Separate Ways with Handgun Only + No Damage Playthrough

Unlike the main Resident Evil 4 game, which has perfect programming and literally follows your gameplay style, Separate Ways is on a completely different pace. To begin with, Ada's controlling is not as smooth and flowing as Leon's. This is something that you can't really see in a regular playhtrough, because when she has a shotgun, for example, she can shoot the tougher enemies like a pro, or throw a hand grenade to eliminate a large number of them, and never have to worry about them getting too close.

Secondly, Ada is supposed to be faster but I don't know where this rumor came from. I guess it's her slim figure that tricks into seeming as if she is moving swiftly, when she actually isn't. In practice she is dragging her feet compared to Leon, and although she is able to slide among the villagers easily, she becomes quite awkward in the Island section, when having to deal with those extremely vicious and resilient soldiers; and especially whenever she is about to get attacked. I suppose that's because she was mainly trained to be the good spy that she is, therefore she is a stealth expert; but when it comes to combat, well, let's say this is not exactly her field. There is no axe, arrow, stun rod, iron chain or plaga head that she won't bump onto, even if you lead her to a different direction. Moreover, when an enemy is charging towards her to grab her by the neck, most of the times he will succeed as she seems unable to react for a few seconds. If you like Ada and want to keep liking her, don't try to play Separate Ways in Blacktail Only + No Damage if you are not prepared for it. You will hate her for the rest of your life.

Ada has only one handgun available, and that is the Blacktail - a quite reliable weapon with good performance. It already has some of the basic upgrades, but Ada can't tune it up more, meaning she is stuck with its level three firepower, which is 2.0 - less than half of the firepower that the fully upgraded Blacktail has in the main game, which is 4.5. This significantly raises the number of bullets that Ada has to waste for each kill, which practically means that if you want to not find yourself with an empty handgun in the difficult parts of the mission, you have to be cautious with your ammo and use your knife whenever you can.

Chapter 1 is ridiculously easy, as you can literally ignore most of the enemies while you wait for the cutscene with Leon to show, then maybe kill a few of them to trigger the Insignia Key's appearance on the rooftop of the house.

You can follow a similar strategy in the next part, with the crazy chainsaw lady on the bridge posing no real threat, as she can be easily killed from a distance. All the enemies that show up outside the church can also be ignored, and then it's a matter of minutes before the chapter is over.

Chapter 2 is yet one more walk in the park - even the terrifying Gigante can be left growling in rage in his cave (although I did have to stun him once to be able to leave, as he kept kicking Ada's ass every time she tried to run away). Don Diego goes down quickly if you choose to fight him, and the Bella Sister is just a dessert in the barn.

Chapter 3 is tougher, but not that bad after a little practice. The hardest part is, like in the main game's Chapter 3-3, the Garrador cage; only that the SW Garrador seems to be more clever and he is able to sense Ada much easier than the one that Leon had to face. This part was a pain in the neck, until I found out by chance that you can actually kick the Garrador to the ground, which gives you enough time to slash one lock and run outside before he completely recovers. I wish I had known that when playing the main game in handgun only + no damage mode.

Chapter 4 is where you are called to put your patience to the test. You can run past the very first section without killing anyone - it's a bit tricky, but feasible - but the party starts as soon as you get to the harbour. Saddler's warship is full of angry soldiers, who have the annoying ability to run extremely fast and hit Ada even when she seems to be too far away from their reach.

The industrial region part that follows, however, is even worse: the enemies are so many and they are so hard to kill (not to mention the plaga heads, which seem to be made of steel) that you are guaranteed to curse the hell out of poor Ada. And unlike the first chapters, here running away isn't the best option, as the enemies will follow you wherever you go, and next thing you know, you will find yourself among a whole army of them.

Chapter 5 is another painful story. You can just storm past the first wave of enemies but when you get to that small tower where you have to stay for several minutes until the exit unlocks, with numerous soldiers dropping from the ceiling, it's your worst nightmare. Not only you don't have room to move around, but moreover the soldiers attack all at once, and if you are 'lucky' enough to trigger even one plaga head mutation, you are most likely doomed to get scratched by it, as you have no place to hide; and don't get me started on how the plaga heads tend to stagger towards Ada when they get hit, most of the times hurting her.

The next part with the two JJ's is not as bad as it may seem; one of the big guys stays in his place all the time, so you can easily find a safe spot and shoot him without him reacting at all. The other will start looking for Ada as soon as he is triggered, but if you have already gotten rid of all the archers in the area, you can lure him around and shoot him carefully a few times until he is down.

Krauser, who is already heavily wounded by Leon, is very easy to kill with the knife. The problem is to actually catch him in a position where he can be successfully slashed without hitting Ada back, which isn't easy, as he hates her with a venom and he is far more enraged now that his mutation has progressed.

Saddler, who is way creepier in this version than in his final mutation in the main game, is extremely hard to kill with the Blacktail, but again you have an alternative: the glorious knife, which can rid of him incredibly fast. Like in the main game with Leon, you need to keep as close to him as possible, because this way he will only be able to perform just one attack against Ada; this attack will kill her instantly if you don't dodge in time, but if you are careful and press the correct buttons each time while slashing him, he will be eliminated pretty fast (it took me 21 slashes). Watch my video here to see how I did it. Just make sure you react quickly, because otherwise he will crush Ada's head on the floor in what is, quite possibly, the second most apalling one-hit-kill attack in the whole game, the main plot included, after the decapitation. The man (?) badly needs a dictionary to look up the word 'chivalry'.

CONCLUSION

Separate Ways in Blacktail Only + No Damage mode can frustrate you like no other with its last two chapters, but you will be more than rewarded when you have killed the final boss Saddler using only your mighty knife. Ada may not be as effective as Leon is with the handgun, but she is fun to play with, as long as you are patient with her and get to know when it is a good idea to run like mad and when it's better to keep cool and fight back, no matter how many enemies are breathing down your neck.