After the Banned Footage expansions revealed the events leading up to the Baker family becoming evil cannibal monsters, now End of Zoe wraps up some loose ends from the main storyline.
This time around, you get to play as a true-blue mountain man hillbilly, complete drunken drawl and all, and apparently one of the only members of the Baker family who currently isn’t a terrible mutated thing.
The DLC assumes you saved Mia instead of Zoe during the main game’s campaign. Of course, if you “saved” Zoe with the serum, she just immediately dies anyway, so this expansion only makes sense if the main character chose to save his wife instead. But what exactly has been going on with Zoe out there in the swamp? Get ready to find out!
Legitimate question!
End of Zoe Gameplay Changes
While you can still use healing liquid, the main character is now also healed by eating grubs and centipedes, which can be found on the ground, in the broken parts of trees, or underneath rocks.
While you have a shotgun, your main weapon is the power of your awesome fists, and you get into some serious fisticuffs with powerful enemies, so get used to blocking against incoming swings before unleashing a barrage of hits.
Before going loud for a fist fight, you want to sneak up on enemies whenever possible, as you have a one-hit stealth takedown option now, ripping the monster’s head clean off. It’s a good thing you didn’t have to fight this guy during the base game’s story!
Mmmm . . . grubs. I guess it beats what Marguerite had cooked up!
Areas are now gated off by doors with a yellow X symbol you can’t pass through immediately. To get through, you need to explore the area and kill more enemies until the door becomes breakable.
So, how did the Bakers get through these areas before the virus was released? Honestly, I think they kept the same system and just had to beat people up before being allowed through the gates. Seems in line with this guy’s ethos.
Finally, be sure to collect effigies to increase fist attack power. The first effigy is just to your left on a barrel immediately after destroying the first yellow cross. A full list of all 18 effigy locations is available here.
Can’t punch this one to bits quite yet.
End of Zoe Walkthrough
After breaking the first yellow cross, head into the shack to grab the serum off the dead soldier, who dissolves into gross black goo. Get ready to block and strike, as a tree enemy will spawn directly behind you in the hallway.
Head back to the starting shack, which is now on fire, and give the partial dosage to Zoe. After the soldier is pulled through the wall, pick up Zoe and go out the door. Run through the water to the boat to start the next section of the DLC.
Set Zoe on the couch inside the cabin and head through the steel door. Most of the enemies in this area can be taken down with stealth insta-kills if you follow behind them for awhile.
Look out for the new, fast creatures that skitter on the ground, and be sure to grab the wood spears sitting on top of a stack of boxes sitting outside one of the tents. You can throw these – or use the shotgun – at range to take out the skittery little guys.
Grabbing spears
In the same area is another yellow cross to break after you’ve killed the enemies. Just past the cross is an effigy up the stairs, sitting on a pillow (on top of a barrel) to your left. Jump down the hole into a lab.
After leaving the laboratory room, get ready for gators to fill the watery part of any walkway. Always go slow in water, and take out the gators with spears before getting close or they will eat you.
Pick up all the wood spears and move into the next area, where you can again stealth kill most of the enemies to get through the yellow barriers.
Too bad there’s no time to skin and fry him!
Head up the yellow ladder next to a shack to access the top section of the rusted, old ship. If you head up the stairs to the broken segment of roof, a third effigy can be found on the ledge where all the metal is curled upwards.
Continue through the ship, crawling through vents and breaking yellow barriers as necessary, until you go up a ladder and find the synthesizer computer.
Before using the machine, make sure you have some healing items stored, as there’s about to be a boss fight. Turn on the computer to get a full dose of the serum and immediately get ambushed by a big monster.
End of Zoe Mini Boss
This mini boss – just a bigger version of normal enemies – hits hard but is slow, so move in a circle around him while punching to avoid most attacks.
Be sure to block when he winds back for his series of four swings in a row that are difficult to dodge. After a couple of dozen punches, you’ll engage in some hillbilly wrestling moves to take out the End of Zoe DLC sub boss for good.
Return to Zoe, where of course something else bad happens that has you chasing off after her yet again. You didn’t think this was over already, did you? Hop in the boat and chase after the creature through the open gate to reach the next point of the DLC.
While traversing through the water, again move slowly and hit gators with spears before proceeding, or you will meet a watery grave. While moving through this area, check each of the buildings and raised wood platforms thoroughly to grab new spears.
There are also now bombs you can set on the ground to explode as enemies chase you. Stock up on these to use in the final boss fight, as they are more helpful there. Make sure to also break any boxes with yellow tape, as you can find more effigies in this area.
Break these for goodies!
When you reach the graveyard, it’s easy to get swarmed by enemies, so try to stealth kill whenever possible.
When you find the larger creatures that spit goo, lead them away into a different segment if several smaller enemies approach at the same time. Don’t forget to use your shotgun or spears if the big enemies become too difficult to take down in a close confrontation.
Eventually you will be captured by Jack and then escape. After getting swarmed by enemies, run up the path to grab the robotic arm, which packs even more wallop in your left punch.
End of Zoe Jack Boss Fight
From there, repeat all the same things you’ve already been doing to make your way through the final area to the boss fight. Make sure to grab any healing items you need in the medical tent before heading through the long, white tent into the final building.
When the fight starts, be on the lookout for mutated Jack to throw his arms up or grow a long black tendril, indicating a strong attack is coming down or from the front.
Charge your robotic arm for a few hits, moving around to his side, then step back and throw several spears to knock him down (be on the lookout for Jack to jump suddenly to the side to avoid spears).
While Jack is struggling to his feet after taking a few spears, throw one of the bombs you stockpiled before on the ground. When he falls after the bomb goes off, get in as many charged punches as you can.
Repeat the process until he falls to his knees, and you can knock his eye out with a powered punch to complete the End of Zoe DLC!
Congratulations on completing the latest RE7 DLC, and special thanks to RabidRetrospectGames for the screenshots. Need help with any other part of this return-to-form for the beloved horror franchise? Check out the rest of our Resident Evil 7 guides here.
