To find Ashley in Resident Evil 4, you need to get inside the church. The church is locked and requires the insignia key to be unlocked. So, to get the insignia key, you need to solve the Lake Symbol Puzzle in Resident Evil 4 by traveling on a boat to several caves and figuring out a pattern to get inside the locked doors. However, it may seem a bit tedious. Worry not, as I have got you covered in this guide.
Key Takeaways
- In Chapter 4, you need to complete the Lake Symbol Puzzle to proceed with the main quest and Enter the Church.
- There are two caves you need to visit to solve the puzzle.
- Large Cave Shrine gives you the Apostate’s Head.
- Small Cave Shrine gives you the Blasphemer’s Head.
- Take both Heads to the Mural Cave to get the Insignia Church Key.
- Red9 Handgun and Alexandrite can be obtained in the middle of the lake on an abandoned shipwreck.
- Golden Chicken Egg can be obtained on the right side of the lake.
- On the boat harbor of the mural cave, You can find the Old Wayshrine Key and the Blue Medallion Quest of the gold chicken egg.
- All the Extras are worth obtaining as they prove to be very useful or are worth a lot of Pesetas.
Lake Symbol Puzzle
After you have defeated the lake monster boss in the lake, also known as Del Lago, you can freely traverse the lake on the boat to find treasures and solve puzzles. To solve the Puzzle in chapter 4 of Resident Evil 4, you need to travel to two caves to obtain the Blasphemer’s head and the Apostate’s head.
You need both of these head items to complete the Insignia key puzzle in the mural cave so you can enter the church.
Small Cave Shrine Puzzle
Ride the boat to the upper side of the map. Go to the location named Small Cave Shrine on the map and park your boat. There, you will spot a tablet puzzle where you need to press three correct buttons to unlock the gate. So, you need to figure out which three buttons with patterns on them need to be pressed to unlock the gate.
You will find this when you climb the ladder and align this mark with the marks behind it on the wall.

On the upper floor, after climbing the ladder inside the hut-type house, you will find this mark. Again, you need to align it with the mark behind to see the right mark.

After getting off the boat, if you go to the left side where the ladders are located, you will find this mark that looks like three snakes on the wall.

Correct order
If you look around the cave, you can easily spot the three patterns. One of them can be a bit tricky as it needs to be viewed from a certain angle to view 2 patterns as one. If you are having trouble figuring out what three buttons need to be pressed. Then you don’t have to worry, as the pictures below will show you exactly how to open the door by pressing the correct buttons.

Once you are inside, you can interact with the statue to get the blasphemer’s head in your inventory. If you are also figuring out the hexagon puzzle, then make sure to grab the Hexagon piece C near the statue.

Large Cave Shrine Puzzle
You need to again ride your boat to the lower side of the map. The large cave shrine is just beside the mural cave. This time, it’s not like the small cave shrine, as there will be enemies roaming around the large cave shrine area. So, to complete the puzzle with ease, it’s recommended to clear the area first. Then, once again, you need to figure out the pattern of pressing the buttons on the tablet.

This time, you have to roam around the cave as well to find the three patterns to figure out which buttons to press. It is important to note there is no required order for pressing the buttons. You can press the buttons in whatever order you want as long as you are pressing the three correct buttons. If you are having difficulty finding what buttons to press, then worry not, as you can easily solve the puzzle by pressing the marked buttons in the pictures below.



Once you have unlocked the door, You can interact with the statue inside to get the Apostate’s head. Now, you’ll need to head to the mural cave.

Mural Cave
Now that you have obtained both the Blasphemer’s head and Apostate’s head. You need to make your way to the Mural Cave to place both heads in the giant statue’s hands. After you place both the heads on the statue’s hands, the Puzzle between those hand holding the key would rotate and release the key. Now, you can interact with the cemetery between the hands to obtain the Insignia Key.

You can now proceed with the main quest line by returning to the church. Then, opening the church gate with the Insignia key to go to Ashley.

Extras Near The Lake
When you are solving the symbol puzzle, you can explore the Lake as well. There are many different things that you can obtain near the lake that are very useful. When you are making your way out of the mural cave, you can find the blue medallion quest on the wall near the boat parking area.
You can also find the old Wayshrine key near there. I would recommend grabbing that key as it serves to be a very valuable key as it opens many locked shrine treasure boxes around the map. These boxes hold valuable loot that can sell for a lot of Pesetas.

Mid Lake

There is an Abandoned ship right in the center of the lake. Make your way there to find a chest that has a weapon inside it. You will find the Red9 handgun in this area, which is a very important gun to have. Especially in the starting phase of the game, Red9 proves to be a very lethal handgun as it deals a lot of damage.

You can also find an Alexandrite stone on the abandoned ship, which you can insert into items to increase their value. So, make sure to grab the items before making your way back to the main quest location.
Right Side Of Lake

On the right side of the lake is a small patch of land you can visit. If you have taken the blue medallion quest of finding a gold chicken egg, you would know that there is no area specified for it. So now you can come to this area of the map to find the gold chicken egg. You can give this gold chicken egg to the merchant to get a reward of three spinels.

Conclusion
The lake symbol puzzle in Resident Evil 4 can be a bit tricky, but if you already know what buttons need to be pressed, it does not look like a challenge anymore. So, you can easily use this guide to complete these puzzles and get into the church to progress through your main quest. Also, do not forget to grab all the items that are mentioned in the guide, as they are all near the lake. All the items are very useful or hold a lot of value.
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Shoaib Rashid is a passionate Gamer and an experienced writer who has been covering the Gaming Industry for over 3 Years. He started his career as a freelance journalist, writing reviews, previews, news, guides, and features for various industries. He joined VA Gaming as a Writer in 2022 and was promoted to Content Editor in 2023, where he oversees the editorial tasks and ensures the quality and accuracy of the content.
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