There are four hip pouches hidden across Resident Evil Requiem. Collect all of them and you will double your starting inventory from eight slots to sixteen. Most are locked behind simple puzzles or tucked into side rooms you can miss if you rush the critical path. This guide shows exactly where to go, what to grab first, and how to stop wasting space on items you do not need.
Your First Hour Should Focus on Space, Not Combat
New players often treat the opening like an action sequence. It is not. The first hour is an inventory tutorial disguised as survival horror. Every bullet you pick up costs a slot. Every herb sits there until you combine it. If you do not expand your carrying capacity early, you will spend the rest of the game backtracking to item boxes or leaving resources behind.
Here is the priority list for your first sixty minutes:
- Find the first hip pouch before you leave the opening area. It is usually the easiest to miss because the game does not mark it on your map.
- Learn the combine rules for herbs and gunpowder immediately. Uncombined items waste slots.
- Do not hoard ammo types you are not currently using. If you do not have the weapon, store or ignore the bullets.
- Check every desk drawer and bathroom cabinet. Requiem hides key items in mundane places.
- Memorise the location of the nearest typewriter or auto-save point. You will need to dump items often.
How Inventory Works in Resident Evil Requiem
Every character starts with eight inventory slots. Weapons, ammo, healing items, key items, and crafting materials each occupy one slot. Stacks of the same ammo type can share a slot up to a limit, but grenades and large weapons like shotguns often take more space or cannot stack at all.
Hip pouches are the only permanent way to increase capacity. There are no skills, upgrades, or shop purchases that expand your inventory. Miss a pouch and you are permanently down two slots for the rest of the playthrough.
Do key items take up inventory space?
Yes. Until you use a key item on its corresponding door or puzzle, it sits in your inventory. This is why experienced players plan routes to use keys immediately rather than carrying them across multiple rooms.
Can I drop items on the ground to free space?
No. There is no manual drop function. Your only options are to use, combine, or store items in a safe room box. Plan your loops accordingly.
Hip Pouch 1: The East Wing Office Desk
The first pouch is located in the East Wing Office, shortly after the opening cutscene. You enter the building through a broken window and pass a hallway with a dead officer. The office is the second room on the left.
Inside, there is a desk with a small drawer that requires a simple inspection. Open the drawer manually. The pouch does not glow or sparkle until you are very close, so it is easy to walk past if you are rushing.
Tip: Combine the green herb and red herb you find in the same room before picking up the pouch. This frees one slot so you do not have to make an immediate trip to the item box.
Hip Pouch 2: The Locker Room Safe
The second pouch is in the Staff Locker Room, reached after you solve the fountain statue puzzle and descend into the maintenance tunnels. The locker room has a combination safe on the back wall.
The code is not random. Check the whiteboard near the showers. One of the locker numbers is circled in red marker. That three-digit code opens the safe. Inside you will find the hip pouch and a box of handgun ammo.
Common mistake: Players see the safe, assume they need a key item found later, and never return. Always try codes written on walls in Resident Evil games.
Hip Pouch 3: The Underground Storage Crate
The third pouch appears in Underground Storage B, a side area connected to the cable car station. You need the crank handle to lower the metal bridge and access the crate.
The crank handle is a story item, so you cannot miss it. However, the storage room itself is optional. After lowering the bridge, turn left instead of going straight toward the cable car. The pouch is inside a wooden crate that you must break with your knife.
Breaking crates with your knife is free and does not degrade the blade in Requiem. Get in the habit of slashing every wooden box you see.
Hip Pouch 4: The Laboratory Refrigerator
The final pouch is in the Research Laboratory Cold Storage, late in the game. You need the level 2 security card to open the door. The pouch is inside a refrigerator unit in the back corner.
This is the only pouch that is guarded by an enemy. A mutated test subject is frozen inside the room and wakes up when you interact with the fridge. You can either fight it or stun it with a flash grenade and grab the pouch. Do not try to open the menu mid-combat; the animation is slow and you will take damage.
Beginner Mistakes That Waste Inventory Space
Even with all four hip pouches, bad habits will choke your inventory. Here are the most common errors new players make in the first few hours.
Why should I not carry multiple healing items at once?
One or two combined herbs is enough for most encounters. Carrying three or more means you are preparing for damage you have not taken yet. Store excess healing in the item box. You can always backtrack if a boss is coming.
Is it worth keeping every gun I find?
No. Requiem gives you more weapons than you need. The shotgun, magnum, and submachine gun all have dedicated ammo types that compete for space. Pick two weapons and commit to them. Store the rest unless you are approaching a boss that favours one damage type.
Should I craft ammo as soon as I get gunpowder?
Only if you have room for the resulting stack. Gunpowder by itself takes one slot. Crafted handgun ammo also takes one slot, but in a larger stack. If your inventory is full, craft in the item box menu instead. This avoids the awkward situation of having to drop something on the spot.
Recommended First-Hour Loadout
Here is a clean, flexible inventory layout for the early game with one hip pouch found (ten slots total):
| Slot | Item | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Handgun | Primary weapon; keep loaded |
| 2 | Handgun Ammo | One stack only |
| 3 | Knife | For crates and finishing enemies |
| 4 | Flash Grenade | Emergency stun or blind |
| 5 | Mixed Herb (G+R) | Full heal; combine before storing |
| 6 | Green Herb | Backup heal or combine material |
| 7 | Key Item | Rotate this slot often |
| 8 | Crafting Material | Gunpowder or chem fluid |
| 9 | Empty | Buffer for pickups |
| 10 | Empty | Buffer for pickups |
Leave two slots empty at all times. An inventory with no breathing room forces you to micro-manage every room. That breaks pacing and increases backtracking.
Settings and Controls That Help New Players
Requiem has a few options that make inventory management and combat less punishing for beginners.
- Turn on item highlights. In the accessibility menu, enable persistent sparkles for key items. This makes hip pouches and puzzle pieces harder to miss.
- Remap the quick-turn button. Default placement is awkward on some controllers. Bind it to a shoulder button so you can escape corners faster.
- Use classic tank controls if you are struggling with camera angles. Modern controls feel smoother but can cause you to run into enemies during perspective shifts.
- Lower the difficulty if you die three times in the same area. Requiem allows mid-campaign difficulty drops. Your pride is not worth burning through all your ammo.
What to Do After You Find All Four Pouches
With sixteen slots, you can afford to carry a third weapon and more crafting materials. Here is how to scale your loadout into the mid-game:
- Add the shotgun or equivalent mid-tier weapon. Keep one stack of its ammo.
- Carry one defensive grenade and one offensive grenade. Flash grenades stun groups; explosive grenades clear clustered enemies.
- Keep three herbs or two mixed herbs. This is enough for a boss fight or a long exploration loop.
- Reserve four slots for key items and pickups. Even with max inventory, you will still need flexibility.
Do not fall into the trap of filling every slot just because you can. Space is a resource, even at maximum capacity.
Quick Reference: All Hip Pouch Locations
| Pouch | Location | Requirement | Enemy? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Wing Office desk drawer | Manual inspection | No |
| 2 | Staff Locker Room safe | Locker code from whiteboard | No |
| 3 | Underground Storage B crate | Crank handle; break crate with knife | No |
| 4 | Research Laboratory Cold Storage fridge | Level 2 security card | Yes |
Final Tips for a Cleaner First Playthrough
Resident Evil Requiem rewards patience more than reflexes. The players who struggle are usually the ones who sprint through rooms, ignore side paths, and carry too much.
Remember these three rules:
- Explore before you progress. Most hip pouches are near the critical path, not on it.
- Combine before you collect. Herbs, gunpowder, and chem fluids should be processed immediately.
- Store before you fight. Boss arenas rarely have item boxes nearby. Dump non-essentials in advance.
Get the pouches early, keep your inventory lean, and the rest of the game opens up.
For more on survival horror mechanics, see GamesRadar's Resident Evil coverage, Polygon's beginner guides, and IGN's Resident Evil wiki.
