“Ahh the memory of it all”, is likely something players will be saying once they fire up the first DLC chapter of Resident Evil 5. Originally meant to be in the game, this content was not finished and cut from the final version to add co-op into the game.”Lost in Nightmares” brings you back to that faithful day that Jill was said to be presumably dead and was only really shown in cut-scenes. The nostalgia is here, with an added mode via mercenaries reunion, it brings back some familiar extra’s. Fans of the series will surely want to get their hands on this.
You play the roll of Chris and Jill as they have a lead on Wesker’s whereabouts in this mansion. The minute you walk through the door it hits you how far we’ve come in video games. The amount of detail is something to really take note of. Walking around will make you realizing that Resident Evil is up to its old tricks of collecting cranks and shields to proceed in certain areas. Don’t expect things to be exactly the same as the first one, an example is walking towards the right corridor into the highway where dogs used to rip through the window for the first time is now replaced by small bats to mess with you head. Truthfully we prefer this, as you can expect the unexpected when coming around corners while remembering certain objects from the past.
“This feels like Resident Evil!”, the scared teenager that played through the first game that would be nervous, have sweaty palms and looked over his shoulder every 10 seconds was sitting where I was, playing through this chapter. It really does bring you back and the sense of fear is definitely imminent here. You will discover a new type of enemy here which is just as hideous as anything else you have seen in the Resident Evil series before this. When you think you have a handle on them they will attack by numbers so expect to stay on your toes and be smart in situations where you won’t get pinned down. The biggest disappointment is that this experience is short, for first runs it can take anywhere between 1 hour to 2 and only 40min’s their after.
Upon completion of your first play through you then unlock Jill which has her own set of skills like unlock picking and playing the piano which you will actually have to play this time around. Another great thing to be aware of is that no single play through is the same. Capcom made sure to change the experience every time, by casting different weapons, changing enemy locations, at some point in a play through an enemy appearred no more then 5min into the game on the top floor giving us the ‘WTF!?” moment. For the real nostalgia fans out there, an easter egg is placed right on the double doors that you entered from in the mansion. Engaging the doors three times will switch your view into the classic camera from Resident Evil 1. Character strafing is gone and you don’t realize how scary things can get until your ability to look behind is gone!. The only thing we were disappointed with is that you can not play the entire chapter with the static camera, only the first act and would seem this way do to the fact that beyond this is entirely new content that had only been made for resident evil 5.
Also added in this DLC is Mercenaries reunion which will bring back characters like Barry Burton who hadn’t been mentioned since his cameo in Resident Evil 3 (if you have also recovered the lost files explaining everyones whereabouts in RE3 it will also mention Barry) and Excella from Resident Evil 5. We would have liked to have seen Mercenaries reunion combined with the regular Mercenaries mode but its important to note that changes have been made, like more zombies, different weapon placement, time placement, dogs and other infected throughout the stages so this won’t feel entirely the same.
All and all this is a great experience to have for fans of RE, this content will also be available for Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition along with the second chapter Desperate Escape but for those who already own the game this is a perfect buy for 400 microsoft points or $5. While the experience is short in terms of the chapter, you do have the Mercenaries reunion and will find yourself doing multiple play through’s to uncover everything it has to offer.
Overall = 8.2
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