Happy Birthday Puzzle Guide – Resident Evil 7

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Trevor Abbott

Trevor is a skilled content writer who enjoys laid-back gaming with friends. He plays versatile genres with a taste for survival horror, RPGs, and Sci-fi adventures. He enjoys video games with rich story elements and otherworldly video game music. He has played prominent titles like Resident Evil, Dead Space, and Dead by Daylight. He finds a great sense of accomplishment every time he tackles challenges in video games.

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A Horrifying Birthday To Remember

Resident Evil 7 is a sharp contrast from the previous potent action experience found in Resident Evil 6. It features some charmingly horrific puzzles with teeth-gritting obstacles that are guaranteed to baffle even the most die-hard Resident Evil veterans. This feeling of helplessness is appreciated since many modern horror games are too easy and forgiving.

It’s a refreshing privilege to be reminded of the brutal roots of the long-running series with confounding eerie puzzles and bullet sponge zombies who are stubborn about dying. The laborious puzzles are noteworthy and memorable. Before consulting this guide, I recommend trying the birthday puzzle independently because failing is part of the franchise.

You’ll probably agree that the Birthday Puzzle is Biohazard’s most iconic and memorable puzzle sequence. It takes a usually comforting and rewarding concept of celebration and turns it into a nightmare from a sadistic killer’s twisted mind, influenced by a deadly mold. You are likely turning for guidance after dying a few times and want to beat Lucas at his own game. Or perhaps you just want to get through it without hiccups.

I’m here to help you make it through alive, even though the first tape where you revisit Clancy’s encounter in the past contains an inevitable painful death upon completion. Let’s unwrap this Happy Birthday Puzzle guide, and I’ll present the answers you need to progress without a problem and pass with flying party confetti!

Bottom Line Up Front

There are two Birthday puzzle sequences you’ll go through in Resident Evil 7. The first is when you play a videotape, where you’ll relive the terrifying perspective of Clancy, who was brutally victimized at the hands of Lucas. This tape gives you foresight and prepares you for the main story’s birthday sequence while playing Ethan. The puzzle is challenging yet rewarding, and there’s no shame in following a guide because countless players have certainly needed it.

The Happy Birthday Video Tape Clancy Puzzle

The first puzzle takes place in a videotape where you will witness what happened to Clancy. He couldn’t solve it, but you’ll complete it later when progressing through the story. You have to do everything in the proper order, and I’m here to ensure you get it right the first time. They mirror each other, so you are better prepared through the disheartening Clancy flashback. 

Let’s discuss how to complete this puzzle without succumbing to the mold-driven maniac who set it up. You can find the VHS birthday tape in the attic of the Baker House, and playing it will transport you back in time to the chilling death of Clancy. Get your party favors ready because this is one of the most haunting traps ever featured in a Resident Evil game!

Items you’ll interact with to solve this puzzle

• Candle
• Winding Key
• Quill Pen
• Balloon
• Dirty/Clean Telescope
• Straw Doll
• Dummy Finger
• Barricade(Ethan)

Pick up The Candle & Winding Key

Firstly, you will notice an animatronic clown holding a candle. The room is almost pitch-black to begin, so you need some illumination to progress. Take the candle as it will be your guiding light through the twisted reality you’ve just entered. Not only that, but it will serve as a valuable tool for completing the puzzle. Approach the room with the birthday cake and interact with it to place the candle.

This action will trigger sprinklers that make it impossible to light, and Lucas Baker will reveal the goal of this ominous game, namely to keep the candle lit, which is impossible without action. Search the room until you locate what appears to be a traditional wine cask. Interacting with this will give you the winding key and leak some strange liquid onto the floor. 

Upon examination of the winding key, you’ll discover that the mysterious liquid is flammable oil, to your dismay. The next step involves leaving the room to enter the kitchen. Search around until you locate the stove and then examine it to turn it on and effectively light the candle for more light. You’re now fully equipped to complete the puzzle with sufficient lighting instead of being caught in the dark. However, it’s far from over, so keep your eyes open!

The Quill Pen in the Balloon

You’ll notice a monitor displaying the Baker family, and they are all baking up schemes that are no good, especially Lucas, as you’ll soon find out when completing this puzzle. There is a door securely fastened with a strong rope with a room behind that you need to access. The rope is highly flammable, allowing you to utilize the candle to burn it and enter the next hall filled with a plethora of eerily colorful balloons. 

Clancy can pop the balloons by simply running into them. There will be a deflated balloon on the floor that you’ll need momentarily. There is a door you should make a mental note of with a five-character entry passcode. Leave the room and locate a gas pipe on a broken wall. Through examination, Clancy will take the deflated balloon and place it over the pipe to start inflating it.

Of course, nothing good is in store for him when you notice the daunting spikes during inflation, and it will eventually burst and pierce his body with a nail. However, your next essential item, the quill pen, is also sticking in his stomach. Naturally, he will tear out the quill, and it’s conveniently stored in your inventory. 

