You’re standing in a cold, damp room in Resident Evil Village. The water is ankle-deep, and there’s a disturbing crimson tint to it that definitely isn't wine. This is the Hall of Ablution puzzle, a classic roadblock in House Dimitrescu that has forced more than a few players to pause the game and stare at the wall in frustration. It’s one of those moments where the game shifts from survival horror to a logic test, and if you don't speak the language of cryptic riddles, you’re basically stuck staring at four creepy statues until Lady Dimitrescu finds you.
Honestly, it isn't even that hard once you see the logic. But the first time? It’s a mess. You’ve got these four statues—two women, two men—and a pool of "wine" that refuses to drain until they’re all facing the right way.
The room itself is gorgeous, in a macabre sort of way. It’s located on the second floor of the castle, right after you escape the basement horrors. It feels like a breather, but it’s actually a gatekeeper. Capcom loves doing this. They give you a beautiful, quiet room and then make you solve a brain teaser while your adrenaline is still spiking from a chase.
Reading Between the Lines of the Inscription
The key to the Hall of Ablution puzzle is the plaque at the far end of the room. It’s written in that high-fantasy, slightly pretentious prose that every gothic horror game uses. It says: "Women are blind to male advances, but the poor shall take their chances to give their lord their bounty sown, so that soon the wine may flow." Basically, it’s a set of directions disguised as a poem.
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Most people overthink this. They start looking for hidden buttons or trying to interact with the pool itself. Don't do that. You just need to rotate the statues. The poem tells you exactly who should be looking at whom. If you mess up the order, nothing happens. The water stays put. You stay stuck.
Let's break down the logic. The "women are blind to male advances" bit is the most important clue. It means the two female statues shouldn't be looking at the men. Simple enough, right? Then you have the part about the "poor" giving their "bounty." In the context of these statues, the poor are the group of three guys, and the "lord" is the dude on the horse.
The Step-by-Step Solution
You’re going to walk up to each statue and interact with it to spin it. Here is the exact way to clear the Hall of Ablution puzzle without wasting another ten minutes of your life.
First, go to the back right. This is the lady with the wine glass. Spin her so she’s facing the lady on the back left (the one holding the bottle). They should be looking at each other, totally ignoring the men in the room. This fulfills the "blind to male advances" part of the riddle.
Next, head to the front left. These are the three beggars—the "poor" mentioned in the poem. You need to turn them so they are facing the guy on the horse (the "lord") located on the front right. They are "offering their bounty," which in this case, is just their gaze.
Finally, make sure the guy on the horse is facing the lady with the wine glass. Once you click that last statue into place, you'll hear a mechanical grinding sound. If you did it right, the pool of blood-wine drains immediately, revealing a secret staircase.
Why This Puzzle Actually Works
Capcom knows what they’re doing with environmental storytelling. The Hall of Ablution isn’t just a random speed bump. It’s a piece of world-building. The word "ablution" refers to a ceremonial washing or cleansing. In a castle run by a giant vampire woman who literally bathes in the blood of "virgins" to maintain her youth, the irony is thick.
The puzzle reflects the social hierarchy of House Dimitrescu. The "lord" on the horse represents the power and the patriarchy that the Dimitrescu women have essentially subverted or destroyed. By making the women ignore the men, the game reinforces that in this castle, the traditional rules don't apply. Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters are the only ones who matter.
It's also a great example of "bottleneck" game design. You can’t progress into the deeper parts of the castle until you solve this. It forces you to slow down and actually look at the art and the architecture. If you've been sprinting through the halls trying to avoid the sisters, this room forces you to stand still and be vulnerable for a moment.
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Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
The biggest mistake I see? People forget which way "facing" actually works. The statues have a very clear front-facing direction. If you’re slightly off, the trigger won't trip. Make sure they are locked into their 90-degree rotations.
Another issue is the lighting. The room is dim. If you’re playing with your brightness settings too low (which, let’s be honest, we all do for "immersion"), it’s hard to see which way the beggars are looking. Use your map. Usually, the map will show the orientation of the room clearly, helping you keep your bearings.
Also, don't worry about enemies. Once you’re in this room, you’re safe—for now. There aren't any jump scares triggered by the statues themselves, so you can take a second to breathe.
What Happens After the Water Drains?
Once the pool is empty, you go down the stairs into the "Distillery." This is where things get ugly again. The game shifts back from "puzzler" to "horror" almost instantly. You’ll be wading through more waste, fighting off the Moroaicǎ (those hooded, shambling ghouls), and eventually finding your way toward the Special Chambers.
Solving the Hall of Ablution puzzle is essentially your ticket to the mid-game. It’s the point of no return for the first act of the castle. Once you go down those stairs, the stakes get higher, the enemies get tougher, and you start to find the items you actually need to escape—like the Sanguis Virginis or the various masks required for the Hall of the Four.
The Technical Side of the Puzzle
From a development standpoint, this is a "state-based" puzzle. Each statue has four possible states ($0^{\circ}$, $90^{\circ}$, $180^{\circ}$, $270^{\circ}$). The game engine checks if Statue A is at state X, Statue B is at state Y, and so on.
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It’s an elegant way to gate progress without needing complex physics or combat. It relies entirely on player observation. If you’re interested in how games are built, look at how the camera framing changes when you interact with a statue. It zooms in slightly, stripping away the peripheral vision and increasing the tension, even though you’re technically in a "safe" zone.
Final Tactics for Success
If you're still struggling, look at the floor. Sometimes the scuff marks on the ground give away the intended positions of the statues, though Village is a bit more subtle about this than older Resident Evil titles.
Don't panic. The solution is static. It doesn't change on higher difficulties like Village of Shadows. Whether you're playing on Casual or the hardest setting, the "women facing each other, beggars facing the lord" rule always applies.
- Approach the back-left lady: Face her right (toward the other lady).
- Approach the back-right lady: Face her left (toward the first lady).
- Approach the front-left beggars: Face them right (toward the horseman).
- Leave the horseman facing the back-right lady.
This sequence is the most efficient path. It saves you from running laps around the pool. Once that wine starts draining, get ready. The atmosphere changes the second you descend those hidden stairs.
The Hall of Ablution remains one of the most memorable rooms in the game because it balances beauty with a subtle, creeping dread. It’s a perfect microcosm of what makes Resident Evil work: a little bit of thinking, a lot of atmosphere, and the constant feeling that you're being watched by something much larger than yourself.
Go ahead and push through. The basement is waiting, and it’s much less "elegant" than the room you’re standing in now.
Check your map once you head down. The path through the Distillery is linear but packed with enemies, so make sure your shotgun is loaded before you take that first step into the muck. Once you reach the lift at the end of the basement, you’ll be well on your way to obtaining the key items needed to finally leave House Dimitrescu behind.