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Fresh off a trip to a Leech-filled forest, your travels inEvil Westare not over yet it seems. Returning toCalicowe find thatEdgarnever returned from his trip to find a flower supposedly used in aVampire Infectioncure. So our heroJessie Rentiersets off to find out what happened to the veteranVampire Hunter.
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Pharmakon is a level that comes with a warning for Arachnophobes as there are a lot of eight-legged insects crawling around this level. Thankfully they’re not game entities, so you may’t interact with them, and there is an Arachnophobia setting you can switch on if it gets too much. It’s also a very linear chapter with some pretty solid fights. So to help you out, here’s a handy walkthrough of Chapter Eight: Pharmakon in Evil West.
Boss fight
Find Edgar Gravenor
Hive Crone
Things are about to get swampy and spooky forJessie Rentier, but for now you’re cooling off your boots atCalicofor a spell. There’s a report to turn in on your expeditions into theLeech Forestand some bad news to hear aboutEdgar’squest for theOrchid De La Vida. A component for a supposedVampire Infection CurethatJessie Rentierwill now have to go and collect himself, whilst also finding out what happened toEdgar.
Starting off the mission,don’t move, instead pan the camera to the left. There’s a table next toJessiewith the first bag ofBucksfor this chapter. Next, from thatcash collectiblehead down to the secret barrel entrance toCalicoand look for a man sweeping a brush as you enter. Aglowing boxwith anotherBuckscollectible is past him and to the right. From there, go toVergils Engineering Laband look on the far left table, there’s a lore collectible titledEstablishment Of The Calico Outpost.
YourMission Markerwill tell you to go to the planning room. Ignore that and head to the basement instead. In the second room on the right is a bag ofBuckson a table, head upstairs and intoEmilia’s Laboratoryand at the back behind the shelves is theEmilia’s Curriculumlore collectible.Calicocleaned of collectibles, head to theMission Marker, and start the next story beat.
A brief cutscene will play out and dump some more exposition on you. It’s brief, but the key point to take away is that theVampireswere using the giant creature’s blood to make an army of monsters,Jessieburned it, now they can’t do that anymore. Things are interrupted by a noise upstairs in theSaloon, so run back up there as quickly as you may to trigger the next cutscene.
Seems daddy dearest is a bit overly aggressive as theVampire Infectionhas taken hold further.Edgarstill isn’t back with the flower they need andJessienow has 24 hours to get it orEmiliawill shoot his father to stop him from fully turning into aVampire, so off to theSwampyou go.
Welcome toMaurepas, it’s not a pleasant place. It’s a mostly single-track chapter that takes you along bough-covered bayous that are bathed in an Eldritch green light, past dilapidatedSwampshacks, and into some ancient ruins at the end. There are two new enemy types in this mission, the first is brought in as amini-bossand the other is your final challenge at the end. They both go on to become new normal enemy types going forward, so if you’re struggling with them now then it might be a sign you’re due some leveling up first.
There are a lot ofSpiderscrawling around in this chapter. Remember they can be made tolerable with theArachnophobia Modein the settings.
As the level begins, run along the track and look at the ground. There’s glowing footprints to examine and for this chapter only you’ll need to regularly look out for these. Although there’s only one way to go, you can soft-lock progress if you don’t trigger them all sequentially. So if you get to an area and nothing is happening, try backtracking to find one as it could be bugging things out a bit. First track inspected, go around the short corner, and on the left at a very small cut-off is a bag ofBuckson a box.
Go along the main track and keep right, there’s a trail to the left but it goes nowhere and there’s nothing at the end of it so it’s a waste of time. Go up the hill and then drop into your first big fight of this chapter. Surprise, it’s a big pack ofNagals, better beat them up quickly before they can buff each other. Fight finished, hop up the chains to continue onwards.
After climbing up the ledge out of the pit, head off to the right, there’s aglowing boxwithBucksthat’s easily missed. Directly opposite this on the other side of the big open area is a hanging corpse withBucksto shoot down. Retrace your steps and turn left to go amongst the reeds and the next set of tracks left byEdgar. There’s also a shack directly behind these that you can walk into and it’s worth your time as there’s another box ofBucksto get. You just have to keep left after the first corner, right by where you get theX-Bow.
TheX-Bowis faster firing than theRentier Rifle. But it’s projectiles are slower and the reload is longer. Its upgrades make it much more useful, so ignore using it until you have the cash for them.
