should be able to continually knock him down and eventually kill him - he'll drop a Ruby when you do so. Kill the rest of the villagers barring your way back to town, then head in.

You'll need to kill another group of enemies in the town here, although there won't be a chainsaw-wielder among them, thankfully. Use the path in front of you for a choke point, then finish off any remainders with your pistol before opening the door to the secret path that'll lead you to the Cemetary. (You might also want to check this area and the farm to see if there are any more chicken eggs scattered about; we found a Gold one in the farm, but they may be random. You should also make sure that you've shot all the medallions at the farm before proceeding.)

The Secret Path

Shoot these lanterns to find secret items.

As soon as you open the door here, you'll be able to save your game at a typewriter. Do so, then head through the nearby door and shoot the lantern suspended from the ceiling to grab a Spinel. (Be sure to stand back, though, as it explodes into flames when shot.) After jumping down the hole here, you'll soon come to another lantern; there are also some Spinels and an Elegant Headress embedded in the cave's ceiling, which is of course the first place one would look for fine headwear. You'll run into a merchant near the end of the cave; you'll be returning to him shortly, so no need to upgrade yet if you don't want to.

You'll notice a few birds located near the entrance to the cemetary; if they get startled by the appearance of enemies, you can probably respawn them by leaving the area and then returning. You can also find the rest of the medallions here; you can actually shoot all 15 if you keep going past the church (one is located below the bridge, near the gap; the other is farther off but is still hittable with your pistol). When you get 10 or more, you can return to the last merchant, who'll give you a Punisher pistol for free; nabbing all 15 will also net you the first firepower upgrade for the weapon. Shots fired from this pistol will penetrate one enemy and hit anyone behind it. It's less powerful than your normal gun and takes longer to reload, so you may just want to sell it back for 10,000 dineros.

The church doors are locked, so you won't be able to go in just yet. You can, however, solve the puzzle behind the church to obtain a rare Green Catseye gem. To solve it, you'll need to examine the graves in the cemetary; three of them are twin graves, and have distinctive sigils. If you find the three unique sigils, you can manipulate the puzzle machine to light them up, giving you the gem. (The solution is 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 3.)

Now, in order to find the key to the church, you're going to have to jump the gap in the bridge; easy enough to do with your action commands. The little shack beyond the gap holds some notes explaining what you'll have to do to retrieve the key; apparently it's being guarded by some ominous foe. One of the crates here also contains a snake, so be careful as you open them up.

The Lake

These birds never did nothing to you, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't kill them.

As you enter this zone, you'll notice a large number of birds on the ground in front of you. If you're willing to keep leaving and re-entering the zone, you should be able to kill all of them with your shotgun in a few trips; they'll leave behind plenty of gold if you do so. If you want to save or use a merchant, check your map for the correct path; otherwise, head through the doors leading down to the lake. You'll need to fight your way through a number of ganados before you can actually get there; if you want to conserve ammo, try and let them run into the dynamite traps scattered around the area, or just shoot the dynamite if you notice a zombie standing next to it. After you head a bit into the swamp area, more ganados will spawn behind you, so keep an eye on your backside. There'll also be a few snakes in the area, including a couple in crates; don't forget that you can kill them to earn minor restorative items.

After you reach the lake area proper, take a left to witness a disturbing scene, as well as to grab a red herb; elsewhere you'll find a yellow herb, as well as a typewriter. Save your game before heading down to the boat and facing off against the first real boss of the game.