While the main story of Resident Evil Village is the bulk of your adventure, there are still many things you can do once the credits roll. Ethan Winters' desperate journey to find his daughter Rosemary puts you up against horrifying monsters and other evil entities. However, this frantic search ends rather quickly, making it difficult to determine what else you can do in the titular village.

Reaching the ending of Resident Evil Village takes around 10 to 15 hours, depending on your pace and what difficulty you set the story to. Rushing through the core narrative may cause you to miss several pieces of content within the game, especially if you weren't aware of it. Thankfully, the relatively short pace of the game makes it easy to start over, similar to other entries in the series.

10 Replay The Story On New Game Plus

Go Back With All Your Gear

Starting a new playthrough of Resident Evil Village is a natural step once you have finished the game. Starting over the story again on New Game+ allows you to carry all your upgrades, gear, and other items into a new run, making challenges in the story much easier to take on. For example, using the guns you have from your previous run gives you better tools to survive the first onslaught of monsters in the village.

The ability to use previous weapons and buffs from your first run also makes it easier to tackle objectives you may have missed. Certain challenges, collectibles, or other content may have been hard to notice as you were running from monsters or trying to get through areas with limited supplies. On New Game+, there are very few obstacles that can get in your way when you have so many tools from your past run.

9 Upgrade Every Weapon

Maximize Ethan's Diverse Arsenal

Weapons are the core of any Resident Evil game, with the arsenal available in Resident Evil Village being no exception. With 18 total weapons to pick up along your journey through the story, you can upgrade each of these tools into more powerful versions of themselves. You may not have enough resources to enhance every weapon in your first run, so you may only get to see the upgraded version of your favorites.

Upgrading a weapon fully allows you to unlock Infinite Ammo for the firearm, but only when you have fully customized it as well with various parts.

Another run on New Game+ or one where you take more time to explore for customizable parts should let you upgrade every weapon in Resident Evil Village. Improving weapons costs money, but defeating enough enemies should get you the cash you need for every enhancement. Those who've unlocked the Extra Content Shop by completing the game once will gain access to even more weapons they can upgrade.

8 Find All Treasure Collectibles

Leave No Stone Unturned

Treasures are hidden items in Resident Evil Village that you can find and sell at a high price for some extra money throughout the story. However, for those wanting to 100% complete the game, you will want to find every collectible that exists within each level, from the sprawling village to the expansive Castle Dimitrescu. Some items are found individually lying around different maps, while others are located within chest containers.

As you can see in the above video by YouTube creator PowerPyx, there are many collectible items just as valuable as treasures that you can find in different areas you explore throughout your journey.

Some of the hardest treasures to track down are the Goats of Warding, a set of breakable items that grant you 16,000 Completion Points in Resident Evil Village when they are destroyed. While not quite treasures, these items are extremely valuable for those looking to purchase items from the Extra Content Shop. Other collectibles found can help you gain more Completion Points too, making them just as valuable as treasures.

7 Cook Every Food Dish

Master All Recipes For Permanent Buffs

After you complete Castle Dimitrescu, you unlock cooking with The Duke merchant NPC, giving you a chance to make meals that permanently buff Ethan. Certain stats like your health, defense while blocking, and movement speed can all be upgraded using the right food item. However, you have to find the right ingredients to make different foods in Resident Evil Village, so you may have missed some recipes before.

Taking the time in a new playthrough to craft every meal available will turn Ethan into a stronger protagonist, giving you the buffs you need to go through the story on a higher difficulty. Finding different Legendary Animals will let you collect Legendary Ingredients for the rarest food in The Duke's kitchen. Once you've eaten everything, you can sell leftover ingredients, which continue to respawn in the world.

6 Complete All In-Game Challenges

Unlock The Bonus Shop Through Extra Goals

Basic Challenges have always been a staple of Resident Evil games, giving you extra rewards if you manage to finish side objectives during your adventure. Some challenges could be incredibly simple, like killing a certain number of enemies within a time limit. Others, such as the "Entrapment" challenge seen in the above video by YouTube creator MrReign, can be quite tricky to finish even with your best tools.

The reason why you'll want to complete every in-game challenge is that finishing each will reward you with Completion Points to spend at the Extra Content Shop. Gaining achievements or trophies will give you the needed to buy new weapons, infinite ammo, and more. Although you do have to beat the story once to have access to this Shop, buying everything in it can be a tough goal without finishing challenges.

5 Defeat Every Mini-Boss

Exterminate All Monsters

Various monsters can be ignored throughout your first playthrough of Resident Evil Village as you discover new areas and maps. The lack of gear to face these enemies will often be a good enough excuse to avoid them, but fighting them later can help you get better rewards. As you worry less and less about conserving ammo as time goes by, you end up retaining more resources needed to take on these foes.

There are four optional bosses that you can beat, including two instances of Urias in Resident Evil Village, Varcolac Alfa, and Sturm. The rare treasure these enemies drop makes them worth fighting despite the excessive amount of ammo it will take to defeat them. Challenging these opponents on New Game+ will likely give you all the tools you need to beat each mini-boss without too much struggle.

4 Play On Village Of Shadows Difficulty

Attempt The Hardest Challenge In The Game

The hardest difficulty you can try in Resident Evil Village is Village of Shadows, a mode that has challenged players fiercely since the game's launch. This setting makes ammo practically non-existent, while enemies hit much harder and have greatly increased health. To make matters even more chaotic, a greater number of enemies spawn in each region on this difficulty to pursue you at every turn.

This mode is not recommended for those who are still trying to complete their first run through the story. New Game+ makes it easier to deal with the larger enemy groups and the lack of resources in each Chapter of the story. Anyone who has already played the game once should have a good idea where enemies spawn already or what patterns bosses have to deal with their higher health and damage on Village of Shadows.

3 Try Out The Mercenaries Mode

Go Up Against Waves Of Enemies As Different Characters

Part of the DLC for Resident Evil Village introduces a new mode called "Mercenaries," where you can take on waves of enemies as either Ethan or another character from the game. You can take control of familiar protagonists like Chris Redfield or striking enemies from the story like Lady Dimitrescu. Each character has unique skills and abilities that let them take on the monsters roaming on different maps you can choose from.

As you can see in the above video by YouTube creator Neon Slice, there are four regions you can pick between to start a Mercenaries run. As you complete areas, you can buy new upgrades and items from The Duke before the next zone to slowly get stronger. Try to get the highest score with your favorite characters from this mode and finish as many stages as you can to receive rare rewards in Resident Evil Village.

2 Start The Shadow of Rose DLC

Check Out This Detailed Epilogue

The Shadow of Rose DLC acts as an epilogue for Ethan Winter's daughter, who has her own story to tell about the events of Resident Evil Village. This additional story content puts you in a third-person perspective as you navigate familiar spaces from the main story and solve puzzles to navigate a dream-like realm. This departure from the first-person action of the base game can be an interesting, new experience for any player.

1 Play Other Games Like Resident Evil Village

See What The Series Has Inspired

The adventure of Resident Evil Village combines horror and action, which makes this game a great addition to the Resident Evil series. You may want to check out other games from the franchise, including the recent Resident Evil 4 Remake or the previous Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Each entry offers a distinct blend of survival horror that is unrivaled by many others titles of the same genre.

Other great games you may want to try are Alan Wake 2 or the remake of the original Dead Space, which both contain atmospheric horror and survival elements. One of the best things to do after beating Resident Evil Village is to see how other games have created a truly fascinating selection of survival horror classics.

Source: PowerPyx/YouTube, MrReign/YouTube, Neon Slice/YouTube