Swing over the gap into the next big arena brawl. Here you’ll be taking on a big group ofInfected Vesselsat first, thenScreeching Devils. This is essentially the game giving you a brief tip to the types of enemies you should be using theX-Bowon. Fight finished, hop over the barricade and go right by thehanging corpsetowards the brambles. Burn these away to get aglowing boxwithBucks.
Head back to the main path and keep right, you’ll encounter another set of brambles to burn, and behind those is achestwith241 Bucks. Retrace your steps and take the other trail, it’ll lead to another big arena fight against someVampires. It’s another big group ofInfected Vesselsand someInfected Proteusbacking them up. So it’s not too tough. Go up the hill and under the log to get into a slightly more explorable area.
Coming into this area, look right and grab theEnergy Rechargethenburn the bramblesto the left of this. It’ll reveal a short trail that’ll lead to someBuckson a box. Retrace your steps and go over to the left side, there’s another bag ofBuckson a box and some moreburnable brambles. These will lead you to a dilapidated shack sinking into theSwamp, within it is achestwith250 Bucks. After getting all of these, go all the way back to the central area, and continue along the main path. Briefly along it, you’ll see a barricade and ahanging corpse.
Drop the body, get itsBucksthen break the barricade to reveal the path. Run along this and swing over the gap to get into yet another fight section. Again you’ll be dealing withInfected VesselsandInfected Proteus, give them a reason to not come back into theSwamp. Fight finished, look to the right side of the arena by the ruins for a barricade. Smash it and you’ll be able to get the bag ofBuckson a box behind it. Go up the slope, over the barricade and inspect the next set of tracks.
It’s time to wander through someSpiderwebs. Break out theScorcherand deal with the first set of webs, go along then drop down. At the first junction, go left and burn through the two sets of webs to find achestwith229 Bucks. Turn around and go down the other path, burning webs as you go and you’ll find aglowing boxwith another set ofBucksto take home. To the right of this is also theOrchid De La Vidalore note on the ground. Again off to the right is the main path another set ofEdgar’sfootprints.
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Mini-Boss: Stalker
Follow the path, burn the webs and there’ll be another set of tracks right in front of you. Although be warned,activating them triggers the mini-boss fightagainst theStalker. This big beasty is a mobility killer that’s not too hard on its own, but a nightmare when backing up other large monsters or big waves of minions.
Its main attacks are meaty melee swings and a jumping slam, but you may block the first and interrupt the latter with a kick if you’re close enough. The biggest issue is its web spray, it’ll flash its weak point before it does this and it always sprays it in a set, unmarked but easily dodgeable cone. You can always interrupt it with theRentier RifleorX-Bowas well since its weak point will flash before it does the attack, so just keep an eye out for it.
If it hits you with it you’ll still be able to dodge out of it, but Jessie will be very slow and later when you’re getting mobbed byGhoulsit can open you up to a lot of unwanted hits. Thankfully it’s mostly a one-on-one for now, but after a while, someNagalswill join in and with their fast movement combined with theStalker’sability to slow you down, it can kill you quick.
Monster slain, time to move on.
Hop up the nearby chain and head along the path towards the boat. Before getting onboard, head left to get someBuckson a box then hit theMission Markerto trigger a cutscene that moves the plot forward. Now deeper into theSwamp, the hunt forEdgarcontinues, but first head to the right when you load in as there’sBuckson some barrels to get before you go any further. Left of those is the next set of tracks. Inspect them then continue onwards, swing over the gap and into another big fight.
The first wave will be explodingInfected Wasters, but you can pop them easily with theX-Bow. After they’re dealt with aGrowrowwill appear, not seen sinceChapter Five, they’re a normal enemy type now. They’ll also be backed up by big a big group ofInfected Vessels, so if you have anyEnergyleftover from the mini-boss, now would be a very good time to use it. As the fight against theGrowrowgoes on another wave of explodingInfected Wasterswill appear followed by a couple ofInfected Proteus.
Hop over the barricade after all thoseGhoulsare turned into mulch and keep left, there’s the lastcollectible lore notefor the chapter on the ground. It’s about a knife calledSusan. Go right from this and towards the main path, on a tree will be ahanging corpsewithBucks, so shoot it down. Head left from there to a gap you can hop over and a path that leads into some ruins.
After sliding through the gap, go forwards and then left towards the barricade. Smash it down to get someBuckson a big pile of boxes. Retrace your steps to the entrance to this area and go right and onto asinking bridgesection. On the bridge, go right at the first junction for another bag ofBucks, and there’ll be another collection of cash once you get onto the island in the middle of theSwamp.
