The Mercenaries

The Mercenaries is a game mode available in Resident Evil Village, it was first unveiled during the Resident Evil Showcase on April 15, 2021.

On June 14, 2022, It was first announced that during Capcom Showcase 2022 that the mercenaries mode is being given an update which incorporates new stages as well as additional playable characters such as Chris Redfield, Karl Heisenberg and Alcina Dimitrescu with the entire batch of update titled as The Mercenaries: Additional Orders.

Gameplay[]

The Mercenaries is a single-player mode that is unlocked after completing the main game once, it must be purchased in-game via the Extra Content Shop with 10 CP. Players go through stages on a time limit where enemy kills will rack points. Bonus skills are available in the mode which can increase firepower, boost the movement speed, or provide other beneficial effects. After a stage is completed, players may use their currency on The Duke to purchase supplies and/or weapon upgrades before moving on to the next stage.^[1]

Each area includes a time orb that awards more time to defeat the creatures. All enemies have a corresponding health bar above their model and the damage done by the player is shown on-screen on each hit, this is similar to the Raid Mode in Resident Evil: Revelations 2. Higher tier enemies will have a larger health bar compared to others.

Some weaponry in the mode will behave slightly different than its counterpart available in the story. For example, the GM 79 by default will be able to hold six rounds in its magazine, as well as shoot and reload much faster compared to the one in the main game.

There are multiple Challenges available for the mode, each will award the player CP to be used at the Extra Content Shop and RE.NET icons. In addition, clearing all except Bloody stages with an SS rank will unlock the LZ Answerer at the aforementioned shop. There is no reward for clearing all stages with an SSS rank.

Stages[]

Rank Conditions and Rewards[]

Normal Stages[]

Rank	Rank Requirement	Unlocks

SSS	???	Everything below
SS	756,000	Everything below
S	630,000	Ability: Magic Magazine
A	420,000	Stage: The Castle
B	168,000	5,000 Lei
C	0	N/A

Rank	Rank Requirement	Unlocks

SSS	???	Everything below
SS	1,764,000	Everything below
S	1,470,000	Ability: Execution
A	980,000	Stage: The Factory
B	392,000	5,000 Lei
C	0	N/A

Rank	Rank Requirement	Unlocks

SSS	???	Everything below
SS	1,296,000	Everything below
S	1,080,000	Ability: Lightning Speed
A	720,000	Stage: The Mad Village
B	288,000	5,000 Lei
C	0	N/A

Rank	Rank Requirement	Unlocks

SSS	???	Everything below
SS	1,782,000	Everything below
S	1,485,000	Ability: Masamune
A	990,000	Stage: The Village II and The Bloody Village
B	396,000	5,000 Lei
C	0	N/A

Rank	Rank Requirement	Unlocks

SSS	???	Everything below
SS	1,341,000	Everything below
S	1,117,500	N/A
A	745,000	The Bloody River
B	298,000	N/A
C	0	N/A

Rank	Rank Requirement	Unlocks

SSS	???	Everything below
SS	1,890,000	Everything below
S	1,575,000	N/A
A	1,050,000	N/A
B	420,000	N/A
C	0	N/A

Hard Stages[]

Rank	Rank Requirement	Unlocks

SSS	???	N/A
SS	650,000	N/A
S	516,000	N/A
A	350,000	N/A
B	84,000	Stage: The Castle II
C	0	N/A

Rank	Rank Requirement	Unlocks

SSS	???	N/A
SS	1,073,000	N/A
S	851,000	N/A
A	574,000	N/A
B	130,000	Stage: The Factory II
C	0	N/A

Rank	Rank Requirement	Unlocks

SSS	???	N/A
SS	690,000	N/A
S	545,000	N/A
A	363,000	N/A
B	72,000	Stage: The Mad Village II
C	0	N/A

Rank	Rank Requirement	Unlocks

SSS	???	N/A
SS	796,000	N/A
S	658,000	N/A
A	486,000	N/A
B	210,000	The Bloody Village II
C	0	N/A

Rank	Rank Requirement	Unlocks

SSS	???	N/A
SS	846,000	N/A
S	705,000	N/A
A	470,000	N/A
B	188,000	The Bloody River II
C	0	N/A

Rank	Rank Requirement	Unlocks

SSS	???	N/A
SS	990,000	N/A
S	825,000	N/A
A	550,000	N/A
B	220,000	N/A
C	0	N/A

Default Items[]

The first normal stages ("I") are the same as the next hard stages ("II"), though the latter are at a higher difficulty. The Duke, the starting area and starting inventory will also change. The items at the starting room will respawn each time the player completes an area.

