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Resident Evil 4 Shooting Gallery guide: locations, rewards, and tips

The fact that Resident Evil 4 remake retains the original’s ability to mix horror with campy fun is one of its greatest aspects. One moment you will be gripping your controller for dear life as a swarm of bloodthirsty villagers relentlessly pursue you, and the next Leon’s making quips and performing suplexes. There was one small fun diversion in the original game that has been expanded and improved for the remake, which is the optional Shooting Gallery. This time there are multiple of these safe spaces to hone your aim, but also a fully developed system of challenges, scores, and, best of all, rewards. If you want to take a breather from all the horrors that await you in Resident Evil 4 remake, here’s where you can find all the Shooting Galleries, what you can win, and some helpful tips.

Shooting Gallery locations

Leon starting a shooting gallery challenge.

There are a total of five locations across all 16 Chapters of Resident Evil 4 remake, and they all are within the safety of a Merchant zone. Each one, except the last, will introduce a new set of three challenges, but all previous challenges from past Shooting Galleries will be present in the later ones. That means you could technically wait and only visit the final one to take on all the challenges there. Here’s where you can find each individual Shooting Gallery in order of appearance:

  • Just after passing through the Quarry in the cave with the Merchant.
  • In the Grand Hall Merchant area in the Castle.
  • After the Verdugo fight and you take the elevator up, you will immediately come across this Merchant spot.
  • On the Island, after finishing the terminal puzzles and you meet up with Ashley again, the Merchant is just beyond a gate.
  • Right before the game’s point of no return in the Specimen Storage building.

Shooting Gallery rewards

Leon collecting a teddy bear charm.

If you get a high enough score in any of the Shooting Gallery challenges, you will earn yourself either silver or gold tokens. These are not valuable on their own but instead exchanged with a machine to get a random Charm. You need to insert three tokens into the machine, and hope you get a good one! Charms are the only rewards here, so don’t expect any extra guns or items.

Shooting Gallery tips

Leon getting bonus time in the shooting gallery.

The Shooting Gallery has some interesting mechanics to it. You begin each one by choosing the challenge. Again, each range comes with three challenges, and each challenge will give you a different weapon to use in it, but sometimes you get two. You have infinite ammo, so no need to worry about wasting shots. As you would guess, the game consists of targets popping up — in the shape of pirates — that you need to shoot before they go off-screen again while avoiding hitting the sailor targets. Each pirate hit will add to your score, while hitting a sailor subtracts from your score. Note that some pirates will hold a skull that is worth bonus points if you hit it.

Your final score comes down to these factors: the number of targets hit, skulls hit, and time left after finishing the challenge. You can also unlock bonus rounds in each of the Shooting Gallery locations by meeting their specific requirements. Bonus rounds give you some extra time to rack up a bunch of points on more targets. Here’s how to unlock each of the bonus rounds in the different galleries.:

  • First Shooting Gallery: Destroy all pirates.
  • Second Shooting Gallery: Destroy all pirates with 20 seconds remaining
  • Third Shooting Gallery: Destroy all pirates in 10 shots or less.
  • Fourth Shooting Gallery: Destroy all pirates, and, in challenge 4A use less than 20 shots.

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Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox loves writing, games, and complaining about not having time to write and play games. He knows the names of more…
The best weapons in Resident Evil 4
Leon holding a gun in Resident Evil 4.

Leon clearly wasn't prepared for what he would encounter in the Resident Evil 4 remake or he would have come with more than a middling handgun and a knife. While those basic tools can get you through the opening stages of the game, it won't be long before you will need to call upon some much stronger firepower in order to survive the tougher -- and more grotesque -- monsters that stand in your way. The Resident Evil 4 remake offers a ton of weapons you can collect, such as pistols, SMGs, rifles, and more. However, most will cost a lot of cash -- and even more if you want to invest in their upgrades. You will have to make some tough choices about what weapons you want to stick with, and picking a dud can make your playthrough much more difficult. Instead of investing all your cash in a pea-shooter, check out the best weapons you can get in the Resident Evil 4 remake to blast your way through Ganados and Las Plagas alike.
The best weapons in Resident Evil 4