Swing over the gap to continue onwards and on the next sinking bridge section take the first left and break the barricade at the end of it to get a bag ofBucksand a break for a moment from the collapsing path. Go back on the bridge and keep right, along the end of this path are moreBucksto get, but retrace your steps to the exit quickly or you’ll sink into theSwamp. Slide along the edge and break the barricade to find the next path. You’ll reach a small island with anEnergy Rechargeand to get to the next sinking path just shoot down the planks over the gap.
Go across this and over the next bridge by breaking another barricade and shooting down another set of planks. As you round the corner there will betwo stone pillars, both have chains you can shoot down. The one on the immediate left has achestwith221 Bucksinside, whilst the other leads to the next area. You’ll need to find some rope to make a zipline, but the game will mark it for you. Go down theZipline, keep left andburn the bramblebehind the cages, there’s aHealth Pickupthat’ll give you an extra bar.
Don’t worry about having to hunt forZiplinerope too often. OccasionallyEvil Westwill throw one of these short tasks in for extra padding, but the item is always nearby.
Retrace your steps to the bridge and break the glowing box at its entrance to get some moreBucks. Cross the bridge, slide through the gap and look to the right, there’s ahanging corpseon a tree withBucksto get. Go left from this to find the next set of tracks, a barricade to hop, and a big fight to enjoy. Here you’ll be dealing withInfected Proteusand aLeecherat first, but eventually, aGrowrowwill pop up to make things more difficult. Focus on the shield boy first by using theCrippling Rodto destroy his barricade whilst following up with anE-Combo, then take down the burrowing beast.
As the fight drags on some explodingInfected Wasterswill eventually appear as well as a fewInfected Proteuson the edges of the arena. But use theZap DashorZap Pullto deal with them. The last wave will beScreeching Devils, so justZap Pullthem to instantly kill them and farm them for theirEnergy. Once the brawl is done, look around for aScarecrowin the immediate area, next to it is a gap to jump over and aglowing boxwithBucksto collect.
Head to the other side of the arena to get out and after hopping over the gap of water, go right by the torch at the fork and follow the path around to get to a chest of347 Bucks. Retrace your steps to theChurchand outside the front of it will be another set of tracks and a bag ofBucks. Open the door and head in, right at the back behind the altar isBucksand a hole into some tunnels and the path of progress.
Drop in the hole and burn both sets of webbing you come across. One hasBucksand the other is the exit. Through this gap, go right and burn the webs to get moreBucks, turn and ignite the set of webs on the left to get out of the tunnel and when you do, immediately go left. There’s a ledge to climb up andBuckson a box.Turn the cranks to drain the toxic water. Here you’ll have to push the pillars around to form a bridge. To the left of the exit is aHidden Chest. You can access it by lining up the pillars, get the smaller chunks out of the way to give yourself more space for the larger sections.
If you opened the chest you’ll get some cash and theAdrenaline Junkiehidden perk. When active it changesHealthpickup drops intoEnergyones instead. Push open the door to the temple and you’ll start the boss fight.
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Boss Fight: Hive Crone
SeemsEdgarhas been found and the cause of his delay is aHive Crone. This flying creature becomes a normal enemy going forward, but for now, it’s a pseudo-boss fight and a pretty annoying one at that. Hive Crones are by far the worst enemy in the game. They zip around very fast and have a shield that’s tied tothree floating dronesthat are hard to hit, have health bars, and reset quickly. Plus, whilst it’s doing that theHive Cronealso provides a shield to any nearby monsters and hits you with a hard-to-dodge projectile attack.
It’s one of those creatures that as soon as it appears you need to deal with it immediately. It can cause some non-threatening monsters to absolutely steam-roll you in the late game, so zero in on them as soon as they appear. To take it down you’ll need to pick at itsrotating orbswith theRentie RifleorX-Bow, once they’re down its weak point will flash, but its ranged attacks will come out nearly constantly. If you manage to hit it, theCronewill fall to the ground and allow you to beat it senseless.Just rinse and repeat this until it eventually dies.
Worth noting is thatInfected VesselsandJengu Giantswill appear as the fight drags on. It’s recommended that you use these asEnergy Farmsinstead of normally killing them, then using this collected resource to unleashJessies Overchargeon theHive Cronewhen it drops. Doing this will whittle through its meaty health bar much quicker and make the fight more tolerable. Monster slain andEdgarnow free, it’s time to get back toCalicowith the ingredients for the serum.
