Resident Evil 2 NEST Laboratory Claire [2nd] run walkthrough

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Getting through all three parts of the NEST Laboratory and escaping

After your journey through the Sewers in Claire's 2nd run through Resident Evil 2, it's time to head into the NEST Laboratory. Carry Sherry off of the Cable Car, through the giant hangar doors, and into the hallway.

Almost everything here is the same as your first run through with Leon, so we’re condensing the entirety of the NEST into one guide.

Walk forward and go into the first room on the left — the Security Room. Put Sherry down and collect the ID Wristband.

In this room:

Head back outside and straight across the hall to the reception desk.

Save your game and shuffle your inventory at the Typewriter in the room on your left. Read the ID Wristbands document on the whiteboard.

Head back out into the hallway, and interact with the computer behind the reception desk to read the Nap Room Log.

Head back the way you came in past the desk, and take the door on your left heading west. This leads to three rooms. The only one you can go in is the Cafeteria.

There are several active zombies in this room. Take care of them as you loop around to find:

Climb the ladder at the north end of the Cafeteria and make your way to the next room.

Hop down, collect the Gunpowder (Large) and the Combat Knife on the counter, and exit. Kill the zombie in the hallway, and enter the next room.

Snag the Flame Rounds on the counter and the High Voltage Condenser (Spark Shot) out of the locker. That's an upgrade for the Spark Shot.

Collect the Electronic Chip off Mr. Li's hand poking out of the nap pod. Combine the chip with your wristband to gain the second level of access to nearby doors.

Head out of the Nap Room and down the hall. Your new chip will let you walk through the door you had to avoid earlier. Enter the door labeled Main Shaft. Examine the corpse to your right for the Special Forces Recording.

The Signal Modulator is sitting next to the corpse as well.

Now that you have the Signal Modulator, head back to the Nap Room behind you. Set the Modulator to OSS and unlock the room.

Handle Li's zombie, then grab the Hip Pouch out of the first nap pod and Wayne Li's Note out of the second.

Now you can head back to the Main Shaft.

Interact with the terminal on the left to unfurl the bridge, and walk over it. On the opposite side, interact with the terminal on the right to create another bridge. Head across to the East Area.

Enter the Lobby and grab the Green Herb on the reception desk and the Gunpowder on the desk behind. There's also a Typewriter and an Item Box here. If you have Flame Rounds, equip them.

The room to the south is locked. Enter the door to the Presentation Room.

You can interact with the corpse on the other side of the glass to see the upgrade you’re looking for. Now you just have to get to it.

Head through the door to the left of the laptop. Pick up the High-Grade Gunpowder (White) on a tray in the next room. Use Flame Rounds to kill the plant-like enemy, which is called an Ivy.

Since this is your 2nd run, you’ve seen Ivy before, but you’ll have to deal with them differently as Claire. Flame Rounds are your friend, but you probably won't have enough to put own every one. When you run out of Flame Rounds, you’ll need to destroy the yellow-orange nodules on their body to take them down. But after a few minutes, they’ll grow back, and the Ivy will get back up.

At the other end of the hall, head into the Greenhouse Control Room. Grab the Flash Grenade directly in front of you. Interact with the Solution Sprinkler System to receive the Dispersal Cartridge.

Inside the Greenhouse, head straight and kill the Ivy with fire. Collect the Blue Herb. Turn left and note the pattern on the hatch — it's different from your first run.

Now head back to the Greenhouse Control Room, enter the new pattern to open the hatch and get access to the ladder.

Return to the Greenhouse, and take the path left, picking up the Red Herb along the way. Skip the Drug Testing Lab for now.

Descend the ladder you unlocked, and search the dead end for Gunpowder (Large) and the Research Lab East Area Map. Open the door to the next hallway.

Continue into the Lounge, deal with all the zombies, then pick up:

Use the Signal Modulator set to URF on the panel in the corner.

As you head down the hallway away from where you entered, Lickers will appear near the door leading to the Low-Temp Testing Lab. If you’re really careful (and super lucky), you can walk past them without engaging. Otherwise, a direct hit on each with a Flame Round will kill them, but feel free to use whatever powerful ammo you have.

Duck into the Low-Temp Testing Lab.

We’re only going into the front area of the lab on this visit — we’ll save the rest for your next time here.

Grab the Trophy from the last bench on the left, then turn left to handle the zombie and read Wayne Li's Inbox. Save the lab for later when you return.

Head back to the hallway and turn left. Go through the door at the end of the hall.

Watch for the zombie on your right as soon as you enter. Also the Ivy as you’re ascending the staircase.

In the room at the top of the stairs, kill another zombie. Collect:

Unlock the door to return to the Lobby, where you can offload some equipment and save.

Return to the Greenhouse Control Room. Examine the Trophy in your inventory. The code you need is on the bottom again, but it's different from last time.

We had trouble here with the second symbol — it's the one in the 0 position on the bottom row in the middle. If you picture the keypad as a phone, the code is 2048. (Though it might be procedurally generated and therefore different in your game.)