Red9
Where else could we start but with the Red9? Almost certainly the most popular handgun -- or gun in general -- from the original Resident Evil 4 has returned in the remake and is just as potent as ever. Not only can you grab this gun as early as Chapter 3, making it a great choice for investing your upgrades in, but it can be altered and has essentially no drawbacks. By default, the Red9's recoil is the primary point of criticism you could levy at it, but if you spend a few Spinels to give it the stock, you'll be able to basically snipe with this pistol. By the time you unlock the Exclusive upgrade, which multiplies the gun's power by 1.5x, you'll hardly ever find a situation where this handgun can't do the job.
Bolt Thrower
The Bolt Thrower isn't on this list for its high power, accuracy, or anything that you would traditionally look for in a gun. The reason it has to be here is due to the simple fact that you can recover the bolts it shoots into enemies after they're dead to massively cut down on your ammo expenditure. Ammo for it is also crafted using knives, but it even has a secondary firing method where it launches mines, giving it a lot more utility. The Exclusive upgrade isn't game-changing -- it doubles the ammo capacity -- but the less you have to reload, the less often you'll be caught in a sticky situation.
Stingray
In the rifle category, the Stingray is never going to let you down. This is a semiautomatic rifle, so the firing rate is mostly up to you, plus it has a great clip size by default. If you're hitting those weak points, this baby will also deal 3x damage, and can be outfitted with almost any scope. The Exclusive upgrade boosts your final firing rate by an additional 2x, which shouldn't be too necessary if you're trying to be precise, though can help in a pinch.
LE 5
The LE 5 is a weapon you can easily miss that is kind of like a good version of the Punisher in that it has amazing penetration power. Being an SMG, it also boasts a far greater firing rate and clip size, as well as more power. This is the perfect weapon to rip through any shield-wielding enemies. Again like the Punisher, the Exclusive upgrade allows the LE 5 to pierce up to five targets at once.
Broken Butterfly
Another returning favorite, the Broken Butterfly magnum is not just the best-looking hand cannon in the game, but also the most deadly. If you don't count a special weapon like the Rocket Launcher, the Broken Butterfly (after upgrades) deals the most damage of any gun in the Resident Evil 4 remake. The Exclusive upgrade plays a major part in this by boosting its final damage by 1.5x, again just like the Red9, but magnum upgrades are among the most expensive in the game, so this power won't come easy.
Striker
What's the worst part of a shotgun? The firing rate. Well, that is if you're not using the Striker. This semiautomatic shotgun spits out damage like nobody's business. It has power on par with any other shotgun, but way better firing speed, plus a massive clip size so you don't have to worry about running dry out an enemy in your face. If you get the Exclusive upgrade, you can even double the already huge clip size.
Rocket Launcher
This is a big investment both in terms of cash and space, but the Rocket Launcher is too iconic to the series not to be amazing. Yes, this has a one-hit kill on just about everything and will cost more or less depending on what difficulty level you're playing on. It has no upgrades because, well, what is there to make better? Unless you're playing with the infinite ammo for it enabled, you do only get one shot, so make it count.
Primal Knife
While technically not a gun, the knife is so good in the Resident Evil 4 remake that it has to be mentioned. This tool will save your skin more often than you think thanks to the new ability to parry and finish downed enemies, but the obvious drawback is durability. The Primal Knife has to be unlocked by finding and destroying all 16 of the Clockwork Castellans in the game. What makes it the clear frontrunner of all knives is the Exclusive upgrade that makes it completely unbreakable, no matter how much you use it.

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All Resident Evil 4 remake Wayshrines and how to open them
An open wayshrine with a bracelet inside.

In the opening chapters of the Resident Evil 4 remake, you will come across strange shrines erected by a cult. These can be interacted with, but prompt you to use an item. Unfortunately, you won't even have the chance to open the first couple you find since the item required to open them can't be picked up until a bit later -- and only if you know where to search for it. But it's ro say that the treasures you get from them make it worth your time to backtrack and grab all the goodies inside. Here's how you can open all the Wayshrines in the Resident Evil 4 remake, and what each one holds inside.
How to get the Wayshrine Key

Surprise surprise, but Wayshrines can only be opened once you grab the Wayshrine Key. It will feel like a long time, but you can't even access the key until you reach Chapter 4 and beat Del Lago. Once you can explore the lake, head south to the Mural Cave. Deep in the caves, you will find an ornate cabinet after solving the puzzle in the cave. You can get there by going down the path from the southern dock and through the section with the two large stone hands. Thankfully, unlike Small Keys, the Wayshrine Key is reusable and can open every Wayshrine in the game.
How to 0pen Wayshrines

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Leon looking at murals of a knight.

The castle section of the Resident Evil 4 remake is one of the most diabolical. Aside from being visually distinct from the previous village area, this location is full of tougher enemies and deadlier traps. Once you've managed to escape from the dungeons and up into the castle proper, you will be blocked by a gate beside some images of a knight in different situations. Something is off about all of them, and one part missing entirely. This is the sword puzzle, but it isn't as straightforward as you might assume looking at it. Here's how to solve the Sword Puzzle and make your way into the Audience Chamber in Resident Evil 4.
How to solve the Castle Sword puzzle

The first thing you'll notice about this puzzle is that there are four murals of the knight, but only three swords to pick up in this room. The last sword is behind another locked gate, but this one you can open. The gate has three animals on it, an eagle, deer, and snake, which correspond to three different plates. As each one is activated, the symbols on the gate will light up to show you're on the right track. The deer can be activated by pulling the chain beside the gate, while the second two are on the other side of the gate to the right and need to be shot.

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