The reviews — including our own — are in, and Resident Evil 4 Remake is already one of the most popular games of 2023.
The spectacular remake levels up everything that made the original great, and injects new elements, enemies, and challenges to keep even veteran players guessing. It ramps up the horror, evens out the writing, and maintains an overarching “fun” factor that’s been stealing sleep from gamers for nearly a week now.
As a wave of fresh Resident Evil fans get their hands on the game, they’re discovering all the minor changes and significant tweaks made to the original. Thankfully, the Merchant is still a staple of Leon’s journey through rural Spain, but the way he does business is slightly altered. Don’t worry, he’ll still buy your items at a high price, but a fresh option to trade is stumping some gamers. It might not seem overly worthwhile — as you snatch up pesetas to spend on upgrades and fresh items — but clever planning could see the Merchant’s Spinel trading section save your skin in more than one way.
Resident Evil 4 Remake Spinel trading
The concept behind the Merchant’s new trading option is perfectly straightforward. Leon’s cloaked, mysterious tagalong now offers up a fresh section, merely titled “Trade,” which provides a range of items available for trade. Rather than sell those shiny Spinels, you collect them — largely as payment for completed tasks — and then offload them in trade for something much more valuable.
On my first playthrough, I chose to save up my first few rounds of Spinels as a way to obtain the Punisher early on. From time to time, I shaved away at my backlog to buy up a yellow herb or some extra gunpowder for crafting, but my toxic gamer tendencies largely saw me hanging onto each new batch of Spinels just in case something better came along.
And, while a few shiny, pricey new options did crop up as I worked my way through the game, very few were worth my hoarding. Instead, I consistently kneecapped myself by avoiding those yellow herb purchases — which could have seen me headed into early fights with far more health to lose — and saving up Spinels for a future that would never come.
Don’t be me, folks. Spend your Spinels as you work your way through the game, and use them as a way to keep yourself afloat in areas with lower payoff, or more expensive upgrades. There are a few additions to the list that are worth an immediate trade — those treasure maps will pay off, I promise — and a few that are worth saving for, and we’re here to help you decide which ones are the right fit for your play style.
A treasure map for the village will only run you a single Spinel, so snatch that one up as early as possible. It will aid you in collecting all of the various treasures scattered across the village, and additionally points out where items like blue medallions are located. Considering how well some of them are hidden, you’ll lean on that map plenty, making it well worth the low trading cost. The next two maps — one for the castle, and one for the island — are a touch more expensive, at five Spinels a pop, but both are similarly helpful in gathering up all the goodies each stage has to offer. They’ll come available in the Merchant’s inventory as each new area is unlocked.
Several excellent weapons, and weapon attachments, are additionally available for trade. Why spend thousands of pesetas on the Matilda or a high-powered scope when they’re available for just a few Spinels? It’s worth checking the trade section each time you chat up the Merchant, just to peruse how the items have changed, and rearrange your priorities for the next chapter.
The weapons and attachments for trade are:
- Punisher — 5 Spinel
- Matilda — 10 Spinel
- Matilda Stock – 12 Spinel
- Red 9 Stock – 9 Spinel
- TMP Stock – 8 Spinel
- Laser Sight – 10 Spinel
- High-powered Scope – 7 Spinel
Several of these are absolutely vital trades, as they will make you far more efficient in a fight. The Punisher should be an early priority, since it runs so cheap and has the added benefit of being one of the game’s best handguns, and the laser sight will only make it more effective. You’ll also use far less health with that high-powered scope attached, which will allow you to pick off enemies from a hearty distance.
There are also two variations of the attaché case available for trade. Basic upgrades to the case itself, which allow more space for you to fill up with weapons, ammo, and materials, are purchasable from the Merchant himself, but you can trade to get the Black or Red attaché customizations. It’s worth noting that upgrading to the Red option will increase the frequency with which red herbs are dropped, and going for Black will increase drops of large resources, used for ammo crafting.
Attaché case upgrades:
- Black — 8 Spinel
- Red — 12 Spinel
A range of smaller, but more plentiful, items are also offered up in the trade menu. These will largely be available for trade more than once, but they’re not entirely unlimited. They are also relatively frequent among enemy drops and crates, but they’ll come in handy in a pinch.
Health and crafting trade options:
- Yellow herb — 3 Spinel
- Gunpowder — 2 to 3 Spinel
There are also a few tradeable items that are purely used to line your wallet. You can trade for things like yellow diamonds to add to other treasures, or to sell back to the Merchant for pesetas. I would recommend against trading for these during your first play through, as they’re not nearly so useful as the other items, and Spinels are limited.
- Yellow diamond – 3 Spinel
- Red Beryl – 4 Spinel
- Elegant mask – 2 Spinel
- Chalice of Atonement – 3 Spinel
The trade section also offers up two exclusive upgrade tickets, which can be used to unlock the ultimate upgrade for any weapon, regardless of how many upgrades you’ve purchased. Without the tickets, the exclusive upgrade is only available to purchase — for a pretty penny — after every other upgrade is in place. They’re pretty pricey themselves — running at 30 Spinel for the first and 40 Spinel for the second — but they’ll save you heaps of money when used right.
The final two items available for trade through the Merchant are more plentiful, and can provide a steady stream of revenue and perks throughout the game. While a Velvet Blue trade won’t get you more than a boost in pesetas, buying up a gold token or two could serve you well. These combine with other tokens, earned through the Merchant’s firing ranges, to win prizes. The charms you get for these tokens vary in usefulness, but some of them will give you a major boost as you take on the game’s various challenges.
Unlimited trade items:
- Velvet Blue — 3 Spinel
- Gold Token – 3 Spinel
The inclusion of a trade option adds a delightful element to filling out your inventory in Resident Evil 4 Remake, and one that’ll save you loads of money if you use it right. Leaning on some of those early inclusions, like the Punisher and treasure maps, will easily pay for themselves in just a few rounds and allow you to save your cash for much more necessary purchases. Just make sure not to blow all your Spinels on yellow diamonds and tokens.