Enter the code into the Facility Control Terminal to unlock the Drug Testing Lab's Dispersal Unit.

Head back into the Greenhouse, then loop left to the Drug Testing Lab.

Read the Herbicide Synthesis note on the counter next to the sink.

There's a Hand Grenade in the northwest corner of the room, sitting next to a corpse wearing a yellow hazard suit. There's also Gunpowder (Large) on the east side of the central desks.

Interact with the Solution Dispenser. For us, this felt a lot harder than last time.

Arrange the cylinders Large, Medium, and Small from left to right. Here's how to solve the puzzle:

Now you’ve got a full Dispersal Cartridge.

Head back into the Greenhouse and climb down the ladder. On your way to the Lounge, duck into the Server Room. Head here to collect some High-Grade Gunpowder (White), a Combat Knife, and Flame Rounds. There's also a Typewriter and an Item Box.

Go back through the Lounge and turn right to return to the Low-Temp Testing Lab. Go all the way through to the actual lab this time.

Pick up the Gunpowder on the table near the window. Interact with the Cooling System to lower the temperature of your Dispersal Cartridge (Solution). It will return to your inventory as Dispersal Cartridge (Herbicide).

Make your way back to the Control Room, and interact with the Solution Sprinkler System to unleash the herbicide.

Enter the Greenhouse, and pick up the Electronic Chip. Hit the (sigh) new Ivys with everything you’ve got as you make your way back to the laptop in the Presentation Room.

Interact with the Senior Staff PC on your way past to read Byron Cartwright's Inbox.

Head back to the Main Shaft, and interact with the terminal there to unlock the bridge to the West Area.

Cross the bridge, and collect the Lab Digital Video Cassette (Key Item) labeled Operation NESTWRECKER (1) off of the corpse. There's a Hand Grenade nearby, too.

In the lab, you’ll find an Item Box and a Circuit Breaker labeled AWS. Use your Signal Modulator to restore power. (You can drop the Modulator now.)

Put the video cassette in the Video Player to watch a short video about Dr. Birkin.

Interact with the computer to read William Birkin's Inbox.

Continue through the lab in the direction of the Bioreactors Room, collecting the Blue Herb in the room preceding the changing room and High-Grade Gunpowder (White) on a sink in the changing room.

Head through the Bioreactors Room into the lab. Read the Research Diary on the computer. At the end of the hall, interact with the machine to get the antivirus.

Before you go, check the room in the north to get Gunpowder (Large), a Red Herb, and High-Grade Gunpowder (White). There's also a Typewriter and an Item Box.

Head back toward Sherry, and watch the cutscene that follows.

Killing G is actually straightforward this time. Aim for the eyes. They’ll pop, and new ones will appear. Shoot those, too.

During your 2nd run, this may feel more difficult, but we’re not sure it's mechanically more difficult. Our best advice is just to stick at it. Don't let up on him, and just keep using whatever you have to deal damage.

Bring healing items. Bring all of your most powerful ammo. This isn't the time to be dainty. You’ll also find items of pretty much every variety strewn around the area where you’re fighting, including:

When G throws things, put something between you and him (like a wall), so that it doesn't land on you and explode.

When he's dead, do a loop around the room to collect any items that you didn't during the fight.

Take the elevator up. Backtrack to the North Area, where you began. Revisit Sherry and watch a cutscene and receive the level IV Upgrade Chip (Admin).

Take the Central Elevator back in the Main Shaft.

Exit the elevator, and collect the First Aid Spray to your right and the Combat Knife at the far end of the hallway. Exit through the door, save, and stock up. If you’ve got ammo, now is the time to equip it.

Head through the next several rooms, keeping the Ivy at bay. Try to avoid any zombies you meet and conserve your ammo.

When you get to the train, climb on and pick up the Joint Plug.

Head into the office on the other side of the train car. Pick up the Minigun and place the Joint Plug in the panel. Throw the lever.

Guess who's back?

This fourth version of the boss fight is entirely about keeping your distance and firing your new Minigun.

Aim for the eyes on his chest. Again, this isn't a time to be dainty. In our experience, this will be tough and take longer than you expect (it sure feels like it takes longer than during Claire's first run). Just keep popping those chest eyes and running away.

You didn't think you were done, did you?

When you start to hear the noises, Claire will go investigate. In the next car, hit the Typewriter to save, then visit the Item Box. Grab anything that has bullets in it — every gun and grenade you have left. You don't need a ton of ammo for what's to come, but chances are you’re running pretty low.

Grab the Combat Knife off the barrels as you keep heading toward the rear of the train.

In the next car, G (Stage 5) will show up. He's huge and ugly, and it's very tempting to just start shooting. Don't. Not yet at least.

Wait until he crawls about halfway up the car. At that point, a giant eye will appear in his mouth. Put everything you have into that eye. (We did it with 15 shots from the JMB Hp3 — the absolute last ammo we had.)

Once you trigger the cutscene, it's time for the happily ever after with a little girl that's dealing a little too well with the death of her parents if you ask us.

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