Resident Evil 7 Guide: How to Get the Shotgun

Resident Evil 7 might take heavy cues from Outlast, but this excursion into survival horror actually lets you fight back with blades and bullets (read our full review here).

Many players eagerly diving into the game have come to a frustrating segment where a shotgun is clearly visible, but it can’t be picked up without locking down the room and stopping all progress. Don’t despair — there is a way to get the shotgun, and we show you how below.

Remember that glorious Chicago Typewriter from Resident Evil 4 that lets you breeze through any encounter? In Resident Evil 7, the equivalent is this powerful shotgun, but you don’t have to beat the game first to acquire it this time around. The shotgun is particularly helpful as the best weapon for the third boss fight against Jack Baker in his heavily mutated form.

Solving The Resident Evil 7 Shotgun Puzzle

Before being able to take that tantalizingly close shotgun, you first need the scorpion key, and acquiring that takes a little work. Through the main hall of the primary mansion, head upstairs and through the door near the Baker sitting in the wheelchair.

After some walking you can find the bathroom in a back hallway section. Pull the plug in the bathtub and wait for the water to drain, then grab the wooden statuette in the base of the tub.

Wooden Statuette Location

Grabbing the statuette usually instigates a chase sequence with the seemingly-unkillable Jack. After shaking him, head downstairs and into a side room off the living room that has an empty pedestal and a painting of a dog labeled “Sky Hunter.”

To complete this puzzle and gain access to the basement area where you can find the scorpion key, use the wooden statuette in your inventory and rotate it until it casts a shadow of an eagle screeching down towards the dog.

 Unlocking The Wall Opening

Head through the crack in the wall that opens when you get the bird pattern correct, then go down into the basement.

Travel through the cramped hallway area with the black gunk growing on the walls until you pass through a green door that leads to the meat processing room.

Now you can finally grab the scorpion key, which can be seen sticking out of a large, bloody sack of something unpleasant on the middle table.

Finding the Scorpion Key

With the key in hand, go back up the stairs towards the safe room area and look for a door covered in — you guessed it — scorpions. Use the key to unlock this scorpion door, which acts as a sort of shortcut to accessing the main hall of the house.

1st Scorpion Door

Now with this secondary route unlocked, go through the main living room and up the stairs to the billiards room where there’s a second scorpion-covered door to unlock.

Directly to your left on a desk will be a sitting a shotgun… that’s broken and unusable. Granted, that’s not very helpful, but it will let us steal a functioning shotgun in another nearby area.

The Broken Shotgun

Head back down into the main lobby area and look for the open door on the far end where you can see a side room with a bronze bust holding a functional shotgun.

Pick up the shiny new one, which will lock down the room and prevent you from going anywhere. Go into your inventory while facing the empty bust and replace the new shotgun with the busted old one. Viola — shotgun mayhem is now yours to unleash!

Oooh… shiny!

Have fun mowing down enemies and keeping Jack off your trail! Now that you can breeze your way through the bosses, be sure to check out our guide to finding the good and bad endings so you don’t miss anything in Resident Evil 7’s two branching story paths!