Ethan Winters[]

I
II

Items at the starting room	Items at The Duke	Items in Ethan's inventory
Handgun Ammo (150) Shotgun Ammo (20) Sniper Rifle Ammo (20)	First Aid Med M1911 V61 Custom Pipe Bomb Mine M1897 W870 TAC SYG-12 F2 Rifle LEMI	LEMI Knife Handgun Ammo (100) Shotgun Ammo (5) Sniper Rifle Ammo (5) First Aid Med (2)

Items at the starting room	Items at The Duke	Items in Ethan's inventory
Handgun Ammo (150) Lei (4,000) Lei (4,000)	First Aid Med Explosive Rounds Flashbang M1851 Wolfsbane Mine Pipe Bomb GM 79 LEMI	LEMI Knife Handgun Ammo (100) First Aid Med (2)

Chris Redfield[]

I
II

Items at the starting room	Items at The Duke	Items in Chris's inventory
Handgun Ammo (150) Rifle Ammo (50) Hand Grenade (1)	Energized Guns Energized Hook Energized Punch Target Locator Hand Grenade Flash Grenade USM-AI	USM-AI Karambit Knife Dragoon Handgun Ammo (100) Flash Grenade (2) Tactical Gloves

Items at the starting room	Items at The Duke	Items in Chris's inventory
Handgun Ammo (150) Lei (4,000) Lei (4,000)	Energized Guns Energized Hook Energized Punch Adrenaline Gruesome Gourmet Rifle Ammo Target Locator Hand Grenade Flash Grenade Dragoon USM-AI	USM-AI Karambit Knife Handgun Ammo (100) Flash Grenade (2) Tactical Gloves

Karl Heisenberg[]

I
II

Items at the starting room	Items at The Duke	Items in Heisenberg's inventory
Lei (4,000) Lei (4,000) Flash Grenade (1)	Iron Will S.O.S Speedy Swing Flash Grenade	Heisenberg's Hammer Scrap Sawblade Soldat Jet Flash Grenade (2)

Items at the starting room	Items at The Duke	Items in Heisenberg's inventory
Lei (4,000) Lei (4,000) Flash Grenade (1)	Iron Will S.O.S Speedy Swing Healing Hammer Gruesome Gourmet Soldat Jet Flash Grenade	Heisenberg's Hammer Scrap Sawblade Flash Grenade (2)

Alcina Dimitrescu[]

I
II

Items at the starting room	Items at The Duke	Items in Dimitrescu's inventory
Lei (4,000) Lei (4,000) Lady's Lipstick (1)	Slam-tastic Vigorous Vanity Thrill Keeper Sanguis Virginis Lady's Lipstick	Lady's Nails Sanguis Virginis (2) Ornate Vanity Insect Swarm

Items at the starting room	Items at The Duke	Items in Dimitrescu's inventory
Lei (4,000) Lei (4,000) Lady's Lipstick (1)	Slam-tastic Vigorous Vanity Thrill Keeper Sanguis Virginis Lady's Lipstick	Lady's Nails Sanguis Virginis (2) Ornate Vanity Insect Swarm

Ability List[]

The abilities are acquired by interacting with the blue orbs found within an area, the blue orb cannot be shot or knifed, players must press the interact button while near it to obtain the ability, some ability may have purchasing from Duke. The abilities Magic Magazine, Execution, Lightning Speed and Masamune will only become available after acquiring an A rank in The Village, The Castle, The Factory and The Mad Village respectively or S rank on any stages to some characters.

The abilities will stay active until the end of the current game, sometimes an already equipped ability will appear again, the effect will stack if the player chooses it again. It will stack as many times as it appears.

A lot of abilities have a different name in the Japanese version, examples include "Blade Master" being called "Knife Master", "Thick Skinned" being called "Steel Armor", "All Brawn" being called "Muscle Power", etc.

There are different ability for each 4 characters.

