Resident Evil Village - Distillery, surviving the Severed Hand encounter with Lady Dimitrescu in the Dungeon
How to explore - and survive - the bowels of the castle.
Exploring the Distillery and the Dungeon in Resident Evil Village are two underground areas of the castle.
Both are combat-focused sections of a different variety - the latter seeing you face off against Lady Dimitrescu for the first time.
Of course, you cannot win, so the least you can do is flee and live to fight another day - with this page explaining how to survive the Severed Hand encounter.
For help elsewhere in the game, see our Resident Evil Village walkthrough and list of Goats of Warding locations.
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Exploring the Distillery in Resident Evil Village
Once you have completed the Hall of Ablution puzzle, a new path will open, taking you down to a lower level, and to the Distillery.
Right at the bottom is a Goat of Warding location in plain sight.
From there, continue through the Distillery. As with the last time you were in the castle's lower levels, you can expect enemy encounters.
The first one is a couple of corners after you see something drop into the water (or is it blood?) so be on your toes as it emerges.
From there, take your time, advancing round corners and through the area, as each enemy will appear from a distance that you shoot and back away as they advance without them reaching you.
No enemies will spawn behind you either, provided you clear each area as you go - it's pretty linear, so should be straightforward. Note if you do retreat, they can crawl through the shelving and ambush you that way.
There are no key items in this area - just resources - so clear out as much as you can before continuing up to the balcony area of the castle.
Follow the balcony round and you'll have a cutscene with Lady Dimitrescu in a room.
Once done, enter Dimitresu's Chambers and get the Alcina Dimitrescu's Diary file on sofa to the left as you enter, followed by Dimitrescu's Key hanging under a torch in the corner.
Use the key on the door to leave.
After the cutscene, you'll be back below the castle. Grab the resources around you, crawl through the tunnel, then throw the switch to enter the Dungeon.
How to survive the Severed Hand encounter with Lady Dimitresu
Continue through the Dungeon to get you to a dead end, with a second switch to throw to progress.
When you do, you'll be ambushed by Lady Dimitresu, who will attack you in battle, rendering you defenceless. To survive this encounter, you must give her the run around - there's enough room in the Dungeon to do so - then return to the switch again. This will give you the Severed Hand. Interact once more - you might have to run around the Dungeon and give her the slip again - to throw the switch, opening the way through.
Sprint through the following passage to be ambushed again. Ignore her as she emerges; run past her and to the pedestal at the end for the Mask of Sorrow.
Doing so will see you emerge back up in the Courtyard, and your ability to wield items returning.
When you resume control, know there are enemies in the Courtyard to take on if you choose - it's otherwise easy enough to avoid them.
Use Dimitresu's Key on the door to the north in the Courtyard to reach a new area of the castle - which includes the Opera Hall.