Plat Runner 01: Resident Evil 6

So far in my delve into trophy hunting I haven’t tackled anything at the elite levels of difficulty and I’m not sure if I will. Resident Evil 5 had a couple of really nasty moments on Professional difficulty and Uncharted 2 almost made me cry on Crushing mode, but it was doable.

Uncharted 2 shot by me

I’m pretty sure 5/10 is the hardest difficulty platinum trophy I’ve collected so far (judged by PSN Profiles). I’m not afraid to admit that I am more of a casual gamer. Gone are those days in my early gaming ventures where I could slam myself into the brick wall of a games hardest settings over and over until I came through the victor. Nowadays I prefer to focus on enjoyment over pain, a rewarding and expansive narrative over damaged control sticks and rage quits. 

One of our many deaths during Professional mode.

Today I’m going to discuss the journey of Resident Evil 6, a game sidelined by a lot of Resident Evil purists and the reason we now have Resident Evil 7, followed by a glut of remakes. 

Initially my venture into the world of PSN gaming started out as a casual affair. I was enjoying exploring the exclusives and playing Read Dead Redemption 2 online, then I lusted for a decent couch gaming style co-op adventure. After finishing Boarderlands 3 I suggested to LeonardoxAngel that we play Resident Evil 5. We ended up finishing it in just over a week and hungry for more we dived into 6.

Having already finished the game to 100% (yes including the online multiplayer) on the Xbox, this was my fifth play through of the game. We tackled it on Normal and then Professional. Unbeknown to us the game didn’t change the second players difficulty in line with the first player. Therefore on our second playthrough Leo was still on normal while I was on professional, meaning he got an easier ride. Regretfully we did not realise this until we finished it and he did not get the trophy. 

Leon's Chapter feels much more like the classic Resident Evil compared to the other chapters.

Being suckers for punishment we did it again for a third time. In total to get the platinum took me 84 hours, far longer than the predicted plat time, also the longest it’s taken me to get any platinum so far.

As far as two player co-op gaming goes I really don’t think it gets much better than Resident Evil 5 and 6. They are challenging, achievable and beautifully cinematic. Resident Evil 6 will take roughly 30 hours to complete in a first play though. It is the longest and most ambitious Resident Evil to date. It has a wide scope and is wonderfully entertaining. 

Jake admiring a rather lavish fountain.

Tips and tricks for the Platinum

• Get all of Leon’s medals first try in Chapter 1. It’s the slowest and most painful chapter in the game to replay, with a lot of unskippable scenes. The rest are fine to do in chapter select if you miss them. 

• Your first skill should be Item Drop Increase. 

• Focus on Defence and Firepower in terms of skills, they make professional a walk in the park. 

• Don’t waste skill points on lots of infinite weapons, just purchase the infinite machine gun. It’s more than enough and every character has one. 

• Don’t be too concerned about medals, they are quickly farmed in Mercenaries No Mercy. Don’t pick up the timer and you should be able to chain a 70 kill streak within two minutes easily, granting you an S rank. 

• Quick time events have been made easier in the re-release and a lot you can even fail in some instances and you continue regardless. 

• If you don’t care for the experience find someone who loves the game and has done it all. Get them to run you through on professional while they play on easy. It saves you replaying the game and allows you to just clean up the rest of the trophies. 

• Lastly the Skill point grind is hideously long. You can farm mercenaries if you are good. I used the first level and the catacombs, but if you don’t mind a tedious run, replaying Chris and Piers final chapter is ideal. Clear the big conveyor belt room get to the checkpoint and repeat.

That sweet pop moment!

Having just finished my eighth play though of the game with Enthusiast Gamer I can safely say I enjoy the game a lot. It is a large time commitment but also a very respectable trophy. Rare and shiny it sits on the virtual top shelf of my collection. 

Happy hunting Plat Runners!