Common[]

Name	Information	Effect
Slow Motion	Enemy movement decreases.	Any Enemies of AI reaction will decreases by 20%.
Thick Skinned	Damage taken decreases.	Reduced damage received from enemies by 20%.
Healthy	Max HP increases.	Increases maximum of health by 50%.
Gruesome Gourmet	Recover a little HP when an enemy is defeated.	Each times defeated enemy will heal small of health.
Agile	Speed increases.	Increases movement speed by 50%.
Break Shot	Initial attack does more damage when the enemy's HP is full.	Increase 50% of any attack damage to full health Initial attack enemies.
Infighter	Close-combat attacks do more damage.	Increase any attack deal damage when come to close distance up to 50%.
Out of Reach	Long-distance attacks do more damage.	Increase any attack deal damage when come to far distance up to 50%.
No Brainer	Headshots do more damage.	Increase 50% of attack damage when is hitting enemies heads.
Fickle Shooter	Attack increases when switching between enemies.	Increase 50% of attack damage when is switching between enemies.
All Brawn	Attack increases but speed decreases.	Increase 50% of attack damage but also decreases 50% of movement speed.

Image	Name	Information
	ハンドガンマスター	ハンドガンの攻撃力アップ
	ショットガンマスター	ショットガンの攻撃力アップ
	ナイフマスター	ナイフの攻撃力5倍
	マジックマガジン	銃の装填数が2倍になる
	マサムネ	ナイフの攻撃力10倍それ以外の攻撃力が大幅ダウン
	スロー	敵の移動速度が低下
	コープスボム	銃で敵を倒すと、確率で爆発する
	アドレナリン	銃で攻撃すると HPが少し回復する
	スチールアーマー	受けるダメージが低下
	スーパーガード	ガード成功時、ダメージを受けなくなる
	ライフアップ	HP最大値アップ
	コープスイーター	敵を倒すとHPが少し回復する
	アジリティアップ	移動速度アップ
	アサシンダッシュ	ナイフを装備中、移動速度アップ
	ターボダッシュ	移動速度が大幅アップ受けるダメージがアップ
	ブレイクショット	敵のHPが最大のとき、攻撃力アップ
	インファイター	近距離での攻撃力アップ
	アウトレンジ	遠距離での攻撃力アップ
	ヘッドシューター	ヘッドショットの攻撃力アップ
	フィックルシューター	前に攻撃した敵とは別の敵に攻撃したとき、攻撃力アップ
	エクスキューション	敵のHPが30%以下のとき、攻撃力が大幅アップ
	マッスルパワー	攻撃力アップ移動速度ダウン

Ethan and Chris only[]

English

Name	Information	Effect
Pistol Master	Handguns do more damage.	Increase any of Handguns weapons deal damage by 15%.
Blade Master	Knives do five times more damage.	Increase any of melee weapons deal damage to five times.
Corpse Combustor	Enemies will likely explode when they are defeated with a gun.	When using firearm defeating enemies, enemies will has low chance exploding to killing nearby other enemies, each explode dealing 2000 damage by default.
Adrenaline	HP recovers slightly when attacking with a gun.	Each times firing gun will heal small of health (note: knife attack also work).

Exclusive to Ethan[]

English

Name	Information	Effect
Shotgun Master	Shotguns do more damage.	Increase any of Shotguns weapons deal damage by 15%.
Magic Magazine	Ammo capacity doubles.	2 times increases any firearms of ammo capacity.
Masamune	Knife attacks are 10 times stronger, but damage from other weapons greatly decreases.	Knife increase deal damage to 500 but any other weapons damage decreases by 70%.
Super Guard	Damage no longer taken when guarding.	Damage no longer taken when guarding.
Assassination Dash	Movement speed increases when knife is equipped.	Increases movement speed by 50% when equipping knife.
Lightning Speed	Movement speed greatly increases but damage taken increases too.	Increases movement speed by 100% but also increases damage received from enemies by 100%.
Execution	Attack greatly increases when the enemies' HP is below 30%.	Increases any attack damage to six times when that enemy Health is below 30%.

Exclusive to Chris[]

English

Name	Information	Effect
Absolute Onslaught	The duration of Onslaught increases.	Increase duration of Onslaught by 50%.
Energized Guns	The Onslaught gauge increases slightly when an enemy is killed with a gun.	Using USM-AI or Dragoon defeating enemies will get a small Onslaught gauge.
Energized Hook	The Onslaught gauge increases greatly when attacking with a left hook.	Using left hook hitting enemies will get a lot of Onslaught gauge.
Energized Punch	The Onslaught gauge increases greatly when attacking with a straight punch.	Using Straight Punch hitting enemies will get a lot of Onslaught gauge.
Auto Onslaught	The Onslaught gauge increases over time while Onslaught is not active. (Only for effective in combat areas.)	Onslaught gauge will increases over time slowly.
Followup Shot	After attacking with a left hook, the next shot from a gun does more damage; a headshot will also increase Onslaught gauge.	After attacking with a left hook increases next shot damage by 50%. If is headshot will increase Onslaught gauge.
Headshot Boost	The Onslaught gauge increases greatly when an enemy is killed with a headshot while Onslaught is active.	When is in Onslaught headshot defeating enemies will greatly extending Onslaught gauge.
Finishing Reload	Defeating an enemy with a straight punch instantly reloads you equipped gun.	straight punch Defeating enemy will immediately fully replenishing equipping gun of ammo capacity.

