This opening section is fairly combat free and mainly involves exploration. If you’re new to VR then it’s advised that you start with the comfort settings on which should be applied by default. This will turn at angles instead of smooth and slow the walk speed. If you do find that you suffer from motion sickness then many people have reported that playing standing up and turning physically, rather than using the controller, helps and in extreme cases where discomfort is still felt walking on the spot while moving is also reported to ease motion sickness. If you suffer discomfort then it’s also advised to play in short bursts with breaks in the middle. Motion sickness should reduce over time. It’s just a matter of conditioning your body to accept the conflicting visual and physical messages.
Take your time early on if you’re new to VR. Once you get into the second section, you will need to run around quite a bit. Walk slowly and take a good look around while you can, to ease yourself in to VR. You’ll start off near the car Ethan drove in. The most sensible thing to do would be to get back in and drive off but that’s not an option, so just follow the path through the woods toward the main house ahead. The main gate is locked but if you turn around there is the path leading off to the right that leads into a small muddy clearing with a van. You can open the van’s side door and take a peek inside to find a booklet relating to an event you’ll witness later, through a video tape.
Once you’re done poking about then head on through the broken fence. It’s a straight path with no turnings. You’ll see a man walk past in the distance before a turn to the right and then come across a rather grotesque barrier that you’ll have to crawl under. Eventually you’ll come to a small drop down into the back garden of the Baker family’s guest house, but don’t hope for five star accommodation and an en suite. You’ll find it as basic and accommodating as your neighbour’s garden shed. You’ll find Mia’s bag on the ground with her driver’s license in it, then continue towards the back of the property and enter through the back door.
The door will shut behind you but don’t panic. Actually, do panic as that is your only way out. Up the corridor from the back door is a cabinet, locked with a chain. You’ll have to come back for the contents later. You can explore the kitchen on the way through if you like, but there isn’t much to pick up. One drawer is locked and the other empty and everywhere else only seems to hold bugs and dead animals. You first need to collect a video tape from upstairs, so as you exit the kitchen through the far doorway turn right and go up the stairs. At the top, if you turn around the corner to the right, you’ll see a table with a tape and a cassette recorder, remember those? The cassette recorder is a save point. Save if you like and then grab the tape and head back downstairs.
At the bottom of the stairs take a right and follow the corridor along past the open cupboard to the closed white door beyond which leads into a sitting room. In the far right corner is a TV and video do you can pop in the tape and watch it, if you like. If you chose to watch it then you just need to follow the gators around the house until events come to a conclusion. Otherwise, you can skip it and approach the fireplace and crouch down to find a chain pull. Give it a pull and a secret door will open. Through the door you’ll find a short corridor with a ladder at the end leading down a rather ominous looking hole. You know what’s coming, so head on down the ladder. At the bottom you can follow a corridor to a flooded section. You’ll need to wade through water up to your neck which is a weird sensation if you’re playing in VR. Just try not to think of what’s in the water. When you emerge from the water you’ll need to continue through the door at the end. On passing through the next area you’ll go past a barred metal door, locked with a chain. Mia is behind that door, but you’ll need to go a little further and pick up the chain cutters from the table to the left in order to open the door.
A cut scene will play and then Mia will lead you off down the corridor. Just follow along until you reach the room with a sofa. After another cut scene, she’ll sit on the sofa and when you approach her Ethan will offer to search the area alone. Go through the open door way opposite the sofa and examine the doll on the shelf at the back of the room. Mia will scream and when you re-enter the room you left her in you’ll find her gone and another exit has opened to the left. Go through the opened door and up the stairs and you’ll find yourself back on the ground floor of the guest house. On the right, half way up the corridor is a side cabinet with a map of the main house in the top drawer. Then take a right into the only access able room off the hallway, which is a bathroom. There is a medicine bottle in a drawer to the left and another to the right of the sink a little further on. There’s nothing else in there so head back out into the hallway. You’ll hear a knocking coming from the basement, the direction you came from, so go check it out. That will start a sequence in which you’ll need to defend yourself at the end use a medicine and turn around and try the door at the end of the corridor, leading back to the main part of the house. It’s locked, so approach Mia again.
Another sequence will play and at the end you’ll have to grab an axe and fight off Mia. Remember to guard as well as attack as healing items are limited in this section and you’ll need to save some for the last fight. Once the fight is over you can take a look around the new room. As you do, the phone will ring. You’ll need to answer it to progress. Once the call has ended if you return to the room where you fought Mia, you’ll find her missing but she’s left the axe behind. You might want to pick it up, as she hasn’t gone to make Ethan a cup of coffee. Head through the door which was locked but is now open, and head back into the main area of the house. Remember the cabinet locked with a chain past the kitchen? You’ll need to open it with the cutters you picked up in the basement. Inside is a fuse which you need to insert into the fuse box in the sitting room, where you opened the secret door. This will restore power to the stairs to the attic, so head upstairs and press the button near the save point.
There is a fight in the attic so you might want to save before you head up the lowered staircase and into the attic. If you want an easier battle then be sure to take a right through the first door you come to. Inside the room beyond is a table with a gun, some ammo and a medicine bottle. Then leave the room and continue on down the corridor to the door at the end. In the room beyond do not immediately approach the window as that will initiate combat. First grab some ammo from a box near the bed to the left then head through the only other accessible door in the room into a side chamber where there is a table with more ammo. Then with you gun equipped exit the side chamber and approach the window. Mia will burst through with a chainsaw, and you’ll have to take her out with the gun. Be careful not to get pinned against walls and objects as she’ll do heavy damage with that chainsaw and kill you quite fast if you can’t dodge her. Try to keep a safe distance and take a few shots when you can. It won’t take much to get her down. Once you do, after a short while of roaming the room another cut scene should play that will end this section. Congratulations you escaped the guest house, sort of.
