Resident Evil Requiem's The Final Puzzle has finally been figured out, and it's just as complicated and long as you'd think: 'We don't get the doll if we don't AFK at the grinder'

When you hear the bluebird whistle five times after the clock strikes 15:41, walk three steps towards the Orion constellation and wait for 15 minutes. Ok, that's not the actual steps you need to take to complete The Final Puzzle in Resident Evil Requiem, but it's also not far off.

Spoilers for Resident Evil Requiem: The Final Puzzle ahead

After four days, some absolute madlads have managed to figure out the most convoluted puzzle to grace Resident Evil yet, and it's long. We already figured out the beginning of the puzzle, or at least part of it, by determining which letter in the DNA code sequence corresponds to the sun, moon, or star symbols.

Apparently, the trick lies with getting your mitts on a Marie doll. You can see them at various points during the playthrough, but you can only ever pick one up at one moment and only after having completed a myriad of strange tasks.

The next step is to head to the basement, towards the grinder, and instead of turning the machine off straight away, save and wait there for about 15 minutes, until all the bodies have dropped into the disposal. Then turn the conveyor off and jump into the pit, but do not kill any of the zombies that try to attack you.

Ensuring that every zombie dies by the grinder is apparently a condition for solving the puzzle: "We don't get the doll if we don't AFK at the grinder," BigRedtheBard explains. This is supposedly so there's enough blood in the system to drag the doll up to where you'll eventually find it. So instead of killing the zombies outright, you can shoot them in the legs or stun them so they get caught up in the grinder.

You'll know whether it's worked or not depending on which text displays after you drain the blood after the grinder. A regular playthrough will show "a lot of blood flowed out", while the puzzle solution playthrough will read "a ton of blood flowed out."

Then, after you escape the basement, head back to the Hospital and go to the bathroom. There, you need to flush the toilet eight times. Why? The first file in the game is an image of a dead body in a toilet stall next to the number eight scribbled on the wall in blood.

RE9 Final Puzzle Solved (Lore Explanation) from r/residentevil

Then progress normally to the underground laboratory, but before you escape, make sure to pick up a doll that you'll find at the bottom of the stairs. Carry this doll with you for the rest of the game, finish the game, and start again. There's no NG+ in Requiem, but you will be able to carry the doll into your next playthrough. Progress normally, but instead of taking Emily to the final puzzle box, bring her to the lead researcher's office along with the doll, input the code, and there you have it. The Final Puzzle is complete.

It's certainly one of the most convoluted ARGs I've come across, especially in a Resident Evil game, but it's completely enamoured the community, so at the very least, players have had some fun trying to figure it out.

There are a few players who have been slightly disappointed with this puzzle, as the payoff doesn't seem quite worth it to them. "The bad part is that you only get a message saying you solved The Final Puzzle, no weapon, skin, or anything," one player says. The reward is actually 20,000 CP, the currency which players can use to buy skins, concept art, and other endgame bonuses. But maybe the real reward was all the puzzles we solved along the way?

The Final Puzzle ended up being a huge community effort, and while some players did resort to datamining to find the answer, many also managed to get to the end thanks to sheer willpower and some helpful tips from fellow players: "It was a fun community effort, and really gave us something to collectively rack our brains about."