Exclusive to Heisenberg[]

English

Name	Information	Effect
Healing Hammer	Recover a small amount of health when attacking with hammer.	Each times using hammer attack hitting enemies will heal small of health.
Iron Will	Don't flinch when hit by an enemy while slamming the hammer or charging projecties.	Every time slamming the hammer, charging hammer or charging projecties, it won't interrupting by any enemies.
S.O.S	Reduce the cooldown time for summoning a Soldat Jet.	Decreases cooldown of Soldat Jet by 33%.
Speedy Swing	Hammer swing speed increases.	Increases hammer attack speed by 50%.
Razor Ricochet	Sawblades will ricochet when fired.	When firing Sawblades, Sawblades ricochet any surface several time to dealing enemies massive damage.
Electro-static Shuffle	Movement speed greatly increases. (Does not affect movement speed while Magnetic Field is active.)	Increases movement speed by 100%.
Charing Slam	The Hammer's electric charge increase greatly if three or more enemies are hit at the same time with a slam.	Hammer will immediately electric charged if slam attack one hitting is three or more enemies.
Electromagnetic Boost	The charging speed of projectiles while the Magnetic Field is greatly increases.	When Magnetic Field is active, charging speed of projectiles is 2 times faster.

Exclusive to Dimitrescu[]

English

Name	Information	Effect
Lady Scissorhands	Slicing attacks with nails do more damage.	Increases of any Lady's Nails of attack damage by 30%.
Slam-tastic	Power and Thrill are greatly increased when a slammed enemy hits other nearby enemies.	Using slamming attack when is hits other nearby enemies will increase 100% damage and 50% Thrill gauge respectively.
Vigorous Vanity	When an ornate vanity hits three or more enemies, the cooldown time to re-throw the vanity is greatly reduced.	ornate vanity attack when hitting three or more enemies, immediately decreases it cooldown by 50%.
Thrill Keeper	Increases the time Thrill is active for.	Extending time of Thrill lasting by 50%.
Entomphobia	Do more damage to enemies who are being swarmed by flies.	Increases Insect Swarm attack damage by 50%.
Thrilling Quick Step	Speed increases, and increases further when the Thrill gauge is full.	Increases movement speed by 50% initially, increase another 50% movement speed if the Thrill gauge is full.
Blood Sacrifice	The cooldown time for summoning a daughter decreases slightly every an enemy is defeated.	Each time defeating enemy will faster cooldown of summoning a daughter.
Dicing Demise	Damage dealt by two-handed slice attacks increases greatly when the enemy has 50% or less health remaining.	Increases Lady's Nails of two-handed slice attack damage to five times when that enemy Health is in 50% or less.

Score System[]

RE8 Mercenaries point system — The score being given after an area.

The score is calculated based on the area score, time bonus and money held. A combo system is present which will start when the player kills one enemy, as such players should only kill an enemy when they are ready to start and keep the combo going. At certain points it may be best to run for the blue/yellow orbs before killing any enemy.

Because having Lei will award players with a higher score, it's best to sell items that are not needed. For example, if the player intends to use the F2 Rifle and LEMI until the end, then they should sell all of their Shotgun Ammo. This will bring up the problem that it's not possible to sell stacks of items at The Duke, meaning players will take some time to sell all of their ammo each time.

Whenever an enemy is killed, they will drop Lei. There are no treasures to be found in the mode before additional order update, a higher tier enemy will drop more Lei than a lesser enemy. There are some enemies that will not drop Lei at all, such as Miranda.

If the player dies during play, their current score will be saved and will not default to zero, no punishment is given for a death. For example, if the player has enough score for an S rank and dies, they will still obtain an S rank. This is a major difference when compared to other Mercenaries modes in the series, as death would lead the player to obtain no score at all.