Resident Evil Village secret area: how to find the fungus source

(Image credit: Capcom)

Resident Evil Village guides

Resident Evil Village Treasure Map solution: find the Castle Dimitrescu treasure

Resident Evil Village labyrinth puzzles: how to find all the labyrinth balls

Resident Evil Village treasure chests guide: all the treasure locations

Resident Evil Village is full of secrets, but some aren't that straightforward to find. One of the most interesting secrets to find in Resident Evil Village is an early glimpse at the Megamycete, the fungal colony which is the cause for all of the game’s most gruesome-looking villains.

While you will encounter it naturally within the game’s campaign, you can also visit it early to find some secret treasure and items, as well as a fascinating document that expands upon the game’s lore.

In this guide, we’re going to show you when you can enter this Resident Evil Village secret area, how you can unlock it and what is lying in wait once you make the trip. If you’re wary of spoilers, turn away now!

How to find the Resident Evil Village Megamycete cave

To find the source of the mold early, you’re first going to need to unlock the crank. The crank will be found by Ethan during his trip through Moreau’s domain, so simply progress the story until you’ve bested the merman and it will be in your inventory.

Once that’s done, you want to head back to the crossroads with The Duke’s cart, and head west from the Altar down the Lone Road. You should remember this area from earlier in the game, where you were ambushed by Lycans. North of the main bridge on the map is a lower, broken bridge, but you will be able to insert the crank here to fix it. Once that’s done, head across and jump in the rowboat.

Instead of heading north to Dimitrescu, head south and you’ll be able to disembark once you reach a dead end. If you bear left you’ll reach a pond with some fish to hunt for your cooking recipes, but head right once you’re finished to find the real secret in a dark cave.

Resident Evil Village Megamycete cave guide

Once inside the cave you’ll be ambushed by Lycans, so stay on your guard and bring a chunk of ammo. After you defeat them, If you look down to your left you will be able to see the fungal colony twisting and growing. You can throw pipe bombs and shoot grenade launcher rounds at it, but it won’t do anything, so don’t waste your ammo.

Follow the cave to its end once you’re done gawking and you’ll find an item box with some ammo on top, a valuable coin referencing Dulvey, Louisiana (the setting of Resident Evil 7) and a computer you can engage with.

The computer’s text files tell you that the Megamycete here is a 99.95% match to the Dulvey Megamycete. This is the source of the mold that infected the Baker family and the inhabitants of this village and has been nurtured by Mother Miranda. Here you learn that parts of the fungus were taken by The Connections, the mysterious bioweapon group responsible for Eveline in Resident Evil 7.

If you’ve beaten the game you’ll know that eventually, you visit the lower part of this cave. In the final act, you learn more about the true origins of the fungus, and why the text file’s comments about the organism being “data storage” and how the Megamycete works as a “network of consciousness” factor into the wider narrative.

Resident Evil games ranked: which is the best mainline Resi game?

Jordan Oloman is a journalist and documentarian with experience across the pop culture/tech spectrum writing reported features, reviews. news, guides, op-eds and more for a wide variety of outlets. He is also an affiliate streamer on Twitch and have previous experience in scriptwriting, podcasting, game consultation and creating video content.