Finding & Cleaning the Telescope

Next, you want to flush the toilet in the gross bathroom. It gets even more disgusting when Clancy puts his hand in there to fish around for the dirty telescope. Mom always did say to wash your hands thoroughly before indulging in birthday cake. As expected, the telescope can’t be used because it is covered in thick grime. It’s a pivotal component to completing the puzzle, so you’ll need to wash it off.

Remember the sprinkler from the very beginning? Go back to that room, and it can be triggered through motion detection. Equip the dirty telescope and stare at the sprinklers to activate them, cleaning the dirt off so you can use it properly. With this renewed item, you can examine the monitor that will give you the correct password to the lockbox found in the cake room from the first part of this sequence. The Baker monitor will display the following pictures:

• A child swinging
• A crow perched on top of a bell
• A fetus

The Dummy Finger & Creepy Straw Doll

Input these symbols into the cake room lockbox to open and reveal the straw doll to burn on top of the stove where you lit the candle earlier. After the doll is entirely burned, it will show the dummy finger that can be attached to the creepy animatronic clown. Go to the clown, even though you might be reluctant to do so at this point with a looming feeling of uncertainty. It’s fair to assert that no one genuinely likes clowns in a horror context, let alone robotic ones constructed by a psychopath.

Enter the winding key to start up this mechanism along with the dummy finger and quill pen. You would expect to conveniently obtain the 5-character password to the balloon room lock, right? Well, not without suffering because the clown will grab Clancy’s arm and brutally carve the word “LOSER” into his forearm. Don’t worry; you’re still heading in the terrifying right direction because that’s the lock code needed.

Happy Deathday to Clancy

Go back to the balloon room to enter “LOSER” into the lock to remove it and attain the valve inside. This is the item you need to disable the sprinklers within the birthday cake room. Head there and use it to keep them from extinguishing the candle. You’re almost there; go back to the oven once more to light the candle for the most scorching surprise of a lifetime. Clancy can now place the candle to complete the puzzle, but it was a monumental waste of time, and he might as well have died from starvation instead.

Placing the candle triggers the detonation of the cake and inevitably lights the oil released from the cask earlier. This is an interesting scene because it will appear as if you failed at first, but if Clancy is burning alive, you know the puzzle is finally over. It’s one of the most dreadful feelings I’ve ever had in Resident evil. This encounter is the most potent motivator to kill Lucas and end his cruel reign of terror. Clancy spent his last birthday in the clutches of a heartless villain, but it’s a different story for Ethan!

Ethan’s Story-related Puzzle Key Steps

Ethan’s puzzle mostly mirrors Clancy’s, except he will make it out alive since he’s the protagonist and shows Lucas who is more innovative. His problem-solving skills set him apart from others, but he also has plot armor. Lucas will maniacally lure you into the same room featured on the VHS found earlier in Clancy’s tragic story. A key difference here allows you to survive, so it’s not a complete mirror image of the last puzzle, but it’s close.

DO NOT get the winding key from the wine cask. It’s slightly less convoluted than the original puzzle, and here are the straightforward steps to get through it without incendiary consequences. There’s nothing more satisfying than serving Lucas some much-deserved justice by beating him at his own game!

• Locate and pick up the candle, which will prompt Lucas’ dialogue
• Light The candle on the stove, burn the door rope, and enter the code “LOSER.”
• Pick up the Valve handle in the cake room with an explosion. No oil means no Fire!
• Lucas will toss an active bomb into the room, so examine and break the barricade to launch it right back at him through the hole!

Happy Birthday Puzzle Guide: FAQs

Question: Who set up this birthday “surprise” for Clancy and Ethan in Resident Evil 7?

Answer: Lucas Baker is the mastermind of the birthday puzzle, and he was there both times to ensure it went according to his design with a favorable evil outcome. Unfortunately for Lucas, it didn’t go well as he underestimated Ethan’s determination and wit. The implication is that Ethan gained the proper knowledge to survive the trap. The VHS tape poetically saved his life, according to the story.

Question: Is the birthday puzzle from the Biohazard complex?

Answer:  This puzzle will likely stump you during the first playthrough, although it is possible to figure it out. The chances of finishing it quickly without any prior knowledge are slim. The first sequence with Clancy is more complex than the main story run with Ethan, giving you the necessary details to complete it.

Question: What happens when you complete the Birthday puzzle?

Answer: With Clancy, he gets ignited and burned to death by the explosion triggering the oil. It’s disturbing because you are in first-person witnessing a character’s horrifying, painful death. When you complete the birthday puzzle as Ethan, the explosion will occur, but flames will not ignite. You can escape by breaking the barricade to throw Lucas’ bomb back at him. From there, you leave the birthday